I've heard Slythe and Kristin are very tough, but I'm not very familiar with the fight. The last time I fought them, I won largely thanks to Elf Tendon Wands.
But as I had been fearing since this run began so long ago, we have reached the endgame and still have not hit level 7. That means no Elf Tendon Wands to bypass MGOI. We still have Pressurized Gas, which can also bypass MGOI, but that could easily wipe out the nearby innocents of the Undercellar.
Worse yet, we don't have Vials of Scales, which grant +3 AC and 1d3 stoneskins each. This means Chara is extremely vulnerable to backstabs even if I have them equip a Knave's Robe to negate the multiplier. Instead, I have Chara simply go invisible.
This fight doesn't look like it's going to be easy. Kristin is level 12 and one of her pre-buffs is a summoning spell. We can't get past PFMW, but at least we can clear out the slimes.
We should be able to bypass PFMW using Bottles of Sludge, which deal acid damage but are nonmagical weapons, but as I would later realize, the bottles had an effect that prevented them from getting past either PFMW or even Protection from Normal Weapons.
Slythe nails Frisk with a savage backstab, forcing Frisk to go invisible. The Seducer kit just makes them far too squishy.
Although there are certain advantages to being a squishy Seducer.
Since Frisk is out for the next several rounds until they can heal themself, Mur'Neth has to take Frisk's place. He drinks a Potion of Perception to improve his Detect Illusions skill. This is especially important because Kristin's Mirror Images can apparently block Finch's Wand of the Heavens. Also, both of our dwarves predictably lose all of their defenses.
Slythe goes invisible, threatening another backstab. The dwarves run (I have to disable party AI to stop Yeslick from killing himself on Kristin's Mestil's Acid Sheath spell) while Frisk drinks potions. With Slythe invisible and Kristin shrouded in magicks, the only offensive action we can take is to use wands against Kristin. Kagain, who surprisingly is able to use wands due to his high INT score, opts for a Wand of Paralyzation, while Finch keeps using her Wand of the Heavens.
Neither is making much progress.
Finch loses her defenses to Breach, but Mur'Neth at least manages to remove Kristin's illusions. When he applies some Bonemeal Eyedrops, he also reveals Slythe, saving us from another awful backstab.
With Slythe visible and with his aura still clouded, we can finally hurt him. Kagain and Finch ditch the wands and join Yeslick in taking down the backstabber. Slythe chooses to drink a Potion of Power.
It was a foolish choice. The only thing that could have saved him was a Potion of Invisibility; Kagain has 2 APR and our clerics have 3 APR apiece. Put together, their damage output is just too much for him.
For some reason, Detect Illusions keeps failing to reveal Kristin. The dialog box will say she's been revealed, but she'll stay invisible. Only when Kristin casts a spell does she become visible.
Teleport Field isn't a good choice for Kristin. With that Mestil's Acid Sheath protecting her, it's already dangerous for us to land melee hits; preventing us from hurting ourselves on her Acid Sheath doesn't help her much.
But unlike Slythe, Kristin has the defenses to survive a mistake like that; we can't apply any pressure when she has those incredible defenses up. And our wands keep failing to make any impact.
Kristin tries to nuke Yeslick, but his HP pool is too big for her to threaten. But again, wasting a round doesn't cost her much when we can barely touch her anyway.
Kristin keeps vanishing for unclear reasons. I didn't see her cast Mislead and I don't see her drinking any potions or casting Invisibility, so I don't know how she keeps going invisible. Regardless, all I can really do is wait, toughing out her spells in the hopes that we can pounce when she gets weak.
Kristin's PFMW wears off, and she goes visible just long enough for Finch to smack her with a Bottle of Sludge. It only deals one damage, but Kristin is furious.
She wounded a bystander in the process, but his threats mean little to her. She keeps up the pressure.
Regardless, Kristin's PFMW is gone, which means we can chip away at her Stoneskin using missile weapons. Most of our attacks come from Mur'Neth, who has 5 APR thanks to Tristan or Isolde's throwing dagger, but Finch's Bottles of Sludge, Yeslick's sling, and Kagain's throwing axe also play a role.
Our success is short-lived. SCS mages have illegal contingencies that can trigger when they run out of Stoneskins or PFMW, and Kristin uses it to escape and summon some critters to throw at us.
The reason the monster show up in that room is because I saw Kristin targeting Kagain with a spell and sent him away so the rest of the party wouldn't get hurt in case it was an area-effect spell.
The computer handles targeting differently from the player. The player's single-target spells can only target a single critter, and the player's area-effect spells can only target a point on the map, but computers can never target the map. The computer can only target creatures, which means that even if they're casting a spell like Fireball or Gate, they have to choose a living target. Also, unlike the player's Fireball and Gate spells, the computer's will follow the target if the target moves during casting.
So if you cast Horrid Wilting on an enemy, Horrid Wilting will hit that exact spot even if the enemy moves. But if the enemy casts Horrid Wilting on you, Horrid Wilting will chase you down if you try to flee, which means you can draw the spell away from your other party members--but Horrid Wilting's original target cannot escape no matter how far they run.
Kristin restores her Stoneskins and keeps summoning monsters. Teleport Field throws Kagain to the middle of the map, so that's where her next batch of ogres appears.
These summons could be a problem, especially those Ogre Mages. Yeslick deploys Doufas' Saber.
It's a pretty powerful weapon considering it starts with "Doofus."
Kristin charms Yeslick, but Frisk has trouble dispelling it. A Seducer's Dispel Charm only works if the target makes a save vs. spell at +5. It's an easy save, but in BG1, saving throws are terrible.
The situation deteriorates. Kagain fails a save against Slow, and Yeslick remains under Kristin's control.
Anxious to make progress, I have Mur'Neth use the Amulet of Wyvren Summoning. Frisk finally cures Yeslick!
But the wyvern gets stuck thanks to its large circle, allowing Kristin's spellcasting to continue unabated.
Mur'Neth summons another wyvern, this time right next to Kristin, while Kagain uses one of Mur'Neth's Potions of Speed to counteract the slow effect.
Notice the Feeblemind on the ogres. Without Slythe to backstab them to death, Frisk is free to cast Hypnosis from afar.
Yeslick, newly freed thanks to Frisk's Dispel Charm, starts chopping up the ogres. But Kristin proves evasive. Mur'Neth summons a third wyvern to chase her down.
Finch has strong damage output with her morningstar, but fighting the ogres isn't the best use of her time. Unlike Kagain's Wand of Paralyzation, Finch's Wand of the Heavens actually does something when Kristin makes her saving throw.
Sensing Kristin's vulnerability, I decide to take a risk by having Chara break invisibility. They attack using Minute Meteors bolstered by Poison Weapon. Kristin grows weak.
Before Kristin can recover, Chara seals her fate using a Flame Arrow.
The loot is respectable, but the only item we have a use for is a ring to improve Chara's already-strong defenses.
Powerful mod items are great, but the Item Randomizer damages our ability to metagame, which is a more valuable resource.
Assuming you're not spamming the Amulet of Wyvren Summoning, of course. Because that will definitely take down any fight in BG1.
Speaking of which, I decide to settle an old score. It's time to finish off the Medusas near Mutamin's garden. I killed the one who shattered Morwen, our best party member at the time, but that Medusa was not the only one to give us trouble.
The wyverns trample the Medusas. Finally, justice has been done. But that's not all.
We fought so hard and so long, and finally--finally--Chara has reached level 7.
We have all kinds of crazy crap now, from Elf Tendon Wands that deal poison damage and paralysis to Burning Oil bottles that deal nonmagical area-effect fire damage to grenades that lower MR and saves to potions that can stun enemies on hit, dispel magic, boost MR, and grant stoneskins, on top of all of our normal Alchemist potions. And thanks to Officer Vai and a Bag of Holding crammed with valuable equipment we can't use...
...we have half a million gold.
I fill all of our containers with the most expensive potions we can buy. We have over 50 of each kind (more than enough to last us for the rest of the next game) plus enough Arrows of Detonation to blow up Dragonspear Castle and enough wands to blow up Hogwarts.
Plus, thanks to an amulet from Ulcaster, Chara can cast level 4 spells, despite the fact that Alchemists get a penalty to spell slots that prevents them from getting any level 4 spell slots until level 8 (like a sorcerer). We don't have Stoneskin, but it does mean Chara can cast Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, which will be very helpful in saving the Grand Dukes.
The Ducal Palace awaits. This run took so much time and so much effort, but finally we've gotten where we needed to be.
Seeing the fruits of our labors fills us with determination.
Revenge of the loons, I gave up Intel to finally get my dear sister back then told that toothless drow hag to take a hike!
Tricks; I pop a swarm then concentrate fire on the one target until he leaves but a summon from one of the loons will cast a fireball (making everyone hostile) if you don't watch for and take control of it... the murderers can be a pain if you can't counter their backstabs but I slow them down with adds and ice spells. ·The goblin ambush is a powerful risk but as long as you don't move forward it should be ok. ·Mazzy needs to know her limits and Greater Werewolf is one... Viconia was a sport about it and agreed to rejoin til we get back. ·Neera had a near miss when she was petrified... good thing I kept backup scrolls for just such an occasion. ·Imoen showed us how to summon adds with out breaking her invisibility... she keeps the contingently spare for times like that.
Bug; once the head loon dies we should get a cut scene yea?... only fix is a reload.
Some Pst deaths give you memory triggers though so even random deaths can be plot related. And I am not sure why Pst no reload should go elsewhere. Iwd, bgt, tutu, iwg... All is fine right why not pst
If optional deaths in PST can change the plot or introduce new content, how about we tweak the rules so PST no-reloads can tolerate intentional deaths? This would allow the player to experience any PST content that requires a death, even if the death is not necessary to beat the game.
If optional deaths in PST can change the plot or introduce new content, how about we tweak the rules so PST no-reloads can tolerate intentional deaths? This would allow the player to experience any PST content that requires a death, even if the death is not necessary to beat the game.
There were no further deaths today - though not for want of trying!
The first port of call was back at the Lighthouse where some sirines were put in a sticky situation. However, targeting there is tricky as the sirines will start moving around as soon as someone comes into sight (even if invisible). In this case our spells did not give us quite enough room to attack the 3rd sirine and that could have been painful if it had woken up while we were on the floor - but it didn't.
Gate70 then made the brave statement that Sil's lot "should be easier" - and, surprisingly, that was proved to be correct (ignoring Sod's law it should always be correct as there's not the same targeting problem with them).
Stern tried to run invisible interference on the golems, but that wasn't easy when they tried double-teaming Noy - but his use of a potion of speed allowed him to run rings round them without taking a hit.
A quick trip to the Gnoll Stronghold picked up a further tome. On the way Caldo & Krumm were given a nap by Stern - but also presented with a skull trap trophy by Noy.
Luckily the positioning of that was not on the route the dryad took after giving a reward.
There was no action in the Cloakwood on the way to the mine - where Drasus & co also failed to take any actions.
An invisible trip down to Davaeorn's level was capped off by Noy setting off a series of traps to make a pair of battle horrors visible. With 3 skull traps between us, I expected the battle horrors to go down, but Davaeorn also expiring was a bonus.
In the City we hunted for more tomes, including undertaking the poison quest. The intended co-ordinated attack on Jalantha was disrupted by failed lines of sight and she survived to cast a flame strike.
Stern was 'safely' outside a couple of seconds before that cast, but I've noticed before that Jalantha has a nasty tendency to ignore that - good job Stern made his saving throw . Immediately after that there was again a lack of precision when attacking Ramazith and he was able to respond with spells of his own that could easily have claimed a victim.
Back on track, an ogre enclosure was carefully built for Lothander to ensure Noy got her own boots of speed.
Noy wasn't sure what would happen if he blinded Marek (there would be a possibility of breaking the quest by making him hostile before talking to him), but couldn't resist trying it. Fortunately perhaps, Marek saved against 2 spells before dying in a more conventional fashion.
The final action was an assault on the Iron Throne. That started well with web/stinking cloud preceding several skull traps that inflicted early casualties. However, lines of sight again caused a problem when Noy's attempted spell sent him into the web - Stern delighting in the opportunity to be able to justifiably skull trap her to 'save her from the enemies'.
That slowed down the kills and three of the enemies survived long enough to seek revenge in the bottom room. Noy decided to try and finish the last of them by staging a gun-fight with Zhalimar. Noy was actually fractionally slower to the draw, but Zhalimar missed and paid the price.
Here resumes the record of Lady Pella Ardinay of Candlekeep, Ward of Gorion.
Woke to the realization that Gorion actually is dead and I've actually agreed to aid a couple of Zhentarim.
Spoke with elves - names are Khalid and Jaheira(!), they said Gorion wanted them to watch over me if he died unexpectedly (old fart couldn't tell me this a week ago?) & that they too want to go to Nashkel. Told them M&Xz want to go there too, J suggested we unite our group with hers (insinuated that M&Xz might not be trustworthy. I find myself agreeing, though I'll not tell this to M's face since he'd likely hamstring me if I did. Xz wouldn't care)
J's Druish and K's a fighter. Kindrid spirit in J, she's a staver as well, though she's better w/clubs. K's rocking the Knights Templar look but he's an elf & good with his hands - probably could teach Imoen some new bow tricks.
Heard about an Ogre on the Lion's Way w/belt fetish, may want to steer clear (though belt owner hinted she'd pay good coin for the belt's return). Another shorty, from Beregost, said her house is infested w/spiders (can't blame her for staying away from THAT), wants some items returned. We have to pass thru Beregost to get to Nashkel anyway so may as well check that mess out. Sure hope none of those spiders are POISONOUS or anything (note to self - try and get down payment next time). Also - surly H'orc w/ huge 2hsw thought I was a server. Gently corrected him & he dismissed me. Probably for the best - got REALLY BAD VIBES off of him.
Miserable travel weather - hopefully moving under rain cover means no ambushes. M&Xz didn't like rain travel but kept their mouths shut. I think J knows they're Zhent, she keeps trying to avoid them both.
Followed Lion's Way to Beregost. No sign of Belted Ogre, might be hiding nearby tho. No trouble on road, maybe rainy morning made marauder moods miserable?
No gold, so no point asking directions from town tout. Heard interesting rumor from Town crier - mad cleric Bassilus has 5k gold bounty on head for "crimes against nature" - looked at J but she either couldn't or wouldn't elaborate. Looked pissed AF though, so might be worth trying to get that bounty even though delays. Some kid named Garrick said his boss was willing to pay 300 gold for bodyguards. We needed the money so we signed up, but she wanted us to kill innos. No thanks - she tried to use some illusions and evocations but we shut her down pretty quick. Got a nice new Staff and some much-needed coin out of it. Garrick was left w/o a boss but he's a good kid. Hope he stays out of trouble - I've got my hands full as it is with these Zhents. The "thugs" rewarded us w/potions. M&Xz were starting to complain of fatigue so we ducked into Red Sheaf inn, just to run into a shorty with a mad temper. Said he was just doing some business. Some business! He nearly lopped off Khalid's head, and caught me pretty good too! Xzar threw a few necromancies at the dwarf & he panicked. I would feel sorry for him, but... well, my head is now worth 350 gold. Someone wants me dead.
Once things calmed down, J tended to the wounded. A halfling named Purdue said a Gnoll stole his favorite sword. He offered 50 gold and I told him I'd get it back (honestly, with 400 gold in our pocket? I'd have done it for free. Bandits are a plague upon this region and I'll be glad of the day when this iron crisis is over) Told the Barkeep we'd be back - too rattled to stay @ Red Sheaf after that assassin - & went to Feldposts... where another dolt tried picking a fight. Talked him down, though. Turns out the guy's son got himself killed adventuring and he's still grieving. Honestly? Kid would have gone out in the wilds anyway - I've got that itch too, but I'm strong enough to scratch it! - and told him as much. He tried denial but his buddy told him more truth. Bought the guy a round at the bar to help him with his sorrows. Can't rest here either after that confrontation, though - M&Xz are on edge & probably would have picked a fight anyway.
I know Firebead lives in Beregost but can't remember which house is his. For that matter, how am I supposed to know which house is the spider one? Everyone's getting impatient, so we may as well head out to Nashkel. We've at least got some coin to work with now.
Wound up trying to rest outside of town, off the road a bit. Nobody wanted to be on the road @ night, so we stayed just out of sight.
Stank of death, but didn't feel confident investigating. Rejoined the road a few hours' march south of Beregost. Imoen had a bad feeling & scouted the road ahead - small army of Hobgobs but didn't spot any way around them. Tried old war tac the Watchers taught me - pull a few from the main group & fill 'em full of arrows. That worked until we hit their archers, at which point we just rushed in. Found a redstone amulet engraved "COLQUETLE" - that name sounds familiar? I think Firebead mentioned that family a few times. The stink of death was nearby - I think I found the owners.
No other problems on road, though Lord Foreshadow... uh, forshadowed a trip of his to Neverwinter. He didn't know anything of Nashkel or Amn, though he suggested I visit Athkatla someday. Maybe once the matter of Gorion's murder is settled, I'll pay a visit to that city. I'd enjoy it, moreso if I can sign up with the Cowled Wizards, or at least their enforcers.
Arrived safely in Nashkel. Some Amnish soldier named Bardolan demanded we identify ourselves, I complied. He warned us not to cause trouble (with these Zhents in tow? Trouble's gonna find us!) and we checked in with the Mayor. He asked us to look into the Iron Crisis, which seems to have started with their iron mine to the south of town.
Some guy near the inn was saying he would show us justice. I may take him up on the offer someday, but not today. We hopped into the inn... and got attacked again. Tried appealing to this one's sense of greed (not that I could have followed through on that!). This one was a priest! Imoen used her wand and Xzar did his necromancies. He also burned a chill touch scroll (argh!) and tried punching her.
Jaheira took the spoils of combat - a magic helm and some splint mail. As it turns out, I couldn't have afforded to bribe her - now my skull is worth 680 gold. Just who wants me dead? And why?
We were too exhausted to scour the region for a less unsettling place to rest. Had an odd dream... Let this moment be forever recorded in the archives of Abeir-Toril.
META STUFF: I did go ahead and buy the book for Firebead; we'll probably wind up running into him while "looking" for Landrin's house. Did not get the antidotes from Landrin (blah) and I'm planning on doing a bit of Ogre Hunting once we're past Nimbul and Taranazing or Tazmily or whatever the Iron Throne flunky in Feldepost's is called.
I made a beeline for Nashkel largely because that gets me the first Bhaalpower and so that the two groups of two won't start grumbling about taking too long to go to Nashkel. It's just so weird going to Nashkel by the road instead of by the Brage, but there was no in-story reason to go out that way and I'd rather do that with Minsc and Dynaheir in tow anyway.
I fully expect Xzar to get himself killed on the way to the Gnoll stronghold. I'll still get him a sling and some bullets but at this point it's throwing good money after bad.
With Ulgoth's Beard inaccessible, there is nothing left to do. No stones left unturned. No business to take care of.
It is time to confront Sarevok and finally make our way to Siege of Dragonspear. After so much preparation, we are finally ready.
Chara has flooded our inventory with hundreds of potions. We start drinking.
Every bonus counts, and I am not willing to let this run fail. I have worked too hard to make it a success.
I've only beaten BG1 with SCS twice and know very little about the final battles, but I do know the run will fail if I let both Belt and Liia Jannath die. But thanks to Spell Revisions, Resilient Sphere automatically works on friendly and neutral targets; it offers no saving throw.
That's 10 full rounds of total immunity for Belt. For some reason, Liia Jannath has no pre-buffs (is she not a mage?), and the doppelgangers kill her in seconds.
The Flaming Fist crumple soon after, barely putting up a fight at all, but Kagain and our clerics have 8 APR with powerful magical weapons, and Chara's Musk Wine bumps Kagain and Yeslick's STR to 19 and 21. Where the Flaming Fist failed, our front line succeeds.
The Doppelganger Mage is worrisome, but we can apply enough pressure to get past its Mirror Images. Mur'Neth's throwing dagger and Chara's Minute Meteors add another 10 APR, bringing the party's total to 19.
The doppelgangers go down! Belt is still alive! I was terrified that I'd fail this section somehow. I don't know how I could have done it without Resilient Sphere, if Liia Jannath went down so incredibly fast.
Sarevok doesn't say anything, and I'm pretty sure he needs to do so before the plot can proceed, so we just stand around awkwardly waiting for Belt to come out of his shell.
When Belt breaks free, Sarevok attacks. I throw the party at him, but I've already seen this party before; he runs away once you deal some damage to him.
Sarevok manages to kill Belt before we can scare him away. Then I get a weird message.
What does he mean, we failed? We saved Belt from the doppelgangers!
The Flaming Fist go hostile for some reason. I don't know what to do, so I attack one of them. They're awfully easy to kill, but it looks like I wasn't supposed to defend myself.
A fully-buffed Angelo attacks us, but his defenses are meaningless when the whole party is at full strength with nothing else to distract them. We chop him in half.
I thought somebody was supposed to teleport us to the Undercity or something. But nothing's happening. I clear out the Flaming Fist so I can think without the battle distracting me.
There's a neutral mage here, but he's no help. And when I try to leave the area, there are no exits. I'm stuck.
This has to be a bug. I saved Belt from the doppelgangers; what else was I supposed to do?
Don't tell me I had to save him from Sarevok, too.
I decide to conduct a test. I reload and go through the fight again, but this time, when Belt breaks out of Chara's Resilient Sphere, I position the party in front of him before attacking Sarevok, to prevent Sarevok from killing him.
Sarevok runs away again. But this time, he doesn't say we failed. And we get teleported to the Thieves Guild, right where we're supposed to be.
Well, fuck.
That wasn't a bug.
I didn't know Sarevok could kill Belt and end the game. I thought it was just the doppelgangers that did that. I mean, Sarevok just stood there the whole fight--if he knew he could make his plan come to fruition by killing Belt and Liia Jannath himself, why doesn't he join the fight while the doppelgangers have everyone distracted? Why give us the opportunity to try to save them?
And there were literally two Flaming Fist soldiers right there who witnessed Sarevok murdering Belt. Why didn't they speak up?
Fuck.
This is immensely disappointing. We fought so incredibly hard for so, so long. Every step of the way, that 75% XP cut left us constantly underleveled. It was a crippling disadvantage when I already had trouble metagaming--I didn't even know most of the mods I had installed; I was totally blind.
We even went through the Grey Clan questline, because I didn't know any better. We had to fight a level 18 sorceress with a level 5 party. With only 4 party members. After fighting our way through dozens of guards. And ogres. And a level 12 mage with Flesh to Stone. And a bunch of undead fighters. And a guy who could cast Mirror Image and Heal instantly and infinitely. Without resting. Without metagaming. And without reloading.
And as if to add insult to injury, that level 18 sorceress gave us 2375 XP. Less than three vanilla Ankhegs. She had Improved Alacrity, for god's sake!
But no. Out of all of the things that could ended this run, it was Sarevok. Who did it in the dumbest way possible.
Oh, look, Chara's here. Probably trying to thwart me again. I guess I'll just let the doppelgangers fight them. As long as the Grand Dukes die, I still win.
Oh, hey, they protected Belt. Well, as long as the doppelgangers can still beat Chara, they can finish Belt off later.
Ho hum.
There goes Liia Jannath.
You know what I could go for? A bagel.
Man, those doppelgangers are dying fast.
Or maybe a sandwich. A BLT would hit the spot.
Looks like the doppelgangers are gonna lose. I wonder if I should help them.
Wait. Grilled cheese. Definitely grilled cheese.
There goes the last doppelganger. I wonder when Belt gets out of that shell?
Chara's looking at me funny. Play it cool...
Maybe I should have just poisoned the dukes. It worked on Eltan.
Well, Belt's out.
Belt: hi guys would u like a grilled cheese sandwich
Sarevok: Gimme gimme gimme!
Belt: here u go sarevok i thought you might be hungry
Sarevok: Angelo, I'm busy eating my sandwich! Hurry up and kill those people for me!
Angelo: Wait, is that what I was supposed to be doing?
Chara: Yo, Belt! We got documents on this Sarevok guy! He did bad stuff!
Belt: okey i'll read ur dockaments
Sarevok: Dude, no! Those people are murderers!
Belt: but i liek reading dockaments
Sarevok: Oh yeah? Well, your name is dumb!
Belt: no my name is belt you silly billy
Sarevok: Stop calling me a silly billy! Why does everyone keep calling me that?
As I said at the beginning of this run, I chose Frisk and Chara as my main characters because I was sure I wouldn't lose interest in them later on. I therefore decide to start BG1 over again, with Chara as our Charname using the Alchemist kit and Frisk using the Seducer kit.
But this time, I uninstall the component that cuts all XP rewards by 75%. And now that I've gone through some of BWS already, I have some ideas on how to play this run differently from the last.
Namely, I'm going to obliterate Sarevok. Just like I did to the Medusas and the Grey Clan.
Sorry to see the palace claim another frustrated victim @semiticgod. To be safe from Sarevok you should ensure all party members are away from Belt when the last doppleganger dies (or he comes out of his shell) and then lead him into a side room. If he and Sarevok can't see each other there will be no nasty accidents in the short time before Sarevok teleports away.
If it's any consolation, it makes sense. Sarevok has a clean record. CHARNAME does not. Even if Sarevok kills the Grand Dukes himself, you're the bigger fish here and only the presence of a Grand Duke can stay the Flaming Fist.
Session 5 saw the trio complete their escape from the Chateau by using their combined strengths against all comers.
The circus was set to rights, and a Mad Cleric in the Docks district was unable to assert his faith.
Inside the Sea's Bounty Tavern, Dreen picked up his favourite set of armour.
On to Watchers Keep for a potion case and the chance to pick up Suna Seni and her ambushers... but they were wise to us and stayed away for the time being. We ventured inside the keep and met two Vampiric Wraiths.
Dreen was caught flat-footed by them and died, Nugget becoming the next target. Cue a slammed door in their faces, and with three spirit creatures gnawing at their rears they didn't get chance to turn on Nerd.
With them dead, Nugget opened the door and Sister Garlena was availed upon to raise Dreen from the dead. A minute or two of healing later, he ignored the sage advice of Nerd and activated a petrification trap. Fortunately for him, Sister Garlena has Stone to Flesh scrolls so he was brought back into the party again. We used three more spirit summons to deal with two guardian golems and returned a pair of slippers to a lich priest, then Nerd suggested Dreen might like to pick up the Foebane sword. Sounds good - although the two statues in possession of it put up a good fight.
By this point we had got somewhat tired of spirit animals attacking us (due to our nymphs dominating enemies as they fought the animals). This would seem relatively easy for us to stop, but no we're slow learners. Still, as the stinky little sewer-dwarf and his crew found out here, there are summons aplenty. Despite the evidence of this screenshot showing we were in a dominant position, Nugget is still summoning his first fire elemental to add extra overkill into proceedings.
After this combat, Dreen took some heavy level-draining from Vampiric Mists (until he realised the shouts through the locked door were telling him to unlock the locked door).
Since he'd taken a drain or two for the team, it seemed only sensible to shove him across a level drain trap for good measure and prevent a future accident. By now he was down to level 5 and feeling an urgent need to visit a temple so the druids relented. We sold a bunch of loot on the way and subsequently paid Gaelan Bayle so a visit to Aran Linvail is next on the list. Hopefully Dreen-Drain should soon be a thing of the past.
Even restored, Corey_Russell noted that Dreen is feeling a bit down on levels. It should balance out nicely though, assuming we don't die. Nugget requires 340k xp to reach level 13, then 750k to 14 and 1.5m to 15. By which time, Dreen would be well ahead at level 18 and Nerd some way back with levels 14 / 14.
Nugget, Totemic Druid 12. 70 kills. Nerd, Fighter 8 / Druid 10 (11 but not levelled). 183 kills. Dreen, Inquisitor 9. 257 kills. 1 death + 1 petrification today (keeping Grond0 happy with the odd party death or two)
We got the Suna Seni ambush, but it's nothing a Wand of Cold can't take care of. We cleared up the tombs in the Graveyard, except for the ones with vampires in them, and did the Harpers/Xzar quest-line. The Wand of Cold is definitely OP. We killed the group in the Athkatla Sewers by drawing out the Mage and one of the front-liners, resting and then taking care of the rest of the group. This gave us a Small Shield +2 (I think it's +2, maybe it's just +1...), a Helm of Charm Protection and a Full Armour Plate +1. We started a bunch of quests like revealing Mae'Var's treachery and getting Windspear's child back from Firkraag, but didn't do anything related to them (except giving the Acorns back to the Nymphs).
We too care of the first level of Watcher's Keep (confirmed: Vampiric Mists are the most annoying single enemy in the whole saga), got a lot of money, but nothing worthy in terms of usefulness besides a Wand of Ruby Reversal. Then I did the Daar/Stone Golem/Colette quest in Umar Hills, which gave us enough XP to attain level 11/12! I am looking for some magical Long Swords, but I can't find any. I've been using Enchanted Weapon, it's pretty good, largely underrated spell, since it gives you a +3 weapon for 24 hours. Since now we can use Death Spell, I think I'm gonna tackle Nalia's Keep, but I'm not sure I can beat Tor'Gal.
With extreme prejudice, I gave up trying to find any good in these guys after leaving the pirate island.
Tricks;
I countered the tactics of a gith raiding party by standing in a line.
·The shark king meet his doom at the end of a 'Harm'... the prince proved a bit more resilient but he couldn't stop Zain from winning his heart in the end.
Bug; once the king and prince died the game bugged to force us into killing the prince all over again... we just rolled up our sleeves and kept shooting so no actual reload was required.
The duo robbed the tombs in Candlekeep before fighting their way past some dopplegangers and attempting to rest. After about 6 failed rests and a lot of running and shooting they trekked all the way back to the library to rest and go invisible. That allowed them to bypass Prat and lay down the standard carpet of webs to provide some easy kills.
Back in Baldur's Gate they sorted out equipment before heading for Slythe. Noy missed with a pot-shot at him with a dispelling arrow, so Stern produced some summoned monsters to occupy him while being magic-missiled.
At the palace some hasted summons provided a bit of cover. Improved invisibility on Belt allowed him to last a bit longer while Stern put up a malison to make Noy's horror more effective. Another horror reduced the active opposition down to 2 and MMMs and MMs quickly dealt with those while Belt still had a bit of health in hand.
Stern got his last level in the maze before webs made one last appearance to sort out the Undercity party. In the temple Noy's opening with a dispelling arrow slowed down Sarevok. Another made Semaj vulnerable when he teleported out and he didn't last long - and then a stream of MMs ensured neither did Sarevok.
SoD
In the dungeon the plan was essentially invisible scouting, followed by area damage, with a summons or two as back-up if necessary. That worked pretty smoothly with most of the encounters. Korlasz did charge out and had the opportunity to cast a few spells, but didn't achieve too much with them and he was only saved from death by surrendering at the last moment.
No too much progress being made recently, although the story is getting fleshed out. Cromarty's Crusaders journeyed on through the wilderness to the Gnoll Stronghold, and were able to clear it out without extreme difficulty. However at one point Xzar managed to brain our rakshasha ranger with a grenade and this, along with his subsequent gloating, were too much for Cromarty. We dumped the pair of them for Dyanheir (M/C) and Ajantis (Cavalier), killing a number of ankhegs in their lair without great difficulty. We completed a number of minor quests around Beregost, and since Garrick is proving to be a poor study we'll have to pop by High Hedge next in order to identify our magical booty. Garrick (or possibly Gavin) will get cycled out in favour of Safana (or possibly Alora) as soon as we leave the great outdoors.
I delete my BWS install, re-install everything except for the 75% XP tax that so ruthlessly crippled my previous run, and start up BG1 once more. Chara remains our main character and our Alchemist, while Frisk remains our Seducer.
The run begins much like the previous run. Alchemist items cost lots of money, but there are some great ways to get it early on. Talking to Firebead Elvenhair 30 times gives us 300 gold, and there's some treasure in the Candlekeep Inn.
The last time we robbed the inn, we got caught, and things got... weird. Rather than go through all of that again, I talk-block the guard the moment he appears.
Alchemists can "recycle" potions and gems for much more gold than you could get by selling it to a normal vendor, and that Potion of Clarity bumps us up to 1,000 gold before we even leave Candlekeep.
Much of it goes to buying Smoke Bombs, which grant 1d4+3 seconds of invisibility. That's only a 50% chance of lasting a full round, but it's a valuable escape option that's much cheaper and much easier to get than Potions of Invisibility.
I recruit Xzar and Montaron for the sole reason that I can let them absorb Tarnesh's spells. But a lucky backstab renders the issue moot.
So I bring them north to the Ankheg farm, to farm Ankhegs. Montaron dies in one hit, but we manage to bring down the Ankheg partly thanks to Larloch's Minor Drain from Xzar, one of our few means of dealing automatic damage.
We recruit Ajantis to take Montaron's place as the party tank. Unfortunately, the Ankheg gets lucky, and drinking a Rainwater Brew (which heals 2d6 HP) isn't enough to save Ajantis from the second hit.
Plus, thanks to Item Revisions robbing helmets of their ability to deflect critical hits, Ajantis can also die in one hit.
We persevere, and though Ajantis keeps dying, we bring down some Ankhegs. Things get ugly when bandits ambush us alongside an Anhkeg, but Frisk holds off the bandits with Hypnosis (Feeblemind for 6 seconds on a failed save vs. spell at +5; caster suffers -3 AC and half movement rate) long enough for Ajantis to put down the Ankheg.
In the previous run, we relied heavily on Command to hold down the Ankhegs. But since that would require bringing a cleric into the party and would cut into our XP reward, I have Frisk hypnotize the Ankhegs instead, allowing Chara to throw grenades (1d6 damage, automatic hits, stun for 6 seconds on a failed save vs. breath at +3) without putting themself in danger.
Ajantis still gets killed sometimes, but Hypnosis and Chara's grenades clear out all the Ankhegs. We ditch Ajantis (I never found him very interesting) and head out to Tenya. I thought this quest involved no combat, but somewhere along the line, I apparently made a mistake.
Rather than challenge Tenya with only two party members, I flee to Beregost and recruit Morwen, a mod NPC who starts out at level 5 with several magical items. She even gives the party a massive XP reward just for letting her in!
Chara hits level 4. That was so, so difficult in my last run. I don't believe it... we're already almost strong enough to tackle the Bandit Camp! Chara now has a suite of new potions, including Pressurized Gas, a canister that releases a poisonous cloud that deals damage through MGOI.
But I don't want to rush out to the Nashkel mines or Bandit Camp just yet; I want more resources before we go anyplace dangerous. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Frisk charms Silke.
Like in my previous run, I have her summon some monsters, waste her offensive spells, and then cast Improved Invisibility on Chara before going to Garrick. By the time the fight begins, Silke is out of ammo. I don't even have a screenshot of the fight; nothing interesting happened.
We resurrect Imoen and boot her from the party, along with Xzar and Montaron. I want to keep our XP gains concentrated in the three characters I know I will keep for the long haul.
Out of curiosity, I have Morwen tackle Tenya. Turns out Morwen's archery is enough to slay her.
Hypnosis also holds off the Beregost spiders long enough for Morwen to shoot them down.
Also like my previous run, I use talk-blocking (which I'm not even sure is necessary) and Frisk's Charm spell to evacuate the guards and the nobles from the manor in Beregost. But Item Randomizer once again keeps a Wand of Lightning out of our reach.
The loot isn't impressive, but by now we've gathered a lot of it--far more than I thought we could have.
There's a mod-introduced quest to cure a werewolf at High Hedge. Like last time, I get Thalantyr to brew a cure, but it still doesn't work.
I'm guessing that the first option, which involves using guril berries as an ingredient in the potion, is probably doomed to failure no matter. You have to choose a different ingredient for it to work.
Feeblemind and grenades, using Morwen as a decoy, help us take down some ogres near Shoal...
...and when we get overwhelmed, Chara's Smoke Bombs bail us out.
As for Shoal herself, we just distract her with summoned Gibberlings, courtesy of Spell Revisions. Shoal has no defense against Morwen's arrows.
Morwen comes with a Greenstone Amulet, which grants constant-effect immunities in Item Revisions, and with Chara's Sweet Elixirs, Morwen can protect herself both from the Sirenes' charms and their poisoned arrows.
Morwen wasn't actually wearing the Greenstone Amulet, however; her elf or half-elf immunities blocked that first Dire Charm. And though Frisk can cure it with Dispel Charm, it only works if Morwen makes a save vs. spell at +5. Frisk nearly dies before they can fix Morwen.
We make a stop by Thalantyr's to cure Melicamp. Miraculously, he lives. I don't remember the last time that happened; he's died in all my previous runs.
We return to kill more Sirenes. Morwen uses Bonemeal Eyedrops to improve her missile attacks and dispel the Sirenes' Improved Invisibility spells.
Morwen hits level 6. I'm not sure she even got that far in my last run before she got petrified and shattered.
We accept Sil's offer and agree to kill some pirates. Chara nearly died last time--only their Knave's Robe prevented a fatal backstab--but this time, I know better. I have Frisk and Morwen distract the enemies while using Pressurized Gas to poison them.
The enemy mage fails to make any progress against the party. The Greenstone Amulet protects Chara from Horror and Sleep, and Frisk and Morwen make their saves by chance.
But one of the archers has targeted Chara, and another couple hits could be fatal. Chara chooses an expensive but foolproof option.
With only a pair of weak bracers to protect them, Frisk is very easy to hit, and with only 1d4 HP per level, they can't take many blows before going down. But when Chara hit level 4, they gained the ability to brew Sour Draughts, which heal 4d8 HP (19 on average) a pop. Chara's potions allow Frisk to stay alive long enough for the Pressurized Gas to finish off the enemies.
When the pirate guy is dead, Sil lets us into the Flesh Golem Cave without incident. Morwen discovers that the area is seeded with traps, but a lucky saving throw keeps her safe.
Frisk's Seducer kit prevents them from putting any skill points in Detect Traps or Set Traps (Seducers are manipulators, not dungeon crawlers), so our only means of protecting Morwen from the traps is to use Chara's potions to buff her up.
Morwen kites the golems to death. We have no use for the loot, but at least it will sell for a lot.
To the ruins! We improve our reputation by killing a bunch of innocent miners.
A Doomsayer attacks us outside, and when I remember that it's immune to missile damage, I switch to Bottles of Sludge.
Kiting is enough to take it down.
We've only just started this new run, but without that crippling XP tax from my last run, Chara is already at level 5.
I stop by the carnival and finally choose an option that keeps the nice lady safe from Zordral. Morwen tries out a Command spell from a mod...
...but apparently it suffers from the same problem many others did: it casts the spell on the caster instead of the target. Meaning the only thing her Command spell can do is knock herself unconscious; it's completely worthless.
Zordral summons some Green Slimes, which Frisk holds off using Hypnosis. Chara and Morwen both fail saves against Slow, but counteract it using Potions of Speed.
Frisk has already dispelled Zordral's Mirror Image using Detect Illusions, which can be active even when Frisk is attacking or about to cast a spell. With those images to protect him, Zordral has no defense against Morwen's arrows.
Feeling confident, we march out east to go hunting for basilisks. Rather than rely on a Potion of Mirrored Eyes, which failed to protect Morwen from a Medusa in our last run, we chuck some canisters of Pressurized Gas to poison the basilisks and Medusas.
We run from the Medusas when they approach, only to stumble upon an enemy party. Frisk is hiding in shadows and Chara already drank a Potion of Invisibility, but Morwen has to use a Smoke Bomb to make her escape.
A Sleep spell approaches Frisk. Knowing that their stealth-based invisibility would not last while they were asleep, and knowing they could easily fail their save and get killed or even petrified and shattered, I have them drink another precious Potion of Invisibility.
I keep trying to use "they" and "them" to refer to Chara and Frisk, as they were in Undertale, but in-game they're coded as female and the dialogue refers to them as such, which keeps confusing me.
Canonically, their gender is supposed to be ambiguous. Fanonically, their gender is supposed to be "Other."
Rather than tempt fate, we leave the area. I was sure we had enough canisters of Pressurized Gas to kill all of the basilisks and Medusas and maybe even Mutamin, but I wasn't sure if we could handle that enemy party as well. Another Sleep spell or Slow could have killed us.
I foolishly attempt to have Morwen fight Ghasts in melee combat. I try to save her with Frisk's Hypnosis and Chara's Bottles of Sludge...
...but it's not quite enough. Hypnosis is really unreliable, and one of the Ghasts lives long enough to kill her. Just before she dies, I have Chara nail the Ghast with a grenade.
As always, I use CTRL-R and add the resurrection's gold value to a mental tally. We find a very nice suit of armor that, unfortunately, a Seducer like Frisk cannot use.
Morwen tries to take down a Revenant as well, with similar results.
When Bottles of Sludge prove ineffective, I try to hold off the Revenant with Hypnosis...
...but it doesn't last long enough for Morwen to recover from paralysis. We end up fleeing once again.
After considering my options, I decide to bring Alora into the party. A bug prevents her from showing up at Gullykin, so I teleport her in using the console instead. After a couple more bugs inexplicably send her packing, I bring her into the party.
Turns out she's a Cleric/Thief in my install! And her rabbit's foot gives her massive bonuses: +2 to AC, +2 to saving throws, +2 to luck, and +10% to all thief skills. She starts at a high level, too. Unfortunately, I can only give her a cleric kit, not a thief kit, which means I can't make her an Alchemist (the thief kit, not Chara's mage kit) like I did with Mur'Neth in my last run.
When I realize that Morwen can now choose a new feat due to being level 6, I pick Basic Alchemy, allowing her to create various potions at no cost.
She won't be able to get Advanced Alchemy like Mur'Neth could, but it will give me an infinite supply of gold in the unlikely event I'll ever need it.
Time to deal with Tristan and Isolde. Frisk holds them still with Hypnosis while Morwen and Alora apply pressure. Chara chips in with a Wand of Missiles, and the two lovers don't last long.
I have to reload to fix a blindness-related bug, but Tristan and Isolde go down just as easy on the second try.
We get two very important items from this fight: a throwing dagger that grants the user 5 APR, and Doufas' Saber, a +2 katana that grants 3 APR and inflicts magic damage and paralysis (which can be blocked by MGOI) on a failed save with every hit.
Thanks to Item Revisions, Alora, as a Cleric/Thief, can use either weapon. For now, she only has a proficiency point in daggers, but once she gets a little stronger, she can take a single pip in katanas and use the Doofus Saber with no penalties. Once she does, we will have a proper melee fighter on our hands.
This run is so much less painful than the last one. Making better choices on our second run fills us with determination.
Exit stage left, I was going ok until they popped a 'death'... with my summons out of play and angry drow bearing down on me, the slayer was the only hope.
Bug; you can cast the spell silenced but you have to agree to become the slayer which makes this a catch 22... bug or not I call it pilot error and should have remembered that drow have death spells.
Exit stage left, I was going ok until they popped a 'death'... with my summons out of play and angry drow bearing down on me, the slayer was the only hope.
Bug; you can cast the spell silenced but you have to agree to become the slayer which makes this a catch 22... bug or not I call it pilot error and should have remembered that drow have death spells.
Spell? Shouldn't that be some kind of ability you could activate through your body?
Comments
Undergate: Chara and Frisk in Baldur's Gate
Part 21
Previous posts here:https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/860188/#Comment_860188
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I've heard Slythe and Kristin are very tough, but I'm not very familiar with the fight. The last time I fought them, I won largely thanks to Elf Tendon Wands.
But as I had been fearing since this run began so long ago, we have reached the endgame and still have not hit level 7. That means no Elf Tendon Wands to bypass MGOI. We still have Pressurized Gas, which can also bypass MGOI, but that could easily wipe out the nearby innocents of the Undercellar.
Worse yet, we don't have Vials of Scales, which grant +3 AC and 1d3 stoneskins each. This means Chara is extremely vulnerable to backstabs even if I have them equip a Knave's Robe to negate the multiplier. Instead, I have Chara simply go invisible.
This fight doesn't look like it's going to be easy. Kristin is level 12 and one of her pre-buffs is a summoning spell. We can't get past PFMW, but at least we can clear out the slimes.
We should be able to bypass PFMW using Bottles of Sludge, which deal acid damage but are nonmagical weapons, but as I would later realize, the bottles had an effect that prevented them from getting past either PFMW or even Protection from Normal Weapons.
Slythe nails Frisk with a savage backstab, forcing Frisk to go invisible. The Seducer kit just makes them far too squishy.
Although there are certain advantages to being a squishy Seducer.
Since Frisk is out for the next several rounds until they can heal themself, Mur'Neth has to take Frisk's place. He drinks a Potion of Perception to improve his Detect Illusions skill. This is especially important because Kristin's Mirror Images can apparently block Finch's Wand of the Heavens. Also, both of our dwarves predictably lose all of their defenses.
Slythe goes invisible, threatening another backstab. The dwarves run (I have to disable party AI to stop Yeslick from killing himself on Kristin's Mestil's Acid Sheath spell) while Frisk drinks potions. With Slythe invisible and Kristin shrouded in magicks, the only offensive action we can take is to use wands against Kristin. Kagain, who surprisingly is able to use wands due to his high INT score, opts for a Wand of Paralyzation, while Finch keeps using her Wand of the Heavens.
Neither is making much progress.
Finch loses her defenses to Breach, but Mur'Neth at least manages to remove Kristin's illusions. When he applies some Bonemeal Eyedrops, he also reveals Slythe, saving us from another awful backstab.
With Slythe visible and with his aura still clouded, we can finally hurt him. Kagain and Finch ditch the wands and join Yeslick in taking down the backstabber. Slythe chooses to drink a Potion of Power.
It was a foolish choice. The only thing that could have saved him was a Potion of Invisibility; Kagain has 2 APR and our clerics have 3 APR apiece. Put together, their damage output is just too much for him.
For some reason, Detect Illusions keeps failing to reveal Kristin. The dialog box will say she's been revealed, but she'll stay invisible. Only when Kristin casts a spell does she become visible.
Teleport Field isn't a good choice for Kristin. With that Mestil's Acid Sheath protecting her, it's already dangerous for us to land melee hits; preventing us from hurting ourselves on her Acid Sheath doesn't help her much.
But unlike Slythe, Kristin has the defenses to survive a mistake like that; we can't apply any pressure when she has those incredible defenses up. And our wands keep failing to make any impact.
Kristin tries to nuke Yeslick, but his HP pool is too big for her to threaten. But again, wasting a round doesn't cost her much when we can barely touch her anyway.
Kristin keeps vanishing for unclear reasons. I didn't see her cast Mislead and I don't see her drinking any potions or casting Invisibility, so I don't know how she keeps going invisible. Regardless, all I can really do is wait, toughing out her spells in the hopes that we can pounce when she gets weak.
Kristin's PFMW wears off, and she goes visible just long enough for Finch to smack her with a Bottle of Sludge. It only deals one damage, but Kristin is furious.
She wounded a bystander in the process, but his threats mean little to her. She keeps up the pressure.
Regardless, Kristin's PFMW is gone, which means we can chip away at her Stoneskin using missile weapons. Most of our attacks come from Mur'Neth, who has 5 APR thanks to Tristan or Isolde's throwing dagger, but Finch's Bottles of Sludge, Yeslick's sling, and Kagain's throwing axe also play a role.
Our success is short-lived. SCS mages have illegal contingencies that can trigger when they run out of Stoneskins or PFMW, and Kristin uses it to escape and summon some critters to throw at us.
The reason the monster show up in that room is because I saw Kristin targeting Kagain with a spell and sent him away so the rest of the party wouldn't get hurt in case it was an area-effect spell.
The computer handles targeting differently from the player. The player's single-target spells can only target a single critter, and the player's area-effect spells can only target a point on the map, but computers can never target the map. The computer can only target creatures, which means that even if they're casting a spell like Fireball or Gate, they have to choose a living target. Also, unlike the player's Fireball and Gate spells, the computer's will follow the target if the target moves during casting.
So if you cast Horrid Wilting on an enemy, Horrid Wilting will hit that exact spot even if the enemy moves. But if the enemy casts Horrid Wilting on you, Horrid Wilting will chase you down if you try to flee, which means you can draw the spell away from your other party members--but Horrid Wilting's original target cannot escape no matter how far they run.
Kristin restores her Stoneskins and keeps summoning monsters. Teleport Field throws Kagain to the middle of the map, so that's where her next batch of ogres appears.
These summons could be a problem, especially those Ogre Mages. Yeslick deploys Doufas' Saber.
It's a pretty powerful weapon considering it starts with "Doofus."
Kristin charms Yeslick, but Frisk has trouble dispelling it. A Seducer's Dispel Charm only works if the target makes a save vs. spell at +5. It's an easy save, but in BG1, saving throws are terrible.
The situation deteriorates. Kagain fails a save against Slow, and Yeslick remains under Kristin's control.
Anxious to make progress, I have Mur'Neth use the Amulet of Wyvren Summoning. Frisk finally cures Yeslick!
But the wyvern gets stuck thanks to its large circle, allowing Kristin's spellcasting to continue unabated.
Mur'Neth summons another wyvern, this time right next to Kristin, while Kagain uses one of Mur'Neth's Potions of Speed to counteract the slow effect.
Notice the Feeblemind on the ogres. Without Slythe to backstab them to death, Frisk is free to cast Hypnosis from afar.
Yeslick, newly freed thanks to Frisk's Dispel Charm, starts chopping up the ogres. But Kristin proves evasive. Mur'Neth summons a third wyvern to chase her down.
Finch has strong damage output with her morningstar, but fighting the ogres isn't the best use of her time. Unlike Kagain's Wand of Paralyzation, Finch's Wand of the Heavens actually does something when Kristin makes her saving throw.
Sensing Kristin's vulnerability, I decide to take a risk by having Chara break invisibility. They attack using Minute Meteors bolstered by Poison Weapon. Kristin grows weak.
Before Kristin can recover, Chara seals her fate using a Flame Arrow.
The loot is respectable, but the only item we have a use for is a ring to improve Chara's already-strong defenses.
Powerful mod items are great, but the Item Randomizer damages our ability to metagame, which is a more valuable resource.
Assuming you're not spamming the Amulet of Wyvren Summoning, of course. Because that will definitely take down any fight in BG1.
Speaking of which, I decide to settle an old score. It's time to finish off the Medusas near Mutamin's garden. I killed the one who shattered Morwen, our best party member at the time, but that Medusa was not the only one to give us trouble.
The wyverns trample the Medusas. Finally, justice has been done. But that's not all.
We fought so hard and so long, and finally--finally--Chara has reached level 7.
We have all kinds of crazy crap now, from Elf Tendon Wands that deal poison damage and paralysis to Burning Oil bottles that deal nonmagical area-effect fire damage to grenades that lower MR and saves to potions that can stun enemies on hit, dispel magic, boost MR, and grant stoneskins, on top of all of our normal Alchemist potions. And thanks to Officer Vai and a Bag of Holding crammed with valuable equipment we can't use...
...we have half a million gold.
I fill all of our containers with the most expensive potions we can buy. We have over 50 of each kind (more than enough to last us for the rest of the next game) plus enough Arrows of Detonation to blow up Dragonspear Castle and enough wands to blow up Hogwarts.
Plus, thanks to an amulet from Ulcaster, Chara can cast level 4 spells, despite the fact that Alchemists get a penalty to spell slots that prevents them from getting any level 4 spell slots until level 8 (like a sorcerer). We don't have Stoneskin, but it does mean Chara can cast Otiluke's Resilient Sphere, which will be very helpful in saving the Grand Dukes.
The Ducal Palace awaits. This run took so much time and so much effort, but finally we've gotten where we needed to be.
Seeing the fruits of our labors fills us with determination.
ABT-15,
Revenge of the loons,I gave up Intel to finally get my dear sister back then told that toothless drow hag to take a hike!
Tricks;
I pop a swarm then concentrate fire on the one target until he leaves but a summon from one of the loons will cast a fireball (making everyone hostile) if you don't watch for and take control of it... the murderers can be a pain if you can't counter their backstabs but I slow them down with adds and ice spells.
·The goblin ambush is a powerful risk but as long as you don't move forward it should be ok.
·Mazzy needs to know her limits and Greater Werewolf is one... Viconia was a sport about it and agreed to rejoin til we get back.
·Neera had a near miss when she was petrified... good thing I kept backup scrolls for just such an occasion.
·Imoen showed us how to summon adds with out breaking her invisibility... she keeps the contingently spare for times like that.
Bug; once the head loon dies we should get a cut scene yea?... only fix is a reload.
And I am not sure why Pst no reload should go elsewhere. Iwd, bgt, tutu, iwg... All is fine right why not pst
And I agree with
Stern, elf mage (Grond0) & Noy, human jester (Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868927/#Comment_868927
There were no further deaths today - though not for want of trying!
The first port of call was back at the Lighthouse where some sirines were put in a sticky situation. However, targeting there is tricky as the sirines will start moving around as soon as someone comes into sight (even if invisible). In this case our spells did not give us quite enough room to attack the 3rd sirine and that could have been painful if it had woken up while we were on the floor - but it didn't.
Gate70 then made the brave statement that Sil's lot "should be easier" - and, surprisingly, that was proved to be correct (ignoring Sod's law it should always be correct as there's not the same targeting problem with them).
A quick trip to the Gnoll Stronghold picked up a further tome. On the way Caldo & Krumm were given a nap by Stern - but also presented with a skull trap trophy by Noy.
There was no action in the Cloakwood on the way to the mine - where Drasus & co also failed to take any actions.
In the City we hunted for more tomes, including undertaking the poison quest. The intended co-ordinated attack on Jalantha was disrupted by failed lines of sight and she survived to cast a flame strike.
Back on track, an ogre enclosure was carefully built for Lothander to ensure Noy got her own boots of speed.
The final action was an assault on the Iron Throne. That started well with web/stinking cloud preceding several skull traps that inflicted early casualties. However, lines of sight again caused a problem when Noy's attempted spell sent him into the web - Stern delighting in the opportunity to be able to justifiably skull trap her to 'save her from the enemies'.
Stern, mage 8, 41 HPs, 152 kills
Noy, jester 8, 54 HPs, 118 kills, 2 deaths
Spoke with elves - names are Khalid and Jaheira(!), they said Gorion wanted them to watch over me if he died unexpectedly (old fart couldn't tell me this a week ago?) & that they too want to go to Nashkel. Told them M&Xz want to go there too, J suggested we unite our group with hers (insinuated that M&Xz might not be trustworthy. I find myself agreeing, though I'll not tell this to M's face since he'd likely hamstring me if I did. Xz wouldn't care)
J's Druish and K's a fighter. Kindrid spirit in J, she's a staver as well, though she's better w/clubs. K's rocking the Knights Templar look but he's an elf & good with his hands - probably could teach Imoen some new bow tricks.
Heard about an Ogre on the Lion's Way w/belt fetish, may want to steer clear (though belt owner hinted she'd pay good coin for the belt's return). Another shorty, from Beregost, said her house is infested w/spiders (can't blame her for staying away from THAT), wants some items returned. We have to pass thru Beregost to get to Nashkel anyway so may as well check that mess out. Sure hope none of those spiders are POISONOUS or anything (note to self - try and get down payment next time). Also - surly H'orc w/ huge 2hsw thought I was a server. Gently corrected him & he dismissed me. Probably for the best - got REALLY BAD VIBES off of him.
Miserable travel weather - hopefully moving under rain cover means no ambushes. M&Xz didn't like rain travel but kept their mouths shut. I think J knows they're Zhent, she keeps trying to avoid them both.
Followed Lion's Way to Beregost. No sign of Belted Ogre, might be hiding nearby tho. No trouble on road, maybe rainy morning made marauder moods miserable?
No gold, so no point asking directions from town tout. Heard interesting rumor from Town crier - mad cleric Bassilus has 5k gold bounty on head for "crimes against nature" - looked at J but she either couldn't or wouldn't elaborate. Looked pissed AF though, so might be worth trying to get that bounty even though delays. Some kid named Garrick said his boss was willing to pay 300 gold for bodyguards. We needed the money so we signed up, but she wanted us to kill innos. No thanks - she tried to use some illusions and evocations but we shut her down pretty quick. Got a nice new Staff and some much-needed coin out of it. Garrick was left w/o a boss but he's a good kid. Hope he stays out of trouble - I've got my hands full as it is with these Zhents. The "thugs" rewarded us w/potions. M&Xz were starting to complain of fatigue so we ducked into Red Sheaf inn, just to run into a shorty with a mad temper. Said he was just doing some business. Some business! He nearly lopped off Khalid's head, and caught me pretty good too! Xzar threw a few necromancies at the dwarf & he panicked. I would feel sorry for him, but... well, my head is now worth 350 gold. Someone wants me dead.
Once things calmed down, J tended to the wounded. A halfling named Purdue said a Gnoll stole his favorite sword. He offered 50 gold and I told him I'd get it back (honestly, with 400 gold in our pocket? I'd have done it for free. Bandits are a plague upon this region and I'll be glad of the day when this iron crisis is over) Told the Barkeep we'd be back - too rattled to stay @ Red Sheaf after that assassin - & went to Feldposts... where another dolt tried picking a fight. Talked him down, though. Turns out the guy's son got himself killed adventuring and he's still grieving. Honestly? Kid would have gone out in the wilds anyway - I've got that itch too, but I'm strong enough to scratch it! - and told him as much. He tried denial but his buddy told him more truth. Bought the guy a round at the bar to help him with his sorrows. Can't rest here either after that confrontation, though - M&Xz are on edge & probably would have picked a fight anyway.
I know Firebead lives in Beregost but can't remember which house is his. For that matter, how am I supposed to know which house is the spider one? Everyone's getting impatient, so we may as well head out to Nashkel. We've at least got some coin to work with now.
Wound up trying to rest outside of town, off the road a bit. Nobody wanted to be on the road @ night, so we stayed just out of sight.
Tried old war tac the Watchers taught me - pull a few from the main group & fill 'em full of arrows. That worked until we hit their archers, at which point we just rushed in. Found a redstone amulet engraved "COLQUETLE" - that name sounds familiar? I think Firebead mentioned that family a few times. The stink of death was nearby - I think I found the owners.
No other problems on road, though Lord Foreshadow... uh, forshadowed a trip of his to Neverwinter. He didn't know anything of Nashkel or Amn, though he suggested I visit Athkatla someday. Maybe once the matter of Gorion's murder is settled, I'll pay a visit to that city. I'd enjoy it, moreso if I can sign up with the Cowled Wizards, or at least their enforcers.
Arrived safely in Nashkel. Some Amnish soldier named Bardolan demanded we identify ourselves, I complied. He warned us not to cause trouble (with these Zhents in tow? Trouble's gonna find us!) and we checked in with the Mayor. He asked us to look into the Iron Crisis, which seems to have started with their iron mine to the south of town.
Some guy near the inn was saying he would show us justice. I may take him up on the offer someday, but not today. We hopped into the inn... and got attacked again. Tried appealing to this one's sense of greed (not that I could have followed through on that!). This one was a priest! Imoen used her wand and Xzar did his necromancies. He also burned a chill touch scroll (argh!) and tried punching her.
Jaheira took the spoils of combat - a magic helm and some splint mail. As it turns out, I couldn't have afforded to bribe her - now my skull is worth 680 gold. Just who wants me dead? And why?
We were too exhausted to scour the region for a less unsettling place to rest. Had an odd dream... Let this moment be forever recorded in the archives of Abeir-Toril.
META STUFF:
I did go ahead and buy the book for Firebead; we'll probably wind up running into him while "looking" for Landrin's house. Did not get the antidotes from Landrin (blah) and I'm planning on doing a bit of Ogre Hunting once we're past Nimbul and Taranazing or Tazmily or whatever the Iron Throne flunky in Feldepost's is called.
I made a beeline for Nashkel largely because that gets me the first Bhaalpower and so that the two groups of two won't start grumbling about taking too long to go to Nashkel. It's just so weird going to Nashkel by the road instead of by the Brage, but there was no in-story reason to go out that way and I'd rather do that with Minsc and Dynaheir in tow anyway.
I fully expect Xzar to get himself killed on the way to the Gnoll stronghold. I'll still get him a sling and some bullets but at this point it's throwing good money after bad.
Undergate: Chara and Frisk in Baldur's Gate
Part 22
Previous posts here:https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/860188/#Comment_860188
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/860578/#Comment_860578
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/861123/#Comment_861123
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/861538/#Comment_861538
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/864004/#Comment_864004
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/864065/#Comment_864065
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/864387/#Comment_864387
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/864400/#Comment_864400
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/864816/#Comment_864816
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/865869/#Comment_865869
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/867867/#Comment_867867
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/867893/#Comment_867893
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/867919/#Comment_867919
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868200/#Comment_868200
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868303/#Comment_868303
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868329/#Comment_868329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868336/#Comment_868336
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868538/#Comment_868538
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868565/#Comment_868565
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868593/#Comment_868593
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/869806/#Comment_869806
With Ulgoth's Beard inaccessible, there is nothing left to do. No stones left unturned. No business to take care of.
It is time to confront Sarevok and finally make our way to Siege of Dragonspear. After so much preparation, we are finally ready.
Chara has flooded our inventory with hundreds of potions. We start drinking.
Every bonus counts, and I am not willing to let this run fail. I have worked too hard to make it a success.
I've only beaten BG1 with SCS twice and know very little about the final battles, but I do know the run will fail if I let both Belt and Liia Jannath die. But thanks to Spell Revisions, Resilient Sphere automatically works on friendly and neutral targets; it offers no saving throw.
That's 10 full rounds of total immunity for Belt. For some reason, Liia Jannath has no pre-buffs (is she not a mage?), and the doppelgangers kill her in seconds.
The Flaming Fist crumple soon after, barely putting up a fight at all, but Kagain and our clerics have 8 APR with powerful magical weapons, and Chara's Musk Wine bumps Kagain and Yeslick's STR to 19 and 21. Where the Flaming Fist failed, our front line succeeds.
The Doppelganger Mage is worrisome, but we can apply enough pressure to get past its Mirror Images. Mur'Neth's throwing dagger and Chara's Minute Meteors add another 10 APR, bringing the party's total to 19.
The doppelgangers go down! Belt is still alive! I was terrified that I'd fail this section somehow. I don't know how I could have done it without Resilient Sphere, if Liia Jannath went down so incredibly fast.
Sarevok doesn't say anything, and I'm pretty sure he needs to do so before the plot can proceed, so we just stand around awkwardly waiting for Belt to come out of his shell.
When Belt breaks free, Sarevok attacks. I throw the party at him, but I've already seen this party before; he runs away once you deal some damage to him.
Sarevok manages to kill Belt before we can scare him away. Then I get a weird message.
What does he mean, we failed? We saved Belt from the doppelgangers!
The Flaming Fist go hostile for some reason. I don't know what to do, so I attack one of them. They're awfully easy to kill, but it looks like I wasn't supposed to defend myself.
A fully-buffed Angelo attacks us, but his defenses are meaningless when the whole party is at full strength with nothing else to distract them. We chop him in half.
I thought somebody was supposed to teleport us to the Undercity or something. But nothing's happening. I clear out the Flaming Fist so I can think without the battle distracting me.
There's a neutral mage here, but he's no help. And when I try to leave the area, there are no exits. I'm stuck.
This has to be a bug. I saved Belt from the doppelgangers; what else was I supposed to do?
Don't tell me I had to save him from Sarevok, too.
I decide to conduct a test. I reload and go through the fight again, but this time, when Belt breaks out of Chara's Resilient Sphere, I position the party in front of him before attacking Sarevok, to prevent Sarevok from killing him.
Sarevok runs away again. But this time, he doesn't say we failed. And we get teleported to the Thieves Guild, right where we're supposed to be.
Well, fuck.
That wasn't a bug.
I didn't know Sarevok could kill Belt and end the game. I thought it was just the doppelgangers that did that. I mean, Sarevok just stood there the whole fight--if he knew he could make his plan come to fruition by killing Belt and Liia Jannath himself, why doesn't he join the fight while the doppelgangers have everyone distracted? Why give us the opportunity to try to save them?
And there were literally two Flaming Fist soldiers right there who witnessed Sarevok murdering Belt. Why didn't they speak up?
Fuck.
This is immensely disappointing. We fought so incredibly hard for so, so long. Every step of the way, that 75% XP cut left us constantly underleveled. It was a crippling disadvantage when I already had trouble metagaming--I didn't even know most of the mods I had installed; I was totally blind.
We even went through the Grey Clan questline, because I didn't know any better. We had to fight a level 18 sorceress with a level 5 party. With only 4 party members. After fighting our way through dozens of guards. And ogres. And a level 12 mage with Flesh to Stone. And a bunch of undead fighters. And a guy who could cast Mirror Image and Heal instantly and infinitely. Without resting. Without metagaming. And without reloading.
And as if to add insult to injury, that level 18 sorceress gave us 2375 XP. Less than three vanilla Ankhegs. She had Improved Alacrity, for god's sake!
But no. Out of all of the things that could ended this run, it was Sarevok. Who did it in the dumbest way possible.
Oh, look, Chara's here. Probably trying to thwart me again. I guess I'll just let the doppelgangers fight them. As long as the Grand Dukes die, I still win.
Oh, hey, they protected Belt. Well, as long as the doppelgangers can still beat Chara, they can finish Belt off later.
Ho hum.
There goes Liia Jannath.
You know what I could go for? A bagel.
Man, those doppelgangers are dying fast.
Or maybe a sandwich. A BLT would hit the spot.
Looks like the doppelgangers are gonna lose. I wonder if I should help them.
Wait. Grilled cheese. Definitely grilled cheese.
There goes the last doppelganger. I wonder when Belt gets out of that shell?
Chara's looking at me funny. Play it cool...
Maybe I should have just poisoned the dukes. It worked on Eltan.
Well, Belt's out.
Belt: hi guys would u like a grilled cheese sandwich
Sarevok: Gimme gimme gimme!
Belt: here u go sarevok i thought you might be hungry
Sarevok: Angelo, I'm busy eating my sandwich! Hurry up and kill those people for me!
Angelo: Wait, is that what I was supposed to be doing?
Chara: Yo, Belt! We got documents on this Sarevok guy! He did bad stuff!
Belt: okey i'll read ur dockaments
Sarevok: Dude, no! Those people are murderers!
Belt: but i liek reading dockaments
Sarevok: Oh yeah? Well, your name is dumb!
Belt: no my name is belt you silly billy
Sarevok: Stop calling me a silly billy! Why does everyone keep calling me that?
Belt: because u are a silly billy
Sarevok: Eat sword, Belt!
Belt: oops i'm dead lol
But this time, I uninstall the component that cuts all XP rewards by 75%. And now that I've gone through some of BWS already, I have some ideas on how to play this run differently from the last.
Namely, I'm going to obliterate Sarevok. Just like I did to the Medusas and the Grey Clan.
If it's any consolation, it makes sense. Sarevok has a clean record. CHARNAME does not. Even if Sarevok kills the Grand Dukes himself, you're the bigger fish here and only the presence of a Grand Duke can stay the Flaming Fist.
Session 5 saw the trio complete their escape from the Chateau by using their combined strengths against all comers.
With them dead, Nugget opened the door and Sister Garlena was availed upon to raise Dreen from the dead. A minute or two of healing later, he ignored the sage advice of Nerd and activated a petrification trap. Fortunately for him, Sister Garlena has Stone to Flesh scrolls so he was brought back into the party again. We used three more spirit summons to deal with two guardian golems and returned a pair of slippers to a lich priest, then Nerd suggested Dreen might like to pick up the Foebane sword. Sounds good - although the two statues in possession of it put up a good fight.
Even restored, Corey_Russell noted that Dreen is feeling a bit down on levels. It should balance out nicely though, assuming we don't die. Nugget requires 340k xp to reach level 13, then 750k to 14 and 1.5m to 15. By which time, Dreen would be well ahead at level 18 and Nerd some way back with levels 14 / 14.
Nugget, Totemic Druid 12. 70 kills.
Nerd, Fighter 8 / Druid 10 (11 but not levelled). 183 kills.
Dreen, Inquisitor 9. 257 kills. 1 death + 1 petrification today (keeping Grond0 happy with the odd party death or two)
We too care of the first level of Watcher's Keep (confirmed: Vampiric Mists are the most annoying single enemy in the whole saga), got a lot of money, but nothing worthy in terms of usefulness besides a Wand of Ruby Reversal. Then I did the Daar/Stone Golem/Colette quest in Umar Hills, which gave us enough XP to attain level 11/12! I am looking for some magical Long Swords, but I can't find any. I've been using Enchanted Weapon, it's pretty good, largely underrated spell, since it gives you a +3 weapon for 24 hours. Since now we can use Death Spell, I think I'm gonna tackle Nalia's Keep, but I'm not sure I can beat Tor'Gal.
Plus, it was fun to write Belt's dialogue.
ABT-16,
With extreme prejudice,I gave up trying to find any good in these guys after leaving the pirate island.
Tricks;
I countered the tactics of a gith raiding party by standing in a line.
·The shark king meet his doom at the end of a 'Harm'... the prince proved a bit more resilient but he couldn't stop Zain from winning his heart in the end.
Bug; once the king and prince died the game bugged to force us into killing the prince all over again... we just rolled up our sleeves and kept shooting so no actual reload was required.
Stern, elf mage (Grond0) & Noy, human jester (Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868927/#Comment_868927
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/870258/#Comment_870258
The duo robbed the tombs in Candlekeep before fighting their way past some dopplegangers and attempting to rest. After about 6 failed rests and a lot of running and shooting they trekked all the way back to the library to rest and go invisible. That allowed them to bypass Prat and lay down the standard carpet of webs to provide some easy kills.
Back in Baldur's Gate they sorted out equipment before heading for Slythe. Noy missed with a pot-shot at him with a dispelling arrow, so Stern produced some summoned monsters to occupy him while being magic-missiled.
At the palace some hasted summons provided a bit of cover. Improved invisibility on Belt allowed him to last a bit longer while Stern put up a malison to make Noy's horror more effective. Another horror reduced the active opposition down to 2 and MMMs and MMs quickly dealt with those while Belt still had a bit of health in hand.
Stern got his last level in the maze before webs made one last appearance to sort out the Undercity party. In the temple Noy's opening with a dispelling arrow slowed down Sarevok. Another made Semaj vulnerable when he teleported out and he didn't last long - and then a stream of MMs ensured neither did Sarevok.
SoD
Stern, mage 9, 47 HPs, 201 kills
Noy, jester 10, 70 HPs, 174 kills, 2 deaths
Undergate: Chara and Frisk in Baldur's Gate
Part 23 (second attempt)
Previous posts here:https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/860188/#Comment_860188
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/860578/#Comment_860578
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/861123/#Comment_861123
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/861538/#Comment_861538
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/864004/#Comment_864004
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/864065/#Comment_864065
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/864387/#Comment_864387
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/864400/#Comment_864400
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/864816/#Comment_864816
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/865869/#Comment_865869
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/867867/#Comment_867867
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/867893/#Comment_867893
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/867919/#Comment_867919
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868200/#Comment_868200
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868303/#Comment_868303
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868329/#Comment_868329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868336/#Comment_868336
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868538/#Comment_868538
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868565/#Comment_868565
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/868593/#Comment_868593
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/869806/#Comment_869806
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/870513/#Comment_870513
I delete my BWS install, re-install everything except for the 75% XP tax that so ruthlessly crippled my previous run, and start up BG1 once more. Chara remains our main character and our Alchemist, while Frisk remains our Seducer.
The run begins much like the previous run. Alchemist items cost lots of money, but there are some great ways to get it early on. Talking to Firebead Elvenhair 30 times gives us 300 gold, and there's some treasure in the Candlekeep Inn.
The last time we robbed the inn, we got caught, and things got... weird. Rather than go through all of that again, I talk-block the guard the moment he appears.
Alchemists can "recycle" potions and gems for much more gold than you could get by selling it to a normal vendor, and that Potion of Clarity bumps us up to 1,000 gold before we even leave Candlekeep.
Much of it goes to buying Smoke Bombs, which grant 1d4+3 seconds of invisibility. That's only a 50% chance of lasting a full round, but it's a valuable escape option that's much cheaper and much easier to get than Potions of Invisibility.
I recruit Xzar and Montaron for the sole reason that I can let them absorb Tarnesh's spells. But a lucky backstab renders the issue moot.
So I bring them north to the Ankheg farm, to farm Ankhegs. Montaron dies in one hit, but we manage to bring down the Ankheg partly thanks to Larloch's Minor Drain from Xzar, one of our few means of dealing automatic damage.
We recruit Ajantis to take Montaron's place as the party tank. Unfortunately, the Ankheg gets lucky, and drinking a Rainwater Brew (which heals 2d6 HP) isn't enough to save Ajantis from the second hit.
Plus, thanks to Item Revisions robbing helmets of their ability to deflect critical hits, Ajantis can also die in one hit.
We persevere, and though Ajantis keeps dying, we bring down some Ankhegs. Things get ugly when bandits ambush us alongside an Anhkeg, but Frisk holds off the bandits with Hypnosis (Feeblemind for 6 seconds on a failed save vs. spell at +5; caster suffers -3 AC and half movement rate) long enough for Ajantis to put down the Ankheg.
In the previous run, we relied heavily on Command to hold down the Ankhegs. But since that would require bringing a cleric into the party and would cut into our XP reward, I have Frisk hypnotize the Ankhegs instead, allowing Chara to throw grenades (1d6 damage, automatic hits, stun for 6 seconds on a failed save vs. breath at +3) without putting themself in danger.
Ajantis still gets killed sometimes, but Hypnosis and Chara's grenades clear out all the Ankhegs. We ditch Ajantis (I never found him very interesting) and head out to Tenya. I thought this quest involved no combat, but somewhere along the line, I apparently made a mistake.
Rather than challenge Tenya with only two party members, I flee to Beregost and recruit Morwen, a mod NPC who starts out at level 5 with several magical items. She even gives the party a massive XP reward just for letting her in!
Chara hits level 4. That was so, so difficult in my last run. I don't believe it... we're already almost strong enough to tackle the Bandit Camp! Chara now has a suite of new potions, including Pressurized Gas, a canister that releases a poisonous cloud that deals damage through MGOI.
But I don't want to rush out to the Nashkel mines or Bandit Camp just yet; I want more resources before we go anyplace dangerous. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Frisk charms Silke.
Like in my previous run, I have her summon some monsters, waste her offensive spells, and then cast Improved Invisibility on Chara before going to Garrick. By the time the fight begins, Silke is out of ammo. I don't even have a screenshot of the fight; nothing interesting happened.
We resurrect Imoen and boot her from the party, along with Xzar and Montaron. I want to keep our XP gains concentrated in the three characters I know I will keep for the long haul.
Out of curiosity, I have Morwen tackle Tenya. Turns out Morwen's archery is enough to slay her.
Hypnosis also holds off the Beregost spiders long enough for Morwen to shoot them down.
Also like my previous run, I use talk-blocking (which I'm not even sure is necessary) and Frisk's Charm spell to evacuate the guards and the nobles from the manor in Beregost. But Item Randomizer once again keeps a Wand of Lightning out of our reach.
The loot isn't impressive, but by now we've gathered a lot of it--far more than I thought we could have.
There's a mod-introduced quest to cure a werewolf at High Hedge. Like last time, I get Thalantyr to brew a cure, but it still doesn't work.
I'm guessing that the first option, which involves using guril berries as an ingredient in the potion, is probably doomed to failure no matter. You have to choose a different ingredient for it to work.
Feeblemind and grenades, using Morwen as a decoy, help us take down some ogres near Shoal...
...and when we get overwhelmed, Chara's Smoke Bombs bail us out.
As for Shoal herself, we just distract her with summoned Gibberlings, courtesy of Spell Revisions. Shoal has no defense against Morwen's arrows.
Morwen comes with a Greenstone Amulet, which grants constant-effect immunities in Item Revisions, and with Chara's Sweet Elixirs, Morwen can protect herself both from the Sirenes' charms and their poisoned arrows.
Morwen wasn't actually wearing the Greenstone Amulet, however; her elf or half-elf immunities blocked that first Dire Charm. And though Frisk can cure it with Dispel Charm, it only works if Morwen makes a save vs. spell at +5. Frisk nearly dies before they can fix Morwen.
We make a stop by Thalantyr's to cure Melicamp. Miraculously, he lives. I don't remember the last time that happened; he's died in all my previous runs.
We return to kill more Sirenes. Morwen uses Bonemeal Eyedrops to improve her missile attacks and dispel the Sirenes' Improved Invisibility spells.
Morwen hits level 6. I'm not sure she even got that far in my last run before she got petrified and shattered.
We accept Sil's offer and agree to kill some pirates. Chara nearly died last time--only their Knave's Robe prevented a fatal backstab--but this time, I know better. I have Frisk and Morwen distract the enemies while using Pressurized Gas to poison them.
The enemy mage fails to make any progress against the party. The Greenstone Amulet protects Chara from Horror and Sleep, and Frisk and Morwen make their saves by chance.
But one of the archers has targeted Chara, and another couple hits could be fatal. Chara chooses an expensive but foolproof option.
With only a pair of weak bracers to protect them, Frisk is very easy to hit, and with only 1d4 HP per level, they can't take many blows before going down. But when Chara hit level 4, they gained the ability to brew Sour Draughts, which heal 4d8 HP (19 on average) a pop. Chara's potions allow Frisk to stay alive long enough for the Pressurized Gas to finish off the enemies.
When the pirate guy is dead, Sil lets us into the Flesh Golem Cave without incident. Morwen discovers that the area is seeded with traps, but a lucky saving throw keeps her safe.
Frisk's Seducer kit prevents them from putting any skill points in Detect Traps or Set Traps (Seducers are manipulators, not dungeon crawlers), so our only means of protecting Morwen from the traps is to use Chara's potions to buff her up.
Morwen kites the golems to death. We have no use for the loot, but at least it will sell for a lot.
To the ruins! We improve our reputation by killing a bunch of innocent miners.
A Doomsayer attacks us outside, and when I remember that it's immune to missile damage, I switch to Bottles of Sludge.
Kiting is enough to take it down.
We've only just started this new run, but without that crippling XP tax from my last run, Chara is already at level 5.
I stop by the carnival and finally choose an option that keeps the nice lady safe from Zordral. Morwen tries out a Command spell from a mod...
...but apparently it suffers from the same problem many others did: it casts the spell on the caster instead of the target. Meaning the only thing her Command spell can do is knock herself unconscious; it's completely worthless.
Zordral summons some Green Slimes, which Frisk holds off using Hypnosis. Chara and Morwen both fail saves against Slow, but counteract it using Potions of Speed.
Frisk has already dispelled Zordral's Mirror Image using Detect Illusions, which can be active even when Frisk is attacking or about to cast a spell. With those images to protect him, Zordral has no defense against Morwen's arrows.
Feeling confident, we march out east to go hunting for basilisks. Rather than rely on a Potion of Mirrored Eyes, which failed to protect Morwen from a Medusa in our last run, we chuck some canisters of Pressurized Gas to poison the basilisks and Medusas.
We run from the Medusas when they approach, only to stumble upon an enemy party. Frisk is hiding in shadows and Chara already drank a Potion of Invisibility, but Morwen has to use a Smoke Bomb to make her escape.
A Sleep spell approaches Frisk. Knowing that their stealth-based invisibility would not last while they were asleep, and knowing they could easily fail their save and get killed or even petrified and shattered, I have them drink another precious Potion of Invisibility.
I keep trying to use "they" and "them" to refer to Chara and Frisk, as they were in Undertale, but in-game they're coded as female and the dialogue refers to them as such, which keeps confusing me.
Canonically, their gender is supposed to be ambiguous. Fanonically, their gender is supposed to be "Other."
Rather than tempt fate, we leave the area. I was sure we had enough canisters of Pressurized Gas to kill all of the basilisks and Medusas and maybe even Mutamin, but I wasn't sure if we could handle that enemy party as well. Another Sleep spell or Slow could have killed us.
I foolishly attempt to have Morwen fight Ghasts in melee combat. I try to save her with Frisk's Hypnosis and Chara's Bottles of Sludge...
...but it's not quite enough. Hypnosis is really unreliable, and one of the Ghasts lives long enough to kill her. Just before she dies, I have Chara nail the Ghast with a grenade.
As always, I use CTRL-R and add the resurrection's gold value to a mental tally. We find a very nice suit of armor that, unfortunately, a Seducer like Frisk cannot use.
Morwen tries to take down a Revenant as well, with similar results.
When Bottles of Sludge prove ineffective, I try to hold off the Revenant with Hypnosis...
...but it doesn't last long enough for Morwen to recover from paralysis. We end up fleeing once again.
After considering my options, I decide to bring Alora into the party. A bug prevents her from showing up at Gullykin, so I teleport her in using the console instead. After a couple more bugs inexplicably send her packing, I bring her into the party.
Turns out she's a Cleric/Thief in my install! And her rabbit's foot gives her massive bonuses: +2 to AC, +2 to saving throws, +2 to luck, and +10% to all thief skills. She starts at a high level, too. Unfortunately, I can only give her a cleric kit, not a thief kit, which means I can't make her an Alchemist (the thief kit, not Chara's mage kit) like I did with Mur'Neth in my last run.
When I realize that Morwen can now choose a new feat due to being level 6, I pick Basic Alchemy, allowing her to create various potions at no cost.
She won't be able to get Advanced Alchemy like Mur'Neth could, but it will give me an infinite supply of gold in the unlikely event I'll ever need it.
Time to deal with Tristan and Isolde. Frisk holds them still with Hypnosis while Morwen and Alora apply pressure. Chara chips in with a Wand of Missiles, and the two lovers don't last long.
I have to reload to fix a blindness-related bug, but Tristan and Isolde go down just as easy on the second try.
We get two very important items from this fight: a throwing dagger that grants the user 5 APR, and Doufas' Saber, a +2 katana that grants 3 APR and inflicts magic damage and paralysis (which can be blocked by MGOI) on a failed save with every hit.
Thanks to Item Revisions, Alora, as a Cleric/Thief, can use either weapon. For now, she only has a proficiency point in daggers, but once she gets a little stronger, she can take a single pip in katanas and use the Doofus Saber with no penalties. Once she does, we will have a proper melee fighter on our hands.
This run is so much less painful than the last one. Making better choices on our second run fills us with determination.
ABT-17,
Exit stage left,I was going ok until they popped a 'death'... with my summons out of play and angry drow bearing down on me, the slayer was the only hope.
Bug; you can cast the spell silenced but you have to agree to become the slayer which makes this a catch 22... bug or not I call it pilot error and should have remembered that drow have death spells.