After the shocking end to the previous run we rolled up new characters. After seeing a sorcerer in that run killed several times in quick succession by ambushes I went for something heftier in a barbarian. Gate70 and Corey_Russell both fancied a bit of stealth with a monk and ranger respectively.
A quick start saw the Trio pick up some good XP from Shoal before heading down to Nashkel via Beregost. As usual I couldn't resist trying to kill Vitiare at the Carnival and, also as usual, the lag effects in MP meant he robbed us blind and strolled off laughing.
Meilum was relieved of his bracers on our way to the basilisk area. The southern group of basilisks is no more and I must try and remember not to automatically rest at the start of the next session (and lose the benefit of the PfP scroll).
Babar, barbarian L4, 64 HPs, 22 kills Coreranger, ranger L3, 39 HPs, 23 kills Meffal, monk L4, 37 HPs, 18 kills The game is being played in a BGT installation, which doesn't have the same tendency to give high HP rolls as BGEE. The HP rolls for all 3 characters are incredibly good taking that into account - all of them averaging around 1 less than their maximum per die roll.
... the barbarian says "don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry" the ranger says "a Scout smiles and whistles under all circumstances" the monk says "wax on, wax off"
The king is dead, I did another odd job for the wild mages and rescued a blue elf then started freeing slaves and helped a sick harper make it home... got a nice scroll my sister will love.
I asked Jaheria to dispatch the elemental door guard and Hexxat is immune to cloudkill so she was my door blocker for the boss fight.
I've had a couple of BG:EE Blackguard party runs recently. First one had a death as Grond0 mentioned a few days back, thanks to the Demon Knight. His chosen party was below.
Blaggerd. Longbow. Occasional 2 handed sword. Kagain. Bracers of dexterity, axe + shield. Fronted up to everything without dying. Dorn. 2 handed sword from behind Kagain. Chunked by Demon Knight before Blaggerd died. Imoen. Remained as a thief, shortbow +2. Viconia. Sling +3. Edwin. Magic.
I completed the campaign with no further deaths, then re-rolled.
Blaggerd had been contemplating his recent eternal lack of success. Time to think harder. To start, a disguise. Eyes winced, but the effort was surely worth it. Ouch.
The previous party had performed perfectly, so it was with great reluctance that Blaggerd changed it all about. His weapon of choice today being a composite longbow +1.
Imoen remained the only constant, dualling to a mage at level 5 and occupying slot 3. Again, the Protector of the Dryads shortbow +2 was used until Melf's Minute Meteors could be cast.
Slot 2. Shar-Teel took up position at the front of the party. Blaggerd had taken two attempts to recruit her, blatantly cheating with his second effort but that's part of the fun. She suggested dual-wielding Varscona / Harrower.
Slot 4. A ranger with a vengeance, Kivan. Give him a composite longbow with the Dale's Protector gauntlets and stand well back. He rarely had to resort to the Suryrsis's Blade +2 halberd.
Slot 5. Coran. Recruited so Imoen could dual-class. Dead Eye +2 longbow meant he rarely missed his mark. Blaggerd was only too keen to help him hunt down wyverns.
Slot 6. Yeslick. Not a natural fit but his melee and cleric abilities had Blaggerd compromising. The stocky little dwarf went with the flow, and made good use of the Ashideena war hammer.
Blaggerd was focused on his objective but found time to note some action. His first recollection was of Mulahey being outnumbered while Shar-Teel took delight in diverting his support.
The Amazons, Nimbul and Tranzig all failed to stop Blaggerd, as did Raemon and his cronies.
Drasus and his mercenaries were given no quarter.
Hareishan was put to the sword while Imoen used a Sleep spell to nullify the bulk of her ranged support. (text is scrolled back to show the action before Sleep was cast)
Davaeorn managed to Hold Shar-Teel but she lived to fight another day, unlike him.
Twice during the campaign Blaggerd found it necessary to reset his reputation. First victim was Dushai, yielding a ring of Free Action. The second victim was a dryad who never got to enjoy her tree that Blaggerd stopped from being cut down.
The crew were complaining that it was time for a break so Blaggerd took them on a winter holiday to Ice Island. The holiday was over in the blink of an eye, so he added a summer island vacation to the itinerary. Having stocked up on arrows +1, this also took a short time to complete with lycanthropes falling left right and centre.
Durlag's Tower then. Blaggerd took delight in dealing with the four warders. (once upon a time I struggled greatly with them but +1 missiles hurts their chances)
What lay beneath proved more challenging to the party than Blaggerd's last attempt. One of the party was crisped in the repeating fireball chamber (I stood slightly too near the entry door), so a temple visit was required. Then Yeslick was killed by one of the Greater Wyverns so a second temple visit was required - all meaning the fireball chamber had to be repeatedly negotiated.
Other than that, there were no further obstacles, the four dwarven warders set upon by sword, hammer, halberd and anything else to hand.
Imoen prepared a couple of webs on a giant chessboard but Oil of Fiery Burning was enough to settle the score without need of them.
So, the Demon Knight. Blaggerd had a plan, and it was as cunning as, well hopefully more cunning than last time. Yeslick thought it was weak in parts (his potion of magic blocking was useless against the level of spells thrown out), but other than that it worked well.
Imoen used invisibility on the archers and herself before arriving at Ulgoth's Beard, meaning Yeslick took some assassination knives but soldiered on. With the minions removed, it was time to deal with Aec'Letec.
Blaggerd doled out potions which guaranteed saves, but was one short. Yeslick had the best saving throws so Blaggerd gave him an Invulnerability potion instead and the party headed downstairs. Shar-Teel distracted Aec'Letec, taunting him from a distance as Protection from Fire kept her safe from the Arrows of Detonation used to wipe out the acolytes.
With the last acolyte dead, the party focused on Aec'Letec. Arrows hit hard and fast but Shar-Teel gulped a strength potion, moved in and with her first attack the combat was over.
Time to go back for Sarevok. Arrows of Detonation blew Rahvin and his mercenaries out of the way, then Sarevok was treated to an Arrow of Dispelling followed by Malison, Doom, Web. Blaggerd was careful to strip Imoen of all her gear just before Sarevok squeaked his last.
Siege of Dragonspear (start) Blaggerd had a plan for dealing with the opening dungeon, shamelessly stolen from a fellow adventurer (thanks Grond0). That plan was used five times, with Kivan and Coran shooting Arrows of Detonation from the shadows while Blaggerd shot a moment later from behind them to cremate any stragglers. These are the five encounters, with combat log of the last.
1. The Iron Throne Commander across the first bridge. Not strictly necessary but zero risk. 2. The first group of undead in the second level with the shadowed soul. 3. The group of undead with the guardian. 4. The group of elite mercenaries near the rope. 5. Korlasz.
The next 15 minutes or so were spent moving equipment around to maximise Blaggerd's retention of it. All rings and necklaces in the gem bag, all NPC equipped items into inventories, anything else on the floor. The mechanics of this seemed to work quite well, but Blaggerd has lost his disguise and can breathe freely once more.
He's done some shopping (2nd potion case, scroll case, sold various items) and is working out who he should look for (probably nobody in the city).
The duo sneaked through the Nashkel Mine into Mulahey's cave. Seeker was spotted trying to move into position to cast at the cleric though and he moved out and started casting at Skeu - it was probably a good job that Seeker's silence took effect first.
With skeletons combining with stinking clouds and blindness the amazons were quickly rendered helpless - as were Nimbul and then Tranzig.
At the Bandit Camp Taurgosz tried to come to the aid of his sleeping bandits, but only got himself held for his pains. Inside Tazok's tent there was more use of stinking skeletons to ensure an easy victory.
After passing invisibly through the Cloakwood, Seeker successfully silenced the guards on the mine. Genthore and the mages tried to fight, but without much joy. Drasus though just stood there while he desperately tried to think of something to say.
Inside the mine the intention was to bypass Hareishan, but both Seeker and Skeu were out of stealth-supporting spells and the mage attacked. Seeker spotted a lightning bolt coming and threw a potion to Skeu to counter it - but the multi-player lag meant Skeu died before the potion took effect.
Seeker used a potion of magic blocking to kill Hareishan and then stashed gear in a container before heading for a temple.
Back at the mine there were no further problems going down to the bottom level. The battle horrors were pulled back one at a time into Skeu's spells before Seeker successfully silenced Davaeorn and finished him off before he could recover.
In the City, the tomes were recovered along with the Helm & Cloak of Balduran and Ramazith's gear. The Iron Throne party were taken on and swiftly taken down by skeletons (buffed with haste, strength of one and chant) operating in layered stinking clouds.
At Candlekeep the tombs were robbed before fighting through some dopplegangers. To get a bit more XP the spiders were killed by skeletons after they had dealt with Prat's gang and the haul was increased by a couple of basilisk carcasses.
Back in Baldur's Gate the bank balance was in excess of 100k, so we splashed out on recharging some wands at Ulgoth's Beard. That included a wand of the heavens Seeker had picked up at the Iron Throne, but Skeu had to buy the existing wand at Ulgoth's before the innkeeper would recharge the other one to the full 100 charges expected.
Skeletons then made short work of Slythe and Krystin and also featured strongly at the palace. Liia died there, but Belt survived relatively untroubled.
Skeu got his final BG1 level going through the maze. His intended stinking cloud on the Undercity party was spotted and Rahvin retaliated with exploding arrows - a quick retreat and rest was called for before returning and doing the job properly.
In the temple Sarevok and Semaj were also joined by Tazok. However, Semaj lasted only moments after being hit by a dispelling arrow and the others were held up by first skeletons and then monsters summoned by wand before Sarevok's final few HPs were taken down by running shots.
In the SoD dungeon Seeker sneaked through to find Porios and convince him to surrender. Several groups of skeletons worked well to clear the enemy undead, but the elite mercenaries prior to Korlasz proved more of a hurdle and Skeu was skewered by an assassin backstab.
The Flaming Fist healer brought him back to life for free,
but had to be paid to do further healing ready for the final assault on Korlasz. He attempted to surrender with HPs running out, but Seeker didn't let him get away with that old trick!
Blaggerd's cautious(ish) run. Update 1 2. Status at end of this session:
Blaggerd: Composite Longbow +1
Time to bag the Helm of the Noble, reducing Charisma to 19 for Constitution 20 instead
A quick scoot around town confirmed that no suitable companions were available so Blaggerd set off for Dragonspear on his own, apart from the mass of soldiers who insisted on coming along. They soon cramped his style so as camp was set he made do with what party members he could muster.
Slot 2: Viconia: Ashideena war hammer +2 On arrival at the Coast Ways Crossing, Blaggerd realised he could have recruited Viconia earlier, and made sure to do so before leaving camp. She rifled through his travelling luggage and equipped various items. It seemed unfair to have her follow the footsteps of Kagain and Shar-Teel as meat-shield. Blaggerd is anything but fair so that's her role.
Slot 3: Corwin: Corwin's Bow +1 With no sign of Kivan (and not having bothered too hard to look for Coran) Blaggerd needed comparable ranged combat abilities. After a check of her skills, he suggested she should keep a close eye on him while he could marvel at her ranger accuracy.
Slot 4: Edwin: Magic, throwing daggers, Aule's Staff +3 Blaggerd briefly considered including Baeloth instead but slot 6 might have objected.
Slot 5: Glint: Firefly sling +2 A brief spell without any rogue confirmed that one was required, so Blaggerd came back to choose between the gnome and Safana. Having a second cleric felt like a good idea.
Slot 6: M'Khiin: Blightbringer shortbow +1 The intention was not to use shamanic dance but the first dungeon crawl with her saw the party struggling so some use was made. Blaggerd wants to utilise her other strengths though.
Longer term, Viconia may be dropped despite her AC, buffs and healing. Blaggerd is reluctant to recruit Dorn again, but word of a wandering Luskan bard has reached his ears.
More details about Coast Way Crossing activity.
Once Viconia and Corwin were recruited, the trio bumped into Edwin and returned to camp so he too could equip himself. With this done, Viconia led the way to the bridge which was rapidly destroyed by an over-keen Crusader mage. Blaggerd vented his frustration on the Crusaders stuck his side, and looted their dead bodies before returning to camp.
The journey to Boareskyr Bridge was aborted after running into orcs fighting trolls. Blaggerd shoved Viconia into the fray and provided covering fire as did Corwin. Edwin gazed at his navel until trolls started dropping, and only then used his Melf's Minute Meteors to claim the kills.
A cave nearby had a murky pool which Viconia said had steps leading down. Blaggerd made use of her infravision and shoved her down the steps where more trolls were waiting. The same shield, shoot and meteor treatment saw the area cleared and the party returned to camp instead of proceeding to Boareskyr Bridge. Time to add Glint to the party. (I had remembered by that time I was intending doing sidequests. I'd skipped the city though so that blocks a couple of things already)
M'Khiin was the final recruit, earning her keep by talking to a group of dead goblins and learning of their hidden treasure.
Rasaad was to the west and wanting to join up, but Blaggerd told him to head to camp instead. Siding with a vampire seemed only natural and the chagrin of the vampire hunters was short-lived as they were outnumbered and rapidly dead.
Blaggerd used his considerable charisma to sing at menhirs next. No complaints, strangely. The ghost of a bard appeared to tell of his burial place but Blaggerd could not make head or tail of it. No doubt he will either desecrate the grave at some point or leave it on his to-do list. (realised at time of writeup. Back to the dig I go, explore the one bit I missed earlier. Looted)
Telana tried and failed to add to her collection of statues, Blaggerd turning each back with stone to flesh scrolls to see if they had words of wisdom for him or some rewards. He's all heart. (on writeup I realised I'd not returned to Herod, so did that)
Takos mentioned he was looking for a mirror, cloak and shield. No, not seen any of them said Blaggerd with the sort of look that Takos knew meant finders keepers. It's like a mind trick, just more blatant.
The dwarven dig was next. Viconia did well generally, but there were a couple of times she was badly wounded and once when she had to run with 1hp remaining. She was also level drained two or three times requiring rests so Glint could use Lesser Restoration. Blaggerd eventually resorted to having M'Khiin dance up support and drawing large groups of enemies into them.
The Coldhearth Lich may be a tough nut to crack for an unprepared party but Blaggerd knew exactly what to expect and the lich barely survived to have a "Secret Revealed" de-buff. Before Blaggerd could switch from the item to his bow, the combat was over.
Glint retrieved the pyhlactory then Viconia ran across the area and destroyed it in a fire chamber.
The Reluctant Bhaalspawn aka The Partridge Family.
Just a quick update.
I have enjoyed the no reload playthrough of BG and writing it up here. And thankyou to all those who have given me likes, hope you enjoyed it. But SOD, it's so boring, I can hardly bring myself to play it let alone write anything about it. There's just no room to RP because the whole game is based on nothing my charname would ever do. I don't care about the Argent woman or her stupid crusade. It's all so contrived to create "an adventure", a game, nothing is organic or grows from BG. Even the combat is boring and repetative.
So probably skipping to BG2 and if I carry on a storied playthrough will post it in that section of the forum.
It's just a short walk through the area. Except for the wildlife.
Blaggerd handed over 800gp to get Voghiln raised. Perhaps swapping Viconia out for him wasn't such a wise idea. Not one to admit making a mistake, he decided to persevere. Maybe get Voghiln to stay further back and try Glint up front. Hmm. Another 800 gold down the pan.
Forest of Wyrms
With Voghiln given a stern talking to, Blaggerd decided to try again. First, make sure the Skald has Protection from Cold active.
A second group got much the same treatment, Blaggerd noting the greater wyvern and refocusing all efforts onto it including a decent lightning strike from M'Khiin.
There had been two further travel encounters. The first saw a horde of goblins grouped around Voghiln, his song echoing in the writhing fog while the rest of the party sniped away with missiles. The second encounter saw two hill giants attacking a young green dragon.
Voghiln died twice more in a spider cave (gargantuan spiders held him twice, when will he learn). Speaking of green dragons though, Blaggerd blatantly cheated to kill a larger one (method redacted)
That's enough caution for one day so calling the session to a close.
A brief update as I have been away from the computer for awhile. Cromarty has made it as far as the Cloakwood Mines, along with Sirine, Ajantis, Safana, Dyanheir....and Minsc. We picked up Minsc (Barbarian Ranger) against my better judgement as Dyanheir was pining for him.
He quickly proceeded to flee in terror from a ghost, get charmed and then decapitated by Khark, and generally get beaten and battered by Battle Horrors, spiders etc. All the while communing with his hamster and glaring suspiciously at Dyanheir's bedroll. His cockblocking almost came to an end when we met Coran but for now at least the big lug lingers on (partly with an eye to SoD if I don't skip it.)
The only near death experience was partly the product of a bug when multiple thugs from the Gavin Mod spawned while we were clearing Ulcaster and proceeded to hem Cromarty in next to the ghost. Fortunately the ghost couldn't see him after he drank an invisibility potion.
Considering switching to Android if Beamdog ever updates it!
Grim Tales - of Grim Face & Co. (Gnome, Chaotic Good Cleric/Illusionist) (BG1/ToSC: SCS/Spell Revisions/aTweaks/Item Randomiser) Chapter VI - Sad but True...
Unfortunately, I have to inform you, friends, that Grim Face foolishly perished in the sewers of Baldur's Gate City. With most City tasks completed we decided to purify local sewerage. And in the Western part of it, while being ready to face Schlumpsha the Sewer King, I completely forgot about local Spider's nest. Having turned a next corner Grim Face suddenly encountered a Giant and Phase Spiders. He immediately tried to cast a Sanctuary but even with casing time of 1 he failed to apply it faster than Giant Spider's Web Tangle hit him. With automatic hits Phase Spider injected his deadly poison and even though Jaheira cast Free Action on Grim Face it failed to cancel Web Tangle (@Aasim confirmed that it shouldn't). Neither Viconia nor Jaheira had Cure Poison memorised (we had plenty of Antidotes...) so with 5hp/sec ticking of Phase Spider's poison Grim Face's fate was sealed within single round:
Anyway, I've already thought to try Item Revisions alone with Spell Revisions (and seems they are meant to be used together) so I've made a new setup now including Item Revisions. In other respects it's my usual setup (full SCS with pre-buffs and all tactical challenges/Spell Revisions/aTweaks/Item Randomiser).
WeiDU:
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods // The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod // ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version] ~EASYTUTUDEGREENIFIER.TP2~ #0 #0 // EasyTutu Degreenifier ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #100 // TobEx - Core: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #102 // Awaken On Damage: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #103 // Blindness As Spell Description: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #105 // No Spell Interruption On Zero Damage: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #106 // Use Caster Level On Mirror Image [C]: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #107 // Allow All Races to Dual Class: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #111 // Disable Silence On Charm: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #113 // Remain Hidden On Pickpocket Success [C]: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #114 // Rest Spawns Advance Time: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #115 // Dialogue Greeting Subtitles: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #116 // Enable Animation Attack Sounds: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #117 // Universal Four Inventory Weapon Slots: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #118 // Subtitles For Standard Soundsets: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #120 // Drop Inventory on Disintegrate: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #121 // Drop Inventory on Frozen Death: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #122 // Drop Inventory on Stone Death: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #123 // Enable Auto-Pause On All Screens: Beta 0025 ~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #124 // Make All Attack Animations Genuine Attacks: Beta 0025 ~SETUP-TUTUFIX.TP2~ #0 #2 // Restored BG1 Loadscreens ~SETUP-TUTUFIX.TP2~ #0 #3 // BG2 Ammo Stacks ~SETUP-TUTUFIX.TP2~ #0 #4 // Totemic Druid Spirit Summons are Balanced ~SETUP-TUTUFIX.TP2~ #0 #5 // BG1 Summoning Spells ~SPELL_REV/SETUP-SPELL_REV.TP2~ #0 #0 // Spell Revisions: v4 Beta 14 BWP Fix ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #0 // Item Revisions by Demivrgvs: V4 Beta 9 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #0 // The BG1 NPC Project: Required Modifications: v22.8 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #1 // The BG1 NPC Project: Banters, Quests, and Interjections: v22.8 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #10 // The BG1 NPC Project: Branwen's Romance Core (teen content): v22.8 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #12 // The BG1 NPC Project: Dynaheir's Romance Core (teen content): v22.8 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #13 // The BG1 NPC Project: Shar-Teel Relationship Core (adult content): v22.8 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #18 // The BG1 NPC Project: Alora's Starting Location -> Alora Starts in Gullykin: v22.8 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #25 // Jason Compton's Accelerated Banter Script: v22.8 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #28 // The BG1 NPC Project: Bardic Reputation Adjustment: v22.8 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #31 // The BG1 NPC Project: Sarevok's Diary Adjustments -> SixofSpades Extended Sarevok's Diary: v22.8 ~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #200 // The BG1 NPC Project: Player-Initiated Dialogues: v22.8 ~BG1NPCMUSIC/SETUP-BG1NPCMUSIC.TP2~ #0 #0 // The BG1 NPC Project Music Pack -> Install All Audio: v6 ~SPELL_REV/SETUP-SPELL_REV.TP2~ #0 #20 // Mirror Image Fix: v4 Beta 14 BWP Fix ~SPELL_REV/SETUP-SPELL_REV.TP2~ #0 #30 // Dispel Magic Fix: v4 Beta 14 BWP Fix ~SPELL_REV/SETUP-SPELL_REV.TP2~ #0 #50 // Remove Disabled Spells from Spell Selection Screens: v4 Beta 14 BWP Fix ~SPELL_REV/SETUP-SPELL_REV.TP2~ #0 #55 // Spell Deflection blocks AoE spells: v4 Beta 14 BWP Fix ~SPELL_REV/SETUP-SPELL_REV.TP2~ #0 #60 // Update Spellbooks of Joinable NPCs: v4 Beta 14 BWP Fix ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1042 // Revised Armor -> Without Movement Speed Penalties: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #3 // Allow Spellcasting in Armor -> With Casting Speed Penalties for Arcane Casters: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1101 // Allow Thieving Skills in Armor -> Stealth is Penalized by Armor and Shields: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #10 // Revised Shield Bonuses: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #17 // Weapon Changes: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1080 // Enchantment Doesn't Affect Speed Factor of Weapons: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #11 // Dual Wielding Changes for Light and Heavy Weapons: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #19 // Revised Backstabbing -> More Weapons Usable for Backstabbing: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Revised Critical Hit Aversion: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #12 // Items of Protection Can Be Worn with Magical Armor: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1091 // Remove Weapon Restrictions from Multi-classed Divine Spellcasters -> Clerics and Druids: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #16 // PnP Equipment for Druids -> Druids and Fighter/Druids: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1060 // Kensai Can Wear Bracers: V4 Beta 9 ~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Thieves Can Use Wands: V4 Beta 9 ~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Force All Dialogue to Pause Game: v16 BWP Fix ~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1010 // More Interjections: v16 BWP Fix ~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Improved Multi-Player Kick-out Dialogues: v16 BWP Fix ~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1080 // Add Bags of Holding: v16 BWP Fix ~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1090 // Exotic Item Pack: v16 BWP Fix ~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1110 // Add Map Notes: v16 BWP Fix ~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3000 // Higher HP on Level Up -> Maximum: v16 BWP Fix ~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3010 // Maximum HP for NPCs (the bigg) -> For All Creatures in Game: v16 BWP Fix ~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Easy Spell Learning -> 100% Learn Spells: v16 BWP Fix ~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3121 // Happy Patch (Party NPCs do not complain about reputation) -> NPCs Can Be Angry About Reputation but Never Leave (Salk): v16 BWP Fix ~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3200 // Sellable Items (Icelus): v16 BWP Fix ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1901 // Standardise spells: BG1 vs BG2 -> Introduce BG2 spell scrolls into BG1: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2110 // Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic -> Inquisitors dispel at 1.5 x their level (not twice their level): v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3000 // Replace BG1-style elemental arrows with BG2 versions: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Re-introduce potions of extra-healing: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Grant large, flying, non-solid or similar creatures protection from Web and Entangle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4020 // More realistic wolves and wild dogs: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4040 // Make party members less likely to die irreversibly: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4100 // Allow player to choose NPC proficiencies and skills: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4110 // Allow NPC pairs to separate: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4120 // NPCs go to inns: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5020 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Cloak of Displacement: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5050 // Stackable ankheg shells, winterwolf pelts and wyvern heads: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5060 // Ensure Shar-Teel doesn't die in the original challenge: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests -> Priests cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6102 // Potions for NPCs -> Half the potions dropped by slain enemies break and are lost: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6300 // Smarter sirines and dryads: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6310 // Slightly harder carrion crawlers: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6320 // Smarter basilisks: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7000 // Improved doppelgangers: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7010 // Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7030 // Dark Side-based kobold upgrade: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Relocated bounty hunters: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7050 // Improved Ulcaster: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7080 // Improved Demon Cultists: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7090 // Improved Cloakwood Druids: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7100 // Improved Bassilus: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7110 // Improved Drasus party: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7130 // Improved Red Wizards: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7140 // Improved Undercity party: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7200 // Tougher chapter-two end battle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7210 // Tougher chapter-three end battle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7220 // Tougher chapter-four end battle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7230 // Tougher chapter-five end battle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7250 // Improved final battle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7900 // Improved minor encounters: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #100 // Restore innate infravision to Half-Orc characters: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #117 // Allow Mages to scribe memorized spells onto scrolls -> Scrolls can only be scribed at inns and strongholds: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #120 // Restore innate disease immunity to Paladins: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #125 // Rangers' Animal Empathy improves with experience: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Additional racial traits for Dwarves: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #140 // Additional racial traits for Gnomes: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #160 // PnP Undead: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #185 // PnP Fey creatures: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #200 // Allow Breach to take down Stoneskin effects applied by items: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #201 // Instant casting for warrior innates: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #202 // Revised Bhaalpowers -> Enhance the Bhaalpowers and standardize their casting time: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #203 // Make druidic shapeshifting uninterruptable: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #212 // Make alignment detection spells more accurate: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #213 // Expanded saving throw bonus tables for Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #217 // Bard songs break invisibility -> All Bard songs break invisibility: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #262 // Altered XP rewards from locks, traps and scrolls -> No XP rewards from locks, traps and scrolls: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #324 // Use Icewind Dale's Dimension Door animation -> Fast animation speed, shorter delay between animation start and creature appearance/disappearance: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #310 // Distinctive creature coloring: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #315 // Distinctive creature soundsets: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #500 // Slightly expanded storage capacity for containers -> Use the recommended storage capacity value (999): v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #510 // Expanded temple services: v4.50 BWP Fix ~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for aTweaks content: v4.50 BWP Fix ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #0 // Fix Sunfire power levels: v2.1 ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #100 // Check for and fix incorrect spell animations: v2.1 ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #400 // Prevent silent prebuffs: v2.1 ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #201 // Add spell school notifications to the combat log -> All spells with a casting time greater than 1: v2.1 ~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #300 // Add expiration notifications for buffs: v2.1 ~INFINITYANIMATIONS/SETUP-INFINITYANIMATIONS.TP2~ #0 #0 // Infinity Animations: v5 BWP Fix ~INFINITYANIMATIONS/SETUP-INFINITYANIMATIONS.TP2~ #0 #25 // Humanoid Animation Fixes: v5 BWP Fix ~INFINITYANIMATIONS/SETUP-INFINITYANIMATIONS.TP2~ #0 #500 // More Base Animations: v5 BWP Fix ~INFINITYANIMATIONS/SETUP-INFINITYANIMATIONS.TP2~ #0 #8030 // BG1 Animations for NPCs -> Most relevant creatures: v5 BWP Fix ~INFINITYANIMATIONS/SETUP-INFINITYANIMATIONS.TP2~ #0 #9000 // Fix Areas -> Creature References: v5 BWP Fix ~INFINITYANIMATIONS/SETUP-INFINITYANIMATIONS.TP2~ #0 #9520 // BG1 Animations for Exported PCs -> Patch all PCs without prompting: v5 BWP Fix ~TUTUGUI/SETUP-TUTUGUI.TP2~ #0 #0 // Baldurs Gate I GUI for Tutu, SoA/ToB, or BGT ~TUTUGUI/SETUP-TUTUGUI.TP2~ #0 #1 // Support for The Biggs widescreen mod ~SETUP-TUTUGUIFONT.TP2~ #0 #0 // Baldurs Gate fonts for TutuGUI ~SETUP-TUTUSOUNDS.TP2~ #0 #0 // Casting Sounds -> Restored BG1 Casting Sounds And Special Effects ~SETUP-TUTUSOUNDS.TP2~ #0 #2 // Restored BG1 Combat Sounds ~GENERALIZED_BIFFING/GENERALIZED_BIFFING.TP2~ #0 #0 // Generalized Biffing: v2.2 BWP Fix ~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #500 // Randomly replace the WIS tome normally found in TotSC with one of the 6 available types: v6.8 ~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #530 // Randomise scrolls: v6.8 ~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #570 // Randomise the appearance of cursed items: v6.8 ~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #1300 // Randomise items -> Mode 2: Randomise with WeiDU. No items are lost: v6.8 ~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #5075 // Slimes have no items equipped: v6.8
And Grim Face got another chance to beat this challenge.
After leaving Candlekeep I joined Imoen together we cleaned of nasty creatures the Lion's Way, Coast Way and went to the Beregost to calm Marl, fetch book for Firebead, obtain a letter for Marianne and clean a Spider's infestation. Next was FAI where we fought for Joia's Flamedance ring and faced Tarnesh.
Imoen saved vs his Sleep spell but failed vs Horror and after Melf's Acid Arrow and Magic Missiles she had 3 hp left. I stepped forward to cast Resist Fear on her and soaked another Magic Missiles. If Tarnesh had cast it on Imoen she would be dead. Fortunately it was the last spell he knew so shortly he perished.
Inside the Inn we brought Unshey her belt and Landrin had a good news as well. With some Golden Pantalettes in backpack we made some shopping and joined Jaheira and Khalid. Now I have my first big surprise - with IR PnP Equipment for Druids Jaheira shun any metal equipment and refuse to wear even metal helmet. Not that it matters a lot with Revised Critical Hit Aversion but she has AC 7 with studded leather armor - the worst AC in the whole Crew! - and consequently her prime role of the Crew' s main tank I'm used to is no longer available and I have to think how to play her now... At the moment 'tank' duties layed down on Khalid's shoulders but I'm quite skeptical about him in this role - my personal experience with him shows that his hp pool is his main (and nearly 'only') value point which runs out pretty quickly alone with his morale... I'm going to join Viconia soon and think she'll be far better with right equipment but with Item Randomiser getting the 'right equipment' is not a trivial task. Decisions, decisions...
Anyway, the core Crew is assembled so "Grim Tales - Volume II" begins!
My last character was killed by Tarnesh. The less said, the better. Vernia the Vile is doing much better as can be seen below.
Journal of Vernal Vernal the Vile Chaotic Evil Drow Blackguard. Str 18/90, Dex 19, Con 17, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 18. When I was raised in Candlekeep, I was the only drow and I found that the other inhabitants were very wary of me despite me killing the likes Shank, Carbos and Mendas. Whilst fighting Shank, my weapon shattered, so it was well that the blow that broke my weapon also killed him. I discovered to my relief that the crowd of rats around me when Mendas attacked me were actually beneficial as he couldn’t reach me, whereas my throwing axes could reach him. Fortunately I have a high Charisma and so I was able to bed Hull. I was a bit more ambivalent about an encounter with a guard who had a penchant for Bacchanalian depravity, nevertheless the encounter was quite stimulating and he soon had me moaning passionately.
Upon leaving Candlekeep, we were ambushed, and to my shock my mentor and foster father Gorion was brutally murdered. I fled south and fought some gnolls near the home of a mage. Nearby I rescued Mellicamp and was able to help him. As a result I became a level 2 Blackguard. I then had a very enjoyable romantic picnic with him.
Heading south once more I came across a dryad in need of help. This I gave and as a result my reputation was enhanced. It was further enhanced when I helped Drienne’s cat. Again I levelled up, becoming a level 3 Blackguard. I then took on Bassilus and prevailed, my magical resistance being of great help as was the fact that he panicked. I was then able to kill him with ease using ranged weapons. I then killed Zargal and his cohorts and followed this by killing Zargos Flintblade south of Nashkel.
After Zargos, I killed Greywolf and the Amazing Oompah.
I then headed for the Lighthouse area and killed many sirine and golems. They were tough with the result that I survived by the skin of my teeth. Eventually I returned to Beregost and returned the Colquetle family heirloom and afterwards killed Karlat. In transit I killed an ogre mage and afterwards killed Gnarl and Hairtooth. North of them I rescued a wimp from a bear. I was again ambushed by an ogre mage whilst in transit. He died! Then, just south of Beregost, I killed three Flaming Fist Mercenaries who were altogether too officious. I thus acquired three suits of plate armour.
I then headed north and killed an ogre with a belt-fetish before returning to the FAI where I killed Tarnesh.
South of Beregost I was ambushed by two assassins called Tristan and Isolde. They had powerful weapons that would have held me but for my magical resistance. They should have known that they were ineffective on the drow. They won’t be collecting any more bounties!
I headed east to the basilisk area where yet more adventurers, this time led by Lindin wanted me dead. My necklace of missiles weakened them after which my sword did the rest. With the aid of a scroll I then killed a lot of basilisks and medusae.
Another adventurer called Gavin then more or less forced his presence on me. Together we killed Droth and Shoal. Gavin had the new experience to him of dying, but thanks to Shoal he did recover. More killers led by Teyngan were then killed. At that point I reached level 7. The Morninglord then requested that we terminate Mutamin which we did with the aid of some potions that he gave us. Mutamin had a personal escort of a basilisk and another medusa, so it was well that we had the potions.
To the north of the temple Corsonne attacked us and was killed and shortly afterwards another druid suffered the same fate. We finished off the rest of the Morninglord’s requests after which I said goodbye to Gavin. He is willing to work with me again. I’m not sure that I would be happy working with him again.
To my surprise I came across two more drow. It is hardly surprising that they deemed it worthwhile joining my party. One was called Viconia, the other Vynd. Viconia is a Nightcloak of Shar and Vynd an assassin. I found them to be of great worth when I turned my attention to the Nashkel Mines.
Blaggerd's cautious(ish) run. Update 123 4. Siege of Dragonspear: The run continues (for some, anyway).
The cave in the Forest of Wyrms has a second area, which Blaggerd works out is was full of bugbears. Voghiln took to singing in writhing fog with stoneskin, mirror images and Spirit Armor active, while anything that approached him had to deal with missiles launched at them from the other side of the fog.
A third area turned out to be a temple of Cyric. The party focused on clearing out ancillary rooms, but the final room was a tight squeeze and Voghiln was bumped slightly as combat started. Not too much of a problem but two enemies hid and the second backstabbed Glint well enough to avoid any funeral / resurrection costs.
After mopping up the remnants, Blaggerd headed back to camp in need of a thief. With Safana being the only candidate, Blaggerd thought and thought. Could he make do without a thief and get Viconia back into the party. Much as he wanted to, that wasn't a good choice. So Safana got to run her hands through all the loot, taking many items Glint had dropped.
Ziatar the half-dragon was badly wounded in moments but did her usual Sanctuary trick. Blaggerd was spitting mad, knowing full well that Glint had Invisibility Purge lined up to deal with such an eventuality. He ordered Safana to try detecting illusion (50%) and also M'Khiin (60%) but the goblin has a short attention span and instead decides to cast three sets of Insect Plague spells at Voghiln. Ziatar managed to keep her Sanctuary active but failed to heal as a result. When the spell expired, several hits landed but Edwin's meteors got the kill.
Two keys were on Ziatar's corpse, meaning the prisoners could be freed before opening the next door (this prevents any "accidents" to them in the next encounter).
Voghiln was given a Protection from Poison scroll in addition to his usual buffs and shoved into the next room. A huge neothelid surfaced and attacked. Great, thought Blaggerd. Stay topside and we'll fill you full of missiles. Corwin held her ground, taking additional damage against an invisible stalker as she continued to pump arrows into the neothelid.
For the final combat of the area, M'Khiin summoned spirit animals in case brain-fodder was required and Blaggerd dug out 4 Arrows of Detonation. He gave two to Corwin and kept 2 for himself. Only after battle commenced did he recall the side-effect of using such weapons with his Blackguard poison. Mwahaha, group poisoning.
Safana briefly took a non-proficient Fractal blade before passing it to Voghil. He is also non-proficient with it but as he's not fighting it's defensive ability (chance of mirror image on hit) may be invaluable to him. Safana then equipped the Crimson Dawn katana. The next session may see her using boots of speed to add backstabs into the midst of combat against tougher foes. Her stealth abilities may not be up to the job as I'd added traps and detect illusion before considering her in melee.
Corwin has a THAC0 of 1 with the Archer's Eyes and the Dale's Protectors. 166 kills so far. Blaggerd has a THAC0 of 6 and 102 kills since Corwin joined so trailing a bit.
The others have double figure THAC0 and 129 kills between them while providing shield and support.
Edwin is showing Blaggerd up, with 97 kills. Melf's Minute Meteor mainly, and main troll slayer. M'Khiin has 22 kills. Voghiln had 8 kills before switching to singing. Safana already has 2 kills.
I assumed the trap would spring and Hexxat turn to mist but it didn't go exactly as I imagined... the boss fight was my standard 'Insect Plague' and 'Harm' fest so it isn't all bad news.
Here resumes the record of Goiwam Wlfwlqlfcpr the Encoded
After verifying that the Belt of Gender Inversion is still available, I head to where Neera's at and prepare the battlefield. Given my current level, this could very quickly turn sour.
Now that I have Neera, I don't particularly need Baeloth (especially since he doesn't join you for the main part of SoD) but at the same time the raw amount of firepower he brings to the table makes him valuable. Anyway, now that I have a gem bag it's time to collect Samuel and see if I didn't sabotage this earlier. I still need a potion case, now that I look at things. Anyway we grab Samuel and make a 40-hour beeline for the FAI. Once we arrive I split the party - Baeloth to confront Tarnesh, Neera to grab Evermemory, and Goiwam to deliver Samuel, who, well...
Well, what can you do?
I get inside and, realizing that the best way to keep the Belt of Gender Inversion on hand is to wear it myself, opt to deliver Elves' Bane to its rightful owner. I also 'collect' the Pantaloons and return Landrin's belongings. With all that faffing out of the way, it's time to go rescue Contestant Number Three. On the way there we get ambushed by a swarm of undead. I don't have the means to handle them right now, so we plough through - Neera takes five damage from a lucky hit.
Did you know that you can still invoke Nahal's Reckless Dweomer while silenced? However, without Vocalize it doesn't help.
Her join exp puts her at level 4, which is enough to give her proficiency with Ashideena out of the gate. Yay. I still want a replacement for Baeloth and need to collect Safana, and I need to go down that way anyway for a couple tomes.
We rest in Beregost (at the Red Sheaf, if anyone cares to know) and I disable AI before heading to Seawatcher. I have Neera make Goiwam invisible and she rolls Spell cast and I feel refreshed, meaning she still has two invisibles to use. I also realize that I never set Viconia's spells before resting, so I go in and...
Is... is this normal? I don't remember Viconia ever getting Holy Smite, but at the same time the only level 3 priest spell I really care about is Animate Dead so I may just have never noticed it before. I position myself for what is effectively a disastrous attempt at collecting the treasure for Safana - just Goiwam in the cave (still invisible) and the other three waiting with Safana... except Safana doesn't seem to want to talk to us yet. Very well, we'll just do this in reverse instead. Let's slaughter some gnolls.
We run into some gibberlings on our way to Minsc, and Neera picks this moment to advance her storyline. This kind of isn't the right time, but as a flutist that prefers to learn by ear I have to say I love her similie here. When we finally arrive in Nashkel I send Viconia to fetch the Ankheg Plate, Baeloth to fetch the Ranger, and Goiwam to fetch some ranged weapons for everyone. Since Minsc is going to be using zweihanders I put his new proficiency point into Longbows (guess who's getting the gauntlets?) and have him wear the Ankheg Plate for now (Viconia gets more out of it since it's the only Plate in BG1 she can wear, but it's not like I won't have more later).
We skirt the Xvart Village since I didn't realize I wanted Minsc and Dynaheir when I first hit the FAI (meaning I activated Dorn's encounter and don't want to deal with it just yet), and as I head south from there I get ambushed by an Ogre Mage. I will absolutely need to get Detect Invisibility for Dynaheir and Neera, it's far more useful than I originally thought. I also get PfNM as the scroll drop, so this was well worth a level 2 spell slot. Against my better judgement, I give the Zerksword to Minsc before resting up for the Gnoll Stronghold. I've done this before, it's just likely to get him killed is all. While Minsc is assaulting the Gnolls I have Goiwam go after the Charisma tome.
Of course, Minsc still isn't completely invulnerable so I have him pull back for some healing, running into even more Gnolls in the process. I give up on getting the Charisma Tome for now - this is going to take my full attention since I need to waystation this. Once I find the big group I have Baeloth roll in with some support in the form of Web - this works almost better than expected.
Meanwhile we come across a bit of a missed opportunity - it was recently discovered that Firebead has different dialogue if Imoen gives him the book. Why doesn't Dynaheir have different dialogue if Minsc is the one talking to her?
We make as direct a road to the Seawatcher as possible and... get ambushed by a Winter Wolf that nearly kills Minsc on the first attack.
Unfortunately it's become dangerously apparent that we need to be rid of the Zerksword now that Gnoll Stronghold has been stormed (I'll come back for the Charisma Tome. Eventually.), so instead of the Watcher I head for
I move Evermemory over to Dynaheir since she actually has Magic Missile memorized and Neera doesn't know enough spells yet for NRD Spam to be worth it. I still have her prepare a Chaos Shield, as she can prepare four NRDs and both Magic Missile and Chromatic Orb are CT1 spells (Mirror Image is too, but you don't want to NRD a Target:Self spell if at all possible) and are strongly affected by casting level. I pawn off the Zerksword and all of our gems/jewelry, then rest and set out - again - for Seawatcher.
We set up defensive traps near Safana, and since it's Bye-Bye Barrityl after this I send Baeloth ahead to cause as much devastation as possible before being booted from the party... which wound up being most of one Sirine. Blurf. For some reason, Viconia says her special mourning line for Kivan.
I try to make Goiwam invisible again so I can safely sneak past the Sirines, but...
It would almost be cheaper to pick up an Invisibility scroll for Dynaheir, but I don't want to leave now that I'm in position to succeed... and then get killed in the dumbest way possible. Next time I bring an army, or at least a Potion of Invisibility.
The run progresses, but barely. Our first challenge was the demon knights - while we won the fight, Paja, Misty and Forrest all died. Note that we have basically no heal potions.
Worse, bringing back Forrest and Paja made our only RoR go poof. No more resurrections! At least not in the Underdark...
We think the Illithids would be suicide with no heal potions, so we try to do just a little bit of the beholders - the beholders kill Forrest. Bummer. Still can't resurrect.
So we need to get out of here. Well attacking Adalon should do the trick. Corewild put on the frost boots and haste potion, but even with 50% cold resistance, Adalon's breath attack nearly killed him. We decide to abort our attack and run for the hills! We head for the Underdark exit.
First we had to deal with some Kua-Toas that respawns - that went OK. But now we got to deal with the drow war party. We tried to do area effects from out of sight but didn't work we got spotted. Corewild got hurt and quickly went into hiding. Joshua was petrified and chunked!
(Edit: Forgot to mention some of the equipment that was permanently lost when Joshua got chunked: Shield of Balduran, IMoD, Frostweaver, Stonefire, Azuredge, and lots of other stuff to name a few)
Hanna tries to do some area effects, but then an enemy skeleton warrior gets summoned - we can't beat that, she cast invisibility on herself. Paja is stunned so the skeletal warrior kills her. We pick up her things. (by using the right click, then go into inventory screen to pick up the items - this way Corewild's stealth did not break).
Ironically, the drow party gets killed by Hanna's cloudkills. With only Hanna and Corewild the survivors and hurt at that, the duo sneak past the enemies to get to the Underdark exit.
Our first stop is to get to Watcher's Keep and resurrect our fallen. We need a new tank - think Mazzy would do nicely, will get her next session. We happen to have enough gold to resurrect everyone, take a ton of time to re-equip, and will somehow have to make progress next session. We have no healing to speak of.
This duo showed some promise, but ultimately the game told them to SoD off and die.
They didn't do much before marching out of Baldur's Gate. Once they reached camp Skeu started singing to some stones, but forgot to keep a lookout for other things - resulting in him being held and gobbled by a gargantuan spider.
Once the stones were all harmonising nicely, Skeu tried to go and grab a horde left by Crommus - only for a bit of lag to allow a cold wight to bring him down again. Seeker actually managed to take control of a few zombies to allow him to get the goodies.
With item sales more than covering Mizhaena's fees for raise dead there was just enough funds to buy a bag of holding before going to investigate the bridge. We've tended to try and fight that lot - but not very successfully. This time though a nicely targeted fireball from Skeu managed to toast the enemies while leaving our summons untouched and we were able to finish them off quite comfortably.
In Troll Claw Woods Seeker used sanctuary to ransack a troll cave, but there didn't seem to be much else worth doing with the Forest of Wyrms beckoning. The dragon at the entrance to the temple was left snoozing and skeletons led the way as Ziatar's guards were cut down. The dragon woman herself tried to hide in sanctuary to buff up, but with true sight running she was quickly exposed and taken down.
The Neothelid focused on a group of skeletons and didn't last long against them,
while the Shadow Aspect was another victim of true sight.
That meant the next encounter was with Darskhelin the illithid - that point marks the furthest we'd got through the temple in past runs (and still does). Last time it was the illithid's spells that caused the problem but chaotic commands meant Seeker was protected against those and the illithid duly died while trying to eat some skeleton brains.
However, we hadn't started the combat by using area damage against the remaining enemies and that was quickly shown to be a big mistake. The archer sent one arrow in Skeu's direction to wear him down enough for a flame arrow to finish him off.
Seeker mis-clicked with a movement command, but probably would have died anyway as the archer turned on him as he wasn't expecting the level of damage that arrived - 2 successive hits in less than a couple of seconds did over 40 damage.
My next No-Reload attempt will be my standby Fighter>Cleric, and it will be in a BWS EET instance with all the fixings (especially now that I know that thieves can set traps in EET starting from level 6 due to a semi-valid assumption)
Corewild and his band of wild mages - FINAL Update!
Corewild was almost ready to go to Suldenesslar. But there was one final stop before doing that - the Twisted Rune. We were able to kill the lich, but the party was apparently very vulnerable to charm - nearly the whole party charmed (and Forrest petrified) - this meant Corewild felt the full brunt of the beholder's attacks - and unfortunately Mazzy had the Cloak of Reflection and yes she too was charmed. The End.
What's Next: Going to try to install EE and do a duo with Jaheira (for the trilogy).
@Corey_Russell : sad news, indeed, but not the worst way to die, imo. At the very least they weren't swallowed by some horrific fiend but witnessed such a ... beautiful creature! Safe travels for your next duo!
Our usual approach. Reroll straight after defeat, with a brief start yesterday. * Gate70: Sosad, human male Sun Soul Monk. Lawful Good. * Sling and * (throwing) dagger. (* long sword). * Grond0: Lorn, dwarven male Fighter / Cleric. Lawful Evil. ** Sling ** Flail / Morning Star. (** 2 weapon style). n.b. Lorn is a bit of an enigma to Sosad. Either Sosad has Prosopagnosia (also known as "face blindness", the inability to recognise faces) or I've given up adding custom portraits back when I update my game build.
After racing round Candlekeep we picked on Shoal the Nereid, grabbed Zhurlongs boots and headed down to Nashkel for buried ankheg armour. Then we hunted down Samuel the deserter before agreeing to transport him to the Friendly Arm Inn. Sosad felt lucky though, and suggested Lorn could snack on some spiders on the way. Fortunately we'd picked up 5 healing potions near Zhurlong's boots. Lorn declined to use any of them despite being down to 1hp, while Sosad gulped the lot and barely survived.
Lorn was clearly the lucky one, so off we went with his 1hp. Sosad had to shut his eyes at one stage when a misclick and multiplayer lag saw the 1hp wonder admiring the view instead of the begirdled ogre behind him.
After returning Samuel we rested just outside.
Sosad
Lorn
The next day, henceforth known as session 2, we set out on a basilisk hunt before working out Mutamin was the strong silent dead type. Kirian and her friends managed to kill off Korax the ghoul but soon joined him even after Lorn bust his weapon up and started punching with his fists instead.
Lorn suggested picking on Silke next - Sosad was a bit wary but decided Lorn had plenty of hit points. Silke came to the same conclusion and targeted Sosad instead. If only she'd realised he had enough health to survive while she did not.
With nothing left to do in the area, it was time to head out to the coast. Lorn silenced a few sirines, belatedly realising they then shot as he tried to close in on them. Not a problem though.
A cave with hidden treasure nearly caught us out, with Lorn daintily skipping over a Hold trap only for Sosad to blunder into it. There were no enemies around until Lorn looked back and stumbled into a Dire Charm trap. Luckily for us, there was a rocky outcrop of the cave that prevented a line of sight so Lorn did not bludgeon his Bhaalspawn to bits.
With the coast cleared we went after Meilum's bracers, making short work of him and a zombie which tracked us from the start of the area. On to Durlag's Tower where the Battle Horror's found themselves in trouble.
Lorn took his turn, as client, to unfairly pick on a Greater Ghould which Sosad knew to be deep inside the Tower.
We nipped inside so Lorn could loot a Tome of Wisdom and left. Sosad thought it was another successful venture, but the gods gave him a short sharp shock and he resorted to healing up before moving on.
In an underground battle of ankhegs vs skeletons, Sosad found the occasional chance to make his presence known. This was enough for Farmer Brun to increase our reputation (20).
Time to shop, although charisma of 9 meant we restricted it to a greenstone amulet and cloak of displacement for Lorn. He didn't mind though, silencing Mulahey at the base of Nashkel Mine and also silencing the Amazons outside.
Nimbul the assassin was also silenced.
Tranzig was slashed down by skeletons before Lorn demonstrated his armor / cloak / boots / girdle against the bandits. Rather one-sided, which suits us.
Taugosz Khosann tried to catch Sosad, but Doom -> Hold Person caught him instead.
Inside the largest bandit tent, there was a deadly hush.
Cloakwood saw Lorn experimenting on dead ettercaps by hitting them
"Don't worry lads" said Kysus. "I saved against the spell and... oh he's cast it aga:silence:"
Cloakwood Mine holds a lot of fascination for the guards.
While the two Battle Horrors near Davaeorn put up a tough showing, without ultimately fulfilling his expectations of them.
Davaeorn almost managed to teleport away from death (his equipment moved but he died near Lorn).
We opened up the city of Baldur's Gate and called it a day.
Blaggerd's cautious(ish) run. Siege of Dragonspear: Here be spoilers. Update 1234 5.
Boareskyr Bridge. There is a palisade around the bridge, with guards blocking the entrance. Blaggerd bluffs his way inside and cheekily cheesily nabs a scroll from under the eyes of Vichand. Safana meanwhile has sidled over to the Barghest and to the casual observer is simpering at his feet. With three snares and a 50% chance of success she is confident, but skulks away licking her wounds without a single one having worked.
It's time to move on before anyone gives up the jig, so the party head to a nearby cave and clear it out. Lovely lovely loot, probably - Blaggerd forgot to make any record of it. Then on to the portal stones and into the fort. Khalid is inside and suggests speaking to a couple of people which leads to serious damage when a large object comes through the roof. Blaggerd already has a scroll to deal with this (how fortuitous) and breaks off a piece of the object. Jegg Hillcarver volunteers to make something with it and hands over 80 unusual arrows. Corwin bags them in case they are needed for something special
Khalid is told to come running if battle starts, as are the coalition soldiers back at camp. Blaggerd returns and decides to buff before moving in. This takes a few rounds by which time the coalition have forgotten their orders (or Blaggerd's recollection was not correct) and they attack. Well, that's fine by Blaggerd - he's happy to trundle along at the back and loot the fallen regardless of their allegiance.
After casually sniping down incapacitated enemies, some named folk turn up. Blaggerd knows the drill, if they have a name they are a) harder to kill b) likely to break the coalition attack apart c) important d) carrying nice equipment
So, pick on anyone with names. Corwin and Blaggerd have little trouble victimising such targets. The last couple of mages (second screenshot) survive long enough for Blaggerd to realise that some other bleeper has killed the Barghest before we could have the pleasure.
The Crusaders are in full retreat and decide to blow up the bridge on their way. Blaggerd remembers this well but failed to commission an artwork showing his masterful tactic of Fireballs and Writhing Fog to foil such a plan. Never mind.
The last thing to do is throw Voghiln's old axes down a well - we've been carrying them for too long. A well spirit doesn't appreciate this and attacks. Safana cackles and lands her first backstab. It's good, but Blaggerd equipped his World's Edge +3 two hander and carved out an even bigger hit that shaded her strike.
Blaggerd is feeling comfortable at the moment, but only too aware that it only takes a moment (of poor control) to turn the tide and bury him again.
Shyffunee completed Merkath's quest after raiding his entire lair and almost dying to the Acid Blob Hold trap near the Altar (I had forgotten it was there o.0). He was dispatched quickly after he tried to bribe us by giving us a slave as our reward. Haer'Dalis was released and we quickly picked up the Planar Gem and brought it to Raelis-Shai.
The Planar Prison went all smooth until we had to face the Master of Thralls. I had forgotten aTweaks gives this beautiful creature level drain. The demon entered the Ethereal Plane to regenerate, and I thought it'd be cool to refill the Mirror Images I had lost during the fight against the Air Elementals, but when I did so he just came out and attacked me when I had my robe on, which meant Shyffunee got drained to level 6/6 before the creature died. I had no scrolls of Restoration. I should have taken one in case anything like this happened.
Then I forgot the Warden could cast Time Stop and is immune to fire, so I couldn't murder him with the WoL+Sunfire trick. He obliterated Shyffunee in two rounds. Not that I had any chances against him as a level 6/6 Wizard Slayer/Transmuter anyway.
Comments
After the shocking end to the previous run we rolled up new characters. After seeing a sorcerer in that run killed several times in quick succession by ambushes I went for something heftier in a barbarian. Gate70 and Corey_Russell both fancied a bit of stealth with a monk and ranger respectively.
A quick start saw the Trio pick up some good XP from Shoal before heading down to Nashkel via Beregost. As usual I couldn't resist trying to kill Vitiare at the Carnival and, also as usual, the lag effects in MP meant he robbed us blind and strolled off laughing.
Meilum was relieved of his bracers on our way to the basilisk area. The southern group of basilisks is no more and I must try and remember not to automatically rest at the start of the next session (and lose the benefit of the PfP scroll).
Babar, barbarian L4, 64 HPs, 22 kills
Coreranger, ranger L3, 39 HPs, 23 kills
Meffal, monk L4, 37 HPs, 18 kills
The game is being played in a BGT installation, which doesn't have the same tendency to give high HP rolls as BGEE. The HP rolls for all 3 characters are incredibly good taking that into account - all of them averaging around 1 less than their maximum per die roll.
p.s,
Sounds like the makings of a good joke... A barbarian, a ranger and a monk walk into a bar:
the barbarian says "don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry"
the ranger says "a Scout smiles and whistles under all circumstances"
the monk says "wax on, wax off"
Tig-9,
The king is dead,I did another odd job for the wild mages and rescued a blue elf then started freeing slaves and helped a sick harper make it home... got a nice scroll my sister will love.
I asked Jaheria to dispatch the elemental door guard and Hexxat is immune to cloudkill so she was my door blocker for the boss fight.
First one had a death as Grond0 mentioned a few days back, thanks to the Demon Knight.
His chosen party was below.
Blaggerd. Longbow. Occasional 2 handed sword.
Kagain. Bracers of dexterity, axe + shield. Fronted up to everything without dying.
Dorn. 2 handed sword from behind Kagain. Chunked by Demon Knight before Blaggerd died.
Imoen. Remained as a thief, shortbow +2.
Viconia. Sling +3.
Edwin. Magic.
I completed the campaign with no further deaths, then re-rolled.
Blaggerd had been contemplating his
recenteternal lack of success. Time to think harder. To start, a disguise. Eyes winced, but the effort was surely worth it. Ouch.Imoen remained the only constant, dualling to a mage at level 5 and occupying slot 3. Again, the Protector of the Dryads shortbow +2 was used until Melf's Minute Meteors could be cast.
Slot 2. Shar-Teel took up position at the front of the party. Blaggerd had taken two attempts to recruit her, blatantly cheating with his second effort but that's part of the fun. She suggested dual-wielding Varscona / Harrower.
Slot 4. A ranger with a vengeance, Kivan. Give him a composite longbow with the Dale's Protector gauntlets and stand well back. He rarely had to resort to the Suryrsis's Blade +2 halberd.
Slot 5. Coran. Recruited so Imoen could dual-class. Dead Eye +2 longbow meant he rarely missed his mark. Blaggerd was only too keen to help him hunt down wyverns.
Slot 6. Yeslick. Not a natural fit but his melee and cleric abilities had Blaggerd compromising. The stocky little dwarf went with the flow, and made good use of the Ashideena war hammer.
Blaggerd was focused on his objective but found time to note some action. His first recollection was of Mulahey being outnumbered while Shar-Teel took delight in diverting his support.
(text is scrolled back to show the action before Sleep was cast)
Durlag's Tower then. Blaggerd took delight in dealing with the four warders.
(once upon a time I struggled greatly with them but +1 missiles hurts their chances)
Other than that, there were no further obstacles, the four dwarven warders set upon by sword, hammer, halberd and anything else to hand.
Blaggerd doled out potions which guaranteed saves, but was one short. Yeslick had the best saving throws so Blaggerd gave him an Invulnerability potion instead and the party headed downstairs. Shar-Teel distracted Aec'Letec, taunting him from a distance as Protection from Fire kept her safe from the Arrows of Detonation used to wipe out the acolytes.
With the last acolyte dead, the party focused on Aec'Letec. Arrows hit hard and fast but Shar-Teel gulped a strength potion, moved in and with her first attack the combat was over.
Siege of Dragonspear (start)
Blaggerd had a plan for dealing with the opening dungeon, shamelessly stolen from a fellow adventurer (thanks Grond0). That plan was used five times, with Kivan and Coran shooting Arrows of Detonation from the shadows while Blaggerd shot a moment later from behind them to cremate any stragglers. These are the five encounters, with combat log of the last.
1. The Iron Throne Commander across the first bridge. Not strictly necessary but zero risk.
2. The first group of undead in the second level with the shadowed soul.
3. The group of undead with the guardian.
4. The group of elite mercenaries near the rope.
5. Korlasz.
He's done some shopping (2nd potion case, scroll case, sold various items) and is working out who he should look for (probably nobody in the city).
Seeker, dwarf priest of Helm (Grond0) & Skeu, human skald (Gate70)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/877224/#Comment_877224
The duo sneaked through the Nashkel Mine into Mulahey's cave. Seeker was spotted trying to move into position to cast at the cleric though and he moved out and started casting at Skeu - it was probably a good job that Seeker's silence took effect first.
With skeletons combining with stinking clouds and blindness the amazons were quickly rendered helpless - as were Nimbul and then Tranzig.
At the Bandit Camp Taurgosz tried to come to the aid of his sleeping bandits, but only got himself held for his pains. Inside Tazok's tent there was more use of stinking skeletons to ensure an easy victory.
After passing invisibly through the Cloakwood, Seeker successfully silenced the guards on the mine. Genthore and the mages tried to fight, but without much joy. Drasus though just stood there while he desperately tried to think of something to say.
Inside the mine the intention was to bypass Hareishan, but both Seeker and Skeu were out of stealth-supporting spells and the mage attacked. Seeker spotted a lightning bolt coming and threw a potion to Skeu to counter it - but the multi-player lag meant Skeu died before the potion took effect.
Back at the mine there were no further problems going down to the bottom level. The battle horrors were pulled back one at a time into Skeu's spells before Seeker successfully silenced Davaeorn and finished him off before he could recover.
In the City, the tomes were recovered along with the Helm & Cloak of Balduran and Ramazith's gear. The Iron Throne party were taken on and swiftly taken down by skeletons (buffed with haste, strength of one and chant) operating in layered stinking clouds.
At Candlekeep the tombs were robbed before fighting through some dopplegangers. To get a bit more XP the spiders were killed by skeletons after they had dealt with Prat's gang and the haul was increased by a couple of basilisk carcasses.
Back in Baldur's Gate the bank balance was in excess of 100k, so we splashed out on recharging some wands at Ulgoth's Beard. That included a wand of the heavens Seeker had picked up at the Iron Throne, but Skeu had to buy the existing wand at Ulgoth's before the innkeeper would recharge the other one to the full 100 charges expected.
Skeletons then made short work of Slythe and Krystin and also featured strongly at the palace. Liia died there, but Belt survived relatively untroubled.
Skeu got his final BG1 level going through the maze. His intended stinking cloud on the Undercity party was spotted and Rahvin retaliated with exploding arrows - a quick retreat and rest was called for before returning and doing the job properly.
In the temple Sarevok and Semaj were also joined by Tazok. However, Semaj lasted only moments after being hit by a dispelling arrow and the others were held up by first skeletons and then monsters summoned by wand before Sarevok's final few HPs were taken down by running shots.
In the SoD dungeon Seeker sneaked through to find Porios and convince him to surrender. Several groups of skeletons worked well to clear the enemy undead, but the elite mercenaries prior to Korlasz proved more of a hurdle and Skeu was skewered by an assassin backstab.
Seeker, priest of Helm 8, 74 HPs (incl. 5 from helm), 165 kills
Skeu, skald 10, 65 HPs, 162 kills, 3 deaths
Update 1 2. Status at end of this session:
Blaggerd: Composite Longbow +1
Time to bag the Helm of the Noble, reducing Charisma to 19 for Constitution 20 instead
A quick scoot around town confirmed that no suitable companions were available so Blaggerd set off for Dragonspear on his own, apart from the mass of soldiers who insisted on coming along. They soon cramped his style so as camp was set he made do with what party members he could muster.
Slot 2: Viconia: Ashideena war hammer +2
On arrival at the Coast Ways Crossing, Blaggerd realised he could have recruited Viconia earlier, and made sure to do so before leaving camp. She rifled through his travelling luggage and equipped various items. It seemed unfair to have her follow the footsteps of Kagain and Shar-Teel as meat-shield. Blaggerd is anything but fair so that's her role.
Slot 3: Corwin: Corwin's Bow +1
With no sign of Kivan (and not having bothered too hard to look for Coran) Blaggerd needed comparable ranged combat abilities. After a check of her skills, he suggested she should keep a close eye on him while he could marvel at her ranger accuracy.
Slot 4: Edwin: Magic, throwing daggers, Aule's Staff +3
Blaggerd briefly considered including Baeloth instead but slot 6 might have objected.
Slot 5: Glint: Firefly sling +2
A brief spell without any rogue confirmed that one was required, so Blaggerd came back to choose between the gnome and Safana. Having a second cleric felt like a good idea.
Slot 6: M'Khiin: Blightbringer shortbow +1
The intention was not to use shamanic dance but the first dungeon crawl with her saw the party struggling so some use was made. Blaggerd wants to utilise her other strengths though.
Longer term, Viconia may be dropped despite her AC, buffs and healing. Blaggerd is reluctant to recruit Dorn again, but word of a wandering Luskan bard has reached his ears.
More details about Coast Way Crossing activity.
Once Viconia and Corwin were recruited, the trio bumped into Edwin and returned to camp so he too could equip himself. With this done, Viconia led the way to the bridge which was rapidly destroyed by an over-keen Crusader mage. Blaggerd vented his frustration on the Crusaders stuck his side, and looted their dead bodies before returning to camp.
The journey to Boareskyr Bridge was aborted after running into orcs fighting trolls. Blaggerd shoved Viconia into the fray and provided covering fire as did Corwin. Edwin gazed at his navel until trolls started dropping, and only then used his Melf's Minute Meteors to claim the kills.
A cave nearby had a murky pool which Viconia said had steps leading down. Blaggerd made use of her infravision and shoved her down the steps where more trolls were waiting. The same shield, shoot and meteor treatment saw the area cleared and the party returned to camp instead of proceeding to Boareskyr Bridge. Time to add Glint to the party.
(I had remembered by that time I was intending doing sidequests. I'd skipped the city though so that blocks a couple of things already)
M'Khiin was the final recruit, earning her keep by talking to a group of dead goblins and learning of their hidden treasure.
Rasaad was to the west and wanting to join up, but Blaggerd told him to head to camp instead. Siding with a vampire seemed only natural and the chagrin of the vampire hunters was short-lived as they were outnumbered and rapidly dead.
Blaggerd used his considerable charisma to sing at menhirs next. No complaints, strangely. The ghost of a bard appeared to tell of his burial place but Blaggerd could not make head or tail of it. No doubt he will either desecrate the grave at some point or leave it on his to-do list.
(realised at time of writeup. Back to the dig I go, explore the one bit I missed earlier. Looted)
Telana tried and failed to add to her collection of statues, Blaggerd turning each back with stone to flesh scrolls to see if they had words of wisdom for him or some rewards. He's all heart.
(on writeup I realised I'd not returned to Herod, so did that)
Takos mentioned he was looking for a mirror, cloak and shield. No, not seen any of them said Blaggerd with the sort of look that Takos knew meant finders keepers. It's like a mind trick, just more blatant.
The dwarven dig was next. Viconia did well generally, but there were a couple of times she was badly wounded and once when she had to run with 1hp remaining. She was also level drained two or three times requiring rests so Glint could use Lesser Restoration. Blaggerd eventually resorted to having M'Khiin dance up support and drawing large groups of enemies into them.
The Coldhearth Lich may be a tough nut to crack for an unprepared party but Blaggerd knew exactly what to expect and the lich barely survived to have a "Secret Revealed" de-buff. Before Blaggerd could switch from the item to his bow, the combat was over.
Glint retrieved the pyhlactory then Viconia ran across the area and destroyed it in a fire chamber.
Just a quick update.
I have enjoyed the no reload playthrough of BG and writing it up here. And thankyou to all those who have given me likes, hope you enjoyed it. But SOD, it's so boring, I can hardly bring myself to play it let alone write anything about it. There's just no room to RP because the whole game is based on nothing my charname would ever do. I don't care about the Argent woman or her stupid crusade. It's all so contrived to create "an adventure", a game, nothing is organic or grows from BG. Even the combat is boring and repetative.
So probably skipping to BG2 and if I carry on a storied playthrough will post it in that section of the forum.
Update 1 2 3.
Troll Claw Woods
It's just a short walk through the area. Except for the wildlife.
Blaggerd handed over 800gp to get Voghiln raised. Perhaps swapping Viconia out for him wasn't such a wise idea. Not one to admit making a mistake, he decided to persevere. Maybe get Voghiln to stay further back and try Glint up front. Hmm. Another 800 gold down the pan.
Forest of Wyrms
With Voghiln given a stern talking to, Blaggerd decided to try again. First, make sure the Skald has Protection from Cold active.
A second group got much the same treatment, Blaggerd noting the greater wyvern and refocusing all efforts onto it including a decent lightning strike from M'Khiin.
There had been two further travel encounters. The first saw a horde of goblins grouped around Voghiln, his song echoing in the writhing fog while the rest of the party sniped away with missiles. The second encounter saw two hill giants attacking a young green dragon.
Voghiln died twice more in a spider cave (gargantuan spiders held him twice, when will he learn). Speaking of green dragons though, Blaggerd blatantly cheated to kill a larger one (method redacted)
That's enough caution for one day so calling the session to a close.
He quickly proceeded to flee in terror from a ghost, get charmed and then decapitated by Khark, and generally get beaten and battered by Battle Horrors, spiders etc. All the while communing with his hamster and glaring suspiciously at Dyanheir's bedroll. His cockblocking almost came to an end when we met Coran but for now at least the big lug lingers on (partly with an eye to SoD if I don't skip it.)
The only near death experience was partly the product of a bug when multiple thugs from the Gavin Mod spawned while we were clearing Ulcaster and proceeded to hem Cromarty in next to the ghost. Fortunately the ghost couldn't see him after he drank an invisibility potion.
Considering switching to Android if Beamdog ever updates it!
(BG1/ToSC: SCS/Spell Revisions/aTweaks/Item Randomiser)
Chapter VI - Sad but True...
Unfortunately, I have to inform you, friends, that Grim Face foolishly perished in the sewers of Baldur's Gate City. With most City tasks completed we decided to purify local sewerage. And in the Western part of it, while being ready to face Schlumpsha the Sewer King, I completely forgot about local Spider's nest. Having turned a next corner Grim Face suddenly encountered a Giant and Phase Spiders. He immediately tried to cast a Sanctuary but even with casing time of 1 he failed to apply it faster than Giant Spider's Web Tangle hit him. With automatic hits Phase Spider injected his deadly poison and even though Jaheira cast Free Action on Grim Face it failed to cancel Web Tangle (@Aasim confirmed that it shouldn't). Neither Viconia nor Jaheira had Cure Poison memorised (we had plenty of Antidotes...) so with 5hp/sec ticking of Phase Spider's poison Grim Face's fate was sealed within single round:
Anyway, I've already thought to try Item Revisions alone with Spell Revisions (and seems they are meant to be used together) so I've made a new setup now including Item Revisions. In other respects it's my usual setup (full SCS with pre-buffs and all tactical challenges/Spell Revisions/aTweaks/Item Randomiser).
WeiDU:
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~EASYTUTUDEGREENIFIER.TP2~ #0 #0 // EasyTutu Degreenifier
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #100 // TobEx - Core: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #102 // Awaken On Damage: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #103 // Blindness As Spell Description: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #105 // No Spell Interruption On Zero Damage: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #106 // Use Caster Level On Mirror Image [C]: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #107 // Allow All Races to Dual Class: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #111 // Disable Silence On Charm: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #113 // Remain Hidden On Pickpocket Success [C]: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #114 // Rest Spawns Advance Time: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #115 // Dialogue Greeting Subtitles: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #116 // Enable Animation Attack Sounds: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #117 // Universal Four Inventory Weapon Slots: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #118 // Subtitles For Standard Soundsets: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #120 // Drop Inventory on Disintegrate: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #121 // Drop Inventory on Frozen Death: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #122 // Drop Inventory on Stone Death: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #123 // Enable Auto-Pause On All Screens: Beta 0025
~TOBEX/TOBEX.TP2~ #0 #124 // Make All Attack Animations Genuine Attacks: Beta 0025
~SETUP-TUTUFIX.TP2~ #0 #2 // Restored BG1 Loadscreens
~SETUP-TUTUFIX.TP2~ #0 #3 // BG2 Ammo Stacks
~SETUP-TUTUFIX.TP2~ #0 #4 // Totemic Druid Spirit Summons are Balanced
~SETUP-TUTUFIX.TP2~ #0 #5 // BG1 Summoning Spells
~SPELL_REV/SETUP-SPELL_REV.TP2~ #0 #0 // Spell Revisions: v4 Beta 14 BWP Fix
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #0 // Item Revisions by Demivrgvs: V4 Beta 9
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #0 // The BG1 NPC Project: Required Modifications: v22.8
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #1 // The BG1 NPC Project: Banters, Quests, and Interjections: v22.8
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #10 // The BG1 NPC Project: Branwen's Romance Core (teen content): v22.8
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #12 // The BG1 NPC Project: Dynaheir's Romance Core (teen content): v22.8
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #13 // The BG1 NPC Project: Shar-Teel Relationship Core (adult content): v22.8
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #18 // The BG1 NPC Project: Alora's Starting Location -> Alora Starts in Gullykin: v22.8
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #25 // Jason Compton's Accelerated Banter Script: v22.8
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #28 // The BG1 NPC Project: Bardic Reputation Adjustment: v22.8
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #31 // The BG1 NPC Project: Sarevok's Diary Adjustments -> SixofSpades Extended Sarevok's Diary: v22.8
~BG1NPC/BG1NPC.TP2~ #0 #200 // The BG1 NPC Project: Player-Initiated Dialogues: v22.8
~BG1NPCMUSIC/SETUP-BG1NPCMUSIC.TP2~ #0 #0 // The BG1 NPC Project Music Pack -> Install All Audio: v6
~SPELL_REV/SETUP-SPELL_REV.TP2~ #0 #20 // Mirror Image Fix: v4 Beta 14 BWP Fix
~SPELL_REV/SETUP-SPELL_REV.TP2~ #0 #30 // Dispel Magic Fix: v4 Beta 14 BWP Fix
~SPELL_REV/SETUP-SPELL_REV.TP2~ #0 #50 // Remove Disabled Spells from Spell Selection Screens: v4 Beta 14 BWP Fix
~SPELL_REV/SETUP-SPELL_REV.TP2~ #0 #55 // Spell Deflection blocks AoE spells: v4 Beta 14 BWP Fix
~SPELL_REV/SETUP-SPELL_REV.TP2~ #0 #60 // Update Spellbooks of Joinable NPCs: v4 Beta 14 BWP Fix
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1042 // Revised Armor -> Without Movement Speed Penalties: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #3 // Allow Spellcasting in Armor -> With Casting Speed Penalties for Arcane Casters: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1101 // Allow Thieving Skills in Armor -> Stealth is Penalized by Armor and Shields: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #10 // Revised Shield Bonuses: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #17 // Weapon Changes: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1080 // Enchantment Doesn't Affect Speed Factor of Weapons: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #11 // Dual Wielding Changes for Light and Heavy Weapons: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #19 // Revised Backstabbing -> More Weapons Usable for Backstabbing: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Revised Critical Hit Aversion: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #12 // Items of Protection Can Be Worn with Magical Armor: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1091 // Remove Weapon Restrictions from Multi-classed Divine Spellcasters -> Clerics and Druids: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #16 // PnP Equipment for Druids -> Druids and Fighter/Druids: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1060 // Kensai Can Wear Bracers: V4 Beta 9
~ITEM_REV/ITEM_REV.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Thieves Can Use Wands: V4 Beta 9
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Force All Dialogue to Pause Game: v16 BWP Fix
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1010 // More Interjections: v16 BWP Fix
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Improved Multi-Player Kick-out Dialogues: v16 BWP Fix
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1080 // Add Bags of Holding: v16 BWP Fix
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1090 // Exotic Item Pack: v16 BWP Fix
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1110 // Add Map Notes: v16 BWP Fix
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3000 // Higher HP on Level Up -> Maximum: v16 BWP Fix
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3010 // Maximum HP for NPCs (the bigg) -> For All Creatures in Game: v16 BWP Fix
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Easy Spell Learning -> 100% Learn Spells: v16 BWP Fix
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3121 // Happy Patch (Party NPCs do not complain about reputation) -> NPCs Can Be Angry About Reputation but Never Leave (Salk): v16 BWP Fix
~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3200 // Sellable Items (Icelus): v16 BWP Fix
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1901 // Standardise spells: BG1 vs BG2 -> Introduce BG2 spell scrolls into BG1: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2110 // Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic -> Inquisitors dispel at 1.5 x their level (not twice their level): v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3000 // Replace BG1-style elemental arrows with BG2 versions: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3030 // Re-introduce potions of extra-healing: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Grant large, flying, non-solid or similar creatures protection from Web and Entangle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4020 // More realistic wolves and wild dogs: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4040 // Make party members less likely to die irreversibly: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4100 // Allow player to choose NPC proficiencies and skills: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4110 // Allow NPC pairs to separate: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4120 // NPCs go to inns: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5020 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Cloak of Displacement: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5050 // Stackable ankheg shells, winterwolf pelts and wyvern heads: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5060 // Ensure Shar-Teel doesn't die in the original challenge: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages -> Mages cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests -> Priests cast some short-duration spells instantly at start of combat, to simulate pre-battle casting: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6102 // Potions for NPCs -> Half the potions dropped by slain enemies break and are lost: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6300 // Smarter sirines and dryads: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6310 // Slightly harder carrion crawlers: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6320 // Smarter basilisks: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7000 // Improved doppelgangers: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7010 // Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7030 // Dark Side-based kobold upgrade: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Relocated bounty hunters: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7050 // Improved Ulcaster: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7080 // Improved Demon Cultists: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7090 // Improved Cloakwood Druids: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7100 // Improved Bassilus: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7110 // Improved Drasus party: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7130 // Improved Red Wizards: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7140 // Improved Undercity party: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7200 // Tougher chapter-two end battle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7210 // Tougher chapter-three end battle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7220 // Tougher chapter-four end battle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7230 // Tougher chapter-five end battle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7250 // Improved final battle: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7900 // Improved minor encounters: v30 BWP fix + K4thos' EET compatibility + kreso's Spell Revisions compatibility
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #100 // Restore innate infravision to Half-Orc characters: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #117 // Allow Mages to scribe memorized spells onto scrolls -> Scrolls can only be scribed at inns and strongholds: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #120 // Restore innate disease immunity to Paladins: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #125 // Rangers' Animal Empathy improves with experience: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Additional racial traits for Dwarves: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #140 // Additional racial traits for Gnomes: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #160 // PnP Undead: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #185 // PnP Fey creatures: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #200 // Allow Breach to take down Stoneskin effects applied by items: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #201 // Instant casting for warrior innates: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #202 // Revised Bhaalpowers -> Enhance the Bhaalpowers and standardize their casting time: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #203 // Make druidic shapeshifting uninterruptable: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #212 // Make alignment detection spells more accurate: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #213 // Expanded saving throw bonus tables for Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #217 // Bard songs break invisibility -> All Bard songs break invisibility: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #262 // Altered XP rewards from locks, traps and scrolls -> No XP rewards from locks, traps and scrolls: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #324 // Use Icewind Dale's Dimension Door animation -> Fast animation speed, shorter delay between animation start and creature appearance/disappearance: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #310 // Distinctive creature coloring: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #315 // Distinctive creature soundsets: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #500 // Slightly expanded storage capacity for containers -> Use the recommended storage capacity value (999): v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #510 // Expanded temple services: v4.50 BWP Fix
~ATWEAKS/SETUP-ATWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #999 // BG2-style icons for aTweaks content: v4.50 BWP Fix
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #0 // Fix Sunfire power levels: v2.1
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #100 // Check for and fix incorrect spell animations: v2.1
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #400 // Prevent silent prebuffs: v2.1
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #201 // Add spell school notifications to the combat log -> All spells with a casting time greater than 1: v2.1
~JIMFIX/SETUP-JIMFIX.TP2~ #0 #300 // Add expiration notifications for buffs: v2.1
~INFINITYANIMATIONS/SETUP-INFINITYANIMATIONS.TP2~ #0 #0 // Infinity Animations: v5 BWP Fix
~INFINITYANIMATIONS/SETUP-INFINITYANIMATIONS.TP2~ #0 #25 // Humanoid Animation Fixes: v5 BWP Fix
~INFINITYANIMATIONS/SETUP-INFINITYANIMATIONS.TP2~ #0 #500 // More Base Animations: v5 BWP Fix
~INFINITYANIMATIONS/SETUP-INFINITYANIMATIONS.TP2~ #0 #8030 // BG1 Animations for NPCs -> Most relevant creatures: v5 BWP Fix
~INFINITYANIMATIONS/SETUP-INFINITYANIMATIONS.TP2~ #0 #9000 // Fix Areas -> Creature References: v5 BWP Fix
~INFINITYANIMATIONS/SETUP-INFINITYANIMATIONS.TP2~ #0 #9520 // BG1 Animations for Exported PCs -> Patch all PCs without prompting: v5 BWP Fix
~TUTUGUI/SETUP-TUTUGUI.TP2~ #0 #0 // Baldurs Gate I GUI for Tutu, SoA/ToB, or BGT
~TUTUGUI/SETUP-TUTUGUI.TP2~ #0 #1 // Support for The Biggs widescreen mod
~SETUP-TUTUGUIFONT.TP2~ #0 #0 // Baldurs Gate fonts for TutuGUI
~SETUP-TUTUSOUNDS.TP2~ #0 #0 // Casting Sounds -> Restored BG1 Casting Sounds And Special Effects
~SETUP-TUTUSOUNDS.TP2~ #0 #2 // Restored BG1 Combat Sounds
~GENERALIZED_BIFFING/GENERALIZED_BIFFING.TP2~ #0 #0 // Generalized Biffing: v2.2 BWP Fix
~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #500 // Randomly replace the WIS tome normally found in TotSC with one of the 6 available types: v6.8
~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #530 // Randomise scrolls: v6.8
~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #570 // Randomise the appearance of cursed items: v6.8
~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #1300 // Randomise items -> Mode 2: Randomise with WeiDU. No items are lost: v6.8
~RANDOMISER/RANDOMISER.TP2~ #0 #5075 // Slimes have no items equipped: v6.8
And Grim Face got another chance to beat this challenge.
After leaving Candlekeep I joined Imoen together we cleaned of nasty creatures the Lion's Way, Coast Way and went to the Beregost to calm Marl, fetch book for Firebead, obtain a letter for Marianne and clean a Spider's infestation. Next was FAI where we fought for Joia's Flamedance ring and faced Tarnesh.
Imoen saved vs his Sleep spell but failed vs Horror and after Melf's Acid Arrow and Magic Missiles she had 3 hp left. I stepped forward to cast Resist Fear on her and soaked another Magic Missiles. If Tarnesh had cast it on Imoen she would be dead. Fortunately it was the last spell he knew so shortly he perished.
Inside the Inn we brought Unshey her belt and Landrin had a good news as well. With some Golden Pantalettes in backpack we made some shopping and joined Jaheira and Khalid. Now I have my first big surprise - with IR PnP Equipment for Druids Jaheira shun any metal equipment and refuse to wear even metal helmet. Not that it matters a lot with Revised Critical Hit Aversion but she has AC 7 with studded leather armor - the worst AC in the whole Crew! - and consequently her prime role of the Crew' s main tank I'm used to is no longer available and I have to think how to play her now... At the moment 'tank' duties layed down on Khalid's shoulders but I'm quite skeptical about him in this role - my personal experience with him shows that his hp pool is his main (and nearly 'only') value point which runs out pretty quickly alone with his morale... I'm going to join Viconia soon and think she'll be far better with right equipment but with Item Randomiser getting the 'right equipment' is not a trivial task. Decisions, decisions...
Anyway, the core Crew is assembled so "Grim Tales - Volume II" begins!
Current state:
Grim Face: Cleric (2) / Illusionist (1), 48 kills (Huge Spider);
Jaheira: Fighter (2) / Druid (2), 6 kills (Diseased Gibberling);
Khalid: Fighter (3), 10 kills (Diseased Gibberling);
Imoen: Thief (3), 60 kills (Huge Spider).
to be continued...
Journal of Vernal
Vernal the Vile Chaotic Evil Drow Blackguard. Str 18/90, Dex 19, Con 17, Int 10, Wis 15, Cha 18.
When I was raised in Candlekeep, I was the only drow and I found that the other inhabitants were very wary of me despite me killing the likes Shank, Carbos and Mendas. Whilst fighting Shank, my weapon shattered, so it was well that the blow that broke my weapon also killed him. I discovered to my relief that the crowd of rats around me when Mendas attacked me were actually beneficial as he couldn’t reach me, whereas my throwing axes could reach him.
Fortunately I have a high Charisma and so I was able to bed Hull. I was a bit more ambivalent about an encounter with a guard who had a penchant for Bacchanalian depravity, nevertheless the encounter was quite stimulating and he soon had me moaning passionately.
Upon leaving Candlekeep, we were ambushed, and to my shock my mentor and foster father Gorion was brutally murdered. I fled south and fought some gnolls near the home of a mage. Nearby I rescued Mellicamp and was able to help him. As a result I became a level 2 Blackguard. I then had a very enjoyable romantic picnic with him.
Heading south once more I came across a dryad in need of help. This I gave and as a result my reputation was enhanced. It was further enhanced when I helped Drienne’s cat. Again I levelled up, becoming a level 3 Blackguard. I then took on Bassilus and prevailed, my magical resistance being of great help as was the fact that he panicked. I was then able to kill him with ease using ranged weapons. I then killed Zargal and his cohorts and followed this by killing Zargos Flintblade south of Nashkel.
After Zargos, I killed Greywolf and the Amazing Oompah.
I then headed for the Lighthouse area and killed many sirine and golems. They were tough with the result that I survived by the skin of my teeth. Eventually I returned to Beregost and returned the Colquetle family heirloom and afterwards killed Karlat. In transit I killed an ogre mage and afterwards killed Gnarl and Hairtooth. North of them I rescued a wimp from a bear. I was again ambushed by an ogre mage whilst in transit. He died! Then, just south of Beregost, I killed three Flaming Fist Mercenaries who were altogether too officious. I thus acquired three suits of plate armour.
I then headed north and killed an ogre with a belt-fetish before returning to the FAI where I killed Tarnesh.
South of Beregost I was ambushed by two assassins called Tristan and Isolde. They had powerful weapons that would have held me but for my magical resistance. They should have known that they were ineffective on the drow. They won’t be collecting any more bounties!
I headed east to the basilisk area where yet more adventurers, this time led by Lindin wanted me dead. My necklace of missiles weakened them after which my sword did the rest. With the aid of a scroll I then killed a lot of basilisks and medusae.
Another adventurer called Gavin then more or less forced his presence on me. Together we killed Droth and Shoal. Gavin had the new experience to him of dying, but thanks to Shoal he did recover. More killers led by Teyngan were then killed. At that point I reached level 7. The Morninglord then requested that we terminate Mutamin which we did with the aid of some potions that he gave us. Mutamin had a personal escort of a basilisk and another medusa, so it was well that we had the potions.
To the north of the temple Corsonne attacked us and was killed and shortly afterwards another druid suffered the same fate. We finished off the rest of the Morninglord’s requests after which I said goodbye to Gavin. He is willing to work with me again. I’m not sure that I would be happy working with him again.
To my surprise I came across two more drow. It is hardly surprising that they deemed it worthwhile joining my party. One was called Viconia, the other Vynd. Viconia is a Nightcloak of Shar and Vynd an assassin. I found them to be of great worth when I turned my attention to the Nashkel Mines.
Update 1 2 3 4.
Siege of Dragonspear: The run continues (for some, anyway).
The cave in the Forest of Wyrms has a second area, which Blaggerd works out
iswas full of bugbears. Voghiln took to singing in writhing fog with stoneskin, mirror images and Spirit Armor active, while anything that approached him had to deal with missiles launched at them from the other side of the fog.A third area turned out to be a temple of Cyric. The party focused on clearing out ancillary rooms, but the final room was a tight squeeze and Voghiln was bumped slightly as combat started. Not too much of a problem but two enemies hid and the second backstabbed Glint well enough to avoid any funeral / resurrection costs.
Ziatar the half-dragon was badly wounded in moments but did her usual Sanctuary trick. Blaggerd was spitting mad, knowing full well that Glint had Invisibility Purge lined up to deal with such an eventuality. He ordered Safana to try detecting illusion (50%) and also M'Khiin (60%) but the goblin has a short attention span and instead decides to cast three sets of Insect Plague spells at Voghiln. Ziatar managed to keep her Sanctuary active but failed to heal as a result. When the spell expired, several hits landed but Edwin's meteors got the kill.
Voghiln was given a Protection from Poison scroll in addition to his usual buffs and shoved into the next room. A huge neothelid surfaced and attacked. Great, thought Blaggerd. Stay topside and we'll fill you full of missiles. Corwin held her ground, taking additional damage against an invisible stalker as she continued to pump arrows into the neothelid.
Corwin has a THAC0 of 1 with the Archer's Eyes and the Dale's Protectors. 166 kills so far.
Blaggerd has a THAC0 of 6 and 102 kills since Corwin joined so trailing a bit.
The others have double figure THAC0 and 129 kills between them while providing shield and support.
Edwin is showing Blaggerd up, with 97 kills. Melf's Minute Meteor mainly, and main troll slayer.
M'Khiin has 22 kills.
Voghiln had 8 kills before switching to singing.
Safana already has 2 kills.
Tig-10,
Love is pain,I assumed the trap would spring and Hexxat turn to mist but it didn't go exactly as I imagined... the boss fight was my standard 'Insect Plague' and 'Harm' fest so it isn't all bad news.
After verifying that the Belt of Gender Inversion is still available, I head to where Neera's at and prepare the battlefield. Given my current level, this could very quickly turn sour.
I get inside and, realizing that the best way to keep the Belt of Gender Inversion on hand is to wear it myself, opt to deliver Elves' Bane to its rightful owner. I also 'collect' the Pantaloons and return Landrin's belongings. With all that faffing out of the way, it's time to go rescue Contestant Number Three. On the way there we get ambushed by a swarm of undead. I don't have the means to handle them right now, so we plough through - Neera takes five damage from a lucky hit.
We rest in Beregost (at the Red Sheaf, if anyone cares to know) and I disable AI before heading to Seawatcher. I have Neera make Goiwam invisible and she rolls Spell cast and I feel refreshed, meaning she still has two invisibles to use. I also realize that I never set Viconia's spells before resting, so I go in and...
We run into some gibberlings on our way to Minsc, and Neera picks this moment to advance her storyline. This kind of isn't the right time, but as a flutist that prefers to learn by ear I have to say I love her similie here.
We skirt the Xvart Village since I didn't realize I wanted Minsc and Dynaheir when I first hit the FAI (meaning I activated Dorn's encounter and don't want to deal with it just yet), and as I head south from there I get ambushed by an Ogre Mage. I will absolutely need to get Detect Invisibility for Dynaheir and Neera, it's far more useful than I originally thought. I also get PfNM as the scroll drop, so this was well worth a level 2 spell slot. Against my better judgement, I give the Zerksword to Minsc before resting up for the Gnoll Stronghold. I've done this before, it's just likely to get him killed is all. While Minsc is assaulting the Gnolls I have Goiwam go after the Charisma tome.
Of course, Minsc still isn't completely invulnerable so I have him pull back for some healing, running into even more Gnolls in the process. I give up on getting the Charisma Tome for now - this is going to take my full attention since I need to waystation this. Once I find the big group I have Baeloth roll in with some support in the form of Web - this works almost better than expected.
We make as direct a road to the Seawatcher as possible and... get ambushed by a Winter Wolf that nearly kills Minsc on the first attack.
I move Evermemory over to Dynaheir since she actually has Magic Missile memorized and Neera doesn't know enough spells yet for NRD Spam to be worth it. I still have her prepare a Chaos Shield, as she can prepare four NRDs and both Magic Missile and Chromatic Orb are CT1 spells (Mirror Image is too, but you don't want to NRD a Target:Self spell if at all possible) and are strongly affected by casting level. I pawn off the Zerksword and all of our gems/jewelry, then rest and set out - again - for Seawatcher.
We set up defensive traps near Safana, and since it's Bye-Bye Barrityl after this I send Baeloth ahead to cause as much devastation as possible before being booted from the party... which wound up being most of one Sirine. Blurf. For some reason, Viconia says her special mourning line for Kivan.
SETUP: Vanilla BG 2, ToB, Official ToB patch, core rules at all times, no mods
(Joshua) - gnomish berserker
Corewild (protagonist) - gnomish fighter/thief
Paja, Hanna, Misty, Forrest - human wild mages
The run progresses, but barely. Our first challenge was the demon knights - while we won the fight, Paja, Misty and Forrest all died. Note that we have basically no heal potions.
Worse, bringing back Forrest and Paja made our only RoR go poof. No more resurrections! At least not in the Underdark...
We think the Illithids would be suicide with no heal potions, so we try to do just a little bit of the beholders - the beholders kill Forrest. Bummer. Still can't resurrect.
So we need to get out of here. Well attacking Adalon should do the trick. Corewild put on the frost boots and haste potion, but even with 50% cold resistance, Adalon's breath attack nearly killed him. We decide to abort our attack and run for the hills! We head for the Underdark exit.
First we had to deal with some Kua-Toas that respawns - that went OK. But now we got to deal with the drow war party. We tried to do area effects from out of sight but didn't work we got spotted. Corewild got hurt and quickly went into hiding. Joshua was petrified and chunked!
(Edit: Forgot to mention some of the equipment that was permanently lost when Joshua got chunked: Shield of Balduran, IMoD, Frostweaver, Stonefire, Azuredge, and lots of other stuff to name a few)
Hanna tries to do some area effects, but then an enemy skeleton warrior gets summoned - we can't beat that, she cast invisibility on herself. Paja is stunned so the skeletal warrior kills her. We pick up her things. (by using the right click, then go into inventory screen to pick up the items - this way Corewild's stealth did not break).
Ironically, the drow party gets killed by Hanna's cloudkills. With only Hanna and Corewild the survivors and hurt at that, the duo sneak past the enemies to get to the Underdark exit.
Our first stop is to get to Watcher's Keep and resurrect our fallen. We need a new tank - think Mazzy would do nicely, will get her next session. We happen to have enough gold to resurrect everyone, take a ton of time to re-equip, and will somehow have to make progress next session. We have no healing to speak of.
Seeker, dwarf priest of Helm (Grond0) & Skeu, human skald (Gate70)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/877224/#Comment_877224
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/877810/#Comment_877810
This duo showed some promise, but ultimately the game told them to SoD off and die.
With item sales more than covering Mizhaena's fees for raise dead there was just enough funds to buy a bag of holding before going to investigate the bridge. We've tended to try and fight that lot - but not very successfully. This time though a nicely targeted fireball from Skeu managed to toast the enemies while leaving our summons untouched and we were able to finish them off quite comfortably.
In Troll Claw Woods Seeker used sanctuary to ransack a troll cave, but there didn't seem to be much else worth doing with the Forest of Wyrms beckoning. The dragon at the entrance to the temple was left snoozing and skeletons led the way as Ziatar's guards were cut down. The dragon woman herself tried to hide in sanctuary to buff up, but with true sight running she was quickly exposed and taken down.
The Neothelid focused on a group of skeletons and didn't last long against them,
My next No-Reload attempt will be my standby Fighter>Cleric, and it will be in a BWS EET instance with all the fixings (especially now that I know that thieves can set traps in EET starting from level 6 due to a semi-valid assumption)
Corewild was almost ready to go to Suldenesslar. But there was one final stop before doing that - the Twisted Rune. We were able to kill the lich, but the party was apparently very vulnerable to charm - nearly the whole party charmed (and Forrest petrified) - this meant Corewild felt the full brunt of the beholder's attacks - and unfortunately Mazzy had the Cloak of Reflection and yes she too was charmed. The End.
What's Next:
Going to try to install EE and do a duo with Jaheira (for the trilogy).
Safe travels for your next duo!
Tig-11,
with extreme prejudice,I agreed to hunt some sharks and Harm the ruling class before moving on to the underdark... we have a score to settle.
Our usual approach. Reroll straight after defeat, with a brief start yesterday.
* Gate70: Sosad, human male Sun Soul Monk. Lawful Good. * Sling and * (throwing) dagger. (* long sword).
* Grond0: Lorn, dwarven male Fighter / Cleric. Lawful Evil. ** Sling ** Flail / Morning Star. (** 2 weapon style).
n.b. Lorn is a bit of an enigma to Sosad. Either Sosad has Prosopagnosia (also known as "face blindness", the inability to recognise faces) or I've given up adding custom portraits back when I update my game build.
After racing round Candlekeep we picked on Shoal the Nereid, grabbed Zhurlongs boots and headed down to Nashkel for buried ankheg armour. Then we hunted down Samuel the deserter before agreeing to transport him to the Friendly Arm Inn. Sosad felt lucky though, and suggested Lorn could snack on some spiders on the way. Fortunately we'd picked up 5 healing potions near Zhurlong's boots. Lorn declined to use any of them despite being down to 1hp, while Sosad gulped the lot and barely survived.
Sosad
Lorn
The next day, henceforth known as session 2, we set out on a basilisk hunt before working out Mutamin was the
strongsilent dead type. Kirian and her friends managed to kill off Korax the ghoul but soon joined him even after Lorn bust his weapon up and started punching with his fists instead.On to Durlag's Tower where the Battle Horror's found themselves in trouble.
Sosad, Sun Soul Monk 7. 117 kills.
Lorn, Fighter 6 / Cleric 6. 161 kills.
Update 1 2 3 4 5.
Boareskyr Bridge.
There is a palisade around the bridge, with guards blocking the entrance. Blaggerd bluffs his way inside and
cheekilycheesily nabs a scroll from under the eyes of Vichand. Safana meanwhile has sidled over to the Barghest and to the casual observer is simpering at his feet. With three snares and a 50% chance of success she is confident, but skulks away licking her wounds without a single one having worked.It's time to move on before anyone gives up the jig, so the party head to a nearby cave and clear it out. Lovely lovely loot, probably - Blaggerd forgot to make any record of it. Then on to the portal stones and into the fort. Khalid is inside and suggests speaking to a couple of people which leads to serious damage when a large object comes through the roof. Blaggerd already has a scroll to deal with this (how fortuitous) and breaks off a piece of the object. Jegg Hillcarver volunteers to make something with it and hands over 80 unusual arrows. Corwin bags them in case they are needed for something special
Khalid is told to come running if battle starts, as are the coalition soldiers back at camp. Blaggerd returns and decides to buff before moving in. This takes a few rounds by which time the coalition have forgotten their orders (or Blaggerd's recollection was not correct) and they attack. Well, that's fine by Blaggerd - he's happy to trundle along at the back and loot the fallen regardless of their allegiance.
After casually sniping down incapacitated enemies, some named folk turn up. Blaggerd knows the drill, if they have a name they are
a) harder to kill
b) likely to break the coalition attack apart
c) important
d) carrying nice equipment
So, pick on anyone with names. Corwin and Blaggerd have little trouble victimising such targets. The last couple of mages (second screenshot) survive long enough for Blaggerd to realise that some other bleeper has killed the Barghest before we could have the pleasure.
The last thing to do is throw Voghiln's old axes down a well - we've been carrying them for too long. A well spirit doesn't appreciate this and attacks. Safana cackles and lands her first backstab. It's good, but Blaggerd equipped his World's Edge +3 two hander and carved out an even bigger hit that shaded her strike.
The Planar Prison went all smooth until we had to face the Master of Thralls. I had forgotten aTweaks gives this beautiful creature level drain. The demon entered the Ethereal Plane to regenerate, and I thought it'd be cool to refill the Mirror Images I had lost during the fight against the Air Elementals, but when I did so he just came out and attacked me when I had my robe on, which meant Shyffunee got drained to level 6/6 before the creature died. I had no scrolls of Restoration. I should have taken one in case anything like this happened.
Then I forgot the Warden could cast Time Stop and is immune to fire, so I couldn't murder him with the WoL+Sunfire trick. He obliterated Shyffunee in two rounds. Not that I had any chances against him as a level 6/6 Wizard Slayer/Transmuter anyway.
I'll be playing a Wild Mage (3)->Fighter next.