No time to do real write ups, but having a ton of fun with a No Reload BGII run, core, natural rolled stats, Item Randomizer, minimum metagaming, banning the most OP SOA items (if I even find any), good faith resting restrictions.
Best part is finding early on that I use items I would never touch in a "normal" game. Bone Club and Rod of Lordly Might seeing significant combat time.
The party kills some ever-conscious trolls, guessing that "invulnerable" means killable by fire or acid and proceed without any problems. Next I make a bad sidestep and forget that there is a spider ambush up the road and run right into it: 1 lesser Spirit Spider (IA), 1 Sprit Spider (IA), 1 Killer Spider (IA) and 3 sword spiders. Minsc reacts with berzerk, while Tails drops a horror spell, Jaheira gets in position and casts Strength of One (you need strength to kill stuff fast in IA). Cernd being far away prepares to cast emotion (the best spell against spiders).
The Spirit and Killer spider are horrored and the sword spiders are emotioned. A bit lucky that almost everything is out of action. We mop up the lesser Spirit spider before going though the sword spiders. Valygar manages to get rid of the Killer spider and then the Spirit Spider regains his courage. The whole party trashes at it, but it is very tough and takes some time to go through. Jaheira summons a Clan Hunter (IA Avenger Summon), which should probably be toned down because he puts a lot of the hurt on the poor spider and soon after we are victorious. This fight felt good; ambushed but little problems.
The druid ambushes are easy to get through. We look at Adriah (sp?) potion store but for now it is all too expensive. We walk around the stupid spore colonies because those are just nasty with the confuse and fight Dalok and party. I forgot screen shots, but mostly an Emotion from Cernd and combined bashing on the shadow druid got rid of them. Then it was a matter of mopping up the bear and panther summons which Jaheira held with a Hold Animal spell.
I get to Faldorn and she does not allow Cernd or Jaheira to challenge her... I guess that is an IA change I was not aware of and since normally my protagonist will have the abilities to win this, I think the Swashbuckler is not strong enough.
I guess I will go to Athkatla and do the Skinner Quest (minor improved battle) and then clear out the Thieves Guild.
At Boareskyr Bridge, Burl had a dragonscale shield forged and intimidated Vichand into giving him a ward scroll. He then surrendered the fort rather than fighting for it. He did still though have to deal with the mage on the bridge. His lack of missile weapons and APR was a major handicap there and the mage managed to last long enough to create a fire elemental - fortunately Burl's attacks combined with the ring of energy were sufficient to prevent that from destroying the bridge.
Moving on to the Coalition Camp, Burl got some bonus XP to hit the limit and achieve level 10. He agreed to poison the castle defenders and also used the Spectacles for the first time to bring a genie vendor onto the Prime Material Plane (the main purchase there being the Cloverleaf Belt - the luck bonus from that helps saving throws).
He bypassed a dead magic zone on the way to Dead Man's Pass and used invisibility there to avoid various groups on the road before using the Spectacles on Raeanndra to obtain the Ring of the Tiny Fiend - even though I was almost certain that wouldn't be used (and it wasn't).
A quick trip to the castle saw Skie rescued before Burl moved on to the Underground River. The first encounter there was with some myconids, that provided another summoning option.
Moving on slightly, Burl confronted a group of spiders. Poison was no threat by this stage, but both the web tangle and stun attack of the gargantuan spider could have been a problem. Rather than buff though, Burl tried out his horror and succeeded in making the spider run - setting it up for a poisonous death.
He then spent quite a while going backwards and forwards around the entrance, dragging enemies out in ones or twos. Eventually that was done and he left Julann and Rigah alone as he headed underground.
He didn't do any fighting there, but just placed the Bwoosh and the poison - using invisibility to do the latter, though it's necessary to show yourself to the mages to reopen the route out.
Sometimes the alarm spreads quickly enough for the guards near the exit to try and block the way out, but on this occasion Burl was able to leave unmolested.
Back at the Camp Burl joined in some negotiations before finding himself in charge of last-ditch defenses. Some archers provided support for Burl's fiery breath on a bunch of ogres and trolls. Wizard slayers helped him out against the mages. War mages then made life difficult (or impossible) for a bunch of clerics.
For the final assault, Burl led Auziel and his spies to meet them and then went invisible and withdrew - leaving the immortal Auziel to kill everyone himself.
Back at Dragonspear, Burl cut short the attack on the castle by immediately using a PfM scroll and going to find Ashatiel. He was another attempting to hide in sanctuary and Burl showed him the usual amount of mercy.
That scroll was still active as he found his way into hell and dealt with Illaruel.
It was still going as he worked his way through Thrix's cronies - accepting the risk of incurring some barbed damage from the Hamatula in the process.
Going up in the lift, Burl just used Spellbreaker to defend against any charming attempts. After defeating the 3rd lot of attacks he used another scroll of PfM and then layered in various potions, including magic shielding to ensure he wouldn't get scared. He then set about using the Fractal Blade on Belhifet. The disadvantage of that is that it can dispel Belhifet's invisibility - allowing him to immediately recast it and potentially get a free attack (though you can avoid that if you run around for a while until Belhifet uses another ability). However, with his movement and weapon speed advantage Burl was getting far more free attacks and Belhifet didn't last long at all.
Running through the epilogue, I attempted to take the golden pantaloons out of the bag of holding (as otherwise they won't transfer to BG2), only to find they weren't in there - so I must have forgotten to pick them up in BG1 . Oh well, the odds are against Burl getting far enough to make use of them anyway.
Importing a war hulk character into BG2 results in it taking the grizzly bear kit - requiring messing about with setting effects to fix that. Rather than do that, this time I've just created a new character in BG2 and then amended it in EEKeeper to have the same stats. He's currently looking through the poor selection of equipment available in Jon's dungeon.
Today's session started with a trip through the Cloud Peak Mountains. Zal and Vax were the first victims there, but not the last.
Ajaundis detected evil before cutting down Caldo & Krumm, though a post-action review showed that only Caldo was evil (Krumm presumably being too dumb to make any decisions for himself).
On the way back from getting the charisma tome, a cave bear tried an ambush, but only managed to provide an extra level each.
After travelling back to High Hedge, Melicamp was successfully restored. The constitution tome was also identified and handed to Ajaundis in recognition of the fact he had had a poor run of HP rolls (resulting in having fewer points that Hoity despite having constitution of 19 compared to 17).
Continuing north, the duo found their way to the FAI for the first time and then moved on to the ankheg area. The first couple of ankhegs managed to hit Ajaundis, but the remainder failed to make any impression.
After returning a bowl to Tenya, the journey north ended at Ulgoth's Beard - where reputation of 20 allowed a bit of shopping for bargains.
Thinking it was about time to make some progress with the main quest, the Nashkel Mine was the next destination. After slaughtering a bunch of kobolds, Hoity shot at Mulahey while Ajaundis held back to intercept the support troops. Mulahey managed to confuse Hoity, but died in the process.
Ajaundis was briefly concerned about the possibility of being shot in the back, but Hoity chose to run away rather than fight any more.
Outside the mine, Ajaundis thought the amazons could be taken down by a frontal assault. Unfortunately lag meant he was rooted to the spot and taken down to 30 HPs before finally getting the chance to advance on the missile users - and from that point Ajaundis' view that a frontal assault would work was vindicated.
Nimbul was waiting in Nashkel, but was immediately identified as evil. Hoity was able to take aim at the nice big red bullseye and her critical hit proved far too much for Nimbul's defenses.
Tranzig proved no more of a problem,
but rather than going straight on to the Bandit Camp Hoity took an excursion to Firewine Bridge to pick up Meilum's bracers.
Equipped with those, Ajaundis tried his luck with some battle horrors at Durlag's Tower, but ran into trouble there. The first one was successfully taken down, but only barely with Ajaundis turning to run as his final stroke brought down his opponent.
The second was even harder with Ajaundis having to use quite a few healing potions and do plenty of running before finally getting the kill.
The third one also beat off an initial attack and Hoity did much of the damage there by attacking from stealth with her non-proficient normal staff (having been too stingy to buy a decent melee weapon).
The inside of the Tower yielded another tome, but not much else. There was some plentiful XP on the roof though. Ajaundis gulped a potion of mirror eyes and attacked the lesser basilisk. That didn't last long and Ajaundis sprinted up to the next level to attack and kill a greater basilisk. Still feeling there was plenty of time left, another greater basilisk fell and Ajaundis turned to find the final one. His count suggested there was still a bit of time left of the 10 round duration of the potion, but Hoity wasn't so confident and persuaded Ajaundis to make sure by taking a second potion.
New run with Lyran the Blackguard, of terrible reputation and barely broken voice. Install on the Android beta was tricky, SCS was especially troublesome. In sum I'm playing on hard (no increased damage) with +1 to 2 levels for all classed opponents. (SoD will be as is, BG2 slightly reduced with reduced xp.)
Lyran started his journey through the valley of death with Marl and some Flaming Fists but then discovered that his new status made the stores prohibitively expensive (usually rep doesn't affect prices in my installs) and that it meant Viconia was unwilling to join up (no SCS component for evil npc reactions) so I was left with Tiax for healing. A change of plan saw Lyran alternately helping old ladies across the road and swatting bounty hunters as they popped up. After exploring a variety of wilderness areas like the Gnoll Stronghold, Nashkel Mines, Ulcaster, and Firewine he's rocking at around 30,000 XP. His partners in crime are Tiax, Eldoth (Hexblade), Kagain, Edwin (Invoker), and Verr'sza. Currently they are loitering near the Friendly Arm planning on how to get past a small legion of Fists and military wizards... without killing them Tiax OK? Much later the band will go ahead and sack the Temple to Lathander etc., but for now they'll try to stay out of trouble... Seeing some interesting low rep content I usually don't encounter anyway.
Kalo came to a sticky end fighting against Khaark. Clearly the party's resistance to fire were nowhere near good enough. The events leading up to that battle had perhaps made him somewhat complacent as the battle against Melium had been extremely one-sided.
I must ensure that Charname is the one with the ring of fire resistance when fighting Khaark. Having a party member who can dispell resistances and cast true sight would also be helpful.
Burl made his way through Jon's dungeon without any particular problems. As in BG1 multiple opponents could still have been an issue, particular things like mephits that can do automatic damage. However, Bhaal horror meant that threat was negated.
On exit, Burl made some donations to the Temple before sorting out the circus.
He got a level for doing that before taking a look at Aerie and deciding her story about being a winged elf was a clear sign of derangement - has she not looked in a mirror lately .
A quick chat with Gaelan Bayle was followed by helping change the management at the Copper Coronet.
Burl then moved on to the Docks, where he avoided the Mad Cleric on the way to scare Officer Dirth into giving up his armor.
He reported in for duty with Mae'Var and was then ambushed on the way to the temple district - horror once more putting in good service there.
While doing the Sir Sarles quest, Burl then found a further ambush - this time an initial horror didn't work on the mage and a lightning bolt briefly sent Burl berserk before normal service was resumed.
Continuing with that quest, Burl got hold of Neb's Nasty Cutter as an upgrade for the +1 dagger that's been his main weapon so far in BG2.
I initially wrote next "after getting a reputation upgrade for handing in Neb's head and seeing Sir Sarles go off in a huff over sub-standard materials". Regrettably, as happens fairly regularly, I was concentrating too much on saying what I was going to do and not enough on doing it - and Sir Sarles in fact took the real illithium . In a fit of pique, Burl made Sir Sarles the first victim of his new dagger
before going off to the temple to make more donations - fortunately they had only had word of Sir Sarles' willingness to work and not his inability to do so ...
There was a reputation gain on offer at the skinner household and Burl also got a level there after taking one of the Rune Assassins off for a wander.
Next up he took on the Fallen Paladins with the normal run and stab tactics. He was hit several times early on while trying to ensure he killed Reynald before the other paladins could do it, but after that the remaining paladins were helpless.
After returning Renfeld to the Docks, Burl went after Prebek and Sanasha. A first horror was ineffective, but the second sent both running. The last poison charge from Neb's dagger (it's annoying that only comes with 10 charges) was enough to deal with Sanasha, but without decent APR or missile weapons he couldn't get Prebek the same way - so just dodged his remaining spells before cutting him down.
After looting the Harpers, Burl found his backpack getting a bit full and decided to go to Watcher's Keep to get a potion case. While there he noted there were no vampiric wraiths and cleared the obvious enemies from the top level - that was just enough to get another level after talking to the librarian.
As he didn't have any +3 weapons yet Burl left the golems and statues though.
Back in Athkatla Burl dived into the Copper Coronet sewers. With his save vs spell down to 1 he didn't have to worry about using Arbane or horror on the shamen and soon acquired Lilarcor. He pulled most of the slavers back into the sewers to make it easier to run them around - Captain Haegan was one of the early ones to explode into bits.
Burl's only means of killing the trolls was a single potion of firebreath - but that was no problem.
Horror accounted for the first slaver wizard and though the second one was unaffected a single blow saw him off.
Burl ran out through the poison trap - surprisingly not even going berserk from the continuing damage there.
Reporting back to Hendak took reputation to 20 and Burl bought the Blade of Roses to be able to get rock bottom prices. Taking advantage of that he immediately bought Stonefire, reflection shield, ring of energy, RoAC and Vhailor's Helm along with various scrolls and potions.
War Hulk L14, 206 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 249 kills (663 in BGEE/SoD)
Another day saw another death, but still some decent progress for this pairing. The session was nearly cut very short though when the first area transition found a basilisk waiting in ambush on the way back from Durlag's Tower. Rather meanly it immediately targeted Hoity with its gaze and she reacted only just in time - it was also a good job that Ajaundis had used only 2 of the 3 potions of mirror eyes bought for the basilisks at Durlag's ...
Moving on to the Bandit Camp the exterior was pacified without incident. Inside, Hoity waited in stealth until Ajaundis barged in. Her shot disrupted Venkt's mirror image cast, allowing him to be killed in seconds and the others didn't last long.
On the way through the Cloakwood there was an oddity in the second area when the first web trap refused to activate.
Four of the five ettercaps waiting behind the second trap were pulled away and shot down individually before Ajaundis went looking for the final one - he managed to get just far enough to the left to remain out of sight when the trap triggered, though Hoity would probably have been able to shoot down the ettercap before it could do much damage even if it had attacked.
Ignoring Spider's Bane, the duo moved on through the Cloakwood to the mine. Ajaundis used the Greenstone Amulet there, rendering the confusion spell that Kysus managed to get off useless and the fighters couldn't do much on their own.
Inside the mine, the first significant fight was the ambush on the 3rd level. Though Ajaundis didn't take much direct damage, he was poisoned by one of the hobgoblins.
Hoity had clearly been short of sleep and didn't know how to cure that, so Ajaundis used a few healing potions to avoid any need to go back upstairs or risk resting. Downstairs, the battle horrors found Ajaundis a much more difficult target than the ones at Durlag's Tower (the benefit of full plate and a +1 shield obtained from Bjornin).
That meant he was shortly gulping a potion of magic blocking as he ran towards Davaeorn. The mage teleported away and fired a lightning bolt at Ajaundis. Though Hoity wasn't in the direct line of fire, she was hit by the bolt as it bounced up the corridor - and then hit again as it came back the other way a second or two later. Luckily she'd never got around to changing her boots back after tanking the lightning trap in Tazok's tent and wasn't too badly damaged. She also got immediate revenge when her 3rd arrow at Davaeorn proved to be a critical and performed a nice U-turn to track Davaeorn down as he teleported away.
In the City we didn't feel the need to get too much equipment, but Hoity did suggest doing the Mountain Mauler fight to get a +2 axe (her only melee proficiency, despite using her original unenchanted quarterstaff in the game to date). There seemed something odd there when Hoity fired half a dozen acid arrows at the start of the fight without any visible effect. I wasn't checking her attack rolls, but it would be pretty astonishing if all those missed. Wondering what was going on she stayed a bit too close to the action and got caught in a horror spell aimed at Ajaundis. That made things difficult for the paladin who had to not only combat the enemies directly, but try to move around to prevent them from switching to Hoity during her wanderings. He did a good job at that though and finished the opposition off while Hoity was still on her bike.
Buoyed up by that success Ajaundis got a bit too aggressive in his initial exploration of Degrodel's house - coming out again with 3 invisible stalkers, a doom guard and a helmed horror on his tail. Even with Hoity helping that still meant Ajaundis was the target of quite a few attacks and the last 2 enemies put together a nice one-two combination to finish him off before he could run.
A visit to the temple resulted before coming back to complete the job and go on to fetch the Cloak of Balduran.
The final action in the session was an assault on Ramazith's Tower. The mage is woefully short of HPs and it was no surprise to see him fold to a single blow from Ajaundis.
There was a bit of a delay while a slow effect from one of the mustard jellies wore off, but we managed to clear the remainder of the tower before saving the session.
New run with Nigretta, Wild Elf Inquisitor of Azuth. (Wild elves as you probably already know have dark skins, dark hair and have a slightly better constitution and slightly worse intelligence than most elves.
Nigretta's Journal
In Candlekeep, I was attacked by three assassins one of whom was carrying a Moonblade. I was strangely drawn towards it and to my amazement found that it accepted me. Now I have always tried to do the right thing, but I didn't think that I was THAT good. Using it in battle certainly helped me against the other assassins. After fleeing with Gorion, we were ambushed and he was killed. I continued on, heading south to Nashkel. On the way I found a ring of protection. I was able to help Mellicamp get back into shape which was gratifying. I killed two ogrillon and found the Colquetle Amulet and in Nashkel itself a suit of Ankheg Armour. Lord Foreshadow had also given me a very useful ring that boosts charisma. For somebody like me with a lowish charisma, it was a great boon. Now what I need is a ring that boosts intelligence!! I did some babysitting there which boosted my reputation slightly. Going south I found a wand of frost and after heading east a ring of protection from fire. Nearby I came across Samuel and was asked to take him to the Friendly Arms Inn which I did. I then reuinited Joia with her ring. Investigating new areas, I came across a hostile Xvart Village. Upon killing a bear that was protecting them I reached level 2. I then helped Charleston Nib and Brage and reached level 3. I also officially became a hero at the same time.
EDIT
I then went on to reunite Alfie and Rufie, killed a werewolf and took the body to Thalantyr getting a decent long sword as a reward and went on to help a dryad against Thrumm and his friend. I came across a ghost by the waterfall and will investigate that later. I took Drienne's cat to her and thankfully her father will be able to resurrect it. Going to the lake I killed some half-ogres to Bjornin's delight. He gave me a +1 shield as a reward. Reputation now 20 and level increased to 4. if only I had some gold, I would do some shopping.
Today's session was a bit up and down - regrettably finishing on a clear downer .
Things started well enough with the poison quest seeing the death of Marek.
We went to get the tome from the cleric, only to find he had no interest in offering it - an after-action report on Jalantha's death showed us why ...
The Seven Suns didn't detain us long before trying our luck at the Iron Throne. Ajaundis occupied the attention of the enemies there, using a magic blocking potion, while Hoity tried to shoot them down. That resulted in a quick death for 3 of the 4 casters, but Hoity had edged in too close to get a sight-line on one of those and was affected by a stray confusion. However, Ajaundis killed the final caster before his potion ran out and was hardly hit in the period until Hoity joined the fight again just prior to its finish.
Moving immediately on to Candlekeep, Ajaundis continued throwing detect evils around. Surprisingly that didn't show Shistal up as evil, though the underlying doppleganger was - they really have impressive disguise abilities .
In the catacombs various traps were just tanked. Ajaundis did his best there to set up a nasty situation for Hoity - dragging a web trap over to the permanent lightning trap, so that Hoity could potentially have been held on top of the trap if she had moved forward (she didn't).
Ajaundis took another magic blocking potion prior to assaulting Prat's gang. That could have been dodgy after Hoity was again confused, but both casters were already dead by then and the others missed with several attacks while Ajaundis was whacking them.
The nearby basilisks then provided final BG1 levels.
Back in Baldur's Gate, Ajaundis confirmed that Slythe was evil before Hoity targeted him with a dispelling arrow. He still got a couple of licks in, but died well before Krystin was ready to join the fight and we just left her to grieve.
At the Palace we both took a few potions before starting the fight. The dopplegangers were nearly all targeting the dukes and looking pretty dangerous with their attacks, but so were we . Acid arrows from Hoity and strength-enhanced damage from Ajaundis saw the dopplegangers melt away very quickly - in fact so quickly that Ajaundis didn't have time to move away from Belt as the last one died. He then responded to Belt's conversation - and Hoity was momentarily confused by the fatal chill she felt as a flame strike hit her. Reviewing the conversation showed that we hadn't been strictly accurate about the evidence we had of Sarevok's guilt ...
Nigretta earned a considerable amount of gold by killing a lot of ankheg. However it didn't last long as she spent it on upgrading her belt. It cost over 1000 gold pieces!!! However her strength has been increased by 3 which isn't bad. Her level is now 5.
The Trio got a lot done this session, despite being a short one as Gate70 had a real life reason need to be a little later than usual.
Early in the session, we decided to make the Nashkel Inn safe. Siur tried a backstab with poison, but Neira saved against that. He got hurt and tried to hide. Then Spyder and Corthief XVI came in to try to help. Rather than try to rely on thief Thac0, Corthief XVI was using his wand of magic missiles, which did interrupt a few spells. This made Neira angry and she held Corthief XVI. However, Spyder and Siur renewed their attacks and kept Corthief XVI safe.
* We relieved Greywolf of his sword for Spyder. A haste potion insured that Corthief XVI got away safely, though not without getting hit. * We picked up the Ankheg armor for Spyder * We picked up the boots of stealth for Corthief XVI. However, after realizing the assassin could benefit more from the boots, Corthief XVI gave the boots to Siur. * Vax and Zal defeated. The bracers will go to Corthief XVI as he's often at range. * Martial Staff picked up for Siur - his backstabs are even more lethal now. * Sirens at lighthouse taken out with help of a clarity potion. Was funny was when the thieves got to the golem cave, despite 3 thieves in the party, we couldn't de-trap the traps - Grond0 being the expert of the group with his 25% "skill". Fortunately dwarven saves came through for us. We also did a bit of invisible blocking to get free shots on a golem. * A +2 short sword was picked up from some hobgoblins - snares, backstabs and straight attacks was far too much for this group. * Potion bag picked up, we belatedly realized we hadn't gotten it yet. * Grond0 thought the Thalantyr golems were lesser golems, however when he pulled one out it was quite immune to all our basic ammo. Grond0 managed to park it. We then got some magical ammo from Thalantyrand came back for it for some nice experience. * We also took out some ogrilliions for Bjornin, Spyder likes his new shield.
After identifying/selling their stuff from the pirate's cave at Thalantyr's the Trio decided to save their session here.
Jeanluc the inquisitor and his band of paladins + Imoen Update - FINAL BG 1 post (continuing to Amn) Traveling with: Sarah (undead hunter), Heather (cavalier), April (undead hunter), Forrest (paladin), Imoen (thief) SETUP: BG 1 EE, no mods, Core rules at all times
I am pleased to report that Jeanluc and gang have defeated Sarevok and are on their way to Amn. It was not an easy road, though.
* Dispelling arrow, plus separating Slythe from Krystin made Slythe easy meat. * Haste potions were used at palace to guarantee success - only problem was Heather only had a sliver of life before Sarevok finally admitted he had to run. * Maze was easy for the party - Imoen proved her value to the party here. Undercity Party Battle: I could have had someone heavily buffed solo this group, but decided to fight fair. We did a few buffs, gave everyone either arrows of detonation, fireball potion, or one person had necklace of missiles. While we did win, we had the deadliest battle of the entire run, with two party members dead and most of the rest badly wounded.
We collected our things, went all the way back to the Temple of Helm, resurrected, healed, re-equipped, rested and returned.
We rested and buffed for Sarevok. We didn't go overboard with Sarevok, mostly buffing with defense to fire and magic, plus haste potions and one strength.
Imoen was nominated to pull Sarevok, as she was the most expendable of the group. She did wonderful, as only Sarevok and Semaj bothered to show up.
The moment Semaj appeared, we did dispelling arrows for his mirrors and concentrated fire to bring him down fast - this worked well.
Next was concentrated fire on Sarevok. April got hurt bad so had to withdraw and heal. However, the rest of the party got the job done and Sarevok falls!
As the paladins are an MP party, everyone but Imoen is moving to Amn. Just like BG 1 ONLY Paladins and ONLY thieves (multi- or dual OK) are allowed to join. Core rules at all times in BG 2 as well.
In the sewers Burl made his way round the central area picking off kobolds before inviting the rakshasa to dance.
Since he had the Shield of Balduran he went on to the Unseeing Eye quest and got another level for accepting that.
Part of the reason for starting that quest early was to avoid getting a lich among the undead and greater mummies were no real challenge for hit and run tactics. Inside the nest the beholders were obviously helpless and the priests were too scared to co-ordinate their attacks.
The Eye itself was one-shotted before it could get a spell off.
Deciding it was time to boost his defences still further, Burl opened up access to some more lich tombs. While doing that he also took the opportunity to clear out a nest of pirates - their wizard feeling the full force of a critical blow.
A single scroll of PfU was then all that was needed to deal with the liches - Burl picking up another level against Kangaxx.
While in the Docks, Burl did the remaining tasks for Mae'Var - including using Stonefire to interrupt lots of Rayic's spells until his stoneskins finally ran out.
Mae'Var himself was exposed when most of his underlings ran from Burl's approach and he took no damage at all in that fight.
Reporting back to Renal provided yet another level.
Going to the Graveyard to get a first summons, Burl attacked Pai'Na. She tried to harm him without success and that proved to be a fatal mistake.
In the nearby Southern Dungeons Burl was drained by a wight and used a scroll of restoration to get his saving throws back into safe territory before seeking out the vampyre. Unfortunately he just failed to one-shot that and saw it turn into a bat to make its escape.
There was nothing in the rest of the Graveyard that could threaten Burl and he soon went back to the Promenade to relax in his favorite inn. Finding his room occupied, he successfully remonstrated with the inhabitants (actually it was quite a long drawn-out remonstration, given it took 11 attempts to catch Brennan Risling in Kitthix's web).
I'd been thinking about how I could improve reputation again after getting the Silver Pantaloons, but then remembered I'd forgotten to bring the Golden ones along anyway, so just let Lady Elgea go. While in the Bridge District Burl also recovered another summoning option by making a first use of his simmy and putting PfM on him while he grabbed the berserker horn.
Arriving at Trademeet, Burl ground his way through various genie stoneskins while acquiring an efreeti bottle.
Purchasing Ras gave him yet another summoning option before heading for the Druid Grove. At some point during a fight with some trolls outside the Mound Burl got another level.
Progress through the Grove was easy, so Burl decided to attack Adratha (after buying the pick of her potions) - 2 hits were enough to see the end of her.
The shadow druid guarding the grove was initially scared, but recovered in time to call down a blast of lightning on Burl - but with his massive HP pool he just sneered at that as he cut the druid down.
Shortly afterwards he watched as Cernd took a light lunch out of Faldorn's hide.
Back in Trademeet, Burl gave Tiris a helping hand before speeding up a program of slum tomb clearance with a sun ray.
At almost level 20 Burl is now far too powerful for his current tasks, but he won't be heading for Spellhold just yet ...
War Hulk L19, 253 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 586 kills (663 in BGEE/SoD)
@Grond0: How did you take down the liches and Kangaxx with only one Protection from Undead scroll? I thought Kangaxx couldn't transform if he couldn't see you (or himself, if you used it on him) and I don't see how you could have survived either SCS or vanilla Kangaxx's demi-lich form if he could see you and wasn't disabled with a Protection from Undead scroll used on the demi-lich himself.
I take it from the slashing damage on Kangaxx and the Sunray later that you used Daystar? Is it possible to grab Daystar in SCS and then run away? Because I know that was possible in vanilla, but every time I tried to do it in my modded installs, I got trapped until the lich was dead.
@semiticgod Grond0 isn't using SCS for this run (if you follow the link to his first post, which in turn links to his previous War Hulk run, he writes that the installation is unmodded except for the War Hulk kit).
@Grond0: How did you take down the liches and Kangaxx with only one Protection from Undead scroll? I thought Kangaxx couldn't transform if he couldn't see you (or himself, if you used it on him) and I don't see how you could have survived either SCS or vanilla Kangaxx's demi-lich form if he could see you and wasn't disabled with a Protection from Undead scroll used on the demi-lich himself.
I take it from the slashing damage on Kangaxx and the Sunray later that you used Daystar? Is it possible to grab Daystar in SCS and then run away? Because I know that was possible in vanilla, but every time I tried to do it in my modded installs, I got trapped until the lich was dead.
@semiticgod even in vanilla you could use a PfU scroll and Kangaxx would still first talk and then transform. There have been various bugs associated with the transformation, e.g. if you continue attacking during the transformation that may prevent it working, but PfU by itself is fine. I suspect the reason you can talk initially is that you're talking to the sarcophagus rather than Kangaxx himself - you can't use a PfU prior to talking to Shangalar in the Twisted Rune for instance.
This run is in an unmodded installation (other than the War Hulk kit ) - I agree that using PfU with SCS is distinctly chancy as you may find a quick dispel sets you up for the kill.
As for Daystar I can't remember if it's possible to exit (using SCS) without fighting if the lich is not hostile, i.e. if you are using sanctuary or a PfU scroll just to get Daystar. You certainly can't do so if he's hostile as more than one of my runs can attest to .
@Wise_Grimwald What is the mod that added the werewolf/Thalantyr thing?
Ascalon's questpack I think.
Thanks!
I think that @Mantis 37 could well be correct. It is only a tiny quest but what I like about it is that you get the +1 flame sword on two of the outcomes of trying to help the werewolf. If you succeed in helping it, the werewolf gives the sword as a reward and if you don't and have to kill it Thalantyr will give you the same reward for taking him the body. There are other options available too.
EDIT
Diary of Nigretta
South of Nashkel I killed Zargos Flintblade and Greywolf before heading to the Carnival where I rescued Bentha from Zordral.
I bought a scroll of protection from petrification but hadn't enough gold for the necklace of missiles so wandered about in search of that all too rare commodity.
Improved Anvil no reload - such a perfect oxymoron.
Party is: 1) Vagrant 2) Minsc 3) Ranger7/Cleric 4) Riskbreaker 5) Jaheira (great new kit, so much LOVE for Jaheira from IA Team, mad props!) 6) Neera (fix her spellbook please, she needs haste and emotion early more than Greater Malison, imo)
I did: - Dungeon be Gone (probably missed some items, well, too bad) - MaeVar (a little too easy, imo) - Beastmaster (owned by Clan Hunter, new Jah summon) - Fallen Paladins (again, Clan Hunter tanked all of them for three rounds!) - first Linvail quest - and recently more serious stuff
Grotesque Creature with no Haste spell and no oils of speed!
Basically - Jaheira Giant Strenght on Riskbreaker, Chaotic Commands on everyone possible, Aid on Vagrant. Prot from Evil, DUHM, Bless, etc. On enter immediately summon Clan Hunter-Iron Skin-Shield-attack Bone Golem (nasty foe must be killed asap, he can stun your party members making them easy prey for assassin and Creature). Party kill Ghast and focus Bone Golem, then Assassin and Clan Hunter tanked Creature and Riskbreaker finished him off with Club+3/Short Sword+3. Easy peasy, only three no-reloads, hehe.
Saved the game. Dunno what next, probably will try Lilacor and after that Slavers.
I really like the new Improved Anvil, equally all the new details and general direction of the mod. Great stuff.
Jeanluc had made great progress, but all that really matters is the end. Yoshimo had laid 5 snares for Thaxxy - I thought that would be enough if Jeanluc combined that with dispel magic on Thaxxy's buffs. That might have worked, but one problem - Thaxxy did a wing buffet and Jeanluc was a bit unlucky as he was the only one who resisted it! Thaxxy promptly leveled drained Jeanluc to nothing - RIP Jeanluc.
What's Next: In the mood for solo play. Long time ago, had Noywad the solo dwarven fighter - going to reincarnate him and give him a go.
My shortage of gold was solved temporarilly by killing Bassilus and getting the reward. Bought the necklace of missiles and went to deal with Mutamin. The basilisks, medusae and Mutamin were no problem. The adventuring party were more of a problem as they scattered due to panicking. One of them returned to the fray whilst I was fighting medusae and badly wounded me before I realised he was there. I immediately switched my target and because of his previous injuries he fell quickly.
Returned to the temple area and came across a cave that hosted some seriously tough inhabitants. I had the wisdom to exit when hurt so that I could recuperate.
Eventually met up with some ghosts who want a vampiric sword or death. Haven't yet decided how to deal with that situation.
Montaron has joined me and aquired a cloak for me. I loaned him a cloak that Greywolf was wearing. It boosts dexterity by 1.
He aquired several useful items at Ulgoth's Beard where I left him in case I needed his pickpocketting skills in future.
Returning via the ankheg farm, Ajantis joined me and we hunted a few ankheg until he reached level 6 like me. He now has *** in bastard swords, ** in sword and shield and * in crossbows.
He advised me to kill Torquion the ghosts which we did. We used many a healing potion in the process but were eventually successful albeit at the cost of a lot of our own blood.
EDIT All that we gained from the encounter was 9000 experience and a tome that raised my Charisma by 1.
Perhaps we would have gained more if we had taken him the vampiric sword. It will need another incarnation to discover which is the best optiion.
EDIT
I made the mistake of using the proximity bomb which made two of them attack me simultaneously. Not a good idea. Just attack them one at a time after being suitably buffed.
Sirene, a Companion of the Noble Heart then joined us. (Used EE Keeper to make her a Zealot of Ilmater which she is supposed to be.) She has ** in two handed swords, ** in two handed weapons and * in short bows. She needs 4000 experience to reach level 6.
Together we defeated the assassins at the gnoll fortress, however use of the necklace of missiles means that it now needs recharging and I don't have a great deal of gold.
We then proceeded to a cave where amongst other things we found a useful tome.
Burl recovered an artifact for the temple of Lathander before diving back into the sewers. Mekrath died in an efreeti fireball before Burl chased various yuan-ti around - getting his first HLA as a result.
Shortly afterwards Burl one-shotted Gaius
and had no trouble dealing with the rest of Tarnor's gang.
A big jewel led Burl to the Planar Sphere, where another mage exploded before it could cast anything
- and another supporting group was helpless to respond. Burl worked his way round through more casters. The time it took to get through stoneskins meant he took a number of magic missiles - resulting in build up of rage that was taken out on the thrall mage here.
The Master of Thralls just survived an opening whack, but not the follow-up LMD.
The Warden then just had time to cast a sunfire as Burl approached, but didn't survive his first hit.
Burl then sped things up a bit by deliberately setting up a situation where the yuan-ti mages could kill themselves.
He picked up another level for releasing the prisoners.
Going to the de'Arnise Hold, the main concern was doing something stupid now the game play is so easy. However, everything went smoothly. Burl used hardiness there for the first time against the iron golem, to give him a bit more time in case he went berserk, but he didn't.
I can imagine though that it would be easy to lose out to a group of golems led by a adamantium one, so will need to be wary not to allow such a group to make a concerted attack on Burl. Downstairs, Burl pulled Tor'Gal away on his own to push up a further level.
He took regeneration as an HLA there. When I first saw the list of available HLAs I assumed that was an activated ability (like the spell), but it's actually a permanent passive effect. The regeneration rate of 1 HP per second is pretty quick, so makes it considerably less likely he will die in melee - that leaves maze as the main threat he faces going forward. As Burl already has more XP and money than he needs, he turned down the chance to take a stronghold.
Burl went to Umar Hills, but didn't bother with the Shadow Temple - just picking up Ibratha and Valygar's body along with the Shield of the Lost. As magic now seems a more likely threat than melee, the latter will be used by default for a while now. Burl also has the possibility to boost his MR by 50% for 4 rounds using an HLA.
The last of the vampire ambushes triggered on the way to the Planar Sphere and were sent on their way peacefully (though they would anyway not be much danger to Burl). Inside the Sphere, Kayardi was the first real danger. Burl used summons with the aim of getting rid of mazes there, but they worked better than anticipated - Kitthix returning from being mazed to poison Kayardi to death.
Shortly after that, one-shotting Necre took Burl to level 23.
He still took the precaution of making sure the adamantium golem was attacking on its own there
before moving deeper into the Sphere. Lavok was beaten up by the efreeti while Burl stayed invisible before he went in search of a demon heart. Damage from the mephits there could have exposed him to spells, so he used summons again as alternative targets - and a whirlwind from the air elemental soon cleared out the small fry.
Burl went for the one-shot victory against Tolgerias while he was casting true sight - but missed.
That meant more use of summons, including a first outing for Ras to distract the mage.
Picking up the Staff of Fire provides a lot more summons if ever required. The remainder of the Sphere was done without incident, though Burl did pick up another level.
I think it's about time to hand some cash over to Gaelan Bayle.
War Hulk L24, 309 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 775 kills (663 in BGEE/SoD)
Comments
Best part is finding early on that I use items I would never touch in a "normal" game. Bone Club and Rod of Lordly Might seeing significant combat time.
Part 2
Tails is continuing through the Druid grove. Current Party:
Tails, Swashbuckler. Level 10
Valygar, Ranger (IA kit, Protector). Level 8
Minsc, Barbarian (IA setting). Level 8
Jaheira, Avenger (IA setting). Level 10
Cernd, Druid (IA kit, Auramaster). Level 10
Rasaad, Monk, Level 8.
The party kills some ever-conscious trolls, guessing that "invulnerable" means killable by fire or acid and proceed without any problems. Next I make a bad sidestep and forget that there is a spider ambush up the road and run right into it: 1 lesser Spirit Spider (IA), 1 Sprit Spider (IA), 1 Killer Spider (IA) and 3 sword spiders.
Minsc reacts with berzerk, while Tails drops a horror spell, Jaheira gets in position and casts Strength of One (you need strength to kill stuff fast in IA). Cernd being far away prepares to cast emotion (the best spell against spiders).
The Spirit and Killer spider are horrored and the sword spiders are emotioned. A bit lucky that almost everything is out of action. We mop up the lesser Spirit spider before going though the sword spiders. Valygar manages to get rid of the Killer spider and then the Spirit Spider regains his courage. The whole party trashes at it, but it is very tough and takes some time to go through. Jaheira summons a Clan Hunter (IA Avenger Summon), which should probably be toned down because he puts a lot of the hurt on the poor spider and soon after we are victorious.
This fight felt good; ambushed but little problems.
The druid ambushes are easy to get through. We look at Adriah (sp?) potion store but for now it is all too expensive. We walk around the stupid spore colonies because those are just nasty with the confuse and fight Dalok and party. I forgot screen shots, but mostly an Emotion from Cernd and combined bashing on the shadow druid got rid of them. Then it was a matter of mopping up the bear and panther summons which Jaheira held with a Hold Animal spell.
I get to Faldorn and she does not allow Cernd or Jaheira to challenge her... I guess that is an IA change I was not aware of and since normally my protagonist will have the abilities to win this, I think the Swashbuckler is not strong enough.
I guess I will go to Athkatla and do the Skinner Quest (minor improved battle) and then clear out the Thieves Guild.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/987830/#Comment_987830
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988193/#Comment_988193
At Boareskyr Bridge, Burl had a dragonscale shield forged and intimidated Vichand into giving him a ward scroll. He then surrendered the fort rather than fighting for it. He did still though have to deal with the mage on the bridge. His lack of missile weapons and APR was a major handicap there and the mage managed to last long enough to create a fire elemental - fortunately Burl's attacks combined with the ring of energy were sufficient to prevent that from destroying the bridge.
Moving on to the Coalition Camp, Burl got some bonus XP to hit the limit and achieve level 10. He agreed to poison the castle defenders and also used the Spectacles for the first time to bring a genie vendor onto the Prime Material Plane (the main purchase there being the Cloverleaf Belt - the luck bonus from that helps saving throws).
He bypassed a dead magic zone on the way to Dead Man's Pass and used invisibility there to avoid various groups on the road before using the Spectacles on Raeanndra to obtain the Ring of the Tiny Fiend - even though I was almost certain that wouldn't be used (and it wasn't).
A quick trip to the castle saw Skie rescued before Burl moved on to the Underground River. The first encounter there was with some myconids, that provided another summoning option.
Back at the Camp Burl joined in some negotiations before finding himself in charge of last-ditch defenses. Some archers provided support for Burl's fiery breath on a bunch of ogres and trolls. Wizard slayers helped him out against the mages. War mages then made life difficult (or impossible) for a bunch of clerics.
Back at Dragonspear, Burl cut short the attack on the castle by immediately using a PfM scroll and going to find Ashatiel. He was another attempting to hide in sanctuary and Burl showed him the usual amount of mercy.
Going up in the lift, Burl just used Spellbreaker to defend against any charming attempts. After defeating the 3rd lot of attacks he used another scroll of PfM and then layered in various potions, including magic shielding to ensure he wouldn't get scared. He then set about using the Fractal Blade on Belhifet. The disadvantage of that is that it can dispel Belhifet's invisibility - allowing him to immediately recast it and potentially get a free attack (though you can avoid that if you run around for a while until Belhifet uses another ability). However, with his movement and weapon speed advantage Burl was getting far more free attacks and Belhifet didn't last long at all.
Running through the epilogue, I attempted to take the golden pantaloons out of the bag of holding (as otherwise they won't transfer to BG2), only to find they weren't in there - so I must have forgotten to pick them up in BG1
Importing a war hulk character into BG2 results in it taking the grizzly bear kit - requiring messing about with setting effects to fix that. Rather than do that, this time I've just created a new character in BG2 and then amended it in EEKeeper to have the same stats. He's currently looking through the poor selection of equipment available in Jon's dungeon.
War Hulk L11, 177 HPs, 0 kills (663 in BGEE/SoD)
Hoity (elf archer, Grond0); Ajaundis (Human paladin, Gate70)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988190/#Comment_988190
Today's session started with a trip through the Cloud Peak Mountains. Zal and Vax were the first victims there, but not the last.
After travelling back to High Hedge, Melicamp was successfully restored. The constitution tome was also identified and handed to Ajaundis in recognition of the fact he had had a poor run of HP rolls (resulting in having fewer points that Hoity despite having constitution of 19 compared to 17).
Continuing north, the duo found their way to the FAI for the first time and then moved on to the ankheg area. The first couple of ankhegs managed to hit Ajaundis, but the remainder failed to make any impression.
Thinking it was about time to make some progress with the main quest, the Nashkel Mine was the next destination. After slaughtering a bunch of kobolds, Hoity shot at Mulahey while Ajaundis held back to intercept the support troops. Mulahey managed to confuse Hoity, but died in the process.
Outside the mine, Ajaundis thought the amazons could be taken down by a frontal assault. Unfortunately lag meant he was rooted to the spot and taken down to 30 HPs before finally getting the chance to advance on the missile users - and from that point Ajaundis' view that a frontal assault would work was vindicated.
Nimbul was waiting in Nashkel, but was immediately identified as evil. Hoity was able to take aim at the nice big red bullseye and her critical hit proved far too much for Nimbul's defenses.
Tranzig proved no more of a problem,
The inside of the Tower yielded another tome, but not much else. There was some plentiful XP on the roof though. Ajaundis gulped a potion of mirror eyes and attacked the lesser basilisk. That didn't last long and Ajaundis sprinted up to the next level to attack and kill a greater basilisk. Still feeling there was plenty of time left, another greater basilisk fell and Ajaundis turned to find the final one. His count suggested there was still a bit of time left of the 10 round duration of the potion, but Hoity wasn't so confident and persuaded Ajaundis to make sure by taking a second potion.
Hoity, Archer 6, 74 HPs, 139 kills
Ajaundis, Paladin 6, 70 HPs, 96 kills, 1 death
Lyran started his journey through the valley of death with Marl and some Flaming Fists but then discovered that his new status made the stores prohibitively expensive (usually rep doesn't affect prices in my installs) and that it meant Viconia was unwilling to join up (no SCS component for evil npc reactions) so I was left with Tiax for healing. A change of plan saw Lyran alternately helping old ladies across the road and swatting bounty hunters as they popped up. After exploring a variety of wilderness areas like the Gnoll Stronghold, Nashkel Mines, Ulcaster, and Firewine he's rocking at around 30,000 XP. His partners in crime are Tiax, Eldoth (Hexblade), Kagain, Edwin (Invoker), and Verr'sza. Currently they are loitering near the Friendly Arm planning on how to get past a small legion of Fists and military wizards... without killing them Tiax OK? Much later the band will go ahead and sack the Temple to Lathander etc., but for now they'll try to stay out of trouble... Seeing some interesting low rep content I usually don't encounter anyway.
I must ensure that Charname is the one with the ring of fire resistance when fighting Khaark. Having a party member who can dispell resistances and cast true sight would also be helpful.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/987830/#Comment_987830
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988193/#Comment_988193
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988472/#Comment_988472
Burl made his way through Jon's dungeon without any particular problems. As in BG1 multiple opponents could still have been an issue, particular things like mephits that can do automatic damage. However, Bhaal horror meant that threat was negated.
On exit, Burl made some donations to the Temple before sorting out the circus.
A quick chat with Gaelan Bayle was followed by helping change the management at the Copper Coronet.
I initially wrote next "after getting a reputation upgrade for handing in Neb's head and seeing Sir Sarles go off in a huff over sub-standard materials". Regrettably, as happens fairly regularly, I was concentrating too much on saying what I was going to do and not enough on doing it - and Sir Sarles in fact took the real illithium
There was a reputation gain on offer at the skinner household and Burl also got a level there after taking one of the Rune Assassins off for a wander.
After returning Renfeld to the Docks, Burl went after Prebek and Sanasha. A first horror was ineffective, but the second sent both running. The last poison charge from Neb's dagger (it's annoying that only comes with 10 charges) was enough to deal with Sanasha, but without decent APR or missile weapons he couldn't get Prebek the same way - so just dodged his remaining spells before cutting him down.
After looting the Harpers, Burl found his backpack getting a bit full and decided to go to Watcher's Keep to get a potion case. While there he noted there were no vampiric wraiths and cleared the obvious enemies from the top level - that was just enough to get another level after talking to the librarian.
Back in Athkatla Burl dived into the Copper Coronet sewers. With his save vs spell down to 1 he didn't have to worry about using Arbane or horror on the shamen and soon acquired Lilarcor. He pulled most of the slavers back into the sewers to make it easier to run them around - Captain Haegan was one of the early ones to explode into bits.
Reporting back to Hendak took reputation to 20 and Burl bought the Blade of Roses to be able to get rock bottom prices. Taking advantage of that he immediately bought Stonefire, reflection shield, ring of energy, RoAC and Vhailor's Helm along with various scrolls and potions.
War Hulk L14, 206 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 249 kills (663 in BGEE/SoD)
Hoity (elf archer, Grond0); Ajaundis (Human paladin, Gate70)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988190/#Comment_988190
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988626/#Comment_988626
Another day saw another death, but still some decent progress for this pairing. The session was nearly cut very short though when the first area transition found a basilisk waiting in ambush on the way back from Durlag's Tower. Rather meanly it immediately targeted Hoity with its gaze and she reacted only just in time - it was also a good job that Ajaundis had used only 2 of the 3 potions of mirror eyes bought for the basilisks at Durlag's ...
Moving on to the Bandit Camp the exterior was pacified without incident. Inside, Hoity waited in stealth until Ajaundis barged in. Her shot disrupted Venkt's mirror image cast, allowing him to be killed in seconds and the others didn't last long.
On the way through the Cloakwood there was an oddity in the second area when the first web trap refused to activate.
Ignoring Spider's Bane, the duo moved on through the Cloakwood to the mine. Ajaundis used the Greenstone Amulet there, rendering the confusion spell that Kysus managed to get off useless and the fighters couldn't do much on their own.
Inside the mine, the first significant fight was the ambush on the 3rd level. Though Ajaundis didn't take much direct damage, he was poisoned by one of the hobgoblins.
In the City we didn't feel the need to get too much equipment, but Hoity did suggest doing the Mountain Mauler fight to get a +2 axe (her only melee proficiency, despite using her original unenchanted quarterstaff in the game to date). There seemed something odd there when Hoity fired half a dozen acid arrows at the start of the fight without any visible effect. I wasn't checking her attack rolls, but it would be pretty astonishing if all those missed. Wondering what was going on she stayed a bit too close to the action and got caught in a horror spell aimed at Ajaundis. That made things difficult for the paladin who had to not only combat the enemies directly, but try to move around to prevent them from switching to Hoity during her wanderings. He did a good job at that though and finished the opposition off while Hoity was still on her bike.
Buoyed up by that success Ajaundis got a bit too aggressive in his initial exploration of Degrodel's house - coming out again with 3 invisible stalkers, a doom guard and a helmed horror on his tail. Even with Hoity helping that still meant Ajaundis was the target of quite a few attacks and the last 2 enemies put together a nice one-two combination to finish him off before he could run.
The final action in the session was an assault on Ramazith's Tower. The mage is woefully short of HPs and it was no surprise to see him fold to a single blow from Ajaundis.
Hoity, Archer 7, 84 HPs, 199 kills
Ajaundis, Paladin 7, 85 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 149 kills, 2 deaths
Nigretta's Journal
In Candlekeep, I was attacked by three assassins one of whom was carrying a Moonblade. I was strangely drawn towards it and to my amazement found that it accepted me. Now I have always tried to do the right thing, but I didn't think that I was THAT good. Using it in battle certainly helped me against the other assassins.
After fleeing with Gorion, we were ambushed and he was killed. I continued on, heading south to Nashkel. On the way I found a ring of protection. I was able to help Mellicamp get back into shape which was gratifying. I killed two ogrillon and found the Colquetle Amulet and in Nashkel itself a suit of Ankheg Armour. Lord Foreshadow had also given me a very useful ring that boosts charisma. For somebody like me with a lowish charisma, it was a great boon. Now what I need is a ring that boosts intelligence!! I did some babysitting there which boosted my reputation slightly. Going south I found a wand of frost and after heading east a ring of protection from fire. Nearby I came across Samuel and was asked to take him to the Friendly Arms Inn which I did.
I then reuinited Joia with her ring.
Investigating new areas, I came across a hostile Xvart Village. Upon killing a bear that was protecting them I reached level 2.
I then helped Charleston Nib and Brage and reached level 3. I also officially became a hero at the same time.
EDIT
I then went on to reunite Alfie and Rufie, killed a werewolf and took the body to Thalantyr getting a decent long sword as a reward and went on to help a dryad against Thrumm and his friend. I came across a ghost by the waterfall and will investigate that later. I took Drienne's cat to her and thankfully her father will be able to resurrect it. Going to the lake I killed some half-ogres to Bjornin's delight. He gave me a +1 shield as a reward.Hoity (elf archer, Grond0); Ajaundis (Human paladin, Gate70)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988190/#Comment_988190
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988626/#Comment_988626
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988941/#Comment_988941
Today's session was a bit up and down - regrettably finishing on a clear downer
Things started well enough with the poison quest seeing the death of Marek.
The Seven Suns didn't detain us long before trying our luck at the Iron Throne. Ajaundis occupied the attention of the enemies there, using a magic blocking potion, while Hoity tried to shoot them down. That resulted in a quick death for 3 of the 4 casters, but Hoity had edged in too close to get a sight-line on one of those and was affected by a stray confusion. However, Ajaundis killed the final caster before his potion ran out and was hardly hit in the period until Hoity joined the fight again just prior to its finish.
Moving immediately on to Candlekeep, Ajaundis continued throwing detect evils around. Surprisingly that didn't show Shistal up as evil, though the underlying doppleganger was - they really have impressive disguise abilities
Ajaundis took another magic blocking potion prior to assaulting Prat's gang. That could have been dodgy after Hoity was again confused, but both casters were already dead by then and the others missed with several attacks while Ajaundis was whacking them.
Back in Baldur's Gate, Ajaundis confirmed that Slythe was evil before Hoity targeted him with a dispelling arrow. He still got a couple of licks in, but died well before Krystin was ready to join the fight and we just left her to grieve.
At the Palace we both took a few potions before starting the fight. The dopplegangers were nearly all targeting the dukes and looking pretty dangerous with their attacks, but so were we
@Iroumen - we had the documents, just didn't tell Belt that
Cothief XVI - thief, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Siur - assassin (Gate70)
Spyder - fighter/thief (Grond0)
The Trio got a lot done this session, despite being a short one as Gate70 had a real life reason need to be a little later than usual.
Early in the session, we decided to make the Nashkel Inn safe. Siur tried a backstab with poison, but Neira saved against that. He got hurt and tried to hide. Then Spyder and Corthief XVI came in to try to help. Rather than try to rely on thief Thac0, Corthief XVI was using his wand of magic missiles, which did interrupt a few spells. This made Neira angry and she held Corthief XVI. However, Spyder and Siur renewed their attacks and kept Corthief XVI safe.
* We relieved Greywolf of his sword for Spyder. A haste potion insured that Corthief XVI got away safely, though not without getting hit.
* We picked up the Ankheg armor for Spyder
* We picked up the boots of stealth for Corthief XVI. However, after realizing the assassin could benefit more from the boots, Corthief XVI gave the boots to Siur.
* Vax and Zal defeated. The bracers will go to Corthief XVI as he's often at range.
* Martial Staff picked up for Siur - his backstabs are even more lethal now.
* Sirens at lighthouse taken out with help of a clarity potion. Was funny was when the thieves got to the golem cave, despite 3 thieves in the party, we couldn't de-trap the traps - Grond0 being the expert of the group with his 25% "skill". Fortunately dwarven saves came through for us. We also did a bit of invisible blocking to get free shots on a golem.
* A +2 short sword was picked up from some hobgoblins - snares, backstabs and straight attacks was far too much for this group.
* Potion bag picked up, we belatedly realized we hadn't gotten it yet.
* Grond0 thought the Thalantyr golems were lesser golems, however when he pulled one out it was quite immune to all our basic ammo. Grond0 managed to park it. We then got some magical ammo from Thalantyrand came back for it for some nice experience.
* We also took out some ogrilliions for Bjornin, Spyder likes his new shield.
After identifying/selling their stuff from the pirate's cave at Thalantyr's the Trio decided to save their session here.
Traveling with: Sarah (undead hunter), Heather (cavalier), April (undead hunter), Forrest (paladin), Imoen (thief)
SETUP: BG 1 EE, no mods, Core rules at all times
I am pleased to report that Jeanluc and gang have defeated Sarevok and are on their way to Amn. It was not an easy road, though.
* Dispelling arrow, plus separating Slythe from Krystin made Slythe easy meat.
* Haste potions were used at palace to guarantee success - only problem was Heather only had a sliver of life before Sarevok finally admitted he had to run.
* Maze was easy for the party - Imoen proved her value to the party here.
Undercity Party Battle:
I could have had someone heavily buffed solo this group, but decided to fight fair. We did a few buffs, gave everyone either arrows of detonation, fireball potion, or one person had necklace of missiles. While we did win, we had the deadliest battle of the entire run, with two party members dead and most of the rest badly wounded.
We collected our things, went all the way back to the Temple of Helm, resurrected, healed, re-equipped, rested and returned.
We rested and buffed for Sarevok. We didn't go overboard with Sarevok, mostly buffing with defense to fire and magic, plus haste potions and one strength.
Imoen was nominated to pull Sarevok, as she was the most expendable of the group. She did wonderful, as only Sarevok and Semaj bothered to show up.
The moment Semaj appeared, we did dispelling arrows for his mirrors and concentrated fire to bring him down fast - this worked well.
Next was concentrated fire on Sarevok. April got hurt bad so had to withdraw and heal. However, the rest of the party got the job done and Sarevok falls!
As the paladins are an MP party, everyone but Imoen is moving to Amn. Just like BG 1 ONLY Paladins and ONLY thieves (multi- or dual OK) are allowed to join. Core rules at all times in BG 2 as well.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/987830/#Comment_987830
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988193/#Comment_988193
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988472/#Comment_988472
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988833/#Comment_988833
In the sewers Burl made his way round the central area picking off kobolds before inviting the rakshasa to dance.
Deciding it was time to boost his defences still further, Burl opened up access to some more lich tombs. While doing that he also took the opportunity to clear out a nest of pirates - their wizard feeling the full force of a critical blow.
While in the Docks, Burl did the remaining tasks for Mae'Var - including using Stonefire to interrupt lots of Rayic's spells until his stoneskins finally ran out.
Going to the Graveyard to get a first summons, Burl attacked Pai'Na. She tried to harm him without success and that proved to be a fatal mistake.
There was nothing in the rest of the Graveyard that could threaten Burl and he soon went back to the Promenade to relax in his favorite inn. Finding his room occupied, he successfully remonstrated with the inhabitants (actually it was quite a long drawn-out remonstration, given it took 11 attempts to catch Brennan Risling in Kitthix's web).
I'd been thinking about how I could improve reputation again after getting the Silver Pantaloons, but then remembered I'd forgotten to bring the Golden ones along anyway, so just let Lady Elgea go. While in the Bridge District Burl also recovered another summoning option by making a first use of his simmy and putting PfM on him while he grabbed the berserker horn.
Arriving at Trademeet, Burl ground his way through various genie stoneskins while acquiring an efreeti bottle.
Back in Trademeet, Burl gave Tiris a helping hand before speeding up a program of
slumtomb clearance with a sun ray.War Hulk L19, 253 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 586 kills (663 in BGEE/SoD)
I take it from the slashing damage on Kangaxx and the Sunray later that you used Daystar? Is it possible to grab Daystar in SCS and then run away? Because I know that was possible in vanilla, but every time I tried to do it in my modded installs, I got trapped until the lich was dead.
This run is in an unmodded installation (other than the War Hulk kit
As for Daystar I can't remember if it's possible to exit (using SCS) without fighting if the lich is not hostile, i.e. if you are using sanctuary or a PfU scroll just to get Daystar. You certainly can't do so if he's hostile as more than one of my runs can attest to
South of Nashkel I killed Zargos Flintblade and Greywolf before heading to the Carnival where I rescued Bentha from Zordral.EDIT
Diary of Nigretta
I bought a scroll of protection from petrification but hadn't enough gold for the necklace of missiles so wandered about in search of that all too rare commodity.
Party is:
1) Vagrant
2) Minsc
3) Ranger7/Cleric
4) Riskbreaker
5) Jaheira (great new kit, so much LOVE for Jaheira from IA Team, mad props!)
6) Neera (fix her spellbook please, she needs haste and emotion early more than Greater Malison, imo)
I did:
- Dungeon be Gone (probably missed some items, well, too bad)
- MaeVar (a little too easy, imo)
- Beastmaster (owned by Clan Hunter, new Jah summon)
- Fallen Paladins (again, Clan Hunter tanked all of them for three rounds!)
- first Linvail quest
- and recently more serious stuff
with no Haste spell and no oils of speed!
Basically - Jaheira Giant Strenght on Riskbreaker, Chaotic Commands on everyone possible, Aid on Vagrant. Prot from Evil, DUHM, Bless, etc. On enter immediately summon Clan Hunter-Iron Skin-Shield-attack Bone Golem (nasty foe must be killed asap, he can stun your party members making them easy prey for assassin and Creature). Party kill Ghast and focus Bone Golem, then Assassin and Clan Hunter tanked Creature and Riskbreaker finished him off with Club+3/Short Sword+3. Easy peasy, only three no-reloads, hehe.
Saved the game. Dunno what next, probably will try Lilacor and after that Slavers.
I really like the new Improved Anvil, equally all the new details and general direction of the mod. Great stuff.
Jeanluc had made great progress, but all that really matters is the end. Yoshimo had laid 5 snares for Thaxxy - I thought that would be enough if Jeanluc combined that with dispel magic on Thaxxy's buffs. That might have worked, but one problem - Thaxxy did a wing buffet and Jeanluc was a bit unlucky as he was the only one who resisted it! Thaxxy promptly leveled drained Jeanluc to nothing - RIP Jeanluc.
What's Next: In the mood for solo play. Long time ago, had Noywad the solo dwarven fighter - going to reincarnate him and give him a go.
@Corey_Russell That was sad.
My shortage of gold was solved temporarilly by killing Bassilus and getting the reward. Bought the necklace of missiles and went to deal with Mutamin. The basilisks, medusae and Mutamin were no problem. The adventuring party were more of a problem as they scattered due to panicking. One of them returned to the fray whilst I was fighting medusae and badly wounded me before I realised he was there. I immediately switched my target and because of his previous injuries he fell quickly.Diary of Nigretta
Returned to the temple area and came across a cave that hosted some seriously tough inhabitants. I had the wisdom to exit when hurt so that I could recuperate.
Eventually met up with some ghosts who want a vampiric sword or death. Haven't yet decided how to deal with that situation.
Montaron has joined me and aquired a cloak for me. I loaned him a cloak that Greywolf was wearing. It boosts dexterity by 1.
He aquired several useful items at Ulgoth's Beard where I left him in case I needed his pickpocketting skills in future.
Returning via the ankheg farm, Ajantis joined me and we hunted a few ankheg until he reached level 6 like me. He now has *** in bastard swords, ** in sword and shield and * in crossbows.
He advised me to kill Torquion the ghosts which we did. We used many a healing potion in the process but were eventually successful albeit at the cost of a lot of our own blood.
EDIT
All that we gained from the encounter was 9000 experience and a tome that raised my Charisma by 1.
Perhaps we would have gained more if we had taken him the vampiric sword. It will need another incarnation to discover which is the best optiion.
EDIT
Sirene, a Companion of the Noble Heart then joined us. (Used EE Keeper to make her a Zealot of Ilmater which she is supposed to be.) She has ** in two handed swords, ** in two handed weapons and * in short bows.I made the mistake of using the proximity bomb which made two of them attack me simultaneously.
Not a good idea. Just attack them one at a time after being suitably buffed.
She needs 4000 experience to reach level 6.
Together we defeated the assassins at the gnoll fortress, however use of the necklace of missiles means that it now needs recharging and I don't have a great deal of gold.
We then proceeded to a cave where amongst other things we found a useful tome.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/987830/#Comment_987830
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988193/#Comment_988193
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988472/#Comment_988472
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/988833/#Comment_988833
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/989178/#Comment_989178
Burl recovered an artifact for the temple of Lathander before diving back into the sewers. Mekrath died in an efreeti fireball before Burl chased various yuan-ti around - getting his first HLA as a result.
A big jewel led Burl to the Planar Sphere, where another mage exploded before it could cast anything
Going to the de'Arnise Hold, the main concern was doing something stupid now the game play is so easy. However, everything went smoothly. Burl used hardiness there for the first time against the iron golem, to give him a bit more time in case he went berserk, but he didn't.
Burl went to Umar Hills, but didn't bother with the Shadow Temple - just picking up Ibratha and Valygar's body along with the Shield of the Lost. As magic now seems a more likely threat than melee, the latter will be used by default for a while now. Burl also has the possibility to boost his MR by 50% for 4 rounds using an HLA.
The last of the vampire ambushes triggered on the way to the Planar Sphere and were sent on their way peacefully (though they would anyway not be much danger to Burl). Inside the Sphere, Kayardi was the first real danger. Burl used summons with the aim of getting rid of mazes there, but they worked better than anticipated - Kitthix returning from being mazed to poison Kayardi to death.
Burl went for the one-shot victory against Tolgerias while he was casting true sight - but missed.
I think it's about time to hand some cash over to Gaelan Bayle.
War Hulk L24, 309 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 775 kills (663 in BGEE/SoD)