Crom Faeyr unfortunately doesn't instantly kill Spirit Trolls in my install, but dual-wielding with two clones from Vhailor's Helm and Shadow Clone was sufficient to wipe everything out with no trouble. I won't go into detail because it was basically just hack and slash, given our high levels.
Now to deal with Bodhi and the vampires. I use my typical strategy: send in a non-Vhailor's Helm clone (or an NPC, for non-solo runs) with the Helm of Brilliance under invisibility and have them nail the vampires with the Mace of Disruption and the Sunray spell from the Helm of Brilliance.
We got some very lucky failed saves vs. spell and death from the vampires, earning us instant kills from both Sunray and the Mace of Disruption. We were especially lucky to take down Tanova, as we otherwise would have had to dodge her spells and attacks until her PFMW spells wore off.
Notice that we didn't use a Protection from Undead scroll, despite having no defense against CON drain besides our mediocre AC. You don't need to worry about dying to stat drain if a clone is taking all the heat.
We head down to Bodhi with Protection from Undead active. I have the Improved Bodhi component from SCS, but for whatever reason, Hazzerbazzer (actually Hazarmavath, but I prefer Hazzerbazzer) and Manasseh don't show up, sparing us the need to use another Protection from Undead scroll if we got hit by Remove Magic. We talk to Bodhi by clicking on her, since she otherwise won't notice us, then fall back and throw the Firetooth +3 dagger at her (which means we don't get hit by her Fire Shield backlash) until she croaks. She doesn't even fight back.
Drizzt stole the kill, but meh. We don't really need the XP.
Now we need to get the Staff of the Magi. We already have near-constant invisibility thanks to Hide in Plain Sight, but only the Staff of the Magi can truly compete with multiple True Seeing spells, and it will also allow us to land dispel magic hits through Improved Mantle.
None of the enemies here can see through invisibility, even Shangalar, but if the enemy summons a Fallen Planetar, that could give us grief. We summon a couple clones and use Shadowstep to give us time to use Detect Illusions on Layenne and wait out her PFMW. Once Shadowstep ends, we can nail her with an Arrow of Dispelling, opening her up for a backstab. We land a critical hit by chance and Layenne pops.
We now have the Staff of the Magi, making it even harder for the enemy to touch us. We backstab Layenne's clone and strike at Vaxall and Shangalar while they're helpless to fight back. The Staff of the Magi doesn't dispel their Stoneskins, but we can peel them off normally, and thanks to Hide in Plain Sight, we can strike with other weapons even after we un-equip the Staff of the Magi, which allows us to use Acid Arrows to disrupt Shangalar's spells, once his PFMW wears off.
We use some specific items and tactics to end the fight quickly, but the Staff of the Magi means that the danger is gone, so I'll just skip to the next fight.
The next fight is with Ramilaat at Suldanessellar, whose Absolute Immunity and PFMW spells force us to wait out his defenses under invisibility. I drop all of my important items and try to use a nonviolent approach against Nizidramanii'yt, but I fail to pick the right dialog options (perhaps I didn't have the stats to qualify?) and find myself against a hostile dragon when I have none of my normal items equipped and no buffs active.
Shadowstep lets us make our getaway safely and we return once we've retrieved our items.
Nizidramanii'yt is problematic. We have very little room in which to kite him and the hitstun from his insect spells will slow us down even further, making it much more difficult to escape his claws. However, we have a trump card: the Wand of Wonder. Good luck grants us a kill on the first charge, and a Stone to Flesh scroll allows us to bring him back and bump him off with one hit when he returns to normal at 1 HP, which means we get to collect all his normal loot.
The Wand of Wonder has a 12% chance of petrifying the target with no saving throw, bypassing both magic resistance and spell level immunities. Dragons besides Abazigal and maybe Thaxll'ssillyia have no immunities to petrification, so the Wand of Wonder is a great way to deal with dragons and other high-HP critters. @histamiini has pioneered the use of the Wand of Wonder in Legacy of Bhaal mode.
That 12% chance isn't fully reliable, though, and so it's easy to spend many charges without petrifying the target.
Since I've had trouble with ATweaks critters stunning without a saving throw in this run, I decide to go nab the Greenstone Amulet so we don't need to rely on the Sword of Arvoreen to get immunity to stun (it's entirely possible that I might not foresee a fatal stun effect). Normally cutting through the beholders in the Underdark beholder hive is extremely difficult in SCS, but Shadowstep lets us walk right past everyone, even the Hive Mother who can see through invisibility.
We're still not done; we need to pay a visit to Watcher's Keep to get one or two important items. That means wrestling with the statues on the first level. Even with clones, the Staff of the Magi, and Arrows of Dispelling, we can't pin down both mage statues early on, so we wait out an opening Time Stop until we can run in and hit them with the Staff of the Magi while they try to escape.
The fight is broken, but to speed things up, I use stealth and the Staff of Striking to land backstabs, since the Staff of the Magi only does 1d6+1 base damage and cannot be used to backstab since thieves can only use it via Use Any Item.
Find Traps and backstabs get us through most of the second level of Watcher's Keep without incident (as always, I use the Cloak of Reflection to survive in the air room), but since I have no defense against the poison damage in the east room, I decide to go grab the Ring of Gaxx and get its immunity to poison.
Through good luck, the Elemental Lich dies in the first hit against the Mace of Disruption before its pre-buffs fire. As for the Shade Lich, we have to spend many rounds running away from the constantly-teleporting lich and Gelugon until the Gelugon vanishes, at which point we can take advantage of the lich's lack of PFMW spells.
Against Kangaxx, where we have much less room to run around (unless we leave the area, but I prefer not to use that strategy since it's very simple), we use Shadowstep to wait out his PFMW spells, opening him up for Arrows of Dispelling and Acid Arrows.
He has lots of HP, though, and when his PFMW Contingency fires, we have to use more Shadowstep spells to wait it out, as well as his subsequent PFMW spell.
Eventually, he gets Wish off the ground, giving him 6 rounds of Time Stop and 4 rounds of Improved Alacrity, but Frisky Bits's subzero saving throws and many items make them virtually immune to magic besides Maze and Imprisonment (the former would be game-ending, but SCS enemies won't use the latter on Charname). Kangaxx summons a Gelugon to hassle us, but otherwise can't hurt us, which means we can just kite him with the Firetooth +3 dagger.
His demilich form nails our clones with Trap the Soul, but SCS prevents him from using the spell on the main character, forcing him to rely on his spells to defeat us--and since he doesn't use Maze, he can't really do anything to us. That's what we get by playing a dwarf; that +5 to saves vs. death, wands, and spells makes you immune to disablers by the endgame, and the Cloak of Mirroring covers most of the rest.
Without our clones, though, we can't deal damage fast enough to overcome his 2 HP regeneration per round, and his constant Stoneskins resist our attempts to dispel it. After many, many rounds in which neither we nor Kangaxx can hurt each other, I finally just equip the Mace of Disruption and wait until I get a lucky hit.
For anything other than a late-game gnome, dwarf, or halfling, or some other class with access to undispellable immunities to disablers and undispellable near-immunities to damage spells, Kangaxx would be absolutely crushing. Even a mage would struggle to maintain its defenses due to Kangaxx's numerous anti-magic spells. Sooner or later, you're going to get nailed by a spell, and if you can't get a 100% chance of surviving all of his damage spells and disablers (and he will readily hit you with Remove Magic and Greater Malison, the former of which won't necessarily dispel the latter), eventually he'll pin you down.
But Frisky Bits is a high-level dwarven thief with save-boosting items and the Cloak of Mirroring, and that particular character build doesn't need to drink many potions or cast many spells to stay safe, even without a Protection from Undead scroll.
I head back to Watcher's Keep to finish up the elemental level. Before I free the Chromatic Demon, I finally get my last level up, to level 50 (I removed the XP cap).
However, I don't actually level up Frisky Bits. Why not?
Well, I had intended on using the Scorcher Ammunition to achieve the damage output I'd need to compete in ToB. But since I forgot to bring the Golden Pantaloons out of BG1, I can never forge them. Without the Scorcher Ammunition, I'm just a single-classed thief with bad THAC0 and no traps, and while I can summon plenty of Shadow Clones, their THAC0 isn't any better than mine.
Even with all the buffs I could put together, my THAC0 can't go very far below zero simply because its base is set to 10. How am I going to overcome ToB enemies' low AC and regeneration?
The answer is... I can't. Not really. And since scrolls aren't scaling with my level, I can't use a Tenser's Transformation scroll to improve my THAC0 by more than a few points. No amount of dual-wielding is going to help if I can't land hits reliably. That's especially true for my clones, who can't use scrolls at all due to SCS.
So, I'm going to hold off on continuing to level 50, just in case I decide to install a mod component that lets THAC0 for non-fighters to eventually scale down to zero, the "un-nerfed THAC0 tables" component from some tweaks mod. If I do, it won't actually adjust my THAC0 until I level up, and hitting level 50 would mean I couldn't go any further (I could only adjust it with EEKeeper).
I don't want to resort to that, since it's such a huge buff to solo thieves and I've operating without it for most of the game, but without the Scorcher Ammunition or traps, a thief doesn't have that many ways to deal with ToB enemies. The Ravager in particular is nearly indestructible without extremely precise use of the Answerer (and even then, a certain amount of luck) simply because of its abnormally low AC.
According to Near Infinity, the Ravager regenerates 5 HP per second, or 30 HP per round. Combine that with -12 AC and 75% damage resistance, and kiting it with the Sling of Everard isn't going to cut it.
According to Near Infinity, the Ravager regenerates 5 HP per second, or 30 HP per round. Combine that with -12 AC and 75% damage resistance, and kiting it with the Sling of Everard isn't going to cut it.
Can you juggle the reflection shield so it's hitting itself?
According to Near Infinity, the Ravager regenerates 5 HP per second, or 30 HP per round. Combine that with -12 AC and 75% damage resistance, and kiting it with the Sling of Everard isn't going to cut it.
Can you juggle the reflection shield so it's hitting itself?
I don't think you should use the Sling of Everard but the sling of seeking - with STR 25, GWW and/or haste, the damage can add up quick to the Ravager.
EDIT: And @Grond0 is right, this should be combined with the Reflection Shield
Do you mean the sling of seeking @Corey_Russell? That was great in the original due to allowing a strength bonus, but in the EE all slings give strength bonuses and it just gives +2 to hit and damage - Everard is much better than that with +5 to hit and +2 damage. The best sling option would be the +5/+5 from the Erinne sling, but that's at the bottom of Watcher's Keep. The Sling of Arvoreen is +4/+4 and relatively easy to get. That may be better than Everard, but that would depend on what your chance to hit in a contest is.
@Grond0: The Ravager's darts do surprisingly little damage; they deal 1d4+4 base damage and don't get a Strength bonus. If the Ravager landed every hit, the Shield of Reflection would add only 8.125 damage per round. The main reason the Shield of Reflection is important is because it keeps the Ravager from fighting back; it lets you kite without taking damage.
The Sling of Everard is the only sling that can hit the Ravager without +4 or +5 bullets, and those are very finite in number unless you get the Erinne Sling, but you have to go all the way down to level 5 in Watcher's Keep and kill Azamantes in order to get that sling. Dealing with level 3 is a horrible bottleneck for a Shadowdancer given the demons you have to fight. Worse yet, you need to fight the mind flayers in level 4 to reach level 5, and those mind flayers have a dispelling spell and/or a Wand of Spell Striking, which means Potions of Genius and Mantle scrolls aren't enough to ensure safety without burning our very limited Spell Immunity scrolls, which I want for the very lengthy final battle.
@Corey_Russell: All slings benefit from STR bonuses in EE; the Sling of Seeking is now only unique in that it doesn't require ammo but is less expensive than the Sling of Everard. If you had the Erinne Sling, that would be better than the Sling of Everard, since the sling lets you generate an infinite number of Bullets +4 and also deals 3 more damage per hit than the Sling of Everard.
It looks like @Alesia_BH's run with Arkona the Barbarian had ATweaks installed, but the situation in Hell was still very grim (see the post at "15 August 2015 - 06:23 PM"), and even Alesia's expert kiting couldn't stop a Balor from making at least one attack roll due to the Balors teleporting during or immediately after Irenicus' Time Stop. Otherwise Alesia was able to stay out of range of the Balors' vorpal strikes, and I'm guessing Arkona's Barbarian movement rate bonus wasn't entirely necessary to do that. But that one didn't involve the "Fiendish Gating" component, or had a malfunctioning version, since the demons in that run didn't gate in any others.
ATweaks might be viable for a solo no-reload character who doesn't have Death Ward or PFMW, since sufficiently precise kiting can keep you at least mostly out of range of the Balors and their no-save vorpal strikes. But I think that only applies without Fiendish Gating enabled. So ATweaks by itself doesn't "lock out" certain character builds; Fiendish Gating is just the feather that breaks the camel's back.
@Alesia_BH and I had a very similar experience in one aspect: we both used a Potion of Invisibility to avoid Irenicus' Time Stop, but delayed drinking it for fear that a Glabrezu might dispel it with True Seeing. In both cases, we drank the potion right before Irenicus got Time Stop off the ground, though we still had 60% and 80% physical damage resistance from Hardiness and the Defender of Easthaven (plus 20% for Arkona due to being a level 20+ Barbarian) as a backup.
@Grond0: The Ravager's darts do surprisingly little damage; they deal 1d4+4 base damage and don't get a Strength bonus. If the Ravager landed every hit, the Shield of Reflection would add only 8.125 damage per round. The main reason the Shield of Reflection is important is because it keeps the Ravager from fighting back; it lets you kite without taking damage.
The Sling of Everard is the only sling that can hit the Ravager without +4 or +5 bullets, and those are very finite in number unless you get the Erinne Sling, but you have to go all the way down to level 5 in Watcher's Keep and kill Azamantes in order to get that sling. Dealing with level 3 is a horrible bottleneck for a Shadowdancer given the demons you have to fight. Worse yet, you need to fight the mind flayers in level 4 to reach level 5, and those mind flayers have a dispelling spell and/or a Wand of Spell Striking, which means Potions of Genius and Mantle scrolls aren't enough to ensure safety without burning our very limited Spell Immunity scrolls, which I want for the very lengthy final battle.
There are multiple hundreds of +4 bullets for sale, so unless you're using them against enemies that don't require them there should be no chance of running out.
@Grond0: In that case, the Sling of Arvoreen from the Underdark combined with +4 bullets would deal about 6 more damage per hit compared to the Sling of Everard by itself, and have 3 better THAC0. Not a game-changer for a Shadowdancer, though, since we're stuck at 2 APR regardless.
By the way: I do have another plan for the Ravager, based entirely on the fact that the Hand of Murder spell from Ascension (one of the evil-aligned Pocket Plane rewards) will let me deal 12 extra nonmagical magic damage per melee hit for 6 rounds (which drains to my own HP, not that that matters), an absolutely massive boost that my clones will be able to use. That magic damage will completely bypass the Ravager's massive damage resistances!
Fun fact: I almost abandoned this run when I looked up the Ravager in Near Infinity, since I didn't see how I could beat him without the Scorcher Ammunition. Only the Answerer and Hand of Murder reassured me that it was doable.
We're almost done with SoA; we just want a few more items before we tackle Irenicus, who is patiently waiting for us to interrupt his plans at Suldanessellar. First, we need to kill the Chromatic Demon.
Thankfully, Use Any Item grants us access to wands. A Wand of Frost, Wand of Lightning, and Potions of Firebreath allow us to deal fast damage, though the Chromatic Demon has a bad habit of switching to another form and instantly gaining immunity to the element we're using. We can also deal electricity damage with Crom Faeyr, fire damage with Firetooth +3, ice damage with Arrows of Ice, and acid damage with Acid Arrows. The Flail of Ages also works, but switching weapons is far more efficient.
Much of the damage comes from Wand of Lightning charges (18d6 damage across 6 bolts!), but we have to be a certain distance away from him to get the bolts to hit; doing it at point-blank range causes the bolts to go right past him.
Onto the demons of Watcher's Keep! I'm not sure how much damage we'll be able to do, but we should have immunities to their fear auras and other disablers by virtue of our undispellable subzero saving throws.
Then we arrive at the Demon Wraith, and I realize that it's been too long since I've delved this deep into Watcher's Keep. I forgot that the Demon Wraith has mage spells.
And worse yet, I just got cornered by the Slave Wraiths, who can see right through our invisibility.
The Demon Wraith has tremendous damage output, and I can't run away; I'm trapped. The Demon Wraith goes right through our AC, and we didn't pre-buff with Shadow Form!
I consider buffing with Shadow Form, but my aura is still clouded, and when I consider the pace of the Demon Wraith's damage output, I realize that even my maximum 70% damage resistance is simply not going to be enough. All I can do is drink a potion and then try to claw my way out through the body of a Slave Wraith.
But a single potion isn't going to be enough to keep me alive more than a few seconds, and I don't know if even a Rod of Resurrection charge will keep me safe. Frisky Bits is just suffering too much damage too fast and has no means of escape.
Panicking but still thinking, I finally resort to a PFMW scroll. We really, really can't afford to lose any more of these scrolls, but if we don't use it, we're all but guaranteed to die in seconds.
We're immune to the enemy's attacks, but all is not well. We only have 4 rounds to claw our way out, and I don't think that's enough time to kill even a single Slave Wraith considering our total lack of buffs and allies.
The solution lies in that screenshot: our familiar!
The familiar teleportation trick dates back to vanilla. Your familiar always bumps you out of place when it appears inside your circle, and since we're so boxed in that we can't budge an inch, the familiar will force Frisky Bits to appear in the next available spot: just outside the circle of enemies!
But if that trick could work, I never get a chance to find out.
There's a time delay in between when the familiar appears and when it actually bumps you to the nearest available spot on the map. Either the familiar didn't displace us due to an EE update removing the trick, or the familiar was killed before it had a chance to bump us out of the circle to safety.
Then the magic damage hits.
If I was at the vanilla level cap of 40 instead of 49, I'd have 18 fewer hit points--I would have had exactly 1 HP!
I foolishly drink a potion, failing to consider using a Rod of Resurrection buried in our Bag of Holding. We then summon a Shadow Twin (which I now realize I've been incorrectly calling Shadow Clone), since we are having a lot of trouble killing one of the Slave Wraiths to open a path for our escape.
Then the Demon Wraith reminds me that it still has mage spells left. In an instant, our PFMW spell is gone!
That Potion of Superior Healing saved us, though it was still incredibly stupid not to use the Rod of Resurrection instead. We have no choice but to burn yet another PFMW scroll.
We simply can't afford to lose this many PFMW scrolls; we need them as a rescue option in ToB!
We do have Dimension Door scrolls, but I'm hesitant to use them because they're not normally available. I only have them thanks to a mod. Instead, I burn a much scarcer and much more powerful scroll that nonetheless feels more "legitimate."
Time Stop. With 3 rounds of automatic hits, we finally cut a path out of the circle.
Now I can flee through the portal and make my escape. But I have another problem: I'm not done with the Demon Wraith. He's not getting away with this.
We start kiting the enemy with the Sling of Everard. Frisky Bits heals up with potions while repeatedly getting blasted by Fireball traps. It takes several Fireballs before I realize that I'm re-triggering the same traps; not triggering new ones.
I deploy a clone to help distract the enemy and deal some extra damage, but it isn't long before the Demon Wraith launches a Chaos spell, and our clones have terrible saving throws due to a bug that removes dwarf/gnome/halfling save bonuses on level drained critters, and Simulacrum-style clones are all level drained.
Eventually, I get bored waiting for Frisky Bits to deal damage with their terrible THAC0 and lose my interest in exacting revenge for the loss of 2 whole PFMW scrolls (and also the death of our familiar, which is also bad). I make my escape using Shadowstep and leave Watcher's Keep.
In which Croll spreads lycanthropy across the Sword Coast, and then commits fratricide
The Sword Coast lies in ruins. Hundreds of Flaming Fist soldiers, dead. Temples on fire. Greater wolfweres ravaging Nashkel and Beregost. The Iron Throne, destroyed. Sarevok, dead.
Croll turned Quayle into a wolfwere. Quayle destroyed the Nashkel fairgrounds. Edwin, too, succumbed to lycanthropy. Not much of Nashkel is left standing.
Croll killed Oublek, thinking he'd have unclaimed bounty money on him. The haul was even richer than he expected.
After returning to Baldur's Gate from Candlekeep, Croll marched into the Flaming Fist Headquarters, and -- again -- killed every soldier there. Duke Eltan was in no condition to defend himself. So instead of killing the man outright, Croll dumped him into an empty chest at the bottom of the Cloakwood mine, and then flooded the place. The Duke's body never surfaced.
Croll went to see if Gellana Mirrorshade had a cure for lycanthropy. Unfortunately, Flaming Fist Enforcers interrupted the conversation. Gellana decided she'd be safer siding with the Fist. She was wrong.
Bentley was none-too-happy about the death of his wife. Croll was none too happy with the poor service at the gnome's inn. Now the Friendly Arm is a ghost town.
Shadow thieves pointed Croll to a pair of Night Masks planning ducal assassinations in a brothel. Croll resented the intrusion on his turf, and made the killers pay. So what if his spellcasting also wiped out half of the workers and customers in the place?
Gaining access to the Ducal Palace for Sarevok's coronation turned out to be rather difficult after the lead guard, Bill, recognized Croll as the Sword Coast's most dangerous criminal. Croll had to charm Bill with Algernon's Cloak, quickly show his invitations, and then get out of the way while Bill's fellow soldiers cut the fool down.
Croll recruited unwilling allies through the power of the Nymph cloak, including a high-level barmaid, a Flaming Fist Enforcer, two unarmed citizens, and a Priest of Helm who knew only one spell. At least they didn't turn into werewolves.
All of Croll's puppets died fighting dopplegangers. So did Belt. Only Liia survived, thanks to a well-placed invisibility spell from the now-deceased Ithtyl.
Croll killed everything he saw in the Thieves Maze, including the hapless mage Winski and the wounded Voletta Stiletto. He incinerated a party of assassins in the Undercity. He let beetles feast on Tamoko's body. And then he marched into the Temple of Bhaal and let his spirits feed on the divine soul of his dead half-brother.
Croll is now heading out of the Undercity, and back up to Baldur's Gate... And soon the spirits will begin looking for their next meal.
The Demon Wraith was the breaking point. I don't want to spend the rest of the game lamenting Frisky Bits' horrible base 10 THAC0, which is no better than a mage's. Without traps and without the Scorcher Ammunition, Frisky Bits is going to be spend the right of the game flailing around helplessly with Belm or the Defender of Easthaven and the Scarlet Ninja-to, praying to get a lucky hit in, and I just don't want to deal with that.
You know, I have 12 Shadow Form spells and can hit 70% damage resistance for 60 rounds, and I can always spam Rod of Resurrection charges and throw a bunch of disposable clones at the enemy, but that's going to be so slow. I finally decide to install the "un-nerfed THAC0 tables" component, allowing Frisky Bits' THAC0 to scale down to the minimum of 1.
Frisky Bits takes their 49th level up and hits level 50, taking yet another Shadow Form spell and getting a 9-point boost to their THAC0. They still have 1 base APR, but this will make things faster and in certain key cases easier.
I don't like it because I didn't plan on it and it's a huge boost for a Shadowdancer's power. But it's better than watching Frisky Bits roll a 12, 13, 14, and 15 and still miss each one of their 4 attacks per round with Belm and the SCT.
Anyway, we go to the Underdark to nab a new Find Familiar scroll and also murder a bunch of mind flayers. We drink 20 Potions of Genius and one Potion of Absorption once we kill the ogre guard and, like always, lure a mind flayer over to the locked door rather than force it over with a Control Circlet.
I don't remember the last time I used more than one Control Circlet in a single run, but I still like saving them, just on the off chance I decide to use three Control Circlets against one of the two enemies in ToB that aren't immune to charm.
Most of the mind flayers are no trouble with our INT all the way up at 92 and our AC vs. blunt weapons well below -10. We just need to drain a few potions to deal with the crushing damage from the enemy's Ballistic Attacks (5d12 damage). We do, however, get a nasty scare when we lose all of those defenses to a Psionic Disjunction from the Master Brain!
Fortunately, we have several clones already on hand, ready to deal damage on our behalf. Not that it matters much. Only one mind flayer appears to have joined the fight; nothing else deals INT drain in this encounter.
We drink some more Potions of Genius (I completely raided every temple in the game) before wrestling with the remaining mind flayers in the room with the Staff of Command, which I'll definitely need in case I accidentally use all of my Control Circlets when fighting the kobolds in the first Pocket Plane fight. Then we escape under Shadowstep to avoid any further mind flayer spawns (we avoided one fight because our fast movement rate let us skip over the spawn trigger!).
Now that our THAC0 is much stronger, we're going to go pick a fight with a red dragon. We had trouble fighting dragons previously due to the dragons' sheer damage output, but now we can land occasional hits with Soul Reaver. It takes a little while, but we land enough hits on Firkraag that he has to roll a 20 to hit us. Then we can summon a clone who can help us chop him up without needing to equip the Defender of Easthaven. The 2-point THAC0 penalty from Soul Reaver lasts 20 rounds, so it buys us lots of time to get through his 30% damage resistance and 552 HP.
We now have Carsomyr and the Red Dragon Scale! I will put them right where they're most needed: buried deep in the Bag of Holding, where I can forget they exist.
It's time to take down Irenicus. We head back to Suldanessellar.
23 Ches 1369: Silas, a servant & Lorekeeper of Ογημα, to posterity, presents greetings.
I headed next to High Hedge. I’d visited Thalantyr many times but had not had the chance to adventure in the countryside surrounding it. High hedge is beautiful countryside. There are clusters of pines & oaks & orchards of wild pear, walnut and bitter orange trees. There is a rocky outcropping to the west, but the soil is rich elsewhere and the grass is generally thick & plush. Skeleton’s & Flinds were my only opposition here. Here I added the Ranger/Archer, Kivan to my retinue.
Next, it was off to the Shipwreck’s Coast. This whole area juts out into the Sea of Swords as a rocky shoreline. The soil is also rocky & is dotted with cedars & small rocky peaks. Almost immediately upon beginning to scout ahead of my main body, Kivan was killed by a Nereid. It happened quickly & the Nereid was dead almost instantly, but it forced me to return to Beregost, as I don’t have anymore Raise Dead scrolls. There was much business for the adventurer here, including skirmishes with Sirines, Carrion Crawlers, Ghouls, & Dire Wolves.
KEY EVENT: (Skirmish with the Ogre Pack) So much fun. Kivan was on recon & came across a pack of Ogre humanoids, including an Ogre Berserker, two Ogres, three Ogrillons & two half-Ogres (Ogrillons are the offspring of an Ogre & an Orc, whereas, Half-Ogres are the offspring of an Ogre & a human, Hobgoblin, Bugbear, etc.). When Kivan returned, I decided to have he & Imoen, use their Stealth to maneuver to within range. I had Kivan toss a Potion of Explosions & Imoen an Oil of Fiery Burning right into the midst of them & then both fire w/their bows @ the first humanoid that approached them from the flames. It worked beautifully & killed an Ogre, three Ogrillons & a Half-Ogre. They immediately took down another Ogre as he emerged from the fire. Then we maneuvered carefully to stay out of reach as the six of us wore them down, killing the Ogre Berserker, an Ogre & a Half-Ogre. To cap it off, we talked w/a mage looking man who said he was the brother of Rieltar. He healed all of us & then left immediately – I didn’t get the chance to tell him we killed his brother @ Candlekeep, although I don’t think he would have cared.
BARBEQUED OGRE FOLK
Finally, I moved us south to the Lighthouse, also on the Sea of Swords, hence the need for a lighthouse. This shoreline is not as rocky as that of Shipwreck’s Coast. The lighthouse sits high up on a steep cliff & the entire area is dotted with various types of cedars and sea grass, Two events here of note. We battled three of the 18 Sirines we defeated on this excursion & they were guarding the entrance to caverns. We defeated them & three Flesh Golems, and got the treasure, evidently hidden here by the Pirate Black Alaric as I would later learn. As I was leading us back to Beregost, we met a rogue, Safana. I decided to bring her on & dismiss Kivan to the FAI. Her skills as a thief, heavily slanted toward traps & pickpocketing, combined w/backstabbing, I think might combine well w/Imoen’s skills in other areas. I gave her the Boots of Stealth to help her in that area. This may not work. I am certain to miss Kivan’s lethal bow.
“Spread knowledge wherever it is prudent to do so.”
Σιλας
@Grond0: In that case, the Sling of Arvoreen from the Underdark combined with +4 bullets would deal about 6 more damage per hit compared to the Sling of Everard by itself, and have 3 better THAC0. Not a game-changer for a Shadowdancer, though, since we're stuck at 2 APR regardless.
Sure - but for the purpose of the fight with the Ravager the comparison should be with Everard using +4 bullets. Everard then gives you 1 better THACO, but does 2 less damage per hit - for a dwarven thief (at least for one without modded THAC0), Everard is going to be preferable. That may not matter if you're playing with Ascension (where the sling attack won't work in either case), but will help defeat the Ravager in the unmodded game.
@semiticgod WoW works on Chromatic Demon too, which should make the grindy fight a lot faster. The first dragon immune to petrification is Draconis I think.
We go on one last shopping spree to buy every last item we possibly can, even the Robe of Vecna on the off chance I decide I want a faster casting time for a Time Stop scroll or something, and proceed to the Tree of Life. Irenicus is easy to reveal with Detect Illusions, and with two clones firing nonmagical arrows with the Tuigan Bow, we can go right through his PFMW, remove his Stoneskins, and take him down to Near Death within seconds.
But he clings to life, either because we didn't quite deal enough damage or because his script just didn't fire at the right time, and he gets Time Stop off the ground, but he can't do much when Frisky Bits can disappear at will simply by switching to the Staff of the Magi.
Irenicus and his demons chase us around the map, but the demons don't have missile weapons and there aren't enough of them to box me in, even in the narrow passageways at the Tree of Life. Eventually Irenicus runs out of weapon immunity spells, and an Arrow of Dispelling opens him up for Acid Arrows to disrupt his spells and a huge backstab to force him to his knees.
As always, I pick the good options in the Hell trials. A Potion of Clarity gets me past the Fear trial and we chop up Sarevok with little trouble. Since we're low on potions, I summon a whole bunch of clones via Shadow Twins, have them all use Alchemy to generate potions on their person, and then slaughter them with the Lightning Bolt+Fireball combo from the Staff of the Magi.
Now we have to deal with the Slayer. And yes... we still have ATweaks installed.
The Staff of the Magi makes it easy to stay hidden during the Slayer's opening Time Stop. A bunch of clones help distract the demons while Frisky Bits strikes from afar, but our ranged damage output is still pretty mediocre, and the demons have lots of HP.
Most of the clones die very quickly, since each clone of a clone has less HP than the one that summoned it, but the original clone, our first Shadow Twin, survives much longer. That keeps the demons off our backs and helps us avoid getting boxed in.
However, even the Defender of Easthaven and Shadow Form can't keep the clone alive forever, and eventually the demons cut it down. We switch to kiting, and a Balor is at Near Death, but we've still got lots of demons to take down before we can concentrate on the Slayer.
Hide in Plain Sight lets us stay hidden from the Slayer while we're using the Sling of Everard, and the Staff of the Magi keeps us safe even when we break invisibility by attacking, even if our stealth timer hasn't reset. By alternating between Hide in Plain Sight and the Staff of the Magi, we can maintain constant invisibility even when using a ranged weapon and without worrying about our stealth timer.
Irenicus adds a Fallen Planetar to the battlefield, but we barely manage to avoid getting boxed in by relying on our Oil of Speed to scurry away from the constantly teleporting demons. Shadowstep also helps us slip away before the enemy surrounds me, since it comes out in 1 frame thanks to the Amulet of Power, whereas running away takes a few extra frames to get moving. Finally, we put down the Balor.
I escape another Time Stop under invisibility, but when Time Stop ends, all of the demons teleport over to Frisky Bits simultaneously, and suddenly we are truly, completely surrounded.
Fortunately, though, Frisky Bits has an Absolute Immunity scroll on hand, and manages to bring down another Balor in melee combat, allowing us to escape, but we've still got a bunch of demons to deal with, and we can't burn rare scrolls to get rid of all of them.
We also take the opportunity to drink a Potion of Insight, but I'm not sure I can spare the time to cast a Limited Wish spell via scroll to get a Time Stop and land some automatic hits.
We spend a few rounds kiting, but make little progress. Finally, though, after 20 rounds have passed since we cast Shadow Twin, we can now summon another clone, giving us a bunch of decoys. The secondary, tertiary, and quaternary clones die in moments, but the primary clone sticks around, giving us more time and more space to attack from afar.
I'm pretty sure the gated demons from "Fiendish Gating" only last for so long, so we need to take out the Glabrezus, who are permanent spawns and can't be waited out, since they came with the Slayer. Unfortunately, we're still working with ATweaks Glabrezus, which means constantly going ethereal and becoming invincible whenever we dispel their Mirror Images and land a hit. It drags out the fight, and every round, there's a chance that we could get boxed in.
To my irritation, the Fallen Planetar uses its last moments before vanishing to undo my efforts.
But eventually, we put down a single Glabrezu. We don't know if it's one of the two original Glabrezus, however, because there were three of them after the gating near the start of the fight.
I might have killed a Glabrezu that was going to disappear eventually anyway.
The good news is that the Glabrezus' habit of going ethereal means they're not boxing us in. And since we didn't get nearly as many gated demons as we saw in my unkitted fighter run, and since our access to numerous clones allowed us to take down a single Balor while the demons were still distracted, we actually had a chance of avoiding getting boxed in, where my solo fighter did not.
Plus, the Nabassus don't appear to be able to see through invisibility, giving my Shadowdancer yet another advantage over the fighter. With one Glabrezu frequently ethereal and both the Slayer and the Nabassus unable to see us, we are under much less pressure, and can even take shots at the Slayer without getting in danger.
Without Balors, with only two Glabrezus, with constant invisibility that the Nabassus can't break, and with no other demons on the map like I had in the solo fighter run, Frisky Bits can no longer be boxed in. We can now kite the remaining Glabrezus to death and backstab the Nabassus.
The map is clear! The Slayer is alone! And it can do nothing to respond to our invisibility. We summon a new clone to pitch in with Assassination and engage the Slayer in melee, knowing that we can always disappear if we drop below 90 HP and hit PW: Stun range. The Slayer goes down.
Shadows of Amn is over! Here we are at the start of ToB.
This is where things get a little stickier, but our "unnerfed" (or buffed, depending on how you look at it) THAC0 means we should be able to handle ToB without needing traps or the Scorcher Ammunition.
4 Tarsakh 1369: Silas, a servant & Lorekeeper of Ογημα, to posterity, presents greetings.
I finished my adventures in the south of Beregost by heading to the Red Canyons, then over to the South Beregost Road. To the eye, SBR is pleasing. Plenty of trees and rich vegetation, and some small ponds. Apparently, someone had built a home there once, but it has literally sunk into the soft ground near one of the ponds so that only the roof is now visible. There’s a cave there south of the abandoned house that had a small treasure in it. While there, a Drow Cleric approached me panicking as a Flaming Fist Mercenary was pursuing her to kill her. He said she was a murderer, but she’s a female, and well, I have a weakness. He could’ve just left. I talked to her, and started to take her in, but changed my mind. I sent her to await my call should I need her later.
I went to the aptly named Red Canyons first. This area has sandstone ridges that run generally northwest to southeast, but the entire area is rock or hard clay/sand footing. It rained while there which made it wet and slick. There are some trees here, spruces, cedars, even a few small oaks, still colored from winters months. I had a tough little skirmish here that ended up causing me to have Kelddath Raise Dead on Safana after Hobgoblin Elites chased her down when she lost Stealth out in front of the main body. She was poisoned by their arrows but got back to me & I cast Slow Poison on her. But while dealing with the Hobgoblin Elites themselves, one slipped by me & got to her. She may be too weak to travel with me.
KEY EVENT: (The Cleric of Cyric) Speaking of Kelddath Ormlyr, I came across the mad cleric he’d mentioned the first time I encountered him months ago. He was definitely mad, & I found him telling stories to a bunch of brainless undead who were just wandering around in an outdoor temple area. I decided not to fool w/the undead, there were eight skeletons & eight zombies, so I had Faldorn cast Entangle & Neera use her Wand of Fire simultaneously from beyond their sight – Safana had already seen them using Stealth so they were unaware of our presence just beyond a tree line. This strategy took out all but maybe four of the undead, but the cleric, Bassilus, was just barely singed. Since he was amid the entanglement, I directed spell use and/or ranged weapons. I don’t think he ever got off a spell, but to his credit he was tough & lasted though a barrage of spells & arrows until finally he dropped. He was carrying a Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy & a Battle Axe +2 that brought in some gold at Thunderhammer.
AFTERMATH
I’ll be heading north after a stop in Beregost. My near term goal is to clear the black in the Fishing Village, Wyrm’s Crossing & the Farmlands before heading for Ulgoth’s Beard.
“Curb and deny falsehoods, rumor, and deceitful tales whenever you encounter them.” Σιλας
quick update on Coremage the human level 13 berserker/level 14 mage
Coremage and gang got some good news. After defeating Bodhi, Coremage has unlocked his berserker abilities. He is now in the front line with his stonefire and frostweaver. We do not have money for the AC 3 bracers or the Robe of Vecna - c'est la vie I guess. We are just about to enter Suldanesslar.
I read about the power of F/M/C for solo not long ago, and tried one out myself. Pleased with the results, I decided to try HoF. I thought I would just be hopelessly stuck in Easthaven, but once I got the ball rolling, HoF was in some ways preferable, due to the experience gain. It doesn't feel intended, but summons seem to have all the HoF advantages when used by the player too, so they could carry me until I got all my really awesome stuff.
Anyway, I figured I could do it no reload. Now, the first two F/M/C's had been straight Ctrl+8 for stat rolls, and although I wasn't going to repeat that for the no reload run, I would probably roll and optimize at 90+. Reading the opening post, I decided to go for humbler stats, they might even look like a plain unaltered roll, but there's reasoning behind every attribute.
Enter Fruit Hammer
Name: I looked into his eyes and saw Fruit Hammer. Maybe because as a cleric he may not use bladed weapons and thus has to mash his fruit instead of cut it.
15 STR: 25 with DUHM at level 30
14 DEX: 24 with DUHM at level 30; 25 apparently gives no further bonuses
14 CON: 24 with DUHM at level 30; 25 apparently gives no further bonuses
16 INT: With no reload, I'm not going to scribe scrolls without guaranteed success anyway, and that requires 24 which means potion quaffing regardless of what my base int is, but 16 plus two Potions of Genius sounds good to me.
10 WIS: The bonus spells quickly become largely irrelevant except for bragging about how rarely I rest, but any sub-10 stat is an eyesore, so it had to be 10.
13 CHA: Unsure about what charisma checks exist in IWD (I know there are some), but with this I can go to 18 with Friends before any conversation I suspect might require it.
For spells I picked Chromatic Orb and Friends. Now there is a Chromatic Orb scroll up for grabs, no combat required, but I might fail scribing it. It's an awesome spell early game. Besides, knowing it myself means I can use the scroll in an emergency. And Friends? Well, Fruit Hammer likes to hand out unsolicited life advice. It's probably a deep psychological issue from getting told all the time to stop mashing fruit. The Friends spell helps him get his own points across.
It is my experience that late-game, the only proficiencies that really matter are Single Weapon Style (because I use Black Blade of Disaster all the time) and maybe Club (got a +5 club as a standard weapon). Slings, on the other hand, quickly become irrelevant. So due to some perfectionist mental issues on my part, I refused to take points in Sling, instead saving them for things like Quarterstaff and Two-Handed Weapon Style, even though I can't recall seeing a single staff I wanted to swing. My first points went in SWS and Mace. Mace because I knew of a guaranteed +1 mace, but ignoring the fact that I'll have a better weapon at that point. Overall, suboptimal proficiency choices.
Early adventures
Armed with the Friends spell, Fruit Hammer convinced Old Jed to stop being a drunk. He also carried messages between Jhonen and seacreaturething. After this, it was time to clear out the basement. Now, the beetles don't fight back if you don't go to melee range, so it's just a matter of slinging at them until they die, yeah? Well, I'll have you know that with no points in Sling, clearing out that basement on HoF takes well over an hour and a four digit amount of bullets.
Still, these three quests got me to 3/2/3 (feh, they got me more; looking at the wrong screenshots), just barely making that crucial third level of cleric. Now, HoF seemingly gives mobs more HD, because I've never had spells like Sleep work even on the easiest of monsters. However, while these HD improve a lot of stats, it seems their saving throws remain abysmal. So to deal with the fish stealing goblins, I'd inch closer until one of them saw me and let him run after me. I'd cast Sanctuary, in case I managed to aggro more than one or in case I'd aggrod an archer.
Case melee mob, just Hold Person from a distance and run in and smack.
Case archer mob, melee it, then Hold Person right after its own attack.
If anything went wrong, I just ran into the inn and rested.
Fruit Hammer and Fruit Slicer
Clearing out this pack and handing in the fish got me a lot of experience, but I was one kill shy of the super important cleric level 5. At cleric level 5 comes Animate Dead, which can certainly carry me far. If nothing else, I can whittle down opponents at little risk to myself. They die slowly and kill slowly, but if I lock a monster down with Hold Person or Chromatic Orb, they kill fast.
Before continuing, I should note that the elite gobbo had a high quality morning star (and I'm pretty sure he always does), which made me feel dumb for going for maces. Hell, if I was going to pick an arbitrary weapon, it should have been a hammer.
Anyway, I badly needed this level up, and there was seemingly no easy way of getting it. What about the wolf in Apsel's shop? Fruit Hammer's predecessor had handled that one with sling kiting and abuse of poor pathfinding. Fruit Hammer, however, is a terrible slinger and it would take him forever, but he had no other choice. Turns out that 15 strength couldn't bust that door down, nor could the 16 he sported with DUHM. Ironically enough, if he were level 5 he could probably open it with Strength of One.
Fruit Hammer started rummaging through all the buildings in Easthaven hoping to find a strength potion to no avail. It would seem the only way he'd get that level up was to challenge the monsters which he needed it for. Fruit Hammer could beat an orc, perhaps a wolf, but he needed to get them alone. Now there is a lone orc at the cave entrance, and Fruit Hammer approached him, shielded by a Sanctuary spell. He might pick this one off, but the orc ran as Fruit Hammer cast his opening spell and pursuing would lead Fruit Hammer into the wolf pack.
He bravely entered the cave and tried to isolate one orc. All that happened was that three orcs followed him out.
He made another attempt, and history repeated itself.
Six orcs now guarded the entrance! If this continued, Fruit Hammer might not be able to sneak around them, even with Sanctuary. Or perhaps if he left the cave, he would find himself blocked by orcs. WOE IS FRUIT HAMMER!
Yet on the third attempt, he found a lone orc who had gotten lost following the others out!
Fruit Hammer felt destiny calling. He dubbed this orc Fruit Slicer, for he carried an axe, did he not? Perhaps Fruit Chopper would be more apt? Either way, he was Fruit Hammer's last chance at claiming his destiny. So important was this battle that Fruit Hammer expended his Chromatic Orb scroll.
VICTORY!
Success breeds complacency
With access to Animate Dead, Fruit Hammer proceeded to wipe out the orcs. If any one battle proved too difficult, he could always come back. Sanctuary made it safe to rest anywhere, for even if he were awoken he could just walk to a new spot.
Fruit Hammer set out with the expedition, survived the ambush and animated more skeletons and zombies to clear out the goblins. As one particular battle neared its end, Fruit Hammer was quite spent for spells but saw a chicken, and somehow knew that slaying this chicken would be very enlightening. Given that the chickens just run and that Fruit Hammer is still terrible with a sling (but now also good with a club, despite not yet owning one), he sent his minions at it.
As fate would have it, that chicken ran into about twenty goblins. Now, Fruit Hammer knew his minions would lose this fight, but feared not for his own life, only his sanity as he'd be waiting for them to die. Cunningly, he cast Sanctuary and just marched straight to Kuldahar. However, Fruit Hammer lacked the experience for Phase Two of his metagamed plan, so he resolved to return to the pass as soon as he'd rested.
Upon returning, a goblin immediately shot him. He had no time to cast Sanctuary before more goblins came. He fled to Kuldahar again. Now, Fruit Hammer wasn't about to let those little green assholes keep that pass and his much needed experience, so he had to get creative. He bought an invisibility potion and used it immediately upon returning. He had planned on finding a safe spot from which to continue his assault.
The goblins could not see him, yet... well, let's drop the narration briefly: monsters like to surround invisible characters.
And this isn't even the same pack of goblins that my minions aggrod in their chicken hunt. Those are a bit to the west. Anyway, back to the story...
Fruit Hammer was surrounded! He knew from... his predecessors' knowledge, that if he could cast Sanctuary, he might be able to escape this situation. He could put on armor and a shield and hope to get the spell off, if only he were CARRYING AROUND armor and a shield. WOE IS FRUIT HAMMER!
After much soul searching, he prayed to Tymora, who wasn't his deity, so all in all it probably got him more trouble than help. Then he cast Sanctuary, and to his great relief he noted that casting Sanctuary did not break the invisibility, at least not until the spell finished. JOY IS FRUIT HAMMER!
Yet, he had only traded one kind of invisibility for another, you might say. WRONG! For Fruit Hammer's predecessors have oft found themselves in similar situations, and they know that one can cast Animate Dead (but not Aerial Servant - I don't know which is the odd one out here) without ending the Sanctuary. He called forth his minions...
The good news was he was lucky enough to summon six of them. The bad news was he aimed it poorly and not enough goblins ran after them to end the... surroundment. This meant the good news were actually bad news, since he couldn't summon more until one of them died. And his Sanctuary was ticking down.
This is what happens when you only worship Tymora when it suits you.
Now the prudent thing to do would be to try to get one minion killed ASAP and cast Animate Dead again to draw more goblins away and escape. But. But. But.
But.
Fruit Hammer, wearing no armor and no shield, and with ten-or-so goblins training their arrows at him, decided to instead break the Sanctuary to cast Hold Person, because that was the habit; cast Hold Person to help his minions kill things faster. He died that round.
To be continued
Lessons for Fruit Hammer II:
- Specialize in slings
- Carry shield and armor around even if you're not wearing them
- Kill the chickens last
- More narrating Fruit Hammer II, less narrating his player
Also, now Fruit Hammer II needs to manage to get Fruit Slicer II alone. WOE IS FRUIT HAMMER II!
Nice post @enqenq. If Fruit Hammer's next incarnation is in the same situation, note that the wolves outside the cave do not operate as a group - if you inch forward peering round the edge of the rocks you can pick those off one at a time. After the first 2 small groups of goblins in the cave there are 2 which can be pulled individually (one of which you found). Beware though of the big group beyond that - it's difficult to avoid being surrounded by them even if you're invisible or sanctuaried. That's not a problem if you have skeletons, but you would need to be careful if relying on hold person or chromatic orb to split them up.
Edit: by the way the beetles only react if you're in close melee range, so you could save yourself a bit of trouble by using a long weapon rather than refilling your bullet slots.
Fruit Hammer II couldn't handle a wolf alone, had to abort. Fruit Slicer II brought friends, Fruit Hammer II had to abort, but got killed trying to escape.
Fruit Hammer III has a new plan for that dastardly last kill. He is currently slaying beetles with the starter staff, and it it is oh so pleasant to not have to worry about him running out of ammo and running into melee range.
Fruit Hammer III figured his best bet would be to drag the wolves away from the runaway orc and slay him without interference. The plan was successful, and the orc was worth experience!
Woo! An undramatic victory. After this, Fruit Hammer III still had a Sanctuary memo to use, which meant he could walk back to town and rest safely, or just try to rest on the spot and walk away if awoken. Instead, Fruit Hammer III interrupted his own Sanctuary cast because he couldn't decide what he wanted to do next. This meant he was trapped between the orc cave and three wolves that he probably could get past...
He elected to rest, and nobody came to wake him. He thanked Tymora, to whom he was pledged. Fruit Hammer was NG, but Fruit Hammer II and III were/are CG, ever faithful to Tymora to have her blessing save the day when spontaneous idiocy risks ruining it.
As far as every incarnation of Fruit Hammer knows, every creature in Icewind Dale will rather attack other targets than camp the Sanctuary. But clearly not goblins.
Fruit Hammer III's minions could not slay any goblins fast enough without their master's aid, and so the Sanctuary expired and Fruit Hammer III died trying to recast it.
In which Croll counts the ways in which chaos will be sown by his passage
After hearing of Sarevok's death, the Grand Dukes decided to forgive Croll for murdering half of their city. Instead of locking him up, they sent him into a forgotten crypt to root out the last of Sarevok's allies: the mage Korlacz.
Croll was rather surprised to find Imoen there at the crypt entrance, having killed her in front of Candlekeep. He was doubly surprised to hear that she remembered nothing of the incident. Didn't realize she had died. Had no messages from the spirit world. Croll accused her of being a doppleganger. She just laughed. Confused, Croll decided not to kill her again.
A foolish mage, Ammon, loitered at the entrance to the crypt. She asked Croll to fetch her some cobalt moss for a potion. Croll instead fetched her head.
A contingent of Flaming Fists accompanied Imoen, offering support with undead. Croll took them up on it, buying all of their potions and scrolls, and then letting them get slaughtered by wights and greater ghasts.
Korlacz herself proved incapable of defending herself against Croll and his beetles. He refused her offer to surrender and let the bugs feed.
Back in Baldur's Gate, the Grand Dukes put Croll up in the palace, calling him a "hero." Croll was stunned to see Duke Eltan (whose body he had left at the bottom of the flooded Cloakwood Mine). Duke Silvershield, too, had somehow returned after being assassinated by Night Masks. Belt was back as well, as if he hadn't been chopped in half by Sarevok's huge sword. Croll wondered if he had somehow traveled to a parallel universe.
The Dukes tasked him with leading an expedition to Dragonspear Castle, to deal with a new plague on the region, some possible Bhaalspawn named Caelar Argent and her crusade. Croll decided he'd play along for now (and that perhaps the expedition might help him get him away from the werewolf plague spreading across the Sword Coast.)
He realized he'd need help. So he went looking for companions. The first he found was Safana, a thief who seemed uncomfortable at the idea of hanging out with a murderous half-orc shaman who talked to spirits... but who nonetheless was up for a bit of adventure. Croll was relieved that she seemed to be able to resist lycanthropy. She helped him steal a good bit of gold from the tavern, and proved generally amusing. He decided to take her along.
Safana accompanied Croll to the old Iron Throne tower, now a medical center for refugees. There they encountered a shifty man (Lon), who a priest accused of thievery. After a brief shouting match, Lon revealed himself as a werewolf and lunged at Croll.
As a weak member of his species, Lon died quickly. But as Lon fell, Croll noticed that Safana had dropped her bow. Her hands were shaking. Her face started to twist in unnatural patterns. Then her body ripped in a thousand directions, and a Greater Wolfwere emerged.
Croll tried to talk her down, but there was nothing he could do. She tore the sick refugees and priests inside the tower to shreds. None of the guards could harm her, lacking silver weapons. Croll fled the tower, realizing that the city was now probably doomed to complete destruction.
And Chaos shall be sown by their passage, Croll thought. Indeed.
Hi all, it's been awhile since I made a genuine attempt at a no-reload run. I'm going to try again with a custom team and some NPCs as I see fit. This time I'm using an undead hunter charname, with a half-orc cleric/thief multi and an elf sorcerer as companions.
Background:
The only mods I'm using are Tweaks Anthology v8 and SCS v32 RC9. One of the Tweaks components I'm using actually makes the game easier: I've opted to reduce hostile rest spawns by 50%. Why? Because I'm sick of trash mobs to the point that I'll probably stop playing BG if I don't find a way to reduce their occurrence. I wish there was a component that also limited the number of random encounters in the game, too. I don't find them challenging; I find them tedious, boring, and aesthetically disruptive. On the other hand, I have SCS installed, which makes things a little harder. I'm playing on Tactical across the board (utilizing the new v32 difficulty slider). I don't have any of the tactical challenges installed, but as usual I have smarter priests, mages, spiders, etc.. Coupled with the years of bad habits I've instilled (such as ignoring the game log, being too lazy to research spells and abilities extensively, allowing my characters to break formation, etc.), all this makes for a very challenging play-through at my level.
I have other rules that I impose on myself: no protection from magic or undead scrolls. No cheap play, such as casing AOE spells from beyond the fog of war or using any game engine exploits. I generally go by what 'feels right' in the moment. I'm still trying to roleplay a bit and enjoy the run aesthetically, though sometimes that can be irreconcilable with trying to stay alive. I'm still figuring this thing out.
I haven't kept track of all my attempts, regrettably, but I estimate I've tried 10-15 times to finish BG1 without reloading. I have never succeeded, though I've come awfully close, including a couple heart-breakers, like making it all the way to Sarevok's coronation and failing to keep the right Dukes alive, and experiencing a bug in the Iron Throne chapter 5 fight (the berserker who's rage ends off-screen and causes the game to crash). Overall, though, if you were to sum up my no-reload career, it seems that it's only a matter of time before I do something really stupid. I'm always shocked at some of the blunders I've made, often after many hours of disciplined play. Example: one time I forgot to cast remove fear after being teleported to the chess set in Durlag's Tower. Hopefully this will be the time I break that pattern. I suspect, though, that for me to complete a no-reload run I'll need to play my best game and get some breaks.
Coremage the human 13 berserker/14 mage - FINAL SoA update
Traveling with: Keldorn, (Minsc), Anomen, Jaheira, Imoen, Sarevok
So Coremage and party handled Suldanesslessar pretty well - no deaths. Even Nizi was cleanly defeated.
We got some gold while here and went back to Waukeen's Promenade to get some goodies like reflection shield and another RoR. Then returned to deal with Irenicus.
While we did a number of things at the Tree of Life, what was decisive was Keldorn's dispel magic.
We did all the good routes in Hell, mostly because I wanted to keep using Azuredge (I have ***** in axes you see...). We did run into one setback - Minsc was imprisoned by the beholders. We were intending to replace Minsc anyways, but it was certainly a loss of certain equipment like ring of earth control, Shield of Balduran, and Helm of Brilliance. But the quest must continue...
The battle vs. Irencus took a while, but repeated dispel magics by Keldorn finally made Irenicus give it up. Keldorn himself nearly got chunked, so I turned off AI and did two RoR shots by Jaheira and Anomen, and fortunately they landed before his chunking.
Coremage is now using Reflection Shield, both to increase AC and also to minimize damage taken. With True Sight, Illsaera fell quickly. We then recruited Sarevok and did the pocket plane challenge without a problem.
Comments
Part 11: Shadows of Amn
Crom Faeyr unfortunately doesn't instantly kill Spirit Trolls in my install, but dual-wielding with two clones from Vhailor's Helm and Shadow Clone was sufficient to wipe everything out with no trouble. I won't go into detail because it was basically just hack and slash, given our high levels.
Now to deal with Bodhi and the vampires. I use my typical strategy: send in a non-Vhailor's Helm clone (or an NPC, for non-solo runs) with the Helm of Brilliance under invisibility and have them nail the vampires with the Mace of Disruption and the Sunray spell from the Helm of Brilliance.
Notice that we didn't use a Protection from Undead scroll, despite having no defense against CON drain besides our mediocre AC. You don't need to worry about dying to stat drain if a clone is taking all the heat.
We head down to Bodhi with Protection from Undead active. I have the Improved Bodhi component from SCS, but for whatever reason, Hazzerbazzer (actually Hazarmavath, but I prefer Hazzerbazzer) and Manasseh don't show up, sparing us the need to use another Protection from Undead scroll if we got hit by Remove Magic. We talk to Bodhi by clicking on her, since she otherwise won't notice us, then fall back and throw the Firetooth +3 dagger at her (which means we don't get hit by her Fire Shield backlash) until she croaks. She doesn't even fight back.
Now we need to get the Staff of the Magi. We already have near-constant invisibility thanks to Hide in Plain Sight, but only the Staff of the Magi can truly compete with multiple True Seeing spells, and it will also allow us to land dispel magic hits through Improved Mantle.
None of the enemies here can see through invisibility, even Shangalar, but if the enemy summons a Fallen Planetar, that could give us grief. We summon a couple clones and use Shadowstep to give us time to use Detect Illusions on Layenne and wait out her PFMW. Once Shadowstep ends, we can nail her with an Arrow of Dispelling, opening her up for a backstab. We land a critical hit by chance and Layenne pops.
The next fight is with Ramilaat at Suldanessellar, whose Absolute Immunity and PFMW spells force us to wait out his defenses under invisibility. I drop all of my important items and try to use a nonviolent approach against Nizidramanii'yt, but I fail to pick the right dialog options (perhaps I didn't have the stats to qualify?) and find myself against a hostile dragon when I have none of my normal items equipped and no buffs active.
Nizidramanii'yt is problematic. We have very little room in which to kite him and the hitstun from his insect spells will slow us down even further, making it much more difficult to escape his claws. However, we have a trump card: the Wand of Wonder. Good luck grants us a kill on the first charge, and a Stone to Flesh scroll allows us to bring him back and bump him off with one hit when he returns to normal at 1 HP, which means we get to collect all his normal loot.
That 12% chance isn't fully reliable, though, and so it's easy to spend many charges without petrifying the target.
Since I've had trouble with ATweaks critters stunning without a saving throw in this run, I decide to go nab the Greenstone Amulet so we don't need to rely on the Sword of Arvoreen to get immunity to stun (it's entirely possible that I might not foresee a fatal stun effect). Normally cutting through the beholders in the Underdark beholder hive is extremely difficult in SCS, but Shadowstep lets us walk right past everyone, even the Hive Mother who can see through invisibility.
Find Traps and backstabs get us through most of the second level of Watcher's Keep without incident (as always, I use the Cloak of Reflection to survive in the air room), but since I have no defense against the poison damage in the east room, I decide to go grab the Ring of Gaxx and get its immunity to poison.
Through good luck, the Elemental Lich dies in the first hit against the Mace of Disruption before its pre-buffs fire. As for the Shade Lich, we have to spend many rounds running away from the constantly-teleporting lich and Gelugon until the Gelugon vanishes, at which point we can take advantage of the lich's lack of PFMW spells.
Eventually, he gets Wish off the ground, giving him 6 rounds of Time Stop and 4 rounds of Improved Alacrity, but Frisky Bits's subzero saving throws and many items make them virtually immune to magic besides Maze and Imprisonment (the former would be game-ending, but SCS enemies won't use the latter on Charname). Kangaxx summons a Gelugon to hassle us, but otherwise can't hurt us, which means we can just kite him with the Firetooth +3 dagger.
Without our clones, though, we can't deal damage fast enough to overcome his 2 HP regeneration per round, and his constant Stoneskins resist our attempts to dispel it. After many, many rounds in which neither we nor Kangaxx can hurt each other, I finally just equip the Mace of Disruption and wait until I get a lucky hit.
But Frisky Bits is a high-level dwarven thief with save-boosting items and the Cloak of Mirroring, and that particular character build doesn't need to drink many potions or cast many spells to stay safe, even without a Protection from Undead scroll.
I head back to Watcher's Keep to finish up the elemental level. Before I free the Chromatic Demon, I finally get my last level up, to level 50 (I removed the XP cap).
However, I don't actually level up Frisky Bits. Why not?
Well, I had intended on using the Scorcher Ammunition to achieve the damage output I'd need to compete in ToB. But since I forgot to bring the Golden Pantaloons out of BG1, I can never forge them. Without the Scorcher Ammunition, I'm just a single-classed thief with bad THAC0 and no traps, and while I can summon plenty of Shadow Clones, their THAC0 isn't any better than mine.
Even with all the buffs I could put together, my THAC0 can't go very far below zero simply because its base is set to 10. How am I going to overcome ToB enemies' low AC and regeneration?
The answer is... I can't. Not really. And since scrolls aren't scaling with my level, I can't use a Tenser's Transformation scroll to improve my THAC0 by more than a few points. No amount of dual-wielding is going to help if I can't land hits reliably. That's especially true for my clones, who can't use scrolls at all due to SCS.
So, I'm going to hold off on continuing to level 50, just in case I decide to install a mod component that lets THAC0 for non-fighters to eventually scale down to zero, the "un-nerfed THAC0 tables" component from some tweaks mod. If I do, it won't actually adjust my THAC0 until I level up, and hitting level 50 would mean I couldn't go any further (I could only adjust it with EEKeeper).
I don't want to resort to that, since it's such a huge buff to solo thieves and I've operating without it for most of the game, but without the Scorcher Ammunition or traps, a thief doesn't have that many ways to deal with ToB enemies. The Ravager in particular is nearly indestructible without extremely precise use of the Answerer (and even then, a certain amount of luck) simply because of its abnormally low AC.
According to Near Infinity, the Ravager regenerates 5 HP per second, or 30 HP per round. Combine that with -12 AC and 75% damage resistance, and kiting it with the Sling of Everard isn't going to cut it.
Can you juggle the reflection shield so it's hitting itself?
I don't think you should use the Sling of Everard but the sling of seeking - with STR 25, GWW and/or haste, the damage can add up quick to the Ravager.
EDIT: And @Grond0 is right, this should be combined with the Reflection Shield
The Sling of Everard is the only sling that can hit the Ravager without +4 or +5 bullets, and those are very finite in number unless you get the Erinne Sling, but you have to go all the way down to level 5 in Watcher's Keep and kill Azamantes in order to get that sling. Dealing with level 3 is a horrible bottleneck for a Shadowdancer given the demons you have to fight. Worse yet, you need to fight the mind flayers in level 4 to reach level 5, and those mind flayers have a dispelling spell and/or a Wand of Spell Striking, which means Potions of Genius and Mantle scrolls aren't enough to ensure safety without burning our very limited Spell Immunity scrolls, which I want for the very lengthy final battle.
ATweaks might be viable for a solo no-reload character who doesn't have Death Ward or PFMW, since sufficiently precise kiting can keep you at least mostly out of range of the Balors and their no-save vorpal strikes. But I think that only applies without Fiendish Gating enabled. So ATweaks by itself doesn't "lock out" certain character builds; Fiendish Gating is just the feather that breaks the camel's back.
@Alesia_BH and I had a very similar experience in one aspect: we both used a Potion of Invisibility to avoid Irenicus' Time Stop, but delayed drinking it for fear that a Glabrezu might dispel it with True Seeing. In both cases, we drank the potion right before Irenicus got Time Stop off the ground, though we still had 60% and 80% physical damage resistance from Hardiness and the Defender of Easthaven (plus 20% for Arkona due to being a level 20+ Barbarian) as a backup.
There are multiple hundreds of +4 bullets for sale, so unless you're using them against enemies that don't require them there should be no chance of running out.
Fun fact: I almost abandoned this run when I looked up the Ravager in Near Infinity, since I didn't see how I could beat him without the Scorcher Ammunition. Only the Answerer and Hand of Murder reassured me that it was doable.
Part 12: Shadows of Amn
We're almost done with SoA; we just want a few more items before we tackle Irenicus, who is patiently waiting for us to interrupt his plans at Suldanessellar. First, we need to kill the Chromatic Demon.
Thankfully, Use Any Item grants us access to wands. A Wand of Frost, Wand of Lightning, and Potions of Firebreath allow us to deal fast damage, though the Chromatic Demon has a bad habit of switching to another form and instantly gaining immunity to the element we're using. We can also deal electricity damage with Crom Faeyr, fire damage with Firetooth +3, ice damage with Arrows of Ice, and acid damage with Acid Arrows. The Flail of Ages also works, but switching weapons is far more efficient.
Then we arrive at the Demon Wraith, and I realize that it's been too long since I've delved this deep into Watcher's Keep. I forgot that the Demon Wraith has mage spells.
And worse yet, I just got cornered by the Slave Wraiths, who can see right through our invisibility.
Panicking but still thinking, I finally resort to a PFMW scroll. We really, really can't afford to lose any more of these scrolls, but if we don't use it, we're all but guaranteed to die in seconds.
We're immune to the enemy's attacks, but all is not well. We only have 4 rounds to claw our way out, and I don't think that's enough time to kill even a single Slave Wraith considering our total lack of buffs and allies.
The familiar teleportation trick dates back to vanilla. Your familiar always bumps you out of place when it appears inside your circle, and since we're so boxed in that we can't budge an inch, the familiar will force Frisky Bits to appear in the next available spot: just outside the circle of enemies!
But if that trick could work, I never get a chance to find out.
Then the magic damage hits.
I foolishly drink a potion, failing to consider using a Rod of Resurrection buried in our Bag of Holding. We then summon a Shadow Twin (which I now realize I've been incorrectly calling Shadow Clone), since we are having a lot of trouble killing one of the Slave Wraiths to open a path for our escape.
Then the Demon Wraith reminds me that it still has mage spells left. In an instant, our PFMW spell is gone!
We do have Dimension Door scrolls, but I'm hesitant to use them because they're not normally available. I only have them thanks to a mod. Instead, I burn a much scarcer and much more powerful scroll that nonetheless feels more "legitimate."
Time Stop. With 3 rounds of automatic hits, we finally cut a path out of the circle.
We start kiting the enemy with the Sling of Everard. Frisky Bits heals up with potions while repeatedly getting blasted by Fireball traps. It takes several Fireballs before I realize that I'm re-triggering the same traps; not triggering new ones.
In which Croll spreads lycanthropy across the Sword Coast, and then commits fratricide
The Sword Coast lies in ruins. Hundreds of Flaming Fist soldiers, dead. Temples on fire. Greater wolfweres ravaging Nashkel and Beregost. The Iron Throne, destroyed. Sarevok, dead.
Croll is now heading out of the Undercity, and back up to Baldur's Gate... And soon the spirits will begin looking for their next meal.
Next up: Siege of Dragonspear
Part 13: Shadows of Amn
The Demon Wraith was the breaking point. I don't want to spend the rest of the game lamenting Frisky Bits' horrible base 10 THAC0, which is no better than a mage's. Without traps and without the Scorcher Ammunition, Frisky Bits is going to be spend the right of the game flailing around helplessly with Belm or the Defender of Easthaven and the Scarlet Ninja-to, praying to get a lucky hit in, and I just don't want to deal with that.
You know, I have 12 Shadow Form spells and can hit 70% damage resistance for 60 rounds, and I can always spam Rod of Resurrection charges and throw a bunch of disposable clones at the enemy, but that's going to be so slow. I finally decide to install the "un-nerfed THAC0 tables" component, allowing Frisky Bits' THAC0 to scale down to the minimum of 1.
Frisky Bits takes their 49th level up and hits level 50, taking yet another Shadow Form spell and getting a 9-point boost to their THAC0. They still have 1 base APR, but this will make things faster and in certain key cases easier.
I don't like it because I didn't plan on it and it's a huge boost for a Shadowdancer's power. But it's better than watching Frisky Bits roll a 12, 13, 14, and 15 and still miss each one of their 4 attacks per round with Belm and the SCT.
Anyway, we go to the Underdark to nab a new Find Familiar scroll and also murder a bunch of mind flayers. We drink 20 Potions of Genius and one Potion of Absorption once we kill the ogre guard and, like always, lure a mind flayer over to the locked door rather than force it over with a Control Circlet.
Most of the mind flayers are no trouble with our INT all the way up at 92 and our AC vs. blunt weapons well below -10. We just need to drain a few potions to deal with the crushing damage from the enemy's Ballistic Attacks (5d12 damage). We do, however, get a nasty scare when we lose all of those defenses to a Psionic Disjunction from the Master Brain!
Now that our THAC0 is much stronger, we're going to go pick a fight with a red dragon. We had trouble fighting dragons previously due to the dragons' sheer damage output, but now we can land occasional hits with Soul Reaver. It takes a little while, but we land enough hits on Firkraag that he has to roll a 20 to hit us. Then we can summon a clone who can help us chop him up without needing to equip the Defender of Easthaven. The 2-point THAC0 penalty from Soul Reaver lasts 20 rounds, so it buys us lots of time to get through his 30% damage resistance and 552 HP.
It's time to take down Irenicus. We head back to Suldanessellar.
I headed next to High Hedge. I’d visited Thalantyr many times but had not had the chance to adventure in the countryside surrounding it. High hedge is beautiful countryside. There are clusters of pines & oaks & orchards of wild pear, walnut and bitter orange trees. There is a rocky outcropping to the west, but the soil is rich elsewhere and the grass is generally thick & plush. Skeleton’s & Flinds were my only opposition here. Here I added the Ranger/Archer, Kivan to my retinue.
Next, it was off to the Shipwreck’s Coast. This whole area juts out into the Sea of Swords as a rocky shoreline. The soil is also rocky & is dotted with cedars & small rocky peaks. Almost immediately upon beginning to scout ahead of my main body, Kivan was killed by a Nereid. It happened quickly & the Nereid was dead almost instantly, but it forced me to return to Beregost, as I don’t have anymore Raise Dead scrolls. There was much business for the adventurer here, including skirmishes with Sirines, Carrion Crawlers, Ghouls, & Dire Wolves.
KEY EVENT: (Skirmish with the Ogre Pack) So much fun. Kivan was on recon & came across a pack of Ogre humanoids, including an Ogre Berserker, two Ogres, three Ogrillons & two half-Ogres (Ogrillons are the offspring of an Ogre & an Orc, whereas, Half-Ogres are the offspring of an Ogre & a human, Hobgoblin, Bugbear, etc.). When Kivan returned, I decided to have he & Imoen, use their Stealth to maneuver to within range. I had Kivan toss a Potion of Explosions & Imoen an Oil of Fiery Burning right into the midst of them & then both fire w/their bows @ the first humanoid that approached them from the flames. It worked beautifully & killed an Ogre, three Ogrillons & a Half-Ogre. They immediately took down another Ogre as he emerged from the fire. Then we maneuvered carefully to stay out of reach as the six of us wore them down, killing the Ogre Berserker, an Ogre & a Half-Ogre. To cap it off, we talked w/a mage looking man who said he was the brother of Rieltar. He healed all of us & then left immediately – I didn’t get the chance to tell him we killed his brother @ Candlekeep, although I don’t think he would have cared.
BARBEQUED OGRE FOLK
Finally, I moved us south to the Lighthouse, also on the Sea of Swords, hence the need for a lighthouse. This shoreline is not as rocky as that of Shipwreck’s Coast. The lighthouse sits high up on a steep cliff & the entire area is dotted with various types of cedars and sea grass, Two events here of note. We battled three of the 18 Sirines we defeated on this excursion & they were guarding the entrance to caverns. We defeated them & three Flesh Golems, and got the treasure, evidently hidden here by the Pirate Black Alaric as I would later learn. As I was leading us back to Beregost, we met a rogue, Safana. I decided to bring her on & dismiss Kivan to the FAI. Her skills as a thief, heavily slanted toward traps & pickpocketing, combined w/backstabbing, I think might combine well w/Imoen’s skills in other areas. I gave her the Boots of Stealth to help her in that area. This may not work. I am certain to miss Kivan’s lethal bow.
“Spread knowledge wherever it is prudent to do so.”
Σιλας
Best Kill Competition:
1. Imoen, Greater Basilisk, 7000 exp
2. Faldorn, Shoal the Nereid, 5000 exp
3. Branwen, Sirine, 2000 exp
4. Neera, Lesser Basilisks, 1400 exp
5. Safana, None
ORDER OF MARCH: Kivan (Recon), Imoen (traps & recon), Branwen (shock), Me, Neera, Faldorn (rear guard)
MONSTERS DEFEATED:
High Hedge: Flinds (5), Skeletons (6)
Shipwreck’s Coast:
Nereid (Shoal), Flesh Golems (2), Sirine (9), Ogre Berserker’s (6), Carrion Crawlers (9), Ogre, Half-Ogres (2), Ghouls (4), Dire Wolves (6)
Lighthouse: Sirine (9), Dread Wolves (8), Worgs (9), Hobgoblin Elite (8), Hobgoblin (7)
Other: Ghasts (2)
CASUALTIES: Kivan (Shoal)
NOTEWORTHY TREASURE: (Purse = 22,124gp) Armor & weapons: Jewelry: Mithril Ring, Sphene Gems (2), Pearls (9); Scrolls: Greater Malison (failed to copy); Potions: Fiery Burning; Wands & Artifacts: Tome of Clear Thought; Wand of Lightning, Cloak of the Wolf
CURRENT DISPOSITION: Resting, recovering, resupplying in Beregost @ the Burning Wizard
NEXT STEPS: Red Canyons
LEVEL UP: None
PARTY MAKEUP: (Reputation: 13)
Silas Cl/7 (Lorekeeper of Oghma) (HP35) S/mail +1, Boots/Grounding, Girdle of Piercing, w/Gauntlets of Dexterity & Rings, Free Action & Human Influence w/M/star* (Flail*), Spells: D/Harmony, Prot/Evil 15’, Farsight, A/Dead, C/Disease, Zone of Sweet Air, Chant, Holy Might, H/Person, Silence 15’, S/Poison, A/Faith, Bless, Cmd, Doom, Doom, Sanctuary; S/ability: Divine Wrath, Heal Touch (2), Affliction, Friends; (Doomsayer) (AI none)
Imoen Th/8 (Adventurer)(HP47) Shadow Armor +3 w/Eagle Bow +2* (w/Bracers of Archery) & S/sword +1*; Skills: OL 85, FT 90, PP 50, MS 70, HS 70, DI 25, ST 30; (Greater Basilisk) (Thf Rgd Atk)(2)
Faldorn Dr/8 (HP40) S/Leather +1 w/Club +1*, Dart +1* (Q/Staff*, Spear*) & Gauntlets of Ogre Power; Spells: Smashing Wave, Call Woodland Beings, Hold Person, Summon Insects, CMWs, Barkskin, B/Claw, Ch/Person/Mammal, S/Poison, Flame Blade, Ar/Faith, Bless, Entangle, CLWs, Shillelagh, (Shoal the Nereid) (Cl agg)(3)
Neera Mg/7 (Wild Mage) (HP19) Traveler’s Robe w/Bracers of Def AC6 & Cloak/Prot +2, Q/Staff +1* & Wand of Fire, Spells: Minor Sequencer, MG/Inv, Melf’s Minute Meteors, Fireball, D/magic, C/Shield, Web, Blur, Invisibility, MM, P/Evil, Blindness, ID, Ch/Person, Chr/Orb, B/Hands, P/Petrification, Nahal’s RD, Sleep; (Lesser Basilisk) ( AI: Mage Def)(4)
Branwen, Cl/7 (Battleguard of Tempus), (HP55), S/Mail, Shield +1 & RoP +2, w/Warhammer +1** (S&SS*) & Gauntlet’s of Weapons Skill; Spells: M/Domination, D/Magic, H/Smite, R/Thinking, DUHM, F/Blade, H/Person, Silence 15’, Spirit/Hammer, Armor/Faith, Cmd, Doom, P/Evil, Shillelagh; S/Ability: Enrage, Prayer (4), (Sirnine) (AI: Cl Agg)
Safana Thf/8 (HP31) S/Leather +1 w/Boots of Stealth, Scimitar*, Dart +1* (SWS*, THWS*); Skills: OL30, FT15, PP 80, MS 45, HS 35, DI 65, ST 60; (None) (AI: Thf Agg)(6)
MOD USED: BG NPC v23.3, BG NPC Music v6, Plane Touched Races _v0,0, Indira v12, Isra v2.3, Finch v4.0, Gavin v14, Drake, Sirene v2.5, Verr’sza v5.2, BG UB v16, Tweaks Anthology Beta 4, Song & Silence v9, Deities of Faerun, Rogue Rebalancing v491, Level 1 NPCs, SCS v31, aTweaks, Item Randomizer v7
Sure - but for the purpose of the fight with the Ravager the comparison should be with Everard using +4 bullets. Everard then gives you 1 better THACO, but does 2 less damage per hit - for a dwarven thief (at least for one without modded THAC0), Everard is going to be preferable. That may not matter if you're playing with Ascension (where the sling attack won't work in either case), but will help defeat the Ravager in the unmodded game.
Yeah; I can’t wait to find out if my little expedition to Dragonspear Castle is going to be overrun by greater wolfweres...
Part 14: Shadows of Amn
We go on one last shopping spree to buy every last item we possibly can, even the Robe of Vecna on the off chance I decide I want a faster casting time for a Time Stop scroll or something, and proceed to the Tree of Life. Irenicus is easy to reveal with Detect Illusions, and with two clones firing nonmagical arrows with the Tuigan Bow, we can go right through his PFMW, remove his Stoneskins, and take him down to Near Death within seconds.
The Staff of the Magi makes it easy to stay hidden during the Slayer's opening Time Stop. A bunch of clones help distract the demons while Frisky Bits strikes from afar, but our ranged damage output is still pretty mediocre, and the demons have lots of HP.
However, even the Defender of Easthaven and Shadow Form can't keep the clone alive forever, and eventually the demons cut it down. We switch to kiting, and a Balor is at Near Death, but we've still got lots of demons to take down before we can concentrate on the Slayer.
Irenicus adds a Fallen Planetar to the battlefield, but we barely manage to avoid getting boxed in by relying on our Oil of Speed to scurry away from the constantly teleporting demons. Shadowstep also helps us slip away before the enemy surrounds me, since it comes out in 1 frame thanks to the Amulet of Power, whereas running away takes a few extra frames to get moving. Finally, we put down the Balor.
We spend a few rounds kiting, but make little progress. Finally, though, after 20 rounds have passed since we cast Shadow Twin, we can now summon another clone, giving us a bunch of decoys. The secondary, tertiary, and quaternary clones die in moments, but the primary clone sticks around, giving us more time and more space to attack from afar.
To my irritation, the Fallen Planetar uses its last moments before vanishing to undo my efforts.
The good news is that the Glabrezus' habit of going ethereal means they're not boxing us in. And since we didn't get nearly as many gated demons as we saw in my unkitted fighter run, and since our access to numerous clones allowed us to take down a single Balor while the demons were still distracted, we actually had a chance of avoiding getting boxed in, where my solo fighter did not.
Plus, the Nabassus don't appear to be able to see through invisibility, giving my Shadowdancer yet another advantage over the fighter. With one Glabrezu frequently ethereal and both the Slayer and the Nabassus unable to see us, we are under much less pressure, and can even take shots at the Slayer without getting in danger.
I finished my adventures in the south of Beregost by heading to the Red Canyons, then over to the South Beregost Road. To the eye, SBR is pleasing. Plenty of trees and rich vegetation, and some small ponds. Apparently, someone had built a home there once, but it has literally sunk into the soft ground near one of the ponds so that only the roof is now visible. There’s a cave there south of the abandoned house that had a small treasure in it. While there, a Drow Cleric approached me panicking as a Flaming Fist Mercenary was pursuing her to kill her. He said she was a murderer, but she’s a female, and well, I have a weakness. He could’ve just left. I talked to her, and started to take her in, but changed my mind. I sent her to await my call should I need her later.
I went to the aptly named Red Canyons first. This area has sandstone ridges that run generally northwest to southeast, but the entire area is rock or hard clay/sand footing. It rained while there which made it wet and slick. There are some trees here, spruces, cedars, even a few small oaks, still colored from winters months. I had a tough little skirmish here that ended up causing me to have Kelddath Raise Dead on Safana after Hobgoblin Elites chased her down when she lost Stealth out in front of the main body. She was poisoned by their arrows but got back to me & I cast Slow Poison on her. But while dealing with the Hobgoblin Elites themselves, one slipped by me & got to her. She may be too weak to travel with me.
KEY EVENT: (The Cleric of Cyric) Speaking of Kelddath Ormlyr, I came across the mad cleric he’d mentioned the first time I encountered him months ago. He was definitely mad, & I found him telling stories to a bunch of brainless undead who were just wandering around in an outdoor temple area. I decided not to fool w/the undead, there were eight skeletons & eight zombies, so I had Faldorn cast Entangle & Neera use her Wand of Fire simultaneously from beyond their sight – Safana had already seen them using Stealth so they were unaware of our presence just beyond a tree line. This strategy took out all but maybe four of the undead, but the cleric, Bassilus, was just barely singed. Since he was amid the entanglement, I directed spell use and/or ranged weapons. I don’t think he ever got off a spell, but to his credit he was tough & lasted though a barrage of spells & arrows until finally he dropped. He was carrying a Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy & a Battle Axe +2 that brought in some gold at Thunderhammer.
AFTERMATH
I’ll be heading north after a stop in Beregost. My near term goal is to clear the black in the Fishing Village, Wyrm’s Crossing & the Farmlands before heading for Ulgoth’s Beard.
“Curb and deny falsehoods, rumor, and deceitful tales whenever you encounter them.” Σιλας
Best Kill Competition:
1. Imoen, Greater Basilisk, 7000 exp
2. Faldorn, Shoal the Nereid, 5000 exp
3. Branwen, Sirine, 2000 exp
4. Neera, Lesser Basilisks, 1400 exp
5. Safana, Ghast, 650 exp
ORDER OF MARCH: Imoen (Recon, traps)/Safana (Recon), Branwen (shock), Silas, Neera, Faldorn (rear guard)
MONSTERS DEFEATED:
Red Canyons: Bassilus (Cl/7), Dread Wolves (4), Ghasts (6), Hobgoblins (Zargal), Hobgoblins
(Geltik, Malkax), Hobgoblin Elites (4), Skeletons (14), Zombies (8), Wolf
South Beregost Road: Hobgoblins (3), Gibberlings (4)
CASUALTIES: Safana (Hobgoblin Elite)
NOTEWORTHY TREASURE: (Purse = 24,938gp)
Armor & weapons: Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy, Battle Axe +2
Jewelry: Bloodstone Amulet
Scrolls:
Potions:
Wands & Artifacts:
CURRENT DISPOSITION: Resting, recovering, resupplying in Beregost
LAST NIGHT IN BEREGOST: FORTIFYING WITH MEAD & WINE
NEXT STEPS: Fishing Village & Wyrm’s Crossing
LEVEL UP: None
PARTY MAKEUP: (Reputation: 8)
Silas Cl/7 (Lorekeeper of Oghma) (HP35) S/mail +1, Boots/Grounding, Girdle of Piercing, w/Gauntlets of Dexterity & Rings, Free Action & Human Influence w/M/star* (Flail*), Spells: D/Harmony, Prot/Evil 15’, Farsight, A/Dead, C/Disease, Zone of Sweet Air, Chant, Holy Might, H/Person, Silence 15’, S/Poison, A/Faith, Bless, Cmd, Doom, Doom, Sanctuary; S/ability: Divine Wrath, Heal Touch (2), Affliction, Friends; (Doomsayer) (AI none)
Imoen Th/8 (Adventurer)(HP47) Shadow Armor +3 w/Eagle Bow +2* (w/Bracers of Archery) & S/sword +1*; Skills: OL 85, FT 90, PP 50, MS 70, HS 70, DI 25, ST 30; (Greater Basilisk) (Thf Rgd Atk)(2)
Faldorn Dr/8 (HP40) S/Leather +1 w/Club +1*, Dart +1* (Q/Staff*, Spear*) & Gauntlets of Ogre Power; Spells: Smashing Wave, Call Woodland Beings, Hold Person, Summon Insects, CMWs, Barkskin, B/Claw, Ch/Person/Mammal, S/Poison, Flame Blade, Ar/Faith, Bless, Entangle, CLWs, Shillelagh, (Shoal the Nereid) (Cl agg)(3)
Neera Mg/7 (Wild Mage) (HP19) Traveler’s Robe w/Bracers of Def AC6 & Cloak/Prot +2, Q/Staff +1* & Wand of Fire, Spells: Minor Sequencer, MG/Inv, Melf’s Minute Meteors, Fireball, D/magic, C/Shield, Web, Blur, Invisibility, MM, P/Evil, Blindness, ID, Ch/Person, Chr/Orb, B/Hands, P/Petrification, Nahal’s RD, Sleep; (Lesser Basilisk) ( AI: Mage Def)(4)
Branwen, Cl/7 (Battleguard of Tempus), (HP55), S/Mail, Shield +1 & RoP +2, w/Warhammer +1** (S&SS*) & Gauntlet’s of Weapons Skill; Spells: M/Domination, D/Magic, H/Smite, R/Thinking, DUHM, F/Blade, H/Person, Silence 15’, Spirit/Hammer, Armor/Faith, Cmd, Doom, P/Evil, Shillelagh; S/Ability: Enrage, Prayer (4), (Sirine) (AI: Cl Agg)
Safana Thf/8 (HP31) S/Leather +1 w/Boots of Stealth, Scimitar*, Dart +1* (SWS*, THWS*); Skills: OL30, FT15, PP 80, MS 45, HS 35, DI 65, ST 60; (None) (AI: Thf Agg)(6)
MOD USED: BG NPC v23.3, BG NPC Music v6, Plane Touched Races _v0,0, Indira v12, Isra v2.3, Finch v4.0, Gavin v14, Drake, Sirene v2.5, Verr’sza v5.2, BG UB v16, Tweaks Anthology Beta 4, Song & Silence v9, Deities of Faerun, Rogue Rebalancing v491, Level 1 NPCs, SCS v31, aTweaks, Item Randomizer v7
Coremage and gang got some good news. After defeating Bodhi, Coremage has unlocked his berserker abilities. He is now in the front line with his stonefire and frostweaver. We do not have money for the AC 3 bracers or the Robe of Vecna - c'est la vie I guess. We are just about to enter Suldanesslar.
Introduction
Anyway, I figured I could do it no reload. Now, the first two F/M/C's had been straight Ctrl+8 for stat rolls, and although I wasn't going to repeat that for the no reload run, I would probably roll and optimize at 90+. Reading the opening post, I decided to go for humbler stats, they might even look like a plain unaltered roll, but there's reasoning behind every attribute.
Enter Fruit Hammer
Name: I looked into his eyes and saw Fruit Hammer. Maybe because as a cleric he may not use bladed weapons and thus has to mash his fruit instead of cut it.
15 STR: 25 with DUHM at level 30
14 DEX: 24 with DUHM at level 30; 25 apparently gives no further bonuses
14 CON: 24 with DUHM at level 30; 25 apparently gives no further bonuses
16 INT: With no reload, I'm not going to scribe scrolls without guaranteed success anyway, and that requires 24 which means potion quaffing regardless of what my base int is, but 16 plus two Potions of Genius sounds good to me.
10 WIS: The bonus spells quickly become largely irrelevant except for bragging about how rarely I rest, but any sub-10 stat is an eyesore, so it had to be 10.
13 CHA: Unsure about what charisma checks exist in IWD (I know there are some), but with this I can go to 18 with Friends before any conversation I suspect might require it.
For spells I picked Chromatic Orb and Friends. Now there is a Chromatic Orb scroll up for grabs, no combat required, but I might fail scribing it. It's an awesome spell early game. Besides, knowing it myself means I can use the scroll in an emergency. And Friends? Well, Fruit Hammer likes to hand out unsolicited life advice. It's probably a deep psychological issue from getting told all the time to stop mashing fruit. The Friends spell helps him get his own points across.
It is my experience that late-game, the only proficiencies that really matter are Single Weapon Style (because I use Black Blade of Disaster all the time) and maybe Club (got a +5 club as a standard weapon). Slings, on the other hand, quickly become irrelevant. So due to some perfectionist mental issues on my part, I refused to take points in Sling, instead saving them for things like Quarterstaff and Two-Handed Weapon Style, even though I can't recall seeing a single staff I wanted to swing. My first points went in SWS and Mace. Mace because I knew of a guaranteed +1 mace, but ignoring the fact that I'll have a better weapon at that point. Overall, suboptimal proficiency choices.
Early adventures
Still, these three quests got me to 3/2/3 (feh, they got me more; looking at the wrong screenshots), just barely making that crucial third level of cleric. Now, HoF seemingly gives mobs more HD, because I've never had spells like Sleep work even on the easiest of monsters. However, while these HD improve a lot of stats, it seems their saving throws remain abysmal. So to deal with the fish stealing goblins, I'd inch closer until one of them saw me and let him run after me. I'd cast Sanctuary, in case I managed to aggro more than one or in case I'd aggrod an archer.
Case melee mob, just Hold Person from a distance and run in and smack.
Case archer mob, melee it, then Hold Person right after its own attack.
If anything went wrong, I just ran into the inn and rested.
Fruit Hammer and Fruit Slicer
Before continuing, I should note that the elite gobbo had a high quality morning star (and I'm pretty sure he always does), which made me feel dumb for going for maces. Hell, if I was going to pick an arbitrary weapon, it should have been a hammer.
Anyway, I badly needed this level up, and there was seemingly no easy way of getting it. What about the wolf in Apsel's shop? Fruit Hammer's predecessor had handled that one with sling kiting and abuse of poor pathfinding. Fruit Hammer, however, is a terrible slinger and it would take him forever, but he had no other choice. Turns out that 15 strength couldn't bust that door down, nor could the 16 he sported with DUHM. Ironically enough, if he were level 5 he could probably open it with Strength of One.
Fruit Hammer started rummaging through all the buildings in Easthaven hoping to find a strength potion to no avail. It would seem the only way he'd get that level up was to challenge the monsters which he needed it for. Fruit Hammer could beat an orc, perhaps a wolf, but he needed to get them alone. Now there is a lone orc at the cave entrance, and Fruit Hammer approached him, shielded by a Sanctuary spell. He might pick this one off, but the orc ran as Fruit Hammer cast his opening spell and pursuing would lead Fruit Hammer into the wolf pack.
He bravely entered the cave and tried to isolate one orc. All that happened was that three orcs followed him out.
He made another attempt, and history repeated itself.
Six orcs now guarded the entrance! If this continued, Fruit Hammer might not be able to sneak around them, even with Sanctuary. Or perhaps if he left the cave, he would find himself blocked by orcs. WOE IS FRUIT HAMMER!
Yet on the third attempt, he found a lone orc who had gotten lost following the others out!
Fruit Hammer felt destiny calling. He dubbed this orc Fruit Slicer, for he carried an axe, did he not? Perhaps Fruit Chopper would be more apt? Either way, he was Fruit Hammer's last chance at claiming his destiny. So important was this battle that Fruit Hammer expended his Chromatic Orb scroll.
VICTORY!
Success breeds complacency
Fruit Hammer set out with the expedition, survived the ambush and animated more skeletons and zombies to clear out the goblins. As one particular battle neared its end, Fruit Hammer was quite spent for spells but saw a chicken, and somehow knew that slaying this chicken would be very enlightening. Given that the chickens just run and that Fruit Hammer is still terrible with a sling (but now also good with a club, despite not yet owning one), he sent his minions at it.
As fate would have it, that chicken ran into about twenty goblins. Now, Fruit Hammer knew his minions would lose this fight, but feared not for his own life, only his sanity as he'd be waiting for them to die. Cunningly, he cast Sanctuary and just marched straight to Kuldahar. However, Fruit Hammer lacked the experience for Phase Two of his metagamed plan, so he resolved to return to the pass as soon as he'd rested.
Upon returning, a goblin immediately shot him. He had no time to cast Sanctuary before more goblins came. He fled to Kuldahar again. Now, Fruit Hammer wasn't about to let those little green assholes keep that pass and his much needed experience, so he had to get creative. He bought an invisibility potion and used it immediately upon returning. He had planned on finding a safe spot from which to continue his assault.
The goblins could not see him, yet... well, let's drop the narration briefly: monsters like to surround invisible characters.
And this isn't even the same pack of goblins that my minions aggrod in their chicken hunt. Those are a bit to the west. Anyway, back to the story...
Fruit Hammer was surrounded! He knew from... his predecessors' knowledge, that if he could cast Sanctuary, he might be able to escape this situation. He could put on armor and a shield and hope to get the spell off, if only he were CARRYING AROUND armor and a shield. WOE IS FRUIT HAMMER!
After much soul searching, he prayed to Tymora, who wasn't his deity, so all in all it probably got him more trouble than help. Then he cast Sanctuary, and to his great relief he noted that casting Sanctuary did not break the invisibility, at least not until the spell finished. JOY IS FRUIT HAMMER!
Yet, he had only traded one kind of invisibility for another, you might say. WRONG! For Fruit Hammer's predecessors have oft found themselves in similar situations, and they know that one can cast Animate Dead (but not Aerial Servant - I don't know which is the odd one out here) without ending the Sanctuary. He called forth his minions...
The good news was he was lucky enough to summon six of them. The bad news was he aimed it poorly and not enough goblins ran after them to end the... surroundment. This meant the good news were actually bad news, since he couldn't summon more until one of them died. And his Sanctuary was ticking down.
This is what happens when you only worship Tymora when it suits you.
Now the prudent thing to do would be to try to get one minion killed ASAP and cast Animate Dead again to draw more goblins away and escape. But. But. But.
But.
Fruit Hammer, wearing no armor and no shield, and with ten-or-so goblins training their arrows at him, decided to instead break the Sanctuary to cast Hold Person, because that was the habit; cast Hold Person to help his minions kill things faster. He died that round.
To be continued
- Specialize in slings
- Carry shield and armor around even if you're not wearing them
- Kill the chickens last
- More narrating Fruit Hammer II, less narrating his player
Also, now Fruit Hammer II needs to manage to get Fruit Slicer II alone. WOE IS FRUIT HAMMER II!
@Stromael thy wish granted?
Edit: by the way the beetles only react if you're in close melee range, so you could save yourself a bit of trouble by using a long weapon rather than refilling your bullet slots.
Fruit Hammer III has a new plan for that dastardly last kill. He is currently slaying beetles with the starter staff, and it it is oh so pleasant to not have to worry about him running out of ammo and running into melee range.
Woo! An undramatic victory. After this, Fruit Hammer III still had a Sanctuary memo to use, which meant he could walk back to town and rest safely, or just try to rest on the spot and walk away if awoken. Instead, Fruit Hammer III interrupted his own Sanctuary cast because he couldn't decide what he wanted to do next. This meant he was trapped between the orc cave and three wolves that he probably could get past...
He elected to rest, and nobody came to wake him. He thanked Tymora, to whom he was pledged. Fruit Hammer was NG, but Fruit Hammer II and III were/are CG, ever faithful to Tymora to have her blessing save the day when spontaneous idiocy risks ruining it.
Fruit Hammer III's minions could not slay any goblins fast enough without their master's aid, and so the Sanctuary expired and Fruit Hammer III died trying to recast it.
In which Croll counts the ways in which chaos will be sown by his passage
After hearing of Sarevok's death, the Grand Dukes decided to forgive Croll for murdering half of their city. Instead of locking him up, they sent him into a forgotten crypt to root out the last of Sarevok's allies: the mage Korlacz.
Croll was rather surprised to find Imoen there at the crypt entrance, having killed her in front of Candlekeep. He was doubly surprised to hear that she remembered nothing of the incident. Didn't realize she had died. Had no messages from the spirit world. Croll accused her of being a doppleganger. She just laughed. Confused, Croll decided not to kill her again.
A foolish mage, Ammon, loitered at the entrance to the crypt. She asked Croll to fetch her some cobalt moss for a potion. Croll instead fetched her head.
A contingent of Flaming Fists accompanied Imoen, offering support with undead. Croll took them up on it, buying all of their potions and scrolls, and then letting them get slaughtered by wights and greater ghasts.
Korlacz herself proved incapable of defending herself against Croll and his beetles. He refused her offer to surrender and let the bugs feed.
Back in Baldur's Gate, the Grand Dukes put Croll up in the palace, calling him a "hero." Croll was stunned to see Duke Eltan (whose body he had left at the bottom of the flooded Cloakwood Mine). Duke Silvershield, too, had somehow returned after being assassinated by Night Masks. Belt was back as well, as if he hadn't been chopped in half by Sarevok's huge sword. Croll wondered if he had somehow traveled to a parallel universe.
The Dukes tasked him with leading an expedition to Dragonspear Castle, to deal with a new plague on the region, some possible Bhaalspawn named Caelar Argent and her crusade. Croll decided he'd play along for now (and that perhaps the expedition might help him get him away from the werewolf plague spreading across the Sword Coast.)
He realized he'd need help. So he went looking for companions. The first he found was Safana, a thief who seemed uncomfortable at the idea of hanging out with a murderous half-orc shaman who talked to spirits... but who nonetheless was up for a bit of adventure. Croll was relieved that she seemed to be able to resist lycanthropy. She helped him steal a good bit of gold from the tavern, and proved generally amusing. He decided to take her along.
Safana accompanied Croll to the old Iron Throne tower, now a medical center for refugees. There they encountered a shifty man (Lon), who a priest accused of thievery. After a brief shouting match, Lon revealed himself as a werewolf and lunged at Croll.
As a weak member of his species, Lon died quickly. But as Lon fell, Croll noticed that Safana had dropped her bow. Her hands were shaking. Her face started to twist in unnatural patterns. Then her body ripped in a thousand directions, and a Greater Wolfwere emerged.
Croll tried to talk her down, but there was nothing he could do. She tore the sick refugees and priests inside the tower to shreds. None of the guards could harm her, lacking silver weapons. Croll fled the tower, realizing that the city was now probably doomed to complete destruction.
And Chaos shall be sown by their passage, Croll thought. Indeed.
Hi all, it's been awhile since I made a genuine attempt at a no-reload run. I'm going to try again with a custom team and some NPCs as I see fit. This time I'm using an undead hunter charname, with a half-orc cleric/thief multi and an elf sorcerer as companions.
Background:
I have other rules that I impose on myself: no protection from magic or undead scrolls. No cheap play, such as casing AOE spells from beyond the fog of war or using any game engine exploits. I generally go by what 'feels right' in the moment. I'm still trying to roleplay a bit and enjoy the run aesthetically, though sometimes that can be irreconcilable with trying to stay alive. I'm still figuring this thing out.
I haven't kept track of all my attempts, regrettably, but I estimate I've tried 10-15 times to finish BG1 without reloading. I have never succeeded, though I've come awfully close, including a couple heart-breakers, like making it all the way to Sarevok's coronation and failing to keep the right Dukes alive, and experiencing a bug in the Iron Throne chapter 5 fight (the berserker who's rage ends off-screen and causes the game to crash). Overall, though, if you were to sum up my no-reload career, it seems that it's only a matter of time before I do something really stupid. I'm always shocked at some of the blunders I've made, often after many hours of disciplined play. Example: one time I forgot to cast remove fear after being teleported to the chess set in Durlag's Tower. Hopefully this will be the time I break that pattern. I suspect, though, that for me to complete a no-reload run I'll need to play my best game and get some breaks.
Characters: munchkin as always
Charname
Cleric/thief
Sorcerer
Traveling with: Keldorn, (Minsc), Anomen, Jaheira, Imoen, Sarevok
So Coremage and party handled Suldanesslessar pretty well - no deaths. Even Nizi was cleanly defeated.
We got some gold while here and went back to Waukeen's Promenade to get some goodies like reflection shield and another RoR. Then returned to deal with Irenicus.
While we did a number of things at the Tree of Life, what was decisive was Keldorn's dispel magic.
We did all the good routes in Hell, mostly because I wanted to keep using Azuredge (I have ***** in axes you see...). We did run into one setback - Minsc was imprisoned by the beholders. We were intending to replace Minsc anyways, but it was certainly a loss of certain equipment like ring of earth control, Shield of Balduran, and Helm of Brilliance. But the quest must continue...
The battle vs. Irencus took a while, but repeated dispel magics by Keldorn finally made Irenicus give it up. Keldorn himself nearly got chunked, so I turned off AI and did two RoR shots by Jaheira and Anomen, and fortunately they landed before his chunking.
Coremage is now using Reflection Shield, both to increase AC and also to minimize damage taken. With True Sight, Illsaera fell quickly. We then recruited Sarevok and did the pocket plane challenge without a problem.
Next session will venture into Saradush.