Dryad Falls: Charm Caldo, feed to dire wolf, get last hit and Club +1. Backstab Ingot (on return trip).
Gnoll Stronghold: Skull Trap Gnarl and Hairtooth, then finish from range. Kill xvarts, retrieve charisma manual.
Nashkel: Set traps outside the Inn. Lure Neira outside. Loot Neira. While I'm thinking about it, set traps for Nimbul. Take Potion of Invisibility from Manor House.
Nashkel Mines: Retrieve Wand of Frost.
Durlag's Tower: Use Wand of Frost on Battle Horrors. Kill basilisks. Greenstone Amulet for the wisdom manual. Clear top levels of ghasts (6/6/7, Flail / Morning Star +). I get trapped between some ghasts and a table and drink several healing potions. Set traps near the stairs on level 3 then backstab the ghost, almost killing it. It doesn't teleport where I think it will, so I have to dance in and out of view, waiting for its protection spells to wear off. It lands a chromatic orb, which I save against, but eventually runs out of spells and follows me into the traps. I agree to help Kirinhale, lay traps for her, then land a critical backstab, killing her before the traps go off.
I still need to visit the Lighthouse but spent more time at Durlag's Tower than I anticipated.
@Wise_Grimwald That sounds like a bug to me. Sounds like you can reload if you wish. Can anyone else comment for sure?
Shorty Power - Update 4
Brentan and his band of fighters
The party continues to make progress. The battle with Drassus went pretty well as you can see via the screenshot below. We had the two front-liners buff with potion of magic blocking and rest of the party ranged and this worked out great.
As is my usual practice, I would have a buffed up fighter take on the mages (including Davaeorn) and this worked quite well in the Cloakwood Mines. No problems to speak of and Davaeorn was defeated.
In the Great City of Baldur's Gate, only did a few things, such as clear out those annoying mages at the top of Sorcerous Sundries, the Ogre Mage and his pet crawlers. I did something kind of rare for my runs, I used the arrow that kills ogre mages on contact, thought it would be worthwhile since my party is still vulnerable to horror. This worked out great.
Also gave the sphene gem to the Seer (you can get a sphene gem from the thieves in the same area). Will check out the southern area of Baldur's Gate next session.
The game came to an end at the end of the Grey Clan Episode. Bladeservant was dominated despite wearing the helmet of charm protection.
@Wise_Grimwald Tough luck. The Grey clan is difficult for sure.
As I recall domination and charm are two separates. It works the same way, but they are different. For instance the shield of Harmony has a distinct (and mentioned) protection against both. But the need to differentiate the two is above me - I’d second a reload.
The game came to an end at the end of the Grey Clan Episode. Bladeservant was dominated despite wearing the helmet of charm protection.
@Wise_Grimwald sounds to me as though perhaps you were dominated because of wearing the helmet of charm protection. I'd hazard a guess you're not using the latest EE version. In older versions there was a bug associated with the interaction of different types of protections. That typically manifested as elves and half-elves being vulnerable to charm (or sleep) when using specific protections in addition to their elvish resistance.
The game came to an end at the end of the Grey Clan Episode. Bladeservant was dominated despite wearing the helmet of charm protection.
@Wise_Grimwald sounds to me as though perhaps you were dominated because of wearing the helmet of charm protection. I'd hazard a guess you're not using the latest EE version. In older versions there was a bug associated with the interaction of different types of protections. That typically manifested as elves and half-elves being vulnerable to charm (or sleep) when using specific protections in addition to their elvish resistance.
Bladeservant is an elf so that would figure. So it is a bug I presume. I can easily work around that one. Use a non-elf as the tank with the helmet of charm protection. Would the same apply to dwarves as they have their own magical resistance?
The game came to an end at the end of the Grey Clan Episode. Bladeservant was dominated despite wearing the helmet of charm protection.
@Wise_Grimwald sounds to me as though perhaps you were dominated because of wearing the helmet of charm protection. I'd hazard a guess you're not using the latest EE version. In older versions there was a bug associated with the interaction of different types of protections. That typically manifested as elves and half-elves being vulnerable to charm (or sleep) when using specific protections in addition to their elvish resistance.
Bladeservant is an elf so that would figure. So it is a bug I presume. I can easily work around that one. Use a non-elf as the tank with the helmet of charm protection. Would the same apply to dwarves as they have their own magical resistance?
Upon doing a rerun Thorin was given the Helmet of Protection From Charm. Xan got killed and Thorin badly injured but the party survived. Bladeservant was panicked and took little part in the battle other than that he managed to remove the protections from one of the sorcerers. Now about to raise Xan. In future for that battle I won't use web as the Sorcerers are unaffected by it and party members are.
For future reference, I am wondering if Tenya's Impregnable Mind spell would work correctly on Bladeservant.
Since I have this problem, perhaps my characters will be shorties in future until I decide to do a new installation. That won't be until Dark Side of the Sword Coast is sorted for EET.
By the way, in order to get The Grey Clan Episode to work I had to create Jusam as he didn't appear as he should have done near the temple. Everything else in the mod appears to have worked fine unlike DSoSC which I had to abandon.
EDIT
After raising Xan went straight to baldur's Gate WITHOUT re-equipping him.
@Wise_Grimwald Just to second Grond0's opinion, basically the bug was elven protection (which isn't 100% charm protection) would override any 100% protection, such as the charm protection helmet or greenstome amulet. So if you are an elf, was almost certainly the bug manifesting itself.
The game came to an end at the end of the Grey Clan Episode. Bladeservant was dominated despite wearing the helmet of charm protection.
Actually, I suspect the reason why the domination bypassed your immunity was because the particular spell used a different charm effect. The game has two different charm effects: one is the regular one that is used by regular spells like Charm Person, Dire Charm, and even Domination. The other one is used to charm creatures that are normally immune to charm (Control Undead, for example, uses this effect). Items and spells that grant immunity to charm usually grant immunity to the regular charm effect and not the bypassing charm effect. Perhaps your character was hit by a special modded spell that used the bypassing charm effect.
@OlvynChuru While we haven't had a recent example, a while ago this came up multiple times about no-reloads ending because the greenstone amulet failed to protect an elf. Testing proved that for non-elves, the greenstone amulet always protected against charm, but for elves not always. It was eventually determined the elves natural protection from charm (which is not 100%) for some reason took precedence over the greenstone amulet's supposedly 100% charm protection. This is a clearly a bug, and doesn't happen in vanilla. In addition, @Wise_Grimwald mentioned his character was in fact an elf, so the bug @Grond0 described is the likely culprit.
Bladeservant has had no problems upon his return to Candlekeep other than the fact that Vynd had to used potions of both perception and master thievery in order to deal with the traps. I was a little careless with Valerie which meant that she got held by ghasts. However healings combined with killing the ghasts enabled the party to save her.
That was luckier than was deserved.
EDIT
They then went to go the area in the basement where Gorion et al are found.
After that Prat
Then the spiders:
and the medusae. Potions to deal with the medusae awere in the bag of holding for potions.
I have found yet another bug though not a game-breaking one. I distinctly remember putting the worn whispers boots in the bag of holding and they have disappeared. It makes me wonder if any other items have similarly disappeared.
I am pretty sure that there is another pair somewhere, but I cannot remember where.
EDIT
Yahoo told me that they are on a hobgoblin at Ulcaster. That means that I might have to pay Ulcaster a visit later.
Lighthouse: Things don't go exactly as planned. Was going to Web the first group of sirines, but hobgoblins are around, and I don't have Web memorized. By the time I return, one of the sirines has wandered off. I backstab her and use the Greenstone Amulet. Two of the sirines are still in place, so I used the Greenstone Amulet and run between them, eventually clubbing them to death. Instead of Charming Sil's group one at a time, I Web and Skull Trap them, which goes alright, but I have to drink an antidote potion, as Sil is out of range and uses Arrows of Biting. The flesh golems fall without any problems, netting me the constitution manual and Wand of Parylization.
Firewine Bridge: Set two traps then backstab Meilum. Land a crit with throwing daggers and collect his bracers.
Spider Wood: Charm Denak. Move him out of the way and set traps around the three other Red Wizards. Attempt to re-charm Denak, but he saves, initiates dialogue, and goes hostile. One of the other mages is killed by traps and one is Near Death, the other is unharmed. I throw a dagger and kill the Near Death one. Denak is Webbed, backstabbed, and killed after a couple of hits. The sames goes for the remaining mage. The Victor, and some scrolls, are mine.
Next up is either the Nashkel Mines or one/both Wand(s) of Fire. Perhaps the Wand of Monster Summoning. I've been avoiding the Nashkel Mines because I don't know if I want to attempt the assassination attempts that follow. The experience would be welcome, but none of the items are that good except for selling them for gold, and it seems like an unnecessary risk.
@StummvonBordwehr Sorry for the late reply, but the Mizhena amulet is outside area of Underground River, top right corner one of the Displacer Beasts has it.
Hang on, didn't we jump right back into the fray after the last heroic effort? Well yes we did.
Six days have passed - Dizzy and Corebard must be wondering where the write-up is, and Steppytoes finally tries to recall what really happened. The Journal knows all.
Prologue Dreppin's Cow
Phlydia's Book
Reevor's Storehouse
Hull's Sword
An Errand for Fuller
Firebead's Scroll
Chapter One A Book for Firebead
Arcand the Mad
Chapter Two Albert and His Dog
Drienne's Cat
Dryad of the Cloud Peaks
Jared and the Bear
Oublek the Bounty Officer
The Tale of Captain Brage
Winter Wolf Pelts
There! All done. Sure we had some fun and bumps.
& here we are at the end of the session ready for whatever the fates hurl at us next.
Truth be told we fought off monsters
Dizzy almost perished in Candlekeep
One of us battled the internet service provider phone call from hell mid-game (we tried not to laugh too hard)
We've purloined Joia's ring and Perdue's sword - they won't need them just yet
Corebard reluctantly sold the cursed berserking sword - we all know he wanted to use it
The Wild Mage battle saw gembags at dawn (Dizzy taking it off Neera before passing it to Steppytoes)
We dug up some ankheg armour in Nashkel and decided not to use it
We called it a day, overlooking Samuel - hope he survives on the ground for a week+
@Gate70 I'm a little confused about your screenshot. According to the info on the right, I (Corebard) have AC 5 chain mail, -1 AC for ring and -4 for dexterity bonus - how does that equal AC 6 in your screenshot? In fact, in the screenie above, Grond0's character has no armor and just dexterity adjustment yet he has same AC as my bard. How does that compute? @Grond0 do you have a comment on this?
I have already given the gauntlets to him, so they might not still be available.
Bladeservant has found all the tallismans for getting to the stone of Askavar. Now just that one battle to face and another mod finished. Vynd was very helpful in finding the enemy whilst Valerie was good at webbing them and destroying them with fire. A good combination.
The biggest problem outside was the lightning. I suppose that I should have used potions.
However the battle inside the tower was also tough due to the fact that I forgot to don some of the items that made the party immune to hold.
I had to fight the bandits rather than run as Fay, the Will o' the Wisp wouldn't run past them.
So, time for some preparations. Imoen and Benedict have a rather subpar selection of 7th level spells (most noticably, no Project Image), so we burn roughly 35k of our hard-earned cash on some solid scrolls, as well as five Potions of Genius. Then swiftly down four of said potions and get scribin'.
With that out of the way, we'll go for the low-hanging fruit first. The party embarks west, into the Kuo-toan lair. The first group is just tackled after a few basic buffs. The second group, blocking the route to the Prince, is quite a bit stronger. However, with Mazzy under Protection from Fire, a Firestorm/Fireball combo from Anomen/Imoen allows for an expedient solution. The Prince himself eventually joins the fray, but even though it takes a few rounds to wear him down (what with the regeneration), he can't hit Mazzy to save his life.
We clear out the remaining Kuo-toa to the north, and swing back south. The Beholder and its two Gauth guardians to the west are treated to some Skeleton Warriors, and even though the eye-tyrants get a few good licks in (Telekinesis and biting), not a single Skeleton Warrior is lost.
Alright. Important as it was to clear the Kuo-toans (not really...), they are not the real reason we came here. The Demon Knights are.
So, what's the plan? Turn Benedict immune to everything the Demon Knights got, and let him wear them down with the help of some Skeleton Warriors. We apply: Protection from Fire, Death Ward, Chaotic Commands, SI: Abjuration, SI: Conjuration (they might cast Power Word: Blind, and Benedict cannot cast True Sight to counter it), as well as assorted defensive buffs. Further, Benedict equips the Amulet of Power to guard against their level-draining attacks, and has to boot memorized three PfMW. Accompanied by four Skeleton Warriors, he races into the chamber, and feeds Kitthix to the statue.
The battle is neither particularly long nor hard-fought. The Demon Knights can do nothing to Benedict. Of course, he in turn has some difficulties hurting them (given their Magic Resistance), but gets in a few good Skull Traps (he's under PfME) and Magic Missiles. The first batch of Skeleton Warriors had time to kill one Demon Knight and severely injure another before succumbing.
Anomen (outside the room) has been busy summoning a second wave of Skeleton Warriors. Accompanied by Mazzy under Improved Haste, they burst onto the scene, and it's all over for the Demon Knights.
Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! That went much smoother than expected. And we reap some lovely rewards: The Armor of the Hart +3 (good), and the Girdle of Frost Giant Strength (spectacular!). The Girdle goes to Mazzy, who has now finally overcome the Strength problem that has plagued her since we picked her up.
Our business in the west concluded, we retire to the Swirfneblin village.
So, I'd say that the Beholder Hive is worse than the Illithid City... but if things are looking bleak, you can retreat from the Hive and try again, whereas the City offers no such recourse. So, Beholders are next.
All of our 7th level arcane slots (three on Benedict, one on Imoen) goes to Project Image, with the rest being Death Fog, a few Improved Haste, Animate Dead, Improved Invisibility, Skull Trap (along with a few Invisibility 10' Radius), and the remainder don't really matter. Divine-wise, it's a single Firestorm, more Animate Dead, two Harm on Anomen, Wondrous Recall x2 on Jaheira, and standard buffs (Death Ward/ Chaotic Commands etc). The idea is to use Skeleton Warriors as much as possible, supplementing with massive area-of-effect damage for the two Elder Orbs at the far side of the Hive.
Entering under Invisibility, the first two Beholders are no issue. Anomen Harms one into the ground, and Mazzy & Minsc take the second one down.
Recalling that the Drow here are rather accomplished fighters, Mazzy & Minsc get Improved Invisibility, and they are wearing Drow Plate +5. The result: The Drow can only hit on a 20. We grind them down.
We pick up the Sling of Arvoreen +4, which goes to Jaheira. So, stealthed Minsc goes out and locates a group of Beholders/Gauths to the south. Unfortunately, he also stumbles upon the Hive Mother, who can see through stealth. I thought she had elected to just self-buff a little, but no, the Mother goes on the hunt for us. She's got good physical resistance, exceptional magical resistance, has all the regular Beholder powers, casts Stoneskin and heals herself every 4 or so rounds, and has several mage spells to boot (Maze, PfMW etc).
The way I usually handle her is Skeleton Warriors en masse, but we have no time to summon them, as the Mother keeps pursuing us. Eventually she corners us, and I figure it's best to just exit the Hive and try to think of something.
Well, it was a good run. So long, and thanks for all the fi-... wait. We're not dead yet (in particular, the Mother does not immediately go for Benedict!). What can we do? We have to fight. The Mother moves roughly as fast as we do, there's no point in waiting out her buffs (she just recasts them), she'll pursue us everywhere, and Invisibility is no protection.
Mazzy finally fails her save against the 8th or so Death Ray, and goes down. Minsc catches a Maze. Imoen and Anomen both get hit with Anti-Magic Ray and so cannot cast anything. Jaheira gets Dominated.
But.. what's this? Can it be? Yes! Benedict not only through some miracle avoided getting hit by Anti-Magic Ray, he was able to get outside the Mother's field of vision, and now has a Projected Image out! That Projected Image is slowly but surely conjuring Skeleton Warriors!
The fight is long, but the Mother consistently fails to get past the magical resistance of the Skeleton Warriors. With Minsc back from the Maze and helping out with Arrows of Piercing, we finally get past the never-ending Stoneskins and self-heals, and take that Mother out.
I was sure the run would end the moment we stepped outside the Hive and had the Mother follow us.
And it very easily could have... but it didn't! Hooray!
With the Hive Mother gone, we re-enter the Hive itself. The regular Beholder/Gauth groups cannot contend with Skeleton Warriors (and Stinking Cloud actually works fairly well when you stack four of them on top of each other).
The small Mind Flayer group to the south is handled by Mazzy & Minsc under Chaotic Commands/Improved Invisibility. That basically leaves a few small Beholder groups to the north, one very large group including an Elder Orb, and a second Elder Orb with an attendant Beholder.
The very large group gets the full ranged treatment: With Skeleton Warriors blocking the path, we treat the Beholders to Death Fog, Fire Storm and a Skull Trap. They have severe problems pathing (mostly they just run in circles), and these three spells turn out to be enough! So long, Elder Orb!
The beauty of Fire Storm and Death Fog is that they offer no save. Beholders have very good save vs spells, but they're not immune to either Fire or Acid, so there's really nothing they can do. Even if they started to run out of the area-of-effect immediately, they'd still probably take at least two hits from each spell as well as the Skull Trap, amounting to roughly 75 (!) damage even if they saved against the Skull Trap.
We grab the Eye, Blade of the Equalizer and Amulet of Spell Warding. The handful of Beholders to the north are handled via Skeleton Warriors. That just leaves an Elder Orb and guardian Beholder to the east.
We drop a Skull Trap and Death Fog to soften them up, and a full contingent of Skeleton Warriors finishes the job.
I think the PfMW was applied at the exact same time as the Skeleton Warrior landed a hit... bit of an oddity.
Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! The Hive is cleared! I think that went rather well, apart from the brush with certain death. I would say that the key to the Hive Mother is just memorizing where she is, bombing the crap out of the Beholders/Gauths with her so they're out of the picture from the start (Spell Sequencer with 3x Skull Trap would probably work well here), then just leave her to the tender mercies of 9HD Skeleton Warriors, ideally under remote supervision via Farsight. We return in triumph to the Swirfneblin village.
All that remains before advancing the plot is the Illithid City. We prepare accordingly: Chaotic Commands, Wondrous Recall to allow for even more Chaotic Commands, Project Image, Animate Dead, Improved Invisibility/Mass Invisibility, Improved Haste. Remaining spell picks are just for show: The Mind Flayers have high enough magic resistance that they might as well be magic immune, and any summons apart from Skeleton Warriors will just crumple and die in moments. The best bet is to send your fighters with top-tier buffs and let them deal with it.
We embark for the City, and are duly captured. A brief fight with Umber Hulks later (only Anomen got confused), we agree to team up with Simyaz to break free. We tackle the Kuo-toans (only Anomen got stunned), take out the Ogre Jailer, and clear the other prisoners. Even though he only lasted about a round, the Sauhagin Prince still dealt nearly 50 damage.
We get a real fright when, upon opening the door to the east, there is a Mind Flayer standing right behind it! Benedict quaffs a Potion of Invisibility, but apparently this Mind Flayer is content to just attack in melee, so we are not horribly punished for failing to keep Chaotic Commands up at all times.
The rest of the City, prior to reaching the Master Brain, goes smoothly: Minsc & Mazzy have Improved Haste/Improved Invisibility/Chaotic Commands up for the two large groups (as well as a contingent of Skeleton Warriors), and though the Mind Flayers eat through our summons, our tanks fare well enough, needing only a few Potions of Genius to keep up the fight.
We clear out the little side-rooms too, netting the Staff of Domination and Ring of Fire Control.
Alright, just the Master Brain left. Everyone gets Chaotic Commands, we go all-out on 9HD Skeleton Warriors, Mass Invisibility/Improved Haste is applied along with sundry priest buffs, and we're off!
Also pictured: The Master Brain dispelling a good chunk of the protections on Minsc & Mazzy, forcing Jaheira to run inside and apply her last two Chaotic Commands while our heroic tanking duo somehow made several saving throws in a row.
We get a nice rep +1 on the way out from saving the slaves, and head outside. We use our final round of buffs to (sadly) take out Simyaz and his merry crew. Honestly, you fight Mind Flayers, but are basically undone by a single Emotion: Hopelessness? Boo is not impressed.
The party returns triumphantly (again) to the Swirfneblin village, where we leave them for now.
The Underdark is a whole lot less darker than when we first got here. All that remains is to advance the plot, and hopefully live to see the sun again.
Ulcaster: Icharyd was tough initially, but I ended up running in and out of stealth and killed him with backstabs. Cleared most of the Ulcaster Dungeon, but the Wolf of Ulcaster was rough. I had set several traps, which kept getting trigger by random wolves, so I ended up going with 4 or 5, which only took it down about half health. I fortunately saved against an unexpected Horror, grabbed the book, but I ended up surrounded by wolves and drank a Potion of Invisibility to escape.
Gibberling Mountains: Grab Batalista's Passport.
Nashkel Mines: Move through under Invisibility. Kylee's Dagger. Charm Mulahey and set against kobolds, but get the last hit.
Valley of the Tombs: Backstab Revenant multiple times. Forget to re-equip my armor at the ghasts tomb. Get trapped, nausea, THAC0 52. Not really sure what to do, so equip Wand of Fire and use Scorcher to finish remaining ghasts. Narcillicus and his mustard jellies are separated and killed. Narcillicus dies to a backstab (6/7/7).
Nashkel: Joseph's Greenstone Ring. Nimbul dies to a backstab before any traps can go off.
Beregost: Talk to Vai. Set traps for Elminster. He survives, so I zone out to avoid Change Chicken. Set traps in Tranzig's door. Tranzig dies to traps after initiating dialogue.
Peldvale: Convince Raiken that I want to join the bandits.
Bandit Camp: Charm Taurgosz, who dies to zombies. Charm Raemon. Drink a Potion of Absorption before I remember I can detect and disarm traps. Disarm the ligtning bolt trap. Set what traps I can in the tent.
FAI: Set traps for Elminster. He survives again. Lands Change Chicken, but I zone before anything worse happens.
Bandit Camp: Charm Rameon, set more traps, repeat several times. Raemon and Venkt die to traps, while Hakt is Near Death and Britik is injured. Use a few charges of the Wand of Monster Summoning, but ultimately clear the tent.
We're stood outside Watchers Keep and decide there is nothing else inside that interests us. After trying to remember what our next step was going to be we give up and head to Trademeet so Grin can improve his reputation. This leads us on to the druid grove where we point Cernd in the direction of a tasty snack called Faldorn.
Images from the grove.
We move on to Umar, where the killer mimic demonstates it's mastery of multiplayer by sticking Targun to the ground despite him being out of sight, out of the cave, and out of luck. Unfortunately for it, Targun is in no danger while Grin is not to be put off.
The temple ruins see Targun held once more but Grin is capably keeping all enemies occupied.
When we get to Thaxll'ssillyia we try laying out skulltraps and invite the dragon in with a cloudkill.
The Shade Lord doesn't last long either.
With that done we head over to the de'Arnise hold. There is a minor moment there as we are both confused but Targun has just managed to get the flesh golem up as a distraction and Grin decides not to lay into Targun.
Grin upsets a guard inside but after talking to Lady Delcia both she and the annoyed protector clear off.
TorGal takes a while to kill but die he does.
With most of the rural areas sorted we head back into the city and deal with the slavers. Grin wonders out loud about the safety of a little girl if he speaks to her, and then speaks to her anyway. With our reputation in tatters Grin flagellates himself by standing on the acid blob trap. Targun shows his disappointment with a single meteor dropped onto Grin's head.
Valygar once more eases us into the Planar Sphere as his final act, and we call it a day so have this to look forward to next time.
Bladesevant finished the Stone of Askavar Quest. Despite having a resistance from fear spell cast upon them, he had Tenya panicked. presumably a dispell magic was cast before the Fear spell. Tenya got caught in our own web spell and as a result was almost killed by the party's fireballs.
This group had their second outing, another two hours. It sounded like my internet upload was having problems, with voice breaking up so I tried to keep quiet and allow the game the bulk of the connection. For the final 30 minutes or so all voice comms failed so I couldn't hear Grond0 or Corey_Russell either but assume they could talk to each other.
We started by picking Samuel up - Steppytoes promptly heaving him over to Dizzy when he proved to be heavier than the halfling could manage. Our journey back to the Friendly Arm Inn was interrupted by a bandit ambush and we were pleased to escape their ring of death without any of us perishing.
The game froze though and we had to restart the journey. The same ambush again followed by the same freeze, this time Grond0 and Corey_Russell left and I regained control of the map. They rejoined without any issue and we celebrated by returning a ring to Joia.
After handing a letter in to Mirianne we went on the basilisk hunt. That went fairly well and we added Mutamin to our tally before resting to memorise the spells taken from him. Dizzy used blindness and stinking cloud on Kirian's gang which made them easy marks.
We thought about doing the ankheg nest but retreated after the first one mauled Steppytoes before it died. We felt it was too risky to try any more - instead we went to pick on some half-ogres, Bassilus, and grab a sword for Corebard from Arghain. Melicamp failed to be antichickenated, and Corebard took advantage of our mourning to purchase a few scrolls we'd not have allowed otherwise
Steppytoes felt like playing with sirines, and they died easier than we had expected - mainly thanks to stinking cloud. Steppytoes gulped a few potions (hill giant strength, haste, heroism, absorbtion) and set about three flesh golems. It went much better once he stopped trying to strangle them with his sling and used a sword instead. Corebard was merrily hitting with arrows and only realised later that the poison effect from arrows of biting no longer worked on the golems. No matter.
Back to the ankhegs. With a bit more experience, and a bit more luck, and a bit more skill, we cleared the nest and emerged alive. Reputation was 20 by now so we went to Ulgoth's Beard and bought a few items.
At about this point our voice comms broke down
Something nice and easy felt in order for the remainder of the session so we went into Nashkel Mine and cleared it out, topping it off with the Amazons outside. Nimbul had left it too late to threaten us and paid dearly, before we moved on to Beregost with the intention of clearing out some spiders and Tranzig next time.
I start by traveling around under Invisibility to draw out the assassins. Charm Lamalha, who quickly falls to her party. Use Wand of Monster Summoning and clean up. Travel around but underestimate a transition and get caught with invisibility down and my armor off. Drink a Potion of Invisibility. Charm Drakar. Drakar takes several spells from Halacan and runs Morvin in circles. I use the Wand of Monster Summoning and kill Halacan, but not before he sleeps several of my monsters. Morvin switches to me, and Drakar falls to Molkar. I line Molkar and Morvin up and use the Wand of Fire, which kills Molkar and brings Morvin to Near Death. I switch to melee.
Cloakwood 1: Set traps for the druids. Seniyad dies insantly, but the other three remain neutral. They fall to a WoF Fireball and arrows, never turning hostile.
Cloakwood 2: Invisibility and Edventars Gift. I may come back later.
Cloakwood 3: Set traps in lower treehouse. Charm Amarande and bring him down. Backstab him, miss, and he dies to traps. Mighty Oak +2.
Cloakwood 4: Invisibility. I may come back later.
Cloakwood Mines: Drasus's party is charmed away one at a time from Invisibility and falls to the bridge guards. I attempt to charm Drasus, but he saves. I'm able to get away before he initiates dialogue and decide to equip armor and backstab him. He's surprisingly tough and drinks, and I have to drink several potions of greater healing and healing before he goes down. It was a close one. I should have just attempted charm and taken a safer route. Travel back to Beregost to sell loot.
Cloakwood Mines: Talk to the slaves and give Rill the money. I move through the levels under Invisibility. Trying a new tactic, I backstab Davaeorn's guard. It takes two tries, but I charm Davaeorn. He falls to his guards and the battle horrors. I loot the area and flood the mines.
Baldur's Gate East: Set traps for Elminster. He survives again! All this time avoiding reputation quests and buying items for nothing. I grab the dexterity manual and buy a bag of holding.
I travel back to the Cloakwood Mines to get the reputation from flooding the mines (7/7/8). On the way out, I'm waylayed by giant spiders. I start running to the edge of the screen under The Paws of the Cheetah like usual when a giant spider lands a web entangle. I'm poisoned and die shortly after.
Can't believe nobody's won with a Bounty Hunter yet. Time to give it a try. Will play mostly solo but will loot and exploit NPC's when it suits me. Core rules, no mods.
Yellow Raven
Halfling, male - NE Bounty Hunter
Lucky roll of 91 (about 10 minutes of rolls - would've settled for an 89 but gladly added a couple extra points of wisdom)
STR-17
Dex-19
Con-18
Int-10
Wis-9
Cha-18
Thief skills - took Open Locks to 65, rest went in Set Traps. Sling and dagger for weapons (couldn't resist that halfling bonus even though shortbow is probably a better choice).
So far am at level 3 (all thief points added to set trap). Almost died to a damned wolf right after leaving Candlekeep (brought me to 1 hp in a single bite - quickly added Montaron and Xzar to distract it), otherwise nothing remarkable. Used sleep wand on Landrin's spiders, talked down Marl, delivered book to Firebead, and shamelessly looted Beregost to get to lvl 3. Then used traps to snuff out Karlat. I've died to that bastard too many times to risk kiting him (also learned my lesson from the wolf - kiting can be dangerous). Next up: Mirianne's ring, Zhurlong's boots, Perdue's short sword and Colqutle's amulet. That should get me to level 4 and 95 set traps. Haven't decided if I want to snuff Elminster or not yet. It's pretty easy with a Bounty Hunter. We'll see...
Bladeservant et al muddled their way through the Northern Citadel Quest only to find that to finish the quest they have to travel by sea to an island in the west. Looks like they will need to find transport. I thjink that I know where.
Comments
S18/97 D19 C17 I18 W4 Ch13
Difficulty: Tactical
Mods: SCS and Tweaks Anthology (see first update for WeiDU.log)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1064811/#Comment_1064811
Dryad Falls: Charm Caldo, feed to dire wolf, get last hit and Club +1. Backstab Ingot (on return trip).
Gnoll Stronghold: Skull Trap Gnarl and Hairtooth, then finish from range. Kill xvarts, retrieve charisma manual.
Nashkel: Set traps outside the Inn. Lure Neira outside. Loot Neira. While I'm thinking about it, set traps for Nimbul. Take Potion of Invisibility from Manor House.
Nashkel Mines: Retrieve Wand of Frost.
Durlag's Tower: Use Wand of Frost on Battle Horrors. Kill basilisks. Greenstone Amulet for the wisdom manual. Clear top levels of ghasts (6/6/7, Flail / Morning Star +). I get trapped between some ghasts and a table and drink several healing potions. Set traps near the stairs on level 3 then backstab the ghost, almost killing it. It doesn't teleport where I think it will, so I have to dance in and out of view, waiting for its protection spells to wear off. It lands a chromatic orb, which I save against, but eventually runs out of spells and follows me into the traps. I agree to help Kirinhale, lay traps for her, then land a critical backstab, killing her before the traps go off.
I still need to visit the Lighthouse but spent more time at Durlag's Tower than I anticipated.
L6/6/7, HP57
S18/97 D19 C17 I18 W5 Ch14
Shorty Power - Update 4
Brentan and his band of fighters
The party continues to make progress. The battle with Drassus went pretty well as you can see via the screenshot below. We had the two front-liners buff with potion of magic blocking and rest of the party ranged and this worked out great.
As is my usual practice, I would have a buffed up fighter take on the mages (including Davaeorn) and this worked quite well in the Cloakwood Mines. No problems to speak of and Davaeorn was defeated.
In the Great City of Baldur's Gate, only did a few things, such as clear out those annoying mages at the top of Sorcerous Sundries, the Ogre Mage and his pet crawlers. I did something kind of rare for my runs, I used the arrow that kills ogre mages on contact, thought it would be worthwhile since my party is still vulnerable to horror. This worked out great.
Also gave the sphene gem to the Seer (you can get a sphene gem from the thieves in the same area). Will check out the southern area of Baldur's Gate next session.
As I recall domination and charm are two separates. It works the same way, but they are different. For instance the shield of Harmony has a distinct (and mentioned) protection against both. But the need to differentiate the two is above me - I’d second a reload.
@Wise_Grimwald sounds to me as though perhaps you were dominated because of wearing the helmet of charm protection. I'd hazard a guess you're not using the latest EE version. In older versions there was a bug associated with the interaction of different types of protections. That typically manifested as elves and half-elves being vulnerable to charm (or sleep) when using specific protections in addition to their elvish resistance.
Bladeservant is an elf so that would figure. So it is a bug I presume. I can easily work around that one. Use a non-elf as the tank with the helmet of charm protection. Would the same apply to dwarves as they have their own magical resistance?
No.
For future reference, I am wondering if Tenya's Impregnable Mind spell would work correctly on Bladeservant.
Since I have this problem, perhaps my characters will be shorties in future until I decide to do a new installation. That won't be until Dark Side of the Sword Coast is sorted for EET.
By the way, in order to get The Grey Clan Episode to work I had to create Jusam as he didn't appear as he should have done near the temple. Everything else in the mod appears to have worked fine unlike DSoSC which I had to abandon.
EDIT
After raising Xan went straight to baldur's Gate WITHOUT re-equipping him.
I was lucky. No ambushes!
Actually, I suspect the reason why the domination bypassed your immunity was because the particular spell used a different charm effect. The game has two different charm effects: one is the regular one that is used by regular spells like Charm Person, Dire Charm, and even Domination. The other one is used to charm creatures that are normally immune to charm (Control Undead, for example, uses this effect). Items and spells that grant immunity to charm usually grant immunity to the regular charm effect and not the bypassing charm effect. Perhaps your character was hit by a special modded spell that used the bypassing charm effect.
That was luckier than was deserved.
EDIT
They then went to go the area in the basement where Gorion et al are found.
After that Prat
Then the spiders:
and the medusae.
I have found yet another bug though not a game-breaking one. I distinctly remember putting the worn whispers boots in the bag of holding and they have disappeared.
I am pretty sure that there is another pair somewhere, but I cannot remember where.
EDIT
Yahoo told me that they are on a hobgoblin at Ulcaster. That means that I might have to pay Ulcaster a visit later.
He would already have a reputation of well over thirty if it didn't stop increasing at 20.
S18/97 D19 C17 I18 W5 Ch14
Difficulty: Tactical
Mods: SCS and Tweaks Anthology (see first update for WeiDU.log)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1064811/#Comment_1064811
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1065063/#Comment_1065063
Lighthouse: Things don't go exactly as planned. Was going to Web the first group of sirines, but hobgoblins are around, and I don't have Web memorized. By the time I return, one of the sirines has wandered off. I backstab her and use the Greenstone Amulet. Two of the sirines are still in place, so I used the Greenstone Amulet and run between them, eventually clubbing them to death. Instead of Charming Sil's group one at a time, I Web and Skull Trap them, which goes alright, but I have to drink an antidote potion, as Sil is out of range and uses Arrows of Biting. The flesh golems fall without any problems, netting me the constitution manual and Wand of Parylization.
Firewine Bridge: Set two traps then backstab Meilum. Land a crit with throwing daggers and collect his bracers.
Spider Wood: Charm Denak. Move him out of the way and set traps around the three other Red Wizards. Attempt to re-charm Denak, but he saves, initiates dialogue, and goes hostile. One of the other mages is killed by traps and one is Near Death, the other is unharmed. I throw a dagger and kill the Near Death one. Denak is Webbed, backstabbed, and killed after a couple of hits. The sames goes for the remaining mage. The Victor, and some scrolls, are mine.
Next up is either the Nashkel Mines or one/both Wand(s) of Fire. Perhaps the Wand of Monster Summoning. I've been avoiding the Nashkel Mines because I don't know if I want to attempt the assassination attempts that follow. The experience would be welcome, but none of the items are that good except for selling them for gold, and it seems like an unnecessary risk.
L6/6/7, HP63
S18/97 D19 C18 I18 W5 Ch14
The second pair of worn whispers at Ulcaster was a bug in Vanilla, but according to this thread Nadarin in BG city has them as well:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/71808/boots-of-stealth-missing-from-ulcaster
Steppytoes - Halfling Fighter/Thief (Gate70)
Dizzy - Elf Wild Mage (Grond0)
Corebard- Human Bard (Corey_Russell)
Hang on, didn't we jump right back into the fray after the last heroic effort? Well yes we did.
Six days have passed - Dizzy and Corebard must be wondering where the write-up is, and Steppytoes finally tries to recall what really happened. The Journal knows all.
Prologue
Dreppin's Cow
Phlydia's Book
Reevor's Storehouse
Hull's Sword
An Errand for Fuller
Firebead's Scroll
Chapter One
A Book for Firebead
Arcand the Mad
Chapter Two
Albert and His Dog
Drienne's Cat
Dryad of the Cloud Peaks
Jared and the Bear
Oublek the Bounty Officer
The Tale of Captain Brage
Winter Wolf Pelts
There! All done. Sure we had some fun and bumps.
& here we are at the end of the session ready for whatever the fates hurl at us next.
Truth be told we fought off monsters
Dizzy almost perished in Candlekeep
One of us battled the internet service provider phone call from hell mid-game (we tried not to laugh too hard)
We've purloined Joia's ring and Perdue's sword - they won't need them just yet
Corebard reluctantly sold the cursed berserking sword - we all know he wanted to use it
The Wild Mage battle saw gembags at dawn (Dizzy taking it off Neera before passing it to Steppytoes)
We dug up some ankheg armour in Nashkel and decided not to use it
We called it a day, overlooking Samuel - hope he survives on the ground for a week+
I have already given the gauntlets to him, so they might not still be available.
Bladeservant has found all the tallismans for getting to the stone of Askavar. Now just that one battle to face and another mod finished. Vynd was very helpful in finding the enemy whilst Valerie was good at webbing them and destroying them with fire.
The biggest problem outside was the lightning. I suppose that I should have used potions.
However the battle inside the tower was also tough due to the fact that I forgot to don some of the items that made the party immune to hold.
I had to fight the bandits rather than run as Fay, the Will o' the Wisp wouldn't run past them.
BG1EE updates: 1, 2
SoD updates: 1, 2, 3, 4
BG2EE SoA updates: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
With that out of the way, we'll go for the low-hanging fruit first. The party embarks west, into the Kuo-toan lair. The first group is just tackled after a few basic buffs. The second group, blocking the route to the Prince, is quite a bit stronger. However, with Mazzy under Protection from Fire, a Firestorm/Fireball combo from Anomen/Imoen allows for an expedient solution. The Prince himself eventually joins the fray, but even though it takes a few rounds to wear him down (what with the regeneration), he can't hit Mazzy to save his life.
We clear out the remaining Kuo-toa to the north, and swing back south. The Beholder and its two Gauth guardians to the west are treated to some Skeleton Warriors, and even though the eye-tyrants get a few good licks in (Telekinesis and biting), not a single Skeleton Warrior is lost.
Alright. Important as it was to clear the Kuo-toans (not really...), they are not the real reason we came here. The Demon Knights are.
So, what's the plan? Turn Benedict immune to everything the Demon Knights got, and let him wear them down with the help of some Skeleton Warriors. We apply: Protection from Fire, Death Ward, Chaotic Commands, SI: Abjuration, SI: Conjuration (they might cast Power Word: Blind, and Benedict cannot cast True Sight to counter it), as well as assorted defensive buffs. Further, Benedict equips the Amulet of Power to guard against their level-draining attacks, and has to boot memorized three PfMW. Accompanied by four Skeleton Warriors, he races into the chamber, and feeds Kitthix to the statue.
The battle is neither particularly long nor hard-fought. The Demon Knights can do nothing to Benedict. Of course, he in turn has some difficulties hurting them (given their Magic Resistance), but gets in a few good Skull Traps (he's under PfME) and Magic Missiles. The first batch of Skeleton Warriors had time to kill one Demon Knight and severely injure another before succumbing.
Anomen (outside the room) has been busy summoning a second wave of Skeleton Warriors. Accompanied by Mazzy under Improved Haste, they burst onto the scene, and it's all over for the Demon Knights.
Hooray! Hooray! Hooray! That went much smoother than expected. And we reap some lovely rewards: The Armor of the Hart +3 (good), and the Girdle of Frost Giant Strength (spectacular!). The Girdle goes to Mazzy, who has now finally overcome the Strength problem that has plagued her since we picked her up.
Our business in the west concluded, we retire to the Swirfneblin village.
So, I'd say that the Beholder Hive is worse than the Illithid City... but if things are looking bleak, you can retreat from the Hive and try again, whereas the City offers no such recourse. So, Beholders are next.
All of our 7th level arcane slots (three on Benedict, one on Imoen) goes to Project Image, with the rest being Death Fog, a few Improved Haste, Animate Dead, Improved Invisibility, Skull Trap (along with a few Invisibility 10' Radius), and the remainder don't really matter. Divine-wise, it's a single Firestorm, more Animate Dead, two Harm on Anomen, Wondrous Recall x2 on Jaheira, and standard buffs (Death Ward/ Chaotic Commands etc). The idea is to use Skeleton Warriors as much as possible, supplementing with massive area-of-effect damage for the two Elder Orbs at the far side of the Hive.
Entering under Invisibility, the first two Beholders are no issue. Anomen Harms one into the ground, and Mazzy & Minsc take the second one down.
Recalling that the Drow here are rather accomplished fighters, Mazzy & Minsc get Improved Invisibility, and they are wearing Drow Plate +5. The result: The Drow can only hit on a 20. We grind them down.
We pick up the Sling of Arvoreen +4, which goes to Jaheira. So, stealthed Minsc goes out and locates a group of Beholders/Gauths to the south. Unfortunately, he also stumbles upon the Hive Mother, who can see through stealth. I thought she had elected to just self-buff a little, but no, the Mother goes on the hunt for us. She's got good physical resistance, exceptional magical resistance, has all the regular Beholder powers, casts Stoneskin and heals herself every 4 or so rounds, and has several mage spells to boot (Maze, PfMW etc).
The way I usually handle her is Skeleton Warriors en masse, but we have no time to summon them, as the Mother keeps pursuing us. Eventually she corners us, and I figure it's best to just exit the Hive and try to think of something.
Well, it was a good run. So long, and thanks for all the fi-... wait. We're not dead yet (in particular, the Mother does not immediately go for Benedict!). What can we do? We have to fight. The Mother moves roughly as fast as we do, there's no point in waiting out her buffs (she just recasts them), she'll pursue us everywhere, and Invisibility is no protection.
Mazzy finally fails her save against the 8th or so Death Ray, and goes down. Minsc catches a Maze. Imoen and Anomen both get hit with Anti-Magic Ray and so cannot cast anything. Jaheira gets Dominated.
But.. what's this? Can it be? Yes! Benedict not only through some miracle avoided getting hit by Anti-Magic Ray, he was able to get outside the Mother's field of vision, and now has a Projected Image out! That Projected Image is slowly but surely conjuring Skeleton Warriors!
The fight is long, but the Mother consistently fails to get past the magical resistance of the Skeleton Warriors. With Minsc back from the Maze and helping out with Arrows of Piercing, we finally get past the never-ending Stoneskins and self-heals, and take that Mother out.
I was sure the run would end the moment we stepped outside the Hive and had the Mother follow us.
And it very easily could have... but it didn't! Hooray!
With the Hive Mother gone, we re-enter the Hive itself. The regular Beholder/Gauth groups cannot contend with Skeleton Warriors (and Stinking Cloud actually works fairly well when you stack four of them on top of each other).
The small Mind Flayer group to the south is handled by Mazzy & Minsc under Chaotic Commands/Improved Invisibility. That basically leaves a few small Beholder groups to the north, one very large group including an Elder Orb, and a second Elder Orb with an attendant Beholder.
The very large group gets the full ranged treatment: With Skeleton Warriors blocking the path, we treat the Beholders to Death Fog, Fire Storm and a Skull Trap. They have severe problems pathing (mostly they just run in circles), and these three spells turn out to be enough! So long, Elder Orb!
The beauty of Fire Storm and Death Fog is that they offer no save. Beholders have very good save vs spells, but they're not immune to either Fire or Acid, so there's really nothing they can do. Even if they started to run out of the area-of-effect immediately, they'd still probably take at least two hits from each spell as well as the Skull Trap, amounting to roughly 75 (!) damage even if they saved against the Skull Trap.
We grab the Eye, Blade of the Equalizer and Amulet of Spell Warding. The handful of Beholders to the north are handled via Skeleton Warriors. That just leaves an Elder Orb and guardian Beholder to the east.
We drop a Skull Trap and Death Fog to soften them up, and a full contingent of Skeleton Warriors finishes the job.
I think the PfMW was applied at the exact same time as the Skeleton Warrior landed a hit... bit of an oddity.
Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! The Hive is cleared! I think that went rather well, apart from the brush with certain death. I would say that the key to the Hive Mother is just memorizing where she is, bombing the crap out of the Beholders/Gauths with her so they're out of the picture from the start (Spell Sequencer with 3x Skull Trap would probably work well here), then just leave her to the tender mercies of 9HD Skeleton Warriors, ideally under remote supervision via Farsight. We return in triumph to the Swirfneblin village.
All that remains before advancing the plot is the Illithid City. We prepare accordingly: Chaotic Commands, Wondrous Recall to allow for even more Chaotic Commands, Project Image, Animate Dead, Improved Invisibility/Mass Invisibility, Improved Haste. Remaining spell picks are just for show: The Mind Flayers have high enough magic resistance that they might as well be magic immune, and any summons apart from Skeleton Warriors will just crumple and die in moments. The best bet is to send your fighters with top-tier buffs and let them deal with it.
We embark for the City, and are duly captured. A brief fight with Umber Hulks later (only Anomen got confused), we agree to team up with Simyaz to break free. We tackle the Kuo-toans (only Anomen got stunned), take out the Ogre Jailer, and clear the other prisoners. Even though he only lasted about a round, the Sauhagin Prince still dealt nearly 50 damage.
We get a real fright when, upon opening the door to the east, there is a Mind Flayer standing right behind it! Benedict quaffs a Potion of Invisibility, but apparently this Mind Flayer is content to just attack in melee, so we are not horribly punished for failing to keep Chaotic Commands up at all times.
The rest of the City, prior to reaching the Master Brain, goes smoothly: Minsc & Mazzy have Improved Haste/Improved Invisibility/Chaotic Commands up for the two large groups (as well as a contingent of Skeleton Warriors), and though the Mind Flayers eat through our summons, our tanks fare well enough, needing only a few Potions of Genius to keep up the fight.
We clear out the little side-rooms too, netting the Staff of Domination and Ring of Fire Control.
Alright, just the Master Brain left. Everyone gets Chaotic Commands, we go all-out on 9HD Skeleton Warriors, Mass Invisibility/Improved Haste is applied along with sundry priest buffs, and we're off!
Also pictured: The Master Brain dispelling a good chunk of the protections on Minsc & Mazzy, forcing Jaheira to run inside and apply her last two Chaotic Commands while our heroic tanking duo somehow made several saving throws in a row.
We get a nice rep +1 on the way out from saving the slaves, and head outside. We use our final round of buffs to (sadly) take out Simyaz and his merry crew. Honestly, you fight Mind Flayers, but are basically undone by a single Emotion: Hopelessness? Boo is not impressed.
The party returns triumphantly (again) to the Swirfneblin village, where we leave them for now.
The Underdark is a whole lot less darker than when we first got here. All that remains is to advance the plot, and hopefully live to see the sun again.
Benedict is now a L15 Human Conjurer.
S18/97 D19 C18 I18 W5 Ch14
Difficulty: Tactical
Mods: SCS and Tweaks Anthology (see first update for WeiDU.log)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1064811/#Comment_1064811
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1065063/#Comment_1065063
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1065336/#Comment_1065336
Ulcaster: Icharyd was tough initially, but I ended up running in and out of stealth and killed him with backstabs. Cleared most of the Ulcaster Dungeon, but the Wolf of Ulcaster was rough. I had set several traps, which kept getting trigger by random wolves, so I ended up going with 4 or 5, which only took it down about half health. I fortunately saved against an unexpected Horror, grabbed the book, but I ended up surrounded by wolves and drank a Potion of Invisibility to escape.
Gibberling Mountains: Grab Batalista's Passport.
Nashkel Mines: Move through under Invisibility. Kylee's Dagger. Charm Mulahey and set against kobolds, but get the last hit.
Valley of the Tombs: Backstab Revenant multiple times. Forget to re-equip my armor at the ghasts tomb. Get trapped, nausea, THAC0 52. Not really sure what to do, so equip Wand of Fire and use Scorcher to finish remaining ghasts. Narcillicus and his mustard jellies are separated and killed. Narcillicus dies to a backstab (6/7/7).
Nashkel: Joseph's Greenstone Ring. Nimbul dies to a backstab before any traps can go off.
Beregost: Talk to Vai. Set traps for Elminster. He survives, so I zone out to avoid Change Chicken. Set traps in Tranzig's door. Tranzig dies to traps after initiating dialogue.
Peldvale: Convince Raiken that I want to join the bandits.
Bandit Camp: Charm Taurgosz, who dies to zombies. Charm Raemon. Drink a Potion of Absorption before I remember I can detect and disarm traps. Disarm the ligtning bolt trap. Set what traps I can in the tent.
FAI: Set traps for Elminster. He survives again. Lands Change Chicken, but I zone before anything worse happens.
Bandit Camp: Charm Rameon, set more traps, repeat several times. Raemon and Venkt die to traps, while Hakt is Near Death and Britik is injured. Use a few charges of the Wand of Monster Summoning, but ultimately clear the tent.
Next up is Cloakwood.
L6/7/7, HP65
S18/97 D19 C18 I18 W5 Ch14
Targun (male Jester, Gate70); Grin (male fighter, Grond0)
We're stood outside Watchers Keep and decide there is nothing else inside that interests us. After trying to remember what our next step was going to be we give up and head to Trademeet so Grin can improve his reputation. This leads us on to the druid grove where we point Cernd in the direction of a tasty snack called Faldorn.
Images from the grove.
However, all's well that ends well.
Steppytoes - Halfling Fighter/Thief (Gate70)
Dizzy - Elf Wild Mage (Grond0)
Corebard- Human Bard (Corey_Russell)
This group had their second outing, another two hours. It sounded like my internet upload was having problems, with voice breaking up so I tried to keep quiet and allow the game the bulk of the connection. For the final 30 minutes or so all voice comms failed so I couldn't hear Grond0 or Corey_Russell either but assume they could talk to each other.
We started by picking Samuel up - Steppytoes promptly heaving him over to Dizzy when he proved to be heavier than the halfling could manage. Our journey back to the Friendly Arm Inn was interrupted by a bandit ambush and we were pleased to escape their ring of death without any of us perishing.
The game froze though and we had to restart the journey. The same ambush again followed by the same freeze, this time Grond0 and Corey_Russell left and I regained control of the map. They rejoined without any issue and we celebrated by returning a ring to Joia.
After handing a letter in to Mirianne we went on the basilisk hunt. That went fairly well and we added Mutamin to our tally before resting to memorise the spells taken from him. Dizzy used blindness and stinking cloud on Kirian's gang which made them easy marks.
We thought about doing the ankheg nest but retreated after the first one mauled Steppytoes before it died. We felt it was too risky to try any more - instead we went to pick on some half-ogres, Bassilus, and grab a sword for Corebard from Arghain. Melicamp failed to be antichickenated, and Corebard took advantage of our mourning to purchase a few scrolls we'd not have allowed otherwise
Steppytoes felt like playing with sirines, and they died easier than we had expected - mainly thanks to stinking cloud. Steppytoes gulped a few potions (hill giant strength, haste, heroism, absorbtion) and set about three flesh golems. It went much better once he stopped trying to strangle them with his sling and used a sword instead. Corebard was merrily hitting with arrows and only realised later that the poison effect from arrows of biting no longer worked on the golems. No matter.
Back to the ankhegs. With a bit more experience, and a bit more luck, and a bit more skill, we cleared the nest and emerged alive. Reputation was 20 by now so we went to Ulgoth's Beard and bought a few items.
Something nice and easy felt in order for the remainder of the session so we went into Nashkel Mine and cleared it out, topping it off with the Amazons outside. Nimbul had left it too late to threaten us and paid dearly, before we moved on to Beregost with the intention of clearing out some spiders and Tranzig next time.
S18/97 D19 C18 I18 W5 Ch14
Difficulty: Tactical
Mods: SCS and Tweaks Anthology (see first update for WeiDU.log)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1064811/#Comment_1064811
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1065063/#Comment_1065063
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1065336/#Comment_1065336
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1065558/#Comment_1065558
I start by traveling around under Invisibility to draw out the assassins. Charm Lamalha, who quickly falls to her party. Use Wand of Monster Summoning and clean up. Travel around but underestimate a transition and get caught with invisibility down and my armor off. Drink a Potion of Invisibility. Charm Drakar. Drakar takes several spells from Halacan and runs Morvin in circles. I use the Wand of Monster Summoning and kill Halacan, but not before he sleeps several of my monsters. Morvin switches to me, and Drakar falls to Molkar. I line Molkar and Morvin up and use the Wand of Fire, which kills Molkar and brings Morvin to Near Death. I switch to melee.
Cloakwood 1: Set traps for the druids. Seniyad dies insantly, but the other three remain neutral. They fall to a WoF Fireball and arrows, never turning hostile.
Cloakwood 2: Invisibility and Edventars Gift. I may come back later.
Cloakwood 3: Set traps in lower treehouse. Charm Amarande and bring him down. Backstab him, miss, and he dies to traps. Mighty Oak +2.
Cloakwood 4: Invisibility. I may come back later.
Cloakwood Mines: Drasus's party is charmed away one at a time from Invisibility and falls to the bridge guards. I attempt to charm Drasus, but he saves. I'm able to get away before he initiates dialogue and decide to equip armor and backstab him. He's surprisingly tough and drinks, and I have to drink several potions of greater healing and healing before he goes down. It was a close one. I should have just attempted charm and taken a safer route. Travel back to Beregost to sell loot.
Cloakwood Mines: Talk to the slaves and give Rill the money. I move through the levels under Invisibility. Trying a new tactic, I backstab Davaeorn's guard. It takes two tries, but I charm Davaeorn. He falls to his guards and the battle horrors. I loot the area and flood the mines.
Baldur's Gate East: Set traps for Elminster. He survives again! All this time avoiding reputation quests and buying items for nothing. I grab the dexterity manual and buy a bag of holding.
I travel back to the Cloakwood Mines to get the reputation from flooding the mines (7/7/8). On the way out, I'm waylayed by giant spiders. I start running to the edge of the screen under The Paws of the Cheetah like usual when a giant spider lands a web entangle. I'm poisoned and die shortly after.
Yellow Raven
Halfling, male - NE Bounty Hunter
Lucky roll of 91 (about 10 minutes of rolls - would've settled for an 89 but gladly added a couple extra points of wisdom)
STR-17
Dex-19
Con-18
Int-10
Wis-9
Cha-18
Thief skills - took Open Locks to 65, rest went in Set Traps. Sling and dagger for weapons (couldn't resist that halfling bonus even though shortbow is probably a better choice).
So far am at level 3 (all thief points added to set trap). Almost died to a damned wolf right after leaving Candlekeep (brought me to 1 hp in a single bite - quickly added Montaron and Xzar to distract it), otherwise nothing remarkable. Used sleep wand on Landrin's spiders, talked down Marl, delivered book to Firebead, and shamelessly looted Beregost to get to lvl 3. Then used traps to snuff out Karlat. I've died to that bastard too many times to risk kiting him (also learned my lesson from the wolf - kiting can be dangerous). Next up: Mirianne's ring, Zhurlong's boots, Perdue's short sword and Colqutle's amulet. That should get me to level 4 and 95 set traps. Haven't decided if I want to snuff Elminster or not yet. It's pretty easy with a Bounty Hunter. We'll see...
Bladeservant et al muddled their way through the Northern Citadel Quest only to find that to finish the quest they have to travel by sea to an island in the west. Looks like they will need to find transport.