Another attempt with Blaggerd the Blackguard. I've had a few starts and fails with various classes but once out of BG:EE thought this one was worth writing up.
BG:EE
After leaving Candlekeep he quickly recruited Imoen, Viconia and Edwin. This necessitated killing Dynaheir, and at some stage Blaggerd tried on the cursed girdle of gender which will remain until either SoA or death.
It was intended to recruit Dorn but he died in his initial ambush encounter so Blaggerd grabs his sword and we have to make do with only one Blackguard.
The party of four.
Shoal the nereid escaped with her life, unlike Droth the ogre mage who was hostile until dead.
The ankheg nest was safely negotiated.
Basilisks weren't a problem either, since Edwin knew Protection from Petrification. Mutamin was outgunned while Kirian and her gang took a silent beating.
Sirines near the lighthouse breathed their last before flesh golems in a cave were dismantled.
After dealing with Nashkel mine and the bandit camp the descent into Cloakwood mine resulted in a meet and greet with Hareishan. She didn't last too long.
Davaeorn found his traps were of no use, Imoen easily removing them. Blaggerd uses a potion of magic blocking and poisons his quarterstaff to eliminate Davaeorn and open the way into Baldur's Gate. Jardak's helm of glory bumps Blaggerd's charisma up further (he already had a cloak from Algernon which reduced reputation to a managable level).
By this stage everyone had decent gear, and a couple of extra recruits turned up:
(Faldorn plus a wolf, Tiax plus a ghast)
Gretek and his gang bit off more than they could chew.
The same was true for the Iron Throne mercenaries.
By this time, our reputation was getting somewhat high again. What to do?
Duke Eltan sent us back to Candlekeep and we got out of there as quickly as we could. Then on to the coronation, and through the thieves maze. Rahvin and his gang get their just desserts.
Tamoko wants to put up a fight.
Inside the abandoned temple Semaj makes the mistake of coming out uninvited.
Sarevok gets a doom malison and aura of despair, some of those should land. The evidence suggests he's going to struggle to recover from that.
With the big man down Blaggerd intends to head to Amn but as the dust clears he's in a safehouse so time to double down and make a start on the interlude instead.
SoD
If you are careful, the safehouse can be straightforward to deal with. Blaggerd plays a bit too fast and loose with a Shadowed Soul though, and almost pays the price - Safana and Faldorn not being quite so fortunate.
After that combat, the Flaming Fist healer raises both dead party members and there is no further danger until the safehouse is cleared. Blaggerd carefully swaps gear around so Faldorn and Tiax have nothing, and the others have everything of value.
(Blaggerd being Blaggerd, he forgets Imoen will dump all her gear in a separate container and doesn't remember to retrieve it until we have left the city hence it is unobtainable. This means the party thief will have less gear to choose from)
Once Blaggerd is on his own he sells a few items, and re-recruits Viconia before leaving the city. Glint is persuaded to be the party thief while Edwin marches straight back into the arcane opening. Baeloth and M'Khiin are met just up the road, and Blaggerd decides to keep the shaman but not the sorcerer.
We help a vampire against a pair of hunters and kill all but the hobgoblin guarding the bridge to the north. A crusader mage destroys the bridge so we take advantage of the mayhem to kill the hobgoblin too.
Blaggerd uums and aahs before deciding to help the dwarves of Dumathoin. He gets held and almost takes another early bath but Viconia and Glint both have remove paralysis memorised and between them they keep the blackguard alive even though Glint gets level-drained.
Moments later we make a hash of the next combat, but Edwin has invisibility 10' memorised and we survive. Another safe conclusion is reached after the shaky start.
We exit south to find an alternate way north, and on to the wyvern forest. A spider cave there looks enticingly dark and dank, and so it proves. We drag M'Khiin's spider-stabbed corpse back to camp and suggest Mizhena remove the poison and raise her for the sum of 800gp. Blaggerd promises to be more careful in future, although his intepretation is that so long as he survives and the lackeys can be raised all is well.
A Spell Thrust takes down the Bridge Mage's troublesome MGOI, allowing us to blast her with Skull Trap. Baeloth lands Dispel Magic on her as well, opening her up for a barrage of Magic Missiles.
Notice that Khalid has joined the party--he insisted, and I'm not sure it's possible to surrender the fort without bringing him along.
You can surrender the fort without Khalid. It's probably a good job you only used one skull trap at the bridge - the barrels don't take well to a lot of area damage .
When I saw the barrels take damage I realized something was going on and decided to hold off on any more Skull Traps, and also refrain from using any Lances of Disruption that were aimed anywhere near the barrels. I assume any source of fire damage would instantly end the game.
At the temple ruins we were still under 2M XP and only faced greater mummies in the undead ranks.
Thaxy made use of his initial buffs to kill our summons and breathe on Reprise. Blinded and level drained, he felt the need to head to the archway, hoping Kaliara would finish the dragon off with area damage - but Thaxy Healed himself from near death.
A couple of lots of new summons occupied the dragon for a few rounds before Kaliara surprisingly managed to get some revenge by blinding him with a glitterdust. That encouraged Reprise to nip back again and help get the kill.
The Shade Lord tends to be a slow buffer and failed to survive an Azuredge attack long enough for those to fire.
At the Planar Sphere Reprise was sent into limbo by Kayardi.
That meant that charm would have been instantly fatal for Kaliara - but re-equipping the Staff of the Magi allowed her to run away invisible despite the True Sight running at the time. Once Reprise was back Kayardi was soon calling for assistance - but none was forthcoming.
The first set of golems proved a problem when they did enough damage to make Reprise retreat - immediately making Kaliara vulnerable. She disappeared though and a near death golem suddenly realized its big brother was stuck in the doorway ...
Lavok was distracted by skeleton warriors before a brief encounter with a heartless demon. Tolgerias proved rather more durable than most mages: an improved mantle fired before Reprise could finish him off initially and PfMW provided a further delay before he eventually went down.
Kaliara was targeted with attacks by the fire room occupants and badly hurt, but survived to see the Noble Efreeti go down for the second (and final) time.
More golems managed another hit on Kaliara while she was in the middle of casting, but otherwise didn't do much damage as the Sphere returned home.
We immediately moved on to another planar adventure. The bounty hunter mage at the prison failed to spot new arrivals and went down to a single blow.
The Master of Thralls is dangerous for characters with poor saving throws - which don't normally include high level dwarves .
The Warden then had the indignity of being finished off by his former thralls.
On being released from prison, we had the last two vampire encounters in quick succession. Reprise was drained during those and relied once more on Kaliara to run interference while he threw Azuredge. That was complicated by the appearance of a set of muggers and Kaliara took a rare healing potion before the last of the vampires bit the dust.
It therefore seemed like it might be a good idea to get Reprise some protection and we sought out Neb to provide a source of illithium - Kaliara experimented in that fight with Hold Undead and we had to ignore the (severe) temptation to kill the last Child Spirit while it was held.
Mook was duly avenged and the Guild Contact webbed to ensure he didn't drink any of our potions.
The vampires in their HQ all fell pretty quickly and Bodhi was sent running.
There was one slightly unexpected encounter at the Docks when Kaliara popped her head into Prebek's house and found a couple of mages there, despite Renfeld having died earlier. Kaliara released a skull trap to clear the house and we checked the Harper HQ to see if they had anything to say about that - but no free tours were on offer.
A loose end was pursued at the slums where we attempted to get a Lathander relic back. That involved speaking with Travin, but he obviously knew trouble was in store and was reluctant to show himself at the proper time. A couple of area transitions and a number of rests later he finally deigned to appear.
After making the improved MoD we reported into Aran Linvail for the final time. We hadn't finished all the possible work around Athkatla, but decided to head early for Spellhold in search of some boots of speed for Kaliara. On arrival there Reprise had the luxury of equipping the iMoD and standing his ground against some ambushing vampires.
Reprise, dwarven defender 18, 155 HPs (incl. 5 from helm), 506 kills (+323 in BG1)
Kaliara, abjurer 16, 59 HPs, 209 kills (+97 in BG1), 0 deaths (+2 in BG1)
bug 1: going to watchers keep makes the lead party member remove from the map... this is a game breaking bug so I may have to restart
I think this is a SCS v32 component that makes Watcher's Keep accessible only at the beginning of ToB. I had the same problem with Amahoro, but she could visit the keep in ToB.
I think this is a SCS v32 component that makes Watcher's Keep accessible only at the beginning of ToB. I had the same problem with Amahoro, but she could visit the keep in ToB.
yes but the problem is I didn't ask scs to install that
update on this bug;
the scripts are busted when you travel from the forrest or hidden refuse (the two wild mage areas) to watchers keep or from watchers to these two maps but there is a work around;
starting from one of the wild mage areas
step 1 return to city gates
step 2 now goto watchers... when you leave watchers do not goto the wild mage areas without going to a different map first
I spotted some glasses that tells me info on magic items and had to have it but of course that left me sort when it came time to ask about a licence. I asked two thieves to help me save Viconia... it looks like the no casting without a licence rule isn't for Clerics about to be barbequed?
having Viccy makes dealing with the undead for Hexxat much easier and my fire pet killed the boss
with that out of the way we collected Neera and did a few errands for her before popping into Watchers to gather some nice loot... I was hopping for a +3 dagger but the halberd will sell and Hexxat was able to trap the big lug in a corner so I'm pretty happy
- The magic license is just for arcane magic. The Cowled Wizards don't care about divine magic, so Viconia can cast whatever she wants out on the streets.
- The number of statues that appear in Watcher's Keep level 1 is dependent on your protagonist's level/XP. I think one of the statues that spawns at a higher level drops a generic +3 dagger.
De'Arnise keep is a complete disaster: upgraded Spirit Trolls without enough castings of Chaotic Commands and relatively high saving throws is basically group save-or-dies with every casting of Greater Command. We encountered two groups on the way to the drawbridge, and the first casting knocked out 4/6 of our team, Thael fortunately surviving with Half-Elf resistance to sleep: Chaotic Commands was out at this point. He and Nalia manage to clear out the first set with copious amounts of AoE spells, and Thael converts every 5th level priest spell to Raise Dead. Only Thael, Nalia, and Mazzy are alive.
We Raised Jaheira, and as she collected her armor... apparently a SECOND group spawned. Mazzy and Jaheira are Greater Commanded, Thael luckily saving again. We don't win the fight, and resort to invisibility to save Nalia and Thael. Thael tries to Raise Dead further down in the courtyard, only for the two Spirit Trolls to follow them. Thael goes invisible again, but Nalia is interrupted and killed off. Thael opens the drawbridge alone, hoping for some help from the guards, but they only help with the spawned ones. Whatever. A couple of summons and two rests later in a safe-ish location (and invisible), and everyone is Raised and everyone is the heck out of the De'Arnise Keep. Nalia can wait.
We get back from that deathtrap. Jaheira is found by the Harpers, and we recruit Skie: she's a pure Thief, and since I have traps and locks covered, I throw everything into Detect Illusion and Pickpocketing. No more CLW determining our staying power.
Mazzy's quest also starts, so we end up heading to Trademeet. More gold and more importantly more reputation is never a bad thing. We kill Pala's poisoner quickly, dropping Mazzy off to let her recover. Upon resting there to get some Pro. from Petrification spells, Jaheira returns. I was planning on taking Cernd to the grove, but she'll be just fine as the main druid for the challenge. 4 Pro. Petrification spells later, and the Genies are forcibly removed from Trademeet.
Now, for the Druid Grove, which means more Spirit Trolls. Fortunately, their casts this time are Flame Strike (which almost killed Jaheira from full health), and an interrupted Unholy Blight. Even so, they're a pain and a half to actually kill, since we lack a melee weapon that can do fire or acid damage, and Mazzy has the entire stash of Acid and Fire arrows: we have to rely on spells to kill them. We go through the entire rest of the southern quadrant invisibly, only "breaking" it for Keldorn to snipe off a few Shambling mounds. I'm getting way too used to invisible walls.
The rest break for the mushroom spawners and the grizzly bears before the Dalok fight. We get down a Silence and take out 1/2 casters. The other one manages to get an Insect Plague on Jaheira, and she flees any attempt we made to Remove Fear. We have enough spell power to break down the remaining druid, and after a couple potions tanking the Adherent, we clear the fight and get the Burning Earth. I can actually kill trolls now! I still don't want to! Fortunately, all we have to do is pre-cast Improved Invisibility on Jaheira, and her poison damage from her Python form is enough to finish off Faldorn.
Back at Trademeet, we pick up Mazzy, kill Rejeik for the final time, and settle a family feud by giving the fancy hat to the mayor. We purchase a few spell scrolls, Tansheron's Bow, Cloak of Displacement, and Belt of Inertial Barrier. The first goes to Mazzy, and second and third to Thael for further safety. He's almost at all negatives after Improved Invisibility, but not quite. After fleeing a Slaver ambush, we get to the Harper Hold where we prepare for the fight.
Jaheira is affected by Chaos: this has happened so many darn times but I'm reluctant to use consumables for roughly minor fights. Thael throws out an Assassin vines, as it's a 5th level spell that thus bypasses GoI, and can break through stoneskins (counts as a normal hit, or 2 normal hits?) Their mage casts Remove Magic anyways, so Keldorn blasts everyone with his own Dispel. Mages fall, the priest falls, and the thief eventually falls. After looting the area, we get out and begin the Thief stronghold quests.
After resting for the correct time of day, we steal a necklace, lose a Mook, remember to purchase a Nymph's cloak before having to kill the bartender, and blast a high level mage with Dispel Magic and True Seeing, and level up.
A series of fetch quests later, and Keldorn continues to show how broken his kit is by constantly revealing the thieves. In the basement, Assassin Vines and Cloudkill in the area are absolutely broken, and we soon flush out all the thieves and Rayic himself.
Onto the main quest! The two traitors are quite easy to deal with, and we're in the Graveyard district for the first time. After fighting some spiders, including a rest to get an Invisibility - Sunfire combination going, we're infiltrating the vampire's base. We have only one source of NPP, and Thael's keeping it on permanently. Keldorn is our main vampire killer with Azuredge, and Tanova is our main first difficulty.
I try bombing her offscreen with everything. When I finally send someone to check on her, she triggers all her contingencies and is at full health. Crud. We retreat immediately, foddering summons at her slowly, and finally turn to fight in the first room. Thael is invisible, but the others have +2 or better weapons equipped, and Keldorn finally dusts her.
We clear out the rest of the dungeon methodically, and finally it's time for Bodhi. She has a really good AC and a decent MR, so Yoshimo and Skie don't have the THAC0 to hit her consistently and Thael's spellbook is tapped anyways. After spawning her, I'm reminded of her disabling spell, so I retreat Thael, and our two thieves to the room with the giant table while the others try to kite her and make her retreat. They fortunately manage to do it before the Haste spell runs out. We get out of there, and we head immediately to Spellhold.
I forgot to buy the Shield of Reflection, and maybe 1 or 2 items from Waukeen's Promenade, and I have no arrows of dispelling either. Ah well. To break through Perth the Adept's defenses, we need to use Secret Word, Spell Thrust, and finally Breach. I probably could've made it faster with Keldorn's Dispel Magic, but the result is the same: one Wardstone and one dead Adept.
The book of infinite spells lands on True Seeing... which isn't necessary as long as Keldorn lives. I'm not sure if I'm willing to risk it just yet. After taking a beating from Galvena's guards, we absorb her mage's spells with summons and we come in to clean it all up.
Spellhold. We choose to lose a point of DEX, and after around 20 area transitions fail to get Bhaal to follow us as he's supposed to. After a quick Console use to spawn a new version inside, we take him down.
Say what you want about the Silvershields, their messengers are hardcore: one comes up and gives a message to Skie in the depths of Spellhold.
There's a bit more, but I'll cut the update here and get some sleep.
Reprise was anxious to get into Spellhold quickly, so used improved haste to attack Perth from invisibility - killing him before he could buff.
In Spellhold Kaliara made regular use of her death spells to thin the crowds, while hold undead and destroy undead made short work of, well, undead.
Reprise was still adjusting to the loss of his Bhaal powers and had not had the foresight to buy any strength potions. However, digging into his bag he found the 22 strength from a fire giant potion was enough to break open one sealed container.
The tokens found there enabled him to activate a cobbling machine to provide Kaliara with some speedy boots.
More improved haste saw Irenicus' plans for domination ruined and he gave his going away speech immediately after the end of Wanev's time stop.
Reprise then took the opportunity to get some vicarious revenge for all the area damage he's suffered by viciously cutting down Kaliara .
Stealing a horn opened an exit by ship - which shortly arrived in pieces in Fish City. There wasn't much threatening there, but there was an important acquisition when Reprise picked up the Cloak of Mirroring.
The addition of immunity to spell damage to his existing low saving throws makes him even more of a nightmare for a mage to deal with. The king realized far too late that he was not in fact being helped against his rival. The prince was a bit quicker on the uptake, but was not quite fast enough to outrun Azuredge.
In the Underdark a balor was cut down to get a sun gem. Vithal refused to give us his hoard, so Kaliara tried to get a quick kill with FoD. Fortunately she failed in that attempt after blanching as the projectile was reflected back at her.
After Vithal used imprisonment on an attacking efreeti, we felt able to come back into the attack and managed to finish the mage off before he could teleport away.
Reprise, dwarven defender 21, 164 HPs (incl. 5 from helm), 671 kills (+323 in BG1)
Kaliara, abjurer 18, 61 HPs, 242 kills (+97 in BG1), 0 deaths (+2 in BG1)
We entered Cloakwood, got the cloak and fought the druids. They did us serious harm with insect swarm before they died.
However after resting for 16 hours we fully recovered. The game crashed shortly afterwards. This time the liberal use of command meant that insect swarm was never cast and the party had minimal injuries.
We killed Centeol and the dragon and have finished the wyvern area. We are a bit concerned that there is no thief in the party.
We cleared Drasus and party. [They are a lot more powerful than in my previous set-ups but they also have better loot.] Hareishan and her party were killed. This levelled up Dynaheir. We therefore took Perwell to his mother at the Friendly Arms Inn and rested in preparation for the lower parts of the mines.
Being prepared made Natasha's death a formality.
Web plus area effect spells killed Morgan et al.
Having no thief, we avoided most of the effects of the traps by using invisibility to get past Davaeorn.
Webs plus area effect spells were almost sufficient by themselves. Some minor spells finished the job.
We killed Wendell on the way out and picked up Jet ‘Laya at the FAI.
We left Isra there.
We then headed south where we were attacked by davenport and his cronies. This showed up how much Jet 'Laya has been nerfed by the F n P mod (She can't even wear Jet 'Laya's Mail Armour). She died very quickly due to not being able to wear decent armour. on the good side, she CAN wear Davenport's armour.
We are therefore going to have her raised. After helping her sister, we may drop Jet in favour of Isra.
EDIT
After clearing a cave of undead, we realised that it was nearly midnight, so after buffing as well as we could we left the cave. Her sister's wail killed both mages in the party. Silence kept some of us alive.
We tried to kill her sister, but she went etherial.
I tried to save the game at that point whereupon it crashed.
Crashing is always a problem with DSoSC.
Tried again. I and a colleague got confused and we almost ended up killing each other. Fortunately that didn't happen and after sleeping we fully recovered. I decided that perhaps I should leave the area and raise the dead before returning, and perhaps drop off Dynaheir and let Isra rejoin.
I have already raised the mages and have discovered that I currenly have several options as to what to do next. I have already bought some scrolls, but perhaps need more. I certainly need more potions too.
EDIT
We did indeed exchange Dynaheir for Isra. It didn't work any better. Isra got killed by getting held by a ghoul lord. We got quite a lot of very good scrolls (and experience) when we slept in a cave in order to recover from wounds. Nearly every time sleep was interrupted by ghoul lords. In the long term it was beneficial as what we gained more than paid for raising Isra.
In the end I discovered a tactic to defeat Jet's sister. Used silence on the party. It only worked on three members so those three members were used for the assault.
They couldn't be affected by wail of the banshee and so they eventually prevailed.
Once tactics were developed for defeating the ghoul lords there was a strong temptation to use that cave for experience farming particularly since so many powerful scrolls were dropped there. [9000 experience per sleep that was interrupted]
Otho gave me a good mace for Jet. Elminster then blessed it and told me to go to somebody holy to get it improved. I went to Keldath and Jarent but neither has mentioned it so I'm wondering where I should take it.
Ceres killed Muhaley and left the Mines after getting the documents. We had a rough time against Nimbul, he was one hit short of killing Ceres after stunning her with Chromatic Orb, but her Fireshield got him.
Ceres killed Tranzig and joined the Bandits to infiltrate their camp. There, she charmed Taugosz to help her fight Tazok, but he died before he could be of any help, so she had to kite Tazok on her own. I finally triggered his farewell speech with a Lightning Bolt, which was actually aimed at some skeletons I had to make spawn because the first target of a Lightning Bolt does not seem to take any damage from it. Even if the spell does apply the damage on the first target sometimes, I wasn't willing to gamble. Right after I was done with Tazok, I picked up the letters from his tent and left for the Cloakwood.
For the SCS bounty hunter ambushes, I only had to use Improved Invisibility to escape their opening attacks, and Web to immobilize them, although I had some trouble against the second ambush because Ceres was very low on health, but in the end, the same strategy was used and Ceres prevailed.
On the cabin area, Ceres killed both Aldeth and the Druids because the dialogue after which the Druids leave never triggered. Weird. The Spiders' area was cleared with a scroll of Prot. from Poison for level nine, and the Wyverns' was ran past by with Improved Invisibility, same for the Druids'.
I started off the fight against Drasus & Co. by casting Farsight and dropping several Webs onto the enemy party from off-screen, later followed by a Smashing Wave and Insect Plague. Everyone but Drasus died to that. It took me a while to get him because I had nothing left, but I ran away far enough to sleep, and after a bunch of foiled attempts, I managed to rest for 8 hours despite the dozen of guards and the very angry Berserker that were running after me (It seems like the guards gave up on chasing me and got an Uber, leaving Drasus alone to his death). After that, I waited out his Enrage and dropped three Webs at our feet while running in circles. That was enough to lock him down while the Spider form did the rest of the job.
For the 2nd level fight, Ceres used Farsight to spot the enemy, and took care of them with one casting of Insect Plague and two charges of the Necklace of Missiles. Got level 10 off that. I skipped the third level except for the welcoming party right out off the stairs. I had Ceres memorize four castings of Smashing Wave, then killed the Guard to Davaeron's lair and a dozen more of them trying to take a goddamn nap so I could get my spells back. Smashing Wave is pretty much the Divine counterpart of Lance of Disruption and while it's not as powerful (lower damage, small-ish AoE and I think the range is lower) it's still equally broken in BG1 because of its range.
Ceres picked whatever Davaeron had on himself up, flooded the Mines and left.
In Baldur's Gate we did some shopping at the Sorcerous Sundries, got Aldeth's brother and are on the door to the Seven Suns, waiting for our time to fillet some meat. Wait, what!?
The party of Faera, Ajantis, Alora, Baeloth, Neera, and Quayle blasted their way through the opening dungeon and managed to subdue Korlasz with elemental ammo from Alora and Ajantis.
Faera soloed Baldur's Gate, doing all the little side-quests but was joined at the Coast Way Crossing by Safana (Assassin), Glint, Edwin, and Corwin. Again all quests were undertaken. Edwin and Faera, both Hasted and PfUndead, cleaned up the repository of undead together using their wands of fire. The PfUndead scrolls lasted just long enough to clear the entire area.
Onward to the Troll Claw Woods. In BG1EE Alora had been the party assassin, albeit as an unkitted Thief. In SoD Safana had that role. SoD has hordes of enemies, but there are still several points in the game where a discreet killer who knows how to handle a dangerous single target comes in very handy. Safana shone in Chapter 9, thanks to the big-fisted belt, Lon's amulet, gauntlets of weapon expertise, and the short sword of backstabbing.
As soon as the party had freed Kherrem they traveled to the Crusader camp near Bridgefort to recruit Dorn, but his heart of was too dark for cheerful and ultimately good-natured Faera Sparklestone. He didn't last long with the party, though long enough to tank the Neothelid, before he was replaced by Baeloth. Several Webs made the cultists in the reliquary quite manageable, as it made enemies appear one or two at a time. Still Safana fell. She got confused by an Umber Hulk, beat up quite badly, received an Exaltation from Glint, then quaffed an invisibility potion just as a critical arrow was already on it way.
Faera slew Morentherene with her returning throwing dagger.
At Bridgefort Corwin made way for Neera when the wild mage and Edwin proved willing to work together in one party, to my surprise. So a warriorless party, of four wizards and two rogues it is. The party decided to battle the Crusaders at Bridgefort, attacking with the Fist. With four wizards, they provided ample AoE support (Slow, Chaos, Emotion). They also found a secure way for a non-Enchanter wizard to deal with the Crusader mage that tries to open the fire portal on the bridge: a simple Cloudkill.
As a level 5 spell a Cloudkill bypasses the mage's MGoI, and its poison damage doesn't affect the barrels. Something to remember for my Transmuter Naivasha. A couple of Webs were added to keep the enemies in the cloud, ensuring a simple victory.
The party reached the Coalition Camp, quested and traded there for many useful items, and did the same at the Dragonspear courtyard, until Faera's feigning that Baeloth wasn't with her provoked the hostility of drow-hating Sindret, and soon after the entire camp.
Fortunately handling Sindret's trolls was to be the party's last quest in that area. The Bloodied Guardian shield
and Deneld's Ring of the Crusade had already been secured.
A similar hiccup complicated things in front of the entrance to Underground River, where invisible Faera triggered a trap that made the guards go hostile. With plenty of wand, Cloudkill, and Skull Trap damage, and with the aid of the good druids' animals, the unbuffed party prevailed.
They snuck past the second group of guards behind the gate, and entered the underground area. Thankfully folks were more welcoming there, although Safana's assassination of Strunk within sight of some Crusaders caused them to go hostile. The party helped two drow escape to the surface by faking their deaths, did business with Bellowgulp, placed the barrel of bwoosh, saved the good druids' tree under stealth (and forgot to report back about it), and entered Kanaglym, where Neera was finally able to communicate with Adoy who had been in her head all the time, Faera slew Zhadroth for his robe, spirits were released into the fugue plane, and necromancers were battled alongside Halatahlaer because the party was too slow in dealing with Kherriun.
Still, Cloudkill and skeletons did a good job at neutralizing the enemy mages and the dragon spirit in spite of the latter's level-draining attacks. The Undead Sentry, the toughest melee foe was Blinded.
The poisoning of the food and water supplies and confronting Hephernaan in the Dragonspear Castle basement is one of the hardest parts of the game in my view. Full buffs and extreme aggression might well be the best way to handle that area. Faera's party tried stealth and that caused them a lot of trouble. Faera went and poisoned the water supply invisibly, while the others waited by the elevator. When a Crusader cleric started a casting of True Seeing, everyone used oils of speed to make it to Hephernaan's room before they could be detected. There was no one there, except one crusader who was promptly taken out by Safana.
The priest's True Seeing was waited out before Glint went to the food storage room and poisoned the food. He also ran into Heph there, and "backstabbed" him with his club. He and Safana then made it back to the lift, but the others weren't so successful. They were lucky to make it to the bedroom next to the food storage room before an other True Seeing found them out.
A quick peek in the main hall showed the gate in the middle of the room blocked by what must have been at least two dozen Crusaders. And they weren't going anywhere... Faera buffed against sword, missile, and magic and cast a Teleport Field at the gate. She miraculously survived a Breach.
Detection spells revealed Bealoth, Edwin, and Neera.
They all found a way through the gate though, toward the lift. Neera got Confused but was saved by Glint on the elevator with an Exaltation. She escaped with 2 HPs.
More hostile Crusaders and another True Seeing spell in the Underground River area led to Edwin's fall, before the others could deal with the enemy.
Rough as this part was, the Crusader attacks on the Coalition Camp went rather smooth, thanks mostly to lots of fireballs from wands and necklaces. The huge battle at Dragonspear Castle was swiftly ended by Faera as she bested Ashatiel in a duel. Faera had prebuffed with new Abjuration spells, including Spell Shield, a spell that Ashatiel didn't seem to know. It made Faera win a little game of mage chess. She stripped her opponent of her buffs and protections, went in for quick strikes with Aule's Staff, and finished her with the wand of fire to burn through the Half-Elf's Sanctuary.
It was the last time she'd use the wand of fire because all that remained now were fire resistant fiends.
Avernus was manageable with buffed up Glint tanking fiends, Safana liberally quaffing invisibility potions to take out foes with backstabs, and pre-laid Skull Traps softening up Thrix's fiends (thanks @ussnorway). In the final battle I had to reload, much to my vexation. It turned out after a long while, because we had been using Greater Restoration scrolls, that Argent was unkillable. So enemies would keep pounding away at her.
The only solution I could come up with was to get rid of one party member on the elevator, and recruit Caelar Argent. Neera offered up her spot. Calear took Hephernaan's Dispel Magic.
Everyone was protected against fire and electricity damage and against mind-affecting magic, and everyone had their AC and saves as low as possible. Glint acted as a tank next to Caelar. He had quaffed the violet potion and potions of fortitude, agility, power, and speed, and he also had some of the best protective items equipped (Daeros's full plate, bloodied guardian shield, ring of the crusade, among other things). Safana's job was to deliver her powerful backstabs to Belhifet, Edwin's to cast Greater Restoration on Caelar and maybe Glint, and Faera and Baeloth would cast detection spells to remove Belhifets improved invisibility and to try and lower Belhifet's magic resistance. Baeloth also enchanted Glint's club.
Belhifet thwarted several castings of Lower Resistance by going invisible just in time, leaving Baeloth and Faera with little to do other than casting Lance of Disruption at Belhifet.
Edwin failed to timely Restore Caelar at one point, so she was parked in a corner with ctr-J where only one fiend actually attacked her. Everyone else was focused on Glint, Safana, Edwin, Baeloth, and Faera, so this was good enough for me.
MVP was Safana imo, landing numerous backstabs, including this critical:
As a result of Jarent wanting me to go dragon hunting I went to Nashkel where I left Isra as I met Conchobhair there and he is a more powerful paladin. Unfortunately I didn't use anywhere near enough buffs. It is far more powerful than last time I played DSoSC. Last time I was complaining that the dragon was nerfed. This one isn't!!! I will have to remember that for the future. In this set-up the dragon is as powerful as one in BG2.
Next time potions of heroism, invulnerability, fire protection, regeneration etc. etc. It is one tough dragon.
Although I lost, this has been a most enjoyable run.
A paladin run starting with an Inquisitor. Having changed my mind on the run, details to follow here.
An excellent roll. I haven't rolled one better for years.
Currently in Beregost. Intending to have a Paladin run with occasional temporary additions of non-paladins to enable quests to run. [Jet 'Laya and the like]
I have just been joined by a Tiefling martyr of Ilmater called Sirene.
After that we killed ogrillon and delivered the letter to Mirianne.
We found Jumper and took it to the owner and after killing some hobgoblins found the Colquetle amulet.
Indira’sMagic Missiles ripped into the Ankheg’s hide & she let out her curdling, guttural growl of protest. An Arrow +2 fired from Indira's Composite Short Bow +1 followed a split second later, and in short order another Ankheg shell was available for the taking. Unfortunately, the party had no one that could manage the weight, so the treasure would remain for another to cash in. She tried to remember how many. A dozen? Or more? Oh well, it did not seem to bother Dispenser or the Paladin sisters (her secret name for Isra & Sirine), so why should she care? But she was excited! That one-two combination of a Magic Missile & Arrow +2 from her Composite Short Bow +1 was masterful, & she was proud that she had finally mastered it, (she was even more excited later when Dispenser bought her a Composite Short Bow +2 at the inn in Ulgoth’s Beard). Indira was happy. On top of the world. If she had any complaints at all, it was that Dispenser never, ever seemed to get tired. Everyone in the party could be practically begging him to rest, & still he would drive on until he was tired. Now that she thought about it, though, the Paladin twins never complained, & neither did Valerie, & Imoen seemed to be made from the same stuff Dispenser, so neither did she complain. Suddenly, Indira felt a little sheepish – she knew it was usually her that complained first, & whined the loudest. But her sword does get heavy.
The trip to Ulgoth’s Beard had been relatively uneventful with no casualties. After they left FAI, they passed through a fishing village where three men tried to dupe Dispenser into killing a Priestess of Umberlee - & failed. Isra has a habit of Detecting Evil in any & all situations & as soon as Dispenser agreed, she divulged the men’s evil intent. Stupidly, the men chose to respond with hostility, rather than just accepting that their gig was not going to work in this instance. Dispenser did find the Priestess of Umberlee later, but she was a little girl , & likely innocent in this case. Both Isra & Sirine urged restraint, & no further violence was warranted. The big attraction in the Fishing Village were the Ankheg’s, females in heat, that had been overly aggressive. Sadly, a nest of caves near a farmhouse contained the body of a little boy, the son of the farmer. Dispenser, returned the man’s son, & assuaged his grief a bit w/100 gp, to help him keep the farm running. Further north, the Farmlands had been overrun w/Zombies, but Dispenser relieved them of the nemesis. From there, they moved east, to Ulgoth’s Beard.
A TREASURE . . . AND A child.
Indira was pumped that she had managed to increase her arcane abilities & was able to memorize another spell from her book – Hold Person. She always loved it when she was able to expand her lethality. She looked around at those in the room. Dispenser had taken the only room at the Ulgoth’s Beard Inn big enough to accommodate them all & it was a royal room. He really had no choice if they were going to stay inside. Dispenser was the big guy. The stern, Priest, more like a Paladin of Tyr, unwavering in his pursuit of good & justice, untiring, relentless - but kind to those with whom he surrounded himself. He made her nervous and yet, she felt at ease also. She liked Isra & Sirine – they were just so – so businesslike. She never felt like she could make a connection with them – they kinda stuck together, no room for a third she sensed. And, Valerie might as well have been a Paladin, even though in practice she was a Sorceress. She was just like them, although, she mostly kept to herself. Imoen was fun, more like Indira than any of them, carefree & fearless, never complaining . . . okay, she thought, maybe I am the only one that complains. Still, Imoen was most like her. She sighed.
PARTY INFO
ORDER OF MARCH: Indira (recon), Sirine & Isra (shock), Dispenser (leader), Imoen (Traps), Valerie (Arcane support)
So in the Spellhold asylum, I'm only really scared of 3 things: the Beholder guarding the ring of free action, Yuan-ti mages with Flesh to Stone and Chaos in the trapped level, and Fireball from a Pit Fiend. Also, apparently the Ruhk throws out 60 Cold damage per hit with some spells, so that's fun.
For the Pit Fiend, we prebuff with Protection From Fire mage spells, but a few are hit by Remove Magic and Imoen is forced to drink a potion of fire resistance to survive it. I keep forgetting about the 3 potions of Ice Dust I still have: it would've been a much better solution. Imoen with Enchanted Weapon and Mazzy shoot it down, though.
Chaos and Cloudkills are enough to deal with the Yuan-ti mages here, and the Beholder is dealt with by a pair of Skeleton Warriors.
The rest of the floor proceeded fairly simply: Death Ward on Keldorn gives him safety taking down the paintings from the trapped room, we have enough crushing weapons for the Clay Golems. Keldorn is cursed, but Thael can remove it when we finally rest. Trolls are irritatingly difficult to actually kill, but there's at most 1 Spirit Troll in this fight and we have Rings of Regeneration to repair any incidental damage. Thael stays far away when we engage Bodhi, and he does the whole Slayer Transformation thing, and after we take down the remaining enemies, lock Thael behind a door and rest.
After a few more riddles, we prepare for Lonk the Sane. I forget that killing him instantly gets us into battle with Irenicus, and we don't have time to cast any prebuffs. The fight begins in utter chaos: Thael immediately Shadow Doors and heads northeast, and the others head south. We focus Jaheira, but she still gets an Insect Plague off at our Jaheira, so she heads north to avoid infecting the rest of us, with fake Keldorn chasing her. The inmates dies like flies to Irenicus, and Thael drops an Assassin Vine on Irenicus to try to interrupt his spellcasts: I think it worked once. Then this happened.
140 damage from Otiluke's Freezing Sphere. That... should be impossible if caster level for this spell is capped at 20. I expected the Evocation spell to be another Magical Sword, but... wow. See that Thael had a Spell Thrust ready to go? That's swapped to Invisibility immediately to get him out of the way of any further possible IWD spells. Soon after, very, very fortunately, Irenicus leaves due to Assassin Vine damage.
There's still a hostile Imoen and Mazzy alive, and Mazzy's the real issue: both our Imoen and Skie are killed off by her while they're Confused, but one last rally and True Seeing mean that the murderers aren't really a threat. One rest and we're out, and this time we don't screw up the dialogue and actually go with Saemon. We finally get to purchase some Potions of Genius for Imoen to scribe scrolls, and after a few tasks we get our boat sunk.
I really, really hate the Githyanki assault: there's Psionic stuns and unconsciousness threats all around, and no time to buff up to prevent any of it. Both Keldorn and Imoen bite it, but as long as Thael lives, we're fine. Mostly. Another rest to Raise Dead, more riddles and some traps, we get what we actually came from: the Cloak of Mirroring.
We don't rest until deposing the king: I tend to like to clear maps in one go if I possibly can and this is why I probably lose more runs than necessary. I buff up with overlapping Death Wards to find their bonus to death saves (from Faiths and Powers, I think?) are stacking. -24 saves vs death is nice. Summons and disablers for this fight.
We rest before the Underdark. The first Drow group has multiple spellcasters, so we bomb them from afar with stuff like Delayed Blast Fireball, Assassin Vines, and Cloudkill, and Keldorn's Dispel Magic. Skeleton Warriors clean up the rest of the mess.
The Balor fight. This is incredibly dangerous due to Vorpal strikes, and I don't have many ways of dealing with him at range. I thought I'd have enough with Enchanted Weapon boosting Skie and Keldorn, but a Remove Magic took that down to just Mazzy. I forgot that Azuredge is technically a +3 weapon that just has no damage boost, and have Keldorn go in with Lilaarcor, and Keldorn is vorpalled for my trouble. I'm screaming internally at this point. The other retreat out of that room, and I successfully get the Balor to chase only Mazzy. She saves vs numerous Symbols of Stunning and Death, and is only Dominated once before I loot the helm of Charm Protection off of Keldorn's headless corpse. Mazzy still needs an Oil of Speed and a heck of a lot of kiting, but we eventually kill the Balor.
So at this point I'm just thinking of getting out of the Underdark alive. First, I took out the second Drow group with more disablers and quite a few summons: Mazzy can work as a front-line, but she's also my best back-line damager so... Issues abound. We get the Drow transformation, enter the city, purchase everything we want, and immediately leave for the Kuo-Toan tunnels. Both Thael and Mazzy are protected by Chaotic Commands, and Imoen and Skie have the Escape Artist feat: if they're Stunned, they'll automatically cast Remove Paralysis in a round or two. We clear the Kuo-Toan and the Beholders, and prepare the fight against the Drow guarding the exit. Past experience has convinced me that Adalon teleporting us here without us killing the guards beforehand is a death sentence.
This fight was so bloody close to being a disaster. We killed the Glazebrus fine, but Thael was hit by Remove Magic, including Death Ward. We had slowed down the Drow with Assassin Vines and summons, but their Cleric still made it through and it has something making it immune to projectiles, and we're killing it extremely slowly. The end result of this is that the Cleric manages to cast a Symbol of Death that catches everyone in it... And everyone makes their save. 1 roll away from death there. We leave the tunnels instantly, rebuff up, and kill the Cleric properly this time. There's two drow and an Efreeti left: we catch the Efreeti in a Chaos and it kills one of the Drow, and we have enough to kill the other one and that leaves just the Efreeti. The exit is clear.
I fully expected a timer to go off in Ust Natha while doing this... but we haven't failed yet, somehow. I keep pressing the issue, doing quest after quest, and somehow never fail anything. We always maintain invisibility in the city to avoid being talked to by the Aboleth's guard, so we never had to do anything outside of the main quest. Well, except kill some jellies, but I sent two Shambling Moulds after them and ran to do the ritual. The Moulds didn't win, while we negotiated with a demon, but whatever. A Shadow Door, two Improved Invisibility and natural Stealth are enough to get us out... and the city doesn't go hostile! We rest one time, use an Invisibility 15", and we get out of the Underdark alive!
We've currently recruited Cernd as our replacement tank, and have a 6th rotating spot currently occupied by Rasaad. I'm mildly surprised we've made it this far: I think this is the 3rd or 4th time I've ever gotten out of the Underdark.
You may have already read this higher up the page. It isn't there any more. I have just added the images inside the spoilers.
Journal of Templar the Trustworthy
In Nashkel we found some ankheg armour and some minor items and then went to the carnival where we killed Zordral in order to save Bentha.
We then went south where together we were able to kill Zargos Flintblade. At that point I reached level 2, the same as Sirene.
After finding Aerie's boots and killing Greywolf, I also reached level 3. It was then that the level 2 Isra joined us.
We found a warm place for Noober to stay whilst he recovered from a cold and then at the inn Neira, another assassin attacked us and paid the ultimate price for it.
We then returned to Beregost and returned the Colquetle amulet after which we killed Silke and helped Eltoth get back into shape.
We then calmed down Marl and took a tome to Firebead before going to High Hedge and trying to find Perdue's sword.
We then helped Mellicamp and Tonder get back into shape before taking little-little-ugh to Ugh.
At that point Sirene reached level 4.
We were then attacked by Tristan and Isolde.
They are now deceased. They are passed on. They are no more. They have ceased to be! They are dead.
We headed to the area north of the carnival and killed several bandits, ogres etc. Sadly Isra died, but Aerie put that right at a cost.
Rufie was then reunited with his owner after which Vax and Zal were eliminated.
Krumm was the next killed with the result that we had a reputation of 20.
A cat was rescued next, but unfortunately our reputation could go no higher.
It's funny how little you have to do to be considered heroes.
(I've actually discovered that in RL. Due to our culture going downhill over the last few decades, just giving up time to help people is considered heroic. When I was young, that was considered normal behaviour. Sad that it isn't still the case. )
We then went ankheg hunting and killed all that we could find. Only one of them caused us any hurt, but it DID hurt.
We rested and then went to the Temple of Lathander where we picked up Gavin and were asked to deal with Bassilus.
This we did.
We then killed Zargal and cronies.
We were then asked to fight Mutamin. We have dealt with Peter's group but it is now bedtime.We rested and then went to the Temple of Lathander where we picked up Gavin and were asked to deal with Bassilus.
This we did.
We were then asked to fight Mutamin.
On the way we killed some powerful wolves.
We have dealt with Peter's group, Gavin's spells being invaluable in silencing their spells.
We finished Gavin's quests by killing Mutamin and Valerie.
We dropped him off at the temple and then Isra and Sirene to make room for Xzar, Montaron, Jaheira and Khaled.
We dropped them off at Nashkel after Montaron had picked up several items.
I then picked up Isra and Sirene again and after that we picked up Ajantis. He is one level behind the rest of us at level 5.
IMOEN was freezing. She wondered what it would have been like had it not been the month of Nightal when they came to this rock. Her teeth were chattering non-stop, and she was too cold to sleep. She could not imagine how bad it would have been if it was not already midwinter on the Sword Coast - at least they had some cold weather wear. Dispenser had accepted an offer from a mage named Shandalar in Ulgoth’s Beard but before they could prepare for the journey they were teleported to a small, windswept, ice island far out in the sea. Shandalar gave them a wardstone to allow them to return to Ulgoth’s Beard on condition that they retrieved a cloak for the mage but they had not found it yet – and she wondered if she was too cold to try anymore. So far, they had defeated five mages and they were no closer to finding the cloak than they were when they first arrived. They were trying to rest, hidden in a small anteroom a short distance from a stairway that led down from the topside of the island. Beneath was a series of sharply cut 10’x10’ tunnels and rectangular rooms of varying size.
FIRST OF A BUNCH OF MAGES!
She drifted into a dream. In it, Dispenser morphed into a hideous beast that destroyed everything, and everyone, in its path. As her dream became a nightmare, she realized she kept going toward the monster, rather than away. She had a strange sense that there was something familial about the creature even though she had no doubt it would rip her to shreds. Still, she could not keep from trying to get to the monster, to – save – it. Suddenly it realized she was there, and reeled to confront her. Imoen felt a sharp terror in her heart, fight or flight, but in her deep sleep she could not wake up. The monster kept coming . . .
She started awake! Her head was foggy, she was exhausted – and then she realized she was cold, very, very cold. She almost wished she could go back into the dream. They were still on this island, but even underground, it was bitter cold. Would they ever get out of here? They were in the middle of a sea she did not know, surrounded by endless icy water, with a wardstone that she could not even be sure would work if they found the cloak. She was too tired and too cold to care.
PARTY INFO
ORDER OF MARCH: Imoen (Traps), Indira (recon), Sirine & Isra (shock), Dispenser (leader), Valerie (Arcane support)
Corebrawl and his band of fighters have made it through BG 1. The run was pretty uneventful. The fighters pretty much plowed through all opposition. Even Sarevok couldn't last more than 3 rounds. Was unable to get a screenshot of the final battle for some reason.
We went to the gnoll stronghold and rescued Dynaheir, headed north and killed everyone who was evil, getting a pair of boots in the process.
We then went to the wilderness lake where we helped Drizzt and killed a lot of bad guys, bandits, half-ogres, gnolls and the like.
We then went the area where the archeologist is working and were able to find Dynaheir's Journal and she was then very helpful in killing xvarts in and near their village.
we made our deal to wipe out the thieves and Hexxat needed another job done there so we grabbed the dagger * then I helped nature boy get his kid back and picked up a slave bard to replace him... theives are mostly human so cloulds and lightning cut them up with Hexxat scounting \ backstabbing \tanking (immune to cloud)
* there is a bug that stops the Neera Quest if you do this before starting hers but I want the dagger before going to get sis so its worth the risk
I'm wondering what effects the girdle of gender has other than the obvious.
None. I sometimes get the helm of opposite alignment for him too.
& this time his carefulness ( ? ) ran out in the temple of Bhaal cum Cyric, not long after the previous update. He'd managed to get past gargantuan spiders, a young green dragon and her sister, the neothelid, and even buffed up properly to face down a mind flayer only for Shallen (archer near the mind flayer) to be able to hit Blaggerd at will.
That weak spot was to use only two fireballs on the enemies, and Blaggerd clouding his aura with a poison weapon before being hemmed in by M'Khiin's spirit summons. Unable to retreat, Blaggerd tried to move forward but Shallen had sufficient distance to finish the job.
THAC0 of -2, acid arrows for 14-19 damage and 7/2 attacks per round. Always easy to think the mind flayer is the only danger here but clearly not the case.
---
So off he goes again from Candlekeep. He's not got time for companions and has rapidly made his way into the city of Baldur's Gate.
Comments
BG:EE
After leaving Candlekeep he quickly recruited Imoen, Viconia and Edwin. This necessitated killing Dynaheir, and at some stage Blaggerd tried on the cursed girdle of gender which will remain until either SoA or death.
It was intended to recruit Dorn but he died in his initial ambush encounter so Blaggerd grabs his sword and we have to make do with only one Blackguard.
The party of four.
(Faldorn plus a wolf, Tiax plus a ghast)
SoD
If you are careful, the safehouse can be straightforward to deal with. Blaggerd plays a bit too fast and loose with a Shadowed Soul though, and almost pays the price - Safana and Faldorn not being quite so fortunate.
(Blaggerd being Blaggerd, he forgets Imoen will dump all her gear in a separate container and doesn't remember to retrieve it until we have left the city hence it is unobtainable. This means the party thief will have less gear to choose from)
Once Blaggerd is on his own he sells a few items, and re-recruits Viconia before leaving the city. Glint is persuaded to be the party thief while Edwin marches straight back into the arcane opening. Baeloth and M'Khiin are met just up the road, and Blaggerd decides to keep the shaman but not the sorcerer.
We help a vampire against a pair of hunters and kill all but the hobgoblin guarding the bridge to the north. A crusader mage destroys the bridge so we take advantage of the mayhem to kill the hobgoblin too.
Blaggerd uums and aahs before deciding to help the dwarves of Dumathoin. He gets held and almost takes another early bath but Viconia and Glint both have remove paralysis memorised and between them they keep the blackguard alive even though Glint gets level-drained.
We exit south to find an alternate way north, and on to the wyvern forest. A spider cave there looks enticingly dark and dank, and so it proves. We drag M'Khiin's spider-stabbed corpse back to camp and suggest Mizhena remove the poison and raise her for the sum of 800gp. Blaggerd promises to be more careful in future, although his intepretation is that so long as he survives and the lackeys can be raised all is well.
You can surrender the fort without Khalid. It's probably a good job you only used one skull trap at the bridge - the barrels don't take well to a lot of area damage
Reprise (male dwarven defender, Grond0); Kaliara (female human abjurer, Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1092559/#Comment_1092559
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1092815/#Comment_1092815
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1093046/#Comment_1093046
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1095922/#Comment_1095922
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1096251/#Comment_1096251
At the temple ruins we were still under 2M XP and only faced greater mummies in the undead ranks.
At the Planar Sphere Reprise was sent into limbo by Kayardi.
We immediately moved on to another planar adventure. The bounty hunter mage at the prison failed to spot new arrivals and went down to a single blow.
On being released from prison, we had the last two vampire encounters in quick succession. Reprise was drained during those and relied once more on Kaliara to run interference while he threw Azuredge. That was complicated by the appearance of a set of muggers and Kaliara took a rare healing potion before the last of the vampires bit the dust.
There was one slightly unexpected encounter at the Docks when Kaliara popped her head into Prebek's house and found a couple of mages there, despite Renfeld having died earlier. Kaliara released a skull trap to clear the house and we checked the Harper HQ to see if they had anything to say about that - but no free tours were on offer.
A loose end was pursued at the slums where we attempted to get a Lathander relic back. That involved speaking with Travin, but he obviously knew trouble was in store and was reluctant to show himself at the proper time. A couple of area transitions and a number of rests later he finally deigned to appear.
After making the improved MoD we reported into Aran Linvail for the final time. We hadn't finished all the possible work around Athkatla, but decided to head early for Spellhold in search of some boots of speed for Kaliara. On arrival there Reprise had the luxury of equipping the iMoD and standing his ground against some ambushing vampires.
Reprise, dwarven defender 18, 155 HPs (incl. 5 from helm), 506 kills (+323 in BG1)
Kaliara, abjurer 16, 59 HPs, 209 kills (+97 in BG1), 0 deaths (+2 in BG1)
a fresh install to clear out the bugs and we followed my Fire pet around for a quick easy exit... later sis, lets just leave these here
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3041 // Reduce the number of Arrows of Dispelling in stores -> Stores sell a maximum of 5 Arrows of Dispelling: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4150 // Allow the Cowled Wizards to detect spellcasting in most indoor, above-ground areas in Athkatla: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6550 // Smarter beholders: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6560 // Smarter mind flayers: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix"): v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8090 // Party's items are taken from them in Spellhold: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Rebalanced troll regeneration: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Improved Drow: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Improved Watcher's Keep: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Improved Sendai's Enclave: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v32.5
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v32.5
Pity about forgetting the gear
@Grond0 @Gate70 @semiticgod @ussnorway Looking good.
I think this is a SCS v32 component that makes Watcher's Keep accessible only at the beginning of ToB. I had the same problem with Amahoro, but she could visit the keep in ToB.
yes but the problem is I didn't ask scs to install that
the scripts are busted when you travel from the forrest or hidden refuse (the two wild mage areas) to watchers keep or from watchers to these two maps but there is a work around;
- starting from one of the wild mage areas
step 1 return to city gatesstep 2 now goto watchers... when you leave watchers do not goto the wild mage areas without going to a different map first
I spotted some glasses that tells me info on magic items and had to have it but of course that left me sort when it came time to ask about a licence. I asked two thieves to help me save Viconia... it looks like the no casting without a licence rule isn't for Clerics about to be barbequed?
having Viccy makes dealing with the undead for Hexxat much easier and my fire pet killed the boss
with that out of the way we collected Neera and did a few errands for her before popping into Watchers to gather some nice loot... I was hopping for a +3 dagger but the halberd will sell and Hexxat was able to trap the big lug in a corner so I'm pretty happy
- The magic license is just for arcane magic. The Cowled Wizards don't care about divine magic, so Viconia can cast whatever she wants out on the streets.
- The number of statues that appear in Watcher's Keep level 1 is dependent on your protagonist's level/XP. I think one of the statues that spawns at a higher level drops a generic +3 dagger.
Update 1
Update 2
Update 3
De'Arnise keep is a complete disaster: upgraded Spirit Trolls without enough castings of Chaotic Commands and relatively high saving throws is basically group save-or-dies with every casting of Greater Command. We encountered two groups on the way to the drawbridge, and the first casting knocked out 4/6 of our team, Thael fortunately surviving with Half-Elf resistance to sleep: Chaotic Commands was out at this point. He and Nalia manage to clear out the first set with copious amounts of AoE spells, and Thael converts every 5th level priest spell to Raise Dead. Only Thael, Nalia, and Mazzy are alive.
We Raised Jaheira, and as she collected her armor... apparently a SECOND group spawned. Mazzy and Jaheira are Greater Commanded, Thael luckily saving again. We don't win the fight, and resort to invisibility to save Nalia and Thael. Thael tries to Raise Dead further down in the courtyard, only for the two Spirit Trolls to follow them. Thael goes invisible again, but Nalia is interrupted and killed off. Thael opens the drawbridge alone, hoping for some help from the guards, but they only help with the spawned ones. Whatever. A couple of summons and two rests later in a safe-ish location (and invisible), and everyone is Raised and everyone is the heck out of the De'Arnise Keep. Nalia can wait.
We get back from that deathtrap. Jaheira is found by the Harpers, and we recruit Skie: she's a pure Thief, and since I have traps and locks covered, I throw everything into Detect Illusion and Pickpocketing. No more CLW determining our staying power.
Mazzy's quest also starts, so we end up heading to Trademeet. More gold and more importantly more reputation is never a bad thing. We kill Pala's poisoner quickly, dropping Mazzy off to let her recover. Upon resting there to get some Pro. from Petrification spells, Jaheira returns. I was planning on taking Cernd to the grove, but she'll be just fine as the main druid for the challenge. 4 Pro. Petrification spells later, and the Genies are forcibly removed from Trademeet.
The rest break for the mushroom spawners and the grizzly bears before the Dalok fight. We get down a Silence and take out 1/2 casters. The other one manages to get an Insect Plague on Jaheira, and she flees any attempt we made to Remove Fear. We have enough spell power to break down the remaining druid, and after a couple potions tanking the Adherent, we clear the fight and get the Burning Earth. I can actually kill trolls now! I still don't want to! Fortunately, all we have to do is pre-cast Improved Invisibility on Jaheira, and her poison damage from her Python form is enough to finish off Faldorn.
Jaheira is affected by Chaos: this has happened so many darn times but I'm reluctant to use consumables for roughly minor fights. Thael throws out an Assassin vines, as it's a 5th level spell that thus bypasses GoI, and can break through stoneskins (counts as a normal hit, or 2 normal hits?) Their mage casts Remove Magic anyways, so Keldorn blasts everyone with his own Dispel. Mages fall, the priest falls, and the thief eventually falls. After looting the area, we get out and begin the Thief stronghold quests.
A series of fetch quests later, and Keldorn continues to show how broken his kit is by constantly revealing the thieves. In the basement, Assassin Vines and Cloudkill in the area are absolutely broken, and we soon flush out all the thieves and Rayic himself.
Onto the main quest! The two traitors are quite easy to deal with, and we're in the Graveyard district for the first time. After fighting some spiders, including a rest to get an Invisibility - Sunfire combination going, we're infiltrating the vampire's base. We have only one source of NPP, and Thael's keeping it on permanently. Keldorn is our main vampire killer with Azuredge, and Tanova is our main first difficulty.
I try bombing her offscreen with everything. When I finally send someone to check on her, she triggers all her contingencies and is at full health. Crud. We retreat immediately, foddering summons at her slowly, and finally turn to fight in the first room. Thael is invisible, but the others have +2 or better weapons equipped, and Keldorn finally dusts her.
We clear out the rest of the dungeon methodically, and finally it's time for Bodhi. She has a really good AC and a decent MR, so Yoshimo and Skie don't have the THAC0 to hit her consistently and Thael's spellbook is tapped anyways. After spawning her, I'm reminded of her disabling spell, so I retreat Thael, and our two thieves to the room with the giant table while the others try to kite her and make her retreat. They fortunately manage to do it before the Haste spell runs out. We get out of there, and we head immediately to Spellhold.
I forgot to buy the Shield of Reflection, and maybe 1 or 2 items from Waukeen's Promenade, and I have no arrows of dispelling either. Ah well. To break through Perth the Adept's defenses, we need to use Secret Word, Spell Thrust, and finally Breach. I probably could've made it faster with Keldorn's Dispel Magic, but the result is the same: one Wardstone and one dead Adept.
The book of infinite spells lands on True Seeing... which isn't necessary as long as Keldorn lives. I'm not sure if I'm willing to risk it just yet. After taking a beating from Galvena's guards, we absorb her mage's spells with summons and we come in to clean it all up.
Spellhold. We choose to lose a point of DEX, and after around 20 area transitions fail to get Bhaal to follow us as he's supposed to. After a quick Console use to spawn a new version inside, we take him down.
Say what you want about the Silvershields, their messengers are hardcore: one comes up and gives a message to Skie in the depths of Spellhold.
There's a bit more, but I'll cut the update here and get some sleep.
Reprise (male dwarven defender, Grond0); Kaliara (female human abjurer, Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1092559/#Comment_1092559
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1092815/#Comment_1092815
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1093046/#Comment_1093046
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1095922/#Comment_1095922
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1096251/#Comment_1096251
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1096927/#Comment_1096927
Reprise was anxious to get into Spellhold quickly, so used improved haste to attack Perth from invisibility - killing him before he could buff.
In Spellhold Kaliara made regular use of her death spells to thin the crowds, while hold undead and destroy undead made short work of, well, undead.
More improved haste saw Irenicus' plans for domination ruined and he gave his going away speech immediately after the end of Wanev's time stop.
Stealing a horn opened an exit by ship - which shortly arrived in pieces in Fish City. There wasn't much threatening there, but there was an important acquisition when Reprise picked up the Cloak of Mirroring.
In the Underdark a balor was cut down to get a sun gem. Vithal refused to give us his hoard, so Kaliara tried to get a quick kill with FoD. Fortunately she failed in that attempt after blanching as the projectile was reflected back at her.
Reprise, dwarven defender 21, 164 HPs (incl. 5 from helm), 671 kills (+323 in BG1)
Kaliara, abjurer 18, 61 HPs, 242 kills (+97 in BG1), 0 deaths (+2 in BG1)
after thinking it over I decided the Druid quests should be got out of the way
However after resting for 16 hours we fully recovered. The game crashed shortly afterwards. This time the liberal use of command meant that insect swarm was never cast and the party had minimal injuries.
We killed Centeol and the dragon and have finished the wyvern area. We are a bit concerned that there is no thief in the party.
We cleared Drasus and party. [They are a lot more powerful than in my previous set-ups but they also have better loot.]
Being prepared made Natasha's death a formality.
Web plus area effect spells killed Morgan et al.
Having no thief, we avoided most of the effects of the traps by using invisibility to get past Davaeorn.
Webs plus area effect spells were almost sufficient by themselves. Some minor spells finished the job.
We killed Wendell on the way out and picked up Jet ‘Laya at the FAI.
We left Isra there.
We then headed south where we were attacked by davenport and his cronies. This showed up how much Jet 'Laya has been nerfed by the F n P mod (She can't even wear Jet 'Laya's Mail Armour). She died very quickly due to not being able to wear decent armour. on the good side, she CAN wear Davenport's armour.
We are therefore going to have her raised. After helping her sister, we may drop Jet in favour of Isra.
EDIT
After clearing a cave of undead, we realised that it was nearly midnight, so after buffing as well as we could we left the cave. Her sister's wail killed both mages in the party. Silence kept some of us alive.
We tried to kill her sister, but she went etherial.
I tried to save the game at that point whereupon it crashed.
Crashing is always a problem with DSoSC.
Tried again. I and a colleague got confused and we almost ended up killing each other. Fortunately that didn't happen and after sleeping we fully recovered. I decided that perhaps I should leave the area and raise the dead before returning, and perhaps drop off Dynaheir and let Isra rejoin.
I have already raised the mages and have discovered that I currenly have several options as to what to do next. I have already bought some scrolls, but perhaps need more. I certainly need more potions too.
EDIT
We did indeed exchange Dynaheir for Isra. It didn't work any better. Isra got killed by getting held by a ghoul lord. We got quite a lot of very good scrolls (and experience) when we slept in a cave in order to recover from wounds. Nearly every time sleep was interrupted by ghoul lords. In the long term it was beneficial as what we gained more than paid for raising Isra.
In the end I discovered a tactic to defeat Jet's sister. Used silence on the party. It only worked on three members so those three members were used for the assault.
They couldn't be affected by wail of the banshee and so they eventually prevailed.
Once tactics were developed for defeating the ghoul lords there was a strong temptation to use that cave for experience farming particularly since so many powerful scrolls were dropped there. [9000 experience per sleep that was interrupted]
Otho gave me a good mace for Jet. Elminster then blessed it and told me to go to somebody holy to get it improved. I went to Keldath and Jarent but neither has mentioned it so I'm wondering where I should take it.
For the SCS bounty hunter ambushes, I only had to use Improved Invisibility to escape their opening attacks, and Web to immobilize them, although I had some trouble against the second ambush because Ceres was very low on health, but in the end, the same strategy was used and Ceres prevailed.
On the cabin area, Ceres killed both Aldeth and the Druids because the dialogue after which the Druids leave never triggered. Weird. The Spiders' area was cleared with a scroll of Prot. from Poison for level nine, and the Wyverns' was ran past by with Improved Invisibility, same for the Druids'.
I started off the fight against Drasus & Co. by casting Farsight and dropping several Webs onto the enemy party from off-screen, later followed by a Smashing Wave and Insect Plague. Everyone but Drasus died to that. It took me a while to get him because I had nothing left, but I ran away far enough to sleep, and after a bunch of foiled attempts, I managed to rest for 8 hours despite the dozen of guards and the very angry Berserker that were running after me (It seems like the guards gave up on chasing me and got an Uber, leaving Drasus alone to his death). After that, I waited out his Enrage and dropped three Webs at our feet while running in circles. That was enough to lock him down while the Spider form did the rest of the job.
For the 2nd level fight, Ceres used Farsight to spot the enemy, and took care of them with one casting of Insect Plague and two charges of the Necklace of Missiles. Got level 10 off that. I skipped the third level except for the welcoming party right out off the stairs. I had Ceres memorize four castings of Smashing Wave, then killed the Guard to Davaeron's lair and a dozen more of them trying to take a goddamn nap so I could get my spells back. Smashing Wave is pretty much the Divine counterpart of Lance of Disruption and while it's not as powerful (lower damage, small-ish AoE and I think the range is lower) it's still equally broken in BG1 because of its range.
In Baldur's Gate we did some shopping at the Sorcerous Sundries, got Aldeth's brother and are on the door to the Seven Suns, waiting for our time to fillet some meat. Wait, what!?
BG1: 1
The party of Faera, Ajantis, Alora, Baeloth, Neera, and Quayle blasted their way through the opening dungeon and managed to subdue Korlasz with elemental ammo from Alora and Ajantis.
Onward to the Troll Claw Woods. In BG1EE Alora had been the party assassin, albeit as an unkitted Thief. In SoD Safana had that role. SoD has hordes of enemies, but there are still several points in the game where a discreet killer who knows how to handle a dangerous single target comes in very handy. Safana shone in Chapter 9, thanks to the big-fisted belt, Lon's amulet, gauntlets of weapon expertise, and the short sword of backstabbing.
At Bridgefort Corwin made way for Neera when the wild mage and Edwin proved willing to work together in one party, to my surprise. So a warriorless party, of four wizards and two rogues it is. The party decided to battle the Crusaders at Bridgefort, attacking with the Fist. With four wizards, they provided ample AoE support (Slow, Chaos, Emotion). They also found a secure way for a non-Enchanter wizard to deal with the Crusader mage that tries to open the fire portal on the bridge: a simple Cloudkill.
The party reached the Coalition Camp, quested and traded there for many useful items, and did the same at the Dragonspear courtyard, until Faera's feigning that Baeloth wasn't with her provoked the hostility of drow-hating Sindret, and soon after the entire camp.
A similar hiccup complicated things in front of the entrance to Underground River, where invisible Faera triggered a trap that made the guards go hostile. With plenty of wand, Cloudkill, and Skull Trap damage, and with the aid of the good druids' animals, the unbuffed party prevailed.
The poisoning of the food and water supplies and confronting Hephernaan in the Dragonspear Castle basement is one of the hardest parts of the game in my view. Full buffs and extreme aggression might well be the best way to handle that area. Faera's party tried stealth and that caused them a lot of trouble. Faera went and poisoned the water supply invisibly, while the others waited by the elevator. When a Crusader cleric started a casting of True Seeing, everyone used oils of speed to make it to Hephernaan's room before they could be detected. There was no one there, except one crusader who was promptly taken out by Safana.
Avernus was manageable with buffed up Glint tanking fiends, Safana liberally quaffing invisibility potions to take out foes with backstabs, and pre-laid Skull Traps softening up Thrix's fiends (thanks @ussnorway). In the final battle I had to reload, much to my vexation. It turned out after a long while, because we had been using Greater Restoration scrolls, that Argent was unkillable. So enemies would keep pounding away at her.
The only solution I could come up with was to get rid of one party member on the elevator, and recruit Caelar Argent. Neera offered up her spot. Calear took Hephernaan's Dispel Magic.
Everyone was protected against fire and electricity damage and against mind-affecting magic, and everyone had their AC and saves as low as possible. Glint acted as a tank next to Caelar. He had quaffed the violet potion and potions of fortitude, agility, power, and speed, and he also had some of the best protective items equipped (Daeros's full plate, bloodied guardian shield, ring of the crusade, among other things). Safana's job was to deliver her powerful backstabs to Belhifet, Edwin's to cast Greater Restoration on Caelar and maybe Glint, and Faera and Baeloth would cast detection spells to remove Belhifets improved invisibility and to try and lower Belhifet's magic resistance. Baeloth also enchanted Glint's club.
Belhifet thwarted several castings of Lower Resistance by going invisible just in time, leaving Baeloth and Faera with little to do other than casting Lance of Disruption at Belhifet.
As a result of Jarent wanting me to go dragon hunting I went to Nashkel where I left Isra as I met Conchobhair there and he is a more powerful paladin. Unfortunately I didn't use anywhere near enough buffs. It is far more powerful than last time I played DSoSC. Last time I was complaining that the dragon was nerfed. This one isn't!!! I will have to remember that for the future. In this set-up the dragon is as powerful as one in BG2.
Next time potions of heroism, invulnerability, fire protection, regeneration etc. etc. It is one tough dragon.
Although I lost, this has been a most enjoyable run.
An excellent roll. I haven't rolled one better for years.
Currently in Beregost. Intending to have a Paladin run with occasional temporary additions of non-paladins to enable quests to run. [Jet 'Laya and the like]
I have just been joined by a Tiefling martyr of Ilmater called Sirene.
After that we killed ogrillon and delivered the letter to Mirianne.
We found Jumper and took it to the owner and after killing some hobgoblins found the Colquetle amulet.
The trip to Ulgoth’s Beard had been relatively uneventful with no casualties. After they left FAI, they passed through a fishing village where three men tried to dupe Dispenser into killing a Priestess of Umberlee - & failed. Isra has a habit of Detecting Evil in any & all situations & as soon as Dispenser agreed, she divulged the men’s evil intent. Stupidly, the men chose to respond with hostility, rather than just accepting that their gig was not going to work in this instance. Dispenser did find the Priestess of Umberlee later, but she was a little girl , & likely innocent in this case. Both Isra & Sirine urged restraint, & no further violence was warranted. The big attraction in the Fishing Village were the Ankheg’s, females in heat, that had been overly aggressive. Sadly, a nest of caves near a farmhouse contained the body of a little boy, the son of the farmer. Dispenser, returned the man’s son, & assuaged his grief a bit w/100 gp, to help him keep the farm running. Further north, the Farmlands had been overrun w/Zombies, but Dispenser relieved them of the nemesis. From there, they moved east, to Ulgoth’s Beard.
A TREASURE . . . AND A child.
Indira was pumped that she had managed to increase her arcane abilities & was able to memorize another spell from her book – Hold Person. She always loved it when she was able to expand her lethality. She looked around at those in the room. Dispenser had taken the only room at the Ulgoth’s Beard Inn big enough to accommodate them all & it was a royal room. He really had no choice if they were going to stay inside. Dispenser was the big guy. The stern, Priest, more like a Paladin of Tyr, unwavering in his pursuit of good & justice, untiring, relentless - but kind to those with whom he surrounded himself. He made her nervous and yet, she felt at ease also. She liked Isra & Sirine – they were just so – so businesslike. She never felt like she could make a connection with them – they kinda stuck together, no room for a third she sensed. And, Valerie might as well have been a Paladin, even though in practice she was a Sorceress. She was just like them, although, she mostly kept to herself. Imoen was fun, more like Indira than any of them, carefree & fearless, never complaining . . . okay, she thought, maybe I am the only one that complains. Still, Imoen was most like her. She sighed.
ORDER OF MARCH: Indira (recon), Sirine & Isra (shock), Dispenser (leader), Imoen (Traps), Valerie (Arcane support)
MONSTERS DEFEATED: Ankheg’s (13/1 – FV/WC), Bandits (11 – FV), Zombies (20 – Fl) Jebadoh, Sonner & Telman (FV), Kobolds (3 - W)
Legend: Farmlands (Fl), Fishing Village (FL), Waylaid (W), Wyrm’s Crossing (WC)
LEVEL UP: Indira Fighter (6)/Mage 6
NOTEWORTHY TREASURE GAINED: (Gold = ~ 1100 gp [40,613))
Armor & weapons: Flail +1, Studded Leather Armor (TBD)
Gems/jewelry: Ruby Ring, Mithral Ring, Fire Opal Ring
Potions: Cloud Giant Strength, Magic Protection
Scrolls: Lightning Bolt
Wands: Wand of Fire
Misc & Artifacts: Bowl of Water Elemental Control
BEST KILL:
1) Isra, Dispenser, Sirene: Greater Basilisks (7000 exp each)
2) Valerie: Shoal the Neried (5000 exp)
3) Indira & Imoen: Vampiric Wolves (2000 exp ea)
CURRENT DISPOSITION: Resting, recuperating & resupplying at Ulgoth’s Beard
NEXT STEPS: Ice Island
PARTY MAKEUP: (Reputation: 20 - Heroic)
Dispenser: Cleric (Holy Justice of Tyr)/7 (HP 49) Mail of the Dead +2, Shield of the Stars +1 w/Girdle of Bluntness & Ring of Free Action; L/Sword +2/+1* & Warhammer +2/ (+1)* (SWS*) & Wand of the Heavens; Spells: Defensive Harmony, Animate Dead, Dispel Magic, Holy Smite, Chant, Draw/Holy Might, Hold Person, Silence 15’, Slow Poison, Bless, Command, Doom, Protection from Evil; Remove Fear; Abilities: Cure Affliction (2), Healing Touch (2), Hold person, Strength of One; Divine Might; (None) (1)
Sirine: Paladin of Ilmatar (Martyr)/7 (HP 56) Full Plate & Cloak of Protection +2; 2H/Sword +1** (Flail**, THWS**) & Gauntlets of Weapons Expertise; Abilities: Sacrifice, Martyrdom, Lay on Hands (3), D/Evil (8); (Advanced AI) (2)
Isra: Paladin (Cavalier of Sune)/7 (HP 61) Fallorain’s Plate Mail +1 w/2H/Sword +2 (Spiders Bane)** & Morning Star +1** w/ Gauntlet’s of Weapon Skill, (THWS**, Mc/MS*), ), Abilities: Remove Fear (6), Prot/Evil (6), Lay Hands, D/Evil (9), Cure Disease; (Advanced AI) (3)
Indira: Fighter/Mage 6/6 (HP 31) Indira’s Chain Vest, Ring of Protection +2,Girdle of Piercing & Boots of Speed; Composite Short Bow +2*** w/Bracers of Archery & L/Sword +1***; Spells; Haste, Flame Arrow, Hold Person, Melf’s Acid Arrow (2), Magic Missile (4); (Advanced AI) (4)
Imoen: Thief/Adventurer//8 (HP 47) Leather w/Ring/Prot +1 & Darkveil; S/bow +1* & Dagger of Venom* (Short Sword/Ninja-to*); Skills: OL 90, PP 45, FT 90, MS 85, HS 90, DI 25, ST 30, w/Master Belt & Boots of Stealth; (Thief Ranged) (6)
Valerie: Sorcerer/7 (HP 20) Robe of the Good Arch-Magi & Ring/Protection +1; Ring Energy, Necklace of Missiles, Sling +1* (Dart*); Spells: Remove Magic, Spell Thrust, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Ray of Enfeeblement (5), Web, Magic Missile (5), Chromatic Orb (#), Spook (5),Sleep (5), (Advanced AI) (5)
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
(Current AI) (Chain of Command rank)
Introduction
Update 1
Update 2
Update 3
Update 4
So in the Spellhold asylum, I'm only really scared of 3 things: the Beholder guarding the ring of free action, Yuan-ti mages with Flesh to Stone and Chaos in the trapped level, and Fireball from a Pit Fiend. Also, apparently the Ruhk throws out 60 Cold damage per hit with some spells, so that's fun.
The Balor fight. This is incredibly dangerous due to Vorpal strikes, and I don't have many ways of dealing with him at range. I thought I'd have enough with Enchanted Weapon boosting Skie and Keldorn, but a Remove Magic took that down to just Mazzy. I forgot that Azuredge is technically a +3 weapon that just has no damage boost, and have Keldorn go in with Lilaarcor, and Keldorn is vorpalled for my trouble. I'm screaming internally at this point. The other retreat out of that room, and I successfully get the Balor to chase only Mazzy. She saves vs numerous Symbols of Stunning and Death, and is only Dominated once before I loot the helm of Charm Protection off of Keldorn's headless corpse. Mazzy still needs an Oil of Speed and a heck of a lot of kiting, but we eventually kill the Balor.
So at this point I'm just thinking of getting out of the Underdark alive. First, I took out the second Drow group with more disablers and quite a few summons: Mazzy can work as a front-line, but she's also my best back-line damager so... Issues abound. We get the Drow transformation, enter the city, purchase everything we want, and immediately leave for the Kuo-Toan tunnels. Both Thael and Mazzy are protected by Chaotic Commands, and Imoen and Skie have the Escape Artist feat: if they're Stunned, they'll automatically cast Remove Paralysis in a round or two. We clear the Kuo-Toan and the Beholders, and prepare the fight against the Drow guarding the exit. Past experience has convinced me that Adalon teleporting us here without us killing the guards beforehand is a death sentence.
This fight was so bloody close to being a disaster. We killed the Glazebrus fine, but Thael was hit by Remove Magic, including Death Ward. We had slowed down the Drow with Assassin Vines and summons, but their Cleric still made it through and it has something making it immune to projectiles, and we're killing it extremely slowly. The end result of this is that the Cleric manages to cast a Symbol of Death that catches everyone in it... And everyone makes their save. 1 roll away from death there. We leave the tunnels instantly, rebuff up, and kill the Cleric properly this time. There's two drow and an Efreeti left: we catch the Efreeti in a Chaos and it kills one of the Drow, and we have enough to kill the other one and that leaves just the Efreeti. The exit is clear.
I fully expected a timer to go off in Ust Natha while doing this... but we haven't failed yet, somehow. I keep pressing the issue, doing quest after quest, and somehow never fail anything. We always maintain invisibility in the city to avoid being talked to by the Aboleth's guard, so we never had to do anything outside of the main quest. Well, except kill some jellies, but I sent two Shambling Moulds after them and ran to do the ritual. The Moulds didn't win, while we negotiated with a demon, but whatever.
Journal of Templar the Trustworthy
In Nashkel we found some ankheg armour and some minor items and then went to the carnival where we killed Zordral in order to save Bentha.
We then went south where together we were able to kill Zargos Flintblade. At that point I reached level 2, the same as Sirene.
After finding Aerie's boots and killing Greywolf, I also reached level 3. It was then that the level 2 Isra joined us.
We found a warm place for Noober to stay whilst he recovered from a cold and then at the inn Neira, another assassin attacked us and paid the ultimate price for it.
We then returned to Beregost and returned the Colquetle amulet after which we killed Silke and helped Eltoth get back into shape.
We then calmed down Marl and took a tome to Firebead before going to High Hedge and trying to find Perdue's sword.
We then helped Mellicamp and Tonder get back into shape before taking little-little-ugh to Ugh.
At that point Sirene reached level 4.
We were then attacked by Tristan and Isolde.
They are now deceased. They are passed on. They are no more. They have ceased to be! They are dead.
We headed to the area north of the carnival and killed several bandits, ogres etc. Sadly Isra died, but Aerie put that right at a cost.
Rufie was then reunited with his owner after which Vax and Zal were eliminated.
Krumm was the next killed with the result that we had a reputation of 20.
A cat was rescued next, but unfortunately our reputation could go no higher.
It's funny how little you have to do to be considered heroes.
(I've actually discovered that in RL. Due to our culture going downhill over the last few decades, just giving up time to help people is considered heroic. When I was young, that was considered normal behaviour. Sad that it isn't still the case.
We then went ankheg hunting and killed all that we could find. Only one of them caused us any hurt, but it DID hurt.
We rested and then went to the Temple of Lathander where we picked up Gavin and were asked to deal with Bassilus.
This we did.
We then killed Zargal and cronies.
We were then asked to fight Mutamin. We have dealt with Peter's group but it is now bedtime.We rested and then went to the Temple of Lathander where we picked up Gavin and were asked to deal with Bassilus.
This we did.
We were then asked to fight Mutamin.
On the way we killed some powerful wolves.
We have dealt with Peter's group, Gavin's spells being invaluable in silencing their spells.
We finished Gavin's quests by killing Mutamin and Valerie.
We dropped him off at the temple and then Isra and Sirene to make room for Xzar, Montaron, Jaheira and Khaled.
We dropped them off at Nashkel after Montaron had picked up several items.
I then picked up Isra and Sirene again and after that we picked up Ajantis. He is one level behind the rest of us at level 5.
FIRST OF A BUNCH OF MAGES!
She drifted into a dream. In it, Dispenser morphed into a hideous beast that destroyed everything, and everyone, in its path. As her dream became a nightmare, she realized she kept going toward the monster, rather than away. She had a strange sense that there was something familial about the creature even though she had no doubt it would rip her to shreds. Still, she could not keep from trying to get to the monster, to – save – it. Suddenly it realized she was there, and reeled to confront her. Imoen felt a sharp terror in her heart, fight or flight, but in her deep sleep she could not wake up. The monster kept coming . . .
She started awake! Her head was foggy, she was exhausted – and then she realized she was cold, very, very cold. She almost wished she could go back into the dream. They were still on this island, but even underground, it was bitter cold. Would they ever get out of here? They were in the middle of a sea she did not know, surrounded by endless icy water, with a wardstone that she could not even be sure would work if they found the cloak. She was too tired and too cold to care.
PARTY INFO
ORDER OF MARCH: Imoen (Traps), Indira (recon), Sirine & Isra (shock), Dispenser (leader), Valerie (Arcane support)
MONSTERS DEFEATED: Andris (Mage/11 - II), Snow Golem (2 - II), Garan (Mage-Thief 9/9), Marcellus (Mage-Conjurer/6 - II), Beyn (Fighter-Mage 8/8 - II), Cuchol (Fighter-Mage 8/8 - II), Dezkiel (Fighter-Mage 9/8), Ankhegs (4 – II), Winter Wolves (11– II ), Polar Bears (3 - II)
Legend: Ice Island (II)
LEVEL UP: None
CASUALTIES: Indira (Ankheg – II)
NOTEWORTHY TREASURE GAINED: (Gold = ~ 396 gp [45,062))
Armor & weapons:
Gems/jewelry:
Potions:
Scrolls: Fireball, Remove Magic, Skull Trap
Wands: Paralyzation, Monster Summoning, Fear
Misc & Artifacts:
BEST KILL:
1) Isra, Dispenser, Sirene: Greater Basilisks (7000 exp each)
2) Valerie: Shoal the Neried (5000 exp)
3) Indira & Imoen: Vampiric Wolves (2000 exp ea)
CURRENT DISPOSITION: Resting, recuperating & resupplying at Ulgoth’s Beard
NEXT STEPS: Isle of Balduran
PARTY MAKEUP: (Reputation: 20 - Heroic)
Dispenser: Cleric (Holy Justice of Tyr)/7 (HP 49) Mail of the Dead +2, Shield of the Stars +1 w/Girdle of Bluntness & Ring of Free Action; L/Sword +2/+1* & Warhammer +2/ (+1)* (SWS*) & Wand of the Heavens; Spells: Defensive Harmony, Animate Dead, Dispel Magic, Holy Smite, Chant, Draw/Holy Might, Hold Person, Silence 15’, Slow Poison, Bless, Command, Doom, Protection from Evil; Remove Fear; Abilities: Cure Affliction (2), Healing Touch (2), Hold person, Strength of One; Divine Might; (None) (1)
Sirine: Paladin of Ilmatar (Martyr)/7 (HP 56) Full Plate & Cloak of Protection +2; 2H/Sword +1** (Flail**, THWS**) & Gauntlets of Weapons Expertise; Abilities: Sacrifice, Martyrdom, Lay on Hands (3), D/Evil (8); (Advanced AI) (2)
Isra: Paladin (Cavalier of Sune)/7 (HP 61) Fallorain’s Plate Mail +1 w/2H/Sword +2 (Spiders Bane)** & Morning Star +1** w/ Gauntlet’s of Weapon Skill, (THWS**, Mc/MS*), ), Abilities: Remove Fear (6), Prot/Evil (6), Lay Hands, D/Evil (9), Cure Disease; (Advanced AI) (3)
Indira: Fighter/Mage 6/6 (HP 31) Indira’s Chain Vest, Ring of Protection +2,Girdle of Piercing & Boots of Speed; Composite Short Bow +2*** w/Bracers of Archery & L/Sword +1***; Spells; Haste, Flame Arrow, Hold Person, Melf’s Acid Arrow (2), Magic Missile (4); (Advanced AI) (4)
Imoen: Thief/Adventurer//8 (HP 47) Leather w/Ring/Prot +1 & Darkveil; S/bow +1* & Dagger of Venom* (Short Sword/Ninja-to*); Skills: OL 90, PP 45, FT 90, MS 85, HS 90, DI 25, ST 30, w/Master Belt & Boots of Stealth; (Thief Ranged) (6)
Valerie: Sorcerer/7 (HP 20) Robe of the Good Arch-Magi & Ring/Protection +1; Ring Energy, Necklace of Missiles, Sling +1* (Dart*); Spells: Remove Magic, Spell Thrust, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Ray of Enfeeblement (5), Web, Magic Missile (5), Chromatic Orb (#), Spook (5),Sleep (5), (Advanced AI) (5)
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
(Current AI) (Chain of Command rank)
Corebrawl and his band of fighters have made it through BG 1. The run was pretty uneventful. The fighters pretty much plowed through all opposition. Even Sarevok couldn't last more than 3 rounds. Was unable to get a screenshot of the final battle for some reason.
You will next hear from Corebrawl in Amn.
We went to the gnoll stronghold and rescued Dynaheir, headed north and killed everyone who was evil, getting a pair of boots in the process.
We then went to the wilderness lake where we helped Drizzt and killed a lot of bad guys, bandits, half-ogres, gnolls and the like.
We then went the area where the archeologist is working and were able to find Dynaheir's Journal and she was then very helpful in killing xvarts in and near their village.
we made our deal to wipe out the thieves and Hexxat needed another job done there so we grabbed the dagger * then I helped nature boy get his kid back and picked up a slave bard to replace him... theives are mostly human so cloulds and lightning cut them up with Hexxat scounting \ backstabbing \tanking (immune to cloud)
* there is a bug that stops the Neera Quest if you do this before starting hers but I want the dagger before going to get sis so its worth the risk
& this time his carefulness ( ? ) ran out in the temple of Bhaal cum Cyric, not long after the previous update. He'd managed to get past gargantuan spiders, a young green dragon and her sister, the neothelid, and even buffed up properly to face down a mind flayer only for Shallen (archer near the mind flayer) to be able to hit Blaggerd at will.
That weak spot was to use only two fireballs on the enemies, and Blaggerd clouding his aura with a poison weapon before being hemmed in by M'Khiin's spirit summons. Unable to retreat, Blaggerd tried to move forward but Shallen had sufficient distance to finish the job.
THAC0 of -2, acid arrows for 14-19 damage and 7/2 attacks per round. Always easy to think the mind flayer is the only danger here but clearly not the case.
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So off he goes again from Candlekeep. He's not got time for companions and has rapidly made his way into the city of Baldur's Gate.