Only Dragonspear's basement is left on the to-do list for the underground river. We use a scroll of invis 10' and huddle against the wall as I figure out who's going to poison the food and water. But our newly-made maggot golem goes berserk, exposing our position. I have it self-destruct after it calms down.
Nyx leaves invisibility to lure the crusaders away from the elevator and then enters stealth. Nukesalot escorts her to poison the supplies and then to Hephernaan's room to frees Daeros, then re-casts invisibility. Morpheus levels up to Shapeshifter 13 and gets the Greater Werewolf form, finally. Nukesalot's improved cloak of non-detection will stop low-level attempts at revealing him and if worse comes to worse, he can cast SI: Divination to prevent true sight. They both make it back to the elevator but we still have to beat Heifer to escape. Yin jumps over the fence with Shadow Walk and casts Merciless Blizzard which gets everyone's attention, then jumps back over and returns to the elevator. Heifer and his toadies crowd into the elevator room, but Heifer is beaten by casting Breach on him.
Now crusaders are pouring into the room. We can still leave at any time but I want to see how far I can take this before we're forced to retreat. DeBuff enters melee mode and Yin casts another Merciless Blizzard just outside the room to slow/prevent any more crusaders from coming in. Nukesalot focuses on taking out the defenses of Heifer's toadies, then Yin summons his shades. Night Terrors from a devil shade causes them to panic.
Merciless Blizzard is so effective at keeping the crusaders at bay that we are able to kill everything inside the elevator room by the time it dissipates, and it leaves nothing behind in its AoE. But now more crusaders are teleporting in and so are the named goons.
Yin's shades are immune to the blizzard. Morpheus uses Yin's Boots of the North and has Nukesalot use a scroll of protection from cold on him, allowing him to fight inside the blizzard as well. The crusaders are frozen to the bone, hardly able to move or take any actions, but an archer nearly kills Morpheus who has to duck into the elevator room to heal. But thanks to his quick regeneration, he is able to return to the fight in a few rounds. Yin uses his 4th and final casting of Blizzard and it's enough to finally overwhelm the named crusaders. The only one left is a Sun Soul monk who gets beaten down.
Camp siege. I crashed during the fight against panicked clerics who caused the named goons to appear so this is the 2nd attempt. Trolls are kept at bay with Merciless Blizzard while archers fired on them. Anyone who dared to leave its AoE was quickly cut down.
Against the wizards, DeBuff uses Expunge Magic to dispel their buffs, Nukesalot uses Greater Malison against them, then Morpheus uses Insect Plague... but this also turned out like before, causing a wizard to run toward the barrels and start the cleric wave and then the named goon wave. But what better way to keep enemies from advancing than a Merciless Blizzard+Web+Grease combo!? Not a single enemy got past this wall after the initial casting.
This causes casualties on our side as well, but with Merciless Blizzard's brutal effectiveness it didn't even matter. Another Blizzard+Web combo stopped all the named goons in their tracks and killed them. Anyone who miraculously wasn't paralyzed was level drained by wraiths to make sure they were frozen solid.
Siege of Dragonspear. Merciless Blizzard is once again our main workhorse. We also freeze the orcs guarding the troll pen.
Gosh, doesn't that just look tasty as hell?
Ashatiel challenges Krieg to a 1v1 but immediately decides against it for some reason. Now we're forced to kill EVERYONE. Great...
Ashatiel teleports away toward the back line and we're forced to carve our way through the lane. Blizzard is cast at Ashatiel and her followers in the back and it only manages to finally kill them off after its duration was almost over. Nukesalot spams Chaotic Weave and gets a useless Wish, then tries again only to discover that most enemies are dead already.
More named goons up north. This is Yin's last casting of Blizzard but they're the only ones left worth using it on anyway.
Finally. I much prefer beating Ashatiel to doing this, but I went whole hog on Dragonspear's basement so I might as well have done it on the siege of Dragonspear too.
Hellbound. Yin powers up the party with Dark Passage while Nukesalot's Chaotic Weave is getting more reliable. We fight Thrix and his goons after we get a helmet from him. Dark Passage:
Party-wide powerup with indefinite distance and duration:
- +4 to all stats/THAC0/damage, +6 AC, +50% MR/elemental resistance, level drain immunity, Haste.
- Caster cannot take any actions and must save vs. death at -4 every round or take 10% of his HP in damage.
- Connection can be manually severed but caster must save vs. death at -2 or be stunned for 2 rounds.
Big B. I'm only slightly intimidated. His first action is to go improved invis instead of dispelling magic, so Nukesalot readies True Sight while Yin fires his summoning spell sequencer.
Then Belhifet uses his Remove Magic on Nukesalot to no effect, as he has SI: Abjuration active and Yin is protected by Shadow Screen, preventing dispels altogether. Then Yin fires his super debuffing spell trigger: Shatter Weave+Sigil of Misfortune+Shadow Missile. Due to the projectile speeds of each spell, they all resolve after Shatter Weave! Now Belhifet's MR is temporarily 0% and his saving throws are now penalized by 11! Ouch!
Nukesalot adds in Greater Malison and Yin closes in for the kill with Possession. Belhifet obviously fails to save vs. spell at -22. Short of using a Potion of Magic Shielding, nothing in the entire game can save at that kind of penalty. Possess properties:
Save vs. spell at -7 or be controlled by the caster for 10 turns. Target's physical stats are maxed. Undispellable, ignores MR; only immunity to opcode 241 (control creature) can prevent this, which only Dukes Belt and Liia Jannath have. Even if the target somehow breaks free of the possession by their AI or something, the spell will reassert control every round. Releasing control of the target deals 5d10 nonlethal damage to it and knocks it out (sleep) for 5 rounds.
Belhifet is directed to help kill all of his devil underlings. Once he is alone, everyone piles on and just starts wailing on him. His AI breaks free a few times and manages to cast Infernal Conveyance and his special Firestorm spell, but I manage to interrupt him anytime he attempts to gate in more creatures. When Belhifet is near death, Yin releases control of him then DeBuff crits the devil to death while in melee mode.
That's got to be humiliating.
Krieg IV - War Hulk 19
Brick - Battlerager 19
Morpheus - Fighter 13/Shapeshifter 14
DeBuff - Nightsinger 23
Yin II - Shadow Disciple 17
Nukesalot II - Chaos Sorcerer 17
The shells of the ankhegs we slew north of the FAI netted us the gold we needed to get me a suit of full plate armor from Taerom Fuiruim, technically the only armor along with plate mail that Helm allows me to wear. My companions were understanding of my desire to spend a large portion of our gold on it, as I would have to be understanding of future expenses for them.
Ending the friction between Ajantis and me by simply replacing my fellow servant of Helm turned out to be easier said than done. With time I discovered that we adventurers are a rare breed and that a substitution for Ajantis might not be found on the Sword Coast. Sure we dispatched a party of bandits with the help of a half-orc Blackguard who was all too willing to join us, but working alongside an anti-paladin was out of the question for me. What complicated things even further was the fact that Ajantis for all his noble chatter, proved to be a ferocious warrior, especially after we got him a pair of gauntlets of dexterity. When it wasn't Branwen's and/or my magic that took care of our foes,
it would often be Ajantis who stepped forward as our champion.
I respected his Helm-given fearlessness, his incorruptible nature (charm immunity), and his prowess while he at least respected my courage and my cause, but certainly not my methods. How could he not be content with all the good we were doing?
There were times I wanted nothing more than to knock some sense into him. The contrast with my other companions was stark. Jaheira excelled at her role as my guide and mentor in Gorion's absence. She knew the Sword Coast well and would often inform me of dangers that would likely await us.
Imoen was loyal to the core and a great scout, and her cheerful nature lightened our hearts. Branwen and I were birds of a feather despite our spiritual differences, and we were growing very close. And Khalid, while a bit too humble and submissive in his demeanor for my taste, was at the very least a competent archer.
I know Helm's watchful eye saw me do good just as He saw me struggle with Ajantis, and it was He who showed us the way forward, through Brother Nalin of the Nashkel Temple of Helm. We ran into former Nashkel guard captain Brage, who had gone on an inexplicable killing spree wiping out his own family among other people. We managed to calm him down, and escorted him to the Temple in Nashkel. Brother Nalin established that Brage's sword had been cursed, which explained how a lawful, self-controlled man like Brage had lost his mind. The Temple ordered us to further investigate the mystery of Brage and his sword, and we would solve it by accident. We ran into a merchant named Borda west of Nashkel, who offered us valuable items at give-away prices. This I considered suspect; his merchandise had to be contraband. I felt compelled in my role of protector of the realm to seize his wares,
but he chose to put up a fight. Borda had several magic tricks up his sleeve, hurting Khalid and putting Ajantis and Jaheira to sleep, but I struck him down with my holy Seeking Sword.
Borda's merchandise consisted of cursed wares, but we also found a perfectly fine enchanted two-handed sword and a letter from someone named Tazok. It made it clear that this was the sword that Brage had ordered but that he was given the cursed sword instead to attack his fellow soldiers and weaken the Nashkel guard.
With the evidence we had gathered, we saved Brage from capital punishment, although he didn't initially feel saved by us. Brage had wanted to pay with his life for what he still considered his own misdeeds. He was a broken man. Brother Nalin and I spoke with him repeatedly the days that followed and eventually it was agreed that Brage would become my charge, and seek redemption under my benevolent guidance. To be bestowed this solemn duty under Helm's all-seeing eye was the highest of honors I'd received in His service. Ajantis made room for Brage (Fighter) to carry out more missions for the Nashkel Temple under Brother Nalin. Ajantis graciously handed his gauntlets of dexterity to Brage, which I couldn't help but take as a sign of approval toward me.
With Brage as our new fighting man, we finally got to explore the Nashkel Mines, but that didn't work out the way we had hoped for. An extremely disciplined kobold army had taken over. Individually they were no threat, but their strength was in their numbers. The most notorious members in their ranks were sharpshooting commandos, guards with poisonous blades, a shaman, and their chieftain. They repeatedly poisoned Khalid, who failed to keep up with antidotes and got himself killed.
We retreated and returned to Nashkel where we raised him. We then decided to train ourselves further in the art of warfare, exploring the land east of the Coast Way.
We tested ourselves against bandits,
a basilisk colony,
and a hunting party we sadly had to put down for disturbing the peace.
With the experience gained, we made short work of the remaining kobolds and their half-orc commander Mulahey in the Nashkel mines.
We discovered that this Mulahey had been employed by an organized bandit company, along with two other agents we would dispatch soon after.
It was pleasant to find that Branwen and Jaheira shared my philosophy on fighting crime.
With Imoen as our scout we discovered the bandit camp in the Wood of Sharp Teeth. She estimated that there were at least 40 bandits (men and hobgoblins) at the camp, overwhelming odds. To surmount those odds we'd have to be prepared. Anticipate attacks and be ready. Know your foes. Careful planning always defeats rushed actions in the end. I hadn't forgotten about the tenets of my faith. So rather than attacking there and then, we backed off and we prepared. We explored parts of Durlag's Tower mainly to appropriate and trade forsaken treasure for potions we might need against the bandits. During our travels we were twice ambushed by groups of agents of the aforementioned bandit faction. The first party, four men, managed to Silence most of us, but not Branwen, who Held two of them.
The second group housed two backstabbing rogues, that we neutralized with explosives before they could do any harm.
The other two in that party were priestesses. One of them Held Brage, but that was all they could do against us before we put them to the sword.
When the time came to invade the bandit camp, we prepared with potions (strength, defense, regeneration) and spells, and proceeded to purge the entire area.
For some reason Khalid drew most of the aggression toward him, as had been the case in the Nashkel mines. He doesn't seem to do it on purpose. In any case, he survived this time as did we all. A successful campaign!
We learned from a prisoner of the bandits that the masterminds behind the iron crisis and the rampant banditry were an organization called the Iron Throne with a base in Cloakwood, so that's where we headed. We peacefully resolved a dispute between a hunting party and some druids that Jaheira knew, by dealing with several shadow druids in a not so peaceful way. The key to our success against these avenger druids was the Silence spell that both Branwen and I could cast.
Unable to cast their Chromatic Orbs that could petrify us, or their disruptive Chaos spells, the best they could do was shapeshift and engage in martial combat. But that wasn't enough against our war party.
Another hostile encounter before we actually entered the Iron Throne base, a mine, we had with a group of four Throne hirelings. In compliance with the tenets of my faith, we took them on carefully, strategically. We managed to Hold three of them with Webs, and killed them using a rare Cloudkill scroll and Fireballs.
Their fast-moving leader evaded those spells though. He fought with an enchanted morningstar, but failed to make an impact against Brage thanks to a potion of absorption. I took a pair of boots of speed from the warrior's corpse.
Inside the mine we had a hell of a battle against a large group of guards led by an enchantress. We thought we had successfully bottle-necked them near a prison area but saw our most vulnerable members attacked from the back.
I got Confused faster than I could quaff a potion of magic shielding and I started to attack Branwen. I would get Dominated and Blinded later as well. Khalid was slain by enemy guards in the back. Things didn't look good at all. Thankfully Brage saved against a Polymorph spell but an Emotion: Hopelessness affected him as well as Branwen and Jaheira. At this point all but one of the mage's henchmen had been dispatched and that saved us because it turned out the mage lacked firepower. The nasty effects most of us were under expired and we managed to finish our foe.
The remainder of the mine didn't give us nearly as much difficulty, and we soon reached the lair of Davaeorn, the master of the mine. Khalid and I took out two battle horrors with wand/potion scorchers, and our group managed to hold the door preventing dozens of guards from coming to their master's aid. We then had only Davaeorn to fight. We opened with a successful Silence and a Spike Growth from afar, but he caught everyone but Khalid and me in a sequencered Web and Stinking Cloud combination. Still Silenced, there was little else Davaeorn could do. Jaheira's spikes pierced his Stoneskins. He left the affected area and approached me but I invoked Helm's Seeking Sword and slew the wizard.
It felt good to fight on the side of good and under the sight of Helm.
A new party of lawful good adventurers.
Being Lawful Good, no pickpocketting or robbing locked chests in towns.
As per usual as well as my usual mods I have also re-equipped the assassins in Candlekeep to make them more dangerous and also make them worth fighting. +1 staff, daggers and sword plus better armour and 3 tomes, the tome of understanding being the only one of note.
(Screen shots coming up).
Barb found himself trapped in Spellhold with a bunch of moronic mages. Mages are always moronic, giving up a good brawl for some books. Plain right stupid.
The spell hold lich saw the door closed when he fired off his time stop spell, and got the ruff treatment afterwards when we opened the door. Irenicus died after Barb escaped the maze, and in the same unfashionable manner as all mages. Stupid magic users.
We head for fish city, and some epic selling; and 2 cloaks off course. Nothing to worry about, and some easy xp for the party.
The underdark has many dangers, and much treasure we coveted. We empty the imprisonment machine, and free a mage. We then turn on the mage for his treasure - business as usual in the underdark.
The fight against the underground mage was a gamble since he opens with PFMW, then fires off time stop and imprisonment. We counter his opening move with breach and finish him off before the time stop spell. I needed practice against mages, so the gamble was necessary in the long run. A nifty time stop scroll as reward doesn’t hurt either.
In the Kua Toa dungeons the party kill the demon knights. As a dwarf you have to get the hammer... you just have to. Rage makes the fight less of a hassle.
The beholder caverns where cleared with the Shield of Balduran and some help against the imprisonment spell. We liked the xp and needed the greenstone amulet for the next caverns. The illithids are difficult bunch, but we a -4 vs. spells and a 19 int unbuffed, it’s manageable. And with due buffs, we had no problems. We even secured 4 control circlets - for later problems.
In Ust Natha, Barb was a favourite amongst the drow female - both in taverns and at the finer places. I won’t delve in the details, but will note that Barb was quite happy to fill it his part of the disguise. We did all the quests even Taso Kalos bidding. We betrayed all but the silver dragon and got her eggs back. On the way out of the city we killed all the drow - the xp gain the main reason.
On the outside we headed to the city again. Bluffed our way past Drizzt. Sorry I have no clue who you are (dropped his scimitars before import...)?? Bodhi met her demise with ease. Minsc with mace leading the charge/slaughter. The quest is easy enough in the unmodded game.
Before reclaiming Barbs soul, we had a few things on our to do list:
Kill a Black dragon
Kill a Red dragon
Get a hammer in the sewers
Kill The twisted rune
Kill The last of the slavers.
We (Minsc with the mace if disruption and protected from undead) cleared the forgotten temple for the Umar hills quest. The undead fell easily and the dragon fell without much sweat broken. The party is strong by now, and the dragons buff didn’t hold up.
Dragon number 2 didn’t last either. The many monsters en route to the big guy fell in succession. The adamantite golems being the tougher foes, and needed special treatment (hiding in corridors). We killed Tazok in a well placed cloud kill spell... A bit farther and Windspears child had been killed. Nice aim Nalia...
Back in city, we headed underground again. The Alhoon was done in with ease. This time Barb had buffed for the fight. Preparation is always the bread winner. The hammer was ours, and a hammer upgrade was in order. Nothing says serious dwarf like a might hammer. The bucket list is looking good.
The twisted Rune was next up. We want the staff of magi - at any cost. We enter unbuffed, but with Barb under rage. We send in the summons, and trigger Shangalar. The summons (3 morty swords and 2 skellies) divert the foes, and we take down the beholder and the fighter. With undead killing items we take out the undead. The last foe fell quickly when Nalia debuffed her and the boys followed with arrows and axes. The staff is ours. A great asset for Nalia who can stay out of trouble much easier - pivotal for my plan for the WK third level.
The slavers where done in with a raged Barb who pulled out hardiness. The melee guys fell in short succession and Nalia finished the casters with a ADHW. Didn’t quite know how powerful that spell was until then. I now know why people love it. A nifty katana for our stalker as the main prize. Off to the elven city and eternal glory.
The elven city saw some epic tanking as the adamantite golems hit hard and often. Nothing to worry about in the end. The black dragon was done with more ease than the golems.
Irenicus at the tree of life is easy. I usually win the battle with the iron horn of Valhalla, the spider figurine and other one day pr usage items. Even solo fighters can win the fight. This time I drew him to close to the party by accident. I didn’t bother with a tactical retreat, but just debuffed and killed him. I am getting the hang of the mages.
In hell I managed to use another exploit. Mazing charname when you are faced with giving up xp, hp and dexterity. When charname is mazes, they can’t take the dex and hp away. Net result is the tear of Bhaal with no losses. I pull another exploit and end with 30% magical immunity and +4 saves, and summon Irenicus and co.
The demons are slayed with relative easy. The posse concentrated on Barb, and Minsc and Valygar could help expediting them with vorpal hits. Afterwards we send Valygar out to locate Irenicus under stealth. Once located we drained his spells with summons and the chaotic gang followed soon after. The result was a clear victory.
This ends SoA... onto ToB
In the pocket plane we recruited Sarevok. He may not be chaotic good - but has the potential to be. A plan of pure genius soon manifested itself... How about dualing Sarevok into a thief for some traps and then levelling him up at the ramparts of Saradush? Excellent idea: let’s commence.
We dualled Sarevok shortly after the first pocketplane trial and made our way to the ramparts. The first 2 million xp to unlock Sarevoks fighter levels where easy.
I soon got greedy. Another 3 million for HLA seemed feasible. I had auto pause off and let AI do the dirty job. Playing on my iPhone I could easily monitor the progress whilst doing other things - sounds easy? 2,3 million xp was secured within hours. When I checked up again I ways expecting more than 3 million... But the screen said game over. Thus ending the game for the Dwarwen barbarian with a wisdom score of 5. nice
It's been exactly one month since Stawk and Grond last ventured out. Fortunately for them they are stood outside the temple of Talos so fairly easy to remember to help ourselves to a necklace within. That leads to completing further quests for Mae'Var, and for Edwin. Our usual lack of caution against Rayic Gethras works to our advantage - arrows of biting nibbling away at him with the Ashideena war hammer sparking up.
Stawk pays little attention to the order of events but the below sounds like a reasonable summary of how we spent 2 hours: -
- Mook at the docks
- Traitors above the playhouse
- A smudged artwork for the temple of Helm
- Improved Mace of Disruption for Grond
- Wellyn's teddy bear
- Unite the grieving paladin and orphaned child
- Grab the spider figurine from Pai'Na
- Clear out the surface crypts in the graveyard district
- Stop the kidnapping game, but picked up silver pantaloons
- Everything in Trademeet and the druid grove
- Scare off Bodhi
There wasn't really any point where there should have been a risk of death, but towards the end Stawk was a bit too casual fighting the trio of druids outside Faldorn's hideout and was down to about 18hp - at which point Grond suggested he could finish off the final druid without rangerly assistance.
Stawk is trailing with kills, having 201 against Grond's 224. Both are level 12. Inventory:-
Now we're in Chateau Irenicus. Normally I skip this using the creatively named mod Skip Chataeu Irenicus, but this time I'll do it. All is well early on since Morpheus only needs his Greater Werewolf form to kill anything. But we get overconfident. The cambion that's been sealed up teleports away once we release it and it casts Haste and Mirror Image, then hunts us down. I overestimate Morpheus' regeneration again which gets him killed. But Yin raises him with his recently-acquired Vengeful Shade spell and we take it down. We have to carry Morpheus around using Vengeful Shade whenever we have to fight something, like the mephit portals. Vengeful Shade properties:
Party member is resurrected and their STR, DEX, and Luck are maxed and base AC is set to -6 (maxed luck means they do max damage per hit and take the minimum elemental damage from sources that are dice-based). Target gains Improved Haste and immunity to all mind-affecting spells. After one turn, the rezzed party member dies again.
Krieg levels up from killing the Otyugh in the sewer, gaining regeneration. Yin and Nukesalot level up from returning the genie's flask, which gives the latter access to Wish. It's not until later in the wand room that I remember that I can use Wish to bring back Morpheus for good, using Project Image to conserve spells.
With Morpheus back in the game, the rest of the dungeon is a breeze. DeBuff gains UAI after leaving the dungeon. Once out, we return to Dragonspear Castle to collect things I have stored for later use. I placed any loot the crusaders dropped during the Siege of Dragonspear into containers, which includes a bunch of healing potions, Ashatiel's loot, and the loot from the named goons at the northern part of the castle grounds. I also recover things from Dragonspear's basement, from the training grounds below the elevator, and from Slug's stash in the underground river. That's what I call tactical looting, but I've also done some item smuggling: only mod-added items or things that can't be imported from SoD:
- Any of Yin's Shadow Adept-exclusive gear.
- Only the Girdle of Bravery from Thalantyr Item Upgrade.
- Golem building supplies.
- Daeros' armor, Martyr's Morningstar, Sword of Ruin +2, The Bloodied Guardian +2, The Guardian Devil, Dragonscale Shield +3.
- Ring of the Crusade, Cloverleaf, Wizzard Hat, Star-strewn Boots, Stalker Gauntlets, Bard Hat (this is an exception as I thought it was for sale in the Bridge District [and have DeBuff steal it], but I remember later that it's actually in the Planar Prison).
Anyway, we take our phat l00t and sell it at Thalantyr's for great profit, but it is quickly spent for Gaelan and at Ribald's for the Staff of Rynn +4, the Robe of Vecna, and at Joluv's for the Defender of Easthaven. DeBuff steals all of the archery shop's arrows. And I notice something for sale at Maheer's, only usable by Berserkers...
Sounds good to me. Now Brick can become a damage sponge, allowing him to go berserk more often, although Enrage's damage-to-self-over-time ignores damage resistance. Mencar Pebblecrusher's party is up first. Pooky dispels all of Nukesalot's buffs, forcing him to retreat and go invisible. Morpheus and Yin are unaffected due to ISoM and Shadow Screen, while DeBuff's caster level is high enough to resist her Remove Magic. The Pebblecrusher party is affected by Sigil of Misfortune and DeBuff's max-level song, making them save at -7 for anything. Insect Plague removes Mencar, the mage, and Pooky from the equation while Brenden is held with Shadow Binding, preventing his escape.
Mencar is polymorphed into a squirrel to negate his huge HP while Pooky is still panicked by the insect swarm. Smelly is killed by Brick who has a +10 crit rate bonus while enraged now.
We do the Copper Coronet and the slavers - nothing too hard. Let's try something more dangerous. Everyone has gotten their first HLA or two by now, so we try out the City Gates Lich. I plan to shut him down with Black Ray and Breach but DeBuff beats everyone to the punch by just throwing Azuredge at him. He levels up from this and gains Light's Requiem.
At this time, it hits me: could DeBuff use Morpheus' shapeshifter tokens? The answer is yes. Now we have 2 Greater Werewolves in the party. Uhhh, just think of it as DeBuff letting Morpheus infect him with lycanthropy, and since Morpheus has already mastered it, so can DeBuff. Anyway, I'm gaining a new appreciation for Wail of the Banshee. I always loved death magic in NWN and now with our casters focusing on reducing saves, it's as glorious here as it is there. Krieg learns Deathblow from this.
Temple sewers. I try to possess the Rakshasa but remember it's only vulnerable to 8th and 9th level spells. Well, DeBuff's song fixes this as Nukesalot casts Wail of the Banshee.
The sewer party is also taken out this way. Gaius is killed by mage-fencing from our two sorcerers.
Guarded Compound. We're taken by surprise when one of us trips an illusion-shattering trap despite not moving. Brick enrages, Yin casts Sigil of Misfortune boosted by the Robe of Vecna and Shadowvar Amulet (+6 total casting speed), DeBuff casts Night Terrors to kill Sion's Mordy Swords (missing one from poor aim), and Nukesalot moves to the center of the pack then winds up Wail of the Banshee. This results in half the group being panicked (Koshi, Stallman, Sion).
Beginning of round 1 is over. Nukesalot's Wail finally finishes, killing Maferan and the Stone Golem (!?). Nukesalot casts Greater Malison and Yin casts Shadow Binding on Ketta afterward, holding her once she shows herself.
Olaf is beaten down. Sion is turned into a squirrel because of his poor decision to not pre-buff with spell protections. Koshi is boxed into a corner in the room with the 4 chests while Sion's last Mordy Sword is beaten down through the use of Sigil of Vulnerability, allowing it to take physical damage. Stallman is chased down and killed. Krieg learns Greater Deathblow from this encounter.
I've been putting this off for a very long time, but we head back to the Firewine Ruins. Why are there so many kobolds!? I'm not in SoD anymore! We finally reach the ghost knights of the ruin. Now, my plan was to use Darkbolt/Shatter Weave to nullify their MR, cast Shadowblast to reduce their cold resistance, and have Merciless Blizzard whittle them down to low health and finish them off with Nightshade. It turns out all this planning was unnecessary because I learn Nightshade bypasses MR AND DR! That means, from a level 20 caster, at least 5 castings of Nightshade (3 if they fail their saves) are enough to kill anything in the game that's not outright immune to level 5 spells or has a minimum HP ring equipped! I accelerate the casting process by using the Wand of Lightning trick combined with a Wand of Nightshade.
Now we're swimming in Helms of Charm Protection. I just need Helms of Defense to go with them to create Citadel Helmets which combine their properties. Krieg already has one such combined helm which we made from the Guarded Compound. We kill Lendarn and his ogre mage friend while we're here. Back in Athkatla, we do Maevar's quest line and kill him and his goons with Wail. I fricken love this spell now.
Watcher's Keep. The first level should be easy XP.
The first 4 statue guardians are killed when we take the book from the altar. They put up a long fight, mainly because of their MR and DR. Krieg stunlocks one with Celestial Fury while everyone else focuses down the other three statues. Not too bad. When it's time to fight all the rest of the statues, we buff up and summon a planetar and Nightwalker. With these two epic summons working together, we're sure to win. DeBuff stands in the center of the pack and sings while Yin casts Sigil of Misfortune, reducing the saves of a couple of statues unlucky enough to fail their MR roll while Nukesalot prepares Wail and Morpheus prepares Regeneration for Brick. Krieg is quickly forced to retreat behind a door from taking too many consecutive hits. We are interrupted by one of the statues casting Time Stop.
The caster removes Nukesalot's Spell Shield and SI: Abjuration during the stasis. Krieg sits this out and chugs extra-healing potions. The planetar flies over and insta-heals Brick while the Nightwalker tears up the competition. Every hit from a Nightwalker forces the victim to save vs. death at -6 or lose 2 points of STR for a really long time, so it can very likely kill by stat drain especially since we're focused on reducing saves. Yin and Nukesalot rev up their Improved Alacrities. Yin casts Nightfall to further reduce saves and uses Shatter Weave on the remaining targets to nullify their MR, then casts Nightshade to do guaranteed damage. Nukesalot finally finishes his casting of IA when there's only 1 statue left. Yin tries out Invoke Reflection but the statue dies before we can make use of its simulacrum. Invoke Reflection properties:
Target must save vs. spell at -3 or have a simulacrum of themselves created, allied with the caster.
Watcher's Keep level 2 can wait, I think I should go to the Planar Prison and get the Bard Hat for real.
Krieg IV - War Hulk 25
Brick - Battlerager 24
Morpheus - Fighter 16/Shapeshifter 17
DeBuff - Nightsinger 29
Yin II - Shadow Disciple 21
Nukesalot - Chaos Sorcerer 21
Journal of Grímarr Swiftaxe Edited
Having disposed of the assassins, and as a result gained +1 weapons for the party, we used the 3 tomes that we suspect had been stolen from the party. As a result I gained +2 to my charisma and Dug increased his wisdom by 1.
Upon Gorion's body was a bag of holding, a robe a staff and a sling +1.
We headed for the FAI, killed Tarnesh, and some hobgoblins,
went north and killed Sonner
and a zombie before going south to get Melicamp back into shape.
We then headed for Beregost.
Trio 22 Update
Corebard - human bard, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Ubil - human cavalier (Gate70)
Highway - dwarven Kensai (Grond0)
The Trio got a late start this session, as the members didn't realize that there was a time difference compared to normal, as US was off Daylight savings, but Britain still hadn't changed. However, Grond0 noticed a post by Corey_Russell and said he was there and available, and Grond0 was able to get Gate70 to join the game and so we had our Trio after all.
For only having 90 minutes we actually made some pretty good progress:
* Genies defeated for shield upgrade for Ubil. Naturally, with PfP on everyone, it made it pretty safe.
* Druid grove cleared out of enemies. Ubill would distract the enemies, Highway would hit hard with his two-hand sword, and Corebard would provide various support (haste, slow, MM, etc.). Although, we discovered that Ubil was actually doing quite a bit more than distracting, as he had the highest kill count of the party by the end. We think this was partly as he got the kills on a lot of trolls with his Stonefire, as well as quick kills with his IMoD. In any case, the battles with the druids and grove went very well, with Corebard keeping out of trouble.
* Umar Hills village quests complete. With the Trio having access to both hold and confusion immunity, went pretty straight-forward.
* Undead cleared out of the old Amauntators' temple. We had some close calls, Highway taking a ton of damage during all of this, but rests put him back into fighting form. Corebard wisely decided the shadow dragon would wait until another day. Shade Lord died quick, probably a hit from the IMoD.
* We had just enough time to peek into 1st level of Watcher's Keep. Despite massive preparation by Corebard, ended up being unnecessary, as we did not get the vampiric wraith spawns. We didn't do all of the 1st level, but we did get the Ammo Belt (the primary reason we are here), and the Crimson Dart surely doesn't hurt, though only Corebard can actually use it. Just before we quit, we had a last encounter with a Stone Golem. It was nearly Ubil's last encounter, but he managed to survive without being chunked, as you can see from this screenshot.
We will venture into Watcher's Keep and finish off the 1st level next session.
Ehh, it's just level 2 of Watcher's Keep. The Chromatic Demon is instantly killed by a planetar's vorpal strike. Not what I planned, but okay.
Planar Prison. A planetar and nightwalker do all the heavy lifting outside of the initial welcoming committee. Spell Thrust+Breaching Dark removes the Warden's Spell Shield and PfMW+Stoneskin. Although he hits hard and often, he couldn't keep up with our melee onslaught.
Lich slaying time. The elemental lich goes down pretty easily. Even though it used Time Stop and bombarded Brick with Comet and Dragon Breath, he still made it out in one piece. Our mages strip him of his protections and its curtains for the lich.
The shade lich is more of the same but it prefers a more versatile approach to offensive casting. Regardless, Warding Whip, Black Ray, and Breach do him in.
We don't have enough +4 weapons to kill Kangaxx yet, so we're off to the De'Arnise Keep. DeBuff hits the trolls with acid arrows as our fighters beat them down. Nukesalot uses Wail of the Banshee instead if there's a great number of them clustered together. TorGal and co. are taken out with Merciless Blizzard+Web. The troll leader himself has his soul ripped out.
Druid Grove. More soul stealing action.
We've assembled the Flail of Ages and put on the poison head at Cromwell's, then assembled Pitchwife +5 out of Gnasher and Blackblood. Now we've got good enough weapons to take on Kangaxx. We buff up and get planetar and nightwalker assistance. All is well so far despite our planetar getting imprisoned, but we do the same to Kangaxx's.
And then... the fight breaks. Kangaxx will not transform no matter what. Yin even possesses Kangaxx and forces him to use all his spells but he just won't transform. I look at the issue in NearInfinity and see that it only triggers when his HP is at 1, but this check doesn't occur regularly enough to outpace his ring's regeneration. I quit the game and change it to having his HP at < 10% and try the fight again using the same tactics. This time it works. Hooray! I can mod things!
Now in Demigaxx mode, he tries stopping time but his spellcasting speed is hampered by being slowed from the Flail of Ages. Yin and Nukesalot pepper him with anti-magic attacks: Warding Whip, Black Ray, Breaching Dark. Once opened up by Breaching Dark, he is quickly overwhelmed by Krieg, Brick, and the Nightwalker, who gets the last hit on the demilich. Brick now owns the Ring of Gaxx for its great regeneration speed, so he can enrage even more frequently.
Planar Sphere is next so I can upgrade Celestial Fury to +5. Lots of mage-fencing, lots of death magic. I think DeBuff can kill Tolgerias and his pet mage by himself using Twin Mislead, but that is quickly proven incorrect when Tolgerias goes hostile upon his pet being attacked. So he stops time, throws up a bunch of buffs, and summons a cornugon. He is tenacious but I've had enough of this farce, so Yin casts Relentless Assault and tears them both down, finishing off the pet mage with Nightsinger's Tithe while Tolgerias is gibbed with an unholy crit from Krieg.
I forget to upgrade Celestial Fury after this and go straight to Trials of the Luremaster. Moar Wail of the Banshee. The hostile banite party is killed the same way and we find this potion in the cleric's bag of holding.
You'd think I'd give it to Morpheus but he hardly casts anything for offense and only 25 WIS gets you a bonus level 7 spell, so I give it to Yin instead to increase his spell duration by 10%. Inside the really big tomb, the fight to get the last key is pretty tough. Our casters can't do too much to disable undead besides lower their saves and hope DeBuff hits with Azuredge. Nukesalot tries casting Hold Undead from Chaotic Weave but it fizzles. Morpheus crumbles, but Krieg brings him right back with the Rod of Resurrection.
Nukesalot uses Chaos Shield and then tries Hold Undead again, and it works. The rest of the tomb isn't nearly as hard.
Death magic,
another CHA tome,
more death magic, even more death magic.
When we start getting close to the sealed portal in the jackalwere caverns, I specifically remember this upcoming fight. There's going to be a lot of jackalwere mobs plus casters coming in from the side, so we buff up. All hell breaks loose:
Krieg is suffering a rage spiral. This will spell the run's end if I don't do something quick. DeBuff shoves his way toward Krieg and starts casting Shadowfade on him to render him invisible for a round, as Krieg will inevitably attack again the following round. Brick is busy tanking the Glabrezu. I can't have him chase down the casters lest the demon decide to attack my casters instead. Morpheus is tanking the jackalweres and can't attack to unshift to cast a spell, lest they tear through his ironskins and interrupt him, which would mean wasted time. Yin casted Nightfall to lower everyone's saves further but his shadeskins are torn through on the next round by jackalweres while he was casting Weird, which interrupts him. Nukesalot casts Chaos Shield and then Chaotic Weave -> Absolute Immunity to buy himself a few rounds.
He casts Improved Alacrity, but gets breached by one of the jackal shamans, so he throws up Stoneskin, Spell Shield, and Mind Blank, then summons a planetar and casts Wish. With some careful maneuvering, Yin gets Relentless Assault off the ground. He recasts Shadeskin, PfWfW, releases his Summon Shadow Spell Sequencer, then casts Unmask to eliminate the glabrezu's mirror image. Nukesalot get the Wish Rest option.
With Yin still under Relentless Assault, these guys are as good as dead. He throws out Sigil of Misfortune, gates in a nightwalker at the casters, then casts Weird on the jackalweres. The nightwalker and planetar clean house on the casters. Weird properties:
AoE is somewhat smaller than Wail of the Banshee but not centered on the caster. Enemies must save vs. spell at -4 to disbelieve the illusion. If that fails, they must then save vs. death at -2 or die instantly. Any who succeeded on the save vs. death take 3d6 magic damage, are stunned for 1 round, and take 1d4 STR damage.
After spending a while tracking down the flawed gems, converting them to flawless gems, and re-finding those gems to open the portal, we finally get to fight the Luremaster. We use a planetar and its invisibility detection to see where the Luremaster teleports to, as he does so nearly every time he gets hit. Yin casts Darkbolt on him to halve his 1000+ HP. We spread out our party so we have sight of all of his teleport locations. Krieg obviously does the most damage out of all the party since you're only able to get a hit or two in before the Luremaster teleports again. The planetar finishes him off with a Flame Strike.
We're coming out of TotLM with a lot more levels than when we started, although we're not too much stronger for it (with the exception of Krieg who has 35% more HP than before). Why don't we revisit some BG1 areas? We retrieve the Soultaker Dagger from the hidey hole on the roof of Durlag's Tower where I left it and return to Ulgoth's Beard under Invis 10'. After resting, we buff up and fight the cultists. Death magic!
Aec'Letec is stronger than I thought he'd be. He level drains Brick several times so I am quick to have Morpheus use a scroll of Lesser Restoration on him before the demon tries any of his weird gaze attacks. Aec'Letec is immune to Shadow Binding but Krieg obliterates him with a crit.
While we're in the area, we say hi to Kryn Darkflame. Krieg uses Power Attack to stun and knock the shadow mage back. Yin casts Shadow Missile to quickly lower his saves while our other fighters also use Power Attack to keep him from responding. We get Dreadflame +5 out of it, but the only one who can use it is DeBuff, who mainly stays in Greater Werewolf form and sings anyway.
We visit the wilderness lake area and take out the half-ogres. It's so fun to come back to BG1 areas and totally stomp enemies who at one point were too strong for us to deal with. Speaking of which, Drizzt and his gnolls have their souls ripped out by Weird. Shatter Weave negates the drow's high MR first before casting Greater Malison and finishing him.
Shandalar in Ulgoth's Beard is dealt with the same way as Kryn Darkflame. War Hulk Power Attack -> Shadow Missile -> warrior Power Attack. But this time Nukesalot polymorphs the mage into a squirrel to bypass his high HP and physical resistance.
We buy back our reputation at Kelddath's temple. At this point, XP is no longer necessary and all we need is gear. It's the game vs. us now. I think for any future LoB runs I'll turn off the LoB XP (x2 + 1000 for kills) and stick with Insane XP (x2 kill & quest XP). It's a learning experience anyway as I've never gone past early BG1 in LoB mode.
Krieg IV - War Hulk 38
Brick - Battlerager 38
Morpheus - Fighter 23/Shapeshifter 24
DeBuff - Nightsinger 44
Yin II - Shadow Disciple 30
Nukesalot - Chaos Sorcerer 30
Journal of Grímarr Swiftaxe
After calming marl down he headed southwards killing a couple of ogrillon and then three Flaming Fist Bullies.
It was then the turn of Tristan and isolde to die, after which we headed south to Nashkel, picking up an amulet on the way. Lord Foreshadow gave us a charisma increasing ring.
We then turned down a reward that should be given to Greywolf.
At the carnival we killed Zordral who was on the point of killing Bentha.
Heading south, we killed Zargos Flintblade before going to rescue Samuel.
We then went to kill Bassilus.
We took his symbol to the temple, the amulet to the Colquetle family and a tome to Firebead. EDIT
The valley of tombs was next on the agenda.
The Revenant and the Ghasts were bothersome, but the rest of the enemies fell easily due to the weasels who distracted them.
Upon returning to the Carnival, Aerie identified our loot.
Heading south we defeated Greywolf. Fortunately the weasels stopped Isra addressing us, the result being that we can decide later on whether we want her in the party.
There's no indication of what our previous plans were after completing Trademeet, so we take the easy option by heading out to the De'Arnise Keep. It all goes well, other than Stawk briefly trying to help the umber hulks but Grond is wise to that and survives easily.
After refusing Nalia's company we move on to Umar Hills before tracking down a Shade Lord. Our friendship is almost tested when Grond helps himself to a light gem which Stawk would prefer to keep active for a few rounds longer. Stawk then refuses to gulp a potion of invisibility to Grond's annoyance and gets himself held. We're in agreement that things look bad and neither of us expect Stawk to survive. Grond pulls out all the stops including using a potion of firebreath then dropping his armour to beat encumbrance. Even with that inhuman / herculean / super-dwarven effort our adventure would have ended but for Grond getting two final non-proficient hits with the iMoD before the last shadow can get a fatal strike onto Stawk.
After that encounter Stawk is a little wary of picking on the shadow dragon but Grond reckons we'll be OK. A round or so later we have to retreat as we are attacked and our summons are overwhelmed. Stawk uses the crimson dart when not blinded while Grond makes a first use of his dwarven thrower hammer. Thaxxy keeps a relentless focus on Stawk which means the dwarf gets a good opportunity to finish him off.
Stawk uses a sunstone bullet on the Shadow Altar as Grond melees the Shade Lord.
Some shameless camping (overnight and running into a couple of days at a time) is enough for Delon to find us more than once and Stawk does enough to become the Ranger Protector of Umar. By enough, obviously, he means getting held by a Glabrezu and waiting patiently for Grond to despatch it.
We head back into the city to pick up acorns ready for a journey to Windspear Hills. Stawk isn't going to tell Grond that he doesn't fancy this, so instead he suggests we should get some boots from the Planar Prison. We have a slight discussion around whether we have freed, or even met, Haer'Dalis and come to the conclusion that as we have no gem (or at least didn't see it in our loot container at the Promenade) we may not have encountered him. A supposition quickly made into a fact when we work out we have no rod of resurrection either.
So off we go, straight to Mekrath. Maybe just with a bit of Hatchetman thrown in for good measure. These vagabonds may well have been in trouble against us already but the moon dog figurine summon is just too much for them to deal with. Much too much. Good dog.
Party equipment
Stawk has made a decent fist of matters to reach 272 kills but Grond is starting to run away with a more dramatic headcount of 330.
She was doing well, but I have perhaps upgraded Mendas a little TOO much.
She died.
EDIT
I tried a second run.
Upon this occasion I went in the training room and used Deder's oil of speed upon myself.
I used stealth going in to take on the rats amd moved out of sight of Mendas, and then summoned weasels.
I approached mendas whilst the weasels fought some of the rats.
Upon Mendas becoming visible, the weasels attacked him whilst I used my bow.
When the weasels had been reduced to just one I summoned some more.
They arrived on the scene just as my last weasel was unsummoned.
Shortly afterwards Mendas fell.
I had deliberately given the best loot to Mendas to make it worthwhile fighting him.
2 tomes to increase charisma and one to increase wisdom. None of them much use to a mage/thief, but better than nothing.
His rings and amulet were worth having, but not of major significance except for making thieving activities a bit easier.
I sold my treasure and bought as much as I could from the temple. Down to 7 gp now.
Using every trick in the book, I just managed to survive. If the cavalry hadn't arrived in the nick of time, she would have died a second time too.
Later on I was able to kill Tarnesh. I summoned some weasels that Tarnesh caused to panic whilst I moved away.
He hit me with a magic missile before I summoned some more weasels.
These he blinded, but that was no problem, they continued to attack him slowly eliminating his duplicate images whilst I used my short bow, eventually killing him.
Near High Hedge I killed some gnolls before heading for Melicamp and taking him back to his former master. Sadly he died since his luck ran out.
Upon going to the Lighthouse area, we killed three sirine without difficulty.
We then rescued a little boy from some worg before heading once more towards the cave.
We were intercepted by some nereid. We used web and grease which were effective against the nereid but not the water weird. Rube the Runner was charmed and then killed with drowning kiss. The remaining nereid caught up with us and was killed. We returned for Rube's possessions an caught sight of another water weird. We therefore fled the area to raise Rube. Having done that, since we were near Bergost we went to sell our ankheg shells.
We were pleased to survive our encounter with the water weird. They are dangerous.
We picked up Xzar and took him to Nashkel as requested before going to Shoal. Xzar kissed her and ended up dead as did both Shoal and Droth.
We decided to leave Xzar dead and get the ring for the madman, after which we killed the sirine in the area.
Dug the Deathslayer was charmed which was annoying, he was the only one with the ability to charm, but we were able to kill the sirines and move away whilst the spell wore off.
+We then returned to the Lighthouse Area. On the way we killed a mustard slime. 2000 experience was nice.
Trio 22 Update
Corebard - human bard, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Umil - human cavalier (Gate70)
Highway - dwarven kensai (Grond0)
The Trio had another outing, and made some good progress. We were able to finish clearing the 1st level of Watcher's Keep (well almost). We tried to take on 1/2 the statues and it was a near disaster but a few scorchers from the fire wand helped the Trio to get the victory after all. We decided to leave the last half of the statues for later, as we didn't need the scimitar right now.
D'aranise Keep seemed like the next logical target, so worked our way here. What with Corebard's firetooth crossbow and Umil's stonefire, the Trio made short work of the enemies here.
We had a lot of money, so we splurged for the shield of balduran. However, on the way there, we got a random ambush. Highway got a bit unlucky as the enemies got 2-3 criticals in quick succession -Highway tried to escape, but got cut down (Highway almost never uses heal potions). We made a stop by Watcher's Keep to bring him back and got our SoB.
First, before we can do the Unseeing Eye, we need to deal with Tarnor's Gang. We had a few basic summons, but Corebard's spells were devastating - glitterdust, slow and chaos were way too much for the enemies to survive.
Corebard mentioned the RoR might be needed, in case someone died in Unseeying Eye lair. The party thought it was a good idea, and duly cleared out Mekrath and the enemies here.
As for the Unseeing Eye lair itself, it was almost perfect play by the party. Corebard said we didn't need to deal with the blind priests, but Ubil had other ideas. Highway and Corebard rushed to Ubil's side as fast as they could. Ubil should have nearly paid for his aggression, but a RoR charge kept him alive (see it was a good idea to get this) when Ubil had a sliver of life left. The Unseeing Eye itself died quick to a nicely timed dispel buffs shot via the "Rod" by Corebard.
We were getting near the end of the session, the party decided it would be a good idea to do the turn in for the Rod before saving, just to make sure we don't forget we have it and leave and get the scripted death. We will finish the lair and Gaal off next session.
Russell Duo Update #1
Corethief XVIII - gnomish cleric/thief, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Wewa - half-orc berserker (Dogdancing)
Entering the no-reload challenge with these characters:
Protagonist
Dogdancing (my wife) decided she was ready to give EE a try. So we installed it on her computer, and we rolled new characters and started our adventure in Candlekeep. We got out of Candlekeep okay, however, despite skipping the cut scene, Corethief XVIII nearly died from cutscene damage (down to 1 HP). I think the level 1 protection saved him, whew!
The duo got a lot done:
* We took down Shoal early for the experience
* Did Beregost quests/tasks without any difficulty
* When getting the stealth boots for Corethief XVIII, dogdancing tanked and took a lot of damage, but heal potions kept her alive (she only had splintmail at this point)
* When we got to Nashkel, Dogdancing put on the ankheg armor, and took much less damage in fights/ambushes after that
* We killed the half-ogres to get the shield reward from Bjornin
* We took down Greywolf - Dogdancing did quick damage, but a hold person at the end finished him off
* We helped Samuel and got the fire resistance ring
* We picked up the Evermemory ring
* We destroyed Tarnesh quickly
* We helped Joia by slaughtering all the nearby hobgoblins and returning her ring
* In Beregost, we bought full plate for Dogdancing and Dogdancing handed her hand-me-down ankheg armor to Corethief XVIII. Corethief XVIII is now at -5 AC and Dogdancing at -6 AC. The party now rarely takes damage.
* Helped return a "dog" to a "boy" south of Nashkel
* We destroyed Krumm and Caldo to get their blunt waist item. We also needed their magical club for Corethief XVIII
* We returned a dead cat to a little girl and took her allowance
* Destroyed a few ogres guarding the bridge by gnoll fortress, plus obtained the CHA tome.
* Tried to help Melicamp, but he failed to survive
Saved our session here. No deaths, promising start. We are about level 5 at this point.
So I've been working on this solo character for a while. It was a pretty uneventful run, everything went really smooth, even duchal palace surprisingly - was a bit worried about that actually. I used an invis potion to skip the maze and the UnderCity party.
With an invis potion I was able to pull just Semaj and Sarevok. Dispelling arrows took down Semaj's mirrors, then straight melee to burn him down. I really should thank Semaj, as he put up a cloudkill, which I was immune to since I had used a protection from magic scroll at the beginning. Once Semaj was dead, then tried to use arrows to kill Sarevok - but noticed a HUGE problem - Sarevok had high resistance to my arrows! I hit Sarevok for 6 damage - and all 6 was resisted! Yikes! Going to have to get into melee - a bit worried about that with my splintmail. So did DUHM and engaged - Sarevok goes down!
Will be MOSTLY solo in BG 2, but will probably temporarily recruit thieves for the heavily trapped areas, such as Reijek or Irenicus' dungeon, then release them.
Russell Duo FINAL Update!
Corethief XVIII - gnomish cleric/thief, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Wewa - half-orc berserker (Dogdancing)
Dogdancing requested we take on Silke. Corey_Russell normally ignores her unless she has something he needs. But Corey_Russell agreed to attack Silke - there a number of unfortunate bounces, and Corethief XVIII was killed - as a no-reload, this run is over.
The Duo crashed the Bandit Camp - we destroyed all opposition. Khosahnn got held which made the surface rather simple. As for Tazok's tent, Corethief used Sanctuary to get into the corner and summon some skeletons and then did two silences. Wewa then enraged and used a firebreath potion on Venkt. The resulting attacks quickly got the victory. Corethief was trying de-trap when Wewa got impatient and tripped the lightning trap, injuring Corethief.
We then cleared out the Basilisks' area using the green PfP scroll - this went well. Silences were devastating to Kirian's group.
We then pressed into the Cloakwood - we skipped most things, but of course did battle Drassus and gang for his boots. A few fireballs softened him up, then skeletons/enrage by Wewa carried the day.
We pressed into the Cloakwood Mines, mostly going directly for Davaeorn. A potion of magic blocking was enough for Wewa to slay Davaeorn.
Once in the great City, Wewa got her 2nd magical axe so she can dual wield them now without having to worry about her axes breaking. We dealt with Marek and Lothander, Jardak, Razamith's Tower, helped the priest of Tymora by returning his son's body, and so on.
Near the end of the session we had a bad scare though. Corey_Russell told Dogdancing to come into a warehouse - but Wewa did not see Corethief (cloak of displacement effect) and charged forward - she saw a basilisk and it threw its gaze at her! She ran and paused, with the gaze just a moment from hitting her. Corethief passed Wewa some potions of mirror eyes - she tried to gulp one, unpause and she survived! She turned around killed that pesky basilisk.
We returned some gauntlets to a lady in a warehouse, and we will continue our adventure next session. But as a no-reload, this run is over - we are just playing for fun now.
Trio 22 - FINAL Update!
Corebard - human bard, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Ubil - human cavalier (Gate70)
Highway - dwarven kensai (Grond0)
The Trio made tremendous progress - right before the end.
We decided to try to clear out Windspear Hills and Firkraag's Lair. The lair was very straight-forward - only real risk other than Firkraag was Samia's party, but a chaos was very effective. We did run into one hitch, Highway got pinned by golems and got cut down. We did avenge him then bring him back with RoR charge.
Corebard was feeling adventurous, and settled on the plan of 3 lower magic resists + blind until it sticks - this plan worked! Then we just ranged the dragon dead. One hitch though - Ubil died. But we were able to bring him back with an RoR charge.
Ubil suggested we try the same thing on Thaxxy - well did that and on the FINAL blind (Corebard had 4), the blindness landed. We then ranged the dragon dead. Problem? Ubil died again. But we were able to bring him back with RoR charge once more.
Ubil suggested Planar Prison - so we head there, buff, and plan was to attack the mage while under the cover of invisibility - problem? Corebard made a terrible mistake and attacked first - he should have waited for Ubil and Highway to show themselves. Not only did we fail to 1-2 the mage (which meant it might disintegrate someone), but Corebard got the attention of all enemies because he attacked 1st! His HP dwindled fast - Gate70 did a good pause, but Corebard's aura wasn't clear. If it was, an invis potion might have saved him (although the nearby mage had true sight going, so maybe that wouldn't have helped). In any case, the moment we unpaused we saw the dreaded hand of death - RIP Corebard.
@Corey_Russell Sad that both your games ended at much the same time.
Journal of Grímarr Swiftaxe Continued
After looting the cave in the lighthouse area, we headed south where we helped Charlston Nib.
The workers hurt Dug badly and strangely were more of a problem than the Doomsayer.
We then took Captain Brage to the Temple of Helm where hopefully he will find redemption.
Upon finding ourselves attacked by a baby wyvern, we enlisted Oublek's help. He died, but at least he died a hero.
We went to rest in the Inn but were attacked by Neira. Rube's backstab proved invaluable. Afterwards we rested.
We returned to the site where the ankhegs have a nest and cleared it once more of ankhegs.
The temple area was then cleared of wolves of various types before we proceeded to the plain of sharp teeth where some "adventurers" attacked us and paid for it with their lives. Web and stinking cloud were found to be highly effective when combined with fireballs and the like.
A scroll helped me to kill both basilisks and medusae alike. Web helped against Mutamin.
Having decided that we were perhaps strong enough to face the daemons in Nashkel mines, we entered to find that there weren't any! The duerger dwarves were a problem, but even Mulahey wasn't a major cause for concern.
We then recruited Xan and did his quests before bidding him farewell.
We bumped into Dorn and had no problems killing those in his party who betrayed him. However we were not comfortable having him in the party due to his evil nature. We therefore sent him ahead to take the brunt of the attack by Teyngan and his cohorts. It wasn't EXACTLY murder, but it was so close to it that it left a nasty taste in the mouth despite the fact that he was evil and certainly deserved death. Still, he died a hero, though whether he will receive a hero's welcome when he meets his god remains to be seen.
After killing Teyngan we then killed the half-ogres as requested by Bjornin.
We then helped Drittz.
And went on to rescue Dynaheir.
We found her journal before bidding her farewell in Beregost.
Our seventh session started after a brief discussion of where we'd got to - for some reason I though Stawk may have died last time and we'd rolled up another pair but that wasn't the case (perhaps confusing this run with yesterdays trio outcome) so he and Grond were cleared to continue.
Stawk looked in his backpack. We could either go to Windspear Hills with the acorns, or the Planar Prison with a gem. It's the prison then.
Our entry into the prison is successful and we spot our target - Stawk suggesting Grond equip the boots of speed.
Grond makes a rapid trip around the prison as Stawk tries to stay out of too much trouble. At a couple of points Stawk is forced to fight umber hulks which could be very dangerous for him - only realising at the point of write-up that he could simply have equipped the Shield of Harmony.
The Warden puts up a good fight but Grond is on a roll and emerges victorious from melee.
With the Planar Prison completed Stawk examines his backpack again. Those acorns are still present but maybe we should just do the Planar Sphere. Things start reasonably well for us until Kayardi casts Maze on Grond - who promptly suggests that Stawk should make himself scarce.
No chance say Stawk. He points out that Grond has berserk active so will not get mazed and so it proves. Meanwhile our summoned efreeti is doing an outstanding job of getting targeted with spells while held and this leaves us free to eliminate our enemies with minimal danger.
A bit further on we are setting about another group of halfling warriors when Grond mentions that they have a nasty habit of ignoring the buddy and going for the protagonist with a nasty spell. Stawk has already thought the same and reached the conclusion that the spell would be Finger of Death and not very nice more than a little bit fatal to a ranger. Just as Grond mentions his concern, Necre turns and starts casting.
Stawk steps back a couple of paces and hides in the shadows (failure to do so would have led to pause and gulping a potion of invisibility if there was one in his bag). Necre turns back to Grond and the battle is all but over.
We progress to Lavok and beat down whatever is occupying his body before heading outside to secure a demon heart. From there we confront Tolgerias, being careful to avoid his Wilt but observing how it is used effectively against our Cerberus moon dog summon. Grond is not happy about the death of our moon dog and Tolgerias pays the ultimate price for upsetting him in this manner.
The engine room has insufficient energy and a surplus of golems. Can we fix it. Yes we can.
After presenting one last sunrise to Lavok we think about what is next. There's the acorns, or we could head to Spellhold in search of Imoen boots.
Perth the Adept falls to a one-shot hit from Grond but proves his mettle by acting as a necromancee and giving us a challenge from the afterlife. Whatever, just give us the wardstone. Oh and we turn a page of his spellbook and get ourselves another True Sight to go along with that which Cerberus can use.
Party equipment and kills. Stawk realises he meant to switch to the Kundane sword (or give it to Grond in return for Belm) but forgot to ask and it looks like the dwarf has sold it (Ilbratha is shown in inventory so no sign of Kundane). Oh well, something to forget again later.
Journal of Grímarr Swiftaxe Continued
Charlston Nib's request re Firewine was next on the agenda. I fought the vampires in melee as I had the appropriate protection from level drain and the like whilst the others used ranged weapons. Afterwards I killed Meilum single handed.
EDIT
We then felt it time to take on the bandit camp so we went to Peldvale so that we could enter peaceably.
We did have to fight Tazok though!
We then took on some assassins nearby.
We then fought Deke and his bandits and then the caravan bandits before going to Beregost to take on Tranzig.
Returning to the camp, we took on the bandits, web and stinking cloud ensuring that the numbers that we had to fight were never excesssive.
Upon returning to the Friendly Arms Inn where we rested, we were attacked by Najarra who we were sadly forced to kill.
As we headed south, we were attacked by more assassins led by Davenport.
In Beregost we were attacked by Silke who underestimated the opposition.
As we entered the nearby inn to rest we were attacked by Karlat who also died.
We then took on Valeria.
Upon heading to Cloakwood, we fought several beasts ending with Centeol.
It is now time for bed. We didn't take on the Section at this time as we didn't have the benefit of being able to use stealth.
Hi all, a very brief note to say that my druid Adorar is currently parked in the Sahaugin City. He, Sarah, Kelsey, Haer, Minsc, and Isra completed all of the stronghold quests except the Unseeing Eye prior to heading off to Brynnlaw via the Shadow Thief boat rental service. The only dangerous moment was in the Planar Sphere when Adorar got caught in a Prismatic Spray, which can be nasty with SR. Unfortunately my general motivation to play is suffering a bit at the moment for obvious reasons (I just lost a roguelike character in rather uncharacteristic fashion!), so I'm going to leave him there for now. I am however tempted to have a go at an unmodified install of BG1.... but in another language. So we shall see how far I make it with that project if and when I have a go at it. Good health all and brave deeds all .
Episode 8 starts with us having partially filled our new bag of holding, and we make the best of 1h15m to see if we can get out of Spellhold.
The first area of the maze had nothing else as exciting as the bag of holding, although the ring of regeneration fits neatly into Stawk's spare ring slot. There are inevitably a few battles before we depart.
On to the next area then. A lich manages to Timestop Grond after his Daystar Sunray activates but before it takes effect. Once the Timestop ends the Sunray immediately helps our cause.
Cerebus helps out against a trio of clay golems - making our lives much easier.
Grond has used a strength potion to bash the container in that room so Stawk decides we will leave without resting. He's fully aware that this runs the risk of resting elsewhere after forgetting and attacking Grond in his Slayer form. Only a fool would do that.
A couple of minutes later Stawk has used up his daily Identification glasses charge and rests. Fool.
Then it's time to take on Irenicus, and for Cerebus to truesight the subsequent murderers.
The City of Caverns is managed without incident, other than the king and prince both falling onto our weapons. With them safely out of our way we are free to descend into the Underdark and play with a Maze device. That's fun for a couple of minutes and we add a few more enemies to our tally before Stawk carelessly gets himself held along with Cerebus but there is no danger as Grond is targeted instead and able to take care of both himself and our foe.
With much of the main area clear we head into the Western tunnels and empty it. No danger there, and the Kuo-Toa Prince is treated to Grond using Improved Haste and Stawk using his first Whirlwind HLA.
This leaves us with the choice of Beholders nest, illithid lair or Ust Natha next time. Party gear:
I don’t get the last screen shot of Grond. The AC is 6? While wearing full plate and rings and such?
The damage multiplier is odd as well. The strength adds 5, whilst wearing both the gauntlets and a strength belt - it should be +6 or +9?
Comments
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1122715#Comment_1122715
SoD: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1123144#Comment_1123144
Only Dragonspear's basement is left on the to-do list for the underground river. We use a scroll of invis 10' and huddle against the wall as I figure out who's going to poison the food and water. But our newly-made maggot golem goes berserk, exposing our position. I have it self-destruct after it calms down.
Camp siege. I crashed during the fight against panicked clerics who caused the named goons to appear so this is the 2nd attempt. Trolls are kept at bay with Merciless Blizzard while archers fired on them. Anyone who dared to leave its AoE was quickly cut down.
Siege of Dragonspear. Merciless Blizzard is once again our main workhorse. We also freeze the orcs guarding the troll pen.
Hellbound. Yin powers up the party with Dark Passage while Nukesalot's Chaotic Weave is getting more reliable. We fight Thrix and his goons after we get a helmet from him. Dark Passage:
- +4 to all stats/THAC0/damage, +6 AC, +50% MR/elemental resistance, level drain immunity, Haste.
- Caster cannot take any actions and must save vs. death at -4 every round or take 10% of his HP in damage.
- Connection can be manually severed but caster must save vs. death at -2 or be stunned for 2 rounds.
Big B. I'm only slightly intimidated. His first action is to go improved invis instead of dispelling magic, so Nukesalot readies True Sight while Yin fires his summoning spell sequencer.
That's got to be humiliating.
Krieg IV - War Hulk 19
Brick - Battlerager 19
Morpheus - Fighter 13/Shapeshifter 14
DeBuff - Nightsinger 23
Yin II - Shadow Disciple 17
Nukesalot II - Chaos Sorcerer 17
BG1: 1
The shells of the ankhegs we slew north of the FAI netted us the gold we needed to get me a suit of full plate armor from Taerom Fuiruim, technically the only armor along with plate mail that Helm allows me to wear. My companions were understanding of my desire to spend a large portion of our gold on it, as I would have to be understanding of future expenses for them.
Ending the friction between Ajantis and me by simply replacing my fellow servant of Helm turned out to be easier said than done. With time I discovered that we adventurers are a rare breed and that a substitution for Ajantis might not be found on the Sword Coast. Sure we dispatched a party of bandits with the help of a half-orc Blackguard who was all too willing to join us, but working alongside an anti-paladin was out of the question for me. What complicated things even further was the fact that Ajantis for all his noble chatter, proved to be a ferocious warrior, especially after we got him a pair of gauntlets of dexterity. When it wasn't Branwen's and/or my magic that took care of our foes,
I know Helm's watchful eye saw me do good just as He saw me struggle with Ajantis, and it was He who showed us the way forward, through Brother Nalin of the Nashkel Temple of Helm. We ran into former Nashkel guard captain Brage, who had gone on an inexplicable killing spree wiping out his own family among other people. We managed to calm him down, and escorted him to the Temple in Nashkel. Brother Nalin established that Brage's sword had been cursed, which explained how a lawful, self-controlled man like Brage had lost his mind. The Temple ordered us to further investigate the mystery of Brage and his sword, and we would solve it by accident. We ran into a merchant named Borda west of Nashkel, who offered us valuable items at give-away prices. This I considered suspect; his merchandise had to be contraband. I felt compelled in my role of protector of the realm to seize his wares,
With Brage as our new fighting man, we finally got to explore the Nashkel Mines, but that didn't work out the way we had hoped for. An extremely disciplined kobold army had taken over. Individually they were no threat, but their strength was in their numbers. The most notorious members in their ranks were sharpshooting commandos, guards with poisonous blades, a shaman, and their chieftain. They repeatedly poisoned Khalid, who failed to keep up with antidotes and got himself killed.
We tested ourselves against bandits,
With Imoen as our scout we discovered the bandit camp in the Wood of Sharp Teeth. She estimated that there were at least 40 bandits (men and hobgoblins) at the camp, overwhelming odds. To surmount those odds we'd have to be prepared. Anticipate attacks and be ready. Know your foes. Careful planning always defeats rushed actions in the end. I hadn't forgotten about the tenets of my faith. So rather than attacking there and then, we backed off and we prepared. We explored parts of Durlag's Tower mainly to appropriate and trade forsaken treasure for potions we might need against the bandits. During our travels we were twice ambushed by groups of agents of the aforementioned bandit faction. The first party, four men, managed to Silence most of us, but not Branwen, who Held two of them.
When the time came to invade the bandit camp, we prepared with potions (strength, defense, regeneration) and spells, and proceeded to purge the entire area.
We learned from a prisoner of the bandits that the masterminds behind the iron crisis and the rampant banditry were an organization called the Iron Throne with a base in Cloakwood, so that's where we headed. We peacefully resolved a dispute between a hunting party and some druids that Jaheira knew, by dealing with several shadow druids in a not so peaceful way. The key to our success against these avenger druids was the Silence spell that both Branwen and I could cast.
Another hostile encounter before we actually entered the Iron Throne base, a mine, we had with a group of four Throne hirelings. In compliance with the tenets of my faith, we took them on carefully, strategically. We managed to Hold three of them with Webs, and killed them using a rare Cloudkill scroll and Fireballs.
Inside the mine we had a hell of a battle against a large group of guards led by an enchantress. We thought we had successfully bottle-necked them near a prison area but saw our most vulnerable members attacked from the back.
Being Lawful Good, no pickpocketting or robbing locked chests in towns.
As per usual as well as my usual mods I have also re-equipped the assassins in Candlekeep to make them more dangerous and also make them worth fighting. +1 staff, daggers and sword plus better armour and 3 tomes, the tome of understanding being the only one of note.
You should play this when using that ability:
Previously
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1116893/#Comment_1116893
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1118440/#Comment_1118440
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1118598/#Comment_1118598
(Screen shots coming up).
Barb found himself trapped in Spellhold with a bunch of moronic mages. Mages are always moronic, giving up a good brawl for some books. Plain right stupid.
The spell hold lich saw the door closed when he fired off his time stop spell, and got the ruff treatment afterwards when we opened the door. Irenicus died after Barb escaped the maze, and in the same unfashionable manner as all mages. Stupid magic users.
We head for fish city, and some epic selling; and 2 cloaks off course. Nothing to worry about, and some easy xp for the party.
The underdark has many dangers, and much treasure we coveted. We empty the imprisonment machine, and free a mage. We then turn on the mage for his treasure - business as usual in the underdark.
In the Kua Toa dungeons the party kill the demon knights. As a dwarf you have to get the hammer... you just have to. Rage makes the fight less of a hassle.
The beholder caverns where cleared with the Shield of Balduran and some help against the imprisonment spell. We liked the xp and needed the greenstone amulet for the next caverns. The illithids are difficult bunch, but we a -4 vs. spells and a 19 int unbuffed, it’s manageable. And with due buffs, we had no problems. We even secured 4 control circlets - for later problems.
On the outside we headed to the city again. Bluffed our way past Drizzt. Sorry I have no clue who you are (dropped his scimitars before import...)?? Bodhi met her demise with ease. Minsc with mace leading the charge/slaughter. The quest is easy enough in the unmodded game.
Before reclaiming Barbs soul, we had a few things on our to do list:
Kill a Black dragon
Kill a Red dragon
Get a hammer in the sewers
Kill The twisted rune
Kill The last of the slavers.
We (Minsc with the mace if disruption and protected from undead) cleared the forgotten temple for the Umar hills quest. The undead fell easily and the dragon fell without much sweat broken. The party is strong by now, and the dragons buff didn’t hold up.
Dragon number 2 didn’t last either. The many monsters en route to the big guy fell in succession. The adamantite golems being the tougher foes, and needed special treatment (hiding in corridors). We killed Tazok in a well placed cloud kill spell... A bit farther and Windspears child had been killed. Nice aim Nalia...
Back in city, we headed underground again. The Alhoon was done in with ease. This time Barb had buffed for the fight. Preparation is always the bread winner. The hammer was ours, and a hammer upgrade was in order. Nothing says serious dwarf like a might hammer. The bucket list is looking good.
The twisted Rune was next up. We want the staff of magi - at any cost. We enter unbuffed, but with Barb under rage. We send in the summons, and trigger Shangalar. The summons (3 morty swords and 2 skellies) divert the foes, and we take down the beholder and the fighter. With undead killing items we take out the undead. The last foe fell quickly when Nalia debuffed her and the boys followed with arrows and axes. The staff is ours. A great asset for Nalia who can stay out of trouble much easier - pivotal for my plan for the WK third level.
The slavers where done in with a raged Barb who pulled out hardiness. The melee guys fell in short succession and Nalia finished the casters with a ADHW. Didn’t quite know how powerful that spell was until then. I now know why people love it. A nifty katana for our stalker as the main prize. Off to the elven city and eternal glory.
The elven city saw some epic tanking as the adamantite golems hit hard and often. Nothing to worry about in the end. The black dragon was done with more ease than the golems.
In hell I managed to use another exploit. Mazing charname when you are faced with giving up xp, hp and dexterity. When charname is mazes, they can’t take the dex and hp away. Net result is the tear of Bhaal with no losses. I pull another exploit and end with 30% magical immunity and +4 saves, and summon Irenicus and co.
The demons are slayed with relative easy. The posse concentrated on Barb, and Minsc and Valygar could help expediting them with vorpal hits. Afterwards we send Valygar out to locate Irenicus under stealth. Once located we drained his spells with summons and the chaotic gang followed soon after. The result was a clear victory.
This ends SoA... onto ToB
In the pocket plane we recruited Sarevok. He may not be chaotic good - but has the potential to be. A plan of pure genius soon manifested itself... How about dualing Sarevok into a thief for some traps and then levelling him up at the ramparts of Saradush? Excellent idea: let’s commence.
We dualled Sarevok shortly after the first pocketplane trial and made our way to the ramparts. The first 2 million xp to unlock Sarevoks fighter levels where easy.
It reminds of a song... here it is:
Stawk, ranger (Gate70)
Grond, berserker (Grond0)
It's been exactly one month since Stawk and Grond last ventured out. Fortunately for them they are stood outside the temple of Talos so fairly easy to remember to help ourselves to a necklace within. That leads to completing further quests for Mae'Var, and for Edwin. Our usual lack of caution against Rayic Gethras works to our advantage - arrows of biting nibbling away at him with the Ashideena war hammer sparking up.
- Mook at the docks
- Traitors above the playhouse
- A smudged artwork for the temple of Helm
- Improved Mace of Disruption for Grond
- Wellyn's teddy bear
- Unite the grieving paladin and orphaned child
- Grab the spider figurine from Pai'Na
- Clear out the surface crypts in the graveyard district
- Stop the kidnapping game, but picked up silver pantaloons
- Everything in Trademeet and the druid grove
- Scare off Bodhi
Stawk is trailing with kills, having 201 against Grond's 224. Both are level 12. Inventory:-
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1122715#Comment_1122715
SoD: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1123144#Comment_1123144
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1123351#Comment_1123351
Now we're in Chateau Irenicus. Normally I skip this using the creatively named mod Skip Chataeu Irenicus, but this time I'll do it. All is well early on since Morpheus only needs his Greater Werewolf form to kill anything. But we get overconfident. The cambion that's been sealed up teleports away once we release it and it casts Haste and Mirror Image, then hunts us down. I overestimate Morpheus' regeneration again which gets him killed. But Yin raises him with his recently-acquired Vengeful Shade spell and we take it down. We have to carry Morpheus around using Vengeful Shade whenever we have to fight something, like the mephit portals. Vengeful Shade properties:
With Morpheus back in the game, the rest of the dungeon is a breeze. DeBuff gains UAI after leaving the dungeon. Once out, we return to Dragonspear Castle to collect things I have stored for later use. I placed any loot the crusaders dropped during the Siege of Dragonspear into containers, which includes a bunch of healing potions, Ashatiel's loot, and the loot from the named goons at the northern part of the castle grounds. I also recover things from Dragonspear's basement, from the training grounds below the elevator, and from Slug's stash in the underground river. That's what I call tactical looting, but I've also done some item smuggling: only mod-added items or things that can't be imported from SoD:
- Only the Girdle of Bravery from Thalantyr Item Upgrade.
- Golem building supplies.
- Daeros' armor, Martyr's Morningstar, Sword of Ruin +2, The Bloodied Guardian +2, The Guardian Devil, Dragonscale Shield +3.
- Ring of the Crusade, Cloverleaf, Wizzard Hat, Star-strewn Boots, Stalker Gauntlets, Bard Hat (this is an exception as I thought it was for sale in the Bridge District [and have DeBuff steal it], but I remember later that it's actually in the Planar Prison).
Sounds good to me. Now Brick can become a damage sponge, allowing him to go berserk more often, although Enrage's damage-to-self-over-time ignores damage resistance. Mencar Pebblecrusher's party is up first. Pooky dispels all of Nukesalot's buffs, forcing him to retreat and go invisible. Morpheus and Yin are unaffected due to ISoM and Shadow Screen, while DeBuff's caster level is high enough to resist her Remove Magic. The Pebblecrusher party is affected by Sigil of Misfortune and DeBuff's max-level song, making them save at -7 for anything. Insect Plague removes Mencar, the mage, and Pooky from the equation while Brenden is held with Shadow Binding, preventing his escape.
We do the Copper Coronet and the slavers - nothing too hard. Let's try something more dangerous. Everyone has gotten their first HLA or two by now, so we try out the City Gates Lich. I plan to shut him down with Black Ray and Breach but DeBuff beats everyone to the punch by just throwing Azuredge at him. He levels up from this and gains Light's Requiem.
At this time, it hits me: could DeBuff use Morpheus' shapeshifter tokens? The answer is yes. Now we have 2 Greater Werewolves in the party. Uhhh, just think of it as DeBuff letting Morpheus infect him with lycanthropy, and since Morpheus has already mastered it, so can DeBuff. Anyway, I'm gaining a new appreciation for Wail of the Banshee. I always loved death magic in NWN and now with our casters focusing on reducing saves, it's as glorious here as it is there. Krieg learns Deathblow from this.
Temple sewers. I try to possess the Rakshasa but remember it's only vulnerable to 8th and 9th level spells. Well, DeBuff's song fixes this as Nukesalot casts Wail of the Banshee.
Guarded Compound. We're taken by surprise when one of us trips an illusion-shattering trap despite not moving. Brick enrages, Yin casts Sigil of Misfortune boosted by the Robe of Vecna and Shadowvar Amulet (+6 total casting speed), DeBuff casts Night Terrors to kill Sion's Mordy Swords (missing one from poor aim), and Nukesalot moves to the center of the pack then winds up Wail of the Banshee. This results in half the group being panicked (Koshi, Stallman, Sion).
I've been putting this off for a very long time, but we head back to the Firewine Ruins. Why are there so many kobolds!? I'm not in SoD anymore! We finally reach the ghost knights of the ruin. Now, my plan was to use Darkbolt/Shatter Weave to nullify their MR, cast Shadowblast to reduce their cold resistance, and have Merciless Blizzard whittle them down to low health and finish them off with Nightshade. It turns out all this planning was unnecessary because I learn Nightshade bypasses MR AND DR! That means, from a level 20 caster, at least 5 castings of Nightshade (3 if they fail their saves) are enough to kill anything in the game that's not outright immune to level 5 spells or has a minimum HP ring equipped! I accelerate the casting process by using the Wand of Lightning trick combined with a Wand of Nightshade.
Now we're swimming in Helms of Charm Protection. I just need Helms of Defense to go with them to create Citadel Helmets which combine their properties. Krieg already has one such combined helm which we made from the Guarded Compound. We kill Lendarn and his ogre mage friend while we're here. Back in Athkatla, we do Maevar's quest line and kill him and his goons with Wail. I fricken love this spell now.
Watcher's Keep. The first level should be easy XP.
The first 4 statue guardians are killed when we take the book from the altar. They put up a long fight, mainly because of their MR and DR. Krieg stunlocks one with Celestial Fury while everyone else focuses down the other three statues. Not too bad. When it's time to fight all the rest of the statues, we buff up and summon a planetar and Nightwalker. With these two epic summons working together, we're sure to win. DeBuff stands in the center of the pack and sings while Yin casts Sigil of Misfortune, reducing the saves of a couple of statues unlucky enough to fail their MR roll while Nukesalot prepares Wail and Morpheus prepares Regeneration for Brick. Krieg is quickly forced to retreat behind a door from taking too many consecutive hits. We are interrupted by one of the statues casting Time Stop.
Watcher's Keep level 2 can wait, I think I should go to the Planar Prison and get the Bard Hat for real.
Krieg IV - War Hulk 25
Brick - Battlerager 24
Morpheus - Fighter 16/Shapeshifter 17
DeBuff - Nightsinger 29
Yin II - Shadow Disciple 21
Nukesalot - Chaos Sorcerer 21
Having disposed of the assassins, and as a result gained +1 weapons for the party, we used the 3 tomes that we suspect had been stolen from the party. As a result I gained +2 to my charisma and Dug increased his wisdom by 1.
Upon Gorion's body was a bag of holding, a robe a staff and a sling +1.
We headed for the FAI, killed Tarnesh, and some hobgoblins,
went north and killed Sonner
and a zombie before going south to get Melicamp back into shape.
We then headed for Beregost.
Corebard - human bard, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Ubil - human cavalier (Gate70)
Highway - dwarven Kensai (Grond0)
The Trio got a late start this session, as the members didn't realize that there was a time difference compared to normal, as US was off Daylight savings, but Britain still hadn't changed. However, Grond0 noticed a post by Corey_Russell and said he was there and available, and Grond0 was able to get Gate70 to join the game and so we had our Trio after all.
For only having 90 minutes we actually made some pretty good progress:
* Genies defeated for shield upgrade for Ubil. Naturally, with PfP on everyone, it made it pretty safe.
* Druid grove cleared out of enemies. Ubill would distract the enemies, Highway would hit hard with his two-hand sword, and Corebard would provide various support (haste, slow, MM, etc.). Although, we discovered that Ubil was actually doing quite a bit more than distracting, as he had the highest kill count of the party by the end. We think this was partly as he got the kills on a lot of trolls with his Stonefire, as well as quick kills with his IMoD. In any case, the battles with the druids and grove went very well, with Corebard keeping out of trouble.
* Umar Hills village quests complete. With the Trio having access to both hold and confusion immunity, went pretty straight-forward.
* Undead cleared out of the old Amauntators' temple. We had some close calls, Highway taking a ton of damage during all of this, but rests put him back into fighting form. Corebard wisely decided the shadow dragon would wait until another day. Shade Lord died quick, probably a hit from the IMoD.
* We had just enough time to peek into 1st level of Watcher's Keep. Despite massive preparation by Corebard, ended up being unnecessary, as we did not get the vampiric wraith spawns. We didn't do all of the 1st level, but we did get the Ammo Belt (the primary reason we are here), and the Crimson Dart surely doesn't hurt, though only Corebard can actually use it. Just before we quit, we had a last encounter with a Stone Golem. It was nearly Ubil's last encounter, but he managed to survive without being chunked, as you can see from this screenshot.
We will venture into Watcher's Keep and finish off the 1st level next session.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1122715#Comment_1122715
SoD: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1123144#Comment_1123144
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1123351#Comment_1123351
BG2: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1123824#Comment_1123824
Ehh, it's just level 2 of Watcher's Keep. The Chromatic Demon is instantly killed by a planetar's vorpal strike. Not what I planned, but okay.
We've assembled the Flail of Ages and put on the poison head at Cromwell's, then assembled Pitchwife +5 out of Gnasher and Blackblood. Now we've got good enough weapons to take on Kangaxx. We buff up and get planetar and nightwalker assistance. All is well so far despite our planetar getting imprisoned, but we do the same to Kangaxx's.
Now in Demigaxx mode, he tries stopping time but his spellcasting speed is hampered by being slowed from the Flail of Ages. Yin and Nukesalot pepper him with anti-magic attacks: Warding Whip, Black Ray, Breaching Dark. Once opened up by Breaching Dark, he is quickly overwhelmed by Krieg, Brick, and the Nightwalker, who gets the last hit on the demilich. Brick now owns the Ring of Gaxx for its great regeneration speed, so he can enrage even more frequently.
Planar Sphere is next so I can upgrade Celestial Fury to +5. Lots of mage-fencing, lots of death magic. I think DeBuff can kill Tolgerias and his pet mage by himself using Twin Mislead, but that is quickly proven incorrect when Tolgerias goes hostile upon his pet being attacked. So he stops time, throws up a bunch of buffs, and summons a cornugon. He is tenacious but I've had enough of this farce, so Yin casts Relentless Assault and tears them both down, finishing off the pet mage with Nightsinger's Tithe while Tolgerias is gibbed with an unholy crit from Krieg.
I forget to upgrade Celestial Fury after this and go straight to Trials of the Luremaster. Moar Wail of the Banshee. The hostile banite party is killed the same way and we find this potion in the cleric's bag of holding.
Death magic,
When we start getting close to the sealed portal in the jackalwere caverns, I specifically remember this upcoming fight. There's going to be a lot of jackalwere mobs plus casters coming in from the side, so we buff up. All hell breaks loose:
Krieg is suffering a rage spiral. This will spell the run's end if I don't do something quick. DeBuff shoves his way toward Krieg and starts casting Shadowfade on him to render him invisible for a round, as Krieg will inevitably attack again the following round. Brick is busy tanking the Glabrezu. I can't have him chase down the casters lest the demon decide to attack my casters instead. Morpheus is tanking the jackalweres and can't attack to unshift to cast a spell, lest they tear through his ironskins and interrupt him, which would mean wasted time. Yin casted Nightfall to lower everyone's saves further but his shadeskins are torn through on the next round by jackalweres while he was casting Weird, which interrupts him. Nukesalot casts Chaos Shield and then Chaotic Weave -> Absolute Immunity to buy himself a few rounds.
After spending a while tracking down the flawed gems, converting them to flawless gems, and re-finding those gems to open the portal, we finally get to fight the Luremaster. We use a planetar and its invisibility detection to see where the Luremaster teleports to, as he does so nearly every time he gets hit. Yin casts Darkbolt on him to halve his 1000+ HP. We spread out our party so we have sight of all of his teleport locations. Krieg obviously does the most damage out of all the party since you're only able to get a hit or two in before the Luremaster teleports again. The planetar finishes him off with a Flame Strike.
We're coming out of TotLM with a lot more levels than when we started, although we're not too much stronger for it (with the exception of Krieg who has 35% more HP than before). Why don't we revisit some BG1 areas? We retrieve the Soultaker Dagger from the hidey hole on the roof of Durlag's Tower where I left it and return to Ulgoth's Beard under Invis 10'. After resting, we buff up and fight the cultists. Death magic!
While we're in the area, we say hi to Kryn Darkflame. Krieg uses Power Attack to stun and knock the shadow mage back. Yin casts Shadow Missile to quickly lower his saves while our other fighters also use Power Attack to keep him from responding. We get Dreadflame +5 out of it, but the only one who can use it is DeBuff, who mainly stays in Greater Werewolf form and sings anyway.
We buy back our reputation at Kelddath's temple. At this point, XP is no longer necessary and all we need is gear. It's the game vs. us now. I think for any future LoB runs I'll turn off the LoB XP (x2 + 1000 for kills) and stick with Insane XP (x2 kill & quest XP). It's a learning experience anyway as I've never gone past early BG1 in LoB mode.
Krieg IV - War Hulk 38
Brick - Battlerager 38
Morpheus - Fighter 23/Shapeshifter 24
DeBuff - Nightsinger 44
Yin II - Shadow Disciple 30
Nukesalot - Chaos Sorcerer 30
saving throws giveth, saving throws taketh away
After calming marl down he headed southwards killing a couple of ogrillon and then three Flaming Fist Bullies.
We then turned down a reward that should be given to Greywolf.
EDIT
The valley of tombs was next on the agenda.
The Revenant and the Ghasts were bothersome, but the rest of the enemies fell easily due to the weasels who distracted them.
Upon returning to the Carnival, Aerie identified our loot.
Heading south we defeated Greywolf. Fortunately the weasels stopped Isra addressing us, the result being that we can decide later on whether we want her in the party.
Stawk, ranger (Gate70)
Grond, berserker (Grond0)
There's no indication of what our previous plans were after completing Trademeet, so we take the easy option by heading out to the De'Arnise Keep. It all goes well, other than Stawk briefly trying to help the umber hulks but Grond is wise to that and survives easily.
So off we go, straight to Mekrath. Maybe just with a bit of Hatchetman thrown in for good measure. These vagabonds may well have been in trouble against us already but the moon dog figurine summon is just too much for them to deal with. Much too much. Good dog.
Stawk has made a decent fist of matters to reach 272 kills but Grond is starting to run away with a more dramatic headcount of 330.
She was doing well, but I have perhaps upgraded Mendas a little TOO much.
She died.
EDIT
I tried a second run.
Upon this occasion I went in the training room and used Deder's oil of speed upon myself.
I used stealth going in to take on the rats amd moved out of sight of Mendas, and then summoned weasels.
I approached mendas whilst the weasels fought some of the rats.
Upon Mendas becoming visible, the weasels attacked him whilst I used my bow.
When the weasels had been reduced to just one I summoned some more.
They arrived on the scene just as my last weasel was unsummoned.
Shortly afterwards Mendas fell.
I had deliberately given the best loot to Mendas to make it worthwhile fighting him.
2 tomes to increase charisma and one to increase wisdom. None of them much use to a mage/thief, but better than nothing.
His rings and amulet were worth having, but not of major significance except for making thieving activities a bit easier.
I sold my treasure and bought as much as I could from the temple. Down to 7 gp now.
Using every trick in the book, I just managed to survive. If the cavalry hadn't arrived in the nick of time, she would have died a second time too.
Later on I was able to kill Tarnesh. I summoned some weasels that Tarnesh caused to panic whilst I moved away.
He hit me with a magic missile before I summoned some more weasels.
These he blinded, but that was no problem, they continued to attack him slowly eliminating his duplicate images whilst I used my short bow, eventually killing him.
Near High Hedge I killed some gnolls before heading for Melicamp and taking him back to his former master. Sadly he died since his luck ran out.
Upon going to the Lighthouse area, we killed three sirine without difficulty.
We then rescued a little boy from some worg before heading once more towards the cave.
We were intercepted by some nereid. We used web and grease which were effective against the nereid but not the water weird. Rube the Runner was charmed and then killed with drowning kiss.
We were pleased to survive our encounter with the water weird. They are dangerous.
We picked up Xzar and took him to Nashkel as requested before going to Shoal. Xzar kissed her and ended up dead as did both Shoal and Droth.
We decided to leave Xzar dead and get the ring for the madman, after which we killed the sirine in the area.
Dug the Deathslayer was charmed which was annoying, he was the only one with the ability to charm, but we were able to kill the sirines and move away whilst the spell wore off.
+We then returned to the Lighthouse Area. On the way we killed a mustard slime. 2000 experience was nice.
Time for bed said Zebedee.
Corebard - human bard, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Umil - human cavalier (Gate70)
Highway - dwarven kensai (Grond0)
The Trio had another outing, and made some good progress. We were able to finish clearing the 1st level of Watcher's Keep (well almost). We tried to take on 1/2 the statues and it was a near disaster but a few scorchers from the fire wand helped the Trio to get the victory after all. We decided to leave the last half of the statues for later, as we didn't need the scimitar right now.
D'aranise Keep seemed like the next logical target, so worked our way here. What with Corebard's firetooth crossbow and Umil's stonefire, the Trio made short work of the enemies here.
We had a lot of money, so we splurged for the shield of balduran. However, on the way there, we got a random ambush. Highway got a bit unlucky as the enemies got 2-3 criticals in quick succession -Highway tried to escape, but got cut down (Highway almost never uses heal potions). We made a stop by Watcher's Keep to bring him back and got our SoB.
First, before we can do the Unseeing Eye, we need to deal with Tarnor's Gang. We had a few basic summons, but Corebard's spells were devastating - glitterdust, slow and chaos were way too much for the enemies to survive.
Corebard mentioned the RoR might be needed, in case someone died in Unseeying Eye lair. The party thought it was a good idea, and duly cleared out Mekrath and the enemies here.
As for the Unseeing Eye lair itself, it was almost perfect play by the party. Corebard said we didn't need to deal with the blind priests, but Ubil had other ideas. Highway and Corebard rushed to Ubil's side as fast as they could. Ubil should have nearly paid for his aggression, but a RoR charge kept him alive (see it was a good idea to get this) when Ubil had a sliver of life left. The Unseeing Eye itself died quick to a nicely timed dispel buffs shot via the "Rod" by Corebard.
We were getting near the end of the session, the party decided it would be a good idea to do the turn in for the Rod before saving, just to make sure we don't forget we have it and leave and get the scripted death. We will finish the lair and Gaal off next session.
Upon returning to the Lighthouse Area, Sil, her sirine friends and the flesh golems were all killed.
Corethief XVIII - gnomish cleric/thief, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Wewa - half-orc berserker (Dogdancing)
Entering the no-reload challenge with these characters:
Protagonist
Dogdancing (my wife) decided she was ready to give EE a try. So we installed it on her computer, and we rolled new characters and started our adventure in Candlekeep. We got out of Candlekeep okay, however, despite skipping the cut scene, Corethief XVIII nearly died from cutscene damage (down to 1 HP). I think the level 1 protection saved him, whew!
The duo got a lot done:
* We took down Shoal early for the experience
* Did Beregost quests/tasks without any difficulty
* When getting the stealth boots for Corethief XVIII, dogdancing tanked and took a lot of damage, but heal potions kept her alive (she only had splintmail at this point)
* When we got to Nashkel, Dogdancing put on the ankheg armor, and took much less damage in fights/ambushes after that
* We killed the half-ogres to get the shield reward from Bjornin
* We took down Greywolf - Dogdancing did quick damage, but a hold person at the end finished him off
* We helped Samuel and got the fire resistance ring
* We picked up the Evermemory ring
* We destroyed Tarnesh quickly
* We helped Joia by slaughtering all the nearby hobgoblins and returning her ring
* In Beregost, we bought full plate for Dogdancing and Dogdancing handed her hand-me-down ankheg armor to Corethief XVIII. Corethief XVIII is now at -5 AC and Dogdancing at -6 AC. The party now rarely takes damage.
* Helped return a "dog" to a "boy" south of Nashkel
* We destroyed Krumm and Caldo to get their blunt waist item. We also needed their magical club for Corethief XVIII
* We returned a dead cat to a little girl and took her allowance
* Destroyed a few ogres guarding the bridge by gnoll fortress, plus obtained the CHA tome.
* Tried to help Melicamp, but he failed to survive
Saved our session here. No deaths, promising start. We are about level 5 at this point.
So I've been working on this solo character for a while. It was a pretty uneventful run, everything went really smooth, even duchal palace surprisingly - was a bit worried about that actually. I used an invis potion to skip the maze and the UnderCity party.
With an invis potion I was able to pull just Semaj and Sarevok. Dispelling arrows took down Semaj's mirrors, then straight melee to burn him down. I really should thank Semaj, as he put up a cloudkill, which I was immune to since I had used a protection from magic scroll at the beginning. Once Semaj was dead, then tried to use arrows to kill Sarevok - but noticed a HUGE problem - Sarevok had high resistance to my arrows! I hit Sarevok for 6 damage - and all 6 was resisted! Yikes! Going to have to get into melee - a bit worried about that with my splintmail. So did DUHM and engaged - Sarevok goes down!
Will be MOSTLY solo in BG 2, but will probably temporarily recruit thieves for the heavily trapped areas, such as Reijek or Irenicus' dungeon, then release them.
Corethief XVIII - gnomish cleric/thief, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Wewa - half-orc berserker (Dogdancing)
Dogdancing requested we take on Silke. Corey_Russell normally ignores her unless she has something he needs. But Corey_Russell agreed to attack Silke - there a number of unfortunate bounces, and Corethief XVIII was killed - as a no-reload, this run is over.
The Duo crashed the Bandit Camp - we destroyed all opposition. Khosahnn got held which made the surface rather simple. As for Tazok's tent, Corethief used Sanctuary to get into the corner and summon some skeletons and then did two silences. Wewa then enraged and used a firebreath potion on Venkt. The resulting attacks quickly got the victory. Corethief was trying de-trap when Wewa got impatient and tripped the lightning trap, injuring Corethief.
We then cleared out the Basilisks' area using the green PfP scroll - this went well. Silences were devastating to Kirian's group.
We then pressed into the Cloakwood - we skipped most things, but of course did battle Drassus and gang for his boots. A few fireballs softened him up, then skeletons/enrage by Wewa carried the day.
We pressed into the Cloakwood Mines, mostly going directly for Davaeorn. A potion of magic blocking was enough for Wewa to slay Davaeorn.
Once in the great City, Wewa got her 2nd magical axe so she can dual wield them now without having to worry about her axes breaking. We dealt with Marek and Lothander, Jardak, Razamith's Tower, helped the priest of Tymora by returning his son's body, and so on.
Near the end of the session we had a bad scare though. Corey_Russell told Dogdancing to come into a warehouse - but Wewa did not see Corethief (cloak of displacement effect) and charged forward - she saw a basilisk and it threw its gaze at her! She ran and paused, with the gaze just a moment from hitting her. Corethief passed Wewa some potions of mirror eyes - she tried to gulp one, unpause and she survived! She turned around killed that pesky basilisk.
We returned some gauntlets to a lady in a warehouse, and we will continue our adventure next session. But as a no-reload, this run is over - we are just playing for fun now.
Corebard - human bard, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Ubil - human cavalier (Gate70)
Highway - dwarven kensai (Grond0)
The Trio made tremendous progress - right before the end.
We decided to try to clear out Windspear Hills and Firkraag's Lair. The lair was very straight-forward - only real risk other than Firkraag was Samia's party, but a chaos was very effective. We did run into one hitch, Highway got pinned by golems and got cut down. We did avenge him then bring him back with RoR charge.
Corebard was feeling adventurous, and settled on the plan of 3 lower magic resists + blind until it sticks - this plan worked! Then we just ranged the dragon dead. One hitch though - Ubil died. But we were able to bring him back with an RoR charge.
Ubil suggested we try the same thing on Thaxxy - well did that and on the FINAL blind (Corebard had 4), the blindness landed. We then ranged the dragon dead. Problem? Ubil died again. But we were able to bring him back with RoR charge once more.
Ubil suggested Planar Prison - so we head there, buff, and plan was to attack the mage while under the cover of invisibility - problem? Corebard made a terrible mistake and attacked first - he should have waited for Ubil and Highway to show themselves. Not only did we fail to 1-2 the mage (which meant it might disintegrate someone), but Corebard got the attention of all enemies because he attacked 1st! His HP dwindled fast - Gate70 did a good pause, but Corebard's aura wasn't clear. If it was, an invis potion might have saved him (although the nearby mage had true sight going, so maybe that wouldn't have helped). In any case, the moment we unpaused we saw the dreaded hand of death - RIP Corebard.
It was a good run...back to the drawing board.
Journal of Grímarr Swiftaxe Continued
After looting the cave in the lighthouse area, we headed south where we helped Charlston Nib.
The workers hurt Dug badly and strangely were more of a problem than the Doomsayer.
After killing Teyngan we then killed the half-ogres as requested by Bjornin.
Stawk, ranger (Gate70)
Grond, berserker (Grond0)
Episode 7: How to avoid meeting Firkraag
Our seventh session started after a brief discussion of where we'd got to - for some reason I though Stawk may have died last time and we'd rolled up another pair but that wasn't the case (perhaps confusing this run with yesterdays trio outcome) so he and Grond were cleared to continue.
Stawk looked in his backpack. We could either go to Windspear Hills with the acorns, or the Planar Prison with a gem. It's the prison then.
Our entry into the prison is successful and we spot our target - Stawk suggesting Grond equip the boots of speed.
The Warden puts up a good fight but Grond is on a roll and emerges victorious from melee.
No chance say Stawk. He points out that Grond has berserk active so will not get mazed and so it proves. Meanwhile our summoned efreeti is doing an outstanding job of getting targeted with spells while held and this leaves us free to eliminate our enemies with minimal danger.
Stawk steps back a couple of paces and hides in the shadows (failure to do so would have led to pause and gulping a potion of invisibility if there was one in his bag). Necre turns back to Grond and the battle is all but over.
Perth the Adept falls to a one-shot hit from Grond but proves his mettle by acting as a necromancee and giving us a challenge from the afterlife. Whatever, just give us the wardstone. Oh and we turn a page of his spellbook and get ourselves another True Sight to go along with that which Cerberus can use.
Party equipment and kills. Stawk realises he meant to switch to the Kundane sword (or give it to Grond in return for Belm) but forgot to ask and it looks like the dwarf has sold it (Ilbratha is shown in inventory so no sign of Kundane). Oh well, something to forget again later.
Charlston Nib's request re Firewine was next on the agenda. I fought the vampires in melee as I had the appropriate protection from level drain and the like whilst the others used ranged weapons. Afterwards I killed Meilum single handed.
We then felt it time to take on the bandit camp so we went to Peldvale so that we could enter peaceably.
We did have to fight Tazok though!
Stawk, ranger (Gate70)
Grond, berserker (Grond0)
Episode 8 starts with us having partially filled our new bag of holding, and we make the best of 1h15m to see if we can get out of Spellhold.
The first area of the maze had nothing else as exciting as the bag of holding, although the ring of regeneration fits neatly into Stawk's spare ring slot. There are inevitably a few battles before we depart.
A couple of minutes later Stawk has used up his daily Identification glasses charge and rests. Fool.
Great run. Hope you get to the throne.
I don’t get the last screen shot of Grond. The AC is 6? While wearing full plate and rings and such?
The damage multiplier is odd as well. The strength adds 5, whilst wearing both the gauntlets and a strength belt - it should be +6 or +9?