Idyut is the sort of character who forgets to take any screenshots in 1h10m of gameplay. Fortunately screen capture was running throughout so a couple of moments could be reconstructed with minimal effort.
Idyut took 3m30 seconds to generate.
Corepriest arrived 12 seconds later.
Shy took a further 7 seconds.
As we don't mention class, kit or how far through character generation we are this was remarkably consistent time-wise. Grond0 mentioned his randomator spreadsheet had thrown out an Undead Hunter but after two paladins in run 25 he switched to a non-random preference for once.
We spent just under 5 minutes on our Candlekeep chores (what a burden even with three of us splitting the work up) and left Gorion in the woods.
Imoen had chased Idyut all round Candlekeep (finally catching him outside the priest quarters), and proceeded to do the same outside Candlekeep until Shy took pity on her gunned her down with bullets.
Corepriest had arrived by this time and attacked Xzar who promptly died, with Montaron perishing moments later. The NPC union will no doubt hear of this and establish sanctions against us.
Shoal the nereid's last wish is to grant Shy and Idyut a level each, with Corepriest grumbling that he's been left out despite being the one doing the killing. Life ain't fair sometimes.
With Shoal dead we purchase a potion case from High Hedge to celebrate defeating a trio of gnolls outside the building and Idyut asking why there is a dead brown bear as he steps outside. He is promptly told he's not a ranger so keep his nose out of it. OK then.
Then we head into Beregost where Neera is reading the NPC union gazette. She looks up, realises Idyut is nowhere to be seen and returns to her perusal. Inspection of the recording confirms Shy has shared a bullet with Neera while Idyut was swapping books with Firebead. Shy is first in to speak to Marl, giving Idyut another level and a chance for Corepriest to continue his rant about still not having levelled-up.
Idyut sells the contents of Neera's gembag and we have a pile of cash. A thrown bounty hunter snare kills one ogrillion and badly wounds a second leaving it vulnerable to our volley of missiles. Corepriest and Shy kill a few hobgoblins and Idyut helps himself to boots with Zhurlong's nametag on their soles. Corepriest has drunk a few potions by this point so Idyut hands 9 of his 10 over.
We race down to Nashkel, confirming that Corepriest looks spiffy in his green ankheg plate but Noober has worked us out and gets away despite us shooting at him - he's had a lot of practice recently.
Idyut was deciding to go find Samuel but Shy mentions Greywolf and Prism. OK, we'll give them a go, stopping off to return Ruffie to his owner. A minute or two later Greywolf takes damage from one snare and is commanded but saves against a Dark Moon Monk blind then grins as Corepriest suffers a moment of multiplayer lag to jump 30 feet for a fatal strike.
Shy and Idyut both take damage from Greywolf as they circle around him, and after a few minutes Corepriest's corpse is sighing in the wind (something about you have a wand of missiles why don't you use it). If only we could hear him... Another minute or two later and Shy is caught by Greywolf.
Idyut plays a long game of hide around the rock, not being very good at hiding and not being very good at shooting Greywolf with his arrows either. After many misses and a few hits the job is finally done and Idyut drags his two companions to a temple for a spot of revival. Note for @Corey_Russell who said we spent a long time against Greywolf - the encounter took us 9 minutes. Plus another 7 minutes to raise our dead, re-equip them and return to pick up other items that were still on the ground.
Next we spoke to Prism, and only then did Idyut realise he should have left Greywolf alive so we shared the 1400xp.
It's finally time to grab Samuel, and by the time we return him to a temple we are all looking a bit battered from several ambushes and fighting the belted ogre.
Tarnesh is waiting for us outside the Friendly Arm Inn, Idyut lands a backstab but then Shy and Corepriest both hit too and Tarnesh crumples to the ground. We retrieve a ring for Joia and then Grond0 suggests we should go hunt ankhegs just to hear Corey_Russell say no way we're not experienced enough. Many a trio have had this conversation, and it won't be the last. This time we decide to leave them for later.
Instead we grab Melicamp the chicken and blind Bassilus to see if he can dodge arrows and bullets. He can not, so Corepriest inherits his magical warhammer and we traipse to High Hedge in search of a chicken dinner. Melicamp survives so we go hungry.
We have fun with a polar bear ambush, running it around and then into a snare. Corepriest still has to finish it off though. Caldo and Krumm are next on our list and by the time they die Corepriest is complaining he has nothing to drink. Idyut realises he's kept all the potions he picked up when everybody else died so he hands them back again.
On our way to return a drowned cat to a child Corepriest asks if we have any lore. Idyut has 0. Shy has 0 and suggests Corepriest is surely the wisest amongst us. Corepriest has 3 lore so has to put up with Shy taunting him about being the know-it-all.
Now Corepriest wants to track down some gauntlets of dexterity. We've only got about 4 minutes left on the clock but we set off and continue on from there to pick up a tome of leadership. We're deep into overtime by now, this point proved when a dinner-alarm is heard (me taking it for a nautical Captain Pugwash type of theme and belatedly realising it was more likely the Can-can).
Rather than risk the wrath of a burnt tea we ended the session in a predictable manner (with our trusty fighter / cleric complaining he barely has more hit points than the bounty hunter )
It is two weeks since Polgara and Lowbar last ventured out, and having loaded up a BG:EE save I quickly check BGII:EE to make sure we hadn't got there last time (we had not, my last save being MP197 which means my hosted 199, 201, 203 and 205 sessions all failed to defeat Sarevok).
Fine, we'll crack on through the catacombs. Polgara confirms she is ready to go unless Lowbar wants some lightning protection. He declines the offer, pointing out his exceptional trap detection skill. It's so good in fact that after only 90 seconds he is unable to detect a trap we both instinctively know 'is there'.
Polgara suggests Draw Upon Holy Might may help, and indeed it does. Lowbar quickly deals with a few more traps so we can loot two containers and remove lightning and web traps. By the time we reach a third container Lowbar is unable to detect two fireball traps. Polgara casts protection from fire onto Lowbar which together with two rings of fire protection should provide total immunity but Lowbar has little patience for such matters and fishes in his potion bag for a potion of perception. Success - both traps are found + removed.
Lowbar fancies his chances against the catacomb doppelgangers but Polgara is better. Her nymphs successfully hold them and allow an easy insectiod victory, including the odd backstab.
Prat and his gang look menacing, but we decide not to try charming Bor with his shorty saves and Tam is unable to resist us. This frees Lowbar up for a backstab on Sakul and that proves to be a one-shot fatality. Bor has stunned Tam and a nymph has stunned Prat, but Bor discovers that having darts equipped leaves him vulnerable to a non-fatal backstab. He's in no position to fend us off and moments later we switch from his corpse to his incapacitated companions.
As we step outside Polgara comments about the long duration of the perception potion (6 hours game time, 30 minutes real time. Bargain).
Lowbar realises we are a bit light on constitution and after a brief discussion we think we may not have visited the flesh golem cave after visiting Sil and her sirenes. Or maybe we just haven't been there at all?
Lowbar passes the original potion of clarity to Polgara, realising as he does so that she won't use it. It turns out we had no need anyway.
The flesh golems find a melee druid with ironskin hard going with an assassin behind them - no backstab multipliers but the bonus to hit helps as does Polgara's 19 strength (Lowbar suggesting she use the tome as he'll work something out with a girdle in Amn). Polgara switches to bear form for the final golem.
Our invitations to the Coronation beckon, courtesy of Slythe. He takes an arrow of dispelling and a couple of backstabs while being held. It's not a fair fight but that suits us.
At the ducal palace we hand over the blood-spattered invitation and head inside. We use two of our three oils of speed so Polgara can melee while Lowbar shoots poisoned acid arrows - and we save one or more dukes.
The thieves maze sees our speedy boots working well, Lowbar removing all traps and Polgara using a protection from undead scroll to batter a couple of skeleton warriors apart. Rahvin and his undercity party get a glimpse of Polgara just as Lowbar backstabs Shaldrissa. Lowbar worries that arrows of detonation are going to obliterate his druid but he is targeted instead.
80% fire resistance saves him from most of two arrow damage before he can retreat out of sight, and the first arrow has badly wounded most of Rahvin's crew. By the time Lowbar shakes off Gorf and returns to help he finds the job is done.
Back to Gorf.
The entrance to the Temple of Bhaal creaks as we open it. Lowbar removes two traps, lays one snare and fails to lay a second. Then he uses a Protection from Magic scroll and hides. Polgara uses the final oil of speed as Lowbar shoots and misses Sarevok with an arrow of dispelling. He retreats and misses with a second arrow.
Polgara has summoned insects towards her nymphs and it looks like nobody hostile is going to be there when they arrive so Lowbar drags Sarevok towards them. Semaj teleports in too so he gets a mouth full of insects. Lowbar adds insult to injury by shooting him with a poisoned acid arrow or two. You've got to be a hardy mage to survive that little lot, and today Semaj is found wanting in that regard.
Lowbar almost shoots Sarevok with an arrow of dispelling but Polgara has doomed him and the insects are also biting him - so better to keep going with poisoned acid arrows than dispel those afflictions.
Tazok appears. Lowbar briefly shoots at him but realises Polgara is using Iron Skins to melee Sarevok. It's a lucky break for Tazok as Lowbar leaves him mildly wounded and poisoned to continue hailing arrows in Sarevok's direction.
With Tazok and Sarevok swinging wildly in her direction Polgara steps back as her iron skins are used up and she takes some damage. Tazok moves after her but Sarevok staggers towards Lowbar as more arrows, acid, poison and insects chip away at his resolve.
Lowbar stands his ground and Sarevok collapses before he can reach the halfling assassin.
Lowbar wipes his brow, a good days work and the pairing of druid + assassin was proving to be a potent combination. On to Amn.
Shadows of Amn
We started as we intended to go on, sweeping aside various threats. Polgara took damage in bear form though and our lack of equipment (boots of speed particularly) demonstrated that gear was important to these two.
Against the duergar Lowbar sneaked in meaning to backstab the mage, realising as he arrived that the pacing caster was going to be a problem so he switched to Ilyich who survived the backstab. Lowbar used two corners wisely to hide - but failed twice. By this time he had skirted around an unseen trap while being chased, and was chased back after deciding not to venture into the strange room with a trapped cambion. On his way back he misjudged where the trap would be and his scream of agony carried sufficiently far for the distant Polgara to realise a nasty eventuality had occurred.
The dice seem to have produced a few duplicated characters recently and the choice this time included a second blade in 3 outings for Gate70. I played an illusionist dualling to thief in our last Trio, but this time rolled up a straight illusionist - so the shorty benefits of a gnome was an obvious choice.
The Candlekeep chores seemed to go smoothly, until Hubris exclaimed in disgust as he was accused of stealing - I suspect the result of making the easy mistake of clicking on the steal rather buy button in the shop.
Ill was about ready to report to Gorion anyway though and Hubris was teleported out of trouble.
It then didn't take long to pick up our first levels, after blindness set a firing gallery up for Shoal.
Rather than take the easy route of getting more quick levels from the basilisk area, we developed a bit more normally this time. A few tasks around Beregost were followed by a trip down to Nashkel - where Noober failed to escape this time.
Hubris had not yet learnt any spells at this stage and was keen to get some better protection as an alternative, so we took a trip to the Lakes to go in search of Drizzt. Ill searched diligently for the drow, but failed to spot him while circling the area. He did see a number of gnolls, but fortunately they appeared to be busy and didn't attack us . Unfortunately, a wild dog did make an attack. Indulging in actions while gnolls are attacking Drizzt can provoke him into defending himself and he killed several gnolls before settling back into quiescence. That made waiting to pick up his armor and swords a bit longer than usual, but eventually a clanging sound made apparent they had hit the ground.
Heading towards the FAI, Ill rested with the intention of getting Bhaal CLW - but was presented with LMD instead (the result of me forgetting I had set him up as chaotic evil .
At least that's not as much of a mistake with an illusionist (unable to learn standard necromancy spells) as most mages. After picking up a ring of wizardry to increase Ill's firepower, a few hobgoblins provided another level each.
We had the usual discussion about whether to invade the ankheg nest. With a bunch of sleeps the chances were quite high we could kill a number of those without injury - but if injury came it could easily be fatal and we decided to postpone that encounter for now. However, the risk seemed more reasonable against the single ankheg blocking the way to Ulgoth's Beard and that duly fell asleep as Hubris spun towards it.
With us still only at level 3, Bassilus could have been a major problem in a fair fight - but he didn't get one. Ill had found a web scroll on his travels and a web was pre-cast at the cleric. Hubris only showed himself when Bassilus saved against that - only to get stuck again before he could finish casting, allowing Ill to blind him to ensure victory.
Nearby though there was a dangerous moment. Ill sent Hubris in to distract Zargal & co, with the intention of sleeping them. However, the conversation interrupted his intended spell cast and he moved right in among the action before trying the spell. That resulted in him getting hit, but fortunately that didn't break his concentration and all the hobgoblins fell down.
The final action was taking on the sirines in the Lighthouse area. Ill threw in a couple of webs before attacking. Hubris took advantage of automatic hits to rack up damage with his spin, while Ill disabled the odd sirine with blindness to reduce the danger if any of them broke free. That worked well and neither group even managed to complete an attempted charm.
Hi ya all! I've been playing Cavalier and Inquisitor duo. Cavalier is going to tank, and Inquisitor is going to provide ranged True Sight at least to SoA. Meet Lord and Lady Vanderley's. Used auto-roller to get perfect rolls, and I'm playing with SCS and LoB difficulty. Had to take screenshots with Steam, as with 32:9 the built in mechanic results black bar only left side.
weidu.log
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Include arcane spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1510 // Include divine spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3551 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict the maximum amount of damage in this range: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4020 // More realistic wolves and wild dogs: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4250 // Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6300 // Smarter sirines and dryads: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6310 // Slightly smarter carrion crawlers: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6320 // Smarter basilisks: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7000 // Improved doppelgangers: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7010 // Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7030 // Improved kobolds: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Relocated bounty hunters: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7050 // Improved Ulcaster: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7080 // Improved Demon Cultists: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7090 // Improved Cloakwood Druids: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7100 // Improved Bassilus: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7110 // Improved Drasus party: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7130 // Improved Red Wizards: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7140 // Improved Undercity assassins: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7200 // Tougher chapter-two end battle: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7210 // Tougher chapter-three end battle: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7220 // Tougher chapter-four end battle: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7230 // Tougher chapter-five end battle: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7250 // Improved final battle: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7900 // Improved minor encounters: v33.1
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v9
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v9
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking: v9
~EEUITWEAKS/EEUITWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Faydark's Abilities Auto-Roller/GrimLefourbe's BG2 UI: 3.5
~LOB_SAVE_FIX/LOB_SAVE_FIX.TP2~ #0 #0 // improve saving throws of all non-joinable creatures
We killed Imoen, Xzar and Montaron for Healing and Speed potions. Picked up the Diamond, Evermemory and killed Neera for the Gem Bag. Killed Algernon for the Charm cloak reducing reputation to 7. 6 would get us fallen. First Invisibility potion from the Beregost manor. Freaking Flaming Fist bothered us, but didn't bother with the Ogrillon's. Ankheg Plate and another Invisibility potion from the manor. From Carnival picked up Fire Giant Strength which was used to get Invulnerability, Invisibility and Heroism potions. Vitiare ranged. Barely killed one Kobold which was our state at the moment, gave the dagger for Revenant and picked fourth Invisibility potion. Gnoll's killed Drizzt for my Bel slicers and Chainmail +4 for my wife. Picked Potion Bag from High Hedge and killed the first Skeli. Wolf waylay escaped. Tenya's bowl got us the first level up. Hobgoblin waylay escaped. Used couple Invisibility potions to pass to Mulahey, who was charmed first try with the cloak. He was then fed for the Kobbo's, and we made a hasty escape using couple healing potions on the way. Charmed Minsc killed Nimbul and Marl ko'ed Tranzig, me getting the killing blow and xp.
We infiltrated the bandit camp. Taurgos'z was charmed and killed by couple Skelis, got the Full Plate. Conviced my wife to take a small death, so I could save Invisibility potions going in the tent. Didn't want to spend Invisibilities on Hakt for the Longbow +2, so I just stormed in and picked up the papers and escaped with one Invisibility potion spent. Wifey needs to come by with Composite Bow +1 for now. For the tent I spent one Invisibility, Absorption and Speed potions. Bought rep to 12 and resurrected my wife. Then we killed Dushai for the Free Action ring, and bought my rep back to 12. Rep run. Second level up after Melicamp was cured. Ghastkill, Oublek, Brage, Scroll Case, Samuel, Drienne and Brun for 20/20 economy. Bought Sandthief ring and Greenstone amulet for 14k. Shoal provided ascension to level 4. Zal got charmed and killed by Xvart's and my wifey got Archer Bracers. Charmed Hairtooth and Gnarl had a brawl, which he won, but after he was defeated by couple of Xvart's. Picked up CHA-Tome. Escaped Lamalha and Molkar waylays. Then spent one Shandthief charge to pick up the CON-tome.
First Cloakwood area was passed by killing the single Tasloi for Non-Detection cloak. Because the rest of the chapter 4 was easier done solo, my wifey again accepted a small death. Used one Sandthief charge to right-click loot Scimitar +2 and Spider Bane +2. For 2k per charge, 6.4k return was a good investment. Picked up one Invulnerability potion from Laskal. I needed to kill Drasus, because I wanted both Boots of Speeds (one from Lothander), so my wifey could keep up. It took two Sandthief charges to charm him, so the boots cost 4k. He was killed by the guards. I had only 3 Invisibilities left, so I decided to get myself to Durlag's Tower. 4k xp from Kirinhale, then charmed Riggolo killed the Ghost for 3750 xp, got a level up. Looted all I could and fed Riggolo for the Ghast's. Got one Invisibility potion. I had still two Sandthief charges left, so I decided use them to get Ring of Energy. Denak was charmed first go, and I spent the last two charges and fed him to the Spiders. I didn't have enough loose gold to recharge the ring yet so I did some collecting. Girdle Ogre charmed and killed. Charmed Caldo and Krumm brawled themselves dead. Bassilus charmed after sleeping out of map few times, and his own Aerial Servant killed him. Recharged the ring with 13k and now I was finally ready for the mines. Two charges to reach Davaeorn's guard, who was charmed second go. He lured the two Battle Horrors away, I then lured them to the corner and used one Sandthief charge. Guard only KO'd Davaeorn because his sword broke almost immediately, and I got the xp. Looted the place, and went to Baldur's Gate after again waking my wifey up.
Lady used the DEX-tome, because she benefits more from it. Bought second green Protection from Petrification and 38 Stone to Flesh scrolls and started Basilisk xp-loop. After all Stone to Flesh scrolls were used, my pet still wiped Kirian's party for the loot. Helm of Balduran for me, and Helm of Noble for the lady. Drelik killed charmed Jardak. After that we were both level 8. Charmed Abela the Nymph ko'd Ragefast while I hid behind the rubble. Ramazith was charmed, and his single Skeli killed him after he was depleted from spells. After some mundane things, did the Lothander guest. Lothander was charmed before talked so I could stop him from leaving, then he was killed for the second Boots of Speed. Two charmed Gamesmen ko'd Marek after like half hour. At Iron Throne Naaman was charmed first go, and killed by the two assassins. Got the PfU and didn't bother with the rest. Only spent two Sandthief charges, but it was now empty again. Sold Evermemory and Ring of Sune so I could recharge Greenstone Amulet, Ring of Energy, and Sandthief ring.
At Candlekeep escaped the Ogre Mage waylay with two Invisibility potions. Charmed the Iron Throne members and they killed themselves. Got one Clarity and Invulnerability among other loot. Slept at the catacombs basement, getting DUHM. Used two Sandthief charges to pass the Phase Spiders, Cloud Potion and DUHM to get STR-tome, looted the place, and used two Speeds to escape. Got another 16k for selling my loot, which we used to buy all the Arrows of Detonation, and rest of the Dispel arrows.
Durlags Tower basement the Ghast were separated and easily killed without healing. Looted the Warder level without too much trouble, used two Sandthief charges to evade the Skeleton Warriors and Doppelgangers. Made 20k gold. Activated the Warders with Greenstone Amulet and Free-Action ring, Love and Fear followed to the basement, Love to the main level which was perfect. Kited him and after 37 strikes from Ring of Energy he was done. After picking Durlag's Goblet, which Cavalier can use naturally, and Kiel's Helmet I escaped the level. Had 25k gold so I recharged Nymph's cloak, Ring of Energy, and Sandthief ring, again, and bought all the Piercing arrows.
Slythe was easily dispatched with charmed Larze and True Sight. Palace Ambush, with Algernon's cloak and resting at the bridge, I charmed the Mage, Shaman and Assassin Doppelgangers. Started the fight and the three Doppelgangers were easily dispatched after few Dispel Arrows. Next we waited Assassin to transform and he was easily killed too, and the Shaman. Mage turned to be tougher summoning a lot of help, but he too was killed, and Sarevok soon ran away too. Used one Cloud Giant to loot the Palace, which netted one Cloud Giant back among other loot.
To get the fourth OGL, I needed to fight bunch of mages. Charmed Oberan, he wasted his spells after which he was easily killed. Delorna was separated and lured outside, where she was easily killed after True Sight. Had just enough money to recharge the four necklaces. Was surprised by Sunin, as he now had hired help, so level skipping didn't really work. I was trapped and had to use Sandthief charge, my wife kited him through the city wasting his summons and spells. And soon they fell, got the 9k ring. Used one Santhief charge to pass the gang in the Underworld, charmed Tamoko and fed her to the to the Skelis, then used another charge to return and sell her loot, and recharge Durlag's Goblet and Sandthief ring, one last time. Still was left 8k gold, and my jewels. Realized that I could spare some Invisibilities, passing the Underworld gang below the map.
Vanderley's vs Sarevok's Gang. Invisibility in, waited couple hours for PfM to expire, True Sight, and started hitting OGL from afar. They found me after few hits, and Lord had to use Sandthief charge, and continued peppering out of sight. Semaj was done after 26 hits, Angelo 28, Diarmid 36 and Tazok 71 with his 70% Fire Resistance. Used rest of the OGL's on Sarevok, then 5 Oil Of Fiery Burnings and 8 Potion of Explosions. Sarevok was still at 595hp. Lady used one PfU and Dispelled Sarevok with an arrow, to take his haste out. Then I casually kited him with Ring of Energy. 43 hits and Sarevok was done. I was left 9 Invisibilities and 4 PfU's, which is more than enough for Korlasz.
Onto Dragonspear. With Invisibility reached Porios whos party surrendered. Lady's time to shine, with two Invisibilites and one PfU she reached Korlasz. Waited 3 hours for her Fire Protection to wear off, Speed, True Sight and 4 Detonation Arrrows and she surrendered. Selling my loot at Sorcerous Sundries, netted 50k gold, which we spent 35k to buy arrows and potions. Did the mundane guests and moved forward.
Chapter 8. Teleria doesn't agro if you don't talk to her, casually hacked together with her Golem. Got first summon item. Not that I really will need them. Activated the Undead without talking to the Dwarves, who got killed. With PfU and Invisibility I passed through and made a deal with the Lich, then escaped. We hid behind the tent for the parley.
Chapter 9. With couple Invisibilities got us to sleeping Morentherene, who Lady quickly daggered. Ziatar was burned afar. I don't usually tackle Neothelid on solo because it's unneccesary, but decided to battle him now. Cavalier is naturally immune Neothelid's poison, fear and charm attacks, but not stun attacks. So I used couple Invulnerabilities, Speed, Cloud, Power and lady drank PoP, Speed, Invulnerability and Clarity. Still it took 11 zips from the Goblet, because of six swords constantly hitting and Neo taking his time to appear. We drank couple Absorptions and pressed on. Lady used True Sight and we hacked Akanna, picked up the Wardstone and left the Aerial Servants to the room. Shallen still had Lady's Archers Eye's, so I drank couple more Invulnerabilities, Speed and started spamming Nymph's Cloak on her. Second hit she was Charmed and killed. Then we made our Speedy escape. Surrendered the Fort and Bridge Mage were killed after True Sight and few Dispel Arrows.
Chapter 10. Sold my stuff for Nazramu for 100k, and bought everything interesting from the camp. Did the mundane guests and got final level up's.
Lord
** Scimitars
** Flails
*** Two-Weapon Style
Lady
** Longbows
** Shortbows
*** Two-Weapon Style
Lord also got the first casting slot. Reflecting it back, maybe Longbows were wasted pips for Lady, as Shortbows would provide almost the same support, and are better options from SoA onwards.
Used one Clarity potion to tackle Myconid Elder and got Myconid summons. Underground Rivers, killed the Ettin Ghost for the Cloak of the Strange Beast, which provides +1 AC for the Lady, together with +2 Ring. With Speed and Invisibility said hello to Hephernaan, before escaping for the Crusader Attacks. Time for Lady to Shine. We buffed up, and Lady started peppering them with Arrows of Detonation. Troll Wave done after 13 arrows and 1 Goblet. Mage Wave after 11 arrows, 1 Goblet and True Sight. Paladin Wave 16 arrows, 2 Goblets, and True Sight to reveal Rhayla, as she could potentially Dispel. Just when the Final Wave was over, Stysich does what he does best, Dispelled me. Idiot. No matter, 70% Fire Resistance from Cavalier bonus and Icingdeath, I could tank Lady's detonators. And soon it was over after 17 Detonations. Lord easily dispatched Ashatiel. In Hell used in&out of level trick twice against Trix so I didn't need to fight all of the demons.
Vanderley's vs. Bel. We buffed up for the lift getting all elemental resistances up. I decided to use Storm instead of Violet potion, because the lift would go fast anyway, and I needed to buff Champion's Strength's for Bel. Lift was about 25 rounds long, and we used this time to drink Heroism potions to buff our hp. Before killing the last Green Abishai, we refreshed our negative saves, Speed and Clarity, and I used 11 Champion's Strength scrolls. I had -28 Thaco when facing Bel. First I escaped the Dispel, and then Lord started tanking, Lady supporting with Detonators from back. In the end Lord did all the heavy lifting and Bel was down after 20 rounds or so.
Not much trouble to this point, everything mostly went as planned. Hardest part probably was maintaining economy for the Sandthief Ring, and closest call was interestingly SCS Sunin, as he has been upgraded since I've last played. Onto SoA, where Lord's single Sanctuary might be the key of getting out of the first Dungeon, alive.
Hi ya all! I've been playing Cavalier and Inquisitor duo. Cavalier is going to tank, and Inquisitor is going to provide ranged True Sight at least to SoA. Meet Lord and Lady Vanderley's. Used auto-roller to get perfect rolls, and I'm playing with SCS and LoB difficulty. Had to take screenshots with Steam, as with 32:9 the built in mechanic results black bar only left side.
We killed Imoen, Xzar and Montaron for Healing and Speed potions. Picked up the Diamond, Evermemory and killed Neera for the Gem Bag. Killed Algernon for the Charm cloak reducing reputation to 7. 6 would get us fallen. First Invisibility potion from the Beregost manor. Freaking Flaming Fist bothered us, but didn't bother with the Ogrillon's. Ankheg Plate and another Invisibility potion from the manor. From Carnival picked up Fire Giant Strength which was used to get Invulnerability, Invisibility and Heroism potions. Vitiare ranged. Barely killed one Kobold which was our state at the moment, gave the dagger for Revenant and picked fourth Invisibility potion. Gnoll's killed Drizzt for my Bel slicers and Chainmail +4 for my wife.
These are a lawful good couple?? OK killing Xzar and Montaron is fine, but Imoen?! Neera? Algernon? I think this couple need to be sent to the temple of Helm or the Radiant Heart for retraining!! Brage at least had the excuse that he wasn't in control of his own actions.
Introducing my newest entry. I know, I know, I always play Lawful Good. Well true, 95% of the time. Now and then I go exactly the opposite. Here’s a case in point. Meet Angmar. He is based on an old p&p player character I had years ago, 1980-81. His name was Ab, and he reached 18th level as an Anti-Paladin. In those days 18th level was waaayy up there. I don’t think there were more than five NPCs in the entire World of Greyhawk that were 18th level. Anyhow, girls and beer became my favorite things and retired Ab in favor of those pursuits. But ever since I have been playing Baldur’s Gate, 2007, I have seen in one of the ready-made character portraits a guy I thought looked like the Ab I used to imagine. So, I decided to break from my LG this and LG that, goody-two-shoes, and be bad for a change – real bad. (some of you know I am a seminary grad and church history historian).
Anyway, as I started to work on the idea, I merged Ab with the Witch King of Angmar from Lord of the Rings, and instead of Ab, selected Angmar for his name, i.e., from the Witch King of Angmar. That massive flail he uses in the movie, and that dark, faceless suit of armor he wore blended well with my vision of my old Anti-Paladin. I believe all Paladins (and Anti-Paladins), and Black Guard should profess a deity and should possess some of the special abilities the deity bestows on his or her clerics. After all, like the Knights Templar, Knights Hospitaller, Teutonic Knights, et al, Paladins and their evil counterparts are Holy (or unholy) warriors of faith. (Note: the first modder to build a ‘Deities of Faerun - Paladin version will be my all-time hero. ?)
I started to select a demon from the Hordes of the Abyss, e.g. Demogrogon, Lolth (love D&D devils and demons) but decided on Talos, the Storm Lord (Kozah) instead. I felt this would have a better feel for Baldur’s Gate. To create the idea, since I don’t know how to build a kit myself, I decided to start his raw build as an Elven Stormcaller of Talos from Deities of Faerun. Once complete, I used Planetouched Races to change him to a Tiefling (it is my judgment that all PCs, and Imoen, should be since they are the offspring of the Bhaal.) Then I went into EEKeeper to change him into a Black Guard and edited in the appropriate Black Guard abilities. Now I have a blend of Black Guard and Stormcaller of Talos. At first level, he has the Absorb Health and Poison Weapon abilities of a Black Guard, and the Shocking Grasp ability of the Stormcaller. In addition to his increasing Black Guard abilities as he levels up, I plan to edit in Call Lightning at level 4, Lightning Bolt at level 7, and Earthquake at level 17 – all of these one level higher than when Talos’ clerics get them. Angmar will get an additional Lightning Bolt every four levels after the first one – Talos’ Clerics get one every three levels.
Biography
Angmar cannot ever remember a day when he wasn’t a resident of Candlekeep and the ward of Gorion. In fitful dreams, Gorion sometimes made vague references to a Half-Elven Warlock from Waterdeep that he knew for many seasons. Angmar was certain these allusions were of his mother. With no memory of her, Angmar surmised, she died shortly after giving birth to him. Perhaps her death drove Gorion to cloister himself inside the walls of Candlekeep and raise him as his own. Of his father, he knew nothing. At some point, he became angry at the secrecy behind his own life and began to resent Gorion and the people of Candlekeep who he believed played a part in keeping him ignorant of his past. His resentment grew to hate. The only person he did not hate was the girl Imoen he grew up with – he sensed they had something in common, although he knew not what. She was innocent and loyal, but Angmar treated her poorly despite her good cheer. By now, it was in his nature to do so, although she was the one person he liked - in his way - and for that reason, he did his best to push her away.
Angmar could not get away from the mind-numbing, monotonous, stuffy walls of Candlekeep soon enough. For as long as he could remember, monks surrounded him all day, every day, reading, chanting, and passing their time discussing ludicrous prophecies about the dead God of Murder, Bhaal. Even if there were truth to it, it didn’t have anything to do with him. But, he did find his destiny in the thousands of tomes he found at his fingertips as a Candlekeep resident. The library has an entire floor devoted to deities, devils, demons, and daemons: Faiths and Pantheons of Faerun, the Pantheons of Faerun, Deities and Demigods, Hordes of the Abyss, Tyrants of the Nine Hells – huge tomes all. When he was not being tutored by the monks, completing his chores, or training with the Gatewarden and the other Watchers, he was in the library learning everything he could about these supernatural beings. In the course of his study, he found himself returning, again and again, to read about Talos the Stormlord. After a while, he would find himself talking quietly to Talos while he went about his day, or calling on Talos to give him strength or wisdom. He learned his basic fighting skills from the Gatewarden, but his real power emanated from the Towers at the Heart of the Winds, the divine realm of Talos.
Chapter I (Candlekeep to Nashkel), 7 Mirtul 1368
Angmar walked away from Gorion with a rush of excitement. He would be leaving & he knew it. He already knew what he would purchase – splint mail and helm, a flail, and Talos’ signature weapon, a spear. He quickly went around Candlekeep trying to pick up a few more gold pieces to fill his purse. He wasn’t surprised when twice that day he faced assassins trying to take his life. Somehow he knew something was converging on that day, at that time, in Candlekeep. He returned to the bunkhouse to rest and replenish his god-given abilities before going to Gorion. His day had arrived.
Five days later, he lay in bed in a Merchant Room at the Nashkel Inn – the only one they had. He had drawn five companions to him, Dave a Stormcaller of Talos; Vynd, a Drow Assassin; Safana, a Swashbuckler; Shar-teel, a Berserker; and Eldoth, a Jester. In his pride, Angmar liked the idea of having a personal Bard. Imoen ran him down the day after he left. The night before, he and Gorion were ambushed and Gorion was killed. For Angmar, that took care of one thing – he did not have to have Gorion looking over his shoulder now. He traveled with an Assassin and a Necromancer until he reached Beregost, but when they were killed he had no compunction about not wasting gold to raise them back to life. He dismissed Imoen when he met Safana – mostly for carnal reasons, the same reason he kept the Wild Mage Neera with him until he let her go for Shar-teel – he needed a strong warrior upfront. Angmar had people to do his fighting for him after all. Initially, he employed a female Dwarven Defender, but something about her just bothered him, so he let her go for the Drow Assassin, Vynd. He faced two more assassination attempts after he left Candlekeep: one (the third since Candlekeep) at the Red Sheaf in Beregost, a Dwarf, and the fourth, a Cleric at the Nashkel Inn just after he arrived. Angmar took a 300gp bounty in Beregost to kill three thugs for a performer of some type. He noticed though, that the murders cast him in a bad light, something he had to avoid at this time. He realized, in retrospect, that he should have killed the Bard that first approached him about the job. He would clean up his messes from now on. In the meantime, he would find a temple and toss a few coins their way.
SLAYING THE CLERIC
PARTY INFORMATION
ORDER OF MARCH: Shar-teel (point), Dave (divine support), Vynd (Assassin), Eldoth (herald), Angmar (leader), Safana (stealth/traps)
Good to see you back @CharlestonianTemplar - happy slaughtering . It will be interesting to see whether Angmar will prove better at that than the 'good' Vanderley couple .
Just wondering who the female dwarven defender was.
A lot of paladins/anti-paladins on the sword coast currently. I have just started an inquisitor run as I lost interest in my blackguard run at the Cloakwood mines.
No mods other than the bag of holding that was put in Gorion's possession using EE keeper.
The party is strongly Sunite. Seductra should have become a Heartwarden, but had put so much time into developing her arcane abilities that when she reached maturity she felt unable to switch to becoming a cleric. Her lack of charisma despite her physical attractiveness might also have been involved in her decision. Nevertheless she throws herself wholeheartedly into following the Sunite doctrines.
It was she who chose Nigel, not the other way round, though he is undoubtedly the leader of the party. Being full-blooded she has no problem in keeping the other males in the team happy as well.
Schune, as can be seen by his portrait and his name is a fighter/cleric of Sune and Percy is a fighter/thief who is also a Sunite, though I believe that he is more a Sunite because of the pleasures that Seductra gives him than out of deep-seated loyalty to Sune.
Journal of Nigel de Naseby
We started out by heading to Beregost to rest prior to going to the Friendly Arms. Whilst doing so we were able to help Melicamp.
At the inn entrance we were attacked by a mage assassin who we slew. However, fearing that there might be more assassins inside, we did not enter.
Further north Sonner wanted some dirty work doing, but upon checking their alignment, we killed them instead.
We then returned Tenya's bowl to her for which she was mildly grateful and killed a nearby ankheg.
In transit we were attacked by bandits and when my companions fell, I made the mistake of going to pick up their equipm.....
A bandit attack at level 1 is inevitably dangerous.
I have started again with the same team. A bit more successfully on this occasion.
Following Gorion's instructions, we headed for the Friendly Arms after his death, picking up a couple of rings on the way.
At the inn we were attacked by a mage assassin. Schune used command to render him harmless. Seductra memorised some spells from the scrolls that he carried.
We cleared the area of hobgoblins and returned Joia's ring before heading north.
There we met an evil group of fishermen who we killed.
We returned Tenya's bowl which made Umberlee happy not that I'm too concerned about that.
Nearby we killed an ankheg.
Since we were unable to enter Baldur's Gate, we headed south where we helped Melicamp.
Nearby, in Beregost Silke attacked us and paid the price.
In the inn, Karlat similarly met his doom.
And Perdue got his sword back.
To the north we killed an ogre and to the west at the request of a priest of Lathander, we killed Bassilus.
I didn't know much about that death as I was affected by Rigid Thinking, and Schone was Held, but the others took advantage of the fact that Bassilus was unconcious and killed him.
We delivered a letter that we found on the body of an ogrillon and killed some overly officious Flaming Fist.
That provided three of us with better armour.
On the way to Nashkel, we picked up an amulet and in the town itself I found some quite good armour.
In the inn Neira attacked and was killed and Oublek offered us a reward which we turned down as it wasn't ours.
Noober bored the pants off us so we went to the carnival for some fun and relaxation.
It wasn't much fun as we were attacked by Zordral.
Schone's Command didn't work, but neither did Zordral's first spell.
Schone therefore cast Dooom after which Command did work.
And my party was able to kill him though I didn't know much about it.
To the south Greywolf attacked us. Schone's Command spell helped somewhat, but when it wore off we still had quite a battle on our hands.
We now all have a magical weapon of our choice. I have a long sword +2, Schone a war hammer +2, Percy a dagger +1, and Seductra a staff +1.
We headed easy where I found a ring of fire protection before bumping into the wounded Samuel. Upon being asked to take him to the Friendly Arms, we complied. In transit some hobgoblin attacked and Seductra was wounded, but on the plus side they had a scroll which she was able to memorise.
Taking Samuel to the inn helped our reputation as did taking the Colquetle amulet back to the family.
It is amazing how little that you have to do to become a hero. Clearly the Sword Coast is very short of people like me.
For once I was able to take on some spiders single handed and come out on top. This enabled Seductra to cast level 2 spells, but so far we haven't found a single level 2 scroll.
Bjornin asked us to deal with some half-ogres. This we were quite happy to do, but some bandits nearby were quite a problem. Horror disabled me so once again my friends had to help me out. Even worse, I ran into some gnoll so they had even more enemies to fight.
Afterwards we rested.
The half-ogres themselves were no problem and I was rewarded with a magical medium shield.
One of the scrolls that we have found is resist fear. It is Seductra's only level 2 spell, but it is just what we needed.
We also found two chromatic orb scrolls, however Seductra failed to memorise one of them.
The reputation boost brought our reputation to 20.
Good to see you back @CharlestonianTemplar - happy slaughtering . It will be interesting to see whether Angmar will prove better at that than the 'good' Vanderley couple .
I would have been here sooner, but I've been getting slaughtered every time I try a run. I usually don't post anything until the PC is at least in Chapter 4, 6 even. Then I have to go back and build the write-ups from my notes. CT
Journal of Nigel de Naseby
We headed south once more and helped reunite Albert and Rufie after which we fought and killed Vax and Zal.
We then killed Caldo and Krumm before reuntiting 'Drienne with her cat.
We then killed Ingot before heading for the Gnoll Stronghold where we killed Gnarl and Hairtooth before raiding a cave.
In transit we killed a bear and then a polar bear after travelling north.
We were rewarded with a pair of boots for killing the polar bear and upon killing Neville I acquired another long sword.
Further north we helped the archaeologist Charleston Nib.
We took Brage to the tmple of Helm before heading to the Lighthouse Area.
There we killed Sirine galore as some extra ones appeared when we needed to rest.
Shoal and Droth were not a major problem and neither were the nearby Sirines.
I just successfully completed a run with a true class mage (at the 66th attempt ). In the early stages of that I was thinking of seeing how far I could get without taking any damage (except in cut scenes), but a skeleton's dart put paid to that before I'd got invisibility. I have though done BG1 a number of times without taking damage, but never really made an effort beyond that - and decided I should now aim to do that.
Any thief, mage or bard class has a decent possibility of avoiding damage in BG1 (other classes would need to rely on the small chance that the traps in the Nashkel Mines won't trigger if you run over them while hasted). To up the chances of going further than that though, I thought I'd roll up a F/M/T - 10 minutes of re-rolling got me a nice starting character for that.
I only know safe travel times for some of the area transitions, so the first objective was to avoid ambushes until I'd learnt invisibility. That was done as follows:
- from the crossroads, I travelled south. Rather than go west to Shoal (with the possibility of an ambush), I took the safe route to Beregost (picking up a potion of invisibility for emergencies there). I purchased some +1 arrows and used those on the High Hedge golems - getting a first thief level there.
- Karlat, Perdue and Marl provided a fighter level before I sliced up Algernon. I don't normally use his cloak these days, but thought this run will be hard enough to justify that this time . The Cloak charmed Kelddath at the temple and his skeleton warrior took out the sirines. I wasn't too bothered about Kelddath, but one of the sirines had charmed him, so he became a victim as well.
Not content with that, the skeleton warrior went on the rampage outside as well (pulling it outside loses control over it in my installation, but after transitioning to Beregost and back control is regained), getting a further decent chunk of XP from the wolf pack.
That lot took me to level 4/3/4 and I purchased invisibility from High Hedge and successfully learnt that.
South of Beregost I got some thieving boots and (briefly) returned those to Zhurlong. Further south, I detoured to the Lakes and set a gnoll to attack Drizzt. Having already learnt invisibility, I wasn't too bothered about his XP and didn't monitor the fight - so it was no surprise that the gnoll killed Drizzt. However, both his swords and his armor (which a thief can stealth in) are of use.
In Nashkel I made a small donation at the temple to ensure I'd get CLW as a Bhaal power (though ideally I won't need to make use of that ). I also picked up further invisibility potions from the Manor House and the Carnival. Moving on to Firewine Bridge, Bentan was charmed and fed to Meilum to get his PfM scroll - and the latter was then shot down to get his bracers.
The final action of the session saw more quick XP gained by following Korax round the basilisk area. The basilisks and then Mutamin were disposed of easily enough with the help of a single blind on a basilisk which switched to melee early on.
Baerin was then charmed and pulled away to be Koraxed before Kirian was paralyzed and shot down before Peter showed himself.
I then ran off and shot Lindin when he followed. On his own Peter is no problem as he won't follow up his spells if you get out of sight before he casts - I duly waited out being affected by rigid thinking before finishing the job.
There's a very long way to go, but at least that's a decent start ...
Journal of Nigel de Naseby
After buying a scroll of protection from petrification I killed the basilisks almost single handed though it was Percy who delivered the killing blow to Mutamin.
We then dealt with the plague of ankheg north of the FAI.
We then raided Durlag's Tower.
Schone got petrified through carelessly getting out of position. We did however have the appropriate scroll with us and were able to rectify things.
Not content with that, the skeleton warrior went on the rampage outside as well (pulling it outside loses control over it in my installation, but after transitioning to Beregost and back control is regained), getting a further decent chunk of XP from the wolf pack.
Good to know. I lose control over it in my installation as well (stock BGEE), so I've been moving it outside and bringing the enemies to it. It still fights hostiles that get in range.
Not content with that, the skeleton warrior went on the rampage outside as well (pulling it outside loses control over it in my installation, but after transitioning to Beregost and back control is regained), getting a further decent chunk of XP from the wolf pack.
Good to know. I lose control over it in my installation as well (stock BGEE), so I've been moving it outside and bringing the enemies to it. It still fights hostiles that get in range.
This sort of behavior occurs in quite a few places when you pull charmed creatures through transitions. As far as I know, in all cases going in and out of a party-required area transition will always restore full control (and often the transition doesn't have to be party-required).
Venturing north, I added to my girdle collection by refusing to let a sleeping ogre lie. A ring of wizardry was dug up at the FAI before I went to find Tenya's bowl. The random encounter point for bandits just south of the fishermen is a danger in this run as bandits can appear there and then wander around, potentially attacking before you know they're there. I was aware of that though and kept alert while shooting the fishermen. After handing the bowl in I killed the nearby ankheg by going invisible as soon as it surfaced (perfectly safe as their weapon speed is too slow to get an attack in before that even with a good initiative roll). That leaves the ankheg visible and vulnerable to sleep.
At Ulgoth's Beard I shot an arrow at Dushai to annoy her before retreating. I was tempted to try a backstab, but she could potentially retaliate quite quickly, so I settled for shooting her down (with invisibility ready in case I missed the final shot). That provided not just a free action ring, but also a web scroll - though I failed to learn that.
A few more chores in Beregost included sneaking into the spider house to sleep them and blinding Silke. Greywolf also lost his sight before Samuel got an invisible lift back to the FAI, where Joia got her ring back - and Tarnesh got a backstab as he wouldn't try and retaliate physically.
The reputation gains continued thanks to Hulrik, Bjornin and a grateful dryad. I was expecting an upgrade from Drienne for returning her cat as well, but forgot to cast friends before talking to her and missed out on that .
After grabbing the charisma tome, there were more reputation gains on the way, starting with Brage. As usual I dragged him away before talking to him, so that Laryssa would remain there for me to collect her magical shield.
Charleston Nib was next in line and his Doomsayer offered some nice backstab practice after being blinded.
At the coast, Ardrouine's mind was put at rest, but I wasn't yet up to taking on the sirines and left them for now.
On the way up to look for a talking chicken, I stopped off to say hello to Bassilus (even though Kelddath's demise made that encounter much less profitable than usual). Starting a blindness spell from stealth gave me plenty of time to see the results of that before considering whether to retreat - which was unnecessary in this case as Bassilus failed his save.
There is a slight chance there of hostile skeletons or hobgoblins wandering up from the south, so I was keeping my eyes peeled - but none appeared.
At High Hedge I didn't want to use magic missile from a distance on a skeleton as it might get a shot off before I could retreat back out of sight - doing that from close range would not give it a chance to retaliate, but a magic missile would not necessarily kill it. I didn't yet have any area damage, so elected to rest while invisible at the edge of the map. That provided the opportunity to retreat from a successful shot by an ambushing skeleton if necessary, but in this case the skeleton failed to get a shot off in time.
That effort was rewarded when Melicamp survived his transformation.
Invisibility and sleep accounted for all the ankhegs in their nest, getting me to fighter level 6 in the process.
Leaving Farmer Brun with the problem of how to carry around some bulky gold pieces pushed reputation up to 19. A quick tour of the area found a couple more ankhegs and one of those had a web scroll - and this time I successfully learnt that.
By this time the only reputation gain still accessible was at the Nashkel Mine, so that was the next destination. It would have been safer to sneak through there entirely, but I couldn't resist taking out the spiders - that meant I had to move smartly away after killing the first to get out of sight of a wandering kobold, before finishing the second.
Inside the cave, webs would have been a quick way to deal with Mulahey, but there would be a slight risk of him breaking free and calling for help (that would be unlikely to cause problems, but could possibly do so depending on positioning of arrivals). Blind would have automatically led him to summon help, but rather oddly physical damage does not trigger that response. Hence I just ran him round the small pond while shooting until his morale broke and he could be finished off with a magic missile.
Outside the mine I left the amazons for later and went back to Nashkel to maximise reputation by talking to the mayor. Web set Nimbul up there for an automatically fatal backstab - also providing me with a find familiar scroll, which resulted shortly in a HP boost from a pseudo dragon.
Tranzig's first spell is defensive, so if I'd missed a backstab on him there was plenty of time to use invisibility and disappear. However, as the backstab almost killed him I used magic missile instead to finish him off.
At the Bandit Camp I almost immediately had my first bit of luck. I used a sleep from out of sight of anything which I thought should have reached both a Chill hobgoblin and the first bandit archer. However, the bandit wasn't shown as saving, which confused me a bit and I wondered if I'd placed him wrongly. Moving into range of the Chill I found in fact the bandit was not only about where I thought it should be, but it also attacked me before it was even in sight - that imbalance in sight lines is pretty unusual, but given the number of encounters is still likely to occur several times in a game (it's particularly a danger if you plan on playing hide and seek with basilisks ...). Fortunately, the missile adjustments from the belt of piercing and traveller's robe I was wearing were sufficient to generate a miss.
A few more bandits were killed with sleep from the shadows before Taurgosz came out to play and found me quite charming.
That spell only lasts 5 rounds, but accounted for a few more bandits before Taurgosz wanted to play chase and only found a bunch of arrows. Once the rest of the external bandits were dead I did a little bit of looting - including picking up and learning a fireball scroll - before going inside Tazok's tent. Hakt, Venkt & Britik were blinded out of sight of Raemon before a web allowed the main man to safely be blinded as well.
Rather than get 17 XP for disarming the trap, I set it off to target Ender Sai (gaining 25 gold, along with an element of satisfaction ).
At High Hedge I bought a number of spell scrolls - protection from fire being the only significant one I failed to learn (in most games I leave learning scrolls up to chance, to keep intelligence as a meaningful stat and provide some variation in game play depending on what is learned). I also splashed out for a few potions and the robe of the good archmagi. The other main area for purchases was Ulgoth's Beard. I failed with 2 of the scrolls there, but got improved invisibility (easily the most important as there are no other copies for sale in BGEE).
The bandit camp is fiddly because of the way the bandits roam around. To be safe I could have just gone invisibly straight to the tent, but didn't want to miss out on the thousands of gold for Taurgosz's equipment. Surviving that will hopefully set me up for the rest of BGEE.
The next encounter was with the Red Wizards, to get the Ring of Energy. I only had a single 3rd level spell available (and was not intending to resort to the use of items), so tried using blind while Denak was held. He saved against that though and again demonstrated that just because you can't see someone else doesn't mean they can't see you - in this case though as he was just talking that didn't cause a problem.
Denak saved against a further blind before I threw in a fireball and retreated to rest. A couple more fireballs then proved sufficient.
At Durlag's Tower I let myself get cornered by a battle horror, but only after it was near dead and a magic missile would be a certain kill.
The XP for that was enough for mage level 6 / thief level 7, i.e. my final levels available in BGEE. The second 3rd level spell available made the job of clearing the wall of skeletons a bit easier in order to deal with the battle horror there.
Inside the tower most of the ghasts were backstabbed while I put my 95% in open locks and find traps to use to grab some loot. One of the spells I'd learned at High Hedge was PfP, so the basilisks on the roof could be backstabbed without bothering with web and blindness.
Riggilo was given a lock of hair and I reported that back to Kirinhale, who immediately tried teleporting away. However, that offered me a free hit while she was in transition and, to my surprise, I managed a critical to get a bonus 3k XP and her staff spear .
Riggilo would have been annoyed if I'd talked to him, but I just blinded him for easy disposal. The trap guarding the tome can't be disarmed, so I used a potion of magic blocking to take that.
Leaving the remainder of the Tower, I decided to take a side trip to Ice Island. A basilisk tried an ambush on the way, but I was invisible and able to turn the tables.
On arrival I rested to memorize protection from cold - that allows winter wolves to be safely killed as they rather oddly only do cold damage, even with their bite.
I couldn't remember what spell scrolls most of the mages had there, so killed them all - mainly using stealth attacks.
Remove magic was the only real gain from those mages. The traps were all dealt with while invisible, though that took a while as I don't know the location of those reliably. I did though get a further slice of luck against an ankheg. Two of the four of them had attacked me earlier and I'd killed one while the other ran off somewhere while I was invisible. Some time later I used invisibility to strand the other two above ground and slept them. In going to attack them though, I didn't notice the remaining ankheg from earlier was hidden under the wall. I only became aware of that from the battle text and wasn't sure if I had time to cast invisibility before it attacked again - so made use of an invisibility potion there.
Dezkiel was the last to go and died in a web.
His stoneskin scroll was the main reason for going there in the first place, though in retrospect that was not really worthwhile - as a triple class I can't cast 4th level spells until SoD, where there are plenty of those scrolls for sale, so the only potential benefit is in the SoD prologue dungeon.
After the time spent on Ice Island, I didn't bother with any combat in the Cloakwood, but just went through most of that invisibly. At the mine another epidemic of blindness struck, with his 3 companions losing their sight before the same occurred to Drasus thanks to a web. While finishing them off I racked up a first 3 figure backstab.
Inside the mine I got a haste scroll from Hareishan.
Down below, I disarmed all the traps rather than tripping the first ones to activate the battle horrors. Davaeorn then died from 4 skull traps - surprisingly no guards attempted to intervene when I rested in between those.
I pulled the mustard jelly away to a spot where I could attack it and fade away before it could retaliate.
After flooding the mine I was about to move on to Baldur's Gate when I remembered I still had a few pieces of unfinished business in the wilderness maps. That included telling the amazons their time was up. In the same area the Revenant was blinded and backstabbed.
Typically I get Narcillicus to produce mustard jellies, but they are a bit tricky to kill without giving them any chance to attack - so Narcillicus was just webbed. A few ghasts were pulled out of a nearby tomb to provide me with a wand of monster summoning. On the way back from that area I forgot to use invisibility and had to waste a potion when ambushed.
Next I returned to the Lighthouse area. While there was no real reason for killing the sirines there, I couldn't resist trying that. Webs helped kill 2 of the 3 in the first group before I rested. After spotting the final one I webbed it, but before I could finish it off, found I was once more under attack. I'd checked there were no hobgoblins at their spawning site on the way to find the sirine, but had moved just far enough to allow them to appear there and then wander into sight. Although I was aware of the potential danger of that and acted pretty quickly, one of them still got the chance to fire an arrow - but with the cloak of displacement now adding to my protections to give an effective AC of -7 vs missiles it was no great surprise it missed.
Sil's group don't start off hostile, which makes them easier to handle, while the golems were soon shot up to allow me to grab the constitution tome.
Further up the coast, I briefly considered trying to get Shoal to summon Droth to get the Helm of Defense. However, that doesn't really deserve a spot in inventory and I just blinded and backstabbed her. After that I did finally make my way to the City. I immediately picked up the dexterity tome there before going to Ramazith's Tower to shoot the mage.
However, I just stealthed past all his guards to get the intelligence tome. That allowed me a slightly better chance of learning spells and I had no failures with the new selection purchased from Sorcerous Sundries.
Journal of Nigel de Naseby
I picked up Khaled and Jaheira, Xzar and Montaron and took them to Nashkel where they had all asked me to take them. I dropped them on and continued south whereupon I got embroiled in a battle between Dorn and his enemies. He jpoined the party and we then went in search of Krill whom we killed. We dropped Dorn off and he told us he could be found at the FAI.
In Nashkel we rescued Neera and she has joined the party. WE sold a lot of junk which enabled us to buy a robe of the Good Archmage. Sadly not enough gold to buy a robe of the neutral archmage for Neera.
Keep an eye out for these three Dig a hole for these three
Waking up in the tome of leadership cave saw the start of our adventure. We fought our way back the way we had arrived but headed north instead of crossing the bridge. In the next area we killed a blinded polar bear so Corepriest could wear some toasty boots.
We then spent the next few minutes on area transitions with two ambushes followed by a confirmation that none of us had control of the third transit. With nothing else to do we went back to the last autosave.
The next 20 minutes saw us return Perdue's sword and kill Silke. Idyut was heading to Firewine Ruins in search of some bracers but Corepriest mentioned Nashkel Mine so we went there instead. Nothing in the mine stood in our way and we were soon outside breathing in the fresh air.
What's that smell? Amazons!
Corepriest casts Silence, but Telka saves. He casts again and she fails her save. Idyut and Shy both appear from the shadows to attack and battle commences. Maneira switches to melee and hits Idyut - with only 16hp remaining he moves around but before he decides where to move to she hits again - only 6hp left so he flees the scene westward with her in pursuit.
Maneira turns back as Shy tries to reach her but he is baulked by Lamahla. Corepriest manages to successfully hold Maneira as Idyut hides and turns to come back.
Lamahla starts talking to us, an indication that the Silence has already worn off. Idyut wastes a backstab on the stricken Maneira - killing her but Lamahla casts Rigid Thinking at Shy.
Shy saves, and Corepriest has cast Hold Person at Telka while Idyut has run west to hide once more. Telka saves against the Hold, as does Zeela while Idyut fails his hide. Lamahla casts and successfully holds Shy just as Telka's morale breaks and she staggers away to the south.
Corepriest commands Lamahla as Idyut hides at the second attempt and then Corepriest saves against a Rigid Thinking cast by Zeela. Idyut misses with a backstab onto the uninjured Zeela while the badly-wounded Lamahla finally manages to hold Corepriest.
Idyut races away in search of another shadow to hide in but Lamahla commands him. He recovers and moves away as Zeela casts Spiritual Hammer. With Zeela attacking the held Shy and Lamahla attacking the held Corepriest Idyut moves back in and gets a triple-damage backstab of 11 in onto the Zeela who is closest.
Idyut is out of visual range moments later but Zeela casts a hold in his direction. He saves against the effect as Lamahla kills Shy, and hides once more. With two attackers on him, Corepriest dies just as Idyut arrives and misses his backstab.
Zeela casts command again and Idyut collapses. Idyut thinks he might just be OK. Then the southerly Telka adds her ranged attacks to two melee attacks and a round on the ground looks in doubt.
Somehow Idyut rises to his feet and runs with 3hp remaining. Telka shoots an arrow, rolling a 17 which is enough to hit and before Idyut can gulp a healing potion the arrow ends matters decisively.
Visuals of the final combat - the magical arrow can be seen below Idyut on the final one.
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #0 // Rewritten Final Chapter of Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #10 // Balthazar can be redeemed: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #20 // Improved Sarevok-Player Interactions: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #30 // Improved Imoen-Player Interactions in Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #40 // Restored Bhaalspawn Powers: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #50 // Improved Slayer Transformation: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #60 // Expanded Epilogues for Bioware NPCs -> David Gaider's expanded epilogues for Bioware NPCs: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Tougher Abazigal: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1100 // Tougher Balthazar: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Tougher Demogorgon: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1300 // Tougher Gromnir: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1400 // Tougher Illasera: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Tougher Yaga-Shura: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Full-body portrait for Bodhi: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Alternate Balthazar portrait, by Cuv: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Extended Epilogues for additional Beamdog NPCs, by shawne: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Sharper portraits of Abazigal and Gromnir for the Enhanced Edition, by DavidW: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2400 // Slightly improved cutscenes, by DavidW: 2.0.12
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v9
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v9
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking: v9
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Increase Scroll Stacking -> Unlimited Scroll Stacking: v9
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Include arcane spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1510 // Include divine spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3550 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict a random amount of damage (1d8 per level of the spell, plus 1 point per caster level, to a maximum of 5 points per spell level): v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4240 // Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorisable spells (each may be taken only once): v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4250 // Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends and celestials: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6550 // Smarter beholders: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6560 // Smarter mind flayers: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai use SCS abilities and AI: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Ascension demons use SCS abilities and AI: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8040 // Tie difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings to the difficulty slider: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix"): v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8080 // Improved Bodhi: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8085 // Ascension version of Bodhi uses Improved-Bodhi abilities: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Rebalanced troll regeneration: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Improved Drow: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Improved Watcher's Keep: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Improved Sendai's Enclave: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v33.3
~LOB_SAVE_FIX/LOB_SAVE_FIX.TP2~ #0 #0 // improve saving throws of all non-joinable creatures
The Paladin couple woke up in Irenicus Dungeon. Hitting with only 20's, as there's no weapon's for our proficiencies at the main room, we just about killed the Lightning and Smoke Mephits, without wasting any Healing Potions. For the next part Lady stayed back, as Lord scouted with Sanctuary. From Sewage Golem room I picked up couple Scimitars and Longbow for Wifey. Because activating Sewage Golem would take my only Sanctuary down, I concluded that it was better if Lady would take a small death again, and she agreed. This way I could sleep where ever and get my Sanctuary back. Fighting Duergars is no option in LoB SCS and without summons. Now I could sleep before the Sewage Golem room, activate it, trap the Mephit in the room, and continue with Sanctuary. Looted rooms with casual resting Sanctuary cycle. First small problem was to lure the three Duergars to the Otuygh room, because they were blocking the way. But I easily got Sanctuary on before they hit me. Looted the couple rooms, and escaped to the next level. For the four Mephits I decided to waste one Oil of Speed so I could trap them in the room and casually hack their portals. Used Sanctuary and ran straight through and picked Girdle of Bluntness, and +1 Ring among other loot and escaped the Dungeon. Sold my loot for 6k and resurrected Lady.
First things first, looted Maevar's guild hall and bought Nymph Cloak. With Sanctuary robbed the Pirates. I suspected Suna Seni waylay, and used Sanctuary beforehand, and we escaped it pretty casually. Then we robbed three Temples. Graveyard guests, and started Harper hold after the second waylay. Bought my rep to 14 and did the Tanner guest. Lord leveled up getting second casting slot. From Watchers Keep picked up Paladin's Bracers and Potion Case. Tried De'Arnise but there was no way of getting Lady past Trolls without wasting Invisibility potions, so I just looted the first level and FoA +1 with Sanctuary.
After running past Wild Forrest, Neera showed us in the Hidden Refuge, where I did the easy fetching guest for Mereth, and got the +2 Amulet. My wife really needs reusable invisibility, so we could advance certain places. So we went to Seven Vales, where I charmed Brennan first go. He then attacked rest of the bunch getting killed almost immediately. The agroed party can rot there for now. It's important not to attack Brennan yourself if you're weak, because he has escape script at low health, and so long loot. Anyway wifey got the Sandthief Ring.
Back at De'Arnise we could now move to the second floor without alerting anyone. Lady Dispelled Glaicus out of sight, and she also got a level up. We killed the four dogs out of sight of the Otuygh, and then Lady opened the gate. Then we looted the place, and escaped with FoA +3 for Lord, and Elven Courtbow +3 for Lady. Had enough money to start Chapter 3 and buy Glasses of Identification. Got Amulet of Power, which Paladin's can use, and get slightly faster casting times. Escaped three vampire waylay's in a row, Del, Parise and Tanova, and slept 3 nights at Thumb's. Watched Mook getting killed, and we avoided Lassal too.
Via Trademeet we went to Druid's Grove where we picked Belm +2 for Lord and Dale's Protector for Lady. Resting and Invisibility allowed us to pass it completely unnoticed. Lord now got 4 apr and weapons of choice for almost the rest of the game. Next we did the easy guests in Umar Hills, and I got the Mirror Image sword. Next was the easy Slaver guest, Beastmaster doesn't activate if you get hit from invisibility. Lady got Tuigan's Bow, and matched Lords 4 apr. We then picked the animals one by one, and freed the slaves. Neb was easy pray with True Sight. Wifey got Helm of the Noble after Sir Sarles guest. After dividing the Mephits at Gethras home, they were easily hacked. Lord then drank Potion of Fire Resistance to 70%, and cast Sanctuary and repeated the fire trap until Rayic was dead. Looted the place and left. Maevar was pre-charmed before giving the proof away, and then he was killed by his gang. Both got level ups, and Lord got 2nd level spell slot. Seven Vales gang was lured downstairs, where neutral Guard casually hacked them. Lady used True Sight couple times when Amon and Pooky went invisible. Lord got Full Plate and Lady Non-Detection Cloak, and we now had 33k gold.
As Lord is conveniently immune to poison, he repeated the Cloudkill trap to kill Captain and fellow slavers. Looted the place and left. With 18 rep I finally decided to buy Vhailor's Helm. Did the next guest for the Shadow Thieves. With Invisibility Lady fetched Mace of Disruption and we spent 7500 upgrading it. With Sanctuary and True Sight we went in to Prebek and Sanasha home, and casually summoned clone who slowed the couple, and then we easily finished them. Gained access to Harper Hold and looted the place. After buying Rod of Resurrection I still had 30k left. Mekrath was pretty easy after Clone softened him and with Lady's True Sight. And we got second RoR for Lady.
Decided to advance the Neera guest line, and oh boy was it tricky to keep Draxus alive. The first fight wasn't that bad, but the second fight outside I needed no less than 14 RoR's, keeping Lord and Draxus both alive. Draxus kept wandering around and Lady tried to keep an eye on both. Didn't remember that there was a second battle, and was caught off guard. Nevertheless managed to keep Draxus, and more importantly Lord alive. Got access to the Hideout at Promenade and bought 10x Dispel Arrows and bunch of potions for 16k. After spending so much money, in addition of 14 RoR's, maybe it wasn't worth it. After recharging other RoR, I had 10k left. Back at Trademeet, Treya was lured away and killed for her offhand Thac0 -2 cloak, and I then started Rasaad guest line. Interestingly Treya knows how to speak after death. Rasaad companied us to City Gates, and after map update, I let him go.
Time to get rid of the Temple Sewer Gang. Lord Silenced Tarnor out of sight, and because he can't talk and agro, we casually killed him. Now we could charm some of them. Gallobhair and Gaius are Elf's, and very hard to charm, and Draug Fea has Mind Shield, so he can't be charmed. So we charmed first Rengaard and then Zorl after sleep, with 3/20 and 8/20 chances in LoB. Then we ganged on Gaius with double Harm's, and he was killed in a second. Gallobhair was still incredibly tough and killed Zorl and Rengaard. Lady Dispelled his Speed once only he was left, and in the end we still needed 5 RoR's. The loot however was great and Lady too got Full Plate.
We advanced the Unseeing Eye to point that we got the half of the rod. Did the Silver Pantaloons guest, we avoided reputation loss by charming Welther and he was killed by Chorvale and Bregg, who we then killed. Lord ascended to level 12 and got pip in Mace's. Bought Shield of Balduran, and it was time to head further Unseeing Eye.
Lord and Clone did short work of the Undead Bridge with Mace of Disruption +2. As we killed first Gauth, Lady got level up too. Tried some Gauth xp-looping, but it was still taking 1 minute to kill a Gauth for 9k xp, and I gave up after 50 minutes or so after making a level. It was still good level up, to 4.5 apr, 3rd level spell slot and first Skellington. Picked up the other half of the rift device, and escaped. Before commissioning Roger the Fence for smuggling the Rift Device out of the sewers, I bought his interesting potions. Then I charmed him, and he attack/followed us to previous area, where he pickpocketed the Device from Lady. Then he followed us to the Temple area. He didn't want to give the Rift Device back, so we were forced to kill him, forced I tell you, for greater good. Rift Device is a powerful tool, it takes 60% of HP which is good against LoB bosses and Dispels on hit, and it cannot be blocked.
At Windspear Hills I first used Sanctuary, and then waited Paladin's Oil of Speed out. Cloned and attacked, and they were done after a turn. The battle at the house required couple RoR's, even after buffing in the top room freely. Passed Firkraag dungeon mostly unnoticed, but we did kill the Wolfwere's at the end. Tazok's party took 1 RoR. For Conster I used True Sight and Skellington to deplete his PfMW's. He still put a fight with bunch of spells, and Lord got confused, but luckily Conster didn't have any summons. Got nice loot, including the Sewer Key.
It was again Lady's time to Shine. After all she should take the biggest risks. She buffed up with PfU, Invisibility, Stone Form, Invulnerability to get -4 saves vs. Spell, and Speed and ran through the Mind Flayer dungeon. Apparently SCS Ulitharid's now use Ballistic Attacks more, and Lady surely would have died, but Lord watched over (hmm?) and protected with RoR's from other side of the map couple times. Got Hammer of Thunderbolts +3 for Lady, and more importantly Wand of Wonder.
We bought some Stone to Flesh scrolls, and went back to Firkraag. First WoW gave 9 loops, and after having money for one recharge, Sister Garlena gives the cheapest price, second wand provided 6 loops. That left us just shy of 15th level. But now we needed moar moneys. Firkraag xp-loop is much faster than Gauth loop. It's not depended on level, and on average with 6 loops per Wand, or 5 minutes, it gives about 77k xp per minute, compared of 9k I was getting from Gauth's at my level. But unlike the Gauth loop it runs on gold.
Back at Watchers Keep, the Trolls took 2 RoR's and one rest outside to kill. The Vampiric Wraith's are incredibly tough and depleted our RoR's leaving just 2 hits left. They did push Lord to 15th level tough. Cleared the place, but didn't activate the statues, and looted. Lady also got level 15. Third WoW put as close to 16th level. Sold some of my jewels which I was saving for the Shaguain merchant to get another recharge, which got us almost level 17.
We both made level 17 in Temple Ruins, which was pretty easily cleared by couple MoD +2's. But we needed to recharge WoW before tackling the Shadow Dragon, so we went back again to Garlena and we just got the 6k to recharge the wand, and then returned. And Shadow Dragon was stoned after couple hits. For Shadow Lord we wasted one PfU and Oil of Speed. Using the rest of then Wand for Firkraag we ascended to level 18, and finally got couple Deva's. After recharging both RoR's, we didn't quite have money to recharge WoW again.
Time to do some Lich hunting, with single PfU Lord killed the two minor Liches, and used second PfU on the City Gates Lich. Didn't want to push for Kangaxx yet because I didn't have my WoW recharged, but I did pick up second Sandthief Ring for uninterrubtable casting.
The battle with the first four Statues in Watchers Keep were tougher than I thought. Used three Skelis, couple Deva's and one RoR. So it definitely wasn't time for the next eight Statues. But we now had again money to recharge WoW. For Kangaxx I buffed with PfU and attacked, we returned to the far corner after he summoned a Cornugon and waited it out, same for the Dark Planetar that followed. Next he wasted Remove Magic on his Skeleton Warrior, and after three Wiltings, Lord attacked. After he changed, we could range the Demi Lich casually with WoW. And after 10 hits, he was done. Only used one PfU and couple Oil of Speeds. Lady was impressed after following the scene from the corner.
We finally felt powerful enough to commit on something, and went to Planar Sphere. The way to Lavok was easily cleared with summons. Skeli attacked Lavok from Farsight activating his buffs. Second and third Skelis continued to deplete his spells. Then Clone and Deva attacked pulling out Planetar, which we waited out. Second Deva ko'd Lavok and we moved in. Tanari was killed by summons too first casting Farsight. The same attack formation against Tolgerias and the mage, and they didn't survive the third Deva. Got level 19 and Staff of Fire, aka stream of Fire Elementals.
Trio 27 - first and FINAL Update!
Corearcher X - elven archer, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Davet - dwarven wizard slayer (Gate70)
Balladeer - half-elf skald (Grond0)
Well this was a VERY short run - though I wouldn't say it was sweet. We had just killed Shoal and were on our way to Beregost - we got hit with an ambush and the Trio all went different directions - uh oh. Finally we are all headed SE. However, Corearcher X foolishly didn't have a melee weapon equipped and gets dropped to 1 HP. He's almost made his escape when his group-mates inexplicably block his escape and prevent him to getting to the edge of the map. The 3 pursuers are able to catch up to Corearcher X and Corearcher X is quickly slain - RIP Corearcher X.
After the ignominy of 2 party deaths in less than an hour, things didn't look too promising when this collection of glass cannons was turned out by the production line. Their offensive clout was soon demonstrated when Kencore hit Shoal with a 28 damage critical on the way to bringing her down.
However, the lack of defense was illustrated when Thwaka took her life in her hands by running some spiders around Beregost until Kencore's axes could cut through them.
In Nashkel, some buried ankheg armor was only useful to raise a bit of cash. Siri did though learn CLW there to help a bit with keeping HPs up.
Kencore was worried about his 2-handed swords breaking, so the next destination was north of the Carnival to run Arghain and his half-ogres around. To the east, Meilum was waiting at Firewine Bridge. He packs a pretty nasty punch, but Thwaka was once more on her bike to keep him occupied until Siri managed to blind him at the third attempt.
Gate70 sounded a bit disgusted to hear that Siri did not know that staple of low-level mages, PfP. However, there are alternative ways to benefit from easy basilisk XP and Siri was soon leading Korax down close to the southern group of basilisks to kick-start our level gains.
Skirting Kirian's party on the way back up the map, it didn't take Korax long to deal with the remaining basilisks - or with Mutamin.
Kirian's party were potentially more of a threat, but Baerin and Lindin were blinded prior to combat to reduce their effectiveness. Peter took a poisoned backstab, but was still able to afflict Siri with rigid thinking before holding Thwaka just as the latter got a fatal shot off.
At this point Korax had already paralyzed Kirian, so the danger seemed over - but there was still a twist in the tale. In his confusion, Siri was attacking Kencore. While her lack of combat punch meant that wasn't much of a problem, it did slightly delay Kencore finishing off Kirian. The potential problem was that the charm on Korax would run out any time - and with the current positioning that would have meant he would immediately head to the helpless Thwaka and finish her off. Kencore tried to pre-empt that by attacking Korax while he was still on our side, aiming to kill him quickly or at least drag him away a bit from Thwaka. However, Siri was still confused and followed Kencore into battle - and Korax turned on Siri as Kencore retreated slightly when the ghoul turned hostile. Siri looked likely to die in the next few seconds, probably before Kencore could get another attack in. Fortunately though he chose that instant to recover his senses and was able to withdraw from Korax before the latter actually attacked.
The final action saw the Trio make their way to the FAI, picking up an ogre's belt collection on the way. Tarnesh was waiting on the steps and the others looked at Thwaka oddly as he circled round the mage to apparently attack him from the side. However, assassins know their business when it comes to backstabbing and a fatal backstab duly registered (Gate70 explaining that on his screen Tarnesh had been bumped round slightly as Thwaka sneaked past him).
Tasks in the City continued when an ogre mage in the cellars survived 2 skull traps from out of sight - but not a follow-up magic missile.
A couple more unneeded necklaces of missiles were found, including one gained from backstabbing Delorna.
I had a potion ready in case a basilisk survived a backstab - but it didn't.
A blinded Jalantha survived her backstab, but a follow-up magic missile was ready.
Lothander was surrounded by summoned monsters and had grease underfoot - persuading him to give up his boots of speed.
Carrying on with that quest, Larze did surprisingly well to require 7 darts of stunning to halt him.
Upstairs, I disappeared in front of Marek before withdrawing and, rather meanly, targeting a dropped item to cast hold person on him .
His bow constitutes a nice upgrade for me.
I had to run away quickly to avoid two lots of magic missiles from Drelik after summoned monsters proved insufficient against him. However, with him out of spells there was no real danger when backstabbing him.
After grabbing the Helm of Balduran I thought a matching cloak would be nice. Rather than sneak past Degrodel's guards, I elected to pull them outside - using summoned monsters to get the invisible stalkers to show themselves before blinding them.
With his guards eventually all dead, Degrodel got the web treatment.
I then went to destroy some statues for some easy XP before fetching the cloak.
Summons were again used as distraction at the Seven Suns, to avoid any attacks by the dopplegangers and that just left the Iron Throne as a target. An initial round of blindness there incapacitated all the casters and Gardush was blinded while webbed as a bonus. The only other real threat was Zhalimar and webs held him long enough to shoot him down. The others were backstabbed before looting the place and reporting in to Duke Eltan.
Back at Candlekeep I went straight to surrender to get access to the catacombs. Unfortunately, I was listening to my son talking at that point and not paying much attention to the game (he gave me permission to say that ) and didn't get my positioning quite right when moving towards the first doppleganger. Hence when I tried to retreat from it as it changed my icon wiggled slightly against the corner of the corridor - and that fractional delay was enough for it to get a damaging attack in.
Given that I'd been attacked 3 times before, I'd already relied on luck too much, but that was still a disappointing way to take damage. I considered ending the run there, but there's still the potential objective of getting two successful runs in a row to aim for - so I soldiered on. However, after that point I stopped doing unnecessary encounters and whipped through the rest of Candlekeep. Back in Baldur's Gate, Slythe was stunned by a single dart.
Krystin was shot down, though she completed a cloudkill first. I was no longer really trying to avoid damage, but the 30% MR from my cloak and robe kicked in anyway ...
At the Palace I used the wand of monster summoning for the first time before throwing in a chaos from scroll as the dopplegangers changed. That provided a comfortable victory.
I bypassed all the enemies in the maze and Undercity and went straight to find Sarevok. As I was no longer avoiding damage I used set traps for the first time (taking damage from one of those attempts). Sarevok was dispelled with an arrow before I giggled slightly as Semaj teleported on top of the traps and died instantly .
A few more arrows and magic missiles injured Sarevok badly. He managed to avoid getting stuck in a web, but could do nothing about a backstab.
As HPs continue accumulating in the background and are only reset to the cap when you reload the game, it's possible to start SoD with far more than 161k - here's my character record on transfer with a bit over 300k.
I've also got a pretty full inventory - items in the bags include all gems and jewelry I picked up in BGEE worth 500 gold or more, to ensure I'll have plenty of cash in SoD.
F6 / M6 / T7, 70 HPs (incl. 6 from familiar, 5 from helm), 339 kills
Comments
Idyut - male, dwarven bounty hunter (Gate70)
Shy - male, human dark moon monk (Grond0)
Corepriest - male, dwarven fighter / cleric (Corey_Russell)
Keep an eye out for these three
Idyut is the sort of character who forgets to take any screenshots in 1h10m of gameplay. Fortunately screen capture was running throughout so a couple of moments could be reconstructed with minimal effort.
Idyut took 3m30 seconds to generate.
Corepriest arrived 12 seconds later.
Shy took a further 7 seconds.
As we don't mention class, kit or how far through character generation we are this was remarkably consistent time-wise. Grond0 mentioned his randomator spreadsheet had thrown out an Undead Hunter but after two paladins in run 25 he switched to a non-random preference for once.
We spent just under 5 minutes on our Candlekeep chores (what a burden even with three of us splitting the work up) and left Gorion in the woods.
Imoen had chased Idyut all round Candlekeep (finally catching him outside the priest quarters), and proceeded to do the same outside Candlekeep until Shy took pity on her gunned her down with bullets.
With Shoal dead we purchase a potion case from High Hedge to celebrate defeating a trio of gnolls outside the building and Idyut asking why there is a dead brown bear as he steps outside. He is promptly told he's not a ranger so keep his nose out of it. OK then.
Then we head into Beregost where Neera is reading the NPC union gazette. She looks up, realises Idyut is nowhere to be seen and returns to her perusal. Inspection of the recording confirms Shy has shared a bullet with Neera while Idyut was swapping books with Firebead. Shy is first in to speak to Marl, giving Idyut another level and a chance for Corepriest to continue his rant about still not having levelled-up.
We race down to Nashkel, confirming that Corepriest looks spiffy in his green ankheg plate but Noober has worked us out and gets away despite us shooting at him - he's had a lot of practice recently.
Shy and Idyut both take damage from Greywolf as they circle around him, and after a few minutes Corepriest's corpse is sighing in the wind (something about you have a wand of missiles why don't you use it). If only we could hear him... Another minute or two later and Shy is caught by Greywolf.
Idyut plays a long game of hide around the rock, not being very good at hiding and not being very good at shooting Greywolf with his arrows either. After many misses and a few hits the job is finally done and Idyut drags his two companions to a temple for a spot of revival. Note for @Corey_Russell who said we spent a long time against Greywolf - the encounter took us 9 minutes. Plus another 7 minutes to raise our dead, re-equip them and return to pick up other items that were still on the ground.
It's finally time to grab Samuel, and by the time we return him to a temple we are all looking a bit battered from several ambushes and fighting the belted ogre.
Instead we grab Melicamp the chicken and blind Bassilus to see if he can dodge arrows and bullets. He can not, so Corepriest inherits his magical warhammer and we traipse to High Hedge in search of a chicken dinner. Melicamp survives so we go hungry.
We have fun with a polar bear ambush, running it around and then into a snare. Corepriest still has to finish it off though. Caldo and Krumm are next on our list and by the time they die Corepriest is complaining he has nothing to drink. Idyut realises he's kept all the potions he picked up when everybody else died so he hands them back again.
On our way to return a drowned cat to a child Corepriest asks if we have any lore. Idyut has 0. Shy has 0 and suggests Corepriest is surely the wisest amongst us. Corepriest has 3 lore so has to put up with Shy taunting him about being the know-it-all.
Now Corepriest wants to track down some gauntlets of dexterity. We've only got about 4 minutes left on the clock but we set off and continue on from there to pick up a tome of leadership. We're deep into overtime by now, this point proved when a dinner-alarm is heard (me taking it for a nautical Captain Pugwash type of theme and belatedly realising it was more likely the Can-can).
Rather than risk the wrath of a burnt tea we ended the session in a predictable manner (with our trusty fighter / cleric complaining he barely has more hit points than the bounty hunter
Inventory at the session end.
Lowbar (male assassin, Gate70); Polgara (female druid, Grond0)
It is two weeks since Polgara and Lowbar last ventured out, and having loaded up a BG:EE save I quickly check BGII:EE to make sure we hadn't got there last time (we had not, my last save being MP197 which means my hosted 199, 201, 203 and 205 sessions all failed to defeat Sarevok).
Fine, we'll crack on through the catacombs. Polgara confirms she is ready to go unless Lowbar wants some lightning protection. He declines the offer, pointing out his exceptional trap detection skill. It's so good in fact that after only 90 seconds he is unable to detect a trap we both instinctively know 'is there'.
Polgara suggests Draw Upon Holy Might may help, and indeed it does. Lowbar quickly deals with a few more traps so we can loot two containers and remove lightning and web traps. By the time we reach a third container Lowbar is unable to detect two fireball traps. Polgara casts protection from fire onto Lowbar which together with two rings of fire protection should provide total immunity but Lowbar has little patience for such matters and fishes in his potion bag for a potion of perception. Success - both traps are found + removed.
Lowbar fancies his chances against the catacomb doppelgangers but Polgara is better. Her nymphs successfully hold them and allow an easy insectiod victory, including the odd backstab.
Lowbar realises we are a bit light on constitution and after a brief discussion we think we may not have visited the flesh golem cave after visiting Sil and her sirenes. Or maybe we just haven't been there at all?
80% fire resistance saves him from most of two arrow damage before he can retreat out of sight, and the first arrow has badly wounded most of Rahvin's crew. By the time Lowbar shakes off Gorf and returns to help he finds the job is done.
Polgara has summoned insects towards her nymphs and it looks like nobody hostile is going to be there when they arrive so Lowbar drags Sarevok towards them. Semaj teleports in too so he gets a mouth full of insects. Lowbar adds insult to injury by shooting him with a poisoned acid arrow or two. You've got to be a hardy mage to survive that little lot, and today Semaj is found wanting in that regard.
Tazok appears. Lowbar briefly shoots at him but realises Polgara is using Iron Skins to melee Sarevok. It's a lucky break for Tazok as Lowbar leaves him mildly wounded and poisoned to continue hailing arrows in Sarevok's direction.
Shadows of Amn
We started as we intended to go on, sweeping aside various threats. Polgara took damage in bear form though and our lack of equipment (boots of speed particularly) demonstrated that gear was important to these two.
Ill (male gnome illusionist, Grond0); Hubris (male half-elf blade, Gate70)
Previous run
The dice seem to have produced a few duplicated characters recently and the choice this time included a second blade in 3 outings for Gate70. I played an illusionist dualling to thief in our last Trio, but this time rolled up a straight illusionist - so the shorty benefits of a gnome was an obvious choice.
The Candlekeep chores seemed to go smoothly, until Hubris exclaimed in disgust as he was accused of stealing - I suspect the result of making the easy mistake of clicking on the steal rather buy button in the shop.
It then didn't take long to pick up our first levels, after blindness set a firing gallery up for Shoal.
Rather than take the easy route of getting more quick levels from the basilisk area, we developed a bit more normally this time. A few tasks around Beregost were followed by a trip down to Nashkel - where Noober failed to escape this time.
Heading towards the FAI, Ill rested with the intention of getting Bhaal CLW - but was presented with LMD instead (the result of me forgetting I had set him up as chaotic evil
We had the usual discussion about whether to invade the ankheg nest. With a bunch of sleeps the chances were quite high we could kill a number of those without injury - but if injury came it could easily be fatal and we decided to postpone that encounter for now. However, the risk seemed more reasonable against the single ankheg blocking the way to Ulgoth's Beard and that duly fell asleep as Hubris spun towards it.
With us still only at level 3, Bassilus could have been a major problem in a fair fight - but he didn't get one. Ill had found a web scroll on his travels and a web was pre-cast at the cleric. Hubris only showed himself when Bassilus saved against that - only to get stuck again before he could finish casting, allowing Ill to blind him to ensure victory.
The final action was taking on the sirines in the Lighthouse area. Ill threw in a couple of webs before attacking. Hubris took advantage of automatic hits to rack up damage with his spin, while Ill disabled the odd sirine with blindness to reduce the danger if any of them broke free. That worked well and neither group even managed to complete an attempted charm.
Illusionist 4, 24 HPs, 29 kills
Blade 5, 36 HPs, 26 kills, 0 deaths
weidu.log
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Include arcane spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1510 // Include divine spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3551 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict the maximum amount of damage in this range: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4020 // More realistic wolves and wild dogs: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4250 // Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6300 // Smarter sirines and dryads: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6310 // Slightly smarter carrion crawlers: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6320 // Smarter basilisks: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7000 // Improved doppelgangers: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7010 // Tougher Black Talons and Iron Throne guards: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7020 // Improved deployment for parties of assassins: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7030 // Improved kobolds: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7040 // Relocated bounty hunters: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7050 // Improved Ulcaster: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7060 // Improved Balduran's Isle: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7070 // Improved Durlag's Tower: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7080 // Improved Demon Cultists: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7090 // Improved Cloakwood Druids: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7100 // Improved Bassilus: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7110 // Improved Drasus party: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7130 // Improved Red Wizards: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7140 // Improved Undercity assassins: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7200 // Tougher chapter-two end battle: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7210 // Tougher chapter-three end battle: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7220 // Tougher chapter-four end battle: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7230 // Tougher chapter-five end battle: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7250 // Improved final battle: v33.1
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #7900 // Improved minor encounters: v33.1
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v9
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v9
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking: v9
~EEUITWEAKS/EEUITWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Faydark's Abilities Auto-Roller/GrimLefourbe's BG2 UI: 3.5
~LOB_SAVE_FIX/LOB_SAVE_FIX.TP2~ #0 #0 // improve saving throws of all non-joinable creatures
We killed Imoen, Xzar and Montaron for Healing and Speed potions. Picked up the Diamond, Evermemory and killed Neera for the Gem Bag. Killed Algernon for the Charm cloak reducing reputation to 7. 6 would get us fallen. First Invisibility potion from the Beregost manor. Freaking Flaming Fist bothered us, but didn't bother with the Ogrillon's. Ankheg Plate and another Invisibility potion from the manor. From Carnival picked up Fire Giant Strength which was used to get Invulnerability, Invisibility and Heroism potions. Vitiare ranged. Barely killed one Kobold which was our state at the moment, gave the dagger for Revenant and picked fourth Invisibility potion. Gnoll's killed Drizzt for my Bel slicers and Chainmail +4 for my wife. Picked Potion Bag from High Hedge and killed the first Skeli. Wolf waylay escaped. Tenya's bowl got us the first level up. Hobgoblin waylay escaped. Used couple Invisibility potions to pass to Mulahey, who was charmed first try with the cloak. He was then fed for the Kobbo's, and we made a hasty escape using couple healing potions on the way. Charmed Minsc killed Nimbul and Marl ko'ed Tranzig, me getting the killing blow and xp.
We infiltrated the bandit camp. Taurgos'z was charmed and killed by couple Skelis, got the Full Plate. Conviced my wife to take a small death, so I could save Invisibility potions going in the tent. Didn't want to spend Invisibilities on Hakt for the Longbow +2, so I just stormed in and picked up the papers and escaped with one Invisibility potion spent. Wifey needs to come by with Composite Bow +1 for now. For the tent I spent one Invisibility, Absorption and Speed potions. Bought rep to 12 and resurrected my wife. Then we killed Dushai for the Free Action ring, and bought my rep back to 12. Rep run. Second level up after Melicamp was cured. Ghastkill, Oublek, Brage, Scroll Case, Samuel, Drienne and Brun for 20/20 economy. Bought Sandthief ring and Greenstone amulet for 14k. Shoal provided ascension to level 4. Zal got charmed and killed by Xvart's and my wifey got Archer Bracers. Charmed Hairtooth and Gnarl had a brawl, which he won, but after he was defeated by couple of Xvart's. Picked up CHA-Tome. Escaped Lamalha and Molkar waylays. Then spent one Shandthief charge to pick up the CON-tome.
First Cloakwood area was passed by killing the single Tasloi for Non-Detection cloak. Because the rest of the chapter 4 was easier done solo, my wifey again accepted a small death. Used one Sandthief charge to right-click loot Scimitar +2 and Spider Bane +2. For 2k per charge, 6.4k return was a good investment. Picked up one Invulnerability potion from Laskal. I needed to kill Drasus, because I wanted both Boots of Speeds (one from Lothander), so my wifey could keep up. It took two Sandthief charges to charm him, so the boots cost 4k. He was killed by the guards. I had only 3 Invisibilities left, so I decided to get myself to Durlag's Tower. 4k xp from Kirinhale, then charmed Riggolo killed the Ghost for 3750 xp, got a level up. Looted all I could and fed Riggolo for the Ghast's. Got one Invisibility potion. I had still two Sandthief charges left, so I decided use them to get Ring of Energy. Denak was charmed first go, and I spent the last two charges and fed him to the Spiders. I didn't have enough loose gold to recharge the ring yet so I did some collecting. Girdle Ogre charmed and killed. Charmed Caldo and Krumm brawled themselves dead. Bassilus charmed after sleeping out of map few times, and his own Aerial Servant killed him. Recharged the ring with 13k and now I was finally ready for the mines. Two charges to reach Davaeorn's guard, who was charmed second go. He lured the two Battle Horrors away, I then lured them to the corner and used one Sandthief charge. Guard only KO'd Davaeorn because his sword broke almost immediately, and I got the xp. Looted the place, and went to Baldur's Gate after again waking my wifey up.
Lady used the DEX-tome, because she benefits more from it. Bought second green Protection from Petrification and 38 Stone to Flesh scrolls and started Basilisk xp-loop. After all Stone to Flesh scrolls were used, my pet still wiped Kirian's party for the loot. Helm of Balduran for me, and Helm of Noble for the lady. Drelik killed charmed Jardak. After that we were both level 8. Charmed Abela the Nymph ko'd Ragefast while I hid behind the rubble. Ramazith was charmed, and his single Skeli killed him after he was depleted from spells. After some mundane things, did the Lothander guest. Lothander was charmed before talked so I could stop him from leaving, then he was killed for the second Boots of Speed. Two charmed Gamesmen ko'd Marek after like half hour. At Iron Throne Naaman was charmed first go, and killed by the two assassins. Got the PfU and didn't bother with the rest. Only spent two Sandthief charges, but it was now empty again. Sold Evermemory and Ring of Sune so I could recharge Greenstone Amulet, Ring of Energy, and Sandthief ring.
At Candlekeep escaped the Ogre Mage waylay with two Invisibility potions. Charmed the Iron Throne members and they killed themselves. Got one Clarity and Invulnerability among other loot. Slept at the catacombs basement, getting DUHM. Used two Sandthief charges to pass the Phase Spiders, Cloud Potion and DUHM to get STR-tome, looted the place, and used two Speeds to escape. Got another 16k for selling my loot, which we used to buy all the Arrows of Detonation, and rest of the Dispel arrows.
Durlags Tower basement the Ghast were separated and easily killed without healing. Looted the Warder level without too much trouble, used two Sandthief charges to evade the Skeleton Warriors and Doppelgangers. Made 20k gold. Activated the Warders with Greenstone Amulet and Free-Action ring, Love and Fear followed to the basement, Love to the main level which was perfect. Kited him and after 37 strikes from Ring of Energy he was done. After picking Durlag's Goblet, which Cavalier can use naturally, and Kiel's Helmet I escaped the level. Had 25k gold so I recharged Nymph's cloak, Ring of Energy, and Sandthief ring, again, and bought all the Piercing arrows.
Slythe was easily dispatched with charmed Larze and True Sight. Palace Ambush, with Algernon's cloak and resting at the bridge, I charmed the Mage, Shaman and Assassin Doppelgangers. Started the fight and the three Doppelgangers were easily dispatched after few Dispel Arrows. Next we waited Assassin to transform and he was easily killed too, and the Shaman. Mage turned to be tougher summoning a lot of help, but he too was killed, and Sarevok soon ran away too. Used one Cloud Giant to loot the Palace, which netted one Cloud Giant back among other loot.
To get the fourth OGL, I needed to fight bunch of mages. Charmed Oberan, he wasted his spells after which he was easily killed. Delorna was separated and lured outside, where she was easily killed after True Sight. Had just enough money to recharge the four necklaces. Was surprised by Sunin, as he now had hired help, so level skipping didn't really work. I was trapped and had to use Sandthief charge, my wife kited him through the city wasting his summons and spells. And soon they fell, got the 9k ring. Used one Santhief charge to pass the gang in the Underworld, charmed Tamoko and fed her to the to the Skelis, then used another charge to return and sell her loot, and recharge Durlag's Goblet and Sandthief ring, one last time. Still was left 8k gold, and my jewels. Realized that I could spare some Invisibilities, passing the Underworld gang below the map.
Vanderley's vs Sarevok's Gang. Invisibility in, waited couple hours for PfM to expire, True Sight, and started hitting OGL from afar. They found me after few hits, and Lord had to use Sandthief charge, and continued peppering out of sight. Semaj was done after 26 hits, Angelo 28, Diarmid 36 and Tazok 71 with his 70% Fire Resistance. Used rest of the OGL's on Sarevok, then 5 Oil Of Fiery Burnings and 8 Potion of Explosions. Sarevok was still at 595hp. Lady used one PfU and Dispelled Sarevok with an arrow, to take his haste out. Then I casually kited him with Ring of Energy. 43 hits and Sarevok was done. I was left 9 Invisibilities and 4 PfU's, which is more than enough for Korlasz.
Chapter 8. Teleria doesn't agro if you don't talk to her, casually hacked together with her Golem. Got first summon item. Not that I really will need them. Activated the Undead without talking to the Dwarves, who got killed. With PfU and Invisibility I passed through and made a deal with the Lich, then escaped. We hid behind the tent for the parley.
Chapter 9. With couple Invisibilities got us to sleeping Morentherene, who Lady quickly daggered. Ziatar was burned afar. I don't usually tackle Neothelid on solo because it's unneccesary, but decided to battle him now. Cavalier is naturally immune Neothelid's poison, fear and charm attacks, but not stun attacks. So I used couple Invulnerabilities, Speed, Cloud, Power and lady drank PoP, Speed, Invulnerability and Clarity. Still it took 11 zips from the Goblet, because of six swords constantly hitting and Neo taking his time to appear. We drank couple Absorptions and pressed on. Lady used True Sight and we hacked Akanna, picked up the Wardstone and left the Aerial Servants to the room. Shallen still had Lady's Archers Eye's, so I drank couple more Invulnerabilities, Speed and started spamming Nymph's Cloak on her. Second hit she was Charmed and killed. Then we made our Speedy escape. Surrendered the Fort and Bridge Mage were killed after True Sight and few Dispel Arrows.
Chapter 10. Sold my stuff for Nazramu for 100k, and bought everything interesting from the camp. Did the mundane guests and got final level up's.
Lord
** Scimitars
** Flails
*** Two-Weapon Style
Lady
** Longbows
** Shortbows
*** Two-Weapon Style
Lord also got the first casting slot. Reflecting it back, maybe Longbows were wasted pips for Lady, as Shortbows would provide almost the same support, and are better options from SoA onwards.
Used one Clarity potion to tackle Myconid Elder and got Myconid summons. Underground Rivers, killed the Ettin Ghost for the Cloak of the Strange Beast, which provides +1 AC for the Lady, together with +2 Ring. With Speed and Invisibility said hello to Hephernaan, before escaping for the Crusader Attacks. Time for Lady to Shine. We buffed up, and Lady started peppering them with Arrows of Detonation. Troll Wave done after 13 arrows and 1 Goblet. Mage Wave after 11 arrows, 1 Goblet and True Sight. Paladin Wave 16 arrows, 2 Goblets, and True Sight to reveal Rhayla, as she could potentially Dispel. Just when the Final Wave was over, Stysich does what he does best, Dispelled me. Idiot. No matter, 70% Fire Resistance from Cavalier bonus and Icingdeath, I could tank Lady's detonators. And soon it was over after 17 Detonations. Lord easily dispatched Ashatiel. In Hell used in&out of level trick twice against Trix so I didn't need to fight all of the demons.
Vanderley's vs. Bel. We buffed up for the lift getting all elemental resistances up. I decided to use Storm instead of Violet potion, because the lift would go fast anyway, and I needed to buff Champion's Strength's for Bel. Lift was about 25 rounds long, and we used this time to drink Heroism potions to buff our hp. Before killing the last Green Abishai, we refreshed our negative saves, Speed and Clarity, and I used 11 Champion's Strength scrolls. I had -28 Thaco when facing Bel. First I escaped the Dispel, and then Lord started tanking, Lady supporting with Detonators from back. In the end Lord did all the heavy lifting and Bel was down after 20 rounds or so.
Not much trouble to this point, everything mostly went as planned. Hardest part probably was maintaining economy for the Sandthief Ring, and closest call was interestingly SCS Sunin, as he has been upgraded since I've last played. Onto SoA, where Lord's single Sanctuary might be the key of getting out of the first Dungeon, alive.
Anyway, as I started to work on the idea, I merged Ab with the Witch King of Angmar from Lord of the Rings, and instead of Ab, selected Angmar for his name, i.e., from the Witch King of Angmar. That massive flail he uses in the movie, and that dark, faceless suit of armor he wore blended well with my vision of my old Anti-Paladin. I believe all Paladins (and Anti-Paladins), and Black Guard should profess a deity and should possess some of the special abilities the deity bestows on his or her clerics. After all, like the Knights Templar, Knights Hospitaller, Teutonic Knights, et al, Paladins and their evil counterparts are Holy (or unholy) warriors of faith. (Note: the first modder to build a ‘Deities of Faerun - Paladin version will be my all-time hero. ?)
I started to select a demon from the Hordes of the Abyss, e.g. Demogrogon, Lolth (love D&D devils and demons) but decided on Talos, the Storm Lord (Kozah) instead. I felt this would have a better feel for Baldur’s Gate. To create the idea, since I don’t know how to build a kit myself, I decided to start his raw build as an Elven Stormcaller of Talos from Deities of Faerun. Once complete, I used Planetouched Races to change him to a Tiefling (it is my judgment that all PCs, and Imoen, should be since they are the offspring of the Bhaal.) Then I went into EEKeeper to change him into a Black Guard and edited in the appropriate Black Guard abilities. Now I have a blend of Black Guard and Stormcaller of Talos. At first level, he has the Absorb Health and Poison Weapon abilities of a Black Guard, and the Shocking Grasp ability of the Stormcaller. In addition to his increasing Black Guard abilities as he levels up, I plan to edit in Call Lightning at level 4, Lightning Bolt at level 7, and Earthquake at level 17 – all of these one level higher than when Talos’ clerics get them. Angmar will get an additional Lightning Bolt every four levels after the first one – Talos’ Clerics get one every three levels.
Angmar cannot ever remember a day when he wasn’t a resident of Candlekeep and the ward of Gorion. In fitful dreams, Gorion sometimes made vague references to a Half-Elven Warlock from Waterdeep that he knew for many seasons. Angmar was certain these allusions were of his mother. With no memory of her, Angmar surmised, she died shortly after giving birth to him. Perhaps her death drove Gorion to cloister himself inside the walls of Candlekeep and raise him as his own. Of his father, he knew nothing. At some point, he became angry at the secrecy behind his own life and began to resent Gorion and the people of Candlekeep who he believed played a part in keeping him ignorant of his past. His resentment grew to hate. The only person he did not hate was the girl Imoen he grew up with – he sensed they had something in common, although he knew not what. She was innocent and loyal, but Angmar treated her poorly despite her good cheer. By now, it was in his nature to do so, although she was the one person he liked - in his way - and for that reason, he did his best to push her away.
Angmar could not get away from the mind-numbing, monotonous, stuffy walls of Candlekeep soon enough. For as long as he could remember, monks surrounded him all day, every day, reading, chanting, and passing their time discussing ludicrous prophecies about the dead God of Murder, Bhaal. Even if there were truth to it, it didn’t have anything to do with him. But, he did find his destiny in the thousands of tomes he found at his fingertips as a Candlekeep resident. The library has an entire floor devoted to deities, devils, demons, and daemons: Faiths and Pantheons of Faerun, the Pantheons of Faerun, Deities and Demigods, Hordes of the Abyss, Tyrants of the Nine Hells – huge tomes all. When he was not being tutored by the monks, completing his chores, or training with the Gatewarden and the other Watchers, he was in the library learning everything he could about these supernatural beings. In the course of his study, he found himself returning, again and again, to read about Talos the Stormlord. After a while, he would find himself talking quietly to Talos while he went about his day, or calling on Talos to give him strength or wisdom. He learned his basic fighting skills from the Gatewarden, but his real power emanated from the Towers at the Heart of the Winds, the divine realm of Talos.
Angmar walked away from Gorion with a rush of excitement. He would be leaving & he knew it. He already knew what he would purchase – splint mail and helm, a flail, and Talos’ signature weapon, a spear. He quickly went around Candlekeep trying to pick up a few more gold pieces to fill his purse. He wasn’t surprised when twice that day he faced assassins trying to take his life. Somehow he knew something was converging on that day, at that time, in Candlekeep. He returned to the bunkhouse to rest and replenish his god-given abilities before going to Gorion. His day had arrived.
Five days later, he lay in bed in a Merchant Room at the Nashkel Inn – the only one they had. He had drawn five companions to him, Dave a Stormcaller of Talos; Vynd, a Drow Assassin; Safana, a Swashbuckler; Shar-teel, a Berserker; and Eldoth, a Jester. In his pride, Angmar liked the idea of having a personal Bard. Imoen ran him down the day after he left. The night before, he and Gorion were ambushed and Gorion was killed. For Angmar, that took care of one thing – he did not have to have Gorion looking over his shoulder now. He traveled with an Assassin and a Necromancer until he reached Beregost, but when they were killed he had no compunction about not wasting gold to raise them back to life. He dismissed Imoen when he met Safana – mostly for carnal reasons, the same reason he kept the Wild Mage Neera with him until he let her go for Shar-teel – he needed a strong warrior upfront. Angmar had people to do his fighting for him after all. Initially, he employed a female Dwarven Defender, but something about her just bothered him, so he let her go for the Drow Assassin, Vynd. He faced two more assassination attempts after he left Candlekeep: one (the third since Candlekeep) at the Red Sheaf in Beregost, a Dwarf, and the fourth, a Cleric at the Nashkel Inn just after he arrived. Angmar took a 300gp bounty in Beregost to kill three thugs for a performer of some type. He noticed though, that the murders cast him in a bad light, something he had to avoid at this time. He realized, in retrospect, that he should have killed the Bard that first approached him about the job. He would clean up his messes from now on. In the meantime, he would find a temple and toss a few coins their way.
SLAYING THE CLERIC
ORDER OF MARCH: Shar-teel (point), Dave (divine support), Vynd (Assassin), Eldoth (herald), Angmar (leader), Safana (stealth/traps)
MONSTERS DEFEATED (ordered alphabetically by value): Neira (Cleric/Thayan Wizard (Mage/Invoker/5 @ 350 @ Bg); Karlat (Dwarven Defender/1, 270 @ Bg); Ogrillons (2 @ 175 @ SBR: Bandits(2 @ 65 @ NNR); Thayan Bodguards (2 Fighter/1 @ 65 @ Bg); Diseased Gibberlings (1/1 @ 35 @ LW/CW); Hobgoblins (6 @ 35 @ NNR); Carbos (Thief/1, 20 @ Ck), Shank (Thief/1, 20 @ Ck), Faltis (Thief/1 @ 15 @ Bg); Glayde (Thief/1 @ 15 @ Bg); Tessilan (Thief/1 @ 15 @ Bg); Kobolds (4 @ 7 @ NNR)
* Legend: Bg = Beregost, Ck = Candlekeep, DS = Disturb Sleep, LW = Lion’s Way, RE = Random Encounter
LEVEL UP: None
CASUALTIES: Montaron (Gibberling), Xzar (Thayans), Shar-teel (Hobgoblins)
NOTEWORTHY TREASURE: (Gold earned = 497)
Armor & Weapons: Helm of Infravision, Splint Mail, Chain Mail, Bastard Swords (6), Short Bows (5), Long Swords (5), Short Swords (4), Medium Shield, Morning Star, Daggers (3), Helmets (6), Leather (11),
Gems/Jewelry: Ring of Human Influence Star Dropside Gem, Jade Ring, Zircon Gem, Sunstone Gem, Lynx Eye Gems (2), Fire Agate Gem, Silver Rings (3), Turquoise Gem
Potions: Extra Healing, Healing (2), Defense (3)
Scrolls: Burning Hands, Chill Touch, Color Spray
Wands: None
Misc & Artifacts: Belt of Antipode
BEST KILL:
1) Safana, Shar-teel (Ogrillons, 175 exp)
2) Dave, Eldoth, Vynd (Hobgoblins, 35 exp)
CURRENT DISPOSITION: Nashkel Inn
NEXT STEPS: Nashkel Mines
PARTY MAKEUP: (Reputation: 6 – Disliked: -2 murdered Silke’s ‘thugs’)
Angmar: CE Anti-Paladin (Black Guard of Talos)/1 (HP 11 ), Plate Mail; Spear**, Flail**; Ring of Human Influence; Special Abilities: Absorb Health, Poison Weapon, Shocking Grasp; High-Level Abilities: None; Skills; None; Spells: None
Shar-teel: CE Fighter (Berserker)/2 (HP 17 ), Studded Leather; Long Sword*, Dagger* (Two-Weapon Style**); Special Abilities: Berserkers Rage; High-Level Abilities: None; Skills; None; Spells: None
Dave: CE Cleric (Priest of Talos)/1 (HP 8 ), Splint Mail; Morning Star*, Sling*; Special Abilities: Lightning Bolt (2), Storm Shield (2); High-Level Abilities: None; Skills; None; Spells: Armor Melt, Blight, Command,
Vynd: NE Thief (Drow Assassin)/1 (HP 7 ), Studded Leather; Long Sword*, Dart*); Special Abilities: Poison Weapon (2), Set Trap; High-Level Abilities: None; Skills; OL25, FT15, PP35, MS35, HS35, DI10, ST15, BSx3; Spells: None
Eldoth: NE Bard (Jester)/1 (HP 7 ), Chain Mail; Scimitar*, Throwing Dagger*; Special Abilities: Create Poison Arrows; High-Level Abilities: Jester’s Bard Song; Skills; None; Spells: None
Safana: CN Thief (Swashbuckler)/1 (HP 6 ), Leather; Ninja-to*, Throwing Dagger*; Special Abilities: None; High-Level Abilities: None; Skills; OL20, FT20, PP20, MS20, HS15, DI10, ST0, BSx0; Spells: None
MOD USED: Convenient Enhanced Edition NPCs v4.0, Ajantis BG1 v15, NPC Aura BG1, BG1 NPC Project v24-8, BG1 Romantic Encounters V4, BGEE NPC Tweaks, BG Quests and Encounters v22, Brage’s Redemption v4, Tweaks Anthology Beta 4, Deities of Faerun v1.9.7.6.1, Distinguishable Clubs, Divine Remix v8 Beta, NPC Drake, Dark Side of the Sword Coast v102, NPC Emily BG1, NPC Finch v4.0 Beta 7, NPC Gavin V14, NPC Glam Pack v3, I Hate Undead Kitpack v3.8
Just wondering who the female dwarven defender was.
A lot of paladins/anti-paladins on the sword coast currently. I have just started an inquisitor run as I lost interest in my blackguard run at the Cloakwood mines.
No mods other than the bag of holding that was put in Gorion's possession using EE keeper.
The party is strongly Sunite. Seductra should have become a Heartwarden, but had put so much time into developing her arcane abilities that when she reached maturity she felt unable to switch to becoming a cleric. Her lack of charisma despite her physical attractiveness might also have been involved in her decision. Nevertheless she throws herself wholeheartedly into following the Sunite doctrines.
It was she who chose Nigel, not the other way round, though he is undoubtedly the leader of the party. Being full-blooded she has no problem in keeping the other males in the team happy as well.
Schune, as can be seen by his portrait and his name is a fighter/cleric of Sune and Percy is a fighter/thief who is also a Sunite, though I believe that he is more a Sunite because of the pleasures that Seductra gives him than out of deep-seated loyalty to Sune.
Journal of Nigel de Naseby
We started out by heading to Beregost to rest prior to going to the Friendly Arms. Whilst doing so we were able to help Melicamp.
A bandit attack at level 1 is inevitably dangerous.
I have started again with the same team. A bit more successfully on this occasion.
Following Gorion's instructions, we headed for the Friendly Arms after his death, picking up a couple of rings on the way.
At the inn we were attacked by a mage assassin. Schune used command to render him harmless. Seductra memorised some spells from the scrolls that he carried.
There we met an evil group of fishermen who we killed.
We delivered a letter that we found on the body of an ogrillon and killed some overly officious Flaming Fist.
On the way to Nashkel, we picked up an amulet and in the town itself I found some quite good armour.
In the inn Neira attacked and was killed and Oublek offered us a reward which we turned down as it wasn't ours.
It wasn't much fun as we were attacked by Zordral.
Schone's Command didn't work, but neither did Zordral's first spell.
We headed easy where I found a ring of fire protection before bumping into the wounded Samuel. Upon being asked to take him to the Friendly Arms, we complied. In transit some hobgoblin attacked and Seductra was wounded, but on the plus side they had a scroll which she was able to memorise.
Taking Samuel to the inn helped our reputation as did taking the Colquetle amulet back to the family.
It is amazing how little that you have to do to become a hero. Clearly the Sword Coast is very short of people like me.
The half-ogres themselves were no problem and I was rewarded with a magical medium shield.
One of the scrolls that we have found is resist fear. It is Seductra's only level 2 spell, but it is just what we needed.
We also found two chromatic orb scrolls, however Seductra failed to memorise one of them.
The reputation boost brought our reputation to 20.
The NPCs name was Moidre. She is one of five NPCs that are in the Glam Pack.
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/75389/npc-pack-for-baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-open-beta
CT
I would have been here sooner, but I've been getting slaughtered every time I try a run.
Looks like a good pack. I like Vynd and having a defender as well would be good. Currently playing unmodded though.
We headed south once more and helped reunite Albert and Rufie after which we fought and killed Vax and Zal.
Further north we helped the archaeologist Charleston Nib.
There we killed Sirine galore as some extra ones appeared when we needed to rest.
I just successfully completed a run with a true class mage (at the 66th attempt
Any thief, mage or bard class has a decent possibility of avoiding damage in BG1 (other classes would need to rely on the small chance that the traps in the Nashkel Mines won't trigger if you run over them while hasted). To up the chances of going further than that though, I thought I'd roll up a F/M/T - 10 minutes of re-rolling got me a nice starting character for that.
I only know safe travel times for some of the area transitions, so the first objective was to avoid ambushes until I'd learnt invisibility. That was done as follows:
- from the crossroads, I travelled south. Rather than go west to Shoal (with the possibility of an ambush), I took the safe route to Beregost (picking up a potion of invisibility for emergencies there). I purchased some +1 arrows and used those on the High Hedge golems - getting a first thief level there.
- Karlat, Perdue and Marl provided a fighter level before I sliced up Algernon. I don't normally use his cloak these days, but thought this run will be hard enough to justify that this time
South of Beregost I got some thieving boots and (briefly) returned those to Zhurlong. Further south, I detoured to the Lakes and set a gnoll to attack Drizzt. Having already learnt invisibility, I wasn't too bothered about his XP and didn't monitor the fight - so it was no surprise that the gnoll killed Drizzt. However, both his swords and his armor (which a thief can stealth in) are of use.
In Nashkel I made a small donation at the temple to ensure I'd get CLW as a Bhaal power (though ideally I won't need to make use of that
The final action of the session saw more quick XP gained by following Korax round the basilisk area. The basilisks and then Mutamin were disposed of easily enough with the help of a single blind on a basilisk which switched to melee early on.
F5 / M4 / T5, 40 HPs, 51 kills
After buying a scroll of protection from petrification I killed the basilisks almost single handed though it was Percy who delivered the killing blow to Mutamin.
Good to know. I lose control over it in my installation as well (stock BGEE), so I've been moving it outside and bringing the enemies to it. It still fights hostiles that get in range.
This sort of behavior occurs in quite a few places when you pull charmed creatures through transitions. As far as I know, in all cases going in and out of a party-required area transition will always restore full control (and often the transition doesn't have to be party-required).
Previous updates:
Venturing north, I added to my girdle collection by refusing to let a sleeping ogre lie. A ring of wizardry was dug up at the FAI before I went to find Tenya's bowl. The random encounter point for bandits just south of the fishermen is a danger in this run as bandits can appear there and then wander around, potentially attacking before you know they're there. I was aware of that though and kept alert while shooting the fishermen. After handing the bowl in I killed the nearby ankheg by going invisible as soon as it surfaced (perfectly safe as their weapon speed is too slow to get an attack in before that even with a good initiative roll). That leaves the ankheg visible and vulnerable to sleep.
At Ulgoth's Beard I shot an arrow at Dushai to annoy her before retreating. I was tempted to try a backstab, but she could potentially retaliate quite quickly, so I settled for shooting her down (with invisibility ready in case I missed the final shot). That provided not just a free action ring, but also a web scroll - though I failed to learn that.
A few more chores in Beregost included sneaking into the spider house to sleep them and blinding Silke. Greywolf also lost his sight before Samuel got an invisible lift back to the FAI, where Joia got her ring back - and Tarnesh got a backstab as he wouldn't try and retaliate physically.
After grabbing the charisma tome, there were more reputation gains on the way, starting with Brage. As usual I dragged him away before talking to him, so that Laryssa would remain there for me to collect her magical shield.
On the way up to look for a talking chicken, I stopped off to say hello to Bassilus (even though Kelddath's demise made that encounter much less profitable than usual). Starting a blindness spell from stealth gave me plenty of time to see the results of that before considering whether to retreat - which was unnecessary in this case as Bassilus failed his save.
At High Hedge I didn't want to use magic missile from a distance on a skeleton as it might get a shot off before I could retreat back out of sight - doing that from close range would not give it a chance to retaliate, but a magic missile would not necessarily kill it. I didn't yet have any area damage, so elected to rest while invisible at the edge of the map. That provided the opportunity to retreat from a successful shot by an ambushing skeleton if necessary, but in this case the skeleton failed to get a shot off in time.
Invisibility and sleep accounted for all the ankhegs in their nest, getting me to fighter level 6 in the process.
By this time the only reputation gain still accessible was at the Nashkel Mine, so that was the next destination. It would have been safer to sneak through there entirely, but I couldn't resist taking out the spiders - that meant I had to move smartly away after killing the first to get out of sight of a wandering kobold, before finishing the second.
Outside the mine I left the amazons for later and went back to Nashkel to maximise reputation by talking to the mayor. Web set Nimbul up there for an automatically fatal backstab - also providing me with a find familiar scroll, which resulted shortly in a HP boost from a pseudo dragon.
Tranzig's first spell is defensive, so if I'd missed a backstab on him there was plenty of time to use invisibility and disappear. However, as the backstab almost killed him I used magic missile instead to finish him off.
At the Bandit Camp I almost immediately had my first bit of luck. I used a sleep from out of sight of anything which I thought should have reached both a Chill hobgoblin and the first bandit archer. However, the bandit wasn't shown as saving, which confused me a bit and I wondered if I'd placed him wrongly. Moving into range of the Chill I found in fact the bandit was not only about where I thought it should be, but it also attacked me before it was even in sight - that imbalance in sight lines is pretty unusual, but given the number of encounters is still likely to occur several times in a game (it's particularly a danger if you plan on playing hide and seek with basilisks ...). Fortunately, the missile adjustments from the belt of piercing and traveller's robe I was wearing were sufficient to generate a miss.
At High Hedge I bought a number of spell scrolls - protection from fire being the only significant one I failed to learn (in most games I leave learning scrolls up to chance, to keep intelligence as a meaningful stat and provide some variation in game play depending on what is learned). I also splashed out for a few potions and the robe of the good archmagi. The other main area for purchases was Ulgoth's Beard. I failed with 2 of the scrolls there, but got improved invisibility (easily the most important as there are no other copies for sale in BGEE).
The bandit camp is fiddly because of the way the bandits roam around. To be safe I could have just gone invisibly straight to the tent, but didn't want to miss out on the thousands of gold for Taurgosz's equipment. Surviving that will hopefully set me up for the rest of BGEE.
F6 / M5 / T6, 54 HPs (incl. 6 from familiar), 164 kills
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1140948/#Comment_1140948
The next encounter was with the Red Wizards, to get the Ring of Energy. I only had a single 3rd level spell available (and was not intending to resort to the use of items), so tried using blind while Denak was held. He saved against that though and again demonstrated that just because you can't see someone else doesn't mean they can't see you - in this case though as he was just talking that didn't cause a problem.
At Durlag's Tower I let myself get cornered by a battle horror, but only after it was near dead and a magic missile would be a certain kill.
Leaving the remainder of the Tower, I decided to take a side trip to Ice Island. A basilisk tried an ambush on the way, but I was invisible and able to turn the tables.
After the time spent on Ice Island, I didn't bother with any combat in the Cloakwood, but just went through most of that invisibly. At the mine another epidemic of blindness struck, with his 3 companions losing their sight before the same occurred to Drasus thanks to a web. While finishing them off I racked up a first 3 figure backstab.
After flooding the mine I was about to move on to Baldur's Gate when I remembered I still had a few pieces of unfinished business in the wilderness maps. That included telling the amazons their time was up. In the same area the Revenant was blinded and backstabbed.
Next I returned to the Lighthouse area. While there was no real reason for killing the sirines there, I couldn't resist trying that. Webs helped kill 2 of the 3 in the first group before I rested. After spotting the final one I webbed it, but before I could finish it off, found I was once more under attack. I'd checked there were no hobgoblins at their spawning site on the way to find the sirine, but had moved just far enough to allow them to appear there and then wander into sight. Although I was aware of the potential danger of that and acted pretty quickly, one of them still got the chance to fire an arrow - but with the cloak of displacement now adding to my protections to give an effective AC of -7 vs missiles it was no great surprise it missed.
Further up the coast, I briefly considered trying to get Shoal to summon Droth to get the Helm of Defense. However, that doesn't really deserve a spot in inventory and I just blinded and backstabbed her. After that I did finally make my way to the City. I immediately picked up the dexterity tome there before going to Ramazith's Tower to shoot the mage.
F6 / M6 / T7, 65 HPs (incl. 6 from familiar), 288 kills
I picked up Khaled and Jaheira, Xzar and Montaron and took them to Nashkel where they had all asked me to take them. I dropped them on and continued south whereupon I got embroiled in a battle between Dorn and his enemies. He jpoined the party and we then went in search of Krill whom we killed. We dropped Dorn off and he told us he could be found at the FAI.
In Nashkel we rescued Neera and she has joined the party. WE sold a lot of junk which enabled us to buy a robe of the Good Archmage. Sadly not enough gold to buy a robe of the neutral archmage for Neera.
Idyut - male, dwarven bounty hunter (Gate70)
Shy - male, human dark moon monk (Grond0)
Corepriest - male, dwarven fighter / cleric (Corey_Russell)
Keep an eye out for these three Dig a hole for these three
Waking up in the tome of leadership cave saw the start of our adventure. We fought our way back the way we had arrived but headed north instead of crossing the bridge. In the next area we killed a blinded polar bear so Corepriest could wear some toasty boots.
We then spent the next few minutes on area transitions with two ambushes followed by a confirmation that none of us had control of the third transit. With nothing else to do we went back to the last autosave.
The next 20 minutes saw us return Perdue's sword and kill Silke. Idyut was heading to Firewine Ruins in search of some bracers but Corepriest mentioned Nashkel Mine so we went there instead. Nothing in the mine stood in our way and we were soon outside breathing in the fresh air.
What's that smell? Amazons!
Corepriest casts Silence, but Telka saves. He casts again and she fails her save. Idyut and Shy both appear from the shadows to attack and battle commences. Maneira switches to melee and hits Idyut - with only 16hp remaining he moves around but before he decides where to move to she hits again - only 6hp left so he flees the scene westward with her in pursuit.
Maneira turns back as Shy tries to reach her but he is baulked by Lamahla. Corepriest manages to successfully hold Maneira as Idyut hides and turns to come back.
Lamahla starts talking to us, an indication that the Silence has already worn off. Idyut wastes a backstab on the stricken Maneira - killing her but Lamahla casts Rigid Thinking at Shy.
Shy saves, and Corepriest has cast Hold Person at Telka while Idyut has run west to hide once more. Telka saves against the Hold, as does Zeela while Idyut fails his hide. Lamahla casts and successfully holds Shy just as Telka's morale breaks and she staggers away to the south.
Corepriest commands Lamahla as Idyut hides at the second attempt and then Corepriest saves against a Rigid Thinking cast by Zeela. Idyut misses with a backstab onto the uninjured Zeela while the badly-wounded Lamahla finally manages to hold Corepriest.
Idyut races away in search of another shadow to hide in but Lamahla commands him. He recovers and moves away as Zeela casts Spiritual Hammer. With Zeela attacking the held Shy and Lamahla attacking the held Corepriest Idyut moves back in and gets a triple-damage backstab of 11 in onto the Zeela who is closest.
Idyut is out of visual range moments later but Zeela casts a hold in his direction. He saves against the effect as Lamahla kills Shy, and hides once more. With two attackers on him, Corepriest dies just as Idyut arrives and misses his backstab.
Zeela casts command again and Idyut collapses. Idyut thinks he might just be OK. Then the southerly Telka adds her ranged attacks to two melee attacks and a round on the ground looks in doubt.
Somehow Idyut rises to his feet and runs with 3hp remaining. Telka shoots an arrow, rolling a 17 which is enough to hit and before Idyut can gulp a healing potion the arrow ends matters decisively.
Visuals of the final combat - the magical arrow can be seen below Idyut on the final one.
weidu.log
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #0 // Rewritten Final Chapter of Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #10 // Balthazar can be redeemed: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #20 // Improved Sarevok-Player Interactions: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #30 // Improved Imoen-Player Interactions in Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #40 // Restored Bhaalspawn Powers: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #50 // Improved Slayer Transformation: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #60 // Expanded Epilogues for Bioware NPCs -> David Gaider's expanded epilogues for Bioware NPCs: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Tougher Abazigal: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1100 // Tougher Balthazar: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Tougher Demogorgon: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1300 // Tougher Gromnir: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1400 // Tougher Illasera: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Tougher Yaga-Shura: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Full-body portrait for Bodhi: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Alternate Balthazar portrait, by Cuv: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Extended Epilogues for additional Beamdog NPCs, by shawne: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Sharper portraits of Abazigal and Gromnir for the Enhanced Edition, by DavidW: 2.0.12
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2400 // Slightly improved cutscenes, by DavidW: 2.0.12
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v9
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Increase Ammo Stack Size -> Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v9
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Increase Potion Stacking -> Unlimited Potion Stacking: v9
~CDTWEAKS/SETUP-CDTWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Increase Scroll Stacking -> Unlimited Scroll Stacking: v9
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Include arcane spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1510 // Include divine spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3550 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict a random amount of damage (1d8 per level of the spell, plus 1 point per caster level, to a maximum of 5 points per spell level): v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4240 // Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorisable spells (each may be taken only once): v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4250 // Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends and celestials: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6550 // Smarter beholders: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6560 // Smarter mind flayers: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai use SCS abilities and AI: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Ascension demons use SCS abilities and AI: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8040 // Tie difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings to the difficulty slider: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix"): v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8080 // Improved Bodhi: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8085 // Ascension version of Bodhi uses Improved-Bodhi abilities: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Rebalanced troll regeneration: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Improved Drow: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Improved Watcher's Keep: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Improved Sendai's Enclave: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v33.3
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v33.3
~LOB_SAVE_FIX/LOB_SAVE_FIX.TP2~ #0 #0 // improve saving throws of all non-joinable creatures
The Paladin couple woke up in Irenicus Dungeon. Hitting with only 20's, as there's no weapon's for our proficiencies at the main room, we just about killed the Lightning and Smoke Mephits, without wasting any Healing Potions. For the next part Lady stayed back, as Lord scouted with Sanctuary. From Sewage Golem room I picked up couple Scimitars and Longbow for Wifey. Because activating Sewage Golem would take my only Sanctuary down, I concluded that it was better if Lady would take a small death again, and she agreed. This way I could sleep where ever and get my Sanctuary back. Fighting Duergars is no option in LoB SCS and without summons. Now I could sleep before the Sewage Golem room, activate it, trap the Mephit in the room, and continue with Sanctuary. Looted rooms with casual resting Sanctuary cycle. First small problem was to lure the three Duergars to the Otuygh room, because they were blocking the way. But I easily got Sanctuary on before they hit me. Looted the couple rooms, and escaped to the next level. For the four Mephits I decided to waste one Oil of Speed so I could trap them in the room and casually hack their portals. Used Sanctuary and ran straight through and picked Girdle of Bluntness, and +1 Ring among other loot and escaped the Dungeon. Sold my loot for 6k and resurrected Lady.
First things first, looted Maevar's guild hall and bought Nymph Cloak. With Sanctuary robbed the Pirates. I suspected Suna Seni waylay, and used Sanctuary beforehand, and we escaped it pretty casually. Then we robbed three Temples. Graveyard guests, and started Harper hold after the second waylay. Bought my rep to 14 and did the Tanner guest. Lord leveled up getting second casting slot. From Watchers Keep picked up Paladin's Bracers and Potion Case. Tried De'Arnise but there was no way of getting Lady past Trolls without wasting Invisibility potions, so I just looted the first level and FoA +1 with Sanctuary.
After running past Wild Forrest, Neera showed us in the Hidden Refuge, where I did the easy fetching guest for Mereth, and got the +2 Amulet. My wife really needs reusable invisibility, so we could advance certain places. So we went to Seven Vales, where I charmed Brennan first go. He then attacked rest of the bunch getting killed almost immediately. The agroed party can rot there for now. It's important not to attack Brennan yourself if you're weak, because he has escape script at low health, and so long loot. Anyway wifey got the Sandthief Ring.
Back at De'Arnise we could now move to the second floor without alerting anyone. Lady Dispelled Glaicus out of sight, and she also got a level up. We killed the four dogs out of sight of the Otuygh, and then Lady opened the gate. Then we looted the place, and escaped with FoA +3 for Lord, and Elven Courtbow +3 for Lady. Had enough money to start Chapter 3 and buy Glasses of Identification. Got Amulet of Power, which Paladin's can use, and get slightly faster casting times. Escaped three vampire waylay's in a row, Del, Parise and Tanova, and slept 3 nights at Thumb's. Watched Mook getting killed, and we avoided Lassal too.
Via Trademeet we went to Druid's Grove where we picked Belm +2 for Lord and Dale's Protector for Lady. Resting and Invisibility allowed us to pass it completely unnoticed. Lord now got 4 apr and weapons of choice for almost the rest of the game. Next we did the easy guests in Umar Hills, and I got the Mirror Image sword. Next was the easy Slaver guest, Beastmaster doesn't activate if you get hit from invisibility. Lady got Tuigan's Bow, and matched Lords 4 apr. We then picked the animals one by one, and freed the slaves. Neb was easy pray with True Sight. Wifey got Helm of the Noble after Sir Sarles guest. After dividing the Mephits at Gethras home, they were easily hacked. Lord then drank Potion of Fire Resistance to 70%, and cast Sanctuary and repeated the fire trap until Rayic was dead. Looted the place and left. Maevar was pre-charmed before giving the proof away, and then he was killed by his gang. Both got level ups, and Lord got 2nd level spell slot. Seven Vales gang was lured downstairs, where neutral Guard casually hacked them. Lady used True Sight couple times when Amon and Pooky went invisible. Lord got Full Plate and Lady Non-Detection Cloak, and we now had 33k gold.
As Lord is conveniently immune to poison, he repeated the Cloudkill trap to kill Captain and fellow slavers. Looted the place and left. With 18 rep I finally decided to buy Vhailor's Helm. Did the next guest for the Shadow Thieves. With Invisibility Lady fetched Mace of Disruption and we spent 7500 upgrading it. With Sanctuary and True Sight we went in to Prebek and Sanasha home, and casually summoned clone who slowed the couple, and then we easily finished them. Gained access to Harper Hold and looted the place. After buying Rod of Resurrection I still had 30k left. Mekrath was pretty easy after Clone softened him and with Lady's True Sight. And we got second RoR for Lady.
Decided to advance the Neera guest line, and oh boy was it tricky to keep Draxus alive. The first fight wasn't that bad, but the second fight outside I needed no less than 14 RoR's, keeping Lord and Draxus both alive. Draxus kept wandering around and Lady tried to keep an eye on both. Didn't remember that there was a second battle, and was caught off guard. Nevertheless managed to keep Draxus, and more importantly Lord alive. Got access to the Hideout at Promenade and bought 10x Dispel Arrows and bunch of potions for 16k. After spending so much money, in addition of 14 RoR's, maybe it wasn't worth it. After recharging other RoR, I had 10k left. Back at Trademeet, Treya was lured away and killed for her offhand Thac0 -2 cloak, and I then started Rasaad guest line. Interestingly Treya knows how to speak after death. Rasaad companied us to City Gates, and after map update, I let him go.
Time to get rid of the Temple Sewer Gang. Lord Silenced Tarnor out of sight, and because he can't talk and agro, we casually killed him. Now we could charm some of them. Gallobhair and Gaius are Elf's, and very hard to charm, and Draug Fea has Mind Shield, so he can't be charmed. So we charmed first Rengaard and then Zorl after sleep, with 3/20 and 8/20 chances in LoB. Then we ganged on Gaius with double Harm's, and he was killed in a second. Gallobhair was still incredibly tough and killed Zorl and Rengaard. Lady Dispelled his Speed once only he was left, and in the end we still needed 5 RoR's. The loot however was great and Lady too got Full Plate.
We advanced the Unseeing Eye to point that we got the half of the rod. Did the Silver Pantaloons guest, we avoided reputation loss by charming Welther and he was killed by Chorvale and Bregg, who we then killed. Lord ascended to level 12 and got pip in Mace's. Bought Shield of Balduran, and it was time to head further Unseeing Eye.
Lord and Clone did short work of the Undead Bridge with Mace of Disruption +2. As we killed first Gauth, Lady got level up too. Tried some Gauth xp-looping, but it was still taking 1 minute to kill a Gauth for 9k xp, and I gave up after 50 minutes or so after making a level. It was still good level up, to 4.5 apr, 3rd level spell slot and first Skellington. Picked up the other half of the rift device, and escaped. Before commissioning Roger the Fence for smuggling the Rift Device out of the sewers, I bought his interesting potions. Then I charmed him, and he attack/followed us to previous area, where he pickpocketed the Device from Lady. Then he followed us to the Temple area. He didn't want to give the Rift Device back, so we were forced to kill him, forced I tell you, for greater good. Rift Device is a powerful tool, it takes 60% of HP which is good against LoB bosses and Dispels on hit, and it cannot be blocked.
At Windspear Hills I first used Sanctuary, and then waited Paladin's Oil of Speed out. Cloned and attacked, and they were done after a turn. The battle at the house required couple RoR's, even after buffing in the top room freely. Passed Firkraag dungeon mostly unnoticed, but we did kill the Wolfwere's at the end. Tazok's party took 1 RoR. For Conster I used True Sight and Skellington to deplete his PfMW's. He still put a fight with bunch of spells, and Lord got confused, but luckily Conster didn't have any summons. Got nice loot, including the Sewer Key.
It was again Lady's time to Shine. After all she should take the biggest risks. She buffed up with PfU, Invisibility, Stone Form, Invulnerability to get -4 saves vs. Spell, and Speed and ran through the Mind Flayer dungeon. Apparently SCS Ulitharid's now use Ballistic Attacks more, and Lady surely would have died, but Lord watched over (hmm?) and protected with RoR's from other side of the map couple times. Got Hammer of Thunderbolts +3 for Lady, and more importantly Wand of Wonder.
We bought some Stone to Flesh scrolls, and went back to Firkraag. First WoW gave 9 loops, and after having money for one recharge, Sister Garlena gives the cheapest price, second wand provided 6 loops. That left us just shy of 15th level. But now we needed moar moneys. Firkraag xp-loop is much faster than Gauth loop. It's not depended on level, and on average with 6 loops per Wand, or 5 minutes, it gives about 77k xp per minute, compared of 9k I was getting from Gauth's at my level. But unlike the Gauth loop it runs on gold.
Back at Watchers Keep, the Trolls took 2 RoR's and one rest outside to kill. The Vampiric Wraith's are incredibly tough and depleted our RoR's leaving just 2 hits left. They did push Lord to 15th level tough. Cleared the place, but didn't activate the statues, and looted. Lady also got level 15. Third WoW put as close to 16th level. Sold some of my jewels which I was saving for the Shaguain merchant to get another recharge, which got us almost level 17.
We both made level 17 in Temple Ruins, which was pretty easily cleared by couple MoD +2's. But we needed to recharge WoW before tackling the Shadow Dragon, so we went back again to Garlena and we just got the 6k to recharge the wand, and then returned. And Shadow Dragon was stoned after couple hits. For Shadow Lord we wasted one PfU and Oil of Speed. Using the rest of then Wand for Firkraag we ascended to level 18, and finally got couple Deva's. After recharging both RoR's, we didn't quite have money to recharge WoW again.
Time to do some Lich hunting, with single PfU Lord killed the two minor Liches, and used second PfU on the City Gates Lich. Didn't want to push for Kangaxx yet because I didn't have my WoW recharged, but I did pick up second Sandthief Ring for uninterrubtable casting.
The battle with the first four Statues in Watchers Keep were tougher than I thought. Used three Skelis, couple Deva's and one RoR. So it definitely wasn't time for the next eight Statues. But we now had again money to recharge WoW. For Kangaxx I buffed with PfU and attacked, we returned to the far corner after he summoned a Cornugon and waited it out, same for the Dark Planetar that followed. Next he wasted Remove Magic on his Skeleton Warrior, and after three Wiltings, Lord attacked. After he changed, we could range the Demi Lich casually with WoW. And after 10 hits, he was done. Only used one PfU and couple Oil of Speeds. Lady was impressed after following the scene from the corner.
We finally felt powerful enough to commit on something, and went to Planar Sphere. The way to Lavok was easily cleared with summons. Skeli attacked Lavok from Farsight activating his buffs. Second and third Skelis continued to deplete his spells. Then Clone and Deva attacked pulling out Planetar, which we waited out. Second Deva ko'd Lavok and we moved in. Tanari was killed by summons too first casting Farsight. The same attack formation against Tolgerias and the mage, and they didn't survive the third Deva. Got level 19 and Staff of Fire, aka stream of Fire Elementals.
Corearcher X - elven archer, protagonist (Corey_Russell)
Davet - dwarven wizard slayer (Gate70)
Balladeer - half-elf skald (Grond0)
Well this was a VERY short run - though I wouldn't say it was sweet. We had just killed Shoal and were on our way to Beregost - we got hit with an ambush and the Trio all went different directions - uh oh. Finally we are all headed SE. However, Corearcher X foolishly didn't have a melee weapon equipped and gets dropped to 1 HP. He's almost made his escape when his group-mates inexplicably block his escape and prevent him to getting to the edge of the map. The 3 pursuers are able to catch up to Corearcher X and Corearcher X is quickly slain - RIP Corearcher X.
Back to the drawing board!
Siri - male, elf enchanter (Grond0)
Kencore - male, half-orc kensai (Corey_Russell)
Thwaka - female, half-orc assassin (Gate70)
Previous run
After the ignominy of 2 party deaths in less than an hour, things didn't look too promising when this collection of glass cannons was turned out by the production line. Their offensive clout was soon demonstrated when Kencore hit Shoal with a 28 damage critical on the way to bringing her down.
In Nashkel, some buried ankheg armor was only useful to raise a bit of cash. Siri did though learn CLW there to help a bit with keeping HPs up.
Kencore was worried about his 2-handed swords breaking, so the next destination was north of the Carnival to run Arghain and his half-ogres around. To the east, Meilum was waiting at Firewine Bridge. He packs a pretty nasty punch, but Thwaka was once more on her bike to keep him occupied until Siri managed to blind him at the third attempt.
Gate70 sounded a bit disgusted to hear that Siri did not know that staple of low-level mages, PfP. However, there are alternative ways to benefit from easy basilisk XP and Siri was soon leading Korax down close to the southern group of basilisks to kick-start our level gains.
The final action saw the Trio make their way to the FAI, picking up an ogre's belt collection on the way. Tarnesh was waiting on the steps and the others looked at Thwaka oddly as he circled round the mage to apparently attack him from the side. However, assassins know their business when it comes to backstabbing and a fatal backstab duly registered (Gate70 explaining that on his screen Tarnesh had been bumped round slightly as Thwaka sneaked past him).
Enchanter - L4, 19 HPs, 11 kills
Kensai - L4, 45 HPs, 30 kills, 0 deaths
Assassin - L5, 33 HPs, 28 kills, 0 deaths
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1140948/#Comment_1140948
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1140962/#Comment_1140962
Tasks in the City continued when an ogre mage in the cellars survived 2 skull traps from out of sight - but not a follow-up magic missile.
Lothander was surrounded by summoned monsters and had grease underfoot - persuading him to give up his boots of speed.
I had to run away quickly to avoid two lots of magic missiles from Drelik after summoned monsters proved insufficient against him. However, with him out of spells there was no real danger when backstabbing him.
After grabbing the Helm of Balduran I thought a matching cloak would be nice. Rather than sneak past Degrodel's guards, I elected to pull them outside - using summoned monsters to get the invisible stalkers to show themselves before blinding them.
Summons were again used as distraction at the Seven Suns, to avoid any attacks by the dopplegangers and that just left the Iron Throne as a target. An initial round of blindness there incapacitated all the casters and Gardush was blinded while webbed as a bonus. The only other real threat was Zhalimar and webs held him long enough to shoot him down. The others were backstabbed before looting the place and reporting in to Duke Eltan.
Back at Candlekeep I went straight to surrender to get access to the catacombs. Unfortunately, I was listening to my son talking at that point and not paying much attention to the game (he gave me permission to say that
Given that I'd been attacked 3 times before, I'd already relied on luck too much, but that was still a disappointing way to take damage. I considered ending the run there, but there's still the potential objective of getting two successful runs in a row to aim for - so I soldiered on. However, after that point I stopped doing unnecessary encounters and whipped through the rest of Candlekeep. Back in Baldur's Gate, Slythe was stunned by a single dart.
At the Palace I used the wand of monster summoning for the first time before throwing in a chaos from scroll as the dopplegangers changed. That provided a comfortable victory.
I bypassed all the enemies in the maze and Undercity and went straight to find Sarevok. As I was no longer avoiding damage I used set traps for the first time (taking damage from one of those attempts). Sarevok was dispelled with an arrow before I giggled slightly as Semaj teleported on top of the traps and died instantly
As HPs continue accumulating in the background and are only reset to the cap when you reload the game, it's possible to start SoD with far more than 161k - here's my character record on transfer with a bit over 300k.
F6 / M6 / T7, 70 HPs (incl. 6 from familiar, 5 from helm), 339 kills