@CharlestonianTemplar I'm just wondering if your Blackguard of Talos is any different to the standard Blackguard (ie is it a kit from a mod?)
Actually, I built him originally in BG1 as a Cleric (Stormcaller of Talos). Thus he received Shocking Grasp at Level 1, and I EEKeepered him Call Lightning at Level 4, Lightning Bolt at Level 8, and he will get Earthquake at Level 17. All of these one level higher than a Cleric would get them and unlike the Cleric I won't give him additional Lightning Bolts. This gave him a distict 'Talos' flavor.
After that, I went into EEKeeper and made him a Black Guard based on the kit in Sword and Fist.
To me it makes sense that a Paladin who is a holy warrior, for good or ill, would have some unique abilities from his patron deity. Otherwise, he is just a Black Guard.
Today's session kicked off with a glance at the character record prompting a search for reputation upgrades. Options taken for that started off with blinding Greywolf, before we went in search of Samuel. One of the few nasty moments in the session was when we hit not just a double hobgoblin ambush, but a full load of bandits on the way to the FAI - reaching the edge of the ambush map being a bit of a relief there. Despite still being injured from that, Drudge stayed in bear shape (the high strength being needed to carry Samuel) while tackling the belt ogre.
On the way to the coast we stopped off to collect Bassilus' symbol after he was not only blinded, but held by a nymph.
There was then another reputation point on offer at the Lighthouse and it would have seemed rude to leave there without saying hello to some sirines. The first group was webbed and died in skull traps, but we decided not to rest before the second lot. The first two of those didn't do much in Scenic's final couple of webs available, but Sil managed to last out and charm Drudge for a while before eventually being shot down.
With a single +2 dagger between us and no summons that could touch golems we needed a different strategy for the pirate cave. Scenic was thinking hard about what that could be and assumed the grunting he heard behind him was Drudge doing the same - but turning round found himself face to face with a bear. The druid bear shapes have 18(00) strength and 3 APR so are very good on the attack. Defensively they're poor, but a bit of distraction from nymphs saw the golems downed without Drudge taking too much damage.
With reputation up to 18 we went to find the Doomsayer. He's immune to electricity, but by this time Scenic was wearing a ring that provided him with up to 12 magic missiles a day - and that was a lot more than was needed to wear the opponent down for Drudge to get a finishing stab on it.
Escorting Brage back to Nashkel was enough to maximise reputation and Scenic used the odd cast of friends while buying up some goodies - like the dagger of venom for Drudge and a magic robe and Claw for herself.
That didn't leave much cash for checking out the stock at Ulgoth's Beard, so we dived into the ankheg nest on the way. Drudge was in bear form again there, while Scenic helped out by blinding many of the opponents. It was also amusing how fast natural selection pressures from the dagger of venom were resulting in the ankhegs developing luminescent abilities in the dark cave .
With no obvious gaps in equipment remaining, we decided to hit the Nashkel mine. Rather than use webs on Mulahey, we gave him some sort of chance with a frontal assault. He tried to take advantage when MP lag left Drudge still in conversation well after battle had commenced, but Scenic kept him quiet with magic missiles while a pair of nymphs did a good job in preventing any rescue attempt.
Outside the mine the amazons were quickly disposed of - webs and skull traps not leaving much for summons to do.
Back at Nashkel Nimbul was another to take advantage of MP lag - the delay to Drudge's call lightning letting him get off a horror spell to send Scenic running as she tried to find a good view of the lightning strike. However, Drudge was out of the area of effect and Nimbul was fried in due course.
We were soon up at the Bandit Camp and making short work of the bandits. There was a momentary concern when Scenic threw in a web where Taurgosz was lurking and followed that up with a skull trap. However, her attempt to repeat the spell must have been fractionally different in the targeting and she stepped forward into her own web and got stuck. Meanwhile, Taurgosz had reacted to the first skull trap by running forward and emerged from the web in a position where he could potentially have attacked Scenic (though a nymph and Drudge were closer targets). Fortunately he had a sudden change of heart for some reason and retreated slightly - back into the web where he got stuck.
We entered Tazok's tent invisibly and Scenic blinded Raemon's companions while out of sight of their spokesman. A couple of skull traps then just left a small cleaning up operation required.
After a smooth trip through the Cloakwood we arrived at another mine. A nymphly distration there allowed a couple more skull traps to do their job.
We bypassed a bit of combat on the way through the mine using invisibility, before tripping one of the traps at the bottom to summon a pair of battle horrors. They failed to react to skulls landing in front of them and the third of those killed both battle horrors and Davaeorn as well.
That just left a jelly defending the pick of the treasure and Drudge the bear was in action once more to slash up both that and the lock on the treasure chest.
Having enlisted Dynaheir and Minsc we went ankheg hunting to boost their experience and our gold supply.
We then proceeded to Baldur's Gate where we were poisoned and had to seek out an antidote.
We were attacked by Jardak who died as a result of his foolishness.
We then killed Ramazith.
We delivered a tome to Rinnie before barging into the house of a mage.
We then went to Durlag's Tower
and killed a ghost.
After looting the upper reaches of the tower we decided to investigate werewolf island. to kill the greater werewokf, we lured him downstairs where he was held with a web spell. Going back upstairs we were able to loot the ship and gain the weapons needed to kill him.
We returned Maralees' child to her.
We then returned Dradeel's Spellbook
and killed Loup Garou
We returned to Ulgoth's Beard and finished the werewolves off.
To kill the last ones, I lured them down a level into an ambush which consisted of a party protected from hold and a web spell already in operation. We attacked the weaker wollfweres, ignoring the greater one until it got webbed. We then went up a level killing the wollfweres that followed us. We were then able to loot the chests at our leisure. We now had Balduran's sword. I equipped myself with the sword, a belt to protect myself from slashing weapons and the besy shield as I was going to tank the fight. I took a semi-decent potion of strength and cast holy might on myself.
Meanwhile Dynaheir summoned some monsters some distance away from me. The monsters and the weaker party members had strength of one cast on them and we were the entire party was then blessed. the remaining two werewolves were then lured into our trap and the battle was swiftly over.
The summoned monsters didn't do any damage apart from to the one remaining wolfwere. They did however take a lot of hits that would otherwise have been taken by party members.
I took some colateral damage from party spells, but took that in my stride.
My cleric then healed me and we prepared ourselves for any future conflict by sleeping and protecting the mages.
After having so many problems with this battle in previous runs, it was great to discover tactics that made the battle easy.
We returned Maralee's child to her. Asa result she was quite thankful.
We returned Dradeel's Spellbook...
and killed Loup Garou.
We killed the last of the Wolfwere's when we returned to Ulgoth's Beard.
Having dealt with that problem, we rreturned to the Iron Throne where we wiped out all the higher echelons still there.
We then killed Degrodel followed by the Maulers of the Underdark.
We then returned to Candlekeep, none of the enemies causing us any problems.
We then decided to return to Durlag's Tower.
After killing the four warders, we descended lower, killing Dwarven Doom Guards as we did so.
Some wyverns hurt us badly but we recovered.
Likewise we were badly hurt in a cold room.
The chessboard in contrast turned out to be easier than expected as did the Demon Knight.
Going to Ulgoth's Beard Aec Letec proved to be more difficult.
Spells that would once have killed him proved to be almost ineffective.
Dynaheir died and as a result some valuable items disappeared: her ring of wizardry, a belt that protected her from slashing weapons, and some good boots all disappeared.
A bug I believe.
However, we escaped and had Dynaheir raised.
(I did some investigation and returned with a better plan. It was successful)
We returned to Baldur's gate where we killed Slythe and Kirstin
After an easy battle at the Ducal palace we then proceeded to follow Savarok.
Semaj helped us kill Tazok, but badly injured us too. We had to use dozens of healing potions as we were unable to rest. Neera sadly died but Semaj died soon afterwards.
To my intense relief Saverok finally fell.
Onwards to Dragonspear. Neera's death was shortlived.
We reached the Coast Way Crossing and visited the Coast Way forest where we killed a vampire and were suitably rewarded. After killing a collector of statues, we returned some items to a distraught refugee.
We have activated several menhirs and begun to investiate a cave. Sadly two party members were killed when we ran into some umber hulks.
[Strangely they appear resistant to Cloudkill. They along with Aec Letec and many other monsters used to be Instakilled by Cloudkill. Has Cloudkill been nerfed or have the monsters been changed to be resistant to it?]
Raising the departed NPCs has drained our gold resources. Let's hope that we can finish this area without any further fatalities!
I can't speak to SoD, but standard BG2EE Umber Hulks have 6 HD. At that level, Cloudkill kills instantly on a failed save vs death at -4: a 70% chance per round.
Aec'Letec has been given both a reasonable number of hit dice (10) in the EE so he's too strong for the instant death, and poison immunity from being a demon so he's immune to all of Cloudkill's effects.
(Added in edit 2)
This immunity bonus was introduced in version 2.5. Before that, most of the monster rings that grant immunity to poison also granted Slay immunity, so you couldn't go around killing skeletons and zombies with Cloudkill. The exception? RINGDEMN, which fiends get. Aec'Letec was only protected from Cloudkill instant death in vanilla BGEE up to 2.3 by his HD count.
We reached the Coast Way Crossing and visited the Coast Way forest where we killed a vampire and were suitably rewarded. After killing a collector of statues, we returned some items to a distraught refugee.
We have activated several menhirs and begun to investiate a cave. Sadly two party members were killed when we ran into some umber hulks.
[Strangely they appear resistant to Cloudkill. They along with Aec Letec along with other monsters used to be Instakilled by Cloudkill. Has Cloudkill been nerfed or have the monsters been changed to be resistant to it?]
Raising the departed NPCs has drained our gold resources. Let's hope that we can finish this area without any further fatalities!
Those Umber Hulks finished my solo Wizard slayer last time I arrived at SoD.
The session was cut short a bit by a computer crash, but we still completed most of the encounters in the City. That started by going down invisibly into the sewers to find a rogue ogre mage. He failed to identify where skull traps were coming from in time to save his life. Some of the carrion crawlers did crawl to the attack, but met grisly fates at the hands of a poison wielding druid.
A review of equipment at that stage showed that we were short on bracers of weapon expertise and a cross-check of map locations confirmed we'd not yet been to Firewine Bridge. Faster than you can say "Firewine Bridge" we were there and merrily casting blinds at Meilum. He resisted quite a few of those, but after Drudge doomed him he eventually succumbed.
Back in the City we went to find Lothander in search of another matching pair - this time of boots of speed. Jalantha was blinded and shot down before searching out Lothander in a local inn.
Scenic did have a grease scroll in her case, but chose not to use that and just try blocking Lothander in with summons instead. That's not always easy in MP. On my screen there was a perceptible gap that Lothander did indeed escape through, but on Gate70s screen Drudge was already as close to the pillar as she could be.
On the way to find Marek Drudge got a few poison stabs in on Larze, but received a whack in return before Larze lost sight of her.
The ogre was conveniently near the door, so Scenic took the opportunity to closely monitor the movements of the locals before sending off a couple of skull traps.
Upstairs, Marek's day was about to take a sharp turn for the worse. First, he was so baffled by the improved invisibility on Drudge that he just stood there staring at her rather than using area spells or attacking the fully visible sorcerer. Scenic decided to take advantage of that by throwing in a web - assuming that Marek would still not attack Drudge even if she were held in the web. In the event that assumption was not tested there as Marek was first held by the web and then stunned by a dart.
Moving on to Ramazith's Tower, the mage met his doom at the bottom before we started working upwards. Drudge the bear sorted out a pair of mustard jellies and, despite not having a totally safe saving throw, proclaimed she was willing to tank the ghasts on the next floor. Scenic was a bit worried about her getting held, so tried to cut the battle as short as possible by lobbing in a skull trap. Drudge is an old hand at this game by now though and had of course seen that coming - and taken the precaution of gulping a healing potion to top her HPs up.
She survived comfortably anyway and the rest of the tower was cleared without incident.
Scenic was still keen to test her assumption that an enemy mage would not attack a helpless victim in a web if they were improved invisible and Degrodel confirmed that after his guards had been drawn outside one by one for easier disposal.
We were running a bit short on targets by this time, but Drudge suggested Scenic might like to send a friendly greeting to a local basilisk. Scenic considered sending a postcard, or perhaps at bottle of wine - but eventually plumped for an old staple and a few skulls later the greeting was complete.
Scenic then asked whether Drudge wanted some ogre gauntlets to boost her prowess with her dagger. We had no particular desire to talk to Desreta about her bedroom habits, so Scenic threw in a web from distance and followed up by blinding both Desreta and Vay-ya before they could break free.
Vay-ya did then shrug off the web and, feeling a need to take her anger out on someone, killed the innocent next to her - opening up the opportunity for Scenic to throw in a skull trap to finish off the combat quickly.
1
Wyrme took a short break before completing BG:EE again. She again got her thief stronghold in Amn before doing a lot of the other city quests. After clearing out the temple district sewers she headed into Mekrath's lab and freed Haer'Dalis. There were a group of yuan-ti and umber hulks nearby and she managed to defeat all but one after avoiding a few lightning bolts. The final combat seemed to be going OK until another lightning bolt triggered in the small room with two containers (between the circular entrance and where the yuan-ti start). The yuan-ti survived one bounce but not a second while Wyrme survived several more but was unable to move out of the way in such a small area. She desperately fished in her backpack for a potion of absorbtion but there was none. Her choice was between a potion of superior healing (+40hp) or a potion of insulation (50% electrical resistance). She glugged the insulation potion but still died on the next bounce.
(I originally mentioned this death to Grond0 thinking she had been to Spellhold leading to him asking about the Cloak of Reflection, but after checking the save that was the previous attempt and Spellhold had not been visited)
2
After another short break Wyrme set off once more, this time meeting a basilisk ambush at 140k xp. It gazed at her before she reacted, and another desperate fish in her potion case came up empty. So she ran anyway and awaited confirmation that her saving throw vs polymorph of 10 would be inadequate. It was.
3
Another short break saw Wyrme dispose of Sarevok, reaching level 13 with a save vs spell of 3 before an ill thought out foray into the Temple district sewers. Getting poisoned by an otyugh as a sea troll attacked was not insurmountable as Wyrme still outcrawled the oytugh and led the sea troll into a series of snares.
She used an arrow of fire to kill the sea troll but a kobold shaman had arrived and cast hold as Wyrme chose to fight it instead of running or gulping a potion. She was duly held and the rest of the kobolds eventually turned up and made their way through an entanglement spell for a dwarven snack of ignomy.
4
The second ghast in Cloakwood Mine slathered as it snacked away on Wyrme's paralyzed limbs. Wyrme had backstabbed the ghast and opened the entrance to run away, but the entrance opened from where she stood rather than her moving closer to it and this had allowed the ghast to get an attack in. Wyrme had a couple of rounds to not show her frustration with herself as the ghast repeatedly paralyzed her before applying a fatal bite.
After these attempts she decided to take a break of at least a day in case her enthusiasm got the better of her once more.
An attempt to squeeze in a session this morning proved unfortunately far too successful. Our previous session had been interrupted on the way to the Iron Throne, so we picked up there and had an easy ride - Scenic's 12 blinds were just enough to disable all the casters. Webs, insects and skull traps then made short work of the opposition.
Back at Candlekeep everything seemed to be going smoothly as the first 2 tombs were looted. Scenic nipped round behind the fireball trap on the stairs up to the third tomb - and was surprised when a conflagration erupted behind her. The damage from the trap was unusually high, but still slightly less than her maximum HPs, but she'd already taken a little bit of damage from a previous magic missile trap and couldn't quite handle it.
What was surprising is that there didn't seem to be any movement error and that's not a trap that normally causes any issue when dodging round it. Oh well, that early death meant we still had time to make a start on a new run .
Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 211, Core rules + unmodded (From 210, first and last update...)
Skally (female human mage, Gate70); Rache (male elf cleric/mage, Grond0)
Skally delighted in comparing herself to the local bookworm, but then noticed they weren't entirely similar. Rache shouted across the courtyard that maybe the local teachers had asked for some unique way to identify them. Maybe.
With this nonsense out of the way we duly completed our Candlekeep chores, left the fatally wounded Gorion behind and dumped Imoen in a non-fatal manner. Rache enquired about the fates of Xzar and Montaron, which the evil Skally said was to leave them in a fistfight.
That didn't work out quite as planned since neither were any good at hitting each other so Skally left them out of the party at which point they both turned hostile so Rache killed them.
Once we had killed Shoal the Nereid and helped find a ring for Mad Arcand it was time to face the circle of death ambush. A fair bit of pausing was used to try and make sure we escaped alive with minimal use of potions - in the end we gulped nothing but air.
Skally was all set to hunt down basilisks until noticing Rache had an unenchanted club to hand. She proudly announced we would go find a magical club from Caldo and Krumm only for Rache to ask why. A brief conversation found that Rache had eluded paying 1gp for a breakable war hammer and opted for a non-proficient but non-breakable club instead.
So Skally decided to find a magical war hammer first. In retrospect this was a bad idea, and that's how it ended with Rache being hammered while held and Skally continuing with her sling to give Bassilus even more of the upper hand in his cleric vs mage contest. Should have just gone to prod the basilisks with a club.
I was quite pleased with the new portrait that I made for Hrack as the lighting is just right. To me it doesn't look as if it has come from two images. [ I prefer portraits to have a believable background ]
Journal of Astor the Axe
When Ralph the Red arrived at Candlekeep he set about trying to convince people to follow Helm. As I was already inclined to do so, he found it easy to convince me, despite his low charisma. Once convinced, I set about talking to others about my new found faith and was quite surprised when Hrack, a blackguard became the next follower of Helm. Unlike me, he chose to follow Helm out of self-interest. Falstaff was the final one to follow Helm. He also did so out of self-interest. All too often thieves get dealt with over-severely if they get caught, whereas the courts tend to be a little more lenient. He was so convinced that he changed his name from Falstaff to Helmstaff.
We did several chores in Candlekeep before leaving with Gorion. Near Candlekeep we were ambushed and unfortunately I and my friends were not up to being much help and Gorion died. The rest of us fled to Candlekeep but were denied entrance.
Loury & co 'made good progress' today (our first session was just under 30 minutes, second and third each just under 2 hours so 4h30m on the clock to date).
We started the session in a store at Nashkel. Corecleric wanted to deal with Neira in the nearby tavern. He summoned a skeleton and silenced her so Loury and Swish joined in the killing spree.
Then we went to the coast to deal with sirenes. Corecleric summoned enough skeletons for us to use against both sets near the lighthouse and then we entered the cave guarded by flesh golems. Corecleric wanted to know the plan here, and Loury duly told him to melee them while Swish meleed from the shadows and Loury 'bravely' shot arrows of fire. At the end of battle Loury asked about the drinks situation and it transpired that Corecleric had only consumed one potion of healing in addition to our healing spells - so a good result.
We then moved north to deal with the remaining group of sirenes, only for Swish to aggrevate an ogre so we had to kill it and companions and then obtain minimal healing from the Surgeon who was stood nearby. When that was done we duly killed the sirenes and declared everywhere safe from them - until Swish mentioned the ones residing in the Beregost temple.
Uh those sirenes. Pass, says Loury (remembering an earlier trio where we all died or were charmed to death - details details). Swish didn't seem too convinced but we carried on with other matters. Loury bought the claw of Kazgaroth for Corecleric and used the tome of constitution himself. After taking a second pip in dual-wielding Loury realised he may as well offhand the non-proficient Twinkle scimitar as it was better armour than the large shield he had.
We then picked up gauntlets of weapons expertise from Meilum where Loury worried Corecleric by using a less-common dialogue option to anger him. Loury gave Corecleric the gauntlets, and that led to us travelling south to pick up the bracers of archery. Corecleric realised he could not use them so kept the gauntlets and handed the bracers to Loury.
Then we went to deal with the Revenant, Narcillicus and his two jellies. Loury thought he was doing reasonably well against the Revenant but Corecleric added icing and sprinkles by successfully holding our opponent.
By this time we decided to return to our main quest and quickly thrashed our way around the bandit camp. Taurgosz was ably supported by four of his archers and caused us a bit of pain before we killed him - Loury consuming three healing potions. Then Loury waited outside the main bandit tent until Corecleric used Sanctuary and Silence. After that it was just a small clean-up operation.
A very minor break from the main plot to sell their loot was taken, and we killed Silke.
We continued on, through the Cloakwood (Loury taking Aldeth's sword) and down to Davaeorn at the base of that mine. Loury used a potion of magic blocking and Swish risked all successfully to avoid a lightning bolt and shoot arrows in support.
Davaeorn once more boasted of his magical might - say fella are you wittering on about that right after fluffing your spell...
Loury had equipped Taurgoz's armour, handing the ankheg plate to Corecleric who ummed and aahed about which was best. Loury realised Corecleric hadn't mentioned our pile of gold yet or his lack of suitable armour, so volunteered to buy the spare Beregost full plate for his cleric. An offer that could not be refused.
We could head straight to the city now but Loury took another detour for a rare multiplayer zombie hunt. Corecleric asked if Swish could get the +1 cloak while here and that had been Loury's plan as Corecleric had earlier mentioned his ring slots were fully utilised (ring of Sune and claw of Kazgaroth).
Also Corecleric realised his turn undead could pop the odd zombie so Loury stopped slicing zombies and finished off any undead that saved vs pop.
Once in the city we worked our way clockwise round the areas - not having made our way into the centre yet. Once we reached the Flaming Fist HQ our time was up for another week.
Almost our final act of the session was for Swish to risk confusion against Vay-ya but he either was just out of range or saved as Corecleric used the greenstone amulet to good effect.
Party gear:
(we have swapped bracers around but this will probably be how the armwear stays from this point on)
(& as usual note how I have ranged on the left-slot with melee on the right, while @Grond0 and @Corey_Russell are the other way around. We all have our little idiosyncrasies and this is one of them)
@Gate70 the way I think of it, is my character is to the right. Therefore, I want my melee weapon to be the closest to the enemy (which would be to the character's left on screen), with ranged as a secondary weapon.
After the death of Gorion we made our way to the Friendly Arms Inn where we were attacked by Tarnesh. That was foolish. We outnumbered him four to one! Needless to say, he perished.
To the North Sonner and his cohorts also perished. WE returned the bowl to Tenya and killed a nearby ankheg.
We then headed south, helperd Mellicamp, and killed some ogrillon and Flaming Fist who attcked us. Still further south we killed some hobgoblin before ending up in Nashkel.
We chatted to Oubliek and Noober before going south where we killed Greywolf.
On the way from Beregost we had picked up numerous items.
We took the Colquetle amulet to the family, a scroll to a woman, a sword to Perdue.
EDIT
Run came to an end through sheer carelessness.
We had cleared all the area to the west of the Nashkel Road and also the Nashkel Mines and Mutamin's Garden.
We had also just about finished the upper reaches of Durlag's Tower. We went to kill the basilisks and had killed two of them. However, I didn't notice that the potion had run out.
Since he had a dagger in his hand in the photo that I found, I elected to have a proficiency point in daggers.
He should really have been a priest not a mage, but clerics can't use daggers and they wear armour in Baldur's Gate.
I used the oil of speed in the training room which made the killing of the assassins in Candlekeep straightforward and it also provided me with spare daggers.
The excellent roll also meant that I got a +1 dagger almost immediately.
No problem in completing Candlekeep
However I was in great danger even from gibberlings when I tried to rest.
I got to the Friendly Arms Inn where a ring that I found gave me a chance when fighting hobgoblins.
On being told by Sonner that he possessed a magical weapon, I killed him and his cohorts in order to gain possession of it. ?
I then returned Tenya's bowl and upon doing so reached level 2.
In transit, an ambush by bandits made me think that my life was over.
However, somehow I survived.
I then somehow managed to reach Beregost.
South of Beregost a sleep spell enabled me to kill two ogrillon. I was given a ring as a reward for delivering a letter that one of them was carrying.
Killing some minor enemies raised my level to 3.
I had a touch and go battle with some hobgoblins due to the fact that they kept saving against sleep spells, and eventually I decided to flee as I had no more spells. However, I was alert enough to pick up the Colquetle Amulet.
Upon arriving in Nashkel I found some good armour, not something that I can wear.
I returned to Beregost and delivered the Colquetle amulet. I then helped Mellicamp after which I had enough gold to buy a mirror image scroll which thankfully I was able to memorise. To help mellicamp, I had to fight a skeleton who wounded me badly.
I then went to Beregost where I knew that I could rest in peace.
Upon going north I killed some gibberlings but was unable to best an ogre so I fled. After resting I took on some gnolls at High Hedge and was more successful.
So far just survival. Currently that is all he can hope for. He's not strong enough to have any great ambitions yet. He'll probably head south killing those hobgoblins that are left and then do some of the easier tasks in the south, reuniting Rufie with his owner, taking 'Drienne's cat to her and perhaps helping a dryad if he is up to it. Finding some scrolls would be a boon as he isn't rich and he's not powerful enough to take on ankhegs yet. Looking for the ring of fire protection and helping Samuel are also possibilities. He might then be strong enough for the ogre. I'll see what turns up after that.
What I am enjoying about this run is that he isn't strong. A complete contrast to some of my party runs. If he survives, he should become much stronger as the experience isn't being shared with others.
Having a blackguard and mage duo would be much easier, and he may ultimately decide to recruit Dorn. That's for the future though.
Of course his ultimate ambition is to become the god of murder.
I had another attempt at killing an ogre and once more had to flee with my tail between my legs.
However, I was able to recover Perdue's sword and clear the road to Nashkel.
I reunited Albert and Rufie
Moving west I killed Caldo and Krumm by putting Krumm to sleep, killing Caldo, resting and then killing Krumm.
I took @Drienne's cat to her and killed Ingot by putting him to sleep.
At the archaeological site I killed Gallor and then helped Charleston.
I then took Brage to the temple of Helm thus becoming a hero.
In the inn, a chromatic orb blinded Neira who was then rendered helpless.
I killed Greywolf with my wand of ice. Unfortunately this destroyed Varscona.
I then killed the Amazing Oopah and Zordral.
I used the gold that I had thus acquired to buy scrolls and spells after which I possessed 3 gold pieces.
I had been planning a trip to Durlag's to buy the wand of fire there but that will have to wait.
EDIT
I battled through the mines with difficulty and eventually faced Mulahey and defeated him. Unfortunately his hold spell disabled me and I was killed by his kobolds.
A short game, but most enjoyable. If not for that hold, I think that I would have defeated him.
@Wise_Grimwald If you want to drastically boost your solo mage's offensive capability and therefore survivability: Consider grabbing a Wand of Fire early on. You can safely retrieve the one in the Ankheg nest if you take the Potion of Invisibility off Jaheira and buy a single scroll of Invisibility from Thalantyr: Use the scroll to go invisible, sneak into the lair, grab the treasure and quaff the potion, sneak back out.
@aldain Now that's something that I would never have thought of. Of course I could memorise the scroll, cast the spell and then use Jaheira's potion in order to get away.
Journal of Azure
I acquired Joia's ring, returned it to her and after killing Sonner took Tenya's Bowl to her. I then went to Beregost calmed Marl down and took a tome to Firebead.
I then headed for High Hedge to get a scroll of invisibility.
I ran into a skeleton and a blindness spell made its weaponry ineffectual. (It also resupplied me with throwing daggers) Unfortunately, I then ran into another skeleton. I had no blindness spell left so I attacked it melee. At first I was winning the battle, but then it landed a lucky blow and I was forced to flee. It hit me with a throwing knife and I was lucky to survive.
I spent a considerable amount of gold on recovery in Beregost and then after picking up Mellicamp returned to High Hedge where Mellicamp regained his human form.
I bought an invisibility spell which I memorised.
I then went to the FAI wherer I rested, memorising two invisibility spells an armour spell etc.
Outside the ankheg lair I cast an invisibility spell, went to pick up the loot and immediately cast the other invisibility spell.
This enabled me to escape with the loot. I now need to buy an identifying scroll.
I headed south to kill an ogre which I did with the aid of a blindness spell and throwing daggers, forgetting that I needed to take the body of his son to Farmer Brun. [It's amazing what a difference choosing the most appropriate spells makes]
After killing the ogre, I delivered his son to Farmer brun and gave him 100gp.
I headed south with the intention of reaching Nashkel however I was intercepted by bsndits who hurt me badly. I therefore went to the next area which is where the Colquetle amulet was found. To avoid further injury I cast invisibility before going for the amulet and then proceeded to the Carnival where I rested until I gained the ability to heal.
I then went to Nashkel, turned down a reward from Oublek, talked to Noober and picked up some armour.
After that I returned to Beregost and delivered the armour becoming a hero in the process.
Upon killing three gnolls at High Hedge I found Perdue's sword.
I decided that perhaps it would be good to help Prism. Upon doing so I was attacked by Greywolf. Knowing that he was a far better melee fighter than I, I led him to the mines where the guards there whittled down his health. Once he was badly injured I used my wand of frost on him. By then he was near death so I used two magic missiles thinking that he would fall. He was tougher than I thought so I used other spells. He saved every time I used a sleep spell and also against my first blindness spell. However my second blindness spell worked so I threw throwing daggers at him until he fell.
I then travelled east where I picked up a ring of fire protection before takiong Samuel to the FAI.
Once there I fought Tarnesh and prevailed. Just as a horror spell sped towards me I sped through a door to safety. He and I then exchanged lightning bolts at each other. He fell first. I survived.
Upon returning to Beregost I returned Perdue's sword using invisibility to avoid combat with Karlat.
EDIT
I accedded to the request of a bard to help his mistress, but upon discovering that she wanted me to commit murder I changed my mind much to her fury. She attacked me with a lightning bolt. However due to buffings I survived. The same could not be said for two of those that she wanted me to murder.
I countered with my wand of frost which was not enough to kill her. We then traded magic missiles at which she retreated. I healed myself and then followed. She then cast her final lightning bolt which injured me, and killed the final man that she wanted me to kill as well as a passer-by.
I had cast strength on myself so I thought that I would be the stronger in melee. When I discovered that was not the case I used my reserve scroll of magic missile as I did not want to destroy her possessions using my wand of frost.
At last she fell. I then went to pick up the 3 potions of defence that those she wanted killing were carrying together with several jewels.
To deal with Zargal, I blasted him with my wand of frost and then killed his cohorts with my wand of fire. That blast was supposed to kill him too, but he panicked and ran out of the area affected. I therefore killed him with a magic missile.
I then reunited Albert and his dog before killing Caldo and Krumm.
I reunited 'Drienne with her cat and killed Ingot before heading for the archaeological site.
I helped both Charleston Nib and Brage with the result that I reached level 5 with a reputation of 20.
Upon meeting up with Xzar and Montaron I took them to an inn in Bergost before heading to Ulgoth's Beard.
I don't know how he managed it, but Montaron turned up with a cloak, a powerful war hammer, some potions and some scrolls that he didn't have to pay for. After promising Therella that we would look for her son, I left Xzar with her to keep her company whilst I went with Montaron to Nashkel where I left him.
After arriving at the Lighthouse area I used a web/wand of fire combination to kill the first three sirine. However, it took more charges than I thought to kill them, so the second group will have to wait. I spoke to Safana hoping to enlist her. I was surprised to find that she is not only sexy but also sexist. Only a man will do apparently. [Whenever I have enlisted her in the past I was playing a man]
I need gold to recharge my wand of fire so it looks like I am going to have to take on the ankheg lair, like it or not.
I thought that Dorn might be the man for safana, but after he joined we got intercepted by a ghast! I got held!
Yeldan II and gang are getting near the end. Only final fight with Abazigal, Balthsazar, Pocket Plane challenges #4 & #5 and Melissan left! Run going well other than the chunking of Imoen - replaced her with Sarevok! Will keep at it (party consists of two berserkers, two inquisitors and myself (fighter)).
Yeldan II the halfling fighter - FINAL Update!
Traveling with:
Joshua - dwarven berserker
Forrest - dwarven berserker
April - human inquisitor
Sarah - human inquisitor
Sarevok - human fighter
(Imoen - human thief/mage - CHUNKED by draconis)
I am pleased to report I kept my focus and Yeldan II has become a god.
Now I need to try to do it with the NPCs - clearly with MP parties, I think I got it. I also need to get a sqishy character through, like maybe a thief or bard. Will start a new one in Candlekeep...
Thoughts about this run:
Berserkers and inquisitors were extremely useful against enemy casters, and did massive damage to melee enemies as well. They did gulp loads of potions and lots of RoR heals too, but they succeeded all the same. I'll need to try another run without so many uber characters...I also had 3 characters with grandmastery in weapons, this no doubt was part of the strength of this party...
Gahh..I get a tenseness in my stomach when husband goes into the final fight. Buts it so much fun to watch over his shoulder. In worse case scenarios I'm twisting in side as I see portraits disappear and that familiar red line inching ever upwards. This round though it went so fast it was over before I looked up! Grats hubby!!
Comments
Actually, I built him originally in BG1 as a Cleric (Stormcaller of Talos). Thus he received Shocking Grasp at Level 1, and I EEKeepered him Call Lightning at Level 4, Lightning Bolt at Level 8, and he will get Earthquake at Level 17. All of these one level higher than a Cleric would get them and unlike the Cleric I won't give him additional Lightning Bolts. This gave him a distict 'Talos' flavor.
After that, I went into EEKeeper and made him a Black Guard based on the kit in Sword and Fist.
To me it makes sense that a Paladin who is a holy warrior, for good or ill, would have some unique abilities from his patron deity. Otherwise, he is just a Black Guard.
He's a real jerk too.
Scenic (female elf sorcerer, Grond0); Drudge (female half-elf druid, Gate70)
Previous updates
Today's session kicked off with a glance at the character record prompting a search for reputation upgrades. Options taken for that started off with blinding Greywolf, before we went in search of Samuel. One of the few nasty moments in the session was when we hit not just a double hobgoblin ambush, but a full load of bandits on the way to the FAI - reaching the edge of the ambush map being a bit of a relief there. Despite still being injured from that, Drudge stayed in bear shape (the high strength being needed to carry Samuel) while tackling the belt ogre.
On the way to the coast we stopped off to collect Bassilus' symbol after he was not only blinded, but held by a nymph.
With a single +2 dagger between us and no summons that could touch golems we needed a different strategy for the pirate cave. Scenic was thinking hard about what that could be and assumed the grunting he heard behind him was Drudge doing the same - but turning round found himself face to face with a bear. The druid bear shapes have 18(00) strength and 3 APR so are very good on the attack. Defensively they're poor, but a bit of distraction from nymphs saw the golems downed without Drudge taking too much damage.
With reputation up to 18 we went to find the Doomsayer. He's immune to electricity, but by this time Scenic was wearing a ring that provided him with up to 12 magic missiles a day - and that was a lot more than was needed to wear the opponent down for Drudge to get a finishing stab on it.
That didn't leave much cash for checking out the stock at Ulgoth's Beard, so we dived into the ankheg nest on the way. Drudge was in bear form again there, while Scenic helped out by blinding many of the opponents. It was also amusing how fast natural selection pressures from the dagger of venom were resulting in the ankhegs developing luminescent abilities in the dark cave
With no obvious gaps in equipment remaining, we decided to hit the Nashkel mine. Rather than use webs on Mulahey, we gave him some sort of chance with a frontal assault. He tried to take advantage when MP lag left Drudge still in conversation well after battle had commenced, but Scenic kept him quiet with magic missiles while a pair of nymphs did a good job in preventing any rescue attempt.
Back at Nashkel Nimbul was another to take advantage of MP lag - the delay to Drudge's call lightning letting him get off a horror spell to send Scenic running as she tried to find a good view of the lightning strike. However, Drudge was out of the area of effect and Nimbul was fried in due course.
We were soon up at the Bandit Camp and making short work of the bandits. There was a momentary concern when Scenic threw in a web where Taurgosz was lurking and followed that up with a skull trap. However, her attempt to repeat the spell must have been fractionally different in the targeting and she stepped forward into her own web and got stuck. Meanwhile, Taurgosz had reacted to the first skull trap by running forward and emerged from the web in a position where he could potentially have attacked Scenic (though a nymph and Drudge were closer targets). Fortunately he had a sudden change of heart for some reason and retreated slightly - back into the web where he got stuck.
After a smooth trip through the Cloakwood we arrived at another mine. A nymphly distration there allowed a couple more skull traps to do their job.
Sorcerer 7, 36 HPs, 191 kills
Druid 8, 64 HPs, 78 kills, 0 deaths
Having enlisted Dynaheir and Minsc we went ankheg hunting to boost their experience and our gold supply.
We then proceeded to Baldur's Gate where we were poisoned and had to seek out an antidote.
We were attacked by Jardak who died as a result of his foolishness.
We then killed Ramazith.
We delivered a tome to Rinnie before barging into the house of a mage.
We then went to Durlag's Tower
and killed a ghost.
After looting the upper reaches of the tower we decided to investigate werewolf island. to kill the greater werewokf, we lured him downstairs where he was held with a web spell. Going back upstairs we were able to loot the ship and gain the weapons needed to kill him.
We returned Maralees' child to her.
We then returned Dradeel's Spellbook
and killed Loup Garou
We returned to Ulgoth's Beard and finished the werewolves off.
Meanwhile Dynaheir summoned some monsters some distance away from me. The monsters and the weaker party members had strength of one cast on them and we were the entire party was then blessed. the remaining two werewolves were then lured into our trap and the battle was swiftly over.
The summoned monsters didn't do any damage apart from to the one remaining wolfwere. They did however take a lot of hits that would otherwise have been taken by party members.
I took some colateral damage from party spells, but took that in my stride.
My cleric then healed me and we prepared ourselves for any future conflict by sleeping and protecting the mages.
After having so many problems with this battle in previous runs, it was great to discover tactics that made the battle easy.
We returned Maralee's child to her. Asa result she was quite thankful.
We returned Dradeel's Spellbook...
and killed Loup Garou.
We killed the last of the Wolfwere's when we returned to Ulgoth's Beard.
Having dealt with that problem, we rreturned to the Iron Throne where we wiped out all the higher echelons still there.
We then killed Degrodel followed by the Maulers of the Underdark.
We then returned to Candlekeep, none of the enemies causing us any problems.
We then decided to return to Durlag's Tower.
After killing the four warders, we descended lower, killing Dwarven Doom Guards as we did so.
Some wyverns hurt us badly but we recovered.
Likewise we were badly hurt in a cold room.
The chessboard in contrast turned out to be easier than expected as did the Demon Knight.
Going to Ulgoth's Beard Aec Letec proved to be more difficult.
Spells that would once have killed him proved to be almost ineffective.
Dynaheir died and as a result some valuable items disappeared: her ring of wizardry, a belt that protected her from slashing weapons, and some good boots all disappeared.
A bug I believe.
However, we escaped and had Dynaheir raised.
(I did some investigation and returned with a better plan. It was successful)
We returned to Baldur's gate where we killed Slythe and Kirstin
After an easy battle at the Ducal palace we then proceeded to follow Savarok.
Semaj helped us kill Tazok, but badly injured us too. We had to use dozens of healing potions as we were unable to rest. Neera sadly died but Semaj died soon afterwards.
To my intense relief Saverok finally fell.
Onwards to Dragonspear.
We reached the Coast Way Crossing and visited the Coast Way forest where we killed a vampire and were suitably rewarded. After killing a collector of statues, we returned some items to a distraught refugee.
We have activated several menhirs and begun to investiate a cave. Sadly two party members were killed when we ran into some umber hulks.
[Strangely they appear resistant to Cloudkill. They along with Aec Letec and many other monsters used to be Instakilled by Cloudkill. Has Cloudkill been nerfed or have the monsters been changed to be resistant to it?]
Raising the departed NPCs has drained our gold resources.
Aec'Letec has been given both a reasonable number of hit dice (10) in the EE so he's too strong for the instant death, and poison immunity from being a demon so he's immune to all of Cloudkill's effects.
(Added in edit 2)
This immunity bonus was introduced in version 2.5. Before that, most of the monster rings that grant immunity to poison also granted Slay immunity, so you couldn't go around killing skeletons and zombies with Cloudkill. The exception? RINGDEMN, which fiends get. Aec'Letec was only protected from Cloudkill instant death in vanilla BGEE up to 2.3 by his HD count.
Those Umber Hulks finished my solo Wizard slayer last time I arrived at SoD.
Morentherene was brought to near death, (Just after screenshot) but sadly Arabelle was the one that died first.
EDIT
I believe that I could have buffed better and that would probably have been just sufficient to win, but losing to a dragon isn't a disgrace.
If Dorn can be a half-orc blackguard, I reckoned that my half-orc fighter could be a blackguard too.
Edited in EE Keeper to change him from a fighter into a blackguard.
Scenic (female elf sorcerer, Grond0); Drudge (female half-elf druid, Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1148315/#Comment_1148315
The session was cut short a bit by a computer crash, but we still completed most of the encounters in the City. That started by going down invisibly into the sewers to find a rogue ogre mage. He failed to identify where skull traps were coming from in time to save his life. Some of the carrion crawlers did crawl to the attack, but met grisly fates at the hands of a poison wielding druid.
A review of equipment at that stage showed that we were short on bracers of weapon expertise and a cross-check of map locations confirmed we'd not yet been to Firewine Bridge. Faster than you can say "Firewine Bridge" we were there and merrily casting blinds at Meilum. He resisted quite a few of those, but after Drudge doomed him he eventually succumbed.
Back in the City we went to find Lothander in search of another matching pair - this time of boots of speed. Jalantha was blinded and shot down before searching out Lothander in a local inn.
On the way to find Marek Drudge got a few poison stabs in on Larze, but received a whack in return before Larze lost sight of her.
Moving on to Ramazith's Tower, the mage met his doom at the bottom before we started working upwards. Drudge the bear sorted out a pair of mustard jellies and, despite not having a totally safe saving throw, proclaimed she was willing to tank the ghasts on the next floor. Scenic was a bit worried about her getting held, so tried to cut the battle as short as possible by lobbing in a skull trap. Drudge is an old hand at this game by now though and had of course seen that coming - and taken the precaution of gulping a healing potion to top her HPs up.
Scenic was still keen to test her assumption that an enemy mage would not attack a helpless victim in a web if they were improved invisible and Degrodel confirmed that after his guards had been drawn outside one by one for easier disposal.
We were running a bit short on targets by this time, but Drudge suggested Scenic might like to send a friendly greeting to a local basilisk. Scenic considered sending a postcard, or perhaps at bottle of wine - but eventually plumped for an old staple and a few skulls later the greeting was complete.
Sorcerer 9, 54 HPs (incl. 6 from familiar), 233 kills
Druid 10, 80 HPs, 102 kills, 0 deaths
Wyrme took a short break before completing BG:EE again. She again got her thief stronghold in Amn before doing a lot of the other city quests. After clearing out the temple district sewers she headed into Mekrath's lab and freed Haer'Dalis. There were a group of yuan-ti and umber hulks nearby and she managed to defeat all but one after avoiding a few lightning bolts. The final combat seemed to be going OK until another lightning bolt triggered in the small room with two containers (between the circular entrance and where the yuan-ti start). The yuan-ti survived one bounce but not a second while Wyrme survived several more but was unable to move out of the way in such a small area. She desperately fished in her backpack for a potion of absorbtion but there was none. Her choice was between a potion of superior healing (+40hp) or a potion of insulation (50% electrical resistance). She glugged the insulation potion but still died on the next bounce.
(I originally mentioned this death to Grond0 thinking she had been to Spellhold leading to him asking about the Cloak of Reflection, but after checking the save that was the previous attempt and Spellhold had not been visited)
2
After another short break Wyrme set off once more, this time meeting a basilisk ambush at 140k xp. It gazed at her before she reacted, and another desperate fish in her potion case came up empty. So she ran anyway and awaited confirmation that her saving throw vs polymorph of 10 would be inadequate. It was.
3
Another short break saw Wyrme dispose of Sarevok, reaching level 13 with a save vs spell of 3 before an ill thought out foray into the Temple district sewers. Getting poisoned by an otyugh as a sea troll attacked was not insurmountable as Wyrme still outcrawled the oytugh and led the sea troll into a series of snares.
She used an arrow of fire to kill the sea troll but a kobold shaman had arrived and cast hold as Wyrme chose to fight it instead of running or gulping a potion. She was duly held and the rest of the kobolds eventually turned up and made their way through an entanglement spell for a dwarven snack of ignomy.
4
The second ghast in Cloakwood Mine slathered as it snacked away on Wyrme's paralyzed limbs. Wyrme had backstabbed the ghast and opened the entrance to run away, but the entrance opened from where she stood rather than her moving closer to it and this had allowed the ghast to get an attack in. Wyrme had a couple of rounds to not show her frustration with herself as the ghast repeatedly paralyzed her before applying a fatal bite.
After these attempts she decided to take a break of at least a day in case her enthusiasm got the better of her once more.
Scenic (female elf sorcerer, Grond0); Drudge (female half-elf druid, Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1148315/#Comment_1148315
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1149274/#Comment_1149274
An attempt to squeeze in a session this morning proved unfortunately far too successful. Our previous session had been interrupted on the way to the Iron Throne, so we picked up there and had an easy ride - Scenic's 12 blinds were just enough to disable all the casters. Webs, insects and skull traps then made short work of the opposition.
Back at Candlekeep everything seemed to be going smoothly as the first 2 tombs were looted. Scenic nipped round behind the fireball trap on the stairs up to the third tomb - and was surprised when a conflagration erupted behind her. The damage from the trap was unusually high, but still slightly less than her maximum HPs, but she'd already taken a little bit of damage from a previous magic missile trap and couldn't quite handle it.
What was surprising is that there didn't seem to be any movement error and that's not a trap that normally causes any issue when dodging round it. Oh well, that early death meant we still had time to make a start on a new run
Skally (female human mage, Gate70); Rache (male elf cleric/mage, Grond0)
Skally delighted in comparing herself to the local bookworm, but then noticed they weren't entirely similar. Rache shouted across the courtyard that maybe the local teachers had asked for some unique way to identify them. Maybe.
With this nonsense out of the way we duly completed our Candlekeep chores, left the fatally wounded Gorion behind and dumped Imoen in a non-fatal manner. Rache enquired about the fates of Xzar and Montaron, which the evil Skally said was to leave them in a fistfight.
That didn't work out quite as planned since neither were any good at hitting each other so Skally left them out of the party at which point they both turned hostile so Rache killed them.
So Skally decided to find a magical war hammer first. In retrospect this was a bad idea, and that's how it ended with Rache being hammered while held and Skally continuing with her sling to give Bassilus even more of the upper hand in his cleric vs mage contest. Should have just gone to prod the basilisks with a club.
I was quite pleased with the new portrait that I made for Hrack as the lighting is just right. To me it doesn't look as if it has come from two images. [ I prefer portraits to have a believable background ]
When Ralph the Red arrived at Candlekeep he set about trying to convince people to follow Helm. As I was already inclined to do so, he found it easy to convince me, despite his low charisma. Once convinced, I set about talking to others about my new found faith and was quite surprised when Hrack, a blackguard became the next follower of Helm. Unlike me, he chose to follow Helm out of self-interest. Falstaff was the final one to follow Helm. He also did so out of self-interest. All too often thieves get dealt with over-severely if they get caught, whereas the courts tend to be a little more lenient. He was so convinced that he changed his name from Falstaff to Helmstaff.
We did several chores in Candlekeep before leaving with Gorion. Near Candlekeep we were ambushed and unfortunately I and my friends were not up to being much help and Gorion died. The rest of us fled to Candlekeep but were denied entrance.
Loury - male, human undead hunter (Gate70)
Swish - male, dwarf swashbuckler (Grond0)
Corecleric - male, halfling priest of Lathander (Corey_Russell)
Loury & co 'made good progress' today (our first session was just under 30 minutes, second and third each just under 2 hours so 4h30m on the clock to date).
We started the session in a store at Nashkel. Corecleric wanted to deal with Neira in the nearby tavern. He summoned a skeleton and silenced her so Loury and Swish joined in the killing spree.
Then we went to the coast to deal with sirenes. Corecleric summoned enough skeletons for us to use against both sets near the lighthouse and then we entered the cave guarded by flesh golems. Corecleric wanted to know the plan here, and Loury duly told him to melee them while Swish meleed from the shadows and Loury 'bravely' shot arrows of fire. At the end of battle Loury asked about the drinks situation and it transpired that Corecleric had only consumed one potion of healing in addition to our healing spells - so a good result.
Uh those sirenes. Pass, says Loury (remembering an earlier trio where we all died or were charmed to death - details details). Swish didn't seem too convinced but we carried on with other matters. Loury bought the claw of Kazgaroth for Corecleric and used the tome of constitution himself. After taking a second pip in dual-wielding Loury realised he may as well offhand the non-proficient Twinkle scimitar as it was better armour than the large shield he had.
We then picked up gauntlets of weapons expertise from Meilum where Loury worried Corecleric by using a less-common dialogue option to anger him. Loury gave Corecleric the gauntlets, and that led to us travelling south to pick up the bracers of archery. Corecleric realised he could not use them so kept the gauntlets and handed the bracers to Loury.
Then we went to deal with the Revenant, Narcillicus and his two jellies. Loury thought he was doing reasonably well against the Revenant but Corecleric added icing and sprinkles by successfully holding our opponent.
We continued on, through the Cloakwood (Loury taking Aldeth's sword) and down to Davaeorn at the base of that mine. Loury used a potion of magic blocking and Swish risked all successfully to avoid a lightning bolt and shoot arrows in support.
Davaeorn once more boasted of his magical might - say fella are you wittering on about that right after fluffing your spell...
We could head straight to the city now but Loury took another detour for a rare multiplayer zombie hunt. Corecleric asked if Swish could get the +1 cloak while here and that had been Loury's plan as Corecleric had earlier mentioned his ring slots were fully utilised (ring of Sune and claw of Kazgaroth).
Also Corecleric realised his turn undead could pop the odd zombie so Loury stopped slicing zombies and finished off any undead that saved vs pop.
Almost our final act of the session was for Swish to risk confusion against Vay-ya but he either was just out of range or saved as Corecleric used the greenstone amulet to good effect.
Party gear:
(we have swapped bracers around but this will probably be how the armwear stays from this point on)
After the death of Gorion we made our way to the Friendly Arms Inn where we were attacked by Tarnesh. That was foolish. We outnumbered him four to one! Needless to say, he perished.
To the North Sonner and his cohorts also perished. WE returned the bowl to Tenya and killed a nearby ankheg.
We then headed south, helperd Mellicamp, and killed some ogrillon and Flaming Fist who attcked us. Still further south we killed some hobgoblin before ending up in Nashkel.
We chatted to Oubliek and Noober before going south where we killed Greywolf.
On the way from Beregost we had picked up numerous items.
We took the Colquetle amulet to the family, a scroll to a woman, a sword to Perdue.
EDIT
Run came to an end through sheer carelessness.
We had cleared all the area to the west of the Nashkel Road and also the Nashkel Mines and Mutamin's Garden.
We had also just about finished the upper reaches of Durlag's Tower. We went to kill the basilisks and had killed two of them. However, I didn't notice that the potion had run out.
Since he had a dagger in his hand in the photo that I found, I elected to have a proficiency point in daggers.
He should really have been a priest not a mage, but clerics can't use daggers and they wear armour in Baldur's Gate.
I used the oil of speed in the training room which made the killing of the assassins in Candlekeep straightforward and it also provided me with spare daggers.
The excellent roll also meant that I got a +1 dagger almost immediately.
No problem in completing Candlekeep
However I was in great danger even from gibberlings when I tried to rest.
I got to the Friendly Arms Inn where a ring that I found gave me a chance when fighting hobgoblins.
On being told by Sonner that he possessed a magical weapon, I killed him and his cohorts in order to gain possession of it. ?
I then returned Tenya's bowl and upon doing so reached level 2.
In transit, an ambush by bandits made me think that my life was over.
However, somehow I survived.
I then somehow managed to reach Beregost.
South of Beregost a sleep spell enabled me to kill two ogrillon. I was given a ring as a reward for delivering a letter that one of them was carrying.
Killing some minor enemies raised my level to 3.
I had a touch and go battle with some hobgoblins due to the fact that they kept saving against sleep spells, and eventually I decided to flee as I had no more spells. However, I was alert enough to pick up the Colquetle Amulet.
Upon arriving in Nashkel I found some good armour, not something that I can wear.
I returned to Beregost and delivered the Colquetle amulet. I then helped Mellicamp after which I had enough gold to buy a mirror image scroll which thankfully I was able to memorise. To help mellicamp, I had to fight a skeleton who wounded me badly.
I then went to Beregost where I knew that I could rest in peace.
Upon going north I killed some gibberlings but was unable to best an ogre so I fled. After resting I took on some gnolls at High Hedge and was more successful.
Once more I returned to Beregost for R & R.
What I am enjoying about this run is that he isn't strong. A complete contrast to some of my party runs. If he survives, he should become much stronger as the experience isn't being shared with others.
Having a blackguard and mage duo would be much easier, and he may ultimately decide to recruit Dorn. That's for the future though.
Of course his ultimate ambition is to become the god of murder.
I had another attempt at killing an ogre and once more had to flee with my tail between my legs.
However, I was able to recover Perdue's sword and clear the road to Nashkel.
I reunited Albert and Rufie
Moving west I killed Caldo and Krumm by putting Krumm to sleep, killing Caldo, resting and then killing Krumm.
I took @Drienne's cat to her and killed Ingot by putting him to sleep.
At the archaeological site I killed Gallor and then helped Charleston.
I then took Brage to the temple of Helm thus becoming a hero.
In the inn, a chromatic orb blinded Neira who was then rendered helpless.
I killed Greywolf with my wand of ice. Unfortunately this destroyed Varscona.
I then killed the Amazing Oopah and Zordral.
I used the gold that I had thus acquired to buy scrolls and spells after which I possessed 3 gold pieces.
I had been planning a trip to Durlag's to buy the wand of fire there but that will have to wait.
EDIT
I battled through the mines with difficulty and eventually faced Mulahey and defeated him. Unfortunately his hold spell disabled me and I was killed by his kobolds.
A short game, but most enjoyable. If not for that hold, I think that I would have defeated him.
This was my first solo mage in EE.
Journal of Azure
I acquired Joia's ring, returned it to her and after killing Sonner took Tenya's Bowl to her. I then went to Beregost calmed Marl down and took a tome to Firebead.
I then headed for High Hedge to get a scroll of invisibility.
I ran into a skeleton and a blindness spell made its weaponry ineffectual. (It also resupplied me with throwing daggers) Unfortunately, I then ran into another skeleton. I had no blindness spell left so I attacked it melee. At first I was winning the battle, but then it landed a lucky blow and I was forced to flee. It hit me with a throwing knife and I was lucky to survive.
I spent a considerable amount of gold on recovery in Beregost and then after picking up Mellicamp returned to High Hedge where Mellicamp regained his human form.
I bought an invisibility spell which I memorised.
I then went to the FAI wherer I rested, memorising two invisibility spells an armour spell etc.
Outside the ankheg lair I cast an invisibility spell, went to pick up the loot and immediately cast the other invisibility spell.
This enabled me to escape with the loot.
I headed south to kill an ogre which I did with the aid of a blindness spell and throwing daggers, forgetting that I needed to take the body of his son to Farmer Brun. [It's amazing what a difference choosing the most appropriate spells makes]
After killing the ogre, I delivered his son to Farmer brun and gave him 100gp.
I headed south with the intention of reaching Nashkel however I was intercepted by bsndits who hurt me badly. I therefore went to the next area which is where the Colquetle amulet was found. To avoid further injury I cast invisibility before going for the amulet and then proceeded to the Carnival where I rested until I gained the ability to heal.
I then went to Nashkel, turned down a reward from Oublek, talked to Noober and picked up some armour.
After that I returned to Beregost and delivered the armour becoming a hero in the process.
Upon killing three gnolls at High Hedge I found Perdue's sword.
I decided that perhaps it would be good to help Prism. Upon doing so I was attacked by Greywolf. Knowing that he was a far better melee fighter than I, I led him to the mines where the guards there whittled down his health. Once he was badly injured I used my wand of frost on him. By then he was near death so I used two magic missiles thinking that he would fall. He was tougher than I thought so I used other spells. He saved every time I used a sleep spell and also against my first blindness spell. However my second blindness spell worked so I threw throwing daggers at him until he fell.
I then travelled east where I picked up a ring of fire protection before takiong Samuel to the FAI.
Once there I fought Tarnesh and prevailed. Just as a horror spell sped towards me I sped through a door to safety. He and I then exchanged lightning bolts at each other. He fell first.
Upon returning to Beregost I returned Perdue's sword using invisibility to avoid combat with Karlat.
EDIT
I accedded to the request of a bard to help his mistress, but upon discovering that she wanted me to commit murder I changed my mind much to her fury. She attacked me with a lightning bolt. However due to buffings I survived. The same could not be said for two of those that she wanted me to murder.
I countered with my wand of frost which was not enough to kill her. We then traded magic missiles at which she retreated. I healed myself and then followed. She then cast her final lightning bolt which injured me, and killed the final man that she wanted me to kill as well as a passer-by.
I had cast strength on myself so I thought that I would be the stronger in melee. When I discovered that was not the case I used my reserve scroll of magic missile as I did not want to destroy her possessions using my wand of frost.
At last she fell. I then went to pick up the 3 potions of defence that those she wanted killing were carrying together with several jewels.
To deal with Zargal, I blasted him with my wand of frost and then killed his cohorts with my wand of fire. That blast was supposed to kill him too, but he panicked and ran out of the area affected. I therefore killed him with a magic missile.
I then reunited Albert and his dog before killing Caldo and Krumm.
I reunited 'Drienne with her cat and killed Ingot before heading for the archaeological site.
I helped both Charleston Nib and Brage with the result that I reached level 5 with a reputation of 20.
Upon meeting up with Xzar and Montaron I took them to an inn in Bergost before heading to Ulgoth's Beard.
I don't know how he managed it, but Montaron turned up with a cloak, a powerful war hammer, some potions and some scrolls that he didn't have to pay for. After promising Therella that we would look for her son, I left Xzar with her to keep her company whilst I went with Montaron to Nashkel where I left him.
After arriving at the Lighthouse area I used a web/wand of fire combination to kill the first three sirine. However, it took more charges than I thought to kill them, so the second group will have to wait. I spoke to Safana hoping to enlist her. I was surprised to find that she is not only sexy but also sexist. Only a man will do apparently. [Whenever I have enlisted her in the past I was playing a man]
I need gold to recharge my wand of fire so it looks like I am going to have to take on the ankheg lair, like it or not.
I thought that Dorn might be the man for safana, but after he joined we got intercepted by a ghast! I got held!
The end
Yeldan II micro-update:
Yeldan II and gang are getting near the end. Only final fight with Abazigal, Balthsazar, Pocket Plane challenges #4 & #5 and Melissan left! Run going well other than the chunking of Imoen - replaced her with Sarevok! Will keep at it (party consists of two berserkers, two inquisitors and myself (fighter)).
Traveling with:
Joshua - dwarven berserker
Forrest - dwarven berserker
April - human inquisitor
Sarah - human inquisitor
Sarevok - human fighter
(Imoen - human thief/mage - CHUNKED by draconis)
I am pleased to report I kept my focus and Yeldan II has become a god.
Now I need to try to do it with the NPCs - clearly with MP parties, I think I got it. I also need to get a sqishy character through, like maybe a thief or bard. Will start a new one in Candlekeep...
Thoughts about this run:
Berserkers and inquisitors were extremely useful against enemy casters, and did massive damage to melee enemies as well. They did gulp loads of potions and lots of RoR heals too, but they succeeded all the same. I'll need to try another run without so many uber characters...I also had 3 characters with grandmastery in weapons, this no doubt was part of the strength of this party...