I too am glad to see everyone at it, and I hope you're all doing well. Most of my play-throughs are still no reloads. Just started one today, in fact - another undead hunter run. As you can see, I'm off to a rather troubling start, breaking my two-hander on Shank. Still, it's better than breaking your two-hander on a rat in Reevor's storehouse, which I have done, so maybe this is a positive thing, looked at in a certain light...
Because of the danger of that, I have learned from bitter experience to only use staves against the rats. It appears that weapons are more likely to break there than anywhere else.
Because of the danger of that, I have learned from bitter experience to only use staves against the rats. It appears that weapons are more likely to break there than anywhere else.
I have done this in the past as well, but in this run I'm trying to RP to some degree, so my character couldn't know about the iron crisis yet. Also: I currently have Neera in my group. I find myself flirting with danger more and more lately. That said, I've turned the difficulty down a bit to compensate for this style of play.
A year ago I did a one-day challenge with a berserker as a birthday present to myself. I was flirting with trying that again this year with a barbarian, but I'm not going to have a full day available to myself this time. However, I should have more than enough time to squeeze in a run during the upcoming long weekend (Monday being a public holiday in the UK), so I'll try and use that to good effect.
Here's my starting character - which has already had 3 failed attempts in my long-life challenge.
The starting proficiencies may look slightly dubious to fresh eyes. In v2.6 Drizzt's scimitars are no longer easy to get early on in a run, though it won't be hard at higher levels. I don't remember why I chose darts when the character was created 18 months or so ago - I imagine I just wanted something different after having got tired of the more typical choices at that time. Still, there's plenty of XP available early on so progress should be pretty quick anyway, so long as I remember to pray for Rillifane to give me victory and death (just like your typical Suldanessellar elf, I always struggle to leave the second bit out ).
It's now coming up to 2 am on Saturday - must be time to make a start ...
Well, it's been a pretty poor show so far. The first attempt failed early on when natural lightning killed me in Beregost after fighting spiders. That might have been excusable, but a second one was definitely feeble when I forgot that barbarian rage does not fully protect against sirines ...
Thanks @Aerakar - it's actually on Monday (I was just planning ahead).
The gnoll trick is indeed no more.
I haven't been using my time too well today, with a 3rd death just occurring. At the Palace I was conscious that I hadn't got Bhaal horror (I normally manipulate reputation to get at least 1 of those with non-arcane characters) and decided to use a potion of firebreath to speed up dealing with the dopplegangers. I thought I'd tried that before in v2.6 and found Belt didn't go hostile even when the guards did. I did note that the guards went hostile significantly before he did this time, so I thought I would get away with it again when the last of the dopplegangers fell. Shortly after that though Belt saw red (perhaps last time I managed to speak to him before that happened) and Winski was called on to do his thing ...
I’m still enjoying my random run with mods. The CN Fall has just dealt with the bandit camp, and is presently poking around a (mod upgraded) Durlag’s Tower with varying success.
After breakfast I set out once again and got a pretty good start with 30 HPs for killing Shoal.
In Beregost I talked down Marl, before slaughtering Algernon for his cloak. That was used to charm Silke and kill Neera for her gem bag.
Silke also helped kill Karlat and some spiders before being pensioned off to give me another level (+13 HPs). Firebead provided a scroll case.
I darted an ogre for its belt and picked up a ring of protection on the way to the FAI. Tarnesh lost out to rage there, though as in the last run his horror appeared to panic me - looks like a new bug there.
I picked up the pantaloons early to avoid forgetting them later.
Heading for Ulgoth's Beard, some fishermen died and I returned Tenya's bowl. On arrival Dushai had a little accident when she ran onto the pointy end of a dart (alright several of them) .
I bought some +1 darts to kill the golems at High Hedge before completing my collection of BGEE bags.
More quick XP following Korax round the basilisk area provided another 2 levels (+24 HPs). Mutamin was also quickly paralyzed, but Korax didn't last long against Kirian's mob. However, his parting shot paralyzed her and allowed me to finish her off - the others were then pretty much doomed.
While in this region, I headed on to the Red Wizard area and used up the couple of fiery potions taken from the encounter with Kirian to soften them up before finishing off with darts.
A visit to Nashkel got me LMD and a few potions at the Carnival thanks to raging to bust the locks on the potion seller's containers.
On to Firewine where Bentan and Poe were charmed and lost out to Meilum before he was machine-gunned down with darts.
On the way to Durlag's Tower a basilisk tried an ambush. I chose not to immediately take an invisibility potion and it initially tried to engage in melee - missing its chance to gaze at me.
I don't normally use consumable magic items a lot, but treated myself to an easy time against some battle horrors at Durlag's Tower using Necklace of Missiles and Ring of Energy. That provided a 7th level and an extra dollop of APR (and 15 more HPs). The PfP scroll from the Carnival dealt with more basilisks and I was able to grab the +2 scimitar from the roof to improve melee abilities further. Riggilo got a new hairstyle before he was cut down and I used the rage from that fight to collect the tome.
Back at the Lighthouse I took on the sirines once more, but this time the potion of clarity allowed me to melee them safely. The golems were shot with Baerin's +1 arrows.
While doing a few reputation quests, I cleared the ankheg nest at the cost of a single minor hit on me. One more of those creatures, in order to be able to get that crucial 75gp from Gerde, was sufficient for my last BGEE level and 13 more HPs to make a total of 118 to date.
At the Nashkel Mine I shot down Greywolf to push reputation to 10 before going to find Mulahey. Rather than run him round, I allowed him to summon some help - though they didn't help him much. Resting gave me Bhaal CLW.
Outside the mine, rage lasted long enough to defeat all the amazons' spells. Nimbul managed to put up some mirror images, but failed to fool me about which one to attack.
In Beregost I got caught stealing to reduce reputation back to 9. Tranzig managed to do a bit of damage to me before falling and providing me with my final BGEE level - a healthy 16 HPs taking me to 116.
At the bandit camp the basic bandits didn't cause much of a problem. Taurgosz could hit me pretty easily - but the reverse was also true .
Inside the tent, Venkt had no time to buff before being struck down. The others did little better and I took Hakt's bow as an alternative missile weapon.
In the Cloakwood I had no need for Spider's Bane and just ran past everything to get to the mine. On arrival, horror was used to split the enemies up for easy disposal. Downstairs, 3 charges from the Necklace kill the battle horrors and Davaeorn was then shot down while the charmed guard provided a distraction.
In the City the dexterity tome was the first target. Jardak was beaten up so I could use his helm to get charisma to 20, but with reputation still down I didn't buy anything then. I shot Shandalar's daughters to get a necklace of missiles and helped find a missing boy to get my third one of those (I don't normally bother with the fourth one on sale in the City). The poison quest yielded another tome on the way to find Marek (I tried, but failed to tag Lothander with a dart of stunning, but the 4 I had left stopped Larze in his tracks).
At that point I went back out into the wilderness and zipped through the Cloud Peaks to get the charisma tome. While travelling I also picked up a ring of fire resistance and the last girdle before going to find Drizzt. A couple of mind focusing potions along with heroism allowed me to hit him with a 13 using piercing arrows and 40 odd of those was enough to put the drow down.
I normally prefer saving throws to AC, so sold the armor even though that allows the best unbuffed physical defences for a barbarian.
I finished off some reputation quests before returning to the City, where sorting out the Seven Suns pushed reputation to 20 and I did some shopping. Ramazith was poisoned to provide access to the final tome. The Cloak of Balduran was next and I took a bit of damage chewing through Degrodel's guards - though had plenty left to attack and poison him.
Still lacking my desired swords, I left the City and went to the Lake area to find Drizzt. Rage protected against his charms, while 36 arrows of piercing did the damage.
His armor provides the best basic AC for a barbarian, but I normally prefer saving throws to AC and just sold that. Temple donations and a bit more questing restored my reputation. Using the stairs then allowed me to deal with the Iron Throne crew one at a time, though Zhalimar had a pretty good go at me.
Back at Candlekeep, there was no need for potions to open the tombs. I took a fair amount of lightning damage from the traps, but with HPs boosted to 139 by DUHM/rage I kept a safe margin. Phase spiders are now a bit more dangerous with their instant teleportation, but they were just blasted from out of sight. After having done so much unnecessary work in the run so far, I decided to give Prat a chance by seeing if I could run past him without him seeing. That works the majority of the time - and did so this time.
Once more in the City I bought a bit more magic ammunition before seeking out Slythe - I wasn't bothered about Krystin, so he found it was third time unlucky when saving against stunning darts.
At the palace I used horror, but all the dopplegangers saved. That would have left me in trouble if they had all attacked the dukes, but two of them went after me and both Belt and Liia survived (though Belt was near death).
I took a bit of trap damage going through the maze, but nothing too serious. The Undercity party were killed with fireballs to preserve Rahvin's exploding arrows.
Inside the temple lightning traps killed Sarevok's companions - gaining me more exploding arrows.
Sarevok was dispelled by arrow, run around for a bit and then suffered the fitting fate of death by LMD.
That was not far short of 4 hours for BGEE. That's very slow for a timed run, but a lot of work was done to make sure nothing is lacking for SoD and I should therefore be able to zip through that. I transferred to SoD with nearly 400k XP and got 10 HPs for the immediate level there.
Barbarian 9, 130 HPs (incl. 5 from helm), 300 kills
Our regular two hour slot continues, with hours 4-6 seeing one Studded Leathers death among other events. Lightfinger tried to remember to take screenshots at opportune moments but some will have eluded him.
We started off at the bandit camp, making short work of the defenders outside but at some expense to our health.
The bandit leaders reacted after Corethief had laid two of his planned three snares. We fought them inside and outside their tent and then looted everywhere before departing for Cloakwood.
Lightfinger planned to deal with some traps in a spider + ettercap area, but managed to get himself spotted. A bit of divide and conquer saw us get the upper hand but not before Surely was poisoned. Lightfinger tried to close the gap but it wasn't looking promising, but then Surely managed a surprising cure himself which is quite the achievement in multiplayer.
He promptly got poisoned a second time but Lightfinger was at hand to apply a slow poison.
By this time we were part way through Cloakwood but rather than press on and run into Eldoth we took a brief detour to Durlag's Tower. Corethief asked what the plan was to deal with the basilisks and Lightfinger let him into the secret that Surely would work something out (not mentioning that he'd given four potions of mirrored eyes to the half-orc). With this tactical advantage we made sure to backstab, bludgeon and poison the basilisks into submission although they gave a good account for themselves against Surely when switching into melee.
Back to Eldoth - although the temptation to feed him to a cave bear did not come to fruition we had a bit of fun as Lightfinger hid from it and Surely looked to be next on it's list. Suitably timed lightning meant that didn't happen though.
Surely then fluffed up a conversation with a local and lost the battle to call more lightning. He seemed determined to fight until Corethief shouted that killing the druid would be harmful to our reputation. So we withdrew.
On finding Drasus guarding Cloakwood Mine we fought them fairly, with a writhing fog and with lightning demolishing Kysus before events fully kicked off. Surely took fright at one stage, while Lightfinger used hide in plain sight to lose Drasus. This left Rezdan and Genthore as easy victims and we then ganged up on Drasus once Surely got his confidence back.
We marched our way through Cloakwood Mine, meleeing and backstabbing merrily away until reaching Davaeorn's final guard. He took a couple of doses of poison among other wounds and Lightfinger was able to spot four of five traps to deal with them. The fifth triggered but Lightfinger evaded the effects.
Corethief fancied five rounds of hurly burly with Davaeorn so glugged a suitable potion to block low level spells and set about the mage. Lightfinger and Surely held back briefly then joined in.
With Davaeorn dead it was left to Lightfinger to loot the area while his companions bashed a mustard jelly. He only has a dagger so can't join in despite Corethief encouraging him to do so. No can do sir.
After flooding Cloakwood mine to hide the evidence we travelled into Baldur's Gate and started to make our way around the city. Lightfinger asked Surely if he was up to fighting an ogre mage. The answer came back in the affirmative and Lightfinger sprang into action.
What Lightfinger should have asked was could Surely rustle up a miracle when Lightfinger got himself held by a carrion crawler. Surely almost managed it, but a sling and bullets while being meleed by more carrion crawlers meant he too was held.
Lightfinger tried to glance at Corethief, who was out of special snares and was busy attacking the one dangerous carrion crawler. It looked promising.
Then the other carrion crawlers killed Surely and advanced. Lightfinger somehow paused matters and suggested Corethief could reposition to make himself bait. What a palaver (and an outrage but let's not go there).
Corethief duly obliged, killed the first carrion crawler attacking Lightfinger and drew the othes back into the writhing fog away from Lightfinger. He ran north and hid, as Lightfinger found himself able to move again.
We dragged Surely all the way around the city to find a suitable temple (Corethief suggesting Lightfinger was making hard work of such a simple location task, and yes there was truth in this suggestion). Anyway, Lightfinger eventually reaches a temple and gets Surely raised again. We return to the sewers and finish off the ogre mage and his remaining pets.
A bit further on we encounter the brawlers of Undermountain. It turns out that they are ill-equipped to deal with snares and spirit bears which stun their leader.
Our time is almost up but we make sure to kill Lothander after collecting his partial antidote, spirit summons doing a good job of blocking and fitting in a couple of thief attacks before resorting to a potion of firebreath. Lightfinger is happy to keep his stealthy boots as he can hide at will so it makes sense for his two companions to each have boots of speed.
We just have to remember to deal with Marek before we do too much next time.
Party equipment and loot:
Postscript:
In some respects this has been a bit of a scrappy session, none of us being keen to melee tougher enemies and Surely taking the brunt of effort in this regard. Lightfinger is missing a natural tank to stand in front of him and intends to spend the next week at the Blade and Star inn haranguing local drunkards patrons to see if a suitable candidate can be found, or if Surely will be press-ganged into the role once more.
In contrast with BGEE I aimed to treat SoD more like a speed run and zip through there with minimal fighting. That meant:
- using PfU and invisibility to move quickly through the dungeon to find Korlasz. A dispelling arrow set her up for a fatal firebreath potion.
- other than buying a few things (having carried through about 70k gold in my containers) I just picked up the Spectacles of Spectacle and the Battle Tankard in Baldur's Gate.
- not visiting the Coast Way Forest.
- used invisibility to avoid any fighting at the Coast Way Crossing bridge.
- ran through the Troll Claw Woods.
- used invisibility to get into the temple at the Forest of Wyrms. There I fireballed Ziatar from out of sight.
Then buffed up to beat up the Neothelid.
Finally I used firebreath to kill an invisible Akanna.
- on the way out of the temple a dagger to the heart of a dragon got me to the XP cap and another level.
- more firebreath killed Vichand at Boareskyre Bridge to let me get his scroll.
- I used the dragon scale to make a shield, though there is an argument for the armor. After killing a wraith I also acquired some arrows of darkness before surrendering the fort. A dispelling arrow followed by an acid one disrupted the mage on the bridge and firebreath once more showed that invisibility is not much of a defense.
- at the Coalition Camp I picked up the Bwoosh and poison as well as buying a few things from Nazramu.
- ran invisibly through Dead Man's Pass and went to Dragonspear to rescue Skie.
- at the Underground river, I raged through some myconids and used free action while shooting a gargantuan spider.
The cyclops was stunned and cut down before I ran invisibly through to the underground entrance. I placed the Bwoosh and blagged my way into the warrens. The poison was placed invisibly before I showed myself to reopen the lift and went invisible again to run away.
- back at the Coalition Camp, the first invasion force melted away in some fiery breath.
The mages didn't enjoy exploding arrows and the clerics were not much more durable.
The last wave lasted a bit longer, but ultimately went the same way.
- at Dragonspear I went straight to find Ashatiel and once more a single dart effectively ended the single combat with him.
Rage let me run straight through the first area. In the next, detonating arrows are less effective against fire resistant creatures - but still pretty effective. I won a wager with Thrix, though the sword gained is no actual use to me.
- buffs meant enemies failed to land any blows on the Hellevator.
- I could hit Belhifet reasonably easily, so it didn't take too long to finish him off.
The total game time for SoD was about 1 hour 40 minutes. That includes a large number of mandatory cut-scenes, so the real time spent playing it was somewhat shorter than that.
I won't get around to playing SoA until tomorrow. That's the longest of the games, so I'll need to work hard to maintain concentration there.
I started out in SoA, but a couple of hours into that got caught out by a threat I don't think I've died to before (not recently anyway):
- cleared Jon's dungeon. High HPs, regular rests and rage immunities meant standard potential trouble spots like the mephit group in the elemental plane were no trouble and I managed to finish Ulvaryl off before she could flap away.
- a few minutes at the circus were enough to gain a level.
- after over-seeing a change of management at the Copper Coronet, I cleaned up below. Captain Haegan's group were drawn back into the sewers so I could fight them a few at a time. Inside, the wizards and their guards did plenty of damage - but I had the HPs to manage that safely. I splashed out on Azuredge after collecting my reward.
- Suna Seni tried his luck on the way to Watcher's Keep, but an immediate poison arrow to deal with the mage made that fight easy.
- at the Keep, rage allowed me to deal with wraiths and shadow fiends easily, but my poor AC meant I needed to keep a close eye on strength drain from the shadows. There were no vampiric wraiths in the main hall, so making it easy to clear initially - getting another level there (putting a second point into dual wielding to improve offensive capability). A further offensive boost came from swapping my mundane scimitar for a +4 one, while picking off the statues one at a time. I wanted another level before leaving (so my saving throw would be good enough against the FoD trap guarding the quiver of +1 arrows). A slight problem was I only had a single acid arrow to deal with the desert trolls, but there were more of those in one of the containers there. That provided access to the guardian of air and I was thinking killing it would get me a level - only to realize after doing that I'd already got there just from a bonus for discovering it.
- having achieved my objective I should have just left, but decided to kill the snake as well. I nearly always do that using ranged attacks due to concerns about being stunned. With rage available though I decided to melee it and, with it down to 8 HPs, there seemed no threat even though my HPs were down at 50 odd. What I hadn't realized was that it appears to have a significant penalty to its poison attack and my saving throw of -2 was not good enough. With rapid ticks of 5 HPs each that was a major problem as I don't permit the use of antidotes, so the 23 bottles of those in my inventory were no good to me. I did have a Bhaal slow poison available and time to get just enough distance from the snake to cast it. However, my experience is that slow poison doesn't normally cast quickly enough to work on any poison nasty enough to be a real threat - and that proved to be the case here .
Actually, that's no-save poison on the snake. A 40% chance, dealing 5 damage per second for six seconds. A (superior or extra) healing potion would actually be a better bet than either Slow Poison or an antidote, unless the snake gets lucky and poisons you twice in one round.
Incidentally, the snake is weak to piercing damage (20% piercing resistance, versus 50% slashing and missile, 70% crushing). Usuno's blade may be +4, but it deals slashing damage; you'll only do really good damage with it if you get lucky with the electric chance.
I wondered if the poison would be quite short-lived. Funnily enough, I did look just prior to travelling to Watcher's Keep at the heroism potions on sale in the Copper Coronet (on very rare occasions I use those and potions of power for emergency healing) - but decided they were still a touch too expensive to bother with.
We entered Baldur's Gate at the start of the session and Conk headed straight for Sorcerous Sundries. That was less to review their stock of scrolls and more to check out the magical competition upstairs. Conk wanted to see the whites of at least one opponent's eyes before unleashing his skull traps, so he took a bit of damage from a scorcher in retaliation.
The ogre mage and crawlers that nearly ended our Trio run yesterday were nearby. We took the precaution of sneaking down past them to get into position and the mage failed to get a spell off this time.
Finding our way round the City while vaguely pursuing the poison quest, we took a detour on board ship to find Vay-ya and Desreta. The latter was blinded, but had apparently already fixed Conk's position in mind before that and Conk didn't realize the danger until having taken a hefty blow.
Another encounter at that time that didn't go entirely according to plan was against Ramazith. Conk had sent in a skull trap which left the mage near death and Wark expected his sling shot to finish her off - but rolled a critical miss. He was late reacting to the need to cast something as well and Ramazith got a lightning bolt off - we were lucky there that didn't bounce as it could have wiped out everyone.
We eventually got around to completing the poison quest, with Lothander successfully being trapped by summons - Conk donning his boots and trying a quick burst of ¡Arriba, arriba! ¡Ándale, ándale!
Marek then failed to get a spell off.
The next target was Degrodel on the way to get the Cloak of Balduran. Some of his guards were pulled outside into summons and the remainder inside didn't have much success hitting Wark. After a conversation with Degrodel Wark sent in a silence - Conk arriving just in time to be caught by that as well.
At the Iron Throne we snuck past our expected opponents before looking at each other and wondering what to do next. Conk contributed a blind for one of the clerics and Wark silenced most of the party before skeletons and spiders followed closely behind a skull trap. Our summons lasted long enough to prevent anyone attacking us directly until only Zhalimar was left, still silent and behind a column. Wark suggested that perhaps he should buff up and attack, but it appeared that Conk still had another skull trap in reserve .
The Seven Suns provided the expected level of resistance (puny) and we reported for duty in Candlekeep. Wark took the precaution of protecting both of us against lightning, which meant that the instant teleporting phase spiders were the main threat. They spotted Conk's attempt to get into skull trap range and we had to do a bit of quick movement to keep out of their way - Wark's commands being helpful there to lock them in place. Wark also protected himself against lightning before tackling Prat's gang. That proved a wise precaution as Prat's first bolt killed 2 of his companions and badly injured himself - but only tickled Wark as it passed.
One near death skeleton survived that combat and Wark couldn't resist hiding behind that while attacking the basilisks - ignoring the possibility that one of those might switch to melee. Conk is more of a belt and braces guy and lined up blindness to mitigate that risk.
Back in Baldur's Gate, Prat failed to make much impression on Wark's defenses. We had allowed him to talk in order to coax Krystin out of hiding and she was keen to commit suicide by cloudkill - but her attempt to cast that was interrupted by a skeleton.
At the palace 3 skeletons and a couple of spiders provided supplementary troops. A bit of clerical buffing and mage haste made them pretty formidable and the dopplegangers didn't last long. We went through the maze without trouble, though Conk did complain mildly about the way Wark had run through 4 traps near a pair of skeleton warriors and only actually triggered one of them. We beat up the Undercity party, though Wark did get too close there when trying to use Holy Smite and had to suck up an arrow of detonation.
At the temple Wark dragged Sarevok out enough to take Angelo and Tazok out of the equation, but not far enough for him to support Semaj when he teleported out into some skeletons. When Semaj fell Wark encouraged Sarevok to run forward - right into a mixture of web and stinking fog that had appeared from nowhere. When Conk contributed a greater malison, it seemed likely Sarevok would quickly get stuck, but he refused to do so. Still, while he was beating up skeletons, Wark's physical attacks and Conk's spells were taking a heavy toll. He did get the odd attack in on Wark though when he was nipping forward for the attack and Wark checked his HPs carefully when Sarevok looked about ready for a killing shot. He was down to 36 HPs, which seemed to guarantee he could take another hit and he raced into action for the final time, ignoring Conk's muttered complaints from behind. Things actually went according to plan though. Sarevok did get another hit in, but took a hit himself - and didn't have the HPs to survive that.
Well, everyone knows that if you want a job doing, then do it yourself. I wonder what job Wark wanted doing here ...
The SoD starting dungeon proved no trouble, with PfU taking us through the undead and Korlasz silenced, blinded by a holy smite and quickly finished off.
Baldur's Gate saw little activity, with just a quick fight at Sorcerous Sundries before picking up the Spectacles. On leaving Wark asked Conk if he wanted better headgear and proceeded to demonstrate where that could be found by surgically removing Viconia's head. Despite selling some of her gear we didn't have enough to buy the bag of holding, so Wark pointed out that Dynaheir and Minsc appeared to be heavily laden with gear and asked Conk if he wanted some of that. He refused though, enquiring somewhat acidly "just what alignment are you anyway?".
The Coast Way Forest saw us helping a vampire out in order to acquire some regenerative headgear for Conk - just the thing if he strays too close to a holy smite.
On the way back we found the orc and troll ambush area - that gave Conk a good excuse to do some friendly fire area damage of his own.
There wasn't much action in the Coast Way Crossing - just shooting down Teleria from a distance before proceeding invisibly to the bridge to avoid conflict there.
After skipping through the Troll Claw Woods we moved on to the Forest of Wyrms and sought out a dragon's lair. Fortunately it appeared to be slow to recover from a heavy night and ignored the first 9 daggers from Conk clinking off its scales, before the 10th one found a tender spot.
Wark took heavy damage from a group of bugbears and had to retreat, but a bit of running around later we were able to move on to the temple proper. A few groups of guards were eliminated there before tackling Ziatar. The half-dragon succumbed to silence, but the sheer power of its presence was still enough to send Conk running in terror - but not enough to save it.
Wark buffed up to stay safe against the Neothelid - and added an oil of speed when that surfaced in order to beat it up more quickly.
Those buffs helped smack down Akanna and a pair of aerial servants as well.
At that point I normally leave when playing solo, but we pushed on with a view to ensuring we closed down any illicit illithid activity in the neighborhood. We knew there was a charm trap on the way and Conk stopped just before that - but Wark barrelled on through, which proved to be a grave error. I reacted immediately by pausing as Wark was charmed, but the hasted warrior had already sent an instant sling shot flying - taking Conk from a healthy 50 HPs to clinging onto his last HP for grim death.
He only needed to take a few steps round the corner to get out of the line of fire, but that oil of speed meant another shot was on the way before he could manage that (meaning there was no-one left alive in the party still in control of their senses) ...
We sent to the cave at the lighthouse area and killed the sirines and flesh golems. Having an inquisitor and a Paladin and good armour for them made the battles quite easy.
When Shoal attacked Safana, she didn't raise her again. So the helmet came more expensive than usual. We went to raise her so the sirines there are still alive.
We then went ankheg hunting in order to upgrade equipment. (Shadow armour and the like) before proceeding to Durlag's Tower. We cleared the upper reaches and went down far enough to acquire some wine which we stashed in a barrel.
We then slept for nearly three days before proceeding.
Upon going to the gnoll stronghold, we killed the gnolls, looted a cave and released Dynaheir who joined us. We went to the carnival where she spent a lot of time identifying our possessions.
EDIT
We then cleared the mines of kobolds ending up with killing Mulahey and recruiting Xan.
Leaving the mines, we killed the Amazons before looting the caves.
The wonderful thing about trio's (thought Lightfinger) is trio's are wonderful things.
Especially when four of you turn up.
Lightfinger wastes no time in assigning our newest recruit some XP to balance with the party.
For our adventure today the party will consist of:
There is a bit of a scramble / rejigging of equipment, finding Wewa some full plate armour and the Ashideena warhammer at Beregost Smithy and a +1 axe at Feldeposts Inn.
Once our latest and greatest recruit is geared up we make a beeline for Marek in search of an antidote. Then we work our way around the city picking up quests, equipment and things to sell as we go.
Jardak the butler and his master gift us with a helm of glory.
Ramazith finds his tower is of no protection for us, Lightfinger pointedly remarking that he used the mages staff on the pair of mustard jellies (not that he need bother with three better fighters in his party).
Surely uses a potion of mirrored eyes to gaze at a basilisk, Desreta and Vay-ya donate their equipment to our cause,
Degrodel is searching for his guardians, and as Lightfinger checks for a last invisible stalker (there is none) he realises the mage has suffered an untimely fate.
A quick stop at Ulgoth's Beard provides us with a cloak (Wewa), ring (Corethief) and amulet (Corethief). A short while later we are back in town and investigating the Iron Throne HQ. One of the mercenaries there is charmed by Surely but a slight multiplayer oversight sees Surely move into view as Grond0 tried to move the charmee. In Multiplayer only the host can do this and once we realised the error Lightfinger handed Wewa a Protection from Magic scroll so she could focus the enemy attention. A good recovery.
Duke Eltan wants us to return to Candlekeep and who are we to say no. Our journey is uneventful but on arrival we notice a doppelganger and despatch it before being falsely imprisoned. We make a quick escape and Lightfinger fluffs up a trap but Wewa already has a ring of free action and cleans up the situation without it becoming a problem.
A later group of spiders poison Surely but Lightfinger is nearby and able to slow the poison.
Our return to Baldur's Gate sees us facing a group of greater doppelganger assassins at the coronation. Lightfinger is so intent on spotting which enemy his arrows have dispelled that he overlooks the one tearing him into shreds. Just as Surely shouts a warning Lightfinger realises the danger also. Run boy run.
With both dukes saved we lick our wounds (Corethief comments that everyone except him is badly wounded and Lightfinger jokes that he is not a team-player). We rest before doing the Thieves Maze (Lightfinger triggering a lightning trap there too but getting away with it). He also remarks that he would help out fighting the jellies but he has once again thrown away a perfectly unenchanted quarterstaff and only has a pointy dagger of no use against them. The party are wise to his lack of planning and kill the jellies oozes and slimes on their own.
Rahvin and his undercity party put up a good fight with a couple of detonating arrows making us wary. Lightfinger hides in a corner and returns to reply with his own detonating arrows, while the rest of the party cut down the archers.
Corethief points out he most certainly was a team player here, look at the wounds!
We take a brief rest as Wewa kills four skeleton warriors under a protection from undead scroll.
We have about three minutes left, Lightfinger suggests we call it a day but the party want to see off Sarevok today. Fair enough, we'll start with Semaj - Lightfinger using dispelling arrows only to stop his mischief and leave him vulnerable to weapons.
Sarevok is dispelled by Corethief but roars that only the strongest shall prevail - what he meant is that only the insects will prevail on the fallen body of the strong. Lightfinger had played a little cautious here, throwing a potion of invisibility to Wewa after Sarevok demonstrated his swordsmanship rather too close to the mark.
The killboard is barely worth mentioning, thinks Lightfinger. What with 87 kills to his name, 168 to Corethief, 180 to Surely and a rapidly opening 41 kills for Wewa in the one session. Nobody needs to know who the party passenger is (it's Lightfinger).
On completion of BG:EE our party are three minutes over our allotted two hours but this means the import to SoA can take place out of game and our next session won't need to involve that bit. I took the liberty of setting Imoen Jaheira and Minsc free, releasing the party from their cells, turning off Lightfinger's AI, and equipping us from the first two containers. The golden pantaloons have also been retrieved.
This clericy duo started their issuance of last rites today. With precious few recipients within the walls of Candlekeep they soon ventured out to blind Shoal the Nereid (3rd attempt, after 2 rests). Wun scooped a level or two from this, while Oswig lamented his lack of progression thanks to the 3 way split for triple class.
Clearing the gnolls from around High Hedge failed to see any further levels immediately.
Wun found time to get a bit more levelling in by the time we hit Beregost and Neera. Silke saved against a blind on the way so she lives to fight another day for a few minutes.
Wun passed a Protection from Petrification scroll (loot) to Oswig, showing his situational observation skills by suggesting the mage already chose such a spell at character generation. He's a real Sherlock in this regard, being correct.
Oswig had already decided to head to the basilisks where he finally took his 2 / 2 / 2 levels.
Wun was wielding his Stupifier +1. We had commented on the limited chance to stun with a subsequent single round immobilisation and the chance to save in addition to the earlier limitation. Despite this, Wun stunned two basilisks (first one in previous screenshot and second below).
Amazing thought Oswig. Then he managed to Command Mutamin - a rare event.
With the basilisks, Mutamin and Kirian's gang cleared we considered heading to the coast in search of sirines but a brief detour to pick up the Ashideena warhammer beckoned. It was an easy pick-up for us and we briefly checked out it's combat abilities against a trio of hobgoblins.
All seemed in order, but Oswig felt his backpack was becoming burdensome, so we headed back to town where we could sell surplus equipment. Silke failed to save against a blind on the way.
Finally we hit the sirines. The first group have their lures avoided by skeletons, while the second group force Wun to use our potion of clarity. The ignomy.
Inside the cave of Black Alaric the Stupifier helps enormously, stunning a flesh golem. Who'd have thought it. & the final golem is overwhelmed by our use of buffs.
Oswig reckoned we should head to Durlag's Tower, and he heard no objection from Wun. The battle horrors proved hard to hit but only the final guardian outside proved able to hurt Wun and when push came to shove we shoved hardest and it succumbed.
The basilisks on the roof were easily dealt with as was the stubborn trap on the way there and back. We suspect this trap has been patch-nerfed as our saving throws looked somewhat excessive.
Still, we shan't dwell too much on that - instead we will seek out the Doomsayer and make certain his name is fitting by application of a Doom.
Oswig moved onto autopilot at about this time and headed into Nashkel Mine. He declared that he would use Mirror Image to blunder through a couple of traps, only to see Wun blunder through the first. It's been a long time since that sort of behaviour has been observed (note: yesterday where Lightfinger inexcusably did much the same as a thief in the thieves maze and the catacombs below Baldur's Gate)
Wun demonstrated an earlier, and proclaimed, only use of hold undead was not that unique. Tables turned...
Mulahey never knows what hit him (blunt weapon trauma).
Wun suggests we call it a day, so here we are with our feet up next to Mulahey's mangled corpse.
Black Pits 1 No-reload Insane Double Damage - Successful Run (megapost)
The Challenge
The challenge was simple. Create a party which can make it through The Black Pits 1, on Insane with Double Damage (this is the hardest part), without dying or reloading once, and without ever repeating a fight (you can repeat fights to grind XP and Gold). Unlike in the regular game there is no escape once committing to a fight so without per-preparation and meta-knowledge it is very likely something unexpected will happen. On the other hand so long as a party member does not get chunked they will return with full health if the fight is won. My own personal restriction is to make an all-human party.
The Party
## Alice Lawful Good Human Sorceress
18/18/16/9/18/14 (93)
Spells: Shield, Magic Missile
+Slings
## Mildred Lawful Good Human Dragon Disciple
18/18/16/9/18/10 (89)
Spells: Shield, Magic Missile
+Slings
## Prim Lawful Good Human Inquisitor
18-00/18/18/9/13/18 (94)
++ Bastardswords, ++Two-weapon Style
Party Discussion
Completely OP party. Could probably have rolled 6 Zerkers if I just wanted to rush but I am thinking of mid-late Game Black Pits 2. Also yes this involved an auto-roller.
Sorcerer + Dragon Disciple. There is no need for 2 Sorcerer-types, but I am going arcane heavy in the late game, and I love sorcerers. having 2 allows for all sorts of fun stuff.
3 Beserkers. Berserker smash! Rage go raww! They will hopefully be 2 Zerkages and a DruidZerker. Flails and Hammers for adequate blunt damage. I am a bit worried about late game thac0 so perhaps one should stay as a humble Berzerker.
1 Inquisitor. This could be anything depending on play style. My trial run had a Kensai instead but the Insane Double Damage made it more trouble than it was worth. Inquisitor Dispel Magic and True Sight are great, and Protection from Evil is useful too. Other options considered was a Dark Moon Monk (same issue as kensai), an Archer, a Dwarven Defender, a 4th(!) Berserker, a Fighter/Thief or Fighter/Cleric. Really anything.
Round 0
## 0-1: Talosi
### Enemies
3 Talosi
### Tactics
We start with an assortment of useless weapons which we are not proficient with. Our 4 melee characters try to hit but mostly Magic Missiles from the two Sorceresses deal with the Talosi.
### Reward
2500GP
### Post-match
We gain 2500GP in order to outfit our team. 2 Morningstars, 2 Warhammers, 2 Ninjatos, 2 Bastardswords. Helmet and Splintmail for the four Fighters. This gives unmodified AC of 0. Also purchase Slings + Bullets for six. I prefer slings because of the range and strength bonus. Note that for some arcane reasons there are no throwing daggers in the Black Pits 1.
### Tactics
With our outfitted team the three Berserkers have AC of 0. With Berserk they can take down the Gibberlings hitting reasonably well. with thac0 of 14 or 15 depending on Str.
### Screenshots
### Reward
2500XP each
500GP
### Post-match
Everyone levels up to 2. No interesting choices. We hang onto our gold.
### Tactics
Exactly the same as the previous round all four Melee to take out the GIbberlings
### Screenshots
### Reward
2500XP each
500GP
### Post-match
Everyone levels up to 3. Sorceresses both take Blindness and Fighters all put a third pip in their primary weapon. Inquisitor puts a third pip in two-weapon style. We hang onto our gold.
Gold: 2964
Round 1
## 1-1: The Plan-B Team
### Enemies
Erasmus (Mage), Tim (thief), Reginald (Fighter? Cleric?), Bort (Barbarian), Apple (Druid), Fargus (Fighter)
### Tactics
This is the first "proper" fight against an adventurer party. The Sorceresses prioritize blinding the mage then everyone else. Berserkers enrage and take down Bort who can potentially do very high damage (>40HP) with Enrage and halberd. Apple the druid will try Charm Person/Mammal which Rage negates. Once the Mage is blind our Inquisitor engages. Once Bort is down it is a matter of mopping up blind enemies.
### Screenshots
### Reward
7300XP
1750GP
### Post-match
Hang onto cash.
## 1-2: Bad Hobs and Boomsticks
### Enemies
2 Hobgoblin Wizards, 3 Hobgoblin Archers, 3 Hobgoblin Warriors
### Tactics
Inquisitor pre-buffs the three berserkers with Protection from Evil then puts up True Sight. Rage and focusing on the Wizards works well. It is important not to let them get off their spells which can be a very damaging Lightning Bolt. Inquisitor True Sight deals with the Wizards' Mirror Image.
### Screenshots
### Reward
9125XP
2000GP
### Post-match
Nothing to do here.
## 1-3: How to Raise the Dead and Influence People
### Enemies
Llyrk and crumbling skeletons
### Tactics
Llyrk will cast Stinking Cloud so if possible this can be dragged depending on who it targets. Aggressive play is favored as his Stoneskin will go down quickly, he has low HP and once he dies all his skeletons collapse. Rage and beat down. For this run this was all sped up considerably with an Inquisitor Dispel Magic.
### Screenshots
### Reward
12167XP
2250GP
### Post-match
Fighters/Paladin all level up to 4.
## 1-4: Gauntlet of Ogres
### Enemies
Ogre Mage and Ogres
### Tactics
Splitting into 2-3 groups to hold up the ogres while the Inquisitor (with True Sight up) fires off a Dispel Magic and then everyone Rages. The sorceresses try to blind, followed by mopping up. The Ogres' morale seems to break quite easily.
### Screenshots
### Reward
18250XP
2500GP
### Post-match
Sorceresses level up to 4. Both take Web.
## 1-5: The Margarine of Evil
### Enemies
SamJohn BrightWater (Thief), Krancor the Old, Owyn (Cleric), Ciril, Carlos Nuez, Wylliam Brand (Mage)
### Tactics
This is the final, and hardest fight of round 1. With two casters with Web it is possible to immediately hold up the whole group, back this up with more Web, a Dispel Magic on the mage and then use ranged weapons to take down the opposing party, interspersing with Blindness. A couple of team Alice went down in this round.
### Screenshots
### Reward
18250XP + 21693XP
2500GP + 20000GP
### Post-match
Fighters/Paladin all Level to 5.
We now have considerable gold and access to Tier 2 Items.
We purchase a scroll of Friends and then Bastardsword +1, Warhammer +1, Morningstar +1, Ninjato +1. We also bought 3x Full Plate Armor for the Berserkers and the Gift of Peace helmet for Inquisitor. A general buying strategy is only to buy things which you would still be using in the last match.
### Tactics
Melee characters are quite capable of dealing with the Ankhegs so long as vulnerable characters don't get surprised. Sorceresses scatter and support with Magic Missile. Not a difficult fight though Rabid Ankhegs hit hard with double damage.
### Screenshots
### Reward
26032XP
4000GP
### Post-match
Casters level to 5. Sorceress takes Level 1: Friends and Dragon Disciple takes Level 1: Burning Hands. Both take Level 2: Mirror Image.
### Tactics
Parker will cast Web so priority is to disrupt him with Magic Missile and for everyone to scatter just in case. Opponents are not tough but characters can go down if they get webbed, otherwise a very simple battle.
### Screenshots
### Reward
32540XP
4500GP
### Post-match
The next match will feature two Shadows which are immune to Normal Weapons. We already have 4 +1 weapons. We buy 3x Boots of Speed for our three Berserkers.
Gold: 1461
## 2-3: Thicket of Thieves
### Enemies
6 Night Knives Thieves (undead), 2 Shadows; Traps
### Tactics
There are grease traps through the arena. The Night Knives are quite lethal at range with Acid Arrows so mass Webbing one side of the Arena and closing in on the other slowly with Raged Berserkers works. I kept the Inquisitor in reserve so he can run around the outside of the grease trap to engage any Night Knives not within. Once you close with them they die very easily - unfortunatly there is apparently also a fireball trap over to the left which almost took out the party, also a Berserker got webbed when I wasn't watching. Not a problem in the end. I found pre-buffing with 2x Shield, 4x Protection from Evil and 2x Mirror Image keeps things alive.
All in all this was a messy fight.
### Screenshots
### Reward
55386XP
5000GP
### Post-match
Fighters all level to 6: ++++ in primary weapon. Inquisitor to 6: +Two-handed Swords
## 2-4: Gift of the Ogre Mage
### Enemies
Ogre Mage. 4 Spawning portals (immune to magic damage) which produce imps, mephits, quasits, flesh golems, gray oozes and fission slimes.
### Tactics
Firstly, some sort of access to fire is essential to deal with potential Fission Slimes. It is important to take out the Portals asap as the spawns are dangerous: Quasits can cast Ray of Enfeeblement and Shield for example. 4 Melee characters go for 2 portals while 2 sorceresses try to web the Ogre Mage.
We got the Ogre Mage webbed but portals spawned 2 Flesh Golems which are tough, hasted and closed quickly. It is important to keep up pressure on the portals to take them out ASAP, which we do. Things go badly after that and it is touch and go - in hindsight Web turned into a liability: the Slimes/Oozes are immune to Web which meant they were free to take out most of the party from within the Webs. Only the Inquisitor and Dragon Disciple survived this example of "bad play".
I think this is one of the hardest individual fights due to the unpredictability of the spawns. It was the closest I came to failing the run. I think that I was over-rating Web without an Archer and should have just gone with bashing
### Screenshots
### Reward
65079XP
5500GP
### Post-match
Sorceresses Level up to 6. One takes Level 3: Haste, the other Level 3: Invisibility 10' Radius.
Next is the final fight of this round. We buy a Scroll of Slow.
Gold: 11553
## 2-5: Red Shirt Wizards
### Enemies
Treacle and Thespia (Mages) Voadikka (Barbarian), Red Tom (Thief), Lucius (Cleric), Lucilla (Blackguard)
### Tactics
Pre-buff with Protection from Evil on all four Melee then Haste and Invisibility 10' Radius + True Sight The priority is Lucilla as Aura of Despair and Poison Weapon will quickly kill characters. A cast of Dispel Magic then Slow from Scroll. Three Berserkers take down Lucilla and Voadikka then Treacle who has no Stoneskin. Inquisitor True Sight has dispelled all Mirror Images. Although the Inquisitor was Feared the rest of the battle went very smoothly.
### Screenshots
### Reward
130896XP
40000GP
### Post-match
Everyone levels up except the Inquisitor. Level 7 Fighters gain an extra 1/2 attack per round bringing it to 3 unhasted. Sorceress takes Level 1: Spook, Level 2: Melf's Acid Arrow, Level 3: Skulltrap; Dragon Disciple takes Level 1: Spook, Level 2: Melf's Acid Arrow, Level 3: Slow. They also gain SCS Minor Sequencers as innate abilities - Good for a personal favorite of Blindness+Magic Missile. Or anything else.
This unlocks Tier 3 items. We buy Ashideena +2, Longsword +2, Morningstar +2, Rashad's Talon +2, Amulet of Power, the second set of 3 Boots of Speed, Robes of Fire Resistance, Improved Cloak of Protection +2 (this means Improved Invisibility and Improved Haste for Tisiphone, who has Ashideena for spell disruption). We also buy a 4th set of Full Plate for the Inquisitor and the second Gift of Peace helmet.
Gold: 9421
Round 3
## 3-1: Swamped
### Enemies
Two trolls, Two Fission Slimes.
### Tactics
Beat down the Trolls and kill with Acid Arrows. Beat down the Fission Slimes a bit, then Kill with Burning Hands. This is a very easy match if you know what is coming and with the right spells/gear.
### Screenshots
### Reward
152712XP
8000GP
### Post-match
Inquisitor to 7. Spellcasters Level to 8 both take Level 4: Stoneskin
Gold: 17421
## 3-2: A History of Violent Beatings
### Enemies
5 Clay Golems, Shambling Mound
### Tactics
Hammer and Morningstar Berserkers go for Clay Golems while Inquisitor and Scimitar Berserker take out the Shambling Mound. With Haste, Improved Haste and Rage this is over in seconds, though someone gets pulverised.
### Screenshots
### Reward
183254XP
10000GP
### Post-match
Fighters level up to 8.
Gold: 27241
## 3-3: Ice to See You
### Enemies
5 Ice Salamanders, Ice Salamander Cleric
### Tactics
Focus on killing the Cleric first with Hasted/Improved hasted Berserkers + Inquisitor then mopping up. We try out our Minor Sequencer Blind+Magic Missile which is such a nice combo. This battle likewise should only take moments.
### Screenshots
### Reward
229068XP
12000GP
### Post-match
Inquisitor to Level 8. Sorceresses level to 9. Both take Level 2: Blur, Level 3: Protection from Fire, Level 4: Improved Invisibility
Buy Rings of Fire Control and Batalista's Passport. After casting Protection from Fire everyone the lowest fire resist any character has is 120%. Also buy Girdle of Stone Giant Strength for Scimitar-Berserker, 2 Rings of Protection +1 for fighters not wearing Fire Resistance rings and all three Girdles of the Hills for the extra Blunt AC.
We prep Minor Sequencers with 2x Magic Missiles, cast protection from Fire on Everyone, buff our mages, Haste and Invisibility 10' and go in for the (second) toughest fight.
Gold: 5047
## 3-4: Catching Fire
### Enemies
Hogarl the Fire Giant, 4 Fire Elementals
### Tactics
Tough. Berserk Rage will protect against the Fire Giant's Knockdown. Fire Elemental explode in fireballs when killed. Fortunatly we have >100%FR on everyone. We focus down the Fire Elementals ASAP, trying to keep out of the way of Hogarl's attacks.
Fire Giant hits like a truck so we weaken it at range with Magic Missile - it has very low save vs spell so without Malison it cannot be blinded. One Berserker distracts the Fire Giant in melee while the other three mop up the FIre Elementals, then everyone closes in and hits it to pieces with plenty of Magic Missiles.
### Screenshots
### Reward
305423XP
7000GP
### Post-match
Next is the final Fight: Baeloth
We spend the last of our gold on an Amulet of Protection +1, a Cloak of Protection +1 and two Golden Girdles for extra Slashing AC. We get a free Potion of Power from the Concoter, sell everything we don't need including two Girdles of the Hills and buy 3 Regeneration Potions.
### Tactics
For buffs we prepare Minor Sequencers with 2x Magic Missile.
Everyone gets Protection from Fire
Spellcasters: Stoneskin, Shield, Blur, Mirror Image
Inquisitor: Protection from Evil on the 4 melee and then True Sight
3 Berserkers: Drink Potion of Regeneration
Ashideena-Zerker: Potion of Power, Improved Invisibility and Improved Haste
Spellcasters: Invisibility 10' and Haste
Two options for this fight. First Baeloth can be taken down first then the others. This will avoid the Beholder spawning. Or he can be left until last and the Beholder killed. The Beholder is the easiest enemy to kill.
We went with clearing out the minions then the Beholder then Baeloth. First Elan the Rakshasa is targeted and taken down as quick as possible, then Thardek. The Dragon Disciple casts slow which affects Thardek. Unfortunately Baeloth this time has Fireshield (blue) which we have not prepared for. After the beholder is killed, everyone switches to ranged as the Inquisitor tries some DIspel Magics. Either the second one works of Fireshield expires but everyone switches back to melee and goes in for the kill. We have survived the Black Pits.
Just like the previous game but without Helmstaff. Names different. Protagonist called Dal Riada this time. ** in scimitars * in long bows * in dual wielding.
On that Black Pits run ... that adventure allows you to fully prebuff for every fight. Having at least one priest type along to buff the party helps a lot, even if there's no need for healing magic when you heal for free every time.
Also, level drain is possible - those spawning portals can make wraiths. You were playing with fire there, since the free healing doesn't reverse that. There are at least scrolls of Greater Restoration available (an infinite supply) at 1200 gold before charisma modifiers.
I've done several more attempts with a shaman recently. The last of those had a hard time in ToB, but did manage to struggle through to Mel - only to be stunned by one of the bone darts from her first incarnation. I don't think my set-up was quite optimal for her though, so decided I should see if I can get back there to try again.
I was pretty lucky in the previous run getting that far given the level of risks taken and mistakes made. This time I'll try and be more focused on making progress with minimal risk. I've stuck to safe play so far, while doing the following:
- spirits nibbled Shoal to get to level 3 (+13 HPs).
- shot Neera from out of speech range to get her gem bag.
- looted the manor house for an invisibility potion in case of emergencies.
- shot Algernon for his cloak.
- boosted defenses by shooting an ogre for its belt and grabbing a nearby ring from a hole.
- at the FAI used the temple to dodge into while shooting at Tarnesh. Charmed Jaheira and took her outside to be shot for her invisibility potion.
- further north, shot some fishermen and gave Tenya back her bowl.
- dodged an ankheg to travel on to Ulgoth's Beard and shot Dushai for her ring.
- helped Firebead out to get a scroll case.
- followed Korax round in the basilisk area to pick up 2 more levels while dealing with all the basilisks and Mutamin (+9, +10 HPs).
Used charm to pull Baerin away for disposal, then Writhing Fogs to deal with the others while I stayed out of sight.
- used more Fogs on battle horrors at Durlag's Tower to get to level 6 (+10 HPs).
- I took my first damage while the newly upgraded spirit summons were working on a pair of golems at High Hedge. I must have got a bit too close to one of the skeleton spawn spots and one arrived and shot me before I was aware of the danger.
I completed my collection of containers for now with the potion case.
- some spirits were danced up ready for me to talk to Karlat, to make it easy to give Perdue his sword back. Spirits were similarly pre-summoned before I nipped in and out of Landrin's house to pull the spiders into an ambush. Returning his equipment was then enough for level 7 (+8 HPs).
I also picked up the pantaloons there (which I think are crucial to provide me with any chance against Melissan).
- a trip to Nashkel provided me with LMD before I moved on to Firewine Bridge. Charming Bentan and seeing him killed allowed me to pick up his PfM scroll without reputation loss. Call lightning on Meilum as he initially approached meant only a single hit was needed to get his bracers.
- at the Nashkel Mine the only damage taken was from the unavoidable trap. Rather than let Mulahey call for support, he was just shot down without giving him a chance to talk.
Resting provided a second LMD. Outside the mine Maneira and Telka were charmed and drawn away before Fogs finished off the casters.
- while I remembered, I picked up the violet potion back at the Carnival. After reporting to Berrun Ghastkill, Nimbul found that mirrors are not a good defense against lightning from the sky.
- Tranzig was indoors, so had slightly more of a chance against insects, but failed to complete a spell.
Having broken free of their cells last week the chateau lockdown was already becoming tiresome. Lightfinger the shadow dancer, Corethief XXXIII / @Corey_Russell, Surely the shaman / @grond0 and Wewa the Berserker / @dogdancing decided they had endured enough and should make a break for freedom.
The jailbreak took between 40 and 50 minutes (40 minutes escape plus 10 minutes fiddling around as Corethief and Wewa were unselectable on exit of the chateau and we had to try a reconnect and then a clean restart before they responded). In this opening part Lightfinger forgot he should have been capturing details of events and only managed to show Surely dropping an area spell on some unseen Duergar as a second casting was underway.
At the Circus we did our best to play fair, with Surely using a dispel illusion to remove one group of illusionary beasts. His insects thought they were going to kill Kalah too but Lightfinger nipped in for a backstab to hold his place at the head foot of our kills leaderboard.
Outside the Copper Coronet a pair of brigands came unstuck with some lightning striking down from the sky and weapons from our stalwart shorties.
Inside the Copper Coronet we soon agreed to help Jierdan and Nalia while 'Hexxat' could stand in a corner and whistle for all we care. Instead we were too busy poking weapons at an angry bear.
Corethief was heard to complain about our lack of armour - and Lightfinger had already made provision by heading to the Docks to pick some up at the Seas Bounty Tavern. We quickly signed up with the thieves there and Corethief fortunately was not overheard by Renal or Mae'Var as he predicted some chunking by vampire as a result.
We'd already picked up the +2 Arbane shortsword in a first ambush and presently we picked up Renfeld in a second.
On our way back to the Docks to return him to the 'Harpers' we ran into Hareishan the vampire. Wewa did a smacktascic job here while Lightfinger checked both his +1 arrows and +1 dagger were useless. He switched to the non-proficient Arbane sword and missed twice by which time Hareishan had been berserkered. Corethief suggested Lightfinger should have thought about his +2 weapon earlier then realised he also had a +2 shortsword he could have used. Wewa may have shaken her head at the two thieves but if so they didn't notice.
Lightfinger returned the Talosian amulet to Mae'Var (we won't mention how we looted the rest of the temple - it has to be done) and then we headed down to help Mook. Lassal looked like a relatively easy target but Lightfinger had a nasty feeling that without summons and with a cutscene character movement he'd be targeted. Yep, and then he pressed the wrong key to end dialogue (Esc once too many) and the vampire gets a tasty free hit.
By the time Lightfinger reacts he has been drained a bit and then becomes an easy dominee. Ugh, but as Wewa berserks into action we find Surely is the party-member with wits intact and his second wand of the heavens strike has convinced Lassal to retreat. Lightfinger tries and fails to antagonise Wewa with his dagger until the domination ends.
Next we clear out a house for the 'Harpers' - Lightfinger failing to mention that he tried to get into the harper building without bothering to do what was asked until Surely reminded him of the due course of events. The battle with two mages and three goblins went well if you don't think too much about Corethief getting confused and attacking Wewa. This is becoming a bit of a habit but friendly fire of our thieves attacking our berserker isn't very dangerous really.
Our two hours were almost up but we braved the 'Harper' HQ and cleared the main parts, plus Lightfinger risked life limb and charm by tripping the helm of charm protection trap three times. Pay attention.
It looks like we will need to visit a store. Watchers Keep could be a good choice as Sister Garlena can throw in a cheap restoration for Lightfinger and supply us with a potion case. Will we remember to do this next time, after giving Xzar the bird.
In fourth place with 18 kills;
In third place with 23 kills;
In second place with 48 kills;
In the lead with 59 kills;
I wanted access to nymphs before doing the Bandit Camp, so returned to Durlag's Tower. A PfP scroll allowed me free attacks on the basilisks there, which was enough for level 8 (+8 HPs).
I used a PfM scroll to get the tome and kill the ghost, while spirits dealt with Riggilo after he got annoyed by being saddled with some dodgy hair. Doing that and shooting some ghasts took time though. The scroll was still active as I approached the last container to loot, but must have disappeared at the last instant - fortunately that was a flame strike rather than lightning.
At the Bandit Camp, nymphs scouted ahead to act as meat shields and set bandits up for lightning strikes. With the exterior clear I rested and set up nymphs to await enemies following me out of Tazok's tent.
Resting again after looting the tent gave me Bhaal horror.
I used free action to just run through the web traps in the Cloakwood, rather than spend time dealing with the enemies there. At the mine Genthore and Kysus were charmed and pulled away. The others then lost out to nymphs.
At the bottom of the mine, the guard was charmed and occupied the battle horrors while those were being nuked with spirit fire - getting me my final BGEE level (+9 HPs completing a pretty good HP total of 77).
Nymphs and insects then saw Davaeorn on his way.
I decided not to rest until after flooding the mine and getting a thank you from the slave - pushing reputation up to provide a slow poison rather than another horror.
A quick tour of the world map provided enough reputation to push that to 20, along with the charisma tome and crushing girdle. That left just the lighthouse area to visit before heading for the City. Nymphs tried their spells out against sirines there before spirits danced their way through the golems to provide me with the constitution tome.
There were no problems in Baldur's Gate in collecting the tomes, Helm & Cloak of Balduran. There was plenty of use of area damage, with nymphs and spirits filling in where necessary to avoid me being attacked. Lothander and Marek both found that nymphs can cause some serious wounds.
I switched to the +2 bow as my main weapon rather than sling from that point.
The Iron Throne gang were split up using the stairs and picked off one by one, leaving their leader for last.
That just left clearing the Seven Suns and I was off back to Candlekeep. I knew PfL, so didn't have to worry about the traps, while most enemies succumbed to area damage. Prat spotted me trying to sneak past him though, so he was dragged back to the previous area and confronted with a nymph - the others never got a look in.
Just for the hell of it I used nymphs against the basilisks. One of those died to a confused attack by the other, before being held in its turn.
I didn't bother with Krystin, so just shot Slythe with a dispelling arrow before letting nymphs have a go at him. He did well to save against a dozen or so hold attempts while doomed, but was less successful against insects and was eventually shot down just before he would have died anyway.
At the palace, all the dopplegangers chose to attack the dukes rather than me or the nymphs. That could have been a major problem, but horror and confusion immediately broke up the concerted attack and both dukes actually survived comfortably.
Spirits initially dealt with the occupants of the maze, but a crash meant I had to redo that and went for the quicker option with area damage and PfU dealing with most encounters.
The latest patch has made the behavior of the web and stinking cloud effects in the old temple even more inconsistent and the web now appears on top of you rather than giving you the chance to see a projectile coming and take protective action. Hence I buffed ahead of time with a couple of potions of magic protection before shooting Sarevok with a dispelling arrow (the trap never triggered anyway). Semaj teleported out to find a nymph, but, after killing that, he was unable to determine where repeated Fogs were coming from before he died.
Sarevok was doomed, but still shrugged off 9 hold spells and a trio of dominations. He was eventually confused and that gave me a chance to unload all 7 of my insect spells at him, but only one of those stuck. That meant there was a fair amount of running and shooting still needed before he'd had enough of the game.
Here's my character record and inventory on transfer.
Comments
I have done this in the past as well, but in this run I'm trying to RP to some degree, so my character couldn't know about the iron crisis yet. Also: I currently have Neera in my group. I find myself flirting with danger more and more lately. That said, I've turned the difficulty down a bit to compensate for this style of play.
A year ago I did a one-day challenge with a berserker as a birthday present to myself. I was flirting with trying that again this year with a barbarian, but I'm not going to have a full day available to myself this time. However, I should have more than enough time to squeeze in a run during the upcoming long weekend (Monday being a public holiday in the UK), so I'll try and use that to good effect.
Here's my starting character - which has already had 3 failed attempts in my long-life challenge.
It's now coming up to 2 am on Saturday - must be time to make a start ...
Previous updates:
Well, it's been a pretty poor show so far. The first attempt failed early on when natural lightning killed me in Beregost after fighting spiders. That might have been excusable, but a second one was definitely feeble when I forgot that barbarian rage does not fully protect against sirines ...
Third time lucky???
On Drizzt, the gnoll trick is no more in the current patch?
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1170208/#Comment_1170208
Thanks @Aerakar - it's actually on Monday (I was just planning ahead).
The gnoll trick is indeed no more.
I haven't been using my time too well today, with a 3rd death just occurring. At the Palace I was conscious that I hadn't got Bhaal horror (I normally manipulate reputation to get at least 1 of those with non-arcane characters) and decided to use a potion of firebreath to speed up dealing with the dopplegangers. I thought I'd tried that before in v2.6 and found Belt didn't go hostile even when the guards did. I did note that the guards went hostile significantly before he did this time, so I thought I would get away with it again when the last of the dopplegangers fell. Shortly after that though Belt saw red (perhaps last time I managed to speak to him before that happened) and Winski was called on to do his thing ...
I’m still enjoying my random run with mods. The CN Fall has just dealt with the bandit camp, and is presently poking around a (mod upgraded) Durlag’s Tower with varying success.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1170208/#Comment_1170208
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1170215/#Comment_1170215
Progress through BGEE
In Beregost I talked down Marl, before slaughtering Algernon for his cloak. That was used to charm Silke and kill Neera for her gem bag.
Silke also helped kill Karlat and some spiders before being pensioned off to give me another level (+13 HPs). Firebead provided a scroll case.
I darted an ogre for its belt and picked up a ring of protection on the way to the FAI. Tarnesh lost out to rage there, though as in the last run his horror appeared to panic me - looks like a new bug there.
I picked up the pantaloons early to avoid forgetting them later.
Heading for Ulgoth's Beard, some fishermen died and I returned Tenya's bowl. On arrival Dushai had a little accident when she ran onto the pointy end of a dart (alright several of them)
I bought some +1 darts to kill the golems at High Hedge before completing my collection of BGEE bags.
More quick XP following Korax round the basilisk area provided another 2 levels (+24 HPs). Mutamin was also quickly paralyzed, but Korax didn't last long against Kirian's mob. However, his parting shot paralyzed her and allowed me to finish her off - the others were then pretty much doomed.
While in this region, I headed on to the Red Wizard area and used up the couple of fiery potions taken from the encounter with Kirian to soften them up before finishing off with darts.
A visit to Nashkel got me LMD and a few potions at the Carnival thanks to raging to bust the locks on the potion seller's containers.
On to Firewine where Bentan and Poe were charmed and lost out to Meilum before he was machine-gunned down with darts.
On the way to Durlag's Tower a basilisk tried an ambush. I chose not to immediately take an invisibility potion and it initially tried to engage in melee - missing its chance to gaze at me.
I don't normally use consumable magic items a lot, but treated myself to an easy time against some battle horrors at Durlag's Tower using Necklace of Missiles and Ring of Energy. That provided a 7th level and an extra dollop of APR (and 15 more HPs). The PfP scroll from the Carnival dealt with more basilisks and I was able to grab the +2 scimitar from the roof to improve melee abilities further. Riggilo got a new hairstyle before he was cut down and I used the rage from that fight to collect the tome.
Back at the Lighthouse I took on the sirines once more, but this time the potion of clarity allowed me to melee them safely.
While doing a few reputation quests, I cleared the ankheg nest at the cost of a single minor hit on me. One more of those creatures, in order to be able to get that crucial 75gp from Gerde, was sufficient for my last BGEE level and 13 more HPs to make a total of 118 to date.
At the Nashkel Mine I shot down Greywolf to push reputation to 10 before going to find Mulahey. Rather than run him round, I allowed him to summon some help - though they didn't help him much.
Outside the mine, rage lasted long enough to defeat all the amazons' spells.
In Beregost I got caught stealing to reduce reputation back to 9. Tranzig managed to do a bit of damage to me before falling and providing me with my final BGEE level - a healthy 16 HPs taking me to 116.
At the bandit camp the basic bandits didn't cause much of a problem. Taurgosz could hit me pretty easily - but the reverse was also true
Inside the tent, Venkt had no time to buff before being struck down. The others did little better and I took Hakt's bow as an alternative missile weapon.
In the Cloakwood I had no need for Spider's Bane and just ran past everything to get to the mine. On arrival, horror was used to split the enemies up for easy disposal. Downstairs, 3 charges from the Necklace kill the battle horrors and Davaeorn was then shot down while the charmed guard provided a distraction.
In the City the dexterity tome was the first target. Jardak was beaten up so I could use his helm to get charisma to 20, but with reputation still down I didn't buy anything then. I shot Shandalar's daughters to get a necklace of missiles and helped find a missing boy to get my third one of those (I don't normally bother with the fourth one on sale in the City). The poison quest yielded another tome on the way to find Marek (I tried, but failed to tag Lothander with a dart of stunning, but the 4 I had left stopped Larze in his tracks).
At that point I went back out into the wilderness and zipped through the Cloud Peaks to get the charisma tome. While travelling I also picked up a ring of fire resistance and the last girdle before going to find Drizzt. A couple of mind focusing potions along with heroism allowed me to hit him with a 13 using piercing arrows and 40 odd of those was enough to put the drow down.
I normally prefer saving throws to AC, so sold the armor even though that allows the best unbuffed physical defences for a barbarian.
I finished off some reputation quests before returning to the City, where sorting out the Seven Suns pushed reputation to 20 and I did some shopping. Ramazith was poisoned to provide access to the final tome. The Cloak of Balduran was next and I took a bit of damage chewing through Degrodel's guards - though had plenty left to attack and poison him.
Still lacking my desired swords, I left the City and went to the Lake area to find Drizzt. Rage protected against his charms, while 36 arrows of piercing did the damage.
His armor provides the best basic AC for a barbarian, but I normally prefer saving throws to AC and just sold that. Temple donations and a bit more questing restored my reputation. Using the stairs then allowed me to deal with the Iron Throne crew one at a time, though Zhalimar had a pretty good go at me.
Back at Candlekeep, there was no need for potions to open the tombs. I took a fair amount of lightning damage from the traps, but with HPs boosted to 139 by DUHM/rage I kept a safe margin. Phase spiders are now a bit more dangerous with their instant teleportation, but they were just blasted from out of sight. After having done so much unnecessary work in the run so far, I decided to give Prat a chance by seeing if I could run past him without him seeing. That works the majority of the time - and did so this time.
Once more in the City I bought a bit more magic ammunition before seeking out Slythe - I wasn't bothered about Krystin, so he found it was third time unlucky when saving against stunning darts.
At the palace I used horror, but all the dopplegangers saved. That would have left me in trouble if they had all attacked the dukes, but two of them went after me and both Belt and Liia survived (though Belt was near death).
I took a bit of trap damage going through the maze, but nothing too serious. The Undercity party were killed with fireballs to preserve Rahvin's exploding arrows.
Inside the temple lightning traps killed Sarevok's companions - gaining me more exploding arrows.
Sarevok was dispelled by arrow, run around for a bit and then suffered the fitting fate of death by LMD.
That was not far short of 4 hours for BGEE. That's very slow for a timed run, but a lot of work was done to make sure nothing is lacking for SoD and I should therefore be able to zip through that. I transferred to SoD with nearly 400k XP and got 10 HPs for the immediate level there.
Barbarian 9, 130 HPs (incl. 5 from helm), 300 kills
Our regular two hour slot continues, with hours 4-6 seeing one Studded Leathers death among other events. Lightfinger tried to remember to take screenshots at opportune moments but some will have eluded him.
We started off at the bandit camp, making short work of the defenders outside but at some expense to our health.
Lightfinger planned to deal with some traps in a spider + ettercap area, but managed to get himself spotted. A bit of divide and conquer saw us get the upper hand but not before Surely was poisoned. Lightfinger tried to close the gap but it wasn't looking promising, but then Surely managed a surprising cure himself which is quite the achievement in multiplayer.
By this time we were part way through Cloakwood but rather than press on and run into Eldoth we took a brief detour to Durlag's Tower. Corethief asked what the plan was to deal with the basilisks and Lightfinger let him into the secret that Surely would work something out (not mentioning that he'd given four potions of mirrored eyes to the half-orc). With this tactical advantage we made sure to backstab, bludgeon and poison the basilisks into submission although they gave a good account for themselves against Surely when switching into melee.
After flooding Cloakwood mine to hide the evidence we travelled into Baldur's Gate and started to make our way around the city. Lightfinger asked Surely if he was up to fighting an ogre mage. The answer came back in the affirmative and Lightfinger sprang into action.
What Lightfinger should have asked was could Surely rustle up a miracle when Lightfinger got himself held by a carrion crawler. Surely almost managed it, but a sling and bullets while being meleed by more carrion crawlers meant he too was held.
Lightfinger tried to glance at Corethief, who was out of special snares and was busy attacking the one dangerous carrion crawler. It looked promising.
Then the other carrion crawlers killed Surely and advanced. Lightfinger somehow paused matters and suggested Corethief could reposition to make himself bait. What a palaver (and an outrage but let's not go there).
Corethief duly obliged, killed the first carrion crawler attacking Lightfinger and drew the othes back into the writhing fog away from Lightfinger. He ran north and hid, as Lightfinger found himself able to move again.
A bit further on we encounter the brawlers of Undermountain. It turns out that they are ill-equipped to deal with snares and spirit bears which stun their leader.
We just have to remember to deal with Marek before we do too much next time.
Party equipment and loot:
Postscript:
In some respects this has been a bit of a scrappy session, none of us being keen to melee tougher enemies and Surely taking the brunt of effort in this regard. Lightfinger is missing a natural tank to stand in front of him and intends to spend the next week at the Blade and Star inn haranguing local drunkards patrons to see if a suitable candidate can be found, or if Surely will be press-ganged into the role once more.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1170208/#Comment_1170208
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1170215/#Comment_1170215
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1170222/#Comment_1170222
In contrast with BGEE I aimed to treat SoD more like a speed run and zip through there with minimal fighting. That meant:
- other than buying a few things (having carried through about 70k gold in my containers) I just picked up the Spectacles of Spectacle and the Battle Tankard in Baldur's Gate.
- not visiting the Coast Way Forest.
- used invisibility to avoid any fighting at the Coast Way Crossing bridge.
- ran through the Troll Claw Woods.
- used invisibility to get into the temple at the Forest of Wyrms. There I fireballed Ziatar from out of sight.
Then buffed up to beat up the Neothelid.
Finally I used firebreath to kill an invisible Akanna.
- on the way out of the temple a dagger to the heart of a dragon got me to the XP cap and another level.
- more firebreath killed Vichand at Boareskyre Bridge to let me get his scroll.
- I used the dragon scale to make a shield, though there is an argument for the armor. After killing a wraith I also acquired some arrows of darkness before surrendering the fort. A dispelling arrow followed by an acid one disrupted the mage on the bridge and firebreath once more showed that invisibility is not much of a defense.
- at the Coalition Camp I picked up the Bwoosh and poison as well as buying a few things from Nazramu.
- ran invisibly through Dead Man's Pass and went to Dragonspear to rescue Skie.
- at the Underground river, I raged through some myconids and used free action while shooting a gargantuan spider.
The cyclops was stunned and cut down before I ran invisibly through to the underground entrance. I placed the Bwoosh and blagged my way into the warrens. The poison was placed invisibly before I showed myself to reopen the lift and went invisible again to run away.
- back at the Coalition Camp, the first invasion force melted away in some fiery breath.
The mages didn't enjoy exploding arrows and the clerics were not much more durable.
The last wave lasted a bit longer, but ultimately went the same way.
- at Dragonspear I went straight to find Ashatiel and once more a single dart effectively ended the single combat with him.
Rage let me run straight through the first area. In the next, detonating arrows are less effective against fire resistant creatures - but still pretty effective. I won a wager with Thrix, though the sword gained is no actual use to me.
- buffs meant enemies failed to land any blows on the Hellevator.
- I could hit Belhifet reasonably easily, so it didn't take too long to finish him off.
The total game time for SoD was about 1 hour 40 minutes. That includes a large number of mandatory cut-scenes, so the real time spent playing it was somewhat shorter than that.
I won't get around to playing SoA until tomorrow. That's the longest of the games, so I'll need to work hard to maintain concentration there.
Barbarian 10, 156 HPs, 0 kills (+427 in BGEE/SoD)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1170208/#Comment_1170208
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1170215/#Comment_1170215
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1170222/#Comment_1170222
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1170251/#Comment_1170251
I started out in SoA, but a couple of hours into that got caught out by a threat I don't think I've died to before (not recently anyway):
- cleared Jon's dungeon. High HPs, regular rests and rage immunities meant standard potential trouble spots like the mephit group in the elemental plane were no trouble and I managed to finish Ulvaryl off before she could flap away.
- a few minutes at the circus were enough to gain a level.
- after over-seeing a change of management at the Copper Coronet, I cleaned up below. Captain Haegan's group were drawn back into the sewers so I could fight them a few at a time. Inside, the wizards and their guards did plenty of damage - but I had the HPs to manage that safely. I splashed out on Azuredge after collecting my reward.
- Suna Seni tried his luck on the way to Watcher's Keep, but an immediate poison arrow to deal with the mage made that fight easy.
- at the Keep, rage allowed me to deal with wraiths and shadow fiends easily, but my poor AC meant I needed to keep a close eye on strength drain from the shadows. There were no vampiric wraiths in the main hall, so making it easy to clear initially - getting another level there (putting a second point into dual wielding to improve offensive capability). A further offensive boost came from swapping my mundane scimitar for a +4 one, while picking off the statues one at a time. I wanted another level before leaving (so my saving throw would be good enough against the FoD trap guarding the quiver of +1 arrows). A slight problem was I only had a single acid arrow to deal with the desert trolls, but there were more of those in one of the containers there. That provided access to the guardian of air and I was thinking killing it would get me a level - only to realize after doing that I'd already got there just from a bonus for discovering it.
- having achieved my objective I should have just left, but decided to kill the snake as well. I nearly always do that using ranged attacks due to concerns about being stunned. With rage available though I decided to melee it and, with it down to 8 HPs, there seemed no threat even though my HPs were down at 50 odd. What I hadn't realized was that it appears to have a significant penalty to its poison attack and my saving throw of -2 was not good enough. With rapid ticks of 5 HPs each that was a major problem as I don't permit the use of antidotes, so the 23 bottles of those in my inventory were no good to me. I did have a Bhaal slow poison available and time to get just enough distance from the snake to cast it. However, my experience is that slow poison doesn't normally cast quickly enough to work on any poison nasty enough to be a real threat - and that proved to be the case here
Incidentally, the snake is weak to piercing damage (20% piercing resistance, versus 50% slashing and missile, 70% crushing). Usuno's blade may be +4, but it deals slashing damage; you'll only do really good damage with it if you get lucky with the electric chance.
Wark (male dwarf fighter/cleric, Grond0); Conk (male elf enchanter, Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1169857/#Comment_1169857
We entered Baldur's Gate at the start of the session and Conk headed straight for Sorcerous Sundries. That was less to review their stock of scrolls and more to check out the magical competition upstairs. Conk wanted to see the whites of at least one opponent's eyes before unleashing his skull traps, so he took a bit of damage from a scorcher in retaliation.
The ogre mage and crawlers that nearly ended our Trio run yesterday were nearby. We took the precaution of sneaking down past them to get into position and the mage failed to get a spell off this time.
Finding our way round the City while vaguely pursuing the poison quest, we took a detour on board ship to find Vay-ya and Desreta. The latter was blinded, but had apparently already fixed Conk's position in mind before that and Conk didn't realize the danger until having taken a hefty blow.
We eventually got around to completing the poison quest, with Lothander successfully being trapped by summons - Conk donning his boots and trying a quick burst of ¡Arriba, arriba! ¡Ándale, ándale!
The next target was Degrodel on the way to get the Cloak of Balduran. Some of his guards were pulled outside into summons and the remainder inside didn't have much success hitting Wark. After a conversation with Degrodel Wark sent in a silence - Conk arriving just in time to be caught by that as well.
At the Iron Throne we snuck past our expected opponents before looking at each other and wondering what to do next. Conk contributed a blind for one of the clerics and Wark silenced most of the party before skeletons and spiders followed closely behind a skull trap. Our summons lasted long enough to prevent anyone attacking us directly until only Zhalimar was left, still silent and behind a column. Wark suggested that perhaps he should buff up and attack, but it appeared that Conk still had another skull trap in reserve
The Seven Suns provided the expected level of resistance (puny) and we reported for duty in Candlekeep. Wark took the precaution of protecting both of us against lightning, which meant that the instant teleporting phase spiders were the main threat. They spotted Conk's attempt to get into skull trap range and we had to do a bit of quick movement to keep out of their way - Wark's commands being helpful there to lock them in place. Wark also protected himself against lightning before tackling Prat's gang. That proved a wise precaution as Prat's first bolt killed 2 of his companions and badly injured himself - but only tickled Wark as it passed.
Back in Baldur's Gate, Prat failed to make much impression on Wark's defenses. We had allowed him to talk in order to coax Krystin out of hiding and she was keen to commit suicide by cloudkill - but her attempt to cast that was interrupted by a skeleton.
At the palace 3 skeletons and a couple of spiders provided supplementary troops. A bit of clerical buffing and mage haste made them pretty formidable and the dopplegangers didn't last long. We went through the maze without trouble, though Conk did complain mildly about the way Wark had run through 4 traps near a pair of skeleton warriors and only actually triggered one of them. We beat up the Undercity party, though Wark did get too close there when trying to use Holy Smite and had to suck up an arrow of detonation.
At the temple Wark dragged Sarevok out enough to take Angelo and Tazok out of the equation, but not far enough for him to support Semaj when he teleported out into some skeletons. When Semaj fell Wark encouraged Sarevok to run forward - right into a mixture of web and stinking fog that had appeared from nowhere. When Conk contributed a greater malison, it seemed likely Sarevok would quickly get stuck, but he refused to do so. Still, while he was beating up skeletons, Wark's physical attacks and Conk's spells were taking a heavy toll. He did get the odd attack in on Wark though when he was nipping forward for the attack and Wark checked his HPs carefully when Sarevok looked about ready for a killing shot. He was down to 36 HPs, which seemed to guarantee he could take another hit and he raced into action for the final time, ignoring Conk's muttered complaints from behind. Things actually went according to plan though. Sarevok did get another hit in, but took a hit himself - and didn't have the HPs to survive that.
Fighter 7 / cleric 7, 83 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 359 kills
Enchanter 9, 46 HPs, 76 kills, 0 deaths
Wark (male dwarf fighter/cleric, Grond0); Conk (male elf enchanter, Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1169857/#Comment_1169857
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1170313/#Comment_1170313
Well, everyone knows that if you want a job doing, then do it yourself. I wonder what job Wark wanted doing here ...
The SoD starting dungeon proved no trouble, with PfU taking us through the undead and Korlasz silenced, blinded by a holy smite and quickly finished off.
Baldur's Gate saw little activity, with just a quick fight at Sorcerous Sundries before picking up the Spectacles. On leaving Wark asked Conk if he wanted better headgear and proceeded to demonstrate where that could be found by surgically removing Viconia's head. Despite selling some of her gear we didn't have enough to buy the bag of holding, so Wark pointed out that Dynaheir and Minsc appeared to be heavily laden with gear and asked Conk if he wanted some of that. He refused though, enquiring somewhat acidly "just what alignment are you anyway?".
The Coast Way Forest saw us helping a vampire out in order to acquire some regenerative headgear for Conk - just the thing if he strays too close to a holy smite.
There wasn't much action in the Coast Way Crossing - just shooting down Teleria from a distance before proceeding invisibly to the bridge to avoid conflict there.
After skipping through the Troll Claw Woods we moved on to the Forest of Wyrms and sought out a dragon's lair. Fortunately it appeared to be slow to recover from a heavy night and ignored the first 9 daggers from Conk clinking off its scales, before the 10th one found a tender spot.
Wark buffed up to stay safe against the Neothelid - and added an oil of speed when that surfaced in order to beat it up more quickly.
We sent to the cave at the lighthouse area and killed the sirines and flesh golems. Having an inquisitor and a Paladin and good armour for them made the battles quite easy.
When Shoal attacked Safana, she didn't raise her again.
We then went ankheg hunting in order to upgrade equipment. (Shadow armour and the like) before proceeding to Durlag's Tower. We cleared the upper reaches and went down far enough to acquire some wine which we stashed in a barrel.
We then slept for nearly three days before proceeding.
Upon going to the gnoll stronghold, we killed the gnolls, looted a cave and released Dynaheir who joined us. We went to the carnival where she spent a lot of time identifying our possessions.
EDIT
We then cleared the mines of kobolds ending up with killing Mulahey and recruiting Xan.
Leaving the mines, we killed the Amazons before looting the caves.
We left Xan at the Carnival.
The wonderful thing about trio's (thought Lightfinger) is trio's are wonderful things.
Especially when four of you turn up.
Lightfinger wastes no time in assigning our newest recruit some XP to balance with the party.
For our adventure today the party will consist of:
There is a bit of a scramble / rejigging of equipment, finding Wewa some full plate armour and the Ashideena warhammer at Beregost Smithy and a +1 axe at Feldeposts Inn.
Once our latest and greatest recruit is geared up we make a beeline for Marek in search of an antidote. Then we work our way around the city picking up quests, equipment and things to sell as we go.
Jardak the butler and his master gift us with a helm of glory.
Ramazith finds his tower is of no protection for us, Lightfinger pointedly remarking that he used the mages staff on the pair of mustard jellies (not that he need bother with three better fighters in his party).
Surely uses a potion of mirrored eyes to gaze at a basilisk, Desreta and Vay-ya donate their equipment to our cause,
A later group of spiders poison Surely but Lightfinger is nearby and able to slow the poison.
Rahvin and his undercity party put up a good fight with a couple of detonating arrows making us wary. Lightfinger hides in a corner and returns to reply with his own detonating arrows, while the rest of the party cut down the archers.
Corethief points out he most certainly was a team player here, look at the wounds!
We have about three minutes left, Lightfinger suggests we call it a day but the party want to see off Sarevok today. Fair enough, we'll start with Semaj - Lightfinger using dispelling arrows only to stop his mischief and leave him vulnerable to weapons.
The killboard is barely worth mentioning, thinks Lightfinger. What with 87 kills to his name, 168 to Corethief, 180 to Surely and a rapidly opening 41 kills for Wewa in the one session. Nobody needs to know who the party passenger is (it's Lightfinger).
On completion of BG:EE our party are three minutes over our allotted two hours but this means the import to SoA can take place out of game and our next session won't need to involve that bit. I took the liberty of setting Imoen Jaheira and Minsc free, releasing the party from their cells, turning off Lightfinger's AI, and equipping us from the first two containers. The golden pantaloons have also been retrieved.
Party at the start of SoA:
Oswig (male half elf Fighter / Mage / Cleric, Gate70); Wun (male dwarf Priest of Lathander, Grond0)
This clericy duo started their issuance of last rites today. With precious few recipients within the walls of Candlekeep they soon ventured out to blind Shoal the Nereid (3rd attempt, after 2 rests). Wun scooped a level or two from this, while Oswig lamented his lack of progression thanks to the 3 way split for triple class.
Clearing the gnolls from around High Hedge failed to see any further levels immediately.
Oswig had already decided to head to the basilisks where he finally took his 2 / 2 / 2 levels.
Wun demonstrated an earlier, and proclaimed, only use of hold undead was not that unique. Tables turned...
That line made me snicker. The poor soul might even be forced to enjoy himself...
We used guile to enter the bandit camp, killed Deke and cohorts, followed by Tranzig.
We then returned to the camp and slew the bandits.
We then picked up Viconia before heading for Cloakwood.
Because of their lawful nature, most people don't realise that they are evil.
The Challenge
The challenge was simple. Create a party which can make it through The Black Pits 1, on Insane with Double Damage (this is the hardest part), without dying or reloading once, and without ever repeating a fight (you can repeat fights to grind XP and Gold). Unlike in the regular game there is no escape once committing to a fight so without per-preparation and meta-knowledge it is very likely something unexpected will happen. On the other hand so long as a party member does not get chunked they will return with full health if the fight is won. My own personal restriction is to make an all-human party.
The Party
18/18/16/9/18/14 (93)
Spells: Shield, Magic Missile
+Slings
## Mildred Lawful Good Human Dragon Disciple
18/18/16/9/18/10 (89)
Spells: Shield, Magic Missile
+Slings
## Megaera True Neutral Human Berserker
18-00/18/18/18/5/5 (82)
++Flails, ++Two-weapon Style
## Tisiphone Neutral Evil Human Berserker
18-00/18/18/18/18/4/4 (80)
++Warhammers, ++Two-weapon Style
## Alecto True Neutral Human Berserker
18-94/18/17/3/17/17 (90)
++Scimitars, ++Two-weapon Style
## Prim Lawful Good Human Inquisitor
18-00/18/18/9/13/18 (94)
++ Bastardswords, ++Two-weapon Style
Party Discussion
Sorcerer + Dragon Disciple. There is no need for 2 Sorcerer-types, but I am going arcane heavy in the late game, and I love sorcerers. having 2 allows for all sorts of fun stuff.
3 Beserkers. Berserker smash! Rage go raww! They will hopefully be 2 Zerkages and a DruidZerker. Flails and Hammers for adequate blunt damage. I am a bit worried about late game thac0 so perhaps one should stay as a humble Berzerker.
1 Inquisitor. This could be anything depending on play style. My trial run had a Kensai instead but the Insane Double Damage made it more trouble than it was worth. Inquisitor Dispel Magic and True Sight are great, and Protection from Evil is useful too. Other options considered was a Dark Moon Monk (same issue as kensai), an Archer, a Dwarven Defender, a 4th(!) Berserker, a Fighter/Thief or Fighter/Cleric. Really anything.
Round 0
## 0-1: Talosi
### Enemies
3 Talosi
We start with an assortment of useless weapons which we are not proficient with. Our 4 melee characters try to hit but mostly Magic Missiles from the two Sorceresses deal with the Talosi.
### Reward
2500GP
### Post-match
We gain 2500GP in order to outfit our team. 2 Morningstars, 2 Warhammers, 2 Ninjatos, 2 Bastardswords. Helmet and Splintmail for the four Fighters. This gives unmodified AC of 0. Also purchase Slings + Bullets for six. I prefer slings because of the range and strength bonus. Note that for some arcane reasons there are no throwing daggers in the Black Pits 1.
Gold: 1964
## 0-2: Diseased Gibberlings
### Enemies
7 Diseased Gibberlings
With our outfitted team the three Berserkers have AC of 0. With Berserk they can take down the Gibberlings hitting reasonably well. with thac0 of 14 or 15 depending on Str.
### Screenshots
### Reward
2500XP each
500GP
### Post-match
Everyone levels up to 2. No interesting choices. We hang onto our gold.
Gold: 2464
## 0-3: Healthy Gibberlings
### Enemies
7 Healthy Gibberlings
Exactly the same as the previous round all four Melee to take out the GIbberlings
### Screenshots
### Reward
2500XP each
500GP
### Post-match
Everyone levels up to 3. Sorceresses both take Blindness and Fighters all put a third pip in their primary weapon. Inquisitor puts a third pip in two-weapon style. We hang onto our gold.
Gold: 2964
Round 1
## 1-1: The Plan-B Team
### Enemies
Erasmus (Mage), Tim (thief), Reginald (Fighter? Cleric?), Bort (Barbarian), Apple (Druid), Fargus (Fighter)
This is the first "proper" fight against an adventurer party. The Sorceresses prioritize blinding the mage then everyone else. Berserkers enrage and take down Bort who can potentially do very high damage (>40HP) with Enrage and halberd. Apple the druid will try Charm Person/Mammal which Rage negates. Once the Mage is blind our Inquisitor engages. Once Bort is down it is a matter of mopping up blind enemies.
### Screenshots
### Reward
7300XP
1750GP
### Post-match
Hang onto cash.
## 1-2: Bad Hobs and Boomsticks
### Enemies
2 Hobgoblin Wizards, 3 Hobgoblin Archers, 3 Hobgoblin Warriors
Inquisitor pre-buffs the three berserkers with Protection from Evil then puts up True Sight. Rage and focusing on the Wizards works well. It is important not to let them get off their spells which can be a very damaging Lightning Bolt. Inquisitor True Sight deals with the Wizards' Mirror Image.
### Screenshots
### Reward
9125XP
2000GP
### Post-match
Nothing to do here.
## 1-3: How to Raise the Dead and Influence People
### Enemies
Llyrk and crumbling skeletons
Llyrk will cast Stinking Cloud so if possible this can be dragged depending on who it targets. Aggressive play is favored as his Stoneskin will go down quickly, he has low HP and once he dies all his skeletons collapse. Rage and beat down. For this run this was all sped up considerably with an Inquisitor Dispel Magic.
### Screenshots
### Reward
12167XP
2250GP
### Post-match
Fighters/Paladin all level up to 4.
## 1-4: Gauntlet of Ogres
### Enemies
Ogre Mage and Ogres
Splitting into 2-3 groups to hold up the ogres while the Inquisitor (with True Sight up) fires off a Dispel Magic and then everyone Rages. The sorceresses try to blind, followed by mopping up. The Ogres' morale seems to break quite easily.
### Screenshots
### Reward
18250XP
2500GP
### Post-match
Sorceresses level up to 4. Both take Web.
## 1-5: The Margarine of Evil
### Enemies
SamJohn BrightWater (Thief), Krancor the Old, Owyn (Cleric), Ciril, Carlos Nuez, Wylliam Brand (Mage)
This is the final, and hardest fight of round 1. With two casters with Web it is possible to immediately hold up the whole group, back this up with more Web, a Dispel Magic on the mage and then use ranged weapons to take down the opposing party, interspersing with Blindness. A couple of team Alice went down in this round.
### Screenshots
### Reward
18250XP + 21693XP
2500GP + 20000GP
### Post-match
Fighters/Paladin all Level to 5.
We now have considerable gold and access to Tier 2 Items.
We purchase a scroll of Friends and then Bastardsword +1, Warhammer +1, Morningstar +1, Ninjato +1. We also bought 3x Full Plate Armor for the Berserkers and the Gift of Peace helmet for Inquisitor. A general buying strategy is only to buy things which you would still be using in the last match.
Gold: 1448
Round 2
## 2-1: Bugged
### Enemies
5 Rabid Ankhegs
Melee characters are quite capable of dealing with the Ankhegs so long as vulnerable characters don't get surprised. Sorceresses scatter and support with Magic Missile. Not a difficult fight though Rabid Ankhegs hit hard with double damage.
### Screenshots
### Reward
26032XP
4000GP
### Post-match
Casters level to 5. Sorceress takes Level 1: Friends and Dragon Disciple takes Level 1: Burning Hands. Both take Level 2: Mirror Image.
Gold: 5448
## 2-2: Unfriendly Neighborhood Spiderman
### Enemies
Parker (Avenger), 7 Spiders, 1 Sword Spider
Parker will cast Web so priority is to disrupt him with Magic Missile and for everyone to scatter just in case. Opponents are not tough but characters can go down if they get webbed, otherwise a very simple battle.
### Screenshots
### Reward
32540XP
4500GP
### Post-match
The next match will feature two Shadows which are immune to Normal Weapons. We already have 4 +1 weapons. We buy 3x Boots of Speed for our three Berserkers.
Gold: 1461
## 2-3: Thicket of Thieves
### Enemies
6 Night Knives Thieves (undead), 2 Shadows; Traps
There are grease traps through the arena. The Night Knives are quite lethal at range with Acid Arrows so mass Webbing one side of the Arena and closing in on the other slowly with Raged Berserkers works. I kept the Inquisitor in reserve so he can run around the outside of the grease trap to engage any Night Knives not within. Once you close with them they die very easily - unfortunatly there is apparently also a fireball trap over to the left which almost took out the party, also a Berserker got webbed when I wasn't watching. Not a problem in the end. I found pre-buffing with 2x Shield, 4x Protection from Evil and 2x Mirror Image keeps things alive.
All in all this was a messy fight.
### Screenshots
### Reward
55386XP
5000GP
### Post-match
Fighters all level to 6: ++++ in primary weapon. Inquisitor to 6: +Two-handed Swords
## 2-4: Gift of the Ogre Mage
### Enemies
Ogre Mage. 4 Spawning portals (immune to magic damage) which produce imps, mephits, quasits, flesh golems, gray oozes and fission slimes.
Firstly, some sort of access to fire is essential to deal with potential Fission Slimes. It is important to take out the Portals asap as the spawns are dangerous: Quasits can cast Ray of Enfeeblement and Shield for example. 4 Melee characters go for 2 portals while 2 sorceresses try to web the Ogre Mage.
We got the Ogre Mage webbed but portals spawned 2 Flesh Golems which are tough, hasted and closed quickly. It is important to keep up pressure on the portals to take them out ASAP, which we do. Things go badly after that and it is touch and go - in hindsight Web turned into a liability: the Slimes/Oozes are immune to Web which meant they were free to take out most of the party from within the Webs. Only the Inquisitor and Dragon Disciple survived this example of "bad play".
I think this is one of the hardest individual fights due to the unpredictability of the spawns. It was the closest I came to failing the run. I think that I was over-rating Web without an Archer and should have just gone with bashing
### Screenshots
### Reward
65079XP
5500GP
### Post-match
Sorceresses Level up to 6. One takes Level 3: Haste, the other Level 3: Invisibility 10' Radius.
Next is the final fight of this round. We buy a Scroll of Slow.
Gold: 11553
## 2-5: Red Shirt Wizards
### Enemies
Treacle and Thespia (Mages) Voadikka (Barbarian), Red Tom (Thief), Lucius (Cleric), Lucilla (Blackguard)
Pre-buff with Protection from Evil on all four Melee then Haste and Invisibility 10' Radius + True Sight The priority is Lucilla as Aura of Despair and Poison Weapon will quickly kill characters. A cast of Dispel Magic then Slow from Scroll. Three Berserkers take down Lucilla and Voadikka then Treacle who has no Stoneskin. Inquisitor True Sight has dispelled all Mirror Images. Although the Inquisitor was Feared the rest of the battle went very smoothly.
### Screenshots
### Reward
130896XP
40000GP
### Post-match
Everyone levels up except the Inquisitor. Level 7 Fighters gain an extra 1/2 attack per round bringing it to 3 unhasted. Sorceress takes Level 1: Spook, Level 2: Melf's Acid Arrow, Level 3: Skulltrap; Dragon Disciple takes Level 1: Spook, Level 2: Melf's Acid Arrow, Level 3: Slow. They also gain SCS Minor Sequencers as innate abilities - Good for a personal favorite of Blindness+Magic Missile. Or anything else.
This unlocks Tier 3 items. We buy Ashideena +2, Longsword +2, Morningstar +2, Rashad's Talon +2, Amulet of Power, the second set of 3 Boots of Speed, Robes of Fire Resistance, Improved Cloak of Protection +2 (this means Improved Invisibility and Improved Haste for Tisiphone, who has Ashideena for spell disruption). We also buy a 4th set of Full Plate for the Inquisitor and the second Gift of Peace helmet.
Gold: 9421
Round 3
## 3-1: Swamped
### Enemies
Two trolls, Two Fission Slimes.
Beat down the Trolls and kill with Acid Arrows. Beat down the Fission Slimes a bit, then Kill with Burning Hands. This is a very easy match if you know what is coming and with the right spells/gear.
### Screenshots
### Reward
152712XP
8000GP
### Post-match
Inquisitor to 7. Spellcasters Level to 8 both take Level 4: Stoneskin
Gold: 17421
## 3-2: A History of Violent Beatings
### Enemies
5 Clay Golems, Shambling Mound
Hammer and Morningstar Berserkers go for Clay Golems while Inquisitor and Scimitar Berserker take out the Shambling Mound. With Haste, Improved Haste and Rage this is over in seconds, though someone gets pulverised.
### Screenshots
### Reward
183254XP
10000GP
### Post-match
Fighters level up to 8.
Gold: 27241
## 3-3: Ice to See You
### Enemies
5 Ice Salamanders, Ice Salamander Cleric
Focus on killing the Cleric first with Hasted/Improved hasted Berserkers + Inquisitor then mopping up. We try out our Minor Sequencer Blind+Magic Missile which is such a nice combo. This battle likewise should only take moments.
### Screenshots
### Reward
229068XP
12000GP
### Post-match
Inquisitor to Level 8. Sorceresses level to 9. Both take Level 2: Blur, Level 3: Protection from Fire, Level 4: Improved Invisibility
Buy Rings of Fire Control and Batalista's Passport. After casting Protection from Fire everyone the lowest fire resist any character has is 120%. Also buy Girdle of Stone Giant Strength for Scimitar-Berserker, 2 Rings of Protection +1 for fighters not wearing Fire Resistance rings and all three Girdles of the Hills for the extra Blunt AC.
We prep Minor Sequencers with 2x Magic Missiles, cast protection from Fire on Everyone, buff our mages, Haste and Invisibility 10' and go in for the (second) toughest fight.
Gold: 5047
## 3-4: Catching Fire
### Enemies
Hogarl the Fire Giant, 4 Fire Elementals
Tough. Berserk Rage will protect against the Fire Giant's Knockdown. Fire Elemental explode in fireballs when killed. Fortunatly we have >100%FR on everyone. We focus down the Fire Elementals ASAP, trying to keep out of the way of Hogarl's attacks.
Fire Giant hits like a truck so we weaken it at range with Magic Missile - it has very low save vs spell so without Malison it cannot be blinded. One Berserker distracts the Fire Giant in melee while the other three mop up the FIre Elementals, then everyone closes in and hits it to pieces with plenty of Magic Missiles.
### Screenshots
### Reward
305423XP
7000GP
### Post-match
Next is the final Fight: Baeloth
We spend the last of our gold on an Amulet of Protection +1, a Cloak of Protection +1 and two Golden Girdles for extra Slashing AC. We get a free Potion of Power from the Concoter, sell everything we don't need including two Girdles of the Hills and buy 3 Regeneration Potions.
## 3-5: Baeloth
### Enemies
Baeloth, Rakshasa, Fighter, Beholder
For buffs we prepare Minor Sequencers with 2x Magic Missile.
Everyone gets Protection from Fire
Spellcasters: Stoneskin, Shield, Blur, Mirror Image
Inquisitor: Protection from Evil on the 4 melee and then True Sight
3 Berserkers: Drink Potion of Regeneration
Ashideena-Zerker: Potion of Power, Improved Invisibility and Improved Haste
Spellcasters: Invisibility 10' and Haste
Two options for this fight. First Baeloth can be taken down first then the others. This will avoid the Beholder spawning. Or he can be left until last and the Beholder killed. The Beholder is the easiest enemy to kill.
We went with clearing out the minions then the Beholder then Baeloth. First Elan the Rakshasa is targeted and taken down as quick as possible, then Thardek. The Dragon Disciple casts slow which affects Thardek. Unfortunately Baeloth this time has Fireshield (blue) which we have not prepared for. After the beholder is killed, everyone switches to ranged as the Inquisitor tries some DIspel Magics. Either the second one works of Fireshield expires but everyone switches back to melee and goes in for the kill. We have survived the Black Pits.
### Screenshots
### Reward
Freedom. For now.
cya in Black Pits 2
Also, level drain is possible - those spawning portals can make wraiths. You were playing with fire there, since the free healing doesn't reverse that. There are at least scrolls of Greater Restoration available (an infinite supply) at 1200 gold before charisma modifiers.
I've done several more attempts with a shaman recently. The last of those had a hard time in ToB, but did manage to struggle through to Mel - only to be stunned by one of the bone darts from her first incarnation. I don't think my set-up was quite optimal for her though, so decided I should see if I can get back there to try again.
I was pretty lucky in the previous run getting that far given the level of risks taken and mistakes made. This time I'll try and be more focused on making progress with minimal risk. I've stuck to safe play so far, while doing the following:
- spirits nibbled Shoal to get to level 3 (+13 HPs).
- looted the manor house for an invisibility potion in case of emergencies.
- shot Algernon for his cloak.
- boosted defenses by shooting an ogre for its belt and grabbing a nearby ring from a hole.
- at the FAI used the temple to dodge into while shooting at Tarnesh. Charmed Jaheira and took her outside to be shot for her invisibility potion.
- further north, shot some fishermen and gave Tenya back her bowl.
- dodged an ankheg to travel on to Ulgoth's Beard and shot Dushai for her ring.
- helped Firebead out to get a scroll case.
- followed Korax round in the basilisk area to pick up 2 more levels while dealing with all the basilisks and Mutamin (+9, +10 HPs).
- used more Fogs on battle horrors at Durlag's Tower to get to level 6 (+10 HPs).
- some spirits were danced up ready for me to talk to Karlat, to make it easy to give Perdue his sword back. Spirits were similarly pre-summoned before I nipped in and out of Landrin's house to pull the spiders into an ambush. Returning his equipment was then enough for level 7 (+8 HPs).
- a trip to Nashkel provided me with LMD before I moved on to Firewine Bridge. Charming Bentan and seeing him killed allowed me to pick up his PfM scroll without reputation loss. Call lightning on Meilum as he initially approached meant only a single hit was needed to get his bracers.
- at the Nashkel Mine the only damage taken was from the unavoidable trap. Rather than let Mulahey call for support, he was just shot down without giving him a chance to talk.
- while I remembered, I picked up the violet potion back at the Carnival. After reporting to Berrun Ghastkill, Nimbul found that mirrors are not a good defense against lightning from the sky.
Shaman 7, 60 HPs, kills 98
Having broken free of their cells last week the chateau lockdown was already becoming tiresome. Lightfinger the shadow dancer, Corethief XXXIII / @Corey_Russell, Surely the shaman / @grond0 and Wewa the Berserker / @dogdancing decided they had endured enough and should make a break for freedom.
The jailbreak took between 40 and 50 minutes (40 minutes escape plus 10 minutes fiddling around as Corethief and Wewa were unselectable on exit of the chateau and we had to try a reconnect and then a clean restart before they responded). In this opening part Lightfinger forgot he should have been capturing details of events and only managed to show Surely dropping an area spell on some unseen Duergar as a second casting was underway.
We'd already picked up the +2 Arbane shortsword in a first ambush and presently we picked up Renfeld in a second.
By the time Lightfinger reacts he has been drained a bit and then becomes an easy dominee. Ugh, but as Wewa berserks into action we find Surely is the party-member with wits intact and his second wand of the heavens strike has convinced Lassal to retreat. Lightfinger tries and fails to antagonise Wewa with his dagger until the domination ends.
Our two hours were almost up but we braved the 'Harper' HQ and cleared the main parts, plus Lightfinger risked life limb and charm by tripping the helm of charm protection trap three times. Pay attention.
It looks like we will need to visit a store. Watchers Keep could be a good choice as Sister Garlena can throw in a cheap restoration for Lightfinger and supply us with a potion case. Will we remember to do this next time, after giving Xzar the bird.
In third place with 23 kills;
In second place with 48 kills;
In the lead with 59 kills;
Previous updates:
I wanted access to nymphs before doing the Bandit Camp, so returned to Durlag's Tower. A PfP scroll allowed me free attacks on the basilisks there, which was enough for level 8 (+8 HPs).
At the Bandit Camp, nymphs scouted ahead to act as meat shields and set bandits up for lightning strikes. With the exterior clear I rested and set up nymphs to await enemies following me out of Tazok's tent.
I used free action to just run through the web traps in the Cloakwood, rather than spend time dealing with the enemies there. At the mine Genthore and Kysus were charmed and pulled away. The others then lost out to nymphs.
A quick tour of the world map provided enough reputation to push that to 20, along with the charisma tome and crushing girdle. That left just the lighthouse area to visit before heading for the City. Nymphs tried their spells out against sirines there before spirits danced their way through the golems to provide me with the constitution tome.
There were no problems in Baldur's Gate in collecting the tomes, Helm & Cloak of Balduran. There was plenty of use of area damage, with nymphs and spirits filling in where necessary to avoid me being attacked. Lothander and Marek both found that nymphs can cause some serious wounds.
The Iron Throne gang were split up using the stairs and picked off one by one, leaving their leader for last.
I didn't bother with Krystin, so just shot Slythe with a dispelling arrow before letting nymphs have a go at him. He did well to save against a dozen or so hold attempts while doomed, but was less successful against insects and was eventually shot down just before he would have died anyway.
At the palace, all the dopplegangers chose to attack the dukes rather than me or the nymphs. That could have been a major problem, but horror and confusion immediately broke up the concerted attack and both dukes actually survived comfortably.
Spirits initially dealt with the occupants of the maze, but a crash meant I had to redo that and went for the quicker option with area damage and PfU dealing with most encounters.
The latest patch has made the behavior of the web and stinking cloud effects in the old temple even more inconsistent and the web now appears on top of you rather than giving you the chance to see a projectile coming and take protective action. Hence I buffed ahead of time with a couple of potions of magic protection before shooting Sarevok with a dispelling arrow (the trap never triggered anyway). Semaj teleported out to find a nymph, but, after killing that, he was unable to determine where repeated Fogs were coming from before he died.
Here's my character record and inventory on transfer.
Shaman 9, 82 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 282 kills