Gate70 : Wirblefop, human male Beastmaster (plus LN fairy dragon familiar) @Corey_Russell : Peel, human male Cavalier @Grond0 : Talisman, dwarf male random - Priest of Talos
With only a week since our last travels Wirblefop had barely considered his plan. Escape the underdark and buy the Firetooth crossbow; several sessions later than planned. A trip to Cromwell; forge Crom Faeyr and upgrade Firetooth (edit: well that would be much later if the correct bowstring is retrieved). See if Peel wants the re-assembled silver sword? Then on to Bodhi and Suldanessellar.
On to business.
We already had all three components for the drow matron mother, so handed them over. Wirblefop thought we might be able to complete the city within an hour (5 minutes) but decided we should complete a task newly assigned to us, and Peel duly observed it was troublesome.
Indeed it was with both Wirblefop and Talisman retreating briefly, and although we were in no danger with direct damage Talisman was down to 10hp. He failed to heal twice and Wirblefop failed to heal him once but Peel dipped in with his Paladin healing and Talisman was able to continue. This is the eventual outcome.
We stole the dragon eggs and returned them to Adalon once the matron mother and Phaere were disposed of by a demon lord. Then we went in search of Bodhi, brushing aside her surface party.
edit: n.b. Peel declined the Silver Sword so Kruin made himself invisible and we left him to depart with it.
Wirblefop then managed to not take any screenshots of the entire vampire nest encounter but suffice to say he carefully picked up loot, identified items and containerised everything before wondering why Talisman and Peel still had a pair of vampiric wraiths to destroy.
Downstairs Peel used a Daystar Sunray and Talisman popped vampires before and after. Bodhi fell and Wirblefop moved in from Firetooth crossbow range to place a stake through her.
We found the Lanthorn near her body and returned it to Elhan. He then transported us to Suldanessellar where Wirblefop struggled with his weapons - either them being sub-optimal or ineffective (+3 golems and +2 weapons you ninny, at least nobody noticed - except of course Grond0 who duly commented after WW > GWW were wasted!)
We took care against the black dragon and down it went.
Some questions about how it dies relatively easy so Wirblefop back-scrolls the combat log.
On the way to the temple of Rillifane we discussed strategy and opted to place items on the table so the avatar could deal with enemies. Talisman suggested Wirblefop should not be hidden. Wirblefop meanwhile was preparing the items which he had previously containerised. A goblet, a moonblade and, a cloak? That doesn't sound right so he checks with his companions. We all know the cloak is wrong but can't work out what we should have - and can't see it in the bag of holding. Wirblefop scans the buildings and we've been to them all. Then he remembers we need the talisman. Of course, says Talisman.
Outside the temple is some tough rakshasa resistance. Peel can take the pressure while Wirblefop predicatably stays safe and Talisman mixes and matches his way into retreating to lick his wounds while slinging near to Wirblefop.
Wirblefop already has the talisman but in his gem bag hence missed it before. With it retrieved we get the temple cleared without incident but Wirblefop is held and briefly concerned he may perish. Between the avatar and his buddies he is in no danger though.
We've made our way into the boughs of the Tree of Life. A first parasite has two earth elemental guards, and while Peel and Talisman pound into them Wirblefop claims both with the staff of earth. He tries the same with air and fire staffs but these elementals are tougher and the other party members get the four kills.
Irenicus finds himself outclassed due to strategy and Carsomyr. He takes a while to acknowledge defeat - having got Protection from Magical Weapons active in the nick of time.
He drags us to the hells. We continue in the same vein and his slayer form takes so long at near-death to finally give in that Peel exclaims the game must be bugged fates are not with us
Finally he is defeated, and we are transported to a pocket plane. The first group of enemies culminate in... Irenicus. He has no support (from Bodhi etc.) and is quickly killed.
We escape to Saradush, get the spell store re-opened and return to the pocket plane to come up with a nine word plan for next time.
The bad news, as one could guess, is that Tamika perished during the Unseeing Eye quest. With the SCS Smarter Beholders component set for Improved difficulty (no telekinesis eyestalks), we're trying to find a workable tactic against the group of beholders in the Rift area (w/o Shield of Balduran and magic resistant skeletons). Despite having negative saves and the Belt of Inertial Barrier, unbuffed (dispelled) Tamika struggled to take down the eyes fast enough while the damage from their CSWs was piling up rapidly.
After learning that gauths are unaffacted by Symbol of Death (not sure whether it's SCS that beefs them above 60HP), we tried a different approach by gating a Pit Fiend. After bombarding a squad of gauths the fiend stayed behind the rift bridge and Tamika tried to take on the remaining beholders on the other side with Everard. Dispelled and damaged, she had to retreat once again at which point I failed to realize that our ProEvil was among the buffs we had lost...
Miraculously, Tamika survived the initial fireball. However, quaffing a PoI in the next round did not save her, as apparently Pit Fiends can see through invisibility (or maybe Tamika got killed in the same split second as she went invisible). I had not installed the SCS Improved Fiends component, so I'm not entirely sure and will need to do some testing with the fiends next time, but anway I knew that the run had to end only because of the first mistake.
Well, I suppose Tamika's fate makes a case for having access to undispellable ProEvil via Sensate Amulet when playing a cleric.
Nevertheless, I'm not yet about to abandon the divine caster approach and so I decided to resurrect Anomandra, my Priest of Talos. She rushed through BG1 in Tamika's footsteps within several hours and is now ready to set foot in Athkatla. I'll post on her run soon.
@Borco Sorry to see the end of your run - but good luck with your Priest of Talos!
Rasha, neutral evil elven fighter/thief multiclass, final report
Our buffs before entering the throne: Oils of speed, death ward, chaotic commands, remove fear, bless, chant, spell trap/some other protections. Before the initial dialogue triggered, Rasha was able to lay down a spike trap, which helped greatly with Mel's first phase. I tried to preserve our fighter HLAs for later battles and was able to get Melissan to flee with just a couple of hits from my fighters, no effort needed:
No troubles clearing the first pool. Rasha only has a few spike traps at her disposal, so she is going to use them sparingly, instead only assisting with three normal traps for the next Melissan battle. Our foe managed to cast timestop, but luckily, she really didn't do anything dangerous with it, not even dispelling our buffs:
I had to use 2 GWWs in order to get the damage I needed this time around, but victory once again wasn't too had to achieve:
After clearing the second pool, I placed three of my four remaining spike traps - I should've placed all four, because upon reappearing, Melissan didn't go down, instead doing her usual "teleport away and summon a bunch of slayer shadows" - before we could catch up with her, she had healed to full hitpoints.
This was going to be much more of a struggle. Getting overwhelmed by slayer shadows was not part of the plan, so I decided to go all out here - I started using fighter HLAs every round to go for maximum damage, as pretty much all enemies decided to focus on Mazzy, who was getting dangerously low. Our damage output was high, but so were enemy numbers:
It was a full on damage race, but we were able to win it: Mel had to retreat, with Mazzy barely surviving. Even better for us: We still had our most important buffs. Mel tends to dispel these from time to time, but she never did this time around.
For the final pool, Rasha had kept a timestop scroll - timestop + GWW allowed her to take down most enemies here before having to retreat, with only two mariliths remaining, which were easily taken down by the party:
To give her the best chances possible, I had her use storm giant strength, invulnerability and another oil of speed - a process repeated for all fighters before the final battle - also, a potion of heroism for good luck. Placing all remaining traps (1 spike trap and maybe 2 or 3 normal traps?) brought Amelyssan to injured:
Using our final few HLAs, she was quickly forced to try and heal:
Luckily, she wasn't fast enough:
Victory!
Honestly, our gameplay did get a bit sloppy in ToB, getting three party members permanently killed - I was mostly still focused on keeping Rasha alive, paying little attention to others. They served their purpose, though, and got us through the final part of the game in relative safety. I don't think I'll have the time to start another run any time soon, but of course, I will continue to follow the thread - good luck in your adventures!
@Arvia Here is the required information for the Hall of Heroes (fighter/thief can also be removed from the list of classes/kits not yet in the hall of heroes):
In her previous iteration, Anomandra died in the beholder lair in Underdark. In case we manage to get that far this time around, I've made a note to save a ProMagic scroll specifically for that occasion (inspired by @Enuhal's last run).
Technical notes: Game version: BGEE 2.6.6.0 (no SoD) Difficulty: Hardcore Mods: SCS (v34.3) with all tactical and AI components; BG Tweaks (cosmetic changes) Modified SCS components: Giant Spiders (Tactical)
Here's the starting character sheet. Weapon proficiencies were hammers and slings.
Overall, Anomandra's approach to BG1 was very similar to that of late Tamika, so I intend to keep the write up slightly more high-level. Nevertheless, there were some tactical differences as Anomandra does not have access to the APRs that Priests of Helm do thanks to their Seeking Sword. That naturally made her more of a caster type priest rather than a warrior. Conveniently, the Animate Dead skeletons are immune to lightning, so Anomandra could unleash her Lightning Bolts without having to proactively pre-buff her summons with ProLightning.
By completing the various encounters and side quests around Beregost and Nashkel we got to level 5. At that stage we had in our possession the ankegh plate from Nashkel, sling +1 from Thunderhammer's, Wand of Sleep and potions from High Hedge, medium shield +1 from Bjornin, RoP +1 and Girdles of Piercing/Bluntness.
With access to L3 Animate Dead, Anomandra visited Mutamin's garden where she got to level 6 and collected the loot from Kirian's party, including the Golden Girdle. Thanks Korax!
Meilum yielded his Gauntles of Weapon Expertise and, after a shopping spree in Ulgoth's Beard, Anomandra used her Greenstone Amulet to collect the Manual of Bodily Health from the Pirate Cove and the Tome of Wisdom from Durlag's Tower. She used Lightning Bolts and the Wand of Heavens to defeat the Battle Horrors around the tower, which brought her to level 7 at only 55k exp.
From there we continued to the Nashkel mines. For Mulahey we used Animate Dead, ProEvil 10', Chant, Storm Shield and Greenstone Amulet. Two Lightning Bolts were sufficent to take him down together with most of his kobolds.
Compared to Tamika, the battle with Nimbul back in Nashkel was a bit more proctacted due to our lack of True Sight to counter his MIs and invisibility triggers. Nevertheless, with Shield Amulet and Greenstone Amulet charges we prevailed, with our skeletons doing most of the heavy lifting.
Raiken then delivered us from Peldwale to the Bandit Camp. For the main tent, we buffed with Oil of Speed, Shield Amulet, Resist Fear, Potion of Regeneration, Armor of Faith, Greenstone Amulet and Storm Shield. Anomandra opened with a bouncing Lightning Bolt targeting Venkt.
Getting Ender Sai out of the way, we also triggered the lightning trap from the chest, killing Britik.
For the rest of the bandits inside the tent, we used a combination of Hold Person, Wand of Heavens and Oil of Fiery Burning.
After refreshing some of her buffs and adding Holy Power, Anomandra proceeded to face the army outside. Taurgosz got held by Hold Person and the rest was bombarded with everything we had (which was mostly Potions of Explosions).
Following the battle, we took advantage of our buffed STR to bash the chest containing a Potion of Firebreath.
Before reaching Cloakwood, we were ambushed by Lamahla's amazons and decided to face them. Anomandra quaffed a PoI and applied both her offensive and defensive buffs. Telka was the first to fall to a Lightning Bolt + slingshot, while Zeela and Lamahla got silenced. After that we used our relatively colorful repertoire of spells to secure victory.
@Arvia Here is the required information for the Hall of Heroes (fighter/thief can also be removed from the list of classes/kits not yet in the hall of heroes):
@Arvia Here is the required information for the Hall of Heroes (fighter/thief can also be removed from the list of classes/kits not yet in the hall of heroes):
My eyes tell the world that there is divine blood in my veins: but what sort of blood? Good or Evil?
Knowing the struggles within, I know well that the evil is stronger than the good. However, we do our utmost to follow the teachings of the Helmites. Who knows? Perhaps we will overcome the selfishness within.
Within Candlekeep we are able to increase our reputation somewhat until it reaches 12. That is some achievement.
In the process, I had a romantic interlude with the trainee cleric, Alec.
Connie meanwhile had a lustful interlude with a guard who had decidedly kinky desires which aroused her own.
We were forced to leave and once outside Gorion was killed. Imoen joined us whereupon I gave her some armour left at the scene of the ambush and a long sword. We intend to get better equipped in Beregost before going in search of Khaled and Jahiera.
The armour that we gave Imoen was not enough to protect her when attacked by a horde of skeletons aarmed with bows and arrows. Connie and I did however manage to reach Beregost unhurt.
We bought a sling +1, calmed marl and took a tome to Firebead before raising Imoen at the temple.
After learning that gauths are unaffacted by Symbol of Death (not sure whether it's SCS that beefs them above 60HP)
SCS doesn't mess with gauth HP, as far as I know. However, there are multiple kinds of gauth. The pre-placed gauths in the Unseeing Eye's lair have 56 HP. The generic gauths that spawn at the "high level" triggers like the one in the forgotten temple area have 101 HP.
Apart from collecting the Cloak of Non-Detection, we avoided encounters in all the areas, using Sanctuary and Free Action (to counter the Web traps in Spider Forest). Getting ambushed by a group of giant spiders during area transition, Anomandra had to quaff one of her Potions of Freedom to safely avoid their web tangles.
We entered the mines undetected and witnessed Hareishan's electrocution by the Lightning Bolt trap.
Ahead of the battle with Davaeron, Anomandra prepared with Animate Dead, Animal Summoning I, ProEvil 10' and Chant. She then applied ProMagic scroll, Potion of Mind Focusing, Potion of Strength and an Oil of Speed.
It tooks us few rounds to cut through Dava's Stoneskin while he was teleporing around, though we still managed to finish him before the area became swarmed with the guards.
For Drasus, we mainly used our two available Lightning Bolts and Wand of Heavens charges, while keeping our AC vs. blunt weapons in the safe zone with Girdle of Bluntness and Potion of Absorption.
@Borco : fascinating runs from Tamika and Anomandra, thank you !
I myself am a no-reloader, often solo, with a fetishism for divine casters... and halflings too!
Admirable I found was the fact that Tamika would not cast Animate Dead which I find to be the most useful spell (after Sanctuary) for a solo Cleric in BG1. You also rely much more on melee combat using a wider spectrum of spell and potion buffs than I do, which is interesting.
My typical set up for the tough fights is 4 buffed skeleton warriors (Strength of One, Chant) and my cleric in the backline slinging and crowd-controlling (Silence, Hold Person, Holy Smite...).
@Ignatius Great to see other divine caster fans in here! We may even start a separate "Priest Simulator" (reference) thread at some point to exchange ideas .
I concur with your playstyle, it's mainly the Priest of Helm's ability to overcome the clerical APR limitations with Seeking Sword that had brought Tamika to the frontlines more often. That said, I do believe that one of the more underrated elements of any single class cleric (at least for solo playthrough) is their fast caster level progression and high level caps. I'm not sure how relevant that may be in ToB, but the ability to resist dispels, combined with long duration clerical buffs and strong Dispel Magic, is something that should not be automatically dismissed as irrelevant.
Our first destinations after returning from Cloakwood were Sorcerous Sundries and the Thieves' Guild (for the DEX tome). Stocked with valuable potions and low on cash, we returned to the Beregost area to confront Bassilus.
Back in Baldur's Gate, Anomandra became the instrument of Talos' wrath against the Umberlee priests. By way of a reward, we would get to keep the Tome of Wisdom and we also got our hands on the Shield of the Stars from Varci.
Finishing our search for the cure against Marek's poison, we fought the thief/mage at the Blushing Mermaid, using Oil of Speed and Potion of Magic Shielding among others. By then Anomandra reached level 8, earning a pip in the two-weapon style (otherwise level 8 does not provide any important breakpoints in terms of spells or kit specific abilities).
Ramazith's bad luck was that he resides in what is arguably the bounciest areas in the game when it comes to Lightning Bolts. Next time he better makes sure he's at least running MGoI instead of MSD.
After that we organized a short trip to Candlekeep with Duke Eltan's travel agency. Given the overall experience and hassle, the reviews are not going to be stellar, but at least we managed to secure the STR and WIS tomes by using the Violet Potion and protective buffs.
Back in the city, we caught up with Slythe and Kristyn. Taking it quite seriously, Anomandra prepared with Animate Dead, ProMagic scroll, Potion of Mind Focusing, Potion of Strength, Oil of Speed and Potion of Power, keeping her Potion of Regeneration at the ready. With our skeletons keeping him busy, the assassin failed to inflict a single point of damage on Anomandra before handing over the invitations for the coronation.
Here's our inventory and character sheet shortly before engaging the doppelgangers in the Ducal Palace.
Although less efficient than dual-wielding Tamika, Anomandra managed to safely pass the battle without losing either dukes, mainly by relying more heavily on Wand of Heavens' charges for additional source of damage.
Invisible and with our ProMagic still running, we rushed to the Temple of Bhaal to finally face Sarevok. I have to admit over and over again the SCS overhaul of the final battle has really climatic and epic feel to it. Here we go.
Most of the heavy lifting was done by our Potions of Firebreath. By targeting Diarmid, Anomandra raced in circles to strike everyone in the room, including the invisible casters, twice for every potion quaff.
Wand of Heavens finished Tazok, whom once again had wasted his Oil of Speed by drinking it on top of Potion of Freedom.
With his resistances and regeneration, Sarevok managed to withstand in total 24 slingshots, 7 charges from Wand of Heaven, 1 Potion of Firebreath and 3 Potions of Explosion. It only seemed fitting to finish him with the Wand of Magic Missiles from Imoen, but eventually it was a bullet that finally put him down.
Congrats on Anomandra for finishing BG1 in style ! did you manage not to trigger those traps in the Temple of Bhaal whilst running around firebreathing the gang? or was triggering them actually part of the battle plan?
Great idea on the "priest simulator" thread, you should be the initiator 🙂
Congrats on Anomandra for finishing BG1 in style ! did you manage not to trigger those traps in the Temple of Bhaal whilst running around firebreathing the gang? or was triggering them actually part of the battle plan?
Thanks! The SCS BG1 component "Tougher chapter-five end battle" actually removes the traps so it's just about fighting the goons
I didn't want to use more charges of my wand of ice, and I wanted to wait to recruit a cleric until I had more experience.
There were also other tactics that I could have used. Hopefully I'll learn from the experience.
I could have kited him. Usually that is a problem with Isra installed as Greywolf sometimes kills her before she joins the party which makes her death permanent. However, with Charname as a Blackguard, her death is irrelevant, perhaps even a minor positive as you get her equipment.
I have started with a very similar starting couple, but am playing it quite differently.
Journal of Abyssal the Black.
In Candlekeep things were mostly straightforward, though Mendas did badly wound me before he died.
Alec gave me a romantic goodbye kiss, but a dirty guard was a bit more forceful, not that I'm complaining.
At the FAI Tarnesh was not a problem, and Quentin awoke all my hidden desires before slaking them.
We headed north, retrieved Joia's ring, and killed Sonner and Partners. Tenya then joined the party and we killed an Ankheg.
We returned Joia's ring and recovered Gurke's Cloak before heading for Beregost where we did a few kindnesses that boosted our reputation.
We returned Perdue's sword and helped Mellicamp get back into shape before enlisting Tiax.
After buying some guril berries we were able to cure Tonder of Lycantrophy.
Returning to Beregost, I tried to return Gurke's Cloak, but he rebuffed my offer. Bartus however was willing.
South of Beregost we killed some ogrillon as well as Tristan und Isolde.
We made our way to the carnival where we slew Zordral. Afterwards Aerie identified our equipment free.
South of Nashkel we killed Zargos Flintblade and Greywolf.
Earlier we had spent a lot of gold raising our reputation.
After returning the Colquetle Amulet our reputation was 18.
Great for going shopping, except we have very little gold.
It could be worse. Our equipment is of reasonable quality.
We'll just have to earn some gold, some of which will come by selling a winter wolf pelt.
This time we didn't use any wand of ice charges.
EDIT
We took Samuel to the FAI before heading north to deal with the ankhegs. We returned his son to Farmer Brun and gave him 100gp. This brought our rep to 20. We killed some caravan guards which gave us some mithril armour and more +2 swords than we can currently use.
We are now collecting ankheg shells. I want enough gold from them to pay for a suit of ankheg armour and to upgrade our weaponry. +3 staves would be great as would a decent robe for Connie.
Tenya wants us to find somebody to teach her how to use her bowl.
As this is original trilogy run, Anomandra was shipped straight to Athkatla.
Technical notes for BG2: Game version: BG2EE 2.6.6.0 Difficulty: Hardcore Mods: SCS (v34.3) with tactical and AI components other than the exemptions below; BG Tweaks (cosmetic changes) Disapplied SCS components: Improved Share Lord; Improved Fiends; Improved Vampires; Improved Bodhi; Improved beholder hive (Underdark); Improved Watcher's Keep; Improved Fire Giant Temple; Improved Sendai's Enclave; Improved Abazigal's Lair; Smarter Illasera; Smarter Gromnir; Smarter Yaga-Shura; Smarter Abazigal Modified SCS components: Smarter Beholders (Improved diff.); Smarter Dragons (Improved diff.); Smarter Mind Flayers (Improved diff.)
Here's the SoA starting character sheet for the record:
We decided to try and tackle the Irenicus' dungeon on our own. I'm generally terrified of the (unavoidable) traps here and I usually end up letting Imoen hang around for a while. As a small courtesy, she at least disarmed the painting in the first room for us and gave us a parting blessing in the form of a Strength buff.
Anomandra was going to need a lot of healing points to heal up the trap damage - SCS prevents resting more than once in the dungeon and our own pool of healing spells and Bhallspawn powers was far from unlimited. Therefore, Anomandra should ideally avoid taking excessive damage in combat.
We started by raising two skeletons with which we defeated the mephit and Ataquah's gibberlings summoned by "I will not press the button". For the first band of duegar, conveniently located in a narrow (i.e. bouncy) corridor, Anomandra used one of her Lightning Bolts and the skeletons finished the rest. We upgraded from small shield to medium shield.
Anomandra then proceeded to the sewage golem room to collect Ashideena and couple of extra healings. The mineral mephit was cut to pieces by our trusty undead helpers. We used our second Lighting Bolt against the duegars near Rielev's room, picked up the energy cells, the stone and a sling (with meagre 4 bullets). With our skeletons killing the otyugh and the duegars in the adjacent corridors, we've able to reach Ellesime's room. By walking on the right side of the entrance, it's possible to avoid the first set of traps. There's more however - standing in front of the chest, Anomandra waited for the spear trap to spring. Ouch!
After healing the damage, she opened the chest. Ouch!
With our aura clear, we waited for the poison to tick, immediately after which Anomandra applied her Bhallspawn Slow Poison.
We used the skeletons to act as early waring system against the incoming golems. Just as we saw "Skeleton Warrior: Death" in the log, we went under Sanctuary and retreated back to Irenicus' room. Ready to get her Claw of Kazgaroth back, Anomandra healed to full health. Ouch, ouch, ouch!
I suppose it doesn't get any closer than that. Glad that Bhallspawn is not affected by morale failure, otherwise it would have been the end. Using our last healing spells and minor healings, we are able to recover. Seeing that we still have two Sanctuary spells available, we decided to loot the library and Ilych's room for more potions and sling bullets. After it was time to hit the portal to the second level and rest.
Ahead of entering the portal room, Anomandra summoned three skeletons and buffed with Oil of Speed, ProEvil 10', Chant, Holy Power, DuHM and (out of habit) Remove Fear. Sustaining only minor injuries, we were able to quickly clear to room and proceeded further.
Again, a nasty trap at the bridge required us to heal up a bit. The assassins were defeated at the cost of suffering one mediocre backstab.
Finally, we collected the RoP +1 and cleared the forge/smithy from a distance with Shield of the Archons [edit: I meant Storm Shield of course, not the L7 divine spell] and Lightning Bolts.
This brought Anomandra to level 9, which among others meant receiving the last large HP boost, access to L5 divine spells and enhanced DuHM effect (which now grants a bonus of 3).
Once out of the dungeon we were glad to be alive, I can tell you that!
I have not played much recently. I stopped my random run with Fall because of bugs, and for something different began a game with a Cavalier whose stats began rather low (3d6), but improved with each level. She and her band of good aligned female adventurers completed Durlag’s tower, despite a dangerous prediliction to take on basilisks regardless of protections. I’ll pick her up again when I feel the hero mood coming on .
Spending some time at Waukeen's Promenade, we first paid a visit to Adventurer's Mart. Given Anomandra's not very thorough clearing of Irenicus' dungeon, we did not however have sufficient funds to purchase any meaningful supplies yet (we did buy one PoI though).
We rested at the Den of Seven Vales and proceeded to the circus tent. After dealing with the orcs and helping Aerie, Anomandra buffed with ProEvil 10', Chaotic Commands (the single most valuable addition to our spellbook so far), Free Action (as Kalah likes to cast Slow and Hold Person), Holy Power, Armor of Faith and Storm Shield, among others. We entered the central room under Sanctuary, waiting to see if Kalah starts his divination. Hoping for a swift victory, Anomandra used the window of opportunity to fry him with Lightning Bolt.
However, as soon as Anomandra revealed herself, Kalah's prebuff trigger with MGoI went live.
Leaving Kalah unscathed, the lightning at least took care of the illusions. Our lack of means to break through Kalah's MGoI or dispel his MIs forced us to start slinging, one bullet a round.
We're mostly safe from his spells, barring minor damage from Chromatic Orb (magic) and MAA (acid).
As soon as his MGoI ran out, we pulled off another Lightning Bolt.
Near death, Kalah went invisible - we did not want him to start quaffing healing potions, so Anomandra immediately countered with Holy Smite.
With the Girdle of Piercing and the Ring of Human Influence ours, we returned to the Den to rest until nightfall and triggered the first guild war encounter. By selling all the expendable loot, we were able to raise funds to purchase RoAC and additional potions. Here's Anomandra's inventory before heading to Copper Coronet.
We arrived to the Copper Coronet after paying a short visit to Gaelan. Despite being completely broke, we persuaded Lehtinan that we have an awful amount of coin to spend and went on exploring the backstage. Armed with Chaotic Commands, Remove Fear, ProEvil 10' and DuHM, we faced the first guards near the gladiator cells. Just in case, Anomandra kept her Potion of Freedom at the ready.
We healed up, buffed with Storm Shield and hailed the beastmaster. One Lighthing Bolt was all that was needed to put an end to his miserable existence.
We used some of the prize money earned by freeding Hendak and the slaves to puchase the Sling of Seeking form Bernard. Before sliping into her rented bed at the inn, Anomandra collected the Gloves of Pickpocketing and Littleman from Llynis. Next morning, we returned to the Adventurer's Mart for the Reflex. En route back to the Slums we got ambused by Suna Seni, so it had been the right call for Anomandra to travel between the areas exclusively under Sanctuary.
Taking advantage of our invisibility, we retreated to the edge of the map to prepare. We decided not to go cheap and, rather than underestimating the upcoming battle, Anomandra quaffed an Oil of Speed on top of her other buffs. She summoned two skeletons and refreshed her Sanctuary to approach the group unnoticed.
Our first target was the mage - and we got lucky here.
Seeing that Suna Seni quaffed her own Oil of Speed, we activated our RoAC II and called in the skeletons to create distraction.
Anomandra: Lightning Bolt: Suna Seni
We shot the cleric down with sling while our skeletons finished the badly injured.
From there it was an easy way to victory.
We headed back to the Mart to sell the loot and restock our Oil of Speed collection. Finally returning to the Slums, Anomandra took care of Cohrvale and Bragg with Hold Person and summons and we purchased the Glasses of Identification from the fence at Gaelan's house. We're ready to hit the sewers and the slaver compound.
This is to provide an update on Anomandra's dealings with Athkatla's slavers and the Harpers. I've also edited the first SoA post to include the SCS configuration for BG2.
In the sewers underneath the Copper Coronet, we cleaved our way through the hobgoblins and kobolds mostly with Lightning Bolts and Holy Smite.
Avoiding the jellies and the otyugh with Sanctuary, we assembled Lilarcol, reaching level 10 in the process – for Anomandra that meant THAC0 reduction by 2 and, more importantly, further reduction of saving throws by 1. Also, our Armor of Faith now provides 15% resistances and the duration of other divine buffs linked to round/level, including Storm Shield, is becoming more and more relevant (we'll soon be adding spells like Aid to into our buff routine).
For Captain Haegan and his slavers we prepared with an Oil of Speed and a combination of defensive and offensive buffs. Approaching the priest of Cyric under Sanctuary, we "backstabbed" him first with Slay Living.
Our Reflex made the ranged attacks against Anomandra irrelevant and soon all the goons switched to melee. Using our speed advantage, we focused our spells against those enemies that had quaffed their own haste potions. We deployed Lightning Bolts...
Holy Smite...
Mental Domination...
and Hold Person, among others.
Heagan himself was finished at a distance with Sling of Seeking and for the trolls in the cell we used freshly summoned skeletons and Flame Blade.
After collecting our reward from Hendak, we first made a side trip to the Graveyard and then moved on to the Bridge District to solve the murders, relieve Reti of his Boots of Avoidance and shop potions at Mrs Cragmoon's. Strangely, in my current version of the game she does not sell a potion case (which was the main reason for our visit here). Instead of travelling all the way to Watchers' Keep, I decided to CLUAConsole it to our inventory at that point. Later I discovered that Roger the Fence doesn't sell it anymore either.
The funds that we accumulated allowed us to also get a full plate from Ribald, replacing the plate mail we had been using since defeating the Copper Coronet beastmaster. Upon transitioning from the Promenade, we ran into Renfeld.
Invisible, Anomandra retreated a bit back and prepared by summoning two skeletons and her defensive buffs, including RoAC II. With the summons taking the lead, Anomandra opened with Mental Domination on the fighter thug.
With the mage distracted, we were able to take care of the other two thugs, although the rogue managed to land a backstab on Anomandra in the meantime.
The charmed thug managed to kill the mage for us only to become a victim shortly thereafter.
Delivering Renfeld to the Harpers, Anomandra took upon Xzar's quest, hunting down his apprentices in the process.
Upon returning from the Harper's compound with the bird we got to level 11 – this means that Anomandra now has access to L6 spells, 3 Lightning Bolts / day, as well as 7HD skeleton warriors via Animate Dead. Here's the character sheet for the record:
Our next destination is going to be either Trademeet or the Graveyard district, we've yet to decide.
I've had several short BG:EE outings on my laptop.
Gorion waved charname away. "Go, go", he said. "I'll only slow you down on the way to your inevitable death". Charname hesitated and said "what?" "It's not a very long story" replied Gorion.
Charname 1
"Solace was a determined dwarven bounty hunter - until the house of Degrodel, being chased by guardians in a panic. I wish she'd laid a couple more snares or decided not to try and kill him".
Charname 2
"Nemesis, dark moon monk" says Tarnesh. "It's been a while since I collected a Bhaalspawn bounty".
Charname 3
"Ripple, Cleric / Ranger stupidly forgot solo charm was fatal and didn't bother activating the greenstone amulet or potion of clarity in the flesh golem cave of Black Alaric"
Comments
Gate70 : Wirblefop, human male Beastmaster (plus LN fairy dragon familiar)
@Corey_Russell : Peel, human male Cavalier
@Grond0 : Talisman, dwarf male random - Priest of Talos
With only a week since our last travels Wirblefop had barely considered his plan. Escape the underdark and buy the Firetooth crossbow; several sessions later than planned. A trip to Cromwell; forge Crom Faeyr and upgrade Firetooth (edit: well that would be much later if the correct bowstring is retrieved). See if Peel wants the re-assembled silver sword? Then on to Bodhi and Suldanessellar.
On to business.
We already had all three components for the drow matron mother, so handed them over. Wirblefop thought we might be able to complete the city within an hour (5 minutes) but decided we should complete a task newly assigned to us, and Peel duly observed it was troublesome.
Indeed it was with both Wirblefop and Talisman retreating briefly, and although we were in no danger with direct damage Talisman was down to 10hp. He failed to heal twice and Wirblefop failed to heal him once but Peel dipped in with his Paladin healing and Talisman was able to continue. This is the eventual outcome.
Wirblefop then managed to not take any screenshots of the entire vampire nest encounter but suffice to say he carefully picked up loot, identified items and containerised everything before wondering why Talisman and Peel still had a pair of vampiric wraiths to destroy.
Downstairs Peel used a Daystar Sunray and Talisman popped vampires before and after. Bodhi fell and Wirblefop moved in from Firetooth crossbow range to place a stake through her.
We found the Lanthorn near her body and returned it to Elhan. He then transported us to Suldanessellar where Wirblefop struggled with his weapons - either them being sub-optimal or ineffective (+3 golems and +2 weapons you ninny, at least nobody noticed - except of course Grond0 who duly commented after WW > GWW were wasted!)
We took care against the black dragon and down it went.
Outside the temple is some tough rakshasa resistance. Peel can take the pressure while Wirblefop predicatably stays safe and Talisman mixes and matches his way into retreating to lick his wounds while slinging near to Wirblefop.
We've made our way into the boughs of the Tree of Life. A first parasite has two earth elemental guards, and while Peel and Talisman pound into them Wirblefop claims both with the staff of earth. He tries the same with air and fire staffs but these elementals are tougher and the other party members get the four kills.
Irenicus finds himself outclassed due to strategy and Carsomyr. He takes a while to acknowledge defeat - having got Protection from Magical Weapons active in the nick of time.
@Gate70 Great to see the group reaching ToB!
Previous posts: Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4 , 5, 6
I've got good news and bad news.
The bad news, as one could guess, is that Tamika perished during the Unseeing Eye quest. With the SCS Smarter Beholders component set for Improved difficulty (no telekinesis eyestalks), we're trying to find a workable tactic against the group of beholders in the Rift area (w/o Shield of Balduran and magic resistant skeletons). Despite having negative saves and the Belt of Inertial Barrier, unbuffed (dispelled) Tamika struggled to take down the eyes fast enough while the damage from their CSWs was piling up rapidly.
After learning that gauths are unaffacted by Symbol of Death (not sure whether it's SCS that beefs them above 60HP), we tried a different approach by gating a Pit Fiend. After bombarding a squad of gauths the fiend stayed behind the rift bridge and Tamika tried to take on the remaining beholders on the other side with Everard. Dispelled and damaged, she had to retreat once again at which point I failed to realize that our ProEvil was among the buffs we had lost...
Miraculously, Tamika survived the initial fireball. However, quaffing a PoI in the next round did not save her, as apparently Pit Fiends can see through invisibility (or maybe Tamika got killed in the same split second as she went invisible). I had not installed the SCS Improved Fiends component, so I'm not entirely sure and will need to do some testing with the fiends next time, but anway I knew that the run had to end only because of the first mistake.
Well, I suppose Tamika's fate makes a case for having access to undispellable ProEvil via Sensate Amulet when playing a cleric.
Nevertheless, I'm not yet about to abandon the divine caster approach and so I decided to resurrect Anomandra, my Priest of Talos. She rushed through BG1 in Tamika's footsteps within several hours and is now ready to set foot in Athkatla. I'll post on her run soon.
Regards,
B.
Rasha, neutral evil elven fighter/thief multiclass, final report
Our buffs before entering the throne: Oils of speed, death ward, chaotic commands, remove fear, bless, chant, spell trap/some other protections. Before the initial dialogue triggered, Rasha was able to lay down a spike trap, which helped greatly with Mel's first phase. I tried to preserve our fighter HLAs for later battles and was able to get Melissan to flee with just a couple of hits from my fighters, no effort needed:
For the final pool, Rasha had kept a timestop scroll - timestop + GWW allowed her to take down most enemies here before having to retreat, with only two mariliths remaining, which were easily taken down by the party:
Honestly, our gameplay did get a bit sloppy in ToB, getting three party members permanently killed - I was mostly still focused on keeping Rasha alive, paying little attention to others. They served their purpose, though, and got us through the final part of the game in relative safety. I don't think I'll have the time to start another run any time soon, but of course, I will continue to follow the thread - good luck in your adventures!
Rasha, the Fighter/Thief: @Enuhal
Notable Mods: None
Difficulty: Core rules
Start: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1182070/#Comment_1182070
End: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1182290/#Comment_1182290
In her previous iteration, Anomandra died in the beholder lair in Underdark. In case we manage to get that far this time around, I've made a note to save a ProMagic scroll specifically for that occasion (inspired by @Enuhal's last run).
Technical notes:
Game version: BGEE 2.6.6.0 (no SoD)
Difficulty: Hardcore
Mods: SCS (v34.3) with all tactical and AI components; BG Tweaks (cosmetic changes)
Modified SCS components: Giant Spiders (Tactical)
Here's the starting character sheet. Weapon proficiencies were hammers and slings.
Overall, Anomandra's approach to BG1 was very similar to that of late Tamika, so I intend to keep the write up slightly more high-level. Nevertheless, there were some tactical differences as Anomandra does not have access to the APRs that Priests of Helm do thanks to their Seeking Sword. That naturally made her more of a caster type priest rather than a warrior. Conveniently, the Animate Dead skeletons are immune to lightning, so Anomandra could unleash her Lightning Bolts without having to proactively pre-buff her summons with ProLightning.
By completing the various encounters and side quests around Beregost and Nashkel we got to level 5. At that stage we had in our possession the ankegh plate from Nashkel, sling +1 from Thunderhammer's, Wand of Sleep and potions from High Hedge, medium shield +1 from Bjornin, RoP +1 and Girdles of Piercing/Bluntness.
With access to L3 Animate Dead, Anomandra visited Mutamin's garden where she got to level 6 and collected the loot from Kirian's party, including the Golden Girdle. Thanks Korax!
From there we continued to the Nashkel mines. For Mulahey we used Animate Dead, ProEvil 10', Chant, Storm Shield and Greenstone Amulet. Two Lightning Bolts were sufficent to take him down together with most of his kobolds.
Raiken then delivered us from Peldwale to the Bandit Camp. For the main tent, we buffed with Oil of Speed, Shield Amulet, Resist Fear, Potion of Regeneration, Armor of Faith, Greenstone Amulet and Storm Shield. Anomandra opened with a bouncing Lightning Bolt targeting Venkt.
Before reaching Cloakwood, we were ambushed by Lamahla's amazons and decided to face them. Anomandra quaffed a PoI and applied both her offensive and defensive buffs. Telka was the first to fall to a Lightning Bolt + slingshot, while Zeela and Lamahla got silenced. After that we used our relatively colorful repertoire of spells to secure victory.
Regards,
B.
Amazing work! Congratulations to the well deserved entry to the Hall.
Added. Congratulations on yet another well deserved success @Enuhal
@Borco The start of your run is looking good too.
Journal of Bane and Connie
My eyes tell the world that there is divine blood in my veins: but what sort of blood? Good or Evil?
Knowing the struggles within, I know well that the evil is stronger than the good. However, we do our utmost to follow the teachings of the Helmites. Who knows? Perhaps we will overcome the selfishness within.
Within Candlekeep we are able to increase our reputation somewhat until it reaches 12. That is some achievement.
In the process, I had a romantic interlude with the trainee cleric, Alec.
Connie meanwhile had a lustful interlude with a guard who had decidedly kinky desires which aroused her own.
We were forced to leave and once outside Gorion was killed. Imoen joined us whereupon I gave her some armour left at the scene of the ambush and a long sword. We intend to get better equipped in Beregost before going in search of Khaled and Jahiera.
The armour that we gave Imoen was not enough to protect her when attacked by a horde of skeletons aarmed with bows and arrows. Connie and I did however manage to reach Beregost unhurt.
We bought a sling +1, calmed marl and took a tome to Firebead before raising Imoen at the temple.
SCS doesn't mess with gauth HP, as far as I know. However, there are multiple kinds of gauth. The pre-placed gauths in the Unseeing Eye's lair have 56 HP. The generic gauths that spawn at the "high level" triggers like the one in the forgotten temple area have 101 HP.
Previous posts: 1
A quick update on the Cloakwood Forest.
Apart from collecting the Cloak of Non-Detection, we avoided encounters in all the areas, using Sanctuary and Free Action (to counter the Web traps in Spider Forest). Getting ambushed by a group of giant spiders during area transition, Anomandra had to quaff one of her Potions of Freedom to safely avoid their web tangles.
Regards,
B.
I myself am a no-reloader, often solo, with a fetishism for divine casters... and halflings too!
Admirable I found was the fact that Tamika would not cast Animate Dead which I find to be the most useful spell (after Sanctuary) for a solo Cleric in BG1. You also rely much more on melee combat using a wider spectrum of spell and potion buffs than I do, which is interesting.
My typical set up for the tough fights is 4 buffed skeleton warriors (Strength of One, Chant) and my cleric in the backline slinging and crowd-controlling (Silence, Hold Person, Holy Smite...).
I concur with your playstyle, it's mainly the Priest of Helm's ability to overcome the clerical APR limitations with Seeking Sword that had brought Tamika to the frontlines more often. That said, I do believe that one of the more underrated elements of any single class cleric (at least for solo playthrough) is their fast caster level progression and high level caps. I'm not sure how relevant that may be in ToB, but the ability to resist dispels, combined with long duration clerical buffs and strong Dispel Magic, is something that should not be automatically dismissed as irrelevant.
Previous posts: 1, 2
Our first destinations after returning from Cloakwood were Sorcerous Sundries and the Thieves' Guild (for the DEX tome). Stocked with valuable potions and low on cash, we returned to the Beregost area to confront Bassilus.
Although less efficient than dual-wielding Tamika, Anomandra managed to safely pass the battle without losing either dukes, mainly by relying more heavily on Wand of Heavens' charges for additional source of damage.
B.
Great idea on the "priest simulator" thread, you should be the initiator 🙂
Thanks! The SCS BG1 component "Tougher chapter-five end battle" actually removes the traps so it's just about fighting the goons
Completely my own fault. Greed.
I didn't want to use more charges of my wand of ice, and I wanted to wait to recruit a cleric until I had more experience.
There were also other tactics that I could have used. Hopefully I'll learn from the experience.
I could have kited him. Usually that is a problem with Isra installed as Greywolf sometimes kills her before she joins the party which makes her death permanent. However, with Charname as a Blackguard, her death is irrelevant, perhaps even a minor positive as you get her equipment.
I have started with a very similar starting couple, but am playing it quite differently.
Journal of Abyssal the Black.
In Candlekeep things were mostly straightforward, though Mendas did badly wound me before he died.
Alec gave me a romantic goodbye kiss, but a dirty guard was a bit more forceful, not that I'm complaining.
At the FAI Tarnesh was not a problem, and Quentin awoke all my hidden desires before slaking them.
We headed north, retrieved Joia's ring, and killed Sonner and Partners. Tenya then joined the party and we killed an Ankheg.
We returned Joia's ring and recovered Gurke's Cloak before heading for Beregost where we did a few kindnesses that boosted our reputation.
We returned Perdue's sword and helped Mellicamp get back into shape before enlisting Tiax.
After buying some guril berries we were able to cure Tonder of Lycantrophy.
Returning to Beregost, I tried to return Gurke's Cloak, but he rebuffed my offer. Bartus however was willing.
South of Beregost we killed some ogrillon as well as Tristan und Isolde.
We made our way to the carnival where we slew Zordral. Afterwards Aerie identified our equipment free.
South of Nashkel we killed Zargos Flintblade and Greywolf.
Earlier we had spent a lot of gold raising our reputation.
After returning the Colquetle Amulet our reputation was 18.
Great for going shopping, except we have very little gold.
It could be worse. Our equipment is of reasonable quality.
We'll just have to earn some gold, some of which will come by selling a winter wolf pelt.
This time we didn't use any wand of ice charges.
EDIT
We took Samuel to the FAI before heading north to deal with the ankhegs. We returned his son to Farmer Brun and gave him 100gp. This brought our rep to 20. We killed some caravan guards which gave us some mithril armour and more +2 swords than we can currently use.
We are now collecting ankheg shells. I want enough gold from them to pay for a suit of ankheg armour and to upgrade our weaponry. +3 staves would be great as would a decent robe for Connie.
Tenya wants us to find somebody to teach her how to use her bowl.
Previous posts (BG1): 1, 2, 3
As this is original trilogy run, Anomandra was shipped straight to Athkatla.
Technical notes for BG2:
Game version: BG2EE 2.6.6.0
Difficulty: Hardcore
Mods: SCS (v34.3) with tactical and AI components other than the exemptions below; BG Tweaks (cosmetic changes)
Disapplied SCS components: Improved Share Lord; Improved Fiends; Improved Vampires; Improved Bodhi; Improved beholder hive (Underdark); Improved Watcher's Keep; Improved Fire Giant Temple; Improved Sendai's Enclave; Improved Abazigal's Lair; Smarter Illasera; Smarter Gromnir; Smarter Yaga-Shura; Smarter Abazigal
Modified SCS components: Smarter Beholders (Improved diff.); Smarter Dragons (Improved diff.); Smarter Mind Flayers (Improved diff.)
Here's the SoA starting character sheet for the record:
We decided to try and tackle the Irenicus' dungeon on our own. I'm generally terrified of the (unavoidable) traps here and I usually end up letting Imoen hang around for a while. As a small courtesy, she at least disarmed the painting in the first room for us and gave us a parting blessing in the form of a Strength buff.
Anomandra was going to need a lot of healing points to heal up the trap damage - SCS prevents resting more than once in the dungeon and our own pool of healing spells and Bhallspawn powers was far from unlimited. Therefore, Anomandra should ideally avoid taking excessive damage in combat.
We started by raising two skeletons with which we defeated the mephit and Ataquah's gibberlings summoned by "I will not press the button". For the first band of duegar, conveniently located in a narrow (i.e. bouncy) corridor, Anomandra used one of her Lightning Bolts and the skeletons finished the rest. We upgraded from small shield to medium shield.
Ahead of entering the portal room, Anomandra summoned three skeletons and buffed with Oil of Speed, ProEvil 10', Chant, Holy Power, DuHM and (out of habit) Remove Fear. Sustaining only minor injuries, we were able to quickly clear to room and proceeded further.
Once out of the dungeon we were glad to be alive, I can tell you that!
Regards,
B.
I have not played much recently. I stopped my random run with Fall because of bugs, and for something different began a game with a Cavalier whose stats began rather low (3d6), but improved with each level. She and her band of good aligned female adventurers completed Durlag’s tower, despite a dangerous prediliction to take on basilisks regardless of protections. I’ll pick her up again when I feel the hero mood coming on
Previous posts (BG1): 1, 2, 3
Previous posts (SoA): 4
Spending some time at Waukeen's Promenade, we first paid a visit to Adventurer's Mart. Given Anomandra's not very thorough clearing of Irenicus' dungeon, we did not however have sufficient funds to purchase any meaningful supplies yet (we did buy one PoI though).
We rested at the Den of Seven Vales and proceeded to the circus tent. After dealing with the orcs and helping Aerie, Anomandra buffed with ProEvil 10', Chaotic Commands (the single most valuable addition to our spellbook so far), Free Action (as Kalah likes to cast Slow and Hold Person), Holy Power, Armor of Faith and Storm Shield, among others. We entered the central room under Sanctuary, waiting to see if Kalah starts his divination. Hoping for a swift victory, Anomandra used the window of opportunity to fry him with Lightning Bolt.
Regards,
B.
Previous posts (BG1): 1, 2, 3
Previous posts (SoA): 4, 5
We arrived to the Copper Coronet after paying a short visit to Gaelan. Despite being completely broke, we persuaded Lehtinan that we have an awful amount of coin to spend and went on exploring the backstage. Armed with Chaotic Commands, Remove Fear, ProEvil 10' and DuHM, we faced the first guards near the gladiator cells. Just in case, Anomandra kept her Potion of Freedom at the ready.
Regards,
B.
Interesting run.
Journal of Abyssal the Black.
We went ankheg hunting quite successfully and then spent the loot buying a robe and cloak for Connie the Black.
Summoning a ghast and a skeleton and using command and strength spells was clearly the way to go.
We collected our reward for killing spiders and took Khaled and Jaheira to Nashkel.
At the carnival Aerie identified our wand of fire amongst other things and nearby we bought a necklace of missiles. We are now poor again.
Whilst shopping we saw some items that we lusted after, but we need gold by the thousand to buy them.
Basilisks will be our next prey.
Previous posts (BG1): 1, 2, 3
Previous posts (SoA): 4, 5, 6
This is to provide an update on Anomandra's dealings with Athkatla's slavers and the Harpers. I've also edited the first SoA post to include the SCS configuration for BG2.
In the sewers underneath the Copper Coronet, we cleaved our way through the hobgoblins and kobolds mostly with Lightning Bolts and Holy Smite.
For Captain Haegan and his slavers we prepared with an Oil of Speed and a combination of defensive and offensive buffs. Approaching the priest of Cyric under Sanctuary, we "backstabbed" him first with Slay Living.
The funds that we accumulated allowed us to also get a full plate from Ribald, replacing the plate mail we had been using since defeating the Copper Coronet beastmaster. Upon transitioning from the Promenade, we ran into Renfeld.
Our next destination is going to be either Trademeet or the Graveyard district, we've yet to decide.
Regards,
B.
Gorion waved charname away. "Go, go", he said. "I'll only slow you down on the way to your inevitable death". Charname hesitated and said "what?" "It's not a very long story" replied Gorion.
Charname 1
"Solace was a determined dwarven bounty hunter - until the house of Degrodel, being chased by guardians in a panic. I wish she'd laid a couple more snares or decided not to try and kill him".
Charname 2
"Nemesis, dark moon monk" says Tarnesh. "It's been a while since I collected a Bhaalspawn bounty".
Charname 3
"Ripple, Cleric / Ranger stupidly forgot solo charm was fatal and didn't bother activating the greenstone amulet or potion of clarity in the flesh golem cave of Black Alaric"