Unga-Bunga search Bremen's Run for barbarian camp, find lone sentry guarding gate to camp. Sentry ask Unga-Bunga why there. Unga-Bunga say need speak chieftain. Sentry call more sentries, surround Unga-Bunga, demand know why Unga-Bunga want see chieftain. Unga-Bunga say Ten Towns wish parley, talk peace:
Sentries take Unga-Bunga through gate into large encampment. Unga-Bunga try learn layout of camp while walking:
Unga-Bunga taken into large tent of chieftain, have audience with Chieftain Wylfdene. Unga-Bunga ask Chieftain Wyldene why herald say Chieftain Wyldene guided by spirit of Jerrod. Chieftain Wyldene tell Unga-Bunga when Wylfdene died, spirit of Jerrod came to Wylfdene, ask Wylfdene join with Jerrod, return barbarians tribes to former glory. Chieftain Wylfdene say Wylfdene neither Wylfdene nor Jerrod but both in one, tell Unga-Bunga Chieftain Wylfdene brought tribes together, through Wylfdene tribes rule North once more:
Unga-Bunga tell Chieftain Wylfdene Ten Towns wish sue for peace. Chieftain Wylfdene say Ten Towns steal barbarians' land, tell Unga-Bunga barbarian land shrink until only land too cold:
Unga-Bunga suggest Ten Towns, barbarian tribes parley, make treaty, find common ground. Chieftain Wylfdene say Townsfolk have nothing in common with barbarian tribes, twist all Unga-Bunga say, make sound like insult:
Chieftain Wylfdene tell Unga-Bunga could make peace if Chieftain Wylfdene believed Unga-Bunga delegate of Ten Towns:
Chieftain Wyldene accuse Unga-Bunga of being assassin like last delegate sent by Ten Towns, say last delegate's head on spike outside tent:
Unga-Bunga tell Chieftain Wylfdene Unga-Bunga not assassin sent kill Chieftain Wylfdene. Unga-Bunga think not yet anyway but not say that. Chieftain Wylfdene say if Unga-Bunga not assassin then Unga-Bunga spy sent learn strength and weaknesses of tribes. Chieftain Wylfdene say Chieftain Wylfdene not let Unga-Bunga leave tent alive:
Unga-Bunga about summon elemental when Shaman Hjollder speak up, say Shaman Hjollder ask Unga-Bunga come speak to Wylfdene, say saw Unga-Bunga in vision given by spirits, say spirits speak will of Tempos:
Chieftain Wylfdene say Chieftain Wylfdene want hear will of Tempos, ask Hjollder why Hjollder bring Unga-Bunga encampment.
Unga-Bunga hope Shaman Hjollder have good answer:
Shaman Hjollder say purpose served by Unga-Bunga unclear in vision. Unga-Bunga sigh, get ready summon elemental again:
Chieftain Wylfdene get angry, banish Hjollder to death on Burial Isle:
Chieftain Wylfdene say if will of Tempos Unga-Bunga live, Chieftain Wylfdene let Unga-Bunga live. Chieftain Wylfdene only banish Unga-Bunga from barbarian camp. Unga-Bunga happy but feel little bad for Hjollder.
Unga-Bunga led outside camp by sentries. Once outside camp, Unga-Bunga told by sentries Chieftain Wylfdene ordered Unga-Bunga put to death. Unga-Bunga think fast, try change subject, ask about Hjollder and Burial Isle. Sentry tell Unga-Bunga Hjollder will die of cold or starve, say Burial Isle out in middle of lake near Lonelywood only reachable by boat:
Sentry raise axe, walk toward Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga afraid, ask if sentries' place to question shaman. Sentry tell Unga-Bunga shaman are voice of Tempos, say through shaman visions tribe know Tempos' will. Unga-Bunga quickly say Shaman Hjollder say Unga-Bunga destined for greater purpose, tell sentries if kill Unga-Bunga sentries defying Tempos' will.
Unga-Bunga ask spirits for aid while sentries talk. Sentry finally say Unga-Bunga can leave:
Unga-Bunga thank sentry, ask sentry name. Sentry say Sentry Angaar, son of Raag, warrior of Wolf Tribe. Unga-Bunga ask Angaar about first delegate from Ten Towns. Angaar tell Unga-Bunga Chieftain Wylfdene claimed delegate was assassin during audience with Chieftain Wylfdene, say Chieftain Wylfdene tortured delegate. Angaar say think delegate say anything to end torture:
Unga-Bunga ask Angaar about Chieftain Wylfdene's claim of being Jerrod. Angaar tell Unga-Bunga Chieftain Wylfdene was Chieftain of Tribe of Wyrm slain in battle, laid rest on Burial Isle but rose from death, claim possessed by spirit of Jerrod. Angaar say Chieftain Wylfdene call tribes together, lay claim, questioned by shaman about life of Jerrod. Angaar tell Inga-Bunga shaman say Chieftain Wylfdene knew life of Jerrod well:
Unga-Bunga thank Angaar, other sentries not kill Unga-Bunga, leave barbarian encampment, return Lonelywood. Unga-Bunga see Gravedigger Purvis digging hole on way into town. Gravedigger Purvis say Gravedigger Purvis dig hole for trapper Digby because trapper Digby died in forest:
Unga-Bunga want talk other trapper brothers but go see Representative Baldemar on way, say Baldemar try assassinate Chieftain Wylfdene, send assassin to barbarian camp, Baldemar deny plan, Unga-Bunga tell Baldemar will bring accusation to Ten Towns Council. Baldemar confess but say idea was Council idea, made Baldemar play along, say other representatives on council remove Baldemar from council if Baldemar not go along with plan:
Unga-Bunga tell Baldemar Unga-Bunga believe Baldemar, say Baldemar can still do right thing, admit plan to rest of council, Baldemar agree:
Unga-Bunga leave, talk to two trapper brothers. Trapper brothers angry at Emmerich, say Digby went check traps night before, brothers found Digby in forest with throat torn out, say want kill Emmerich:
Unga-Bunga leave, go see Emmerich. Emmerich tell Unga-Bunga Emmerich think same White Wolf attacked Digby as attacked Emmerich. Emmerich say Digby not murdered, say trappers kill so many wolves killing Digby was self defense:
Unga-Bunga not know what think except think Burial Isle hopefully more sane than Lonelywood townsfolk. Unga-Bunga go see Young Jed, ask Young Jed sail Unga-Bunga Burial Isle, think Shaman Hjollder want know about Chieftain Wylfdene. Young Jed not want sail Burial Isle:
Unga-Bunga finally convince Young Jed sail. Young Jed sail Unga-Bunga Burial Isle, wait by boat. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, search around island, see many dead no longer at rest led by Ghost Shaman:
Unga-Bunga see ruined tower on southwest coast of isle, see light flickering in window, go to tower. Unga-Bunga see man in tower, shake off Pixie Dust. Man tell Unga-Bunga Man name Edion Caradoc, say Edion once Necro Mage, aided kings of nations far to south against uprisings. Edion tell Unga-Bunga enemies performed dark ritual, infected Edion with negative energy, say casting spells makes infection worse so Edion came Burial Isle, live in exile. Unga-Bunga offer try heal Edion but Edion tell Unga-Bunga only deity can cure Edion:
Unga-Bunga ask Edion about Burial Isle. Edion tell Unga-Bunga dead on isle restless after evil spirit appear on island. Unga-Bunga ask if evil taint can be removed from isle somehow. Edion say tribefolk have strong views on purity, say very difficult for things or beings be redeemed from evil taint. Unga-Bunga agree with Edion:
Edion offer barter of items with Unga-Bunga, let Unga-Bunga take rest in tower. Unga-Bunga know only hope to remove evil taint on Burial Isle is slay all dead on Isle, hope new death bring purity. Unga-Bunga think many dozens of dead on isle, ask sprits for aid, take rest before confronting dead next day...
Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather things, leave tower. Unga-Bunga summon elementals, send elementals battle undead swarm:
Unga-Bunga watch undead tear elementals apart:
Unga-Bunga know undead on Burial Isle once greatest heroes, mightiest kings. Unga-Bunga underestimate power even so, realize must take great risk, enter battle directly:
Unga-Bunga call down lightning from sky onto undead, purify undead with elements, leave blackened, charred remains behind:
Unga-Bunga summon spikes of stone, pierce undead from beneath, command Earth reclaim dead:
Near northwestern shore of Burial Isle Unga-Bunga confronted by Ghost Shaman Skaldar. Ghost Shaman Skaldar tell Unga-Bunga dead chieftain rose from barrow possessed by evil spirit. Ghost Shaman Skaldar say evil spirit left evil mark on Isle. Unga-Bunga ask Ghost Shaman Skaldar how cleanse taint from Isle. Ghost Shaman Skaldar say taint not be cleansed, command Unga-Bunga leave:
Unga-Bunga sigh, know Ghost Shaman Skaldar unclean from evil spirit, know must slay Ghost Shaman Skaldar to cleanse spirit. Unga-Bunga approach Ghost Shaman Skaldar. Ghost Shaman Skaldar summon undead shaman brothers from cairns, summon darkness upon Isle:
Unga-Bunga hold hands up, back away from Ghost Shaman Skaldar, return tower. Unga-Bunga take rest, ask spirits for aid in great battle next day. Unga-Bunga wake next day, summon elementals, cast all protection magics, return to Ghost Shaman Skaldar. Ghost Shaman Skaldar get angry:
Unga-Bunga call down lightning on shaman, command elementals beat shaman down, blind shaman with nature magics:
Unga-Bunga and elementals battle long while, finally prevail:
Unga-Bunga and elementals battle more undead on north side of island. Unga-Bunga see circle of standing stones surrounding altar, see great Polar Bear Spirit guarding site. Unga-Bunga command elementals wait outside circle of stones, approach Polar Bear Spirit, hope spirit not tainted.
Polar Bear Spirit tell Unga-Bunga Unga-Bunga soul diseased, will slay Unga-Bunga if Unga-Bunga not leave island:
Unga-Bunga sigh, try explain evil spirit tainted isle. Polar Bear Spirit not believe Unga-Bunga, summon many animal spirits, attack Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga see Polar Bear Spirit very strong, make elementals afraid, resist Unga-Bunga's magics many times. Unga-Bunga only have one blinding spell left, cast spell. Spirits aid Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga blind Polar Bear Spirit:
Unga-Bunga summon spike stones, weaken spirits, slay all spirits until only Polar Bear Spirit left. Unga-Bunga throw axe, slay Polar Bear Spirit:
Unga-Bunga and elementals clear surface of Burial Isle of undead, find many entrances into burial caverns beneath surface. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, enter burial caverns, see many undead:
Unga-Bunga leave caverns, summon elementals near cavern entrance, cast protection magics, lure undead to surface, battle undead down:
Unga-Bunga enter caverns, try lure more undead but not all undead follow Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga and elementals battle Drowned Dead, Barrow Wights in burial caverns. Unga-Bunga approach undead, see Wailing Virgins appear:
Wailing Virgins enchant undead, make run faster, attack more. Wailing Virgins cry out, damage all who hear cry. Wailing Virgins cry out, stun all living things with piercing wail. Unga-Bunga suffer many wounds, stunned many times by virgins. Undead tear elementals apart. Unga-Bunga fear Unga-Bunga join dead on Burial Isle:
Unga-Bunga near end of allies, end of magics, end of Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga try one last magic, blind many undead:
Unga-Bunga summon last elementals, battle undead with last strength. Unga-Bunga carry many wounds but slowly beat down undead:
Once Unga-Bunga win battle, Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, creep slowly out of caverns to surface, limp to tower. Edion say Unga-Bunga look more dead than alive. Unga-Bunga rest many hours, gather things, return to caverns. Unga-Bunga not quit until vision quest over or Unga-Bunga over.
Unga-Bunga find tombs in caverns guarded by many undead. Unga-Bunga summons elementals, spirits, earthen spikes to battle:
Unga-Bunga know all things on Isle tainted, claim treasures buried in tombs, remove taint from Isle:
Unga-Bunga see armored figure watching Unga-Bunga battle undead. Unga-Bunga speak to being. Being say name Vexing Thoughts, say Vexing Thoughts commander of some army Unga-Bunga not know. Vexing Thoughts want Unga-Bunga service Vexing Thoughts. Vexing Thoughts tell Unga-Bunga Unga-Bunga soon face great foe, say Vexing Thoughts help Unga-Bunga fight foe. Vexing Thoughts tell Unga-Bunga must murder innocent to enter service:
Unga-Bunga tell Vexing Thoughts Unga-Bunga never service Vexing Thoughts, command elementals attack Vexing Thoughts. Vexing Thoughts not notice elementals attacking. Unga-Bunga think good if Unga-Bunga leave Vexing Thoughts to Vexing Thoughts' Vexing Thoughts...
Unga-Bunga find tunnel up to surface in northwestern part of caverns, find Shaman Hjollder alone on small island off Burial Isle. Shaman Hjollder think Unga-Bunga spirit come torture Shaman Hjollder:
Unga-Bunga tell Shaman Hjollder Chieftain Wylfdene want kill Unga-Bunga, say not believe Chieftain Wylfdene really possessed by Jerrod. Shaman Hjollder ask Unga-Bunga why Unga-Bunga make claim against Chieftain Wylfdene. Unga-Bunga tell Shaman Hjollder about taint from evil spirit, make undead on Isle restless:
Shaman Hjollder ask Unga-Bunga find proof of Chieftain Wylfdene's corruption within barrows, bring Shaman Hjollder proof. Unga-Bunga notice Shaman Hjollder not come help find proof, though. Unga-Bunga ask Shaman Hjollder keep watch while Unga-Bunga rest.
Unga-Bunga rest, gather things, enter caverns again. Unga-Bunga search caverns, battle many more undead. Unga-Bunga fight desperate battles, carry many wounds:
Unga-Bunga round bend in caverns, see great tomb surrounded by many virgins:
Unga-Bunga confronted by Wailing Virgin. Virgin say name Mebdinga, once of Tribe of the Bear. Mebdinga say Mebdinga sacrificed with many other virgins, attend great Chieftain Wylfdene in afterlife, command Unga-Bunga leave barrow:
Unga-Bunga weakened from many battles, know not able defeat seven Wailing Virgins now. Unga-Bunga raise hands, back away from Medbinga like Unga-Bunga back away from Ghost Shaman Skaldar. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, return to Shaman Hjollder, ask sprits for aid, rest and recover.
Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather things, return to barrows. Unga-Bunga summon elementals, confront Mebdinga, know must slay Mebdinga to purify spirits:
Unga-Bunga, elementals face Mebdinga, Wailing Virgins in great battle, battle so perilous Unga-Bunga forget remember much of battle:
Unga-Bunga gravely wounded but slowly battle Wailing Virgins down, use all magics and strength:
Unga-Bunga see Mebdinga move away from tomb, command elementals not chase Mebdinga. Unga-Bunga quickly search tomb of Chieftain Wylfdene, find tribal amulet:
Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, return to Shaman Hjollder, show Shaman Hjollder amulet:
Shaman Hjollder take amulet, say no tribesman would defile object sacred to tribes. Shaman Hjollder say Chieftain Wylfdene not possessed by Jarrod's spirit:
Unga-Bunga ask Shaman Hjollder who raise Chieftain Wylfdene from death if not Jerrod. Shaman Hjollder tell Unga-Bunga face of Chieftain Wylfdene hidden in Hjollder's visions, say Seer of Gloomfrost have strong sight, might see who raise Chieftain Wylfdene from death.
Shaman Hjollder tell Unga-Bunga find Gloomfrost Seer, warn Unga-Bunga Gloomfrost Seer see into hearts of men, know many hidden things, protected by guardians, creatures of Gloomfrost:
Unga-Bunga suggest Shaman Hjollder join Unga-Bunga, find Gloomfrost Seer. Shaman Hjollder tell Unga-Bunga Shaman Hjollder exiled to Burial Isle, not disobey command from Chieftain Wylfdene until Chieftain Wylfdene no longer Chieftain. Unga-Bunga think exile mighty convenient for Shaman Hjollder but not say anything.
Unga-Bunga ask Shaman Hjollder keep watch, take rest, know must find and purify Mebdinga next day...
The latest session commenced with a continuing assault on the Underdark. In the Western Tunnels, Trile put her death spell to good use to cut-short many kuo-toa lives. Their prince found his regeneration insufficient to deal with a planetar on top of Mist's GWW. Skeleton warriors then both helped summon some demon knights and provided a bit of cover during the fight.
With fast attacks and plenty of dispelling ability, we felt confident about taking down the elder orbs before they could imprison us - and duly did so.
We didn't bother with the illithid area this time, but went on to find the drow. Their first task for us was to rescue Phaere in an ambush, but first we had to survive another ambush - that was no trouble after the enemies wilted under Trile's fire. A few more tasks were quickly done before Mist gave Trile Solaufein's eggs and told her to go and swap them. Fortunately Trile has plenty of experience with her dozy companion and insisted on a different replica. Solaufein's eggs were less easy for Phaere to spot and that led her to a spot of bother with a summoned demon.
We had no use for human flesh armor, so left the dragon alone and just ran out of the Underdark past some battling elves and drow. We bypassed Drizzt invisibly and, back in Athkatla, handed over the silver sword blade to Kruin. A few other bits and pieces were joined together to provide an upgraded bow, halberd and hammer and we bought a few final things at the Promenade.
We'd done pretty much everything in the City before going to Spellhold, so it was then on to the Graveyard, where Mist slipped a quick rest in to expose the local vampire population to a bad case of sunburn. Downstairs, Mist tried to sort out a large group of vampires with a Daystar sunray, but failed to re-equip the iMoD properly and got drained as a result. That was potentially dangerous as it made her subject to domination, but she quickly spotted the danger and donned a helm of charm protection before a planetar made an appearance and restored her. Bodhi put up little fight as usual.
Mist enquired briefly about the potential availability of some fur-lined boots - thinking ahead to a potential confrontation with Melissan. However, she quickly gave up the search and just headed for Suldanesselar. That was cleared easily enough, with Mist shrugging off an insect infestation while pummeling a dragon. A few collected goodies were handed in at the temple to allow the Avatar to do the hard work there.
On the tree, Jon dealt with a skeleton warrior during a double time-stop. Rather surprisingly, he shrugged off 2 attempts by Mist to dispel him and appeared to be moving in for a maze on her. Trile decided that merited another appearance by a planetar and that quickly brought an end to the contest.
In the Hell Trials, Mist decided she wanted to keep her paladin status and went for the goodie two-shoes options. She did try and set up the genie to be killed immediately after handing over Blackrazor, but the difficulty of pausing in multi-player meant no-one managed to even get an attack in before the genie disappeared. As usual, a few tears were cashed in to make Mist invulnerable to the attacks of Wraith Sarevok. That just left one more encounter with Jon. Dispel meant the Slayer lasted a rather shorter time than usual and the Throne of Bhaal awaits next time.
Inquisitor 26, 166 HPs (inc. 5 from Helm), 942 kills (+575 in BG1)
Mage 24, 66 HPs, 297 kills (+152 in BG1), 2 deaths
Regis tried to take on Sarevok by stealth and backstabbing, however that didn't work. Helma therefore dispelled Sarevok after which his defeat was inevitable.
In SoD got as far as The Duke's Palace.
Realised that I had forgotten to recharge all my wands. A bit stupid as I had over 20,000 gold pieces, but no big deal.
Dynahir has disappeared. (However, I know where to find her.)
I intend to carry on with this game later, however I have done what I intended to do already. Sable, a blackguard is now lawful good. I am a bit overpowered so may abandon this altogether. We'll see.
Now switching to an unmodded game starting with a Cleric of Helm and a conjurer.
First run with these two ended with both being killed by an ankheg whilst still at level one.
EDIT
Second run through was a bit more careful and used command to good effect against the ankheg.
We went to Beregost, talked to Marl, and took a book yo Firebead.: bought a +1 sling which when combined with Connie's sleep spell made killing the ogrillon straightforward. Now both of us have a +1 ring of protection.
The battle against Vax and Zal as tough but successful, but Zordral was too tough for us.
The next time that I play unmodded with a mage, I think I will have to recruit help
I am now trying Helmuth and Connie with my modded game. A bit more interesting I think.
Importing from BG1EE into SoD.
Mods: Full SCS V34.3.
Difficulty: Insane with no difficulty-based damage increase.
Protagonist: Amarande, Half-Elven Fighter/Mage (stats and starting inventory depicted below).
Apart from Amarande's familiar bugging out (he lost the HP and releasing the familiar caused it to vanish, but I was able to just resummon it), importing went smoothly. He has a fairly modest starting inventory, but even so, that gear... next time around I'll probably just bring over the BG1 items I want to import and go with default gear for the rest. Anyway, onto glory/horrific demise, whatever the case may be.
Swords for everyone! The Amarande story III PreviousNext
Korlasz's tomb is uneventful; careful use of NPC consumables and the few wands we find within are sufficient to get us through the whole thing without having to rest. I made an effort my entire time in SoD to actually use wands and potions, but still ended up with severe inventory clogging... most enemies simply aren't powerful enough that you need limited-charge items, even on Insane. We finish off the city quests and depart the city.
In homage to a long-dead previous incarnation of the Half-Elven dual Longsword wielding Fighter/Mage that managed to get killed during the first encounter with such, we almost run afoul of Spiders yet again... though it's Minsc that has a close shave, saved only by dual Horror (one by wand).
SoD enemies will gleefully converge on anyone that's disabled, avoid attacking anyone they decide they can't injure (such as a Stoneskinned Amarande), and often exclusively attack the weakest party member. This can take ludicruous proportions, wherein you can simply have someone (in our party, typically Viconia) lead an entire band of enemies in a circle around Amarande and Minsc swinging away, killing off the whole lot without them getting an attack in. Anyway...
Having learnt our lesson anew, we resort to firebombing any further Spiders we run into. Not long before we have another close call (more serious this time) though, as a lowly Orc Shaman shows that Call Lightning is not to be trifled with.
Maybe stop trying to conserve spell slots by having Amarande charge everything we see. Yeah, that's a good plan. We clear the rest of the outdoor areas (forgetting to pick up the Boot and a half of speed... dangit), then head for the Repository of Undeath. With Glint and Viconia we can conjure up a fair number of Skeleton Warriors and use them, along with firebombing, to good effect in order to avoid any number of nasty status effects in here. Then Dynaheir (i.e. me...) forgets that Sunfire actually breaks Invisibility now, spelling our first death.
Luckily she isn't chunked, and Viconia just made Cleric level 9, so we're good. A rest and replenishment later, we descend further. This time, the library actually goes rather well, as we buff (including 5x Skeleton Warriors) thoroughly, and prioritize the Skeleton Mage -> Shadowed Souls. Along with a timely Slow to counter the Skeleton Mage's Haste, we pull through alright. I mean, Minsc takes a massive beating... but when does he ever not?
We push onward, head back briefly to grab The Secret Revealed, and put Coldhearth down for good with no issue.
Nothing left to do but head towards the bridge; we just about manage to kill the Crusaders for their loot before Caelar appears, and that's that. Off to Troll Claw Woods.
Lots of not terribly threatening chaff to clear out here, so we do (including clearing the Troll Cave, which is quite easy with Fireball + Protection from Fire). In transit we get the Goblin/Myconid ambush; Amarande handles the Myconids single-handedly under Chaotic Commands, and picks up the Spellbreaker +2 (really good for him, +2 Longsword with +2 Save vs Spell.. it'll spend the rest of SoD in his offhand).
At the Fort, we simply clear even more chaff, including the Goblin Cave, then depart for Forest of Wyrms. Turns out even Greater Wyverns are susceptible to Horror (the spell and the wands are actually quite useful all through SoD). Things turn a trite hairy as Amarande at one point is literally holding off 16 Spiders on his own in the Spider Cave, but after Fireballing his own position twice, he pulls through.
Bugbears, Green Dragon (daggered), Green Half-Dragon (Skeleton'd), Neothelid (Skeleton'd), Akanna (Skeleton'd!)... the Temple goes smoothly. Until we run across the Shadow Aspect, which does what it does best: In no way, shape or form threaten to actually end the run, but rather to annoy us as much as possible by killing Viconia. Looking back, I'm amazed she wasn't chunked.
So why do I still always kill the Shadow Aspect. Because it's there...
Anyway. An annoying long trek later, Viconia is back, and we easily put paid to the resident Mind Flayer and it's thralls. Temple cleared! Some mini-quests in the Fort are dealt with (no Boots of Speed for us as said, boo!), and after enlisting the Flaming Fist for aid, we storm out of the Fort. As long as you're careful, i.e. keep an emergency Potion of Magic Shielding on the protagonist, of the few nastier disablers the enemy Mages toss at you, there's no real danger here as you can just retreat behind the Fort troops if necessary. We push on to the Bridge and bring the enemy Mage down in short order. Hooray! Onward to the Coalition Camp.
Again, run around at first playing fetch (camp quests). Then off to kill more large groupings of seemingly randomly placed enemies at Dead Man's Pass... the Wand of Sleep we got as some quest reward actually proves moderately useful in keeping us from being swarmed by Dire Wolves.
Enormous amounts of dead chaff in several zones later (Spider Cave II warrants a mention, some Invisibility and Free Action was sufficient to deal with it safely), we push through the Crusaders guarding the entrance to the Underground River. We barely even buffed, as the only real danger lies in their summoned Mage backup, so as long as you prioritize them, you're good (especially with the Druids sending summoned fodder to help you). Of course, the good times aren't over, as when dealing with Ferrusk Glint gets himself Webbed and subsequently clobbered to death. Shambling Mounds (and for that matter Dark Treants) have seriously good THAC0 and damage. Again, I am in awe of the fact he wasn't chunked.
Yeah, maybe I was getting a little careless at this point. We push into Kanaglym (it was possible to rest in Ferruk's lair without interruption so Viconia got Glint back up and running), which is kind of an anticlimax... "Lost City". It's literally a handful of houses, none of which you can enter, and a bridge. Anyway, with full buffs and (since Dynaheir leveled up a while back and is wearing the +1 caster level cloak from Korlasz's tomb) us now having the 7HD Bone Bros at our disposal, the entire Necromancer cabal literally drops within a few rounds, barely able to scratch us.
On the way out, we clobber Zhadroth for his Ring of Regeneration (we have two Clerics and about 80 Potions of Healing, but sure thing) and his lovely robe. Secret Revealed means he stands no chance; amazingly he doesn't pop any defensive Illusions nor any nasty triple ADHW Chain Contingency, something I suspect to be intentional.
We go on to raid the castle basement. Several bad decisions look to have potential to cause serious problems: Glint had his Plate Mail +1 equipped for the fight with Hephernan, so he couldn't pick the lock on one of the chests in there. I tried to force them with Amarande, to no avail. Dynaheir did have a Knock scroll though; once unlocked, Minsc opened it, tripped a Maze trap, and we had to wait it out (fortunately he had time to gulp down a Potion of Genius beforehand). To my amazement, the rest of the Crusaders on the level just kind of milled about without heading for Hephernan's room. Had they gone for us, we might have been in trouble, as there's so many of them they can literally just box you in there. Still, Minsc returned and we rushed back out, consuming a few Potions of Invisibility as and when required.
Of course, rushing through the river area, there's a Crusader party waiting for you. Somehow the Cleric managed to tag ALL of us with her True Sight, at which time the entirety of Crusaders to the south promptly marched north, and it turned into a serious slug-fest (I don't even remember how Glint got level-drained, a trap somewhere?).
Never fear though, Amarande is here. Seriously: It's not an issue. He single-handledly held off a dozen Crusaders on the bridge, thinning them out with a few Sunfire scrolls while the remainder of the party cleared the enemies to the north before joining in. Fighter/Mages....
At this point, we were almost at the experience cap, so couldn't be bothered with the whole Crusade Courtyard stuff. Defending the camp just boils down to Fireball (spell, wand, potions). Time for possibly my least favourite part: Assaulting Dragonspear. Yes yes Ashatiel, you're bugged beyond repair... of course I cheated even though I didn't.
This is why I bring some 30 odd Potions of Explosion/Oils of Fiery Burning to this fight: You need it to push through the ENDLESS HORDES OF BAD DOGGIE WEREWOLF MONSTERS THAT CHEW YOUR TOES WHILE YOU SLEEP CRUSADERS you have to put down to reach Ashatiel. Nevertheless, down she (eventually...) goes.
Into the Hells! Or one Hell. Everyone gets a Potion of Clarity and Potion of Freedom (those that don't already have it from the ring), meaning there's nothing the fiends can do to us beyond hopelessly claw at Amarande. At the Hellevator, everyone gets 2x Scroll of Protection from Fire, 2x Scroll of Protection from Lightning (unsure if the Cornugons here actually cast Lightning Bolt but better safe than sorry), 1x Scroll of Protection from Poison, then some potions... we have WAY too many even after everyone has drunk their fill. Finish off with Chaotic Commands on everyone and a Protection from Evil 10' Radius, and we ascend.
This time I actually manage to time casting SI: Abjuration on Amarande (almost) perfectly, so it's still active by the time Big B tosses his initial Remove Magic. Contending with our buffed party as well as a constantly Greated Restoration'd Caelar simply isn't possible for Belhifet, and he falls within a turn.
Caelar seals the portal, Amarande is framed for a crime he didn't commit, usual stuff. Again with the bugs; I had all the SoD items I wanted to import IN his inventory, yet several of them AND several BG1 items (Belt of the Skillful Blade, Archer's Eyes, Dragon Blade, Chainmail +3, Golden Pantaloons) simply weren't there on the table with Amarande's belongings.
I fixed it with NearInfinity; in my mind there is no reason whatsoever why this should happen.
Anyway, that's SoD finished. Didn't get a screenshot of final stats, but it's same as end of BG1: 19/19/19/19/7/19, ++ Longsword / ++ Bastard Sword / ++ Two Weapon Style / + Quarterstaff (that's where our 9th Fighter level pip went), L9/L10 Half-Elven Fighter/Mage. Finally, the game can begin in earnest, as we shall see in the next update.
I am now trying Helmuth and Connie with my modded game. A bit more interesting I think.
Journal of Helmuth
Connie and I cleared the hobgoblins at the FAI before heading north where we killed Sonner and recruited Tenya before killing an ankheg.
We returned south where we helped Mellicamp and then calmed Marl.
We killed ogrillon and hobgoblins on the way to Nashkel and returned to the FAI carrying Samuel where we killed Tarnesh and met Dorn.
We came across Dorn again near Nashkel, and at the carnival killed Zordral.
We killed Kryll and passed on the news before going back to Beregost with the Coloquetle Amulet.
Dorn opened a chest for me with the result that I now have a +1 Mace. We then bade him farewell.
We decided that it was time to take Jaheira and Khalid to Nashkel.
After that we went ankheg hunting. Tenya has told us that she wants us to go to Firewine. That will have to wait.
After giving 100gp to Farmer Brun our reputation reached 20.
Eventually we cleared all the ankheg from the nest and the farm.
We now proceeded to Beregost to sell the shells and then went to do some shopping at the carnival: necklace of missiles, green scrolls and the like.
Now poor again, but we were able to kill Zargos Flintblade and Greywolf after which Isra joined us.
Isra was only level 2, way behind the rest of us in experience and her stats aren't great. However, after giving her the gauntlets of dexterity and casting strength on her she was a good enough tank to take on the wolves to the east of Lathander's Temple.
We had summoned skeletons who don't get held by the vampyric wolves. True, they don't hurt them either, but Isra did that. When the battle was over, she was up to level 3.
Upon going to take on the basilisks and medusae to the east we found that when protected from their gaze, basilisks did us no harm: not so the medusae, and to defeat them we used a LOT of healing potions. Nevertheless the trip was worthwhile as Isra became level 5, only one level behind the rest of us, and we can now give her adequate support.
Summoned skeletons took the brunt of the assault when Molkar and his cronies attacked. After defeating them we went to Firewine where we defeated Lethe.
We then joined up with Xzara nd Montaron after which Montaron acquired quite a lot of goods some of which were most desireable.
I have just discovered that Isra isn't available in SoD so will replace her with Sirene. I wish that I'd known that earlier. Wasted experience!!! Or am I wrong about this? She appears to be compatible according to the mod list. Perhaps she just doesn't talk.
Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather things, toss Pixie Dust, enter barrows. Unga-Bunga summon elemental, find Wailing Virgin Mebdinga in barrow:
Mebdinga most powerful foe Unga-Bunga ever fight before, slay many elementals, beetles. Mebdinga wail, stun Unga-Bunga and elementals, hurt Unga-Bunga with wailing. Mebdinga resist all Unga-Bunga magic, move away when elementals attack. Unga-Bunga command elementals, beetles trap Mebdinga against cavern wall, attack Mebdinga while Unga-Bunga throw axe:
Mebdinga strong, slay many animals with single wail, make Unga-Bunga angry:
Unga-Bunga summon more elementals, animals. Unga-Bunga nearly out of magic when elemental finally strike Mebdinga down:
Unga-Bunga beat chest many minutes, toss Pixie Dust, have Young Jed sail Unga-Bunga to Lonelywood village. Unga-Bunga decide take rest in village before journey Gloomfrost, go see trapper brothers.
Trapper Doogal tell Unga-Bunga Trapper Dolan killed by wolf in forest, say Trapper Doogal stabbed wolf with knife, knife not hurt wolf. Trapper Doogal think Emmerich summon wolf, want kill trapper brothers. Trapper Doogal tell Unga-Bunga wolf, Emmerich not have bright future:
Unga-Bunga see Emmerich. Emmerich tell Unga-Bunga Trapper Doogal want buy magic knife from Innkeeper Kieran to slay wolf, tell Unga-Bunga ask Innkeeper Kieran:
Unga-Bunga know Innkeeper Kieran really wizard, ask Innkeeper Kieran about wolf not hurt by knife. Innkeeper Kieran tell Unga-Bunga werewolves only hurt by magic weapons. Unga-Bunga think Innkeeper Kieran smart:
Unga-Bunga see Emmerich, suggest Emmerich bit by werewolf. Emmerich not believe Unga-Bunga at first, think some, then believe. Emmerich ashamed, send Unga-Bunga away:
Unga-Bunga feel bad, go see Innkeeper Kieran, hope Innkeeper Kieran know what do. Innkeeper Kieran give Unga-Bunga necklace, tell Unga-Bunga give necklace Emmerich, say necklace keep Emmerich from changing into werewolf:
Unga-Bunga bring Emmerich necklace, Emmerich thank Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga glad help Emmerich, want buy bow from Emmerich soon:
Unga-Bunga take rest in village, gather things, make long trek to Gloomfrost. Gloomfrost cold, Unga-Bunga bundle up, summon elementals, look for Gloomfrost Seer. Unga-Bunga and elementals walk narrow paths, battle many foes:
Unga-Bunga call lightning down, smite foes to ground:
Sometimes paths too narrow for elementals. One time Unga-Bunga scout ahead, ambushed by many Frost Salamander:
Unga-Bunga make mad dash back to elementals, command elementals guard path, call down lightning on Frost Salamander. Unga-Bunga know lucky make escape:
Unga-Bunga battle many foes as on Reghed glacier, yetis and snow trolls:
After many battles, Unga-Bunga find cave leading to ice caverns, enter cave, attacked by many Remorhaz:
Remorhaz overwhelm elementals, Unga-Bunga flee from caverns, Remorhaz follow Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga dance, summon spirits, spirits slowly beat Remorhaz down. Unga-Bunga enter ice caverns, try be more careful but Remorhaz sometimes gather in numbers, make battles very hard:
Unga-Bunga think Gloomfrost Seer not know Unga-Bunga on vision quest, not scare away. Unga-Bunga and elementals follow winding paths through ice cavern until Unga-Bunga hear hammering. Unga-Bungs creep around cavern wall, see dwarf smithy working at forge. Dwarf Smithy call out to Unga-Bunga, say Dwarf Smithy name Tiernon, say Dwarven Smithy Tiernon blind but hear Unga-Bunga, ask why Unga-Bunga in caverns:
Unga-Bunga tell Tiernon Unga-Bunga want speak Gloomfrost Seer, say need Seer's aid. Tiernon tell Unga-Bunga Gloomfrost Seer scared of Unga-Bunga, think Unga-Bunga bring death to Seer, say Gloomfrost Seer hide in Gloomfrost caverns from Unga-Bung more than ten-year. Unga-Bunga tell Tiernon Unga-Bunga not want kill Seer:
Tiernon say Tiernon think Unga-Bunga tell truth, say Gloomfrost Seer hidden in cavern behind magic door, say only open door when look at door reflection in mirror. Tiernon tell Unga-Bunga will make mirror for Unga-Bunga, need Unga-Bunga help make:
Unga-Bunga help Smithy Tiernon forge mirror, ask Tiernon why come Gloomfrost to forge. Smithy Tiernon say all dwarf smithies feel call to forge, tell Unga-Bunga Smithy Tiernon feel call to forge ice. Smithy Tiernon tell Unga-Bunga Smithy Tiernon came Gloomfrost but Gloomfrost Seer afraid Smithy Tiernon tell clan about Gloomfrost Seer, pluck Smithy Tiernon's eyes from head.
Unga-Bunga get angry. Smithy Tiernon tell Unga-Bunga not get angry, not seek vengeance on Seer, say Tiernon and Seer settled things long ago, Tiernon protect Seer now. Unga-Bunga calm down some. Tiernon say without eyes Tiernon can't work ice, create masterwork Tiernon want craft. Unga-Bunga feel bad for Tiernon, offer be Tiernon's eyes. Tiernon tell Unga-Bunga grab chisels, block of ice, ask Unga-Bunga what Unga-Bunga think ice want be:
Unga-Bunga tell Smithy Tiernon Unga-Bunga see dagger in ice. Unga-Bunga help Smithy Tiernon craft nice dagger, also help craft glacier rose for Bard Murdaugh, fix broken shield, fix axe but say Necromancer Edion need cast restless spirits from axe. Smithy Tiernon give Unga-Bunga all things forged, Unga-Bunga thank Tiernon. Unga-Bunga think Tiernon also have many nice items, potions for barter, promise Tiernon not be stranger.
Unga-Bunga leave Tiernon's forge, enter into deeper ice cavern, summon elemental. Unga-Bunga see and feel displeasure of Gloomfrost Seer manifest in cavern:
Unga-Bunga, elemental walk through cavern. Unga-Bunga find many traps, cast protection magics, set off traps in case Unga-Bunga need run away. Unga-Bunga summon spirits, battle many Ice Golems protecting Gloomfrost Seer:
Unga-Bunga find Remorhaz trapped in ice flow, slay Remorhaz, find magic necklace in Remorhaz gut. Unga-Bunga think necklace stink from gut but maybe magical, wrap in cloth, put in pack:
Unga-Bunga delve deeper into cavern, see cavern wall in distance, attacked by many Ice Golems:
Unga-Bunga and spirits beat Ice Golems down. Unga-Bunga come to cavern wall, take Ice Mirror from pack. Unga-Bunga turn around, look at cavern wall in mirror, see ice wall melt away:
Unga-Bunga enter ice chamber, finally find Gloomfrost Seer:
Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga Gloomfrost Seer see many things, say see death of Gloomfrost Seer, say seeing own death destroyed Seer's eyes but Seer still see. Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga Gloomfrost Seer see Unga-Bunga connected to death of Seer. Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga Gloomfrost Seer try hide from Unga-Bunga many years but tired of hiding, tell Unga-Bunga do what Unga-Bunga will:
Unga-Bunga ask Gloomfrost Seer about Chieftain Wylfdene. Gloomfrost Seer say Jerrod long dead, gone from world, tell Unga-Bunga another spirit claim Wylfdene's body:
Unga-Bunga ask Gloomfrost Seer how to defeat spirit in Wylfdene's body. Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga spirit possessing Wylfdene's body proud, say Wylfdene's body fade away, leave only spirit if spirit look into ice mirror:
Unga-Bunga suggest Gloomfrost Seer come with Unga-Bunga, confront spirit in Wylfdene, say tribesman believe Seer. Gloomfrost Seer get angry, say afraid to confront spirit, say spirit slay Gloomfrost Seer, say Seer hear Unga-Bunga say same words hundred times. Unga-Bunga think if Seer speak truth, Seer not get so angry because hear words before, but Unga-Bunga not say anything.
Gloomfrost Seer say spirit possessing Wylfdene great wyrm of ice and snow, say beast has Heart of WInter beating inside chest:
Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga heart of great wyrm broken by man of Ten Towns, great wyrm want vengeance, destroy Ten Towns. Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga defeating great wyrm unimaginable task:
Sometimes Unga-Bunga wish for easier vision quest. Unga-Bunga thank Seer, leave chamber. Unga-Bunga see Tiernon on way out of caverns, tell Tiernon what Seer said. Tiernon happy Unga-Bunga not kill Seer, show Unga-Bunga magic in mirror, protect Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga thank Tiernon, make way to surface of Gloomfrost, prepare for long journey back to Lonelywood village...
Congrats on making it to BG2 Aldain; those early-game Spiders are why I prioritize grabbing the Rings of Free Action and Spiders' Bane during BG1.
Aquinus, 3 Invoker -> Fighter, update 5.
Previous updates:
After a bit of running around Brynnlaw to get a ship for Saemon, we're onto the Gith fights - this can be a bit dangerous from my experience, as they have disables (stuns I believe?) and they can attack briefly during the cutscene. Fortunately no one dies, and we continue to the Sahuagin area.
Imoen gets her spellbook a bit better up to speed from the Priestess, and after a couple quick riddles and convincing the Spectator to turn around, it's just the slow and somewhat painful process of clearing the area of Sahuagin. The only near-death or at least disable was an Emotion: Helplessness connecting with Aerie, but Aquinus, Mazzy, and Jaheira are enough to clear the surrounding shark-people. The priestess falls, and Aquinus is going to be claiming the cloak for... as long as this run lasts, probably. We prebuff with summons, Improved Haste and Mass Invisibility, and the king and his followers aren't enough to deal with our ranged damage output before our summons die off. We don't kill the Prince for the Wave Blade; I figure we won't need it. Hopefully.
I've got a pretty good roadmap of the Underdark now that I've died to this area a couple times - the two Drow parties, the Balor, the parties of Kuo-tuo, and the fact that Beholders, Mind Flayers, and Drow Quests are very, very dangerous to mess around with. Jaheira weakens the first party of Drow with Spike Growth, and pull them in one by one to their deaths: while Call for Help is working, they very often get sidetracked by summons or avoiding AOE damage, which is completely fine by me.
The Balor is next. Imoen memorized several Protect from Fire spells, and distributes them to everyone, including Aquinus who is... immune anyways. The big threat is a melee dispel into Vorpal hit (which I'm not 100% sure is even active at this point with my current difficulty slider, but I don't feel the desire to test this) which should be soaked by summons (Skeleton Warriors and Fire Elementals). Imoen also prepares a single Enchanted Weapon for Jaheira - Aquinus already has Firetooth, and Mazzy has Tasheron's for this fight. Other buffs are all standard (Prayer, Emotion: Hope, Haste, Improved Haste, Mass Invisibility). The Balor both doesn't manage to clear the summons nor Teleports Without Error to our backline - clear victory.
We rest and deal with all the trapped souls outside of the lich - no reason for that just yet. The one mad mage who's supposed to give up after Heal didn't, so we killed him too. We also cast the Freedom spell for the Vithal questline - while we take some damage from the elementals, there was no real danger from these fights with our regeneration items + summons. We ask for a scroll as well, and continue on our merry ways.
Kuo Tuo area now - I've lost a run where we got through all of the Underdark successfully only for Adalon to not clear the bridge fully, leaving my party face to face with several unpleasant demons and spellcasters. It also means that I don't have to worry about the Elder Race Body Part deadline later on in Ust Natha. It's a bit of a slog, using AoE spells for the random Beholder room in there, multiple True Sights and Detect Invisibility to stop their backstabbers, and summons to bait out their spellcasters, but all the Kuo Tuo fall without killing any of us.
The party guarding the bridge is a bit scarier though. We buff, and begin the assault with a Spike Growth from Jaheira, which manages to pull the Demons, but not the casters - they're huddled in their corner trying to heal up and avoid the damage from Jaheira. There's no danger from these particular demons as long as we have Remove Fear on us, and Aerie and Mazzy both have a quick way to apply that. The demons die before the casters can rejoin the fight. There's a slightly worrying moment as they get multiple dangerous spells off, including a couple Symbols, but Aquinus has all the required buffs to survive them (Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Remove Fear), and despite a lot more pausing going on, we're clear here too.
Last fight in this area - the Death Knights. I've essentially lost runs here in the past too, with insufficient Fire resistance. Jaheira takes the Amulet of Power in Greater Werewolf Form, and baits out the initial spells. What I didn't realize is our Remove Fear is running out, and while she does manage to tank the initial round of spells and badly injure many of the Death Knights, she ends up Feared and eventually killed off. Aquinus and Mazzy rebuff themselves up, and snipe at the low health Death Knights - success, in the end, though their Dispel Magic's took our remaining buffs from us before they died. One Raise Dead later, and it's time to Drowify ourselves.
The teleporting Drow party isn't nearly as scary if you know about it and plan accordingly - I don't really recall what they did. We visited Adalon after that, and began the Drow quests. We're going to be doing the minimum required, outside of the pit fights because... well, why not? Our main purchases before we do anything else are the rod that destroys Golems and the Firetooth Dagger, as well as a couple rarer scrolls and potions. Cloudkill disables the spellcaster in the random group outside the city long enough for us to clear the other troublemakers with our Warriors, and Dragon's Breath is safely secured in our bags.
Chaotic Commands is enough to clear the Illithid/Umber Hulk ambush. Upon getting back to the city, the Aboleth begins his quest - we prebuff outside Qilue's house, absolutely blitz her, and get out before we have to fight any of their mages.
There's only a few mandatory fights left if you avoid talking to any of the other Drow - Aerie and Imoen have 3x Invisibility 15" radius memorized specifically for this reason. Mass Invisibility is used to take down the Beholder from the Spelljammer ship, and it's pretty clear sailing from here. We give up the Kuo Tuo Prince blood, do a couple of fetch quests without killing anyone, and refuse to sleep with Phaere before going Invisible once more to avoid having to deal with the Cult of Ghaunadaur, and anything to do with Deirex. Egg Guards are murdered, someone (Mazzy or Aquinus, probably) gets tagged by a Clay Golem in that melee, but nothing Rings of Regeneration can't handle. Another Invisibility 15" and we're clear and reporting to Phaere.
After the ritual goes horrifically wrong for Phaere and the Matron Mother, a Drow randomly casts Oracle as we're fleeing, revealing us; the last Invisibility 15" is cast, and we're out without any problems. We return the eggs to Adalon, I take a deep sigh of relief as we managed to not screw up the Underdark section this time around. A few fights later with Drow, and we're finally back into the overworld to collect another 6th party member, and do the remainder of the quests.
Lost (maybe recallable via Fate Spirit in ToB): Nalia to dialogue choices, Minsc to Imprisonment
Gone forever: Yoshimo.
The githyanki mind blast is technically a sleep effect. Not that it matters much for blocking it; spell saves and Chaotic Commands are still the main options. Elven resistance does not apply.
We dropped Xzar and Montaron off at the Beard and replaced Isra with Sirene.
In Cloakwood Coran urged us to go in search of a Wyvern nest which we did.
Sadly Sirene was killed. That wasn't so much a failure of tactics, other tha that she should have had the ankheg armour in preference to other party members, but more that the wyvern were a bit too powerful. The reward was more than sufficient to raise her.
South of Beregost we discovered just how effective summoned skeletons are, particularly when enhanced by buffs. Their resistance to hold made them invaluable when fighting Tristan, Isolde and ghouls.
Neera joined us and after doing her quest she left for the FAI. We went to the carnival for R & R before going to the gnoll stronghold where Dynaheir joined us. We later on found her journal.
Together we have killed the bandits outside Tazok's tent and then two parties south of the FAI before killing some assassins nearby. Skeletons meant that none of our party was hurt.
Tranzig was then killed.
We made it as far as Baldur's Gate and have survived being poisoned by Marek.
Also did numerous fetch and carry quests.
Unga-Bunga make long trek Lonelywood village, let little Hailee Dunn know Unga-Bunga help with barbarians. Unga-Bunga gather things next day, make journey barbarian camp. Unga-Bunga not think Unga-Bunga or Chieftain Wylfdene live after meeting, cast all protection magics.
Unga-Bunga see Angaar guarding gate to camp, tell Angaar Unga-Bunga want see Chieftain Wylfdene, say time full Unga-Bunga's special purpose. Angaar agree with Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga taken into tent before Chieftain Wylfdene, tell Chieftain Wylfdene Unga-Bunga sent by Gloomfrost Seer. Chieftain Wylfdene say Unga-Bunga lose Shaman Hjollder, now hide behind another shaman, ask why Gloomfrost Seer send Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga tell Chieftain Wylfdene Gloomfrost Seer want give ice mirror Chieftain Wylfdene:
Chieftain Wylfdene scoff at mirror, say Unga-Bunga, Gloomfrost Seer try kill Chieftain Wylfdene:
Unga-Bunga remember Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga spirit possessing Chieftain Wylfdene proud spirit. Unga-Bunga offer look into mirror, show mirror not trick, ask if Chieftain Wylfdene afraid of mirror:
Chieftain Wylfdene say not afraid, say mirror will reveal great chieftain who conquer Ten Towns:
Unga-Bunga hold mirror before Chieftain Wylfdene. Chieftain Wylfdene look mirror, mirror break, Chieftain Wylfdene recoil at image of Chieftain Wylfdene:
Unga-Bunga see magic portal open, see Gloomfrost Seer appear. Gloomfrost Seer tell Chieftain Wylfdene see truth:
Chieftain Wylfdene voice change, say Chieftain Wylfdene avenge death of beloved by destroying all humans:
Chieftain Wylfdene strike down Gloomfrost seer. Unga-Bunga watch Chieftain Wylfdene's body rip apart, fall to ground. Unga-Bunga see dragon spirit rise, fly from tent:
Unga-Bunga see Gloomfrost Seer dying. Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga Gloomfrost Seer not let fear keep her from trying save others, tell Unga-Bunga fate of many lie in Unga-Bunga's hands:
Wyrm Tribe warriors see Chieftain Wylfdene flee, attack Unga-Bunga, other tribesmen. Great battle erupt in chieftain tent. Unga-Bunga blind Wyrm tribesmen with nature magics, help other tribesmen beat down:
Unga-Bunga leave tent, see battle raging across Hengorot. Wyrm tribesmen swing axe at Unga-Bunga, strike great wound. Unga-Bunga not sure how Unga-Bunga forget cast Iron Skins:
Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, wait for Wyrm tribesmen to attack other tribesmen, blind Wyrm tribesmen with nature magic:
Unga-Bunga help tribesmen beat down Wyrm tribesmen, find larger battle further into Hengorot:
Unga-Bunga dance, summon spirits, watch spirits, tribesmen beat down last of Wyrm tribesmen:
Shaman Hjollder appear on battlefield, rejoice at defeat of Chieftain Wylfdene. Hjollder tell Unga-Bunga war not over, must destroy wyrm spirit so our peoples finally safe:
Unga-Bunga ask where wyrm spirit fled. Shaman Hjollder tell Unga-Bunga about island on Sea of Moving Ice, say island sacred to Great Wyrm tribe, where tribesmen once made sacrifices to Great Wyrm. Shaman Hjollder think wyrm spirit Spirit of Great Wyrm, wyrm spirit return to island, say ship ready take Unga-Bunga to island:
Shaman Hjollder bring Unga-Bunga to Tribesman Beornen. Tribesman Beornen tell Unga-Bunga wyrm spirit Icasaracht, Matriarch of all Wyrms of the North:
Tribesman Beornen say ship ready take Unga-Bunga to Icasaracht now:
Unga-Bunga tell Tribesman Beornen, Shaman Hjollder must return Lonelywood village first, see to things there. Unga-Bunga not afraid, just thorough. Tribesman Beornen, Shaman Hjollder tell Unga-Bunga hurry back. Unga-Bunga think Unga-Bunga take time, enjoy journey...
Unga-Bunga return Lonelywood, have vision. Unga-Bunga see Unga-Bunga leave inn, met by Hosttower assassins looking for Innkeeper Kieran. Unga-Bunga like Innkeeper Kieran, think Innkeeper Kieran smart, decide fight off assassins. Unga-Bunga summon elementals, toss two handfuls of Pixie Dust, hide elementals:
Unga-Bunga go inside inn, give Bard Murdaugh glacier rose. Bard Murdaugh very happy:
Unga-Bunga clever, go upstairs, toss Pixie Dust, try see assassins before assassins see Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga so clever Unga-Bunga forget cast all other protection magics before going outside. Unga-Bunga smack head, hope assassins not see through Pixie Dust, but assassin see:
Unga-Bunga tell Assassin Vaarglan no mages in Lonelywood, think Unga-Bunga handle one assassin. Unga-Bunga see another mage assassin appear, say Unga-Bunga lying:
Assassin Vaarglan say if Unga-Bunga tell Assassin Vaarglan where Kieran, assassins not hurt anyone. Unga-Bunga get angry, say Assassin Vaarglan better leave before Unga-Bunga do things to Assassin Vaarglan with Assassin Vaarglan's wand:
Unga-Bunga see more assassins appear: priestess of Shar, rogue, two warriors. Assassins attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga command elementals attack while Unga-Bunga run away, cast protection magics:
Unga-Bunga hurry cast protection magics, try help elementals. Assassin Vaarglan nearly end Unga-Bunga's vision quest with one spell:
Unga-Bunga run away with conviction, scarf down Good Berries, cheer when elementals kill mage assassin:
Unga-Bunga summon elementals, beetles when others die, scarf more Good Berries:
Unga-Bunga eat many Good Berries, creep near assassins, call down lightning on assassins:
Unga-Bunga summon Insect Plague, insects bite Assassin Vaarglan, not let Assassin Vaarglan cast magics:
Unga-Bunga call down lightning on Assassin Vaarglan, strike Assassin Vaarglan down for good:
Unga-Bunga cast healing magics, beat chest many minutes, gather up assassin treasures. Unga-Bunga enter inn, speak Kieran. Kieran thank Unga-Bunga for protecting Kieran:
Unga-Bunga take rest in inn, decide see everyone in Lonelywood before sailing island. Unga-Bunga enter Representative Baldemar's house, see Arden Thurlow dead:
Unga-Bunga run upstairs, see Representative Baldemar dead, see Gravedigger Purvis. Gravedigger Purvis tell Unga-Bunga Gravedigger Purvis real assassin sent by Ten Towns to kill Chieftain Wylfdene, say Baldemar sent diplomat instead:
Assassin Purvis say tribesmen doubled guard after wrong person sent, make assassinating Chieftain Wylfdene too hard. Assassin Purvis thank Unga-Bunga for killing Chieftain Wylfdene, tell Unga-Bunga Assassin Purvis kill Unga-Bunga now so can collect assassin fee:
Unga-Bunga laugh at Assassin Purvis, summon beetles. Beetles bite Assassin Purvis too hard, send Assassin Purvis bits all over:
Unga-Bunga say goodbye to all in Lonelywood, take rest in inn, plan leave for Hengorot next day. Unga-Bunga sent dream by spirits when sleeping, see Halfling Hobart downstairs in inn waiting for Unga-Bunga, see Unga-Bunga accept Halfling Hobart's challenge.
Unga-Bunga wake up surprised at spirits but decide spirits not lead Unga-Bunga astray so far. Unga-Bunga gather things next day, go downstairs, approach Halfling Hobart...
Importing from SoD into BG2EE.
Mods: Full SCS V34.3.
Difficulty: Insane with no difficulty-based damage increase.
Protagonist: Amarande, Half-Elven Fighter/Mage.
Let's get serious. Swords for everyone! The Amarande story IV PreviousNext
Amarande carves a path through Irenicus' dungeon unabated. Funny how you keep discovering new things... I actually found a safe way to make use of Imoen's initially memorized Lightning Bolt: The Duergar in the corridor north of Aataqah. The corridor is just long enough that the Lightning Bolt won't come back to kill you, and it's more than enough to wipe all three Duergar out.
The rest of the dungeon is somewhat uneventful (we pull through without even needing to pop a single Potion of Healing or rest), and we're out.
Alright, what's the plan? Same plan as always: Take over the world Do some safe little chores around Athkatla, including the Slaver compound, while avoiding succumbing to early ambushes via constantly traveling under Pixie Dust. Suna Seni deals a little bit of damage to us (Arbane means she's immune to Amarande's 2x Web Minor Spell Sequencer), but we were never in real danger.
Full Plate would be nice, and Mencar is willing to oblige (annoyingly, Pooky set off our carefully positioned traps, but we were able to corner and kill Brennan anyway for his ring).
Copper Coronet and Slavers next. Not sure what happened with the spellcasting Slaver Guards this time around, but they seemed to only get three spells each (pre-cast Armor, Mirror Image, and a single Magic Missile). The actual Slaver Wizards didn't fare much better, being unable to withstand a Chaos (Jan).
We swing by the Bridge, where I am a little too cheap for my own good: Amarande comes within two swings of certain death (courtesy of the Bone Golem in the Tanner's basement), but at least we didn't have to pop a potion.
Another set of Full Plate would be even nicer, and Officer Dirth obliges (not before beating us silly though). While in the area, we also tackle the Pirate Cove, and Amarande yet again goes perilously low on hitpoints.
Another ambush, and it's Prebek & Sanasha's turn. We power through their defenses and pick up some decent loot. Another ambush, and another Chaos wins the day. Somewhere around here we also did the Circus (first thing we did out of the dungeon was pick up Jan and Anomen). We decide now might be a good time for Watcher's Keep level 1, so off we go...
Yeah, we were sent packing. Same story as usual, get overconfident after handily besting the Stone Golem, and then forced to flee from the massive Troll spawn. Notice that Minsc is technically asleep from a Greater Command; he dropped close enough to the exit we could still leave (I imagine it as Amarande dragging Minsc behind him...). I figured maybe we could do with a tiny bit more experience first (and a better off-hand weapon for Amarande), so we trundled on back to the Graveyard. The Crypt King happily provides an upgrade, only shaving off a few pounds of Amarande's flesh as payment.
We clear the remainder of the Graveyard, and handle the kidnappers (Anomen gets the Boots of Avoidance, he's an arrow magnet). Certainly now Watcher's Keep should pose little diff- oh right. Trolls.
Trolls. TROLLS! Ugh. At least the rest of the level goes smoo-
Allow me to explain. I picked up the thingamajiggy from the altar without thinking, or for that matter buffing, activating the statues. I actually think we had it in the bag still, until one of the Priests popped a Symbol: Stun, taking Jaheira and Anomen out of the fight.
It was really blind luck that neither of them got chunked (amazingly, that summoned Panther got the killing blow on both with its 6-9 damage, as opposed to the Halberd-wielding Statue dealing 21 - 26 damage...). Amarande had just enough time to shuttle the gear to the chest to the south before we legged it. Of course, with both healers down, we have to shell out 1200 GP to Raise one of them. Ooh, that smarts.
Coming back in, things have calmed down considerably: No Potions of Cloud Giant Strength for the melee statues (that have now completely separated from the Priest statues for some reason). This time around, everything does go smoothly, and we clear the rest of the level handily. Amarande will take that Foebane +3, thank you.
So I debated myself for a bit on which subquest to tackle (typically I do one major such before the Underdark), but as, almost, always I wound up at Troll Keep. Things did go much better than usual though: Sunfire x2 pretty much wiped out the big group on the entrance level.
The rest of that level, as well as the Trolls outside and on the next level, posed no real difficulties: With HP pools this large you don't even need Protection from Fire to ward off the Flame Strikes. Chaotic Commands to keep the Greater Commands at bay is still necessary though. The Yuan-Ti Mage in the Library is just summoned to death, Glaicas is anti-charmed back to his senses, and we handily deal with the golems two at a time.
I finally do have a consistently working strategy for Tor'Gal. Seven traps (still typically won't kill him outright, but then 2x Magic Missile should finish the job), two Cloudkills to hurt/delay/annoy the Yuan-Ti Mages, and just pick the enemies off one by one (typically they'll be not too smart about it and run back and forth through the double Cloudkill to avoid your melee fighters).
Well, almost time to set sail! Let's just do Jaheira's quest first, Ring of Wizardry would be nice. By the way, can you cast safely in Baron Ployer's home? I was too cheap to buy a license.
No. No, you cannot safely cast in Baron Ployer's home. Anomen survives by the skin of his teeth only because I had a Potion of Fortitude he had just enough time to quaff. Good thing we were able to separate him from the others (and that the Cowled Wizard in question had prepared 3x Animate Dead as his Spell Trigger as opposed to 3x Disintegrate or something). Yeesh, we're really relying on luck a lot...
Anyway, we manage to flee in absolute terror, and the Cowled Wizards despawn after a while, so we can go back and finish Ployer's Mages for their loot. Finally, we rest at Troll Keep and Jaheira is summoned. This time, we take extra special care not to cast anything arcane outside nor inside the Harper Hold. Jan's clavicle suffers the consequences, but I'm sure it'll heal in time.
We almost kill ourselves off a second time when Jan's quest pops and, in a moment of laxity, Amarande pops Stoneskin outside the Githyanki's room. Fortunately we have time to evacuate before the Cowled Wizards do anything, and they disappear once we rest.
Around here Anomen gets Knighted as well. Meh, a few 1st- and 2nd-level spells extra. I'll take it.
Alright! We've got levels, we've got gold (more or less). We're coming, Imoen! The Vampires really never knew what hit them; a few Potions of Frost Giant Strength see to that. As always, the only real concern here is Tanova. We lure her attendant Fledgling Vampire face-first into seven traps, then start pelting her with summons. Once she's literally down to casting Power Word: Sleep and Magic Missile, Minsc sneaks in and lands a humiliating blow.
As for Bodhi, a hasted Amarande just leads her around for a bit, until she turns around and kills our Skeleton Warriors... then she simply stands in place until she spots us and gives her little farewell speech. Vampires cleared, hooray!
This seems a good spot to call it quits for now. Next time, we enter that dread den of demise, Spellhold (not before saying hi to Perth, hopefully he won't come close to perma-killing someone). Perhaps some light shopping is in order before leaving on our cruise though, a few Freedom scrolls might come in handy...
Amarande is now a level 10/11 Half-Elven Fighter/Mage.
Taking a little break from my modded completionist playthrough currently in ToB, I tried some no reload runs on unmodded game on insane difficulty (without double damages)
So far I have an avenger half elf level 3 in chapter 3, and a cavalier, an elf dragon disciple and a dwarwen defender at level 1.
The half elf blade was killed by a critical hit by Vax in the Cloudpeaks. He was replaced by a skald with shortbow just out of Candlekeep currently.
I'm also tempted by a half orc shaman, but no stronghold without mod is sad.
Unga-Bunga tell Hobart Stubbletoes Unga-Bunga ready grand adventure. Hobart reach into pocket for something. Next thing Unga-Bunga know, Unga-Bunga in castle courtyard:
Unga-Bunga feel warm air, warmer than Kuldahar air, ask Hobart where Hobart take Unga-Bunga. Hobart tell Unga-Bunga in Anauroch desert, wish Unga-Bunga good luck sort of, flee into building:
Unga-Bunga look around courtyard, see many Wyverns, many Harpies. Wyverns, Harpies attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga reach for Pixie Dust fast, toss Pixie Dust just in time:
Unga-Bunga know Unga-Bunga need help elementals, beetles, call lightning down harpies, wyverns:
Harpies wail, stun Unga-Bunga through all Unga-Bunga's protection magics! Unga-Bunga very angry, very afraid, hope elementals, beetles slay harpies, wyverns before Unga-Bunga die:
Elementals, beetles hold off harpies, wyverns. Unga-Bunga wake up from stun, summon more beetles, kill harpies, wyverns. Unga-Bunga storm into building after Hobart, yell at Hobart. Hobart not care, offer barter Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga try not kill Hobart, count to ten, take Unga-Bunga while. When done, Unga-Bunga not as angry, rest in Hobart shack. Next day Unga-Bunga gather things, cast all protection magics, toss Pixie Dust, go back courtyard. Unga-Bunga see many harpies, many wyverns.
Unga-Bunga afraid, know harpies wail, stun Unga-Bunga, know elementals, beetles not kill harpies, wyverns without Unga-Bunga help. Unga-Bunga decide on plan: Unga-Bunga stand far away as possible from harpies, wyverns, summon elementals. Unga-Bunga know harpies, wyverns kill elementals fast, summon enough elementals so harpies, wyverns not attack Unga-Bunga right away. Unga-Bungs call lightning down on harpies, wyverns when able, summon more elementals when elementals almost gone. Unga-Bunga try call down enough lightning so lightning, elementals kill harpies, wyverns before harpies stun Unga-Bunga, kill Unga-Bunga.
Unga-Bunga know Unga-Bunga plan risky, not know what else do. Unga-Bunga take deep breath, summon elementals near harpies, wyverns:
Unga-Bunga call down lightning, follow plan against many foes:
Unga-Bunga clear harpies, wyverns from courtyard with plan, beat chest some. Unga-Bunga see ghost outside castle gate. Ghost say Ghost name Luremaster, say Luremaster adversary Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga ask Luremaster why Luremaster adversary. Luremaster say Unga-Bunga must prove Unga-Bunga hero before Unga-Bunga leave Castle Maluradek:
Unga-Bunga tell Luremaster Halfling Hobart called Unga-Bunga Hero of Icewind Dale, prove Unga-Bunga hero, ask Luremaster let Unga-Bunga leave. Luremaster ignore Unga-Bunga heroics, Unga-Bunga sigh. Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga poem:
Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga not let Unga-Bunga into castle until spirits rest:
Unga-Bunga weary from battle, return to building, think riddle. Unga-Bunga think something in each tower help spirits rest, Unga-Bunga rest.
Next day, Unga-Bunga gather things, cast protection magics, toss Pixie Dust, enter courtyard. Unga-Bunga see more harpies near stair leading up eastern wall of courtyard. Unga-Bunga see more harpies on eastern wall, think harpies maybe in towers on eastern wall also, decide go eastern towers first. Unga-Bunga sneak past harpies in courtyard, climb stair, battle two harpies on wall:
Unga-Bunga, elementals kill harpies. Unga-Bunga think probably more harpies in castle towers, know not call lightning down in towers. Unga-Bunga summon elementals near northeastern tower, tell elementals be ready. Unga-Bunga enter tower, find Harpy Queen, more harpies:
Unga-Bunga run out tower like Captain Jack Sparrow, lure harpies outside. Unga-Bunga run past elementals, command elementals block path. Unga-Bunga call lightning down on harpies many times:
Unga-Bunga not see Harpy Queen in harpy pile. Unga-Bunga go back into tower, summon animals, battle Harpy Queen alone:
Unga-Bunga see lever in tower, push lever, hear loud noise coming from west. Unga-Bunga shrug, leave tower, toss Pixie Dust, sneak past harpies near eastern wall, go see Hobart. Unga-Bunga ask Hobart about ghost near castle door. Hobart not tell Unga-Bunga much about Luremaster Ghost:
Unga-Bunga rest in building, gather things, battle harpies near eastern wall down. Unga-Bunga hope no more harpies after killing harpies:
Unga-Bunga climb eastern wall, summon elementals outside southeastern tower, go inside tower. Unga-Bunga meet Criek of Bane. Criek of Bane command Unga-Bunga help Criek of Bane and friends leave tower or Criek of Bane and friends kill Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga know how Criek of Bane feel, tell Criek of Bane count ten, say counting help Unga-Bunga when angry, too. Criek of Bane not want count, order friends attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga sigh, run outside tower, command elementals count dead bodies of Criek and friends:
Unga-Bunga take Criek of Bane and friend's treasures, see not all friends left tower. Unga-Bunga enter tower, battle wizard and djinni, take their treasures too:
Unga-Bunga see another lever in tower, push lever, leave tower. Unga-Bunga climb stair up western wall, summon elementals outside southwestern tower, enter tower. Unga-Bunga see Wyvern Matron, many wyverns. Unga-Bunga lure wyverns outside tower, command elementals battle wyverns, call lightning down on wyverns:
Unga-Bunga enter tower, push lever, see stairway leading down. Unga-Bunga go down stair, find Luremaster Ghost. Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga true heroes need be smart, ask Unga-Bunga riddle:
Unga-Bunga know elements, tell Luremaster answer wind, beat chest some. Luremaster give Unga-Bunga parchment. Parchment tell story about Watchknight battling dragon. Unga-Bunga shrug, put parchment into bag, leave tower. Unga-Bunga summon elementals outside northwestern tower, enter tower.
Unga-Bunga see dead body, stone body in tower, see living man in armor. Unga-Bunga talk to man. Man say name Harald, tell Unga-Bunga once Paladin of Tyr but now fallen paladin. Harald ask Unga-Bunga kill Harald. Unga-Bunga tell Harald Harald crazy. Harald get angry:
Unga-Bunga hold up hands, back away from Harald. Unga-Bunga see Symbol of Helm on ground near lever. Unga-Bunga take Symbol of Helm, push lever, see stair leading down into tower. Unga-Bunga go down stair, see Luremaster. Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga true heroes have strength of arms:
Luremaster give Unga-Bunga another parchment, parchment tell about another Watchknight battling dragon. Unga-Bunga put parchment into bag, leave tower, take rest in Hobart shack.
Unga-Bunga gather things after resting, climb stair to eastern wall, enter tower, see new stairway leading down into tower. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, go down stair, see Luremaster waiting. Unga-Bunga sigh, summon elementals, speak Luremaster. Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga true heroes need perseverance, summon Shambling Mounds, Red Myconids, Mustard Jellies:
Unga-Bunga summon spirits, spirits help elementals slay Red Myconids, Mustard Jellies. Unga-Bunga see more Mustard Jellies appear when kill Mustard Jellies, think Luremaster summoning more jellies. Unga-Bunga command elementals, spirits kill Shambling Mounds. Once Shambling Mounds dead, Luremaster appear, give Unga-Bunga another parchment:
Unga-Bunga read parchment, begin understand story. Unga-Bunga think story about four Watchknights of Helm serving Lore Maluradek. Lord Maluradek's castle attacked by mighty dragon Aehirglass. Lord Maluradek let Watchknights battle dragon, Lord Maluradek hide in castle. Unga-Bunga shrug, leave tower, enter northwestern tower.
Unga-Bunga see new stairway down in tower, go down stair, see Luremaster. Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga true heroes need courage, say prize Unga-Bunga want in one of six chests, say other chests hold only death for Unga-Bunga:
Luremaster leave, Unga-Bunga sigh. Unga-Bunga cast all protection magics, set off many traps looking for prize, finally find parchment in chest. Unga-Bunga read parchment about another Watchknight, put parchment in bag. Unga-Bunga leave tower, take rest in Hobart shack.
Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather things. Unga-Bunga only see one part of courtyard Unga-Bunga not explore yet: doorway in courtyard set into eastern wall. Unga-Bunga cast protection magics, toss Pixie Dust, enter doorway into desecrated temple, see many spiders in temple. Unga-Bunga summon elementals, battle spiders down:
Unga-Bunga search temple, see offering plate on altar filled with blood, see manuscript lying on altar. Unga-Bunga read manuscript written by High Watcher Ammal-Matis. Manuscript tell how Lord Maluradek want hide cowardice from subjects, not tell story of heroic Watchknights battling Aehirglass dragon, take glory all for Lord Maluradek. Parchment say bard want tell story, Lord Maluradek have bard imprisoned in castle dungeon, bard sing song anyway, Lord Maluradek have bard killed. Parchment say High-Watcher, Helm followers build secret crypt, honor fallen Watchknights. Unga-Bunga angry at Lord Maluradek.
Unga-Bunga try purify temple, place Symbol of Helm onto offering plate. Unga-Bunga see symbol on wall restored, see passageway open, stairway leading down:
Unga-Bunga enter passageway, passageway lead down into crypt. Unga-Bunga battle many undead in crypt: Crypt Things, Revenants, Blast Skeletons, Skeleton Warriors, Wights, Ghosts, Boneguard Skeletons, Mummies, Greater Mummies, Ochre Jellies:
Unga-Bunga find central chamber with six locked doors, see symbol of metal on each door. Unga-Bunga search many crypts, find many secret doors, endure many traps, find six metal keys:
Unga-Bunga enter final chamber of Watchknight Crypt after many battles, see four coffins in chamber. Unga-Bunga search each coffin, see weapons. Unga-Bunga read parchments again, place parchment of Watchknight using weapon into crypt. Dead Watchknights appear, thank Unga-Bunga for giving Watchknights rest:
Unga-Bunga leave Watchknight Crypt, enter courtyard, see gateway into Castle Maluradek open:
Unga-Bunga worn out from battles, enter Hobart shack, Hobart say Unga-Bunga first adventurer gain entry castle. Hobart give away Hobart know more about Luremaster than Hobart tell Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga grab Hobart by scruff of neck, demand Hobart tell Unga-Bunga about Luremaster. Hobart beg Unga-Bunga not make Hobart tell:
Unga-Bunga not trust Hobart, not have other choice than enter Castle Maluradek. Unga-Bunga take rest in Hobart shack, keep eye on Hobart while resting, wonder what next day bring...
After the over-the-top challenge and powerlevel of my previous run, I'm looking for a much more relaxing playthrough that I can progress on while listening to podcasts (which I don't do all the time, so updates might be infrequent) - because playing Baldur's Gate is one of the few things I can do while still concentrating on listening and understanding complicated topics. This is mostly a vanilla run - no mods, core rules - but there's a twist which will make the game both less complicated and a little bit more difficult.
I'm calling this a "classic" run, because I'm mostly playing the game as if it was original vanilla BG1 - no EE content (no companions, quests, items or spells added, not even those that are in vanilla BG2 - if it wasn't in BG1, I won't even pick it up - for the spell list, I'm using the original BG1 manual to help with my memory of what was actually available), no kits (except for specialist mages, as they were in the original BG1), no max-hp on level up, no full healing on rests etc. - I will also try to avoid opening my inventory during combat (this would unpause the game in BG1, so you had to very fast when doing so). Additionally, I'm even avoiding TOTSC content and items, and I will stop doing sidequests and head straight for the endamge if I reach 89k experience (the original cap). Obviously, this isn't going to be a completionist run. For SoA/ToB, of course, spells, kits etc. are available, though I will still avoid EE content and keep the no full healing on rests/no max-hp on level ups restrictions.
I'm also taking this opportunity while playing without SCS to go with a transmuter bhaalspawn. In classic BG1, transmuters not only couldn't use abjuration spells, they were also restricted from taking any necromancy spells, which I will adhere to (this changed in BG2, so I will start learning them once I get to that point).
Her name is Beringia, she is a true neutral half elf with a pip in slings, starting with shield, color spray and blindness (find familiar didn't exist in classic BG1, so we are walking around with 6 hp) - stats are 13/18/18/18/3/18.
Of note: I actually first tried my hand with a similiar run, including a very strict roleplaying/no metagaming rule. However, adherence to these rules basically forced me to the mines at level 1 with zero preparations and a very weak party, which allowed Mulahey to just destroy us with rigid thinking/hold person spells - reminds of my very early days of playing this game. I don't think zero metagaming and no-reload go well together (and artificially trying to remove your previous knowledge of the game is very hard to to consistently). I also dropped another transmuter run where I first killed Shoal and the basilisks before recruiting my party because Imoen was at a much lower level compared to the others, which for some reason annoyed me enough to stop playing.
Anyway, as for Beringia, some early updates: I did the Candlekeep quests but learned Tethoril's scroll instead of turning it over, recruited Imoen, left the Belt of the Antipode (EE content), picked up Montaron and Xzar in order to deal with Tarnesh - Montaron's backstab only dealt 7 damage, not enough to get the kill, so we had to take down mirror images - Xzar's two LMD ended up being crucial, and Montaron, the only one in range, managed to save against horror:
We dropped our evil duo and recruited Khalid and Jaheira, made sure not to talk to Dorn, picked up antidotes from Landrin, bought a bunch of equipment (including some for Branwen, as she starts without any), killed the belt ogre (who hit both Khalid and Jaheira once, putting them to 1 hp - thank god for the level 1 protection), returned to FAI in order to go north and pick up Ajantis and made our way to Beregost to rest. We made sure to avoid Neera and ventured south, killed the ogrillions and the hobgoblins (didn't pick up the family amulet as it is EE content) and made it to Nashkel. Buying a stone to flesh scroll allowed us to visit and recruit Branwen, whom we equipped and healed up. While we were in the area, we picked up the wand of frost (since Beringia has identify, we get to use it early on if needed) and made our way to the gibberling mountains, getting our hands on the ring of fire protection and Samuel, whom we returned to FAI. Now, we got our hands on Joia's ring, Zhurlong's boots, Perdue's sword (also Melicamp, but he sadly died) and took on the half ogres via color spray:
We returned Brage to Nashkel and took down Neira via Branwen's command spell:
Of note: Branwen is actually a Priest of Tempus in the EE, but I simply won't use her special abilities. We turned in all the Beregost quests (used another command on the bounty hunter here and color spray on the spiders) and took on Silke, as she's easy to interrupt without SCS:
Calming down Marl, helping Firebead (dropping the scroll case, EE content) and turning in Landrin's quest got us a lot of experience. By now, everyone except for Beringia has reached at least second level (with Branwen at 3 - Branwen and Ajantis started at level 2), and we even got a perfect HP roll on Khalid! That's it for now
I made good progress with my avenger half elf Gwydion (insane with no double damages and unmodded beside Lefreut's UI and custom portraits for the NPC) :
First levels were difficult, not having good armor was a clear penalty, and often I thought a shapeshifter or a totemic druid would have been better.
I forgot how Call woodland being was powerful in BG1.
I almost died early one when after having recruited Ajantis and going to High Edge to recruit Kivan, I was ambushed by bandits. Gwydion survived with 1 or 2 HP, Imoen and Xzar were killed.
Another difficult time was when fighting Mulhaey, he somehow managed to land hold person on Minsc and Kivan and rigid thinking on Ajantis, so my avenger in leather armor had to fight with a quaterstaff in the frontline. Of course Kivan and Minsc were killed, and on my way to Nashkel I stumbled on an ankheg and the amazons party... Luckily we succeed in reaching the town.
I almost died too when doing Coran's quest in the wyvern's cave, I launch a web and somehow hold Ajantis and Minsc...
Of course Dorn was killed just before finishing his quest, so I have to go to FAI to raise him then went back to the bridge for completing his quest.
Kivan was killed when fighting Degrodel's minions in order to recover Cloak of Balduran.
My party is :
Gwydion, half elf avenger
Ajantis then Yeslick
Minsc
Kivan
Imoen then Coran
Dynaheir
Each now have more than 100,000 XP, and we just managed to save Belt (but not Jannath) during the coronation.
Before entering the thieves's maze, I think I should do some quests for XP.
I already did upstair of Durlag's Tower. I could try the first underground level, or maybe Ice Island... Werewolves Island is a big no.
Swords for everyone! The Amarande story V: Spectacular Spellhold Special PreviousNext
Alright, here we go... following a quick purchase of two Freedom scrolls, the party sets sail for Brynnlaw. In an act of unprecedented and unwarranted cheapness, Amarande elects to engage the three dock-side vampires with minimal buffs, with predictable results. At least we won.
We push into Lady Galvena's feasthall. Lady Galvena herself drops in one round, and beyond removing his illusions with a True Sight, Vadek can't really do much against (this time well and properly buffed) Amarande.
Alright... Perth. We lure him outside as usual. At first, we think ourselves truly lucky! Perth has no defense against the poison effect of Yoshimo's traps:
Perth gets the last laugh however, as we end up with Fireball -> Stinking Cloud -> Protection from Evil -> Stinking Cloud
-> Farsight -> Burning Hands from the Book of Many Spells. You can't even sell it, ugh.
Anyway, keeping the last run in mind, this time Jan does get a spellbook upgrade before we descend into Spellhold. Minsc convinces Desharik to have us committed, and we're off. Following a few very low-priced gems from Naljier Skal, Irenicus drops by, and it's dreamland. Bhaal bites it, and the session can begin in earnest... we're in naught but our small-clothes, stuck in a maze. Imoen joins up, and we set out. Hilariously, my hoarding is so bad, not even SCS is capable of stripping us of EVERYTHING: Anomen somehow retains a full stack of Extra Healing Potions. Those actually came in handy.
This time, we do things in somewhat optimal order. First the statue riddles for the Ring of Regeneration; then the Gibberling room for some weaponry; next swing by the Clay Golem room (for which we of course have a Remove Curse handy, along with Club of Meteoric Iron/Spiritual Hammer on Jaheira/Anomen) for even more weaponry, and finally Orogs/Minotaurs for some basic armor. Thus equipped, we head to the south: We'll leave the Yuan-Ti and the nasty Ruhk for later.
The Kobolds aren't a huge concern. The Imps and Quasits do require magical weapons to hit, but we have a Spear +3, and even though it takes a while to whack 'em down owing to their regeneration, they can't really do much to us. To the south we only had to contend with Gibberlings, but of course such luck never lasts: We're back to where the last run ended, the Lich Library.
Yeah, that's a sizable chunk o' undead, as expected. We're in luck that the Lich here isn't connected to them. Alright, let's be conservative: I'm sure a Monster Summoning I from Imoen is enough to hold that huge mob of high-level undead at bay while we slowly whittle them down.
I mean... it kind of worked. Never mind that Minsc and Jaheira had to run in the opposite direction from the rest of the party and only avoided horrific death since Jaheira managed to get a Pixie Dust off two seconds before a Bone Golem made contact. Anyway, it was a running battle where we wasted more summons than I'd like, but at least now the undead cronies are cleared.
Since we had to put up several of our own Skeleton Warriors, we take the time to clear the tome monsters before proceeding: Goes smoothly, believe it or not. You just face a regular Mind Flayer here, which Amarande and Minsc can dual-wield into oblivion under Chaotic Commands, and the Beholder has no answer to a Skeleton horde. We also use them to punch through the Umber Hulk ambush to the north (in preparation of quite possibly having to flee in unanticipated directions once we engage the Lich), although here, being Skeletons up against blunt damage, they understandably take a bit of a beating.
So, we're actually not in great shape with regards to remaining spells. In fact, we end up resting; there's no hunting by Bodhi going on with SCS 34.3 (that was a VERY annoying component...), so it's fine. With a full set of specifically geared spells, Amarande does manage to take the Ruhk down: Once its Haste expires, it doesn't have the damage output to outperform the Ring of Regeneration plus a few Potions of Extra Healing.
OK. We have to get past the Lich, lest we want to take up residence down here. This particular Lich is actually quite a bit less scary than they tend to be: He seems to never leave his spawn spot to chase you down. Fine by us; have some summons. A lot of summons, even. ~20 or so truly weak ones later, we send in the heavy Skeleton artillery, and... down the big bad goes.
That was almost disappointingly easy, but then again, this Lich seems intentionally weakened with regards to behaviour. With no beefy wizard bodyguard, Dace duly drops; in his wisdom first choosing to dominate the least capable physical combatant in the party.
We double back and treat the Yuan-ti and their Mage to a few Spike Growth. They eventually slither their way out of it towards us, but by then they're so weakened they're no longer a threat. Since we seem to have ample time, I opt for actually clearing the Pit Fiend and Greater Wolfwere that you can spawn from the portal. After ridicolously excessive buffing against every conceivable thing it might throw at us, the Pit Fiend didn't really manage to do anything before dropping. The Greater Wolfwere had time for precisely one attack. Yeah, I overestimated their capabilities a bit.
And with that, we can proceed further into the maze. The right-hand side of this level is the potentially lethal one, so we clear the left path first; Trolls and Minotaurs aren't really a problem even with this paltry gear, and Jan has Protection from Fire and Minor Spell Deflection so can safely fetch all the paintings for us. We run into Bodhi, she promptly flees, and the last few holdouts of Minotaurs (and a Gauth) are dealt with. OK, time for the more troublesome part. There's a Yuan-ti spawn with a Mage blocking the painting rooms, so we just pop a couple Spike Growth to wear them down.
I... don't even understand how that is possible. Can the Noble Djinni teleport? He obviously responded to the call for help from the Yuan-ti, but he's supposed to be locked inside his room until you tear down the wall. Of course we were prepared to fight him, but not right now! Naturally, the Ulitharid joins the fray as well. We end up running across half the level, until the Ulitharid wimps out (dropping his sword first), but not before stunning Jan, making him easy prey for that damnable Djinni that's still hanging around like a bad odor.
Yeah. I did not care for this development at all. Improved calls for help is fine and all, but now it's interfering with established game behaviour (you should be allowed to choose if you want to engage the Noble Djinni/Ulitharid or just deal with the Umber Hulk Elder). Even worse, that Djinni apparently does not obey the laws of physics, in that he is apparently able to move through walls...
We had just enough time to get rudimentary buffs up, and after killing said Djinni three times (he regenerated to full twice, of course) we get Jan back up. The rest of the level is not a problem; we had a couple summons left, and they soak up the Cursed Wounds from the trio of Clay Golems. Everything is looted, and we leave the maze, performing the sacrifice so that Jaheira finally gets a magical (though not that great) weapon she's specialized in.
Alright... Irenicus remains. And apparently, we must battle him using the hodge-podge gear we gathered from beneath Spellhold, not our actual equipment. At least that means our clones will be as weak as we are.
We prepare very thoroughly. Everyone gets Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, and as many elemental protections as we can squeeze in. Emotion: Courage, Emotion: Hope, PfE 10'... anything that lasts a little while and might give us an edge. I seem to be almost alone in this, but I habitually bribe Lonk the Sane. I know you can play along and then engage him at range to avoid a party wipe due to his initial ADHW, but it's just buff time and resources spent that would be better used for Irenicus... and 2000 gold seems a small price to pay to elevate our chances of survival. Anyway, we teleport down, and the game is afoot.
We try to squeeze into the corner, but unfortunately remain in sight of Irenicus; however, he focuses exclusively on the Mage whackos. A triple initial Chaos only disables Imoen's clone, but owing to them using the crappy Spellhold gear, we deal with the clones rather easily. Of course, that doesn't prevent things from becoming a degenerate mess in short order.
Yeah, that's a Prismatic Spray thrown by our "allies". They did that twice. Not sure if we just got lucky or if they're coded so their spells won't affect us (I've been fried by Aphril Lightning Bolts before though), but not much to do about it except try and kill the clones quickly. Then we turn our ire on Irenicus, who.. is REALLY pulling his punches, I must say. He's basically just running Spell Deflection, Stoneskin and Mirror Image (initial CC was two Efreeti and Improved Mantle I believe). He even wasted his Time Stop casting Improved Alacrity, but then only following it up with said Mirror Image. Hey, I don't mind: Spell Deflection absorbs ten spell levels, and Breach is level 5. Three suitably staggered Breach is all it takes.
No one ever even came close to dying, and we managed to evade all disablers, so Yoshimo and his attendant Murderers can't really do much (Jan and a True Sight by Anomen means they never even get a backstab in). We sneak by Saemon to grab our gear (clobbering the final Stone Golem in the process), though I guess Saemon does open the door once you teleport outside so we could probably have just gone back in if we wanted to. Anyway, we head back to Brynnlaw, clear the local pirate crew, and buy a few things (Spell Deflection scroll can actually be difficult to aquire and is a nice L6 option... we also grab some Potions of Genius).
Once on the high seas, we nearly get killed during the Githyanki ambush. Not sure what was going on, but I think they were throwing around a ton of Cone of Cold, and we mainly focused on getting anti-mind blast defenses and melee protections in place. Not good, but everyone made it.
Severely weakened as we are, a single Ettin is still no threat, and we agree to help the King (we'll of course kill 'em all in the end...). We stop by the Priestess of Sekolah and sell off a ton of crap; why was I hoarding Darts of Stunning and Wounding? Jan just doesn't have the THAC0 to hit anything and no one else but Imoen (who's THAC0 is even worse) has proficiency in the things...
This seems a good spot to stop for now. Next time we'll clear the City of Caverns, which should provide a welcome respite from the frequent life-or-death situations we've been facing (protection against stun means dead fishies... although they pack a serious poisonous melee punch). Then, it's back to death waiting behind every corner, as we enter the Underdark. We can only hope my metagaming holds out. Let's see, there's three Mind Flayers directly to the north of where you appear that can easily end a run...
Amarande is now a level 11/12 Half-Elven Fighter/Mage.
I could mention how the Trio just breezed through the Cloakwood, or how the Trio easily defeated all the enemies in the Cloakwood Mines. But all that matters is the fateful encounter in an inn where some women wanted to introduce us to entropy. Well Saile got spotted by the mage but he didn't see the mage himself. He was confused. This is potentially a big problem as if he kills commoners then Egg could become fallen. So Egg moves up to try to be the distraction, but now he's being hit by spells so looks like he needs help, so Coremage moved up and tried to assist. Right then the party got hit with horror and everyone failed their save!
The party was helpless as we were taking spell damage. Coremage was taking the brunt of it though. Right at the end, the horror wore off and Corey_Russell attempted to pause, however before the pause could take effect the mage plunged a dagger into Coremage XXV for 13 damage and ending his run - RIP Coremage XXV.
So, we're actually not in great shape with regards to remaining spells. In fact, we end up resting; there's no hunting by Bodhi going on with SCS 34.3 (that was a VERY annoying component...), so it's fine.
That was never an SCS component; it's part of Unfinished Business.
We stop by the Priestess of Sekolah and sell off a ton of crap; why was I hoarding Darts of Stunning and Wounding? Jan just doesn't have the THAC0 to hit anything and no one else but Imoen (who's THAC0 is even worse) has proficiency in the things...
Why, you were hoarding them so you could sell them to this merchant specifically. She does pay you a lot more than anyone else you've met so far would - buy markup 50 instead of the standard 30. And she doesn't stock those darts specifically, so she pays her best prices for the first batch before depreciation sets in.
Or maybe this is just a post-hoc rationalization for something that didn't have a good reason at the time.
Trio 43 - update 1 Flydian - dwarf wizard slayer (Grond0)
Corefighter - dwarf fighter (Corey_Russell)
Burdock - human dark moon monk (Gate70)
Previous run
The abortive end to the previous run left enough time in the session to make a decent start for a new party. Quickly rolling up a new set of characters, we discovered a strong martial bias this time - should make for quick action.
Burdock is the nearest equivalent to a caster and tried his luck at blinding Shoal - that failed, but it didn't save her for long.
None of us had high charisma, so we didn't bother trying to return a ring to Mad Arcand.
A bit of confusion about whether we were fighting or running from Shoal led to her storming off in a huff - taking her gem bag with her. That was a minor concern though and we pushed on down to Nashkel to pick up the ankheg armor for Corefighter and allow Flydian to learn Bhaal CLW.
On the way to the basilisks, Corey asked "who is going to be petrified". That harked back to the last Trio run I led, which ended with my character being stoned. To protect against that, this time I used the green scroll of PfP on Flydian. That was bad news for Burdock though when a greater basilisk retreated from Flydian towards Burdock and even his monk speed could not get him out of danger when the basilisk refocused its gaze.
With the basilisk being worth so much XP, Flydian decided that Burdock should be revived before the combat finished. Things didn't go quite as planned though as, when invited back into the party, Burdock decided to fall down dead.
That not only resulted in us aborting the assault on the basilisk area, but the same glitch that killed him removed his last level as well . Gate70 took that in stride though, noting that death has consequences and refusing the option of consoling back the lost XP.
After a temple visit a few cleaning up jobs in Beregost included Silke. Flydian had been tempted to rely on his WS abilities to keep her quiet, but Burdock had a better idea.
We'd taken out a group of spiders there as well, so went to the FAI to hand over some items they'd been guarding. Tarnesh attempted to block our way and Burdock ran away from him to lead an expected horror away from the others - but it was Tarnesh himself who was scared.
Corefighter felt we weren't quite ready to tackle the ankhegs yet, so Flydian headed for Meilum looking for a way to improve the party's fighting abilities. On the way we had a brief stop to deal with some xvarts for a nervous farmer.
Meilum has decent saving throws, but they were not good enough to protect against blindness this time.
Flydian had not bothered buying a breakable long sword earlier, so grabbed Meilum's more durable version. Greedily he then headed for Greywolf in search of an immediate upgrade. Greywolf saved against blindness and managed to do a bit of damage before being shot down.
Wizard slayer 4, 54 HPs, 23 kills
Fighter 4, 42 HPs, 19 kills, 0 deaths
Dark moon monk, 37 HPs, 18 kills, 1 death
Current character records
So, we're actually not in great shape with regards to remaining spells. In fact, we end up resting; there's no hunting by Bodhi going on with SCS 34.3 (that was a VERY annoying component...), so it's fine.
That was never an SCS component; it's part of Unfinished Business.
We stop by the Priestess of Sekolah and sell off a ton of crap; why was I hoarding Darts of Stunning and Wounding? Jan just doesn't have the THAC0 to hit anything and no one else but Imoen (who's THAC0 is even worse) has proficiency in the things...
Why, you were hoarding them so you could sell them to this merchant specifically. She does pay you a lot more than anyone else you've met so far would - buy markup 50 instead of the standard 30. And she doesn't stock those darts specifically, so she pays her best prices for the first batch before depreciation sets in.
Or maybe this is just a post-hoc rationalization for something that didn't have a good reason at the time.
Oh... that's actually true! It was UB. Annoying all the same, though Apologies to SCS for implying it's annoying (the time-and-space defying Noble Djinni aside).
Also true, and a good point. There are containers in Brynnlaw so I really should've refrained from selling the most high-value loot in Athkatla and just brought it with me instead... the Bag of Holding can take 100 (?) items I believe, so there's no issue getting it down to the City of Caverns once you return from Spellhold.
With the party gathered and some basic experience obtained, it was time to find some equipment, gold and experience for everyone - though not much gold is needed, given that I won't have access to the Ulgoth's Beard Merchant. I will only mention a few of the encounters - all in all, I explored most wilderness areas, skipping only the northern Sword Coast area, Red Wizards, Narcillicus, Ulcaster, the Doomsayer and Kahrk for now. For the tougher battles, I waited for 2 things: a) Finding a web scroll for Beringia and b) Branwen getting her first third level spell. Early on, Branwen's level 2 spells came in clutch against Zargal and Bassilus:
I actually miscklicked during the Bassilus conversations and had to quickly retreat once the priest was dead - Ajantis escaped from all the skeletons with only 1 hp left. Weapons for Branwen and Imoen acquired (also bought Shortbow +1 and Sling +1 and used the potion of master thievery from the carnival thief to get Ajantis the bastard sword +1 from the Beregost smithy).
Getting a weapon for Khalid was fairly easy with hold person:
Sadly, with my rules, there are no great weapons available for Jaheira - no magical clubs, the best quarterstaff is a simply +1 and won't allow her to use shields - so I put her first new pip in Daggers. I will buy her the Dagger of Venom later on.
For about half the time here, I still had to use color spray when dealing with big groups of enemies:
Eventually, though, I found a sleep scroll, which made dealing with the gnoll fortress much easier - tome for Beringia, gauntlets for Ajantis. Most things are easily done via command, hold person, blindness or sleep, with remove fear + silence for enemy wizards, bless + chant for tougher battles in general - eventually I felt prepared for the basilisk area and bought the green PfP scroll. Beringia can't learn PfP, as it is an abjuration spell. On the way there, disaster almost struck as I got the random basilisk encounter, with no potions of mirrored eyes at the ready. It got off one gaze attack on Ajantis - luckily, his paladin-boosted saving throws saved him, and we made it out intact:
I used the PfP scroll on Ajantis and together with Corax, he cleared most of the area. Beringia had level 2 spells by now, though only 2 scrolls available (Melf's and Stinking Cloud) - Corax + stinking cloud was a great combo to take out the adventuring party, though:
I decided to visit the Nashkel Mines at this point - not much trouble here:
After taking down Nimbul and Tranzig, I explored the woods - at some point, not sure when exactly, I got hold of a web scroll, bought the remaining scrolls available under my ruleset from High Hedge and learned a few useful spells - with Web at my disposal instead of stinking cloud, I felt safe taking on even riskier encounters such as bounty hunter parties or Lendarn:
Get their position from stealth or invisibility, shoot 2-3 webs at them, finish them with ranged weapons. We cleared out the bandit camp without any trouble, sadly having to leave the gloves of weapon specialization behind:
Finally, I payed a visit to the flesh golem cave and got my hands on a constitution tome, though it's currently not very useful. Things are going well, we have basically all the tools we need. HP rolls have been fine:
Beringis is at level 5, having 27 out of a possible 30 hitpoints
Ajantis is at level 5, with 49 out of 60
Khalid is level 5 as well, with 51 out of 65
Branwen is at level 6, having gained 41 out of 54
Imoen is at 6 as well - with only 30 out of 48, she probly had the worst rolls so far.
I'm not 100% sure how multiclass HP per level work, but Jaheira is at levels 5/5 with 49 hipoints, which seems perfectly fine to me.
When I get to play again, I will propably deal with a few missing wilderness encounters and explore Cloakwood.
Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather things, enter Castle Maluradek. Unga-Bunga see Luremaster Ghost when enter castle:
Luremaster ask Unga-Bunga learn story of Luremaster, Lord Maluradek, tell Unga-Bunga poem:
Unga-Bunga watch Luremaster fade away, cast protection magics, enter main chamber. Unga-Bunga see ghostly figures, ghost lords and ladies. Unga-Bunga see Spectral Guards guarding two stairs, both east and west, also guarding runed door in center chamber:
Unga-Bunga find northwest passageway. Passageway lead castle kitchen, Unga-Bunga see Spectral Cook:
Unga-Bunga bob and weave, hit seam, cast blinding magics on Spectral Guards just in time. Unga-Bunga vision quest nearly over:
Unga-Bunga dance, summon spirits, cast Static Charge, take very long time slay Spectral Guards. Spectral Guards toughest warriors Unga-Bunga ever fight:
Unga-Bunga try be more careful, know Spectral Guards not cast magics. Unga-Bunga look in Holding Bag, take out battle armors, duel-wield enchanted axes with protection magics, cast all defensive magics, make Unga-Bunga tough like old briar:
Unga-Bunga summon elementals, toss Pixie Dust, step on stair. Spectral Guards summon more Spectral Guards. Unga-Bunga wait, see all Spectral Guards attack elementals, sneak up behind Spectral Guards, cast blinding magics:
Unga-Bunga position elementals so Spectral Guards attack elementals, keep center clear for Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga blind Spectral Guards:
Unga-Bunga, elementals battle down all Spectral Guards on main floor. Unga-Bunga tired, out of magics, rest in Hobart shack. After rest Unga-Bunga gather things, toss Pixie Dust, climb eastern stair in castle, see Hobart searching books in castle library:
Unga-Bunga scared, know just left Hobart, get sick feeling. Unga-Bunga remember Eldathyn priests in Dragon's Eye not Eldathyn priests. Unga-Bunga back away, go back Hobart shack, see Hobart:
Unga-Bunga think spirits tell Unga-Bunga leave Fake Hobart be. Unga-Bunga done search 1st floor castle, go back inside castle, climb western stair to 2nd floor castle. Unga-Bunga battle down more Spectral Guards guarding stair:
Unga-Bunga see many Spectral Patrons, leave alone. Unga-Bunga enter hallway, find pools on either side hallway, battle Water Kin Elementals in pools:
Unga-Bunga see hallway open into large chamber, hear music, see Luremaster play music for many ghosts:
Unga-Bunga listen, see ghosts fade away, see Beholder! Beholder make elemental afraid, charge Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga run away, wait for Beholder attack elemental. Unga-Bungs summon elemental army, beat down Beholder. Unga-Bunga take deep breaths:
Unga-Bunga afraid, keep many elementals summoned, have elementals guard front and rear, slowly take eastern passage from music chamber:
Unga-Bunga see Beholder charge elementals, hide behind corner, cower from Beholder gaze:
Unga-Bunga hear battle from rear, see elementals battle another beholder. Unga-Bunga hide, wait for right moment, jump around corner, cast blinding magic:
Unga-Bunga go back front elementals battling Beholder. Unga-Bunga cheer elementals pinning Beholder to wall, cry out when Spectral Guards come from next room, attack elementals. Beholder try kill Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga almost out summoning magics, summon animals, help elementals battle rear Beholder, Spectral Guards:
Spectral Guards kill animals, elementals. Unga-Bunga know Spectral Guards very strong, lure Spectral Guards down stair, out of castle, call lightning down on Spectral Guards:
Unga-Bunga, animals finally beat down Spectral Guards. Unga-Bunga beat chest some, rest in Hobart shack. After rest, Unga-Bunga return castle, search side chambers off hallway with Beholders, battle more Spectral Guards. Unga-Bunga clear Spectral Guards from side chambers, library off end of hallway:
Unga-Bunga see large chamber at end of hallway, summon elementals into chamber, cast all protection magics. Unga-Bunga enter chamber, find Lord Maluradek. Unga-Bunga see Lord Maluradek long dead, now skeletal lich. Lord Maluradek call Unga-Bunga traitor, say silence Unga-Bunga forever:
Unga-Bunga command elementals attack Lord Maluradek. Maluradek cast powerful magics, dispel Unga-Bunga magics, cast death magics and symbols, teleport elementals, Unga-Bunga to side chambers. Unga-Bunga cast many magics at Maluradek, Maluradek resist all Unga-Bunga's magics:
Unga-Bunga only able command six creatures at once. Maluradek summon dozens of undead, overwhelm Unga-Bunga elementals:
Unga-Bunga realize Lord Maluradek far more powerful than Unga-Bunga, command elementals still battle, cover retreat of Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga flee castle, hope Lord Maluradek not follow Unga-Bunga, run inside Hobart shack. Unga-Bunga wait by door long while, thank spirits Lord Maluradek not come.
Unga-Bunga set down bags, slump against wall, fear Unga-Bunga trapped in Anauroch desert, ruined castle forever. Unga-Bunga fear Vision Quest over...
Unga-Bunga rest, return castle, battle Lord Maluradek many times, always flee Lord Maluradek. Unga-Bunga sit in Hobart shack, ask spirits for aid, search scrolls, potions, items, try find way kill Lord Maluradek.
Unga-Bunga search Holding Bag, hope for answer. Unga-Bunga find greataxe Unga-Bunga barter from Smithy Tiernon:
Unga-Bunga remember buying axe for battles when Unga-Bunga have no hope. Unga-Bunga never wield greataxe in life, take greataxe out to castle courtyard, practice swinging axe. Unga-Bunga not sure axe even cut Lord Maluradek, not sure Lord Maluradek vulnerable disease. All Unga-Bunga know is Unga-Bunga need try. Unga-Bunga take greataxe back to Hobart shack, ask spirits for aid and rest.
Unga-Bunga gather things next day, enter castle. Unga-Bunga stand outside Lord Maluradek's chamber, cast all protection magics, summon elementals. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, send elementals battle Lord Maluradek. Unga-Bunga sneak up Lord Maluradek, raise axe over head, bring axe down onto Lord Maluradek's head...
Unga-Bunga miss Lord Maluradek, miss again and again. Unga-Bunga not greatest warrior...
Unga-Bunga flee from Maluradek, toss Pixie Dust, try attack Maluradek again and again. Sometimes Unga-Bunga strike Maluradek but not deep enough spread disease. Unga-Bunga feel like X-Wing Fighters flying in Death Star trench, trying shoot photon torpedoes into shaft...
Finally, one time, Unga-Bunga bring greataxe down on Lord Maluradek's head:
Unga-Bunga hear Lord Maluradek cry out, wrench greataxe from Lord Maluradek's skull. Lord Maluradek stare Unga-Bunga with eyes filled with infinite evil, bellow death magics, curses at Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga shout, "It's away!", toss Pixie Dust, flee from Lord Maluradek.
Lord Maluradek summon hosts of undead, trap Unga-Bunga in chamber:
Unga-Bunga afraid Maluradek heal disease if not battle, send elementals battle Maluradek, slay undead trapping Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga attack undead, lure undead from chamber into music chamber, toss Pixie Dust, return battle:
Unga-Bunga, Lord Maluradek battle long into day. Unga-Bunga see Lord Maluradek weakening, summon elementals, beetles attack Lord Maluradek. Lord Maluradek cast black curses, death magics at Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga lure more undead from chamber, toss Pixie Dust. As Unga-Bunga return battle, Unga-Bunga hear Lord Maluradek cry out last time, see Lord Maluradek crumble to ground:
Unga-Bunga barely able stand, wearily help elementals battle lingering undead:
Unga-Bunga search Maluradek bedchamber, find magic items, key and journal:
Unga-Bunga put things in bag, know need battle way out castle. Unga-Bunga summon all creatures still able summon, slowly battle down undead horde:
Unga-Bunga, elementals finally battle way out castle. Unga-Bunga crawl into Hobart shack, ignore Hobart's stare, rest long while. After rest, Unga-Bunga wake up, read Maluradek journal, learn full story of Castle Maluradek, learn Lord Maluradek put so many to death, finally put self to death.
Unga-Bunga proud of Unga-Bunga, go out into courtyard, beat chest long while, cry out joy, anger, weariness, all things. Unga-Bunga decide tell young tribesman story of battle if ever escape Castle Maluradek, complete Vision Quest. Unga-Bunga tell young tribesmen never give up, say always answer, need find answer.
Unga-Bunga gather things, enter castle, use key unlock door. Unga-Bunga prepare descend into castle dungeon, where Luremaster Bard imprisoned, put to death...
[Unga-Bunga could only hit Maluradek on a natural 20. With the 15% chance for the disease to take effect, it was only a 3/400 or ~ 1/133 chance of infecting Maluradek with the axe each swing. If there was no retreat allowed from that battle, there would be next to no chance]
@Ariakus Packratting saves the day! One for the history books, and certainly a highlight in the chronicles of Unga-Bunga. Kind of surprising an undead Lich (?) wasn't disease-immune...
Clearing the remaining wilderness areas was no trouble - against webs, even the red wizards couldn't put up a fight:
Only Kahrk was left alive - I don't have the tools to reliably deal with him at these levels and with this party. I entered Cloakwood, sided with the druids and cleared the spider cave:
Now, Ajantis can go into melee range while webs are doing their thing, thanks to Spider's Bane - which I put to good use against Drasus:
Since I didn't want to rest in the Iron Mine, I saved most of my spells for Davaeorn. Ajantis (buffed with a hill giant strength potion), using the Necklace of Missles, shot two fireballs in Hareishan's room, but took a lightning bolt in return - a backstab by Imoen failed to finish off the enemy wizard, so the party had to go in and save my thief:
Luckily, I was able to interrupt the spellcasting of both Natasha and the ogre mage, and a PfM scroll was enough to deal with Davaeorn:
I also quickly entered Baldur's Gate in order to buy the remaining few spells allowed under my rules - most importantly, Beringia now has access to haste and slow. Slow will be a crucial spell in her arsenal - it's the only really good transmutation spell which makes use of the saving throw penalty to enemies, so I plan to use it a lot in order to get the most out of my kit.
@Ariakus Packratting saves the day! One for the history books, and certainly a highlight in the chronicles of Unga-Bunga. Kind of surprising an undead Lich (?) wasn't disease-immune...
Thanks! Yeah, the best way Unga-Bunga could make sense of him was saying he's a Lich, but I don't know what he is, to be honest, probably a custom creation. I think he has 250 HP normally, so 830 HP on Heart of Fury mode. He has unlimited casting of the following spells I observed: Animate Dead, Dispel Magic, Horror, Power Word: Blind, Power Word: Kill, Power Word: Stun, Symbol of Pain, Symbol of Hopelessness. He has a sword on him, but I've never seen him attack in melee at all.
Obviously, the big danger is Animate Dead (aside from Dispel Magic), because he has no limits to its castings or amount of undead at a time, so he just fills the room with them, and you're facing a lot of 20's that way. Trying that axe was the last hope, really. He's completely invulnerable to magic (at least Unga-Bunga's magic). It could be he's immune to all spells up to 7th level, which is the highest Unga-Bunga can cast.
As for immunity ... while undead are generally poison-immune, poison immunity doesn't automatically come with disease immunity. On the other hand, poison immunity usually does block diseases that deal poison damage. Or, at least, blocks the damage. Which means ... this guy isn't immune to poison.
As for what he is? That "death knight" animation, in the BG series, is used for demonic creatures known as "demon knights". Which love throwing around power words, symbols, and the like, but lack the usual demon immunities (such as poison). Yeah, I'd say this guy is probably a custom variant on the demon knight.
It's my birthday and, more importantly than that, as of today I'm retired - yay. That might allow me to concentrate better and knock off a few more from my long-life challenge . Last year I arranged to do a one-day challenge for my birthday, but I won't have that opportunity today. However, there's time for a decent pre-breakfast session to make a start on another shaman attempt. This is number 51, which might suggest this is a hard character to do the challenge with. I'm not sure that's really true, but there's only one way to demonstrate that ...
One issue with the shaman is it comes with a large range of possible tactics, so there's always the temptation to try something new - which is inherently more risky. As I've played it so much now though, there's not that much new to try out! The shaman's signature tactic is the dance. Even at low levels the unlimited summons that produces are pretty useful in a party, but playing solo their poor THAC0 and low damage makes them very slow against most enemies. One exception though is enemies that have no melee weapon equipped and Shoal was soon history to give me a double-level boost.
After collecting a gem bag and scroll case in Beregost, I went straight on to the basilisk area. I lured Korax south before talking to him and then commenced a basilisk tour, which quickly provided another couple of levels.
Mutamin is a potential danger, but is pretty easy to hit with poor death saving throws, so needs to be very lucky to survive Korax - and he was out of luck today.
I normally do use Korax against Kirian's party, but it's safer without, so Korax was given a farewell bullet before I rested.
Baerin was charmed and drawn away from the others. Spirits attacked him, while I stood just out of his sight - spirits will disappear if they leave sight range, but that gives a small window of opportunity for them to attack without exposing me if the spirits are all killed at any point. That was pretty slow progress until Baerin's spear broke and he attempted to attack with his fists.
The purpose of singling out Baerin is that he's the only one to react to area damage - so the others soon died in Writhing Fogs.
Baerin's +1 arrows, used non-proficiently, were not quite enough to finish off the second golem at High Hedge. However, Thalantyr kindly provides a blocker against those and, by moving above and below him, summoned spirits could gradually wear it down. It's death got me to level 6 and a major upgrade to available spirits.
On the way to Nashkel, I stopped off at Firewine Bridge, where Meilum handed over his bracers and Bentan had a shocking demise.
That lowered reputation so that I got LMD as a Bhaal power - having enough healing from my own spells.
Even though shamans have spirits and spells, simple ranged attacks are often the best option. With no possibility of dualling, there's no reason not to go for a half-orc character - so strength can be 19. That means that when shots land they tend to hurt - as Oopah found out.
Moving on to Durlag's Tower, the battle horrors on the path died in Fogs cast from out of sight. I showed myself to the one on the wall in order to pull it to the gate post where it could be lightning-blasted.
The doom guard has some resistance to cold - but not enough.
Inside, handing over some 'nymph's hair' took me to level 7.
Riggilo was shot down, helped slightly by the slowing side-effect of the Fog. Bentan's PfM scroll allowed me to get the tome, as well as doing a bit of looting and taking down the ghost - though unfortunately it killed itself, so I lost the XP there.
A PfP scroll layered on top allowed more basilisk hunting and took me to level 8.
After a quick trip through the Nashkel Mine, Mulahey was distracted by a first use of nymphs.
His ring works for shamans, giving me yet more spells to play with.
After resting to get another LMD, the amazons outside the mine died in Fog. Back in Nashkel, Nimbul was confused then held by a nymph before being put out of his misery by lightning. I did have a bit of a delay there though when Mulahey's symbol evaporated and I had to go back to the mine to get a letter as evidence to show the mayor.
Back in Beregost some spiders were meleed in a Fog before Silke failed to survive twin lightning blasts.
Tranzig was largely incapactitated by a first use of Summon Insects. Then it was on to the FAI for the first time. I sorted Landrin out and picked up the pantaloons there, as well as buying Buckley's Buckler - allowing me to regenerate.
At the Bandit Camp the enemies emerged from their tent to find a greeting party of nymphs.
I was still only reputation 9, so resting after the battle provided me with Bhaal horror. That's not of much benefit with nymphs available, but I've got slow poison as a spell anyway.
In the Cloakwood the ettercaps in the second area were bombed with Spirit Fire, but otherwise I avoided conflict on the way to the mine. Drasus & co were helplessly confused by a barrage of spells timed to arrive after my initial Call Lightning.
Inside the mine, Spirit Fire decimated the ambush on the second level down, but otherwise there was just sling work on the way to Davaeorn.
I had my first real glitch here when I got trapped in a corner by the first battle horror and had to use a couple of potions of firebreath to escape. Davaeorn himself though then died unaware of who was attacking him - that also gave me my final BG1 level.
Resting before flooding the mine then got me a second Bhaal horror.
I got quick reputation boosts from Officer Vai, Mr Colquetle, Bjornin, Prism, Brage, Samuel, Joia, a dryad and Drienne to maximise that. While doing those rounds also picked up the charisma tome. There was one more tome in the wilderness and nymphs were able to ignore attempts to charm them on the way to get that. Spirits then sorted out the golems in the cave.
One final objective before going to the City was then to call on the Red Wizards to get the Ring of Energy.
It shouldn't take long to finish off BG1 now, but I'll do that tomorrow.
I picked up a lot of speed in the big city - with my goal to only get to around 89k experience at the end of the game, I skipped a lot of encounters, including Degrodel's house, Sunin, the sewers (except fot the ogre mage), the Helm&Cloak Party, the ogre mage bounty hunters and Wiven's party. I made sure to gather important item upgrades and tomes, now with haste and slow at my disposal, such as the gauntlets of ogre strength for Khalid:
I surrounded Lothander for a second pair of speed boots:
When I had everything I needed, I visited the Iron Throne building, luring the enemy party downstairs:
I skipped almost everything at Candlekeep, didn't even bother to pick up gear except in the first catacombs level - I have enough gold for everything I'll need. Only had to fight a few doppelgangers, one phase spider group, the basilisks (via the green scroll from the Iron Throne) and of course Barl's party:
Back in the city, I got arrested and fought my way back to the flaming fist - here, I got Ajantis and Khalid held, but was able to counter with slow, confusion and hold person as well as Jaheira moving into melee combat with her dagger of venom (now specialized in daggers):
After a visit to the Iron Throne and the assassins (easily done with detect invisibility by Jaheira), I prepared for the ducal palace. Since I have very few encounters left under my rules, I went almost all out, with cloud giant strength potions and heroism plus arrows of dispelling - and of course, our transmuter-improved slow:
Both dukes easily survived:
I used the fact that I still had powerful potions going to make it through the thieve's maze and to the Undercity, where webs and Spider's bane dealt with the final enemy party:
Tamoko was hit by a command and thus easily killed. Now, I buffed up for Sarevok - some lightning immunity and fire protection, storm giant strength + heroism, agility and constitution buffs, invulnerability and defense, speed - whatever I had on me. Khalid approached with arrows of dispelling to pull Sarevok to the party and get rid of his haste:
He triggered two traps on the way (stinking cloud + web), so I used a potion of spell shielding during his retreat. Angelo's dispel magic was also aimed at him, so he moved away from the party. Other than that, Angelo didn't join the battle, though Semaj teleported in, instantly being pelted by more dispelling arrows and the full force of the party - resulting in Semaj quickly dead and only Khalid dispelled (drank an oil of speed as soon as he could):
Sarevok was only able to get rid of a few summons before succumbing to our combined attacks:
And this is Berngia's experience after the death of Sarevok in the opening SoD save, which I imported to SoA:
I aimed for 89k - and got 89k477. I didn't do any calculations - I skipped quests and encounters based purely on gut feeling, so I'm quite proud that I got this close.
In the opening dungeon, I learned that upon importing a character with randomized hp rolls to BG2, your hp pool gets rerolled. In the process, Beringia luckily only lost 1 hitpoint. Jaheira lost 10 (though I believe her hp are fixed). We started with exactly the experience we had after Sarevok's death. Did cut it a little close in my attempt to only rest once down here, playing as if it were SCS:
You can certainly notice the difference - it's been many years since I've started at 89k here - since SoD exists, it has been at least 500k, and before that, it has been at least 161k. This is also the first time I didn't import the Helm of Balduran into the game, instead opting for the Claw of Kazgaroth:
Though for some reason, Beringia doesn't get the "cursed"-symbol on her portrait. Anyway, resting only once didn't turn out to be viable considering that we don't heal to full hitpoints upon resting.
I made sure to make use of a few summons, haste and slow when facing tougher encounters to compensate for the general weakness of my group:
Once I got outside, I recruited my party right away: In addition to Jaheira and Minsc, this meant getting Anomen and Nalia, travelling to the Temple District and recruiting Keldorn (going the southern road in the sewers, this way I didn't have to deal with any major encounters). I paid a quick visit to the circus tent in order to get my hands on a stoneskin scroll for Beringia to learn. My plan was to go for De'Arnise Keep right away. I got waylaid over and over again - first by Suna Seni when moving to the city gates (where I used knock to open the lich lair, not entering yet though), then by Renfeld's attackers when trying to leave the city (forcing me to return to the docks for a second), and again by the orog slavers when before I finally made it to the keep. All these ambushes went a similiar way: I opened with slow on Beringia, haste on Nalia, summon insects on Jaheira (focused on the enemy mage), holy smite on Anomen, true sight on Keldorn and with Keldorn and Minsc attacking the mage as soon as possible. However, Anomen's holy smite by itself was enough to kill the bandit mages both times, and with holy smite and its blind effect plus our transmuter slow, the battle was basically over as soon as it started:
At least that way, Anomen got a mace +1, we got a plate armor +1, Nalia got herself Arabane's Sword and some magical arrows. Jaheira has just gotten her first level 5 spell. Let's see how we do in the keep with our very low levels and limited gear.
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Previous updates:
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https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
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https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
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https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
Unga-Bunga search Bremen's Run for barbarian camp, find lone sentry guarding gate to camp. Sentry ask Unga-Bunga why there. Unga-Bunga say need speak chieftain. Sentry call more sentries, surround Unga-Bunga, demand know why Unga-Bunga want see chieftain. Unga-Bunga say Ten Towns wish parley, talk peace:
Sentries take Unga-Bunga through gate into large encampment. Unga-Bunga try learn layout of camp while walking:
Unga-Bunga taken into large tent of chieftain, have audience with Chieftain Wylfdene. Unga-Bunga ask Chieftain Wyldene why herald say Chieftain Wyldene guided by spirit of Jerrod. Chieftain Wyldene tell Unga-Bunga when Wylfdene died, spirit of Jerrod came to Wylfdene, ask Wylfdene join with Jerrod, return barbarians tribes to former glory. Chieftain Wylfdene say Wylfdene neither Wylfdene nor Jerrod but both in one, tell Unga-Bunga Chieftain Wylfdene brought tribes together, through Wylfdene tribes rule North once more:
Unga-Bunga tell Chieftain Wylfdene Ten Towns wish sue for peace. Chieftain Wylfdene say Ten Towns steal barbarians' land, tell Unga-Bunga barbarian land shrink until only land too cold:
Unga-Bunga suggest Ten Towns, barbarian tribes parley, make treaty, find common ground. Chieftain Wylfdene say Townsfolk have nothing in common with barbarian tribes, twist all Unga-Bunga say, make sound like insult:
Chieftain Wylfdene tell Unga-Bunga could make peace if Chieftain Wylfdene believed Unga-Bunga delegate of Ten Towns:
Chieftain Wyldene accuse Unga-Bunga of being assassin like last delegate sent by Ten Towns, say last delegate's head on spike outside tent:
Unga-Bunga tell Chieftain Wylfdene Unga-Bunga not assassin sent kill Chieftain Wylfdene. Unga-Bunga think not yet anyway but not say that. Chieftain Wylfdene say if Unga-Bunga not assassin then Unga-Bunga spy sent learn strength and weaknesses of tribes. Chieftain Wylfdene say Chieftain Wylfdene not let Unga-Bunga leave tent alive:
Unga-Bunga about summon elemental when Shaman Hjollder speak up, say Shaman Hjollder ask Unga-Bunga come speak to Wylfdene, say saw Unga-Bunga in vision given by spirits, say spirits speak will of Tempos:
Chieftain Wylfdene say Chieftain Wylfdene want hear will of Tempos, ask Hjollder why Hjollder bring Unga-Bunga encampment.
Unga-Bunga hope Shaman Hjollder have good answer:
Shaman Hjollder say purpose served by Unga-Bunga unclear in vision. Unga-Bunga sigh, get ready summon elemental again:
Chieftain Wylfdene get angry, banish Hjollder to death on Burial Isle:
Chieftain Wylfdene say if will of Tempos Unga-Bunga live, Chieftain Wylfdene let Unga-Bunga live. Chieftain Wylfdene only banish Unga-Bunga from barbarian camp. Unga-Bunga happy but feel little bad for Hjollder.
Unga-Bunga led outside camp by sentries. Once outside camp, Unga-Bunga told by sentries Chieftain Wylfdene ordered Unga-Bunga put to death. Unga-Bunga think fast, try change subject, ask about Hjollder and Burial Isle. Sentry tell Unga-Bunga Hjollder will die of cold or starve, say Burial Isle out in middle of lake near Lonelywood only reachable by boat:
Sentry raise axe, walk toward Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga afraid, ask if sentries' place to question shaman. Sentry tell Unga-Bunga shaman are voice of Tempos, say through shaman visions tribe know Tempos' will. Unga-Bunga quickly say Shaman Hjollder say Unga-Bunga destined for greater purpose, tell sentries if kill Unga-Bunga sentries defying Tempos' will.
Unga-Bunga ask spirits for aid while sentries talk. Sentry finally say Unga-Bunga can leave:
Unga-Bunga thank sentry, ask sentry name. Sentry say Sentry Angaar, son of Raag, warrior of Wolf Tribe. Unga-Bunga ask Angaar about first delegate from Ten Towns. Angaar tell Unga-Bunga Chieftain Wylfdene claimed delegate was assassin during audience with Chieftain Wylfdene, say Chieftain Wylfdene tortured delegate. Angaar say think delegate say anything to end torture:
Unga-Bunga ask Angaar about Chieftain Wylfdene's claim of being Jerrod. Angaar tell Unga-Bunga Chieftain Wylfdene was Chieftain of Tribe of Wyrm slain in battle, laid rest on Burial Isle but rose from death, claim possessed by spirit of Jerrod. Angaar say Chieftain Wylfdene call tribes together, lay claim, questioned by shaman about life of Jerrod. Angaar tell Inga-Bunga shaman say Chieftain Wylfdene knew life of Jerrod well:
Unga-Bunga thank Angaar, other sentries not kill Unga-Bunga, leave barbarian encampment, return Lonelywood. Unga-Bunga see Gravedigger Purvis digging hole on way into town. Gravedigger Purvis say Gravedigger Purvis dig hole for trapper Digby because trapper Digby died in forest:
Unga-Bunga want talk other trapper brothers but go see Representative Baldemar on way, say Baldemar try assassinate Chieftain Wylfdene, send assassin to barbarian camp, Baldemar deny plan, Unga-Bunga tell Baldemar will bring accusation to Ten Towns Council. Baldemar confess but say idea was Council idea, made Baldemar play along, say other representatives on council remove Baldemar from council if Baldemar not go along with plan:
Unga-Bunga tell Baldemar Unga-Bunga believe Baldemar, say Baldemar can still do right thing, admit plan to rest of council, Baldemar agree:
Unga-Bunga leave, talk to two trapper brothers. Trapper brothers angry at Emmerich, say Digby went check traps night before, brothers found Digby in forest with throat torn out, say want kill Emmerich:
Unga-Bunga leave, go see Emmerich. Emmerich tell Unga-Bunga Emmerich think same White Wolf attacked Digby as attacked Emmerich. Emmerich say Digby not murdered, say trappers kill so many wolves killing Digby was self defense:
Unga-Bunga not know what think except think Burial Isle hopefully more sane than Lonelywood townsfolk. Unga-Bunga go see Young Jed, ask Young Jed sail Unga-Bunga Burial Isle, think Shaman Hjollder want know about Chieftain Wylfdene. Young Jed not want sail Burial Isle:
Unga-Bunga finally convince Young Jed sail. Young Jed sail Unga-Bunga Burial Isle, wait by boat. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, search around island, see many dead no longer at rest led by Ghost Shaman:
Unga-Bunga see ruined tower on southwest coast of isle, see light flickering in window, go to tower. Unga-Bunga see man in tower, shake off Pixie Dust. Man tell Unga-Bunga Man name Edion Caradoc, say Edion once Necro Mage, aided kings of nations far to south against uprisings. Edion tell Unga-Bunga enemies performed dark ritual, infected Edion with negative energy, say casting spells makes infection worse so Edion came Burial Isle, live in exile. Unga-Bunga offer try heal Edion but Edion tell Unga-Bunga only deity can cure Edion:
Unga-Bunga ask Edion about Burial Isle. Edion tell Unga-Bunga dead on isle restless after evil spirit appear on island. Unga-Bunga ask if evil taint can be removed from isle somehow. Edion say tribefolk have strong views on purity, say very difficult for things or beings be redeemed from evil taint. Unga-Bunga agree with Edion:
Edion offer barter of items with Unga-Bunga, let Unga-Bunga take rest in tower. Unga-Bunga know only hope to remove evil taint on Burial Isle is slay all dead on Isle, hope new death bring purity. Unga-Bunga think many dozens of dead on isle, ask sprits for aid, take rest before confronting dead next day...
Twice Sable has been struck by lightning. Drizzt responded quickly by healing her to the limit of his ability.
It seems that the god from which she received her powers is not pleased that Sable has turned to the light.
Sable however refuses to be intimidated.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184998#Comment_1184998
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185119#Comment_1185119
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185133#Comment_1185133
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https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185255#Comment_1185255
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185316#Comment_1185316
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185380#Comment_1185380
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185418#Comment_1185418
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185581#Comment_1185581
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185693#Comment_1185693
Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather things, leave tower. Unga-Bunga summon elementals, send elementals battle undead swarm:
Unga-Bunga watch undead tear elementals apart:
Unga-Bunga know undead on Burial Isle once greatest heroes, mightiest kings. Unga-Bunga underestimate power even so, realize must take great risk, enter battle directly:
Unga-Bunga call down lightning from sky onto undead, purify undead with elements, leave blackened, charred remains behind:
Unga-Bunga summon spikes of stone, pierce undead from beneath, command Earth reclaim dead:
Near northwestern shore of Burial Isle Unga-Bunga confronted by Ghost Shaman Skaldar. Ghost Shaman Skaldar tell Unga-Bunga dead chieftain rose from barrow possessed by evil spirit. Ghost Shaman Skaldar say evil spirit left evil mark on Isle. Unga-Bunga ask Ghost Shaman Skaldar how cleanse taint from Isle. Ghost Shaman Skaldar say taint not be cleansed, command Unga-Bunga leave:
Unga-Bunga sigh, know Ghost Shaman Skaldar unclean from evil spirit, know must slay Ghost Shaman Skaldar to cleanse spirit. Unga-Bunga approach Ghost Shaman Skaldar. Ghost Shaman Skaldar summon undead shaman brothers from cairns, summon darkness upon Isle:
Unga-Bunga hold hands up, back away from Ghost Shaman Skaldar, return tower. Unga-Bunga take rest, ask spirits for aid in great battle next day. Unga-Bunga wake next day, summon elementals, cast all protection magics, return to Ghost Shaman Skaldar. Ghost Shaman Skaldar get angry:
Unga-Bunga call down lightning on shaman, command elementals beat shaman down, blind shaman with nature magics:
Unga-Bunga and elementals battle long while, finally prevail:
Unga-Bunga and elementals battle more undead on north side of island. Unga-Bunga see circle of standing stones surrounding altar, see great Polar Bear Spirit guarding site. Unga-Bunga command elementals wait outside circle of stones, approach Polar Bear Spirit, hope spirit not tainted.
Polar Bear Spirit tell Unga-Bunga Unga-Bunga soul diseased, will slay Unga-Bunga if Unga-Bunga not leave island:
Unga-Bunga sigh, try explain evil spirit tainted isle. Polar Bear Spirit not believe Unga-Bunga, summon many animal spirits, attack Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga see Polar Bear Spirit very strong, make elementals afraid, resist Unga-Bunga's magics many times. Unga-Bunga only have one blinding spell left, cast spell. Spirits aid Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga blind Polar Bear Spirit:
Unga-Bunga summon spike stones, weaken spirits, slay all spirits until only Polar Bear Spirit left. Unga-Bunga throw axe, slay Polar Bear Spirit:
Unga-Bunga and elementals clear surface of Burial Isle of undead, find many entrances into burial caverns beneath surface. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, enter burial caverns, see many undead:
Unga-Bunga leave caverns, summon elementals near cavern entrance, cast protection magics, lure undead to surface, battle undead down:
Unga-Bunga enter caverns, try lure more undead but not all undead follow Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga and elementals battle Drowned Dead, Barrow Wights in burial caverns. Unga-Bunga approach undead, see Wailing Virgins appear:
Wailing Virgins enchant undead, make run faster, attack more. Wailing Virgins cry out, damage all who hear cry. Wailing Virgins cry out, stun all living things with piercing wail. Unga-Bunga suffer many wounds, stunned many times by virgins. Undead tear elementals apart. Unga-Bunga fear Unga-Bunga join dead on Burial Isle:
Unga-Bunga near end of allies, end of magics, end of Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga try one last magic, blind many undead:
Unga-Bunga summon last elementals, battle undead with last strength. Unga-Bunga carry many wounds but slowly beat down undead:
Once Unga-Bunga win battle, Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, creep slowly out of caverns to surface, limp to tower. Edion say Unga-Bunga look more dead than alive. Unga-Bunga rest many hours, gather things, return to caverns. Unga-Bunga not quit until vision quest over or Unga-Bunga over.
Unga-Bunga find tombs in caverns guarded by many undead. Unga-Bunga summons elementals, spirits, earthen spikes to battle:
Unga-Bunga know all things on Isle tainted, claim treasures buried in tombs, remove taint from Isle:
Unga-Bunga see armored figure watching Unga-Bunga battle undead. Unga-Bunga speak to being. Being say name Vexing Thoughts, say Vexing Thoughts commander of some army Unga-Bunga not know. Vexing Thoughts want Unga-Bunga service Vexing Thoughts. Vexing Thoughts tell Unga-Bunga Unga-Bunga soon face great foe, say Vexing Thoughts help Unga-Bunga fight foe. Vexing Thoughts tell Unga-Bunga must murder innocent to enter service:
Unga-Bunga tell Vexing Thoughts Unga-Bunga never service Vexing Thoughts, command elementals attack Vexing Thoughts. Vexing Thoughts not notice elementals attacking. Unga-Bunga think good if Unga-Bunga leave Vexing Thoughts to Vexing Thoughts' Vexing Thoughts...
Unga-Bunga find tunnel up to surface in northwestern part of caverns, find Shaman Hjollder alone on small island off Burial Isle. Shaman Hjollder think Unga-Bunga spirit come torture Shaman Hjollder:
Unga-Bunga tell Shaman Hjollder Chieftain Wylfdene want kill Unga-Bunga, say not believe Chieftain Wylfdene really possessed by Jerrod. Shaman Hjollder ask Unga-Bunga why Unga-Bunga make claim against Chieftain Wylfdene. Unga-Bunga tell Shaman Hjollder about taint from evil spirit, make undead on Isle restless:
Shaman Hjollder ask Unga-Bunga find proof of Chieftain Wylfdene's corruption within barrows, bring Shaman Hjollder proof. Unga-Bunga notice Shaman Hjollder not come help find proof, though. Unga-Bunga ask Shaman Hjollder keep watch while Unga-Bunga rest.
Unga-Bunga rest, gather things, enter caverns again. Unga-Bunga search caverns, battle many more undead. Unga-Bunga fight desperate battles, carry many wounds:
Unga-Bunga round bend in caverns, see great tomb surrounded by many virgins:
Unga-Bunga confronted by Wailing Virgin. Virgin say name Mebdinga, once of Tribe of the Bear. Mebdinga say Mebdinga sacrificed with many other virgins, attend great Chieftain Wylfdene in afterlife, command Unga-Bunga leave barrow:
Unga-Bunga ask Mebdinga why Chieftain Wylfdene rise from death. Mebdinga tell Unga-Bunga Chieftain Wylfdene corrupted by poisoned soul, demand Unga-Bunga leave barrow:
Unga-Bunga weakened from many battles, know not able defeat seven Wailing Virgins now. Unga-Bunga raise hands, back away from Medbinga like Unga-Bunga back away from Ghost Shaman Skaldar. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, return to Shaman Hjollder, ask sprits for aid, rest and recover.
Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather things, return to barrows. Unga-Bunga summon elementals, confront Mebdinga, know must slay Mebdinga to purify spirits:
Unga-Bunga, elementals face Mebdinga, Wailing Virgins in great battle, battle so perilous Unga-Bunga forget remember much of battle:
Unga-Bunga gravely wounded but slowly battle Wailing Virgins down, use all magics and strength:
Unga-Bunga see Mebdinga move away from tomb, command elementals not chase Mebdinga. Unga-Bunga quickly search tomb of Chieftain Wylfdene, find tribal amulet:
Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, return to Shaman Hjollder, show Shaman Hjollder amulet:
Shaman Hjollder take amulet, say no tribesman would defile object sacred to tribes. Shaman Hjollder say Chieftain Wylfdene not possessed by Jarrod's spirit:
Unga-Bunga ask Shaman Hjollder who raise Chieftain Wylfdene from death if not Jerrod. Shaman Hjollder tell Unga-Bunga face of Chieftain Wylfdene hidden in Hjollder's visions, say Seer of Gloomfrost have strong sight, might see who raise Chieftain Wylfdene from death.
Shaman Hjollder tell Unga-Bunga find Gloomfrost Seer, warn Unga-Bunga Gloomfrost Seer see into hearts of men, know many hidden things, protected by guardians, creatures of Gloomfrost:
Unga-Bunga suggest Shaman Hjollder join Unga-Bunga, find Gloomfrost Seer. Shaman Hjollder tell Unga-Bunga Shaman Hjollder exiled to Burial Isle, not disobey command from Chieftain Wylfdene until Chieftain Wylfdene no longer Chieftain. Unga-Bunga think exile mighty convenient for Shaman Hjollder but not say anything.
Unga-Bunga ask Shaman Hjollder keep watch, take rest, know must find and purify Mebdinga next day...
Mist (female human inquisitor, Grond0); Trile (female elf mage, Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1182126/#Comment_1182126
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1183183/#Comment_1183183
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1183542/#Comment_1183542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184320/#Comment_1184320
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184421/#Comment_1184421
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184654/#Comment_1184654
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184911/#Comment_1184911
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185115/#Comment_1185115
The latest session commenced with a continuing assault on the Underdark. In the Western Tunnels, Trile put her death spell to good use to cut-short many kuo-toa lives. Their prince found his regeneration insufficient to deal with a planetar on top of Mist's GWW. Skeleton warriors then both helped summon some demon knights and provided a bit of cover during the fight.
We'd done pretty much everything in the City before going to Spellhold, so it was then on to the Graveyard, where Mist slipped a quick rest in to expose the local vampire population to a bad case of sunburn. Downstairs, Mist tried to sort out a large group of vampires with a Daystar sunray, but failed to re-equip the iMoD properly and got drained as a result. That was potentially dangerous as it made her subject to domination, but she quickly spotted the danger and donned a helm of charm protection before a planetar made an appearance and restored her. Bodhi put up little fight as usual.
Mage 24, 66 HPs, 297 kills (+152 in BG1), 2 deaths
Regis tried to take on Sarevok by stealth and backstabbing, however that didn't work. Helma therefore dispelled Sarevok after which his defeat was inevitable.
In SoD got as far as The Duke's Palace.
Realised that I had forgotten to recharge all my wands. A bit stupid as I had over 20,000 gold pieces, but no big deal.
Dynahir has disappeared. (However, I know where to find her.)
I intend to carry on with this game later, however I have done what I intended to do already. Sable, a blackguard is now lawful good. I am a bit overpowered so may abandon this altogether. We'll see.
Now switching to an unmodded game starting with a Cleric of Helm and a conjurer.
First run with these two ended with both being killed by an ankheg whilst still at level one.
EDIT
Second run through was a bit more careful and used command to good effect against the ankheg.
We went to Beregost, talked to Marl, and took a book yo Firebead.: bought a +1 sling which when combined with Connie's sleep spell made killing the ogrillon straightforward. Now both of us have a +1 ring of protection.
The battle against Vax and Zal as tough but successful, but Zordral was too tough for us.
The next time that I play unmodded with a mage, I think I will have to recruit help
I am now trying Helmuth and Connie with my modded game. A bit more interesting I think.
Mods: Full SCS V34.3.
Difficulty: Insane with no difficulty-based damage increase.
Protagonist: Amarande, Half-Elven Fighter/Mage (stats and starting inventory depicted below).
Apart from Amarande's familiar bugging out (he lost the HP and releasing the familiar caused it to vanish, but I was able to just resummon it), importing went smoothly. He has a fairly modest starting inventory, but even so, that gear... next time around I'll probably just bring over the BG1 items I want to import and go with default gear for the rest. Anyway, onto glory/horrific demise, whatever the case may be.
Swords for everyone! The Amarande story III
Previous Next
In homage to a long-dead previous incarnation of the Half-Elven dual Longsword wielding Fighter/Mage that managed to get killed during the first encounter with such, we almost run afoul of Spiders yet again... though it's Minsc that has a close shave, saved only by dual Horror (one by wand).
SoD enemies will gleefully converge on anyone that's disabled, avoid attacking anyone they decide they can't injure (such as a Stoneskinned Amarande), and often exclusively attack the weakest party member. This can take ludicruous proportions, wherein you can simply have someone (in our party, typically Viconia) lead an entire band of enemies in a circle around Amarande and Minsc swinging away, killing off the whole lot without them getting an attack in. Anyway...
Having learnt our lesson anew, we resort to firebombing any further Spiders we run into. Not long before we have another close call (more serious this time) though, as a lowly Orc Shaman shows that Call Lightning is not to be trifled with.
Maybe stop trying to conserve spell slots by having Amarande charge everything we see. Yeah, that's a good plan. We clear the rest of the outdoor areas (forgetting to pick up the Boot and a half of speed... dangit), then head for the Repository of Undeath. With Glint and Viconia we can conjure up a fair number of Skeleton Warriors and use them, along with firebombing, to good effect in order to avoid any number of nasty status effects in here. Then Dynaheir (i.e. me...) forgets that Sunfire actually breaks Invisibility now, spelling our first death.
Luckily she isn't chunked, and Viconia just made Cleric level 9, so we're good. A rest and replenishment later, we descend further. This time, the library actually goes rather well, as we buff (including 5x Skeleton Warriors) thoroughly, and prioritize the Skeleton Mage -> Shadowed Souls. Along with a timely Slow to counter the Skeleton Mage's Haste, we pull through alright. I mean, Minsc takes a massive beating... but when does he ever not?
We push onward, head back briefly to grab The Secret Revealed, and put Coldhearth down for good with no issue.
Nothing left to do but head towards the bridge; we just about manage to kill the Crusaders for their loot before Caelar appears, and that's that. Off to Troll Claw Woods.
Lots of not terribly threatening chaff to clear out here, so we do (including clearing the Troll Cave, which is quite easy with Fireball + Protection from Fire). In transit we get the Goblin/Myconid ambush; Amarande handles the Myconids single-handedly under Chaotic Commands, and picks up the Spellbreaker +2 (really good for him, +2 Longsword with +2 Save vs Spell.. it'll spend the rest of SoD in his offhand).
At the Fort, we simply clear even more chaff, including the Goblin Cave, then depart for Forest of Wyrms. Turns out even Greater Wyverns are susceptible to Horror (the spell and the wands are actually quite useful all through SoD). Things turn a trite hairy as Amarande at one point is literally holding off 16 Spiders on his own in the Spider Cave, but after Fireballing his own position twice, he pulls through.
Bugbears, Green Dragon (daggered), Green Half-Dragon (Skeleton'd), Neothelid (Skeleton'd), Akanna (Skeleton'd!)... the Temple goes smoothly. Until we run across the Shadow Aspect, which does what it does best: In no way, shape or form threaten to actually end the run, but rather to annoy us as much as possible by killing Viconia. Looking back, I'm amazed she wasn't chunked.
So why do I still always kill the Shadow Aspect. Because it's there...
Anyway. An annoying long trek later, Viconia is back, and we easily put paid to the resident Mind Flayer and it's thralls. Temple cleared! Some mini-quests in the Fort are dealt with (no Boots of Speed for us as said, boo!), and after enlisting the Flaming Fist for aid, we storm out of the Fort. As long as you're careful, i.e. keep an emergency Potion of Magic Shielding on the protagonist, of the few nastier disablers the enemy Mages toss at you, there's no real danger here as you can just retreat behind the Fort troops if necessary. We push on to the Bridge and bring the enemy Mage down in short order. Hooray! Onward to the Coalition Camp.
Again, run around at first playing fetch (camp quests). Then off to kill more large groupings of seemingly randomly placed enemies at Dead Man's Pass... the Wand of Sleep we got as some quest reward actually proves moderately useful in keeping us from being swarmed by Dire Wolves.
Enormous amounts of dead chaff in several zones later (Spider Cave II warrants a mention, some Invisibility and Free Action was sufficient to deal with it safely), we push through the Crusaders guarding the entrance to the Underground River. We barely even buffed, as the only real danger lies in their summoned Mage backup, so as long as you prioritize them, you're good (especially with the Druids sending summoned fodder to help you). Of course, the good times aren't over, as when dealing with Ferrusk Glint gets himself Webbed and subsequently clobbered to death. Shambling Mounds (and for that matter Dark Treants) have seriously good THAC0 and damage. Again, I am in awe of the fact he wasn't chunked.
Yeah, maybe I was getting a little careless at this point. We push into Kanaglym (it was possible to rest in Ferruk's lair without interruption so Viconia got Glint back up and running), which is kind of an anticlimax... "Lost City". It's literally a handful of houses, none of which you can enter, and a bridge. Anyway, with full buffs and (since Dynaheir leveled up a while back and is wearing the +1 caster level cloak from Korlasz's tomb) us now having the 7HD Bone Bros at our disposal, the entire Necromancer cabal literally drops within a few rounds, barely able to scratch us.
On the way out, we clobber Zhadroth for his Ring of Regeneration (we have two Clerics and about 80 Potions of Healing, but sure thing) and his lovely robe. Secret Revealed means he stands no chance; amazingly he doesn't pop any defensive Illusions nor any nasty triple ADHW Chain Contingency, something I suspect to be intentional.
We go on to raid the castle basement. Several bad decisions look to have potential to cause serious problems: Glint had his Plate Mail +1 equipped for the fight with Hephernan, so he couldn't pick the lock on one of the chests in there. I tried to force them with Amarande, to no avail. Dynaheir did have a Knock scroll though; once unlocked, Minsc opened it, tripped a Maze trap, and we had to wait it out (fortunately he had time to gulp down a Potion of Genius beforehand). To my amazement, the rest of the Crusaders on the level just kind of milled about without heading for Hephernan's room. Had they gone for us, we might have been in trouble, as there's so many of them they can literally just box you in there. Still, Minsc returned and we rushed back out, consuming a few Potions of Invisibility as and when required.
Of course, rushing through the river area, there's a Crusader party waiting for you. Somehow the Cleric managed to tag ALL of us with her True Sight, at which time the entirety of Crusaders to the south promptly marched north, and it turned into a serious slug-fest (I don't even remember how Glint got level-drained, a trap somewhere?).
Never fear though, Amarande is here. Seriously: It's not an issue. He single-handledly held off a dozen Crusaders on the bridge, thinning them out with a few Sunfire scrolls while the remainder of the party cleared the enemies to the north before joining in. Fighter/Mages....
At this point, we were almost at the experience cap, so couldn't be bothered with the whole Crusade Courtyard stuff. Defending the camp just boils down to Fireball (spell, wand, potions). Time for possibly my least favourite part: Assaulting Dragonspear. Yes yes Ashatiel, you're bugged beyond repair... of course I cheated even though I didn't.
This is why I bring some 30 odd Potions of Explosion/Oils of Fiery Burning to this fight: You need it to push through the ENDLESS HORDES OF BAD DOGGIE WEREWOLF MONSTERS THAT CHEW YOUR TOES WHILE YOU SLEEP CRUSADERS you have to put down to reach Ashatiel. Nevertheless, down she (eventually...) goes.
Into the Hells! Or one Hell. Everyone gets a Potion of Clarity and Potion of Freedom (those that don't already have it from the ring), meaning there's nothing the fiends can do to us beyond hopelessly claw at Amarande. At the Hellevator, everyone gets 2x Scroll of Protection from Fire, 2x Scroll of Protection from Lightning (unsure if the Cornugons here actually cast Lightning Bolt but better safe than sorry), 1x Scroll of Protection from Poison, then some potions... we have WAY too many even after everyone has drunk their fill. Finish off with Chaotic Commands on everyone and a Protection from Evil 10' Radius, and we ascend.
This time I actually manage to time casting SI: Abjuration on Amarande (almost) perfectly, so it's still active by the time Big B tosses his initial Remove Magic. Contending with our buffed party as well as a constantly Greated Restoration'd Caelar simply isn't possible for Belhifet, and he falls within a turn.
Caelar seals the portal, Amarande is framed for a crime he didn't commit, usual stuff. Again with the bugs; I had all the SoD items I wanted to import IN his inventory, yet several of them AND several BG1 items (Belt of the Skillful Blade, Archer's Eyes, Dragon Blade, Chainmail +3, Golden Pantaloons) simply weren't there on the table with Amarande's belongings.
I fixed it with NearInfinity; in my mind there is no reason whatsoever why this should happen.
Anyway, that's SoD finished. Didn't get a screenshot of final stats, but it's same as end of BG1: 19/19/19/19/7/19, ++ Longsword / ++ Bastard Sword / ++ Two Weapon Style / + Quarterstaff (that's where our 9th Fighter level pip went), L9/L10 Half-Elven Fighter/Mage. Finally, the game can begin in earnest, as we shall see in the next update.
Journal of Helmuth
Connie and I cleared the hobgoblins at the FAI before heading north where we killed Sonner and recruited Tenya before killing an ankheg.
We returned south where we helped Mellicamp and then calmed Marl.
We killed ogrillon and hobgoblins on the way to Nashkel and returned to the FAI carrying Samuel where we killed Tarnesh and met Dorn.
We came across Dorn again near Nashkel, and at the carnival killed Zordral.
We killed Kryll and passed on the news before going back to Beregost with the Coloquetle Amulet.
Dorn opened a chest for me with the result that I now have a +1 Mace. We then bade him farewell.
We decided that it was time to take Jaheira and Khalid to Nashkel.
After that we went ankheg hunting. Tenya has told us that she wants us to go to Firewine. That will have to wait.
After giving 100gp to Farmer Brun our reputation reached 20.
Eventually we cleared all the ankheg from the nest and the farm.
We now proceeded to Beregost to sell the shells and then went to do some shopping at the carnival: necklace of missiles, green scrolls and the like.
Now poor again, but we were able to kill Zargos Flintblade and Greywolf after which Isra joined us.
Isra was only level 2, way behind the rest of us in experience and her stats aren't great. However, after giving her the gauntlets of dexterity and casting strength on her she was a good enough tank to take on the wolves to the east of Lathander's Temple.
We had summoned skeletons who don't get held by the vampyric wolves. True, they don't hurt them either, but Isra did that. When the battle was over, she was up to level 3.
Upon going to take on the basilisks and medusae to the east we found that when protected from their gaze, basilisks did us no harm: not so the medusae, and to defeat them we used a LOT of healing potions. Nevertheless the trip was worthwhile as Isra became level 5, only one level behind the rest of us, and we can now give her adequate support.
Summoned skeletons took the brunt of the assault when Molkar and his cronies attacked. After defeating them we went to Firewine where we defeated Lethe.
We then joined up with Xzara nd Montaron after which Montaron acquired quite a lot of goods some of which were most desireable.
I have just discovered that Isra isn't available in SoD so will replace her with Sirene. I wish that I'd known that earlier. Wasted experience!!!
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184998#Comment_1184998
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185119#Comment_1185119
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185133#Comment_1185133
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185145#Comment_1185145
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185255#Comment_1185255
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185316#Comment_1185316
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185380#Comment_1185380
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185418#Comment_1185418
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185581#Comment_1185581
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185693#Comment_1185693
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185730#Comment_1185730
Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather things, toss Pixie Dust, enter barrows. Unga-Bunga summon elemental, find Wailing Virgin Mebdinga in barrow:
Mebdinga most powerful foe Unga-Bunga ever fight before, slay many elementals, beetles. Mebdinga wail, stun Unga-Bunga and elementals, hurt Unga-Bunga with wailing. Mebdinga resist all Unga-Bunga magic, move away when elementals attack. Unga-Bunga command elementals, beetles trap Mebdinga against cavern wall, attack Mebdinga while Unga-Bunga throw axe:
Mebdinga strong, slay many animals with single wail, make Unga-Bunga angry:
Unga-Bunga summon more elementals, animals. Unga-Bunga nearly out of magic when elemental finally strike Mebdinga down:
Unga-Bunga beat chest many minutes, toss Pixie Dust, have Young Jed sail Unga-Bunga to Lonelywood village. Unga-Bunga decide take rest in village before journey Gloomfrost, go see trapper brothers.
Trapper Doogal tell Unga-Bunga Trapper Dolan killed by wolf in forest, say Trapper Doogal stabbed wolf with knife, knife not hurt wolf. Trapper Doogal think Emmerich summon wolf, want kill trapper brothers. Trapper Doogal tell Unga-Bunga wolf, Emmerich not have bright future:
Unga-Bunga see Emmerich. Emmerich tell Unga-Bunga Trapper Doogal want buy magic knife from Innkeeper Kieran to slay wolf, tell Unga-Bunga ask Innkeeper Kieran:
Unga-Bunga know Innkeeper Kieran really wizard, ask Innkeeper Kieran about wolf not hurt by knife. Innkeeper Kieran tell Unga-Bunga werewolves only hurt by magic weapons. Unga-Bunga think Innkeeper Kieran smart:
Unga-Bunga see Emmerich, suggest Emmerich bit by werewolf. Emmerich not believe Unga-Bunga at first, think some, then believe. Emmerich ashamed, send Unga-Bunga away:
Unga-Bunga feel bad, go see Innkeeper Kieran, hope Innkeeper Kieran know what do. Innkeeper Kieran give Unga-Bunga necklace, tell Unga-Bunga give necklace Emmerich, say necklace keep Emmerich from changing into werewolf:
Unga-Bunga bring Emmerich necklace, Emmerich thank Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga glad help Emmerich, want buy bow from Emmerich soon:
Unga-Bunga take rest in village, gather things, make long trek to Gloomfrost. Gloomfrost cold, Unga-Bunga bundle up, summon elementals, look for Gloomfrost Seer. Unga-Bunga and elementals walk narrow paths, battle many foes:
Unga-Bunga call lightning down, smite foes to ground:
Sometimes paths too narrow for elementals. One time Unga-Bunga scout ahead, ambushed by many Frost Salamander:
Unga-Bunga make mad dash back to elementals, command elementals guard path, call down lightning on Frost Salamander. Unga-Bunga know lucky make escape:
Unga-Bunga battle many foes as on Reghed glacier, yetis and snow trolls:
After many battles, Unga-Bunga find cave leading to ice caverns, enter cave, attacked by many Remorhaz:
Remorhaz overwhelm elementals, Unga-Bunga flee from caverns, Remorhaz follow Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga dance, summon spirits, spirits slowly beat Remorhaz down. Unga-Bunga enter ice caverns, try be more careful but Remorhaz sometimes gather in numbers, make battles very hard:
Unga-Bunga know Gloomfrost Seer watch Unga-Bunga, send apparitions, want scare Unga-Bunga away:
Unga-Bunga think Gloomfrost Seer not know Unga-Bunga on vision quest, not scare away. Unga-Bunga and elementals follow winding paths through ice cavern until Unga-Bunga hear hammering. Unga-Bungs creep around cavern wall, see dwarf smithy working at forge. Dwarf Smithy call out to Unga-Bunga, say Dwarf Smithy name Tiernon, say Dwarven Smithy Tiernon blind but hear Unga-Bunga, ask why Unga-Bunga in caverns:
Unga-Bunga tell Tiernon Unga-Bunga want speak Gloomfrost Seer, say need Seer's aid. Tiernon tell Unga-Bunga Gloomfrost Seer scared of Unga-Bunga, think Unga-Bunga bring death to Seer, say Gloomfrost Seer hide in Gloomfrost caverns from Unga-Bung more than ten-year. Unga-Bunga tell Tiernon Unga-Bunga not want kill Seer:
Tiernon say Tiernon think Unga-Bunga tell truth, say Gloomfrost Seer hidden in cavern behind magic door, say only open door when look at door reflection in mirror. Tiernon tell Unga-Bunga will make mirror for Unga-Bunga, need Unga-Bunga help make:
Unga-Bunga help Smithy Tiernon forge mirror, ask Tiernon why come Gloomfrost to forge. Smithy Tiernon say all dwarf smithies feel call to forge, tell Unga-Bunga Smithy Tiernon feel call to forge ice. Smithy Tiernon tell Unga-Bunga Smithy Tiernon came Gloomfrost but Gloomfrost Seer afraid Smithy Tiernon tell clan about Gloomfrost Seer, pluck Smithy Tiernon's eyes from head.
Unga-Bunga get angry. Smithy Tiernon tell Unga-Bunga not get angry, not seek vengeance on Seer, say Tiernon and Seer settled things long ago, Tiernon protect Seer now. Unga-Bunga calm down some. Tiernon say without eyes Tiernon can't work ice, create masterwork Tiernon want craft. Unga-Bunga feel bad for Tiernon, offer be Tiernon's eyes. Tiernon tell Unga-Bunga grab chisels, block of ice, ask Unga-Bunga what Unga-Bunga think ice want be:
Unga-Bunga tell Smithy Tiernon Unga-Bunga see dagger in ice. Unga-Bunga help Smithy Tiernon craft nice dagger, also help craft glacier rose for Bard Murdaugh, fix broken shield, fix axe but say Necromancer Edion need cast restless spirits from axe. Smithy Tiernon give Unga-Bunga all things forged, Unga-Bunga thank Tiernon. Unga-Bunga think Tiernon also have many nice items, potions for barter, promise Tiernon not be stranger.
Unga-Bunga leave Tiernon's forge, enter into deeper ice cavern, summon elemental. Unga-Bunga see and feel displeasure of Gloomfrost Seer manifest in cavern:
Unga-Bunga, elemental walk through cavern. Unga-Bunga find many traps, cast protection magics, set off traps in case Unga-Bunga need run away. Unga-Bunga summon spirits, battle many Ice Golems protecting Gloomfrost Seer:
Unga-Bunga find Remorhaz trapped in ice flow, slay Remorhaz, find magic necklace in Remorhaz gut. Unga-Bunga think necklace stink from gut but maybe magical, wrap in cloth, put in pack:
Unga-Bunga delve deeper into cavern, see cavern wall in distance, attacked by many Ice Golems:
Unga-Bunga and spirits beat Ice Golems down. Unga-Bunga come to cavern wall, take Ice Mirror from pack. Unga-Bunga turn around, look at cavern wall in mirror, see ice wall melt away:
Unga-Bunga enter ice chamber, finally find Gloomfrost Seer:
Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga Gloomfrost Seer see many things, say see death of Gloomfrost Seer, say seeing own death destroyed Seer's eyes but Seer still see. Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga Gloomfrost Seer see Unga-Bunga connected to death of Seer. Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga Gloomfrost Seer try hide from Unga-Bunga many years but tired of hiding, tell Unga-Bunga do what Unga-Bunga will:
Unga-Bunga ask Gloomfrost Seer about Chieftain Wylfdene. Gloomfrost Seer say Jerrod long dead, gone from world, tell Unga-Bunga another spirit claim Wylfdene's body:
Unga-Bunga ask Gloomfrost Seer how to defeat spirit in Wylfdene's body. Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga spirit possessing Wylfdene's body proud, say Wylfdene's body fade away, leave only spirit if spirit look into ice mirror:
Unga-Bunga suggest Gloomfrost Seer come with Unga-Bunga, confront spirit in Wylfdene, say tribesman believe Seer. Gloomfrost Seer get angry, say afraid to confront spirit, say spirit slay Gloomfrost Seer, say Seer hear Unga-Bunga say same words hundred times. Unga-Bunga think if Seer speak truth, Seer not get so angry because hear words before, but Unga-Bunga not say anything.
Gloomfrost Seer say spirit possessing Wylfdene great wyrm of ice and snow, say beast has Heart of WInter beating inside chest:
Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga heart of great wyrm broken by man of Ten Towns, great wyrm want vengeance, destroy Ten Towns. Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga defeating great wyrm unimaginable task:
Sometimes Unga-Bunga wish for easier vision quest. Unga-Bunga thank Seer, leave chamber. Unga-Bunga see Tiernon on way out of caverns, tell Tiernon what Seer said. Tiernon happy Unga-Bunga not kill Seer, show Unga-Bunga magic in mirror, protect Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga thank Tiernon, make way to surface of Gloomfrost, prepare for long journey back to Lonelywood village...
Aquinus, 3 Invoker -> Fighter, update 5.
Previous updates:
BG1 End
BG2 Start
[Update 4
After a bit of running around Brynnlaw to get a ship for Saemon, we're onto the Gith fights - this can be a bit dangerous from my experience, as they have disables (stuns I believe?) and they can attack briefly during the cutscene. Fortunately no one dies, and we continue to the Sahuagin area.
Imoen gets her spellbook a bit better up to speed from the Priestess, and after a couple quick riddles and convincing the Spectator to turn around, it's just the slow and somewhat painful process of clearing the area of Sahuagin. The only near-death or at least disable was an Emotion: Helplessness connecting with Aerie, but Aquinus, Mazzy, and Jaheira are enough to clear the surrounding shark-people. The priestess falls, and Aquinus is going to be claiming the cloak for... as long as this run lasts, probably. We prebuff with summons, Improved Haste and Mass Invisibility, and the king and his followers aren't enough to deal with our ranged damage output before our summons die off. We don't kill the Prince for the Wave Blade; I figure we won't need it. Hopefully.
I've got a pretty good roadmap of the Underdark now that I've died to this area a couple times - the two Drow parties, the Balor, the parties of Kuo-tuo, and the fact that Beholders, Mind Flayers, and Drow Quests are very, very dangerous to mess around with. Jaheira weakens the first party of Drow with Spike Growth, and pull them in one by one to their deaths: while Call for Help is working, they very often get sidetracked by summons or avoiding AOE damage, which is completely fine by me.
The Balor is next. Imoen memorized several Protect from Fire spells, and distributes them to everyone, including Aquinus who is... immune anyways. The big threat is a melee dispel into Vorpal hit (which I'm not 100% sure is even active at this point with my current difficulty slider, but I don't feel the desire to test this) which should be soaked by summons (Skeleton Warriors and Fire Elementals). Imoen also prepares a single Enchanted Weapon for Jaheira - Aquinus already has Firetooth, and Mazzy has Tasheron's for this fight. Other buffs are all standard (Prayer, Emotion: Hope, Haste, Improved Haste, Mass Invisibility). The Balor both doesn't manage to clear the summons nor Teleports Without Error to our backline - clear victory.
We rest and deal with all the trapped souls outside of the lich - no reason for that just yet. The one mad mage who's supposed to give up after Heal didn't, so we killed him too. We also cast the Freedom spell for the Vithal questline - while we take some damage from the elementals, there was no real danger from these fights with our regeneration items + summons. We ask for a scroll as well, and continue on our merry ways.
Kuo Tuo area now - I've lost a run where we got through all of the Underdark successfully only for Adalon to not clear the bridge fully, leaving my party face to face with several unpleasant demons and spellcasters. It also means that I don't have to worry about the Elder Race Body Part deadline later on in Ust Natha. It's a bit of a slog, using AoE spells for the random Beholder room in there, multiple True Sights and Detect Invisibility to stop their backstabbers, and summons to bait out their spellcasters, but all the Kuo Tuo fall without killing any of us.
The party guarding the bridge is a bit scarier though. We buff, and begin the assault with a Spike Growth from Jaheira, which manages to pull the Demons, but not the casters - they're huddled in their corner trying to heal up and avoid the damage from Jaheira. There's no danger from these particular demons as long as we have Remove Fear on us, and Aerie and Mazzy both have a quick way to apply that. The demons die before the casters can rejoin the fight. There's a slightly worrying moment as they get multiple dangerous spells off, including a couple Symbols, but Aquinus has all the required buffs to survive them (Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Remove Fear), and despite a lot more pausing going on, we're clear here too.
Last fight in this area - the Death Knights. I've essentially lost runs here in the past too, with insufficient Fire resistance. Jaheira takes the Amulet of Power in Greater Werewolf Form, and baits out the initial spells. What I didn't realize is our Remove Fear is running out, and while she does manage to tank the initial round of spells and badly injure many of the Death Knights, she ends up Feared and eventually killed off. Aquinus and Mazzy rebuff themselves up, and snipe at the low health Death Knights - success, in the end, though their Dispel Magic's took our remaining buffs from us before they died. One Raise Dead later, and it's time to Drowify ourselves.
The teleporting Drow party isn't nearly as scary if you know about it and plan accordingly - I don't really recall what they did. We visited Adalon after that, and began the Drow quests. We're going to be doing the minimum required, outside of the pit fights because... well, why not?
Chaotic Commands is enough to clear the Illithid/Umber Hulk ambush. Upon getting back to the city, the Aboleth begins his quest - we prebuff outside Qilue's house, absolutely blitz her, and get out before we have to fight any of their mages.
After the ritual goes horrifically wrong for Phaere and the Matron Mother, a Drow randomly casts Oracle as we're fleeing, revealing us; the last Invisibility 15" is cast, and we're out without any problems. We return the eggs to Adalon, I take a deep sigh of relief as we managed to not screw up the Underdark section this time around. A few fights later with Drow, and we're finally back into the overworld to collect another 6th party member, and do the remainder of the quests.
Lost (maybe recallable via Fate Spirit in ToB): Nalia to dialogue choices, Minsc to Imprisonment
Gone forever: Yoshimo.
We dropped Xzar and Montaron off at the Beard and replaced Isra with Sirene.
In Cloakwood Coran urged us to go in search of a Wyvern nest which we did.
Sadly Sirene was killed. That wasn't so much a failure of tactics, other tha that she should have had the ankheg armour in preference to other party members, but more that the wyvern were a bit too powerful. The reward was more than sufficient to raise her.
South of Beregost we discovered just how effective summoned skeletons are, particularly when enhanced by buffs. Their resistance to hold made them invaluable when fighting Tristan, Isolde and ghouls.
Neera joined us and after doing her quest she left for the FAI. We went to the carnival for R & R before going to the gnoll stronghold where Dynaheir joined us. We later on found her journal.
Together we have killed the bandits outside Tazok's tent and then two parties south of the FAI before killing some assassins nearby. Skeletons meant that none of our party was hurt.
Tranzig was then killed.
We made it as far as Baldur's Gate and have survived being poisoned by Marek.
Also did numerous fetch and carry quests.
Now at Candlekeep
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184998#Comment_1184998
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185119#Comment_1185119
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185133#Comment_1185133
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185145#Comment_1185145
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185255#Comment_1185255
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185316#Comment_1185316
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185380#Comment_1185380
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185418#Comment_1185418
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185581#Comment_1185581
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185693#Comment_1185693
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185730#Comment_1185730
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185847#Comment_1185847
Unga-Bunga make long trek Lonelywood village, let little Hailee Dunn know Unga-Bunga help with barbarians. Unga-Bunga gather things next day, make journey barbarian camp. Unga-Bunga not think Unga-Bunga or Chieftain Wylfdene live after meeting, cast all protection magics.
Unga-Bunga see Angaar guarding gate to camp, tell Angaar Unga-Bunga want see Chieftain Wylfdene, say time full Unga-Bunga's special purpose. Angaar agree with Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga taken into tent before Chieftain Wylfdene, tell Chieftain Wylfdene Unga-Bunga sent by Gloomfrost Seer. Chieftain Wylfdene say Unga-Bunga lose Shaman Hjollder, now hide behind another shaman, ask why Gloomfrost Seer send Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga tell Chieftain Wylfdene Gloomfrost Seer want give ice mirror Chieftain Wylfdene:
Chieftain Wylfdene scoff at mirror, say Unga-Bunga, Gloomfrost Seer try kill Chieftain Wylfdene:
Unga-Bunga remember Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga spirit possessing Chieftain Wylfdene proud spirit. Unga-Bunga offer look into mirror, show mirror not trick, ask if Chieftain Wylfdene afraid of mirror:
Chieftain Wylfdene say not afraid, say mirror will reveal great chieftain who conquer Ten Towns:
Unga-Bunga hold mirror before Chieftain Wylfdene. Chieftain Wylfdene look mirror, mirror break, Chieftain Wylfdene recoil at image of Chieftain Wylfdene:
Unga-Bunga see magic portal open, see Gloomfrost Seer appear. Gloomfrost Seer tell Chieftain Wylfdene see truth:
Chieftain Wylfdene voice change, say Chieftain Wylfdene avenge death of beloved by destroying all humans:
Chieftain Wylfdene strike down Gloomfrost seer. Unga-Bunga watch Chieftain Wylfdene's body rip apart, fall to ground. Unga-Bunga see dragon spirit rise, fly from tent:
Unga-Bunga see Gloomfrost Seer dying. Gloomfrost Seer tell Unga-Bunga Gloomfrost Seer not let fear keep her from trying save others, tell Unga-Bunga fate of many lie in Unga-Bunga's hands:
Wyrm Tribe warriors see Chieftain Wylfdene flee, attack Unga-Bunga, other tribesmen. Great battle erupt in chieftain tent. Unga-Bunga blind Wyrm tribesmen with nature magics, help other tribesmen beat down:
Unga-Bunga leave tent, see battle raging across Hengorot. Wyrm tribesmen swing axe at Unga-Bunga, strike great wound. Unga-Bunga not sure how Unga-Bunga forget cast Iron Skins:
Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, wait for Wyrm tribesmen to attack other tribesmen, blind Wyrm tribesmen with nature magic:
Unga-Bunga help tribesmen beat down Wyrm tribesmen, find larger battle further into Hengorot:
Unga-Bunga dance, summon spirits, watch spirits, tribesmen beat down last of Wyrm tribesmen:
Shaman Hjollder appear on battlefield, rejoice at defeat of Chieftain Wylfdene. Hjollder tell Unga-Bunga war not over, must destroy wyrm spirit so our peoples finally safe:
Unga-Bunga ask where wyrm spirit fled. Shaman Hjollder tell Unga-Bunga about island on Sea of Moving Ice, say island sacred to Great Wyrm tribe, where tribesmen once made sacrifices to Great Wyrm. Shaman Hjollder think wyrm spirit Spirit of Great Wyrm, wyrm spirit return to island, say ship ready take Unga-Bunga to island:
Shaman Hjollder bring Unga-Bunga to Tribesman Beornen. Tribesman Beornen tell Unga-Bunga wyrm spirit Icasaracht, Matriarch of all Wyrms of the North:
Tribesman Beornen say ship ready take Unga-Bunga to Icasaracht now:
Unga-Bunga tell Tribesman Beornen, Shaman Hjollder must return Lonelywood village first, see to things there. Unga-Bunga not afraid, just thorough. Tribesman Beornen, Shaman Hjollder tell Unga-Bunga hurry back. Unga-Bunga think Unga-Bunga take time, enjoy journey...
Unga-Bunga return Lonelywood, have vision. Unga-Bunga see Unga-Bunga leave inn, met by Hosttower assassins looking for Innkeeper Kieran. Unga-Bunga like Innkeeper Kieran, think Innkeeper Kieran smart, decide fight off assassins. Unga-Bunga summon elementals, toss two handfuls of Pixie Dust, hide elementals:
Unga-Bunga go inside inn, give Bard Murdaugh glacier rose. Bard Murdaugh very happy:
Unga-Bunga clever, go upstairs, toss Pixie Dust, try see assassins before assassins see Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga so clever Unga-Bunga forget cast all other protection magics before going outside. Unga-Bunga smack head, hope assassins not see through Pixie Dust, but assassin see:
Unga-Bunga tell Assassin Vaarglan no mages in Lonelywood, think Unga-Bunga handle one assassin. Unga-Bunga see another mage assassin appear, say Unga-Bunga lying:
Assassin Vaarglan say if Unga-Bunga tell Assassin Vaarglan where Kieran, assassins not hurt anyone. Unga-Bunga get angry, say Assassin Vaarglan better leave before Unga-Bunga do things to Assassin Vaarglan with Assassin Vaarglan's wand:
Unga-Bunga see more assassins appear: priestess of Shar, rogue, two warriors. Assassins attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga command elementals attack while Unga-Bunga run away, cast protection magics:
Unga-Bunga hurry cast protection magics, try help elementals. Assassin Vaarglan nearly end Unga-Bunga's vision quest with one spell:
Unga-Bunga run away with conviction, scarf down Good Berries, cheer when elementals kill mage assassin:
Unga-Bunga summon elementals, beetles when others die, scarf more Good Berries:
Unga-Bunga eat many Good Berries, creep near assassins, call down lightning on assassins:
Unga-Bunga, beetles slay all assassins except Assassin Vaarglan. Assassin Vaarglan try dispel Unga-Bunga's protection magics:
Unga-Bunga summon Insect Plague, insects bite Assassin Vaarglan, not let Assassin Vaarglan cast magics:
Unga-Bunga call down lightning on Assassin Vaarglan, strike Assassin Vaarglan down for good:
Unga-Bunga cast healing magics, beat chest many minutes, gather up assassin treasures. Unga-Bunga enter inn, speak Kieran. Kieran thank Unga-Bunga for protecting Kieran:
Unga-Bunga take rest in inn, decide see everyone in Lonelywood before sailing island. Unga-Bunga enter Representative Baldemar's house, see Arden Thurlow dead:
Unga-Bunga run upstairs, see Representative Baldemar dead, see Gravedigger Purvis. Gravedigger Purvis tell Unga-Bunga Gravedigger Purvis real assassin sent by Ten Towns to kill Chieftain Wylfdene, say Baldemar sent diplomat instead:
Assassin Purvis say tribesmen doubled guard after wrong person sent, make assassinating Chieftain Wylfdene too hard. Assassin Purvis thank Unga-Bunga for killing Chieftain Wylfdene, tell Unga-Bunga Assassin Purvis kill Unga-Bunga now so can collect assassin fee:
Assassin Purvis drink potion, disappear. Unga-Bunga cast protection magics, search for Purvis. Unga-Bunga find Assassin Purvis outside when Assassin Purvis ambush Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga laugh at Assassin Purvis, summon beetles. Beetles bite Assassin Purvis too hard, send Assassin Purvis bits all over:
Unga-Bunga say goodbye to all in Lonelywood, take rest in inn, plan leave for Hengorot next day. Unga-Bunga sent dream by spirits when sleeping, see Halfling Hobart downstairs in inn waiting for Unga-Bunga, see Unga-Bunga accept Halfling Hobart's challenge.
Unga-Bunga wake up surprised at spirits but decide spirits not lead Unga-Bunga astray so far. Unga-Bunga gather things next day, go downstairs, approach Halfling Hobart...
Mods: Full SCS V34.3.
Difficulty: Insane with no difficulty-based damage increase.
Protagonist: Amarande, Half-Elven Fighter/Mage.
Let's get serious.
Swords for everyone! The Amarande story IV
Previous Next
The rest of the dungeon is somewhat uneventful (we pull through without even needing to pop a single Potion of Healing or rest), and we're out.
Alright, what's the plan? Same plan as always: Take over the world Do some safe little chores around Athkatla, including the Slaver compound, while avoiding succumbing to early ambushes via constantly traveling under Pixie Dust. Suna Seni deals a little bit of damage to us (Arbane means she's immune to Amarande's 2x Web Minor Spell Sequencer), but we were never in real danger.
Full Plate would be nice, and Mencar is willing to oblige (annoyingly, Pooky set off our carefully positioned traps, but we were able to corner and kill Brennan anyway for his ring).
Copper Coronet and Slavers next. Not sure what happened with the spellcasting Slaver Guards this time around, but they seemed to only get three spells each (pre-cast Armor, Mirror Image, and a single Magic Missile). The actual Slaver Wizards didn't fare much better, being unable to withstand a Chaos (Jan).
We swing by the Bridge, where I am a little too cheap for my own good: Amarande comes within two swings of certain death (courtesy of the Bone Golem in the Tanner's basement), but at least we didn't have to pop a potion.
Another set of Full Plate would be even nicer, and Officer Dirth obliges (not before beating us silly though). While in the area, we also tackle the Pirate Cove, and Amarande yet again goes perilously low on hitpoints.
Another ambush, and it's Prebek & Sanasha's turn. We power through their defenses and pick up some decent loot. Another ambush, and another Chaos wins the day. Somewhere around here we also did the Circus (first thing we did out of the dungeon was pick up Jan and Anomen). We decide now might be a good time for Watcher's Keep level 1, so off we go...
Yeah, we were sent packing. Same story as usual, get overconfident after handily besting the Stone Golem, and then forced to flee from the massive Troll spawn. Notice that Minsc is technically asleep from a Greater Command; he dropped close enough to the exit we could still leave (I imagine it as Amarande dragging Minsc behind him...). I figured maybe we could do with a tiny bit more experience first (and a better off-hand weapon for Amarande), so we trundled on back to the Graveyard. The Crypt King happily provides an upgrade, only shaving off a few pounds of Amarande's flesh as payment.
We clear the remainder of the Graveyard, and handle the kidnappers (Anomen gets the Boots of Avoidance, he's an arrow magnet). Certainly now Watcher's Keep should pose little diff- oh right. Trolls.
Trolls. TROLLS! Ugh. At least the rest of the level goes smoo-
Allow me to explain. I picked up the thingamajiggy from the altar without thinking, or for that matter buffing, activating the statues. I actually think we had it in the bag still, until one of the Priests popped a Symbol: Stun, taking Jaheira and Anomen out of the fight.
It was really blind luck that neither of them got chunked (amazingly, that summoned Panther got the killing blow on both with its 6-9 damage, as opposed to the Halberd-wielding Statue dealing 21 - 26 damage...). Amarande had just enough time to shuttle the gear to the chest to the south before we legged it. Of course, with both healers down, we have to shell out 1200 GP to Raise one of them. Ooh, that smarts.
Coming back in, things have calmed down considerably: No Potions of Cloud Giant Strength for the melee statues (that have now completely separated from the Priest statues for some reason). This time around, everything does go smoothly, and we clear the rest of the level handily. Amarande will take that Foebane +3, thank you.
So I debated myself for a bit on which subquest to tackle (typically I do one major such before the Underdark), but as, almost, always I wound up at Troll Keep. Things did go much better than usual though: Sunfire x2 pretty much wiped out the big group on the entrance level.
The rest of that level, as well as the Trolls outside and on the next level, posed no real difficulties: With HP pools this large you don't even need Protection from Fire to ward off the Flame Strikes. Chaotic Commands to keep the Greater Commands at bay is still necessary though. The Yuan-Ti Mage in the Library is just summoned to death, Glaicas is anti-charmed back to his senses, and we handily deal with the golems two at a time.
I finally do have a consistently working strategy for Tor'Gal. Seven traps (still typically won't kill him outright, but then 2x Magic Missile should finish the job), two Cloudkills to hurt/delay/annoy the Yuan-Ti Mages, and just pick the enemies off one by one (typically they'll be not too smart about it and run back and forth through the double Cloudkill to avoid your melee fighters).
Well, almost time to set sail! Let's just do Jaheira's quest first, Ring of Wizardry would be nice. By the way, can you cast safely in Baron Ployer's home? I was too cheap to buy a license.
No. No, you cannot safely cast in Baron Ployer's home. Anomen survives by the skin of his teeth only because I had a Potion of Fortitude he had just enough time to quaff. Good thing we were able to separate him from the others (and that the Cowled Wizard in question had prepared 3x Animate Dead as his Spell Trigger as opposed to 3x Disintegrate or something). Yeesh, we're really relying on luck a lot...
Anyway, we manage to flee in absolute terror, and the Cowled Wizards despawn after a while, so we can go back and finish Ployer's Mages for their loot. Finally, we rest at Troll Keep and Jaheira is summoned. This time, we take extra special care not to cast anything arcane outside nor inside the Harper Hold. Jan's clavicle suffers the consequences, but I'm sure it'll heal in time.
We almost kill ourselves off a second time when Jan's quest pops and, in a moment of laxity, Amarande pops Stoneskin outside the Githyanki's room. Fortunately we have time to evacuate before the Cowled Wizards do anything, and they disappear once we rest.
Around here Anomen gets Knighted as well. Meh, a few 1st- and 2nd-level spells extra. I'll take it.
Alright! We've got levels, we've got gold (more or less). We're coming, Imoen! The Vampires really never knew what hit them; a few Potions of Frost Giant Strength see to that. As always, the only real concern here is Tanova. We lure her attendant Fledgling Vampire face-first into seven traps, then start pelting her with summons. Once she's literally down to casting Power Word: Sleep and Magic Missile, Minsc sneaks in and lands a humiliating blow.
As for Bodhi, a hasted Amarande just leads her around for a bit, until she turns around and kills our Skeleton Warriors... then she simply stands in place until she spots us and gives her little farewell speech. Vampires cleared, hooray!
This seems a good spot to call it quits for now. Next time, we enter that dread den of demise, Spellhold (not before saying hi to Perth, hopefully he won't come close to perma-killing someone). Perhaps some light shopping is in order before leaving on our cruise though, a few Freedom scrolls might come in handy...
Amarande is now a level 10/11 Half-Elven Fighter/Mage.
So far I have an avenger half elf level 3 in chapter 3, and a cavalier, an elf dragon disciple and a dwarwen defender at level 1.
The half elf blade was killed by a critical hit by Vax in the Cloudpeaks. He was replaced by a skald with shortbow just out of Candlekeep currently.
I'm also tempted by a half orc shaman, but no stronghold without mod is sad.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184998#Comment_1184998
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185119#Comment_1185119
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185133#Comment_1185133
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185145#Comment_1185145
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185255#Comment_1185255
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185316#Comment_1185316
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185380#Comment_1185380
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185418#Comment_1185418
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185581#Comment_1185581
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185693#Comment_1185693
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185730#Comment_1185730
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185847#Comment_1185847
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185972#Comment_1185972
Unga-Bunga tell Hobart Stubbletoes Unga-Bunga ready grand adventure. Hobart reach into pocket for something. Next thing Unga-Bunga know, Unga-Bunga in castle courtyard:
Unga-Bunga feel warm air, warmer than Kuldahar air, ask Hobart where Hobart take Unga-Bunga. Hobart tell Unga-Bunga in Anauroch desert, wish Unga-Bunga good luck sort of, flee into building:
Unga-Bunga look around courtyard, see many Wyverns, many Harpies. Wyverns, Harpies attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga reach for Pixie Dust fast, toss Pixie Dust just in time:
Unga-Bunga angry Hobart, summon elementals. Wyverns bite elementals nasty poison:
Harpies wail, stun elementals, beetles:
Unga-Bunga know Unga-Bunga need help elementals, beetles, call lightning down harpies, wyverns:
Harpies wail, stun Unga-Bunga through all Unga-Bunga's protection magics! Unga-Bunga very angry, very afraid, hope elementals, beetles slay harpies, wyverns before Unga-Bunga die:
Elementals, beetles hold off harpies, wyverns. Unga-Bunga wake up from stun, summon more beetles, kill harpies, wyverns. Unga-Bunga storm into building after Hobart, yell at Hobart. Hobart not care, offer barter Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga try not kill Hobart, count to ten, take Unga-Bunga while. When done, Unga-Bunga not as angry, rest in Hobart shack. Next day Unga-Bunga gather things, cast all protection magics, toss Pixie Dust, go back courtyard. Unga-Bunga see many harpies, many wyverns.
Unga-Bunga afraid, know harpies wail, stun Unga-Bunga, know elementals, beetles not kill harpies, wyverns without Unga-Bunga help. Unga-Bunga decide on plan: Unga-Bunga stand far away as possible from harpies, wyverns, summon elementals. Unga-Bunga know harpies, wyverns kill elementals fast, summon enough elementals so harpies, wyverns not attack Unga-Bunga right away. Unga-Bungs call lightning down on harpies, wyverns when able, summon more elementals when elementals almost gone. Unga-Bunga try call down enough lightning so lightning, elementals kill harpies, wyverns before harpies stun Unga-Bunga, kill Unga-Bunga.
Unga-Bunga know Unga-Bunga plan risky, not know what else do. Unga-Bunga take deep breath, summon elementals near harpies, wyverns:
Unga-Bunga call down lightning, follow plan against many foes:
Unga-Bunga clear harpies, wyverns from courtyard with plan, beat chest some. Unga-Bunga see ghost outside castle gate. Ghost say Ghost name Luremaster, say Luremaster adversary Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga ask Luremaster why Luremaster adversary. Luremaster say Unga-Bunga must prove Unga-Bunga hero before Unga-Bunga leave Castle Maluradek:
Unga-Bunga tell Luremaster Halfling Hobart called Unga-Bunga Hero of Icewind Dale, prove Unga-Bunga hero, ask Luremaster let Unga-Bunga leave. Luremaster ignore Unga-Bunga heroics, Unga-Bunga sigh. Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga poem:
Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga not let Unga-Bunga into castle until spirits rest:
Unga-Bunga weary from battle, return to building, think riddle. Unga-Bunga think something in each tower help spirits rest, Unga-Bunga rest.
Next day, Unga-Bunga gather things, cast protection magics, toss Pixie Dust, enter courtyard. Unga-Bunga see more harpies near stair leading up eastern wall of courtyard. Unga-Bunga see more harpies on eastern wall, think harpies maybe in towers on eastern wall also, decide go eastern towers first. Unga-Bunga sneak past harpies in courtyard, climb stair, battle two harpies on wall:
Unga-Bunga, elementals kill harpies. Unga-Bunga think probably more harpies in castle towers, know not call lightning down in towers. Unga-Bunga summon elementals near northeastern tower, tell elementals be ready. Unga-Bunga enter tower, find Harpy Queen, more harpies:
Unga-Bunga run out tower like Captain Jack Sparrow, lure harpies outside. Unga-Bunga run past elementals, command elementals block path. Unga-Bunga call lightning down on harpies many times:
Unga-Bunga not see Harpy Queen in harpy pile. Unga-Bunga go back into tower, summon animals, battle Harpy Queen alone:
Unga-Bunga see lever in tower, push lever, hear loud noise coming from west. Unga-Bunga shrug, leave tower, toss Pixie Dust, sneak past harpies near eastern wall, go see Hobart. Unga-Bunga ask Hobart about ghost near castle door. Hobart not tell Unga-Bunga much about Luremaster Ghost:
Unga-Bunga rest in building, gather things, battle harpies near eastern wall down. Unga-Bunga hope no more harpies after killing harpies:
Unga-Bunga climb eastern wall, summon elementals outside southeastern tower, go inside tower. Unga-Bunga meet Criek of Bane. Criek of Bane command Unga-Bunga help Criek of Bane and friends leave tower or Criek of Bane and friends kill Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga know how Criek of Bane feel, tell Criek of Bane count ten, say counting help Unga-Bunga when angry, too. Criek of Bane not want count, order friends attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga sigh, run outside tower, command elementals count dead bodies of Criek and friends:
Unga-Bunga take Criek of Bane and friend's treasures, see not all friends left tower. Unga-Bunga enter tower, battle wizard and djinni, take their treasures too:
Unga-Bunga see another lever in tower, push lever, leave tower. Unga-Bunga climb stair up western wall, summon elementals outside southwestern tower, enter tower. Unga-Bunga see Wyvern Matron, many wyverns. Unga-Bunga lure wyverns outside tower, command elementals battle wyverns, call lightning down on wyverns:
Unga-Bunga enter tower, push lever, see stairway leading down. Unga-Bunga go down stair, find Luremaster Ghost. Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga true heroes need be smart, ask Unga-Bunga riddle:
Unga-Bunga know elements, tell Luremaster answer wind, beat chest some. Luremaster give Unga-Bunga parchment. Parchment tell story about Watchknight battling dragon. Unga-Bunga shrug, put parchment into bag, leave tower. Unga-Bunga summon elementals outside northwestern tower, enter tower.
Unga-Bunga see dead body, stone body in tower, see living man in armor. Unga-Bunga talk to man. Man say name Harald, tell Unga-Bunga once Paladin of Tyr but now fallen paladin. Harald ask Unga-Bunga kill Harald. Unga-Bunga tell Harald Harald crazy. Harald get angry:
Unga-Bunga hold up hands, back away from Harald. Unga-Bunga see Symbol of Helm on ground near lever. Unga-Bunga take Symbol of Helm, push lever, see stair leading down into tower. Unga-Bunga go down stair, see Luremaster. Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga true heroes have strength of arms:
Luremaster summon Magic Plate Armor. Magic Plate Armor attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga summon elementals, spirits, beat down Magic Plate Armors:
Luremaster give Unga-Bunga another parchment, parchment tell about another Watchknight battling dragon. Unga-Bunga put parchment into bag, leave tower, take rest in Hobart shack.
Unga-Bunga gather things after resting, climb stair to eastern wall, enter tower, see new stairway leading down into tower. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, go down stair, see Luremaster waiting. Unga-Bunga sigh, summon elementals, speak Luremaster. Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga true heroes need perseverance, summon Shambling Mounds, Red Myconids, Mustard Jellies:
Unga-Bunga summon spirits, spirits help elementals slay Red Myconids, Mustard Jellies. Unga-Bunga see more Mustard Jellies appear when kill Mustard Jellies, think Luremaster summoning more jellies. Unga-Bunga command elementals, spirits kill Shambling Mounds. Once Shambling Mounds dead, Luremaster appear, give Unga-Bunga another parchment:
Unga-Bunga read parchment, begin understand story. Unga-Bunga think story about four Watchknights of Helm serving Lore Maluradek. Lord Maluradek's castle attacked by mighty dragon Aehirglass. Lord Maluradek let Watchknights battle dragon, Lord Maluradek hide in castle. Unga-Bunga shrug, leave tower, enter northwestern tower.
Unga-Bunga see new stairway down in tower, go down stair, see Luremaster. Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga true heroes need courage, say prize Unga-Bunga want in one of six chests, say other chests hold only death for Unga-Bunga:
Luremaster leave, Unga-Bunga sigh. Unga-Bunga cast all protection magics, set off many traps looking for prize, finally find parchment in chest. Unga-Bunga read parchment about another Watchknight, put parchment in bag. Unga-Bunga leave tower, take rest in Hobart shack.
Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather things. Unga-Bunga only see one part of courtyard Unga-Bunga not explore yet: doorway in courtyard set into eastern wall. Unga-Bunga cast protection magics, toss Pixie Dust, enter doorway into desecrated temple, see many spiders in temple. Unga-Bunga summon elementals, battle spiders down:
Unga-Bunga search temple, see offering plate on altar filled with blood, see manuscript lying on altar. Unga-Bunga read manuscript written by High Watcher Ammal-Matis. Manuscript tell how Lord Maluradek want hide cowardice from subjects, not tell story of heroic Watchknights battling Aehirglass dragon, take glory all for Lord Maluradek. Parchment say bard want tell story, Lord Maluradek have bard imprisoned in castle dungeon, bard sing song anyway, Lord Maluradek have bard killed. Parchment say High-Watcher, Helm followers build secret crypt, honor fallen Watchknights. Unga-Bunga angry at Lord Maluradek.
Unga-Bunga try purify temple, place Symbol of Helm onto offering plate. Unga-Bunga see symbol on wall restored, see passageway open, stairway leading down:
Unga-Bunga enter passageway, passageway lead down into crypt. Unga-Bunga battle many undead in crypt: Crypt Things, Revenants, Blast Skeletons, Skeleton Warriors, Wights, Ghosts, Boneguard Skeletons, Mummies, Greater Mummies, Ochre Jellies:
Unga-Bunga find central chamber with six locked doors, see symbol of metal on each door. Unga-Bunga search many crypts, find many secret doors, endure many traps, find six metal keys:
Unga-Bunga enter final chamber of Watchknight Crypt after many battles, see four coffins in chamber. Unga-Bunga search each coffin, see weapons. Unga-Bunga read parchments again, place parchment of Watchknight using weapon into crypt. Dead Watchknights appear, thank Unga-Bunga for giving Watchknights rest:
Unga-Bunga leave Watchknight Crypt, enter courtyard, see gateway into Castle Maluradek open:
Unga-Bunga worn out from battles, enter Hobart shack, Hobart say Unga-Bunga first adventurer gain entry castle. Hobart give away Hobart know more about Luremaster than Hobart tell Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga grab Hobart by scruff of neck, demand Hobart tell Unga-Bunga about Luremaster. Hobart beg Unga-Bunga not make Hobart tell:
Unga-Bunga not trust Hobart, not have other choice than enter Castle Maluradek. Unga-Bunga take rest in Hobart shack, keep eye on Hobart while resting, wonder what next day bring...
I'm calling this a "classic" run, because I'm mostly playing the game as if it was original vanilla BG1 - no EE content (no companions, quests, items or spells added, not even those that are in vanilla BG2 - if it wasn't in BG1, I won't even pick it up - for the spell list, I'm using the original BG1 manual to help with my memory of what was actually available), no kits (except for specialist mages, as they were in the original BG1), no max-hp on level up, no full healing on rests etc. - I will also try to avoid opening my inventory during combat (this would unpause the game in BG1, so you had to very fast when doing so). Additionally, I'm even avoiding TOTSC content and items, and I will stop doing sidequests and head straight for the endamge if I reach 89k experience (the original cap). Obviously, this isn't going to be a completionist run. For SoA/ToB, of course, spells, kits etc. are available, though I will still avoid EE content and keep the no full healing on rests/no max-hp on level ups restrictions.
I'm also taking this opportunity while playing without SCS to go with a transmuter bhaalspawn. In classic BG1, transmuters not only couldn't use abjuration spells, they were also restricted from taking any necromancy spells, which I will adhere to (this changed in BG2, so I will start learning them once I get to that point).
Her name is Beringia, she is a true neutral half elf with a pip in slings, starting with shield, color spray and blindness (find familiar didn't exist in classic BG1, so we are walking around with 6 hp) - stats are 13/18/18/18/3/18.
Of note: I actually first tried my hand with a similiar run, including a very strict roleplaying/no metagaming rule. However, adherence to these rules basically forced me to the mines at level 1 with zero preparations and a very weak party, which allowed Mulahey to just destroy us with rigid thinking/hold person spells - reminds of my very early days of playing this game. I don't think zero metagaming and no-reload go well together (and artificially trying to remove your previous knowledge of the game is very hard to to consistently). I also dropped another transmuter run where I first killed Shoal and the basilisks before recruiting my party because Imoen was at a much lower level compared to the others, which for some reason annoyed me enough to stop playing.
Anyway, as for Beringia, some early updates: I did the Candlekeep quests but learned Tethoril's scroll instead of turning it over, recruited Imoen, left the Belt of the Antipode (EE content), picked up Montaron and Xzar in order to deal with Tarnesh - Montaron's backstab only dealt 7 damage, not enough to get the kill, so we had to take down mirror images - Xzar's two LMD ended up being crucial, and Montaron, the only one in range, managed to save against horror:
First levels were difficult, not having good armor was a clear penalty, and often I thought a shapeshifter or a totemic druid would have been better.
I forgot how Call woodland being was powerful in BG1.
I almost died early one when after having recruited Ajantis and going to High Edge to recruit Kivan, I was ambushed by bandits. Gwydion survived with 1 or 2 HP, Imoen and Xzar were killed.
Another difficult time was when fighting Mulhaey, he somehow managed to land hold person on Minsc and Kivan and rigid thinking on Ajantis, so my avenger in leather armor had to fight with a quaterstaff in the frontline. Of course Kivan and Minsc were killed, and on my way to Nashkel I stumbled on an ankheg and the amazons party... Luckily we succeed in reaching the town.
I almost died too when doing Coran's quest in the wyvern's cave, I launch a web and somehow hold Ajantis and Minsc...
Of course Dorn was killed just before finishing his quest, so I have to go to FAI to raise him then went back to the bridge for completing his quest.
Kivan was killed when fighting Degrodel's minions in order to recover Cloak of Balduran.
My party is :
Gwydion, half elf avenger
Ajantis then Yeslick
Minsc
Kivan
Imoen then Coran
Dynaheir
Each now have more than 100,000 XP, and we just managed to save Belt (but not Jannath) during the coronation.
Before entering the thieves's maze, I think I should do some quests for XP.
I already did upstair of Durlag's Tower. I could try the first underground level, or maybe Ice Island... Werewolves Island is a big no.
Previous Next
We push into Lady Galvena's feasthall. Lady Galvena herself drops in one round, and beyond removing his illusions with a True Sight, Vadek can't really do much against (this time well and properly buffed) Amarande.
Alright... Perth. We lure him outside as usual. At first, we think ourselves truly lucky! Perth has no defense against the poison effect of Yoshimo's traps:
Perth gets the last laugh however, as we end up with Fireball -> Stinking Cloud -> Protection from Evil -> Stinking Cloud
-> Farsight -> Burning Hands from the Book of Many Spells. You can't even sell it, ugh.
Anyway, keeping the last run in mind, this time Jan does get a spellbook upgrade before we descend into Spellhold. Minsc convinces Desharik to have us committed, and we're off. Following a few very low-priced gems from Naljier Skal, Irenicus drops by, and it's dreamland. Bhaal bites it, and the session can begin in earnest... we're in naught but our small-clothes, stuck in a maze. Imoen joins up, and we set out. Hilariously, my hoarding is so bad, not even SCS is capable of stripping us of EVERYTHING: Anomen somehow retains a full stack of Extra Healing Potions. Those actually came in handy.
This time, we do things in somewhat optimal order. First the statue riddles for the Ring of Regeneration; then the Gibberling room for some weaponry; next swing by the Clay Golem room (for which we of course have a Remove Curse handy, along with Club of Meteoric Iron/Spiritual Hammer on Jaheira/Anomen) for even more weaponry, and finally Orogs/Minotaurs for some basic armor. Thus equipped, we head to the south: We'll leave the Yuan-Ti and the nasty Ruhk for later.
The Kobolds aren't a huge concern. The Imps and Quasits do require magical weapons to hit, but we have a Spear +3, and even though it takes a while to whack 'em down owing to their regeneration, they can't really do much to us. To the south we only had to contend with Gibberlings, but of course such luck never lasts: We're back to where the last run ended, the Lich Library.
Yeah, that's a sizable chunk o' undead, as expected. We're in luck that the Lich here isn't connected to them. Alright, let's be conservative: I'm sure a Monster Summoning I from Imoen is enough to hold that huge mob of high-level undead at bay while we slowly whittle them down.
I mean... it kind of worked. Never mind that Minsc and Jaheira had to run in the opposite direction from the rest of the party and only avoided horrific death since Jaheira managed to get a Pixie Dust off two seconds before a Bone Golem made contact. Anyway, it was a running battle where we wasted more summons than I'd like, but at least now the undead cronies are cleared.
Since we had to put up several of our own Skeleton Warriors, we take the time to clear the tome monsters before proceeding: Goes smoothly, believe it or not. You just face a regular Mind Flayer here, which Amarande and Minsc can dual-wield into oblivion under Chaotic Commands, and the Beholder has no answer to a Skeleton horde. We also use them to punch through the Umber Hulk ambush to the north (in preparation of quite possibly having to flee in unanticipated directions once we engage the Lich), although here, being Skeletons up against blunt damage, they understandably take a bit of a beating.
So, we're actually not in great shape with regards to remaining spells. In fact, we end up resting; there's no hunting by Bodhi going on with SCS 34.3 (that was a VERY annoying component...), so it's fine. With a full set of specifically geared spells, Amarande does manage to take the Ruhk down: Once its Haste expires, it doesn't have the damage output to outperform the Ring of Regeneration plus a few Potions of Extra Healing.
OK. We have to get past the Lich, lest we want to take up residence down here. This particular Lich is actually quite a bit less scary than they tend to be: He seems to never leave his spawn spot to chase you down. Fine by us; have some summons. A lot of summons, even. ~20 or so truly weak ones later, we send in the heavy Skeleton artillery, and... down the big bad goes.
That was almost disappointingly easy, but then again, this Lich seems intentionally weakened with regards to behaviour. With no beefy wizard bodyguard, Dace duly drops; in his wisdom first choosing to dominate the least capable physical combatant in the party.
We double back and treat the Yuan-ti and their Mage to a few Spike Growth. They eventually slither their way out of it towards us, but by then they're so weakened they're no longer a threat. Since we seem to have ample time, I opt for actually clearing the Pit Fiend and Greater Wolfwere that you can spawn from the portal. After ridicolously excessive buffing against every conceivable thing it might throw at us, the Pit Fiend didn't really manage to do anything before dropping. The Greater Wolfwere had time for precisely one attack. Yeah, I overestimated their capabilities a bit.
And with that, we can proceed further into the maze. The right-hand side of this level is the potentially lethal one, so we clear the left path first; Trolls and Minotaurs aren't really a problem even with this paltry gear, and Jan has Protection from Fire and Minor Spell Deflection so can safely fetch all the paintings for us. We run into Bodhi, she promptly flees, and the last few holdouts of Minotaurs (and a Gauth) are dealt with. OK, time for the more troublesome part. There's a Yuan-ti spawn with a Mage blocking the painting rooms, so we just pop a couple Spike Growth to wear them down.
I... don't even understand how that is possible. Can the Noble Djinni teleport? He obviously responded to the call for help from the Yuan-ti, but he's supposed to be locked inside his room until you tear down the wall. Of course we were prepared to fight him, but not right now! Naturally, the Ulitharid joins the fray as well. We end up running across half the level, until the Ulitharid wimps out (dropping his sword first), but not before stunning Jan, making him easy prey for that damnable Djinni that's still hanging around like a bad odor.
Yeah. I did not care for this development at all. Improved calls for help is fine and all, but now it's interfering with established game behaviour (you should be allowed to choose if you want to engage the Noble Djinni/Ulitharid or just deal with the Umber Hulk Elder). Even worse, that Djinni apparently does not obey the laws of physics, in that he is apparently able to move through walls...
We had just enough time to get rudimentary buffs up, and after killing said Djinni three times (he regenerated to full twice, of course) we get Jan back up. The rest of the level is not a problem; we had a couple summons left, and they soak up the Cursed Wounds from the trio of Clay Golems. Everything is looted, and we leave the maze, performing the sacrifice so that Jaheira finally gets a magical (though not that great) weapon she's specialized in.
Alright... Irenicus remains. And apparently, we must battle him using the hodge-podge gear we gathered from beneath Spellhold, not our actual equipment. At least that means our clones will be as weak as we are.
We prepare very thoroughly. Everyone gets Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, and as many elemental protections as we can squeeze in. Emotion: Courage, Emotion: Hope, PfE 10'... anything that lasts a little while and might give us an edge. I seem to be almost alone in this, but I habitually bribe Lonk the Sane. I know you can play along and then engage him at range to avoid a party wipe due to his initial ADHW, but it's just buff time and resources spent that would be better used for Irenicus... and 2000 gold seems a small price to pay to elevate our chances of survival. Anyway, we teleport down, and the game is afoot.
We try to squeeze into the corner, but unfortunately remain in sight of Irenicus; however, he focuses exclusively on the Mage whackos. A triple initial Chaos only disables Imoen's clone, but owing to them using the crappy Spellhold gear, we deal with the clones rather easily. Of course, that doesn't prevent things from becoming a degenerate mess in short order.
Yeah, that's a Prismatic Spray thrown by our "allies". They did that twice. Not sure if we just got lucky or if they're coded so their spells won't affect us (I've been fried by Aphril Lightning Bolts before though), but not much to do about it except try and kill the clones quickly. Then we turn our ire on Irenicus, who.. is REALLY pulling his punches, I must say. He's basically just running Spell Deflection, Stoneskin and Mirror Image (initial CC was two Efreeti and Improved Mantle I believe). He even wasted his Time Stop casting Improved Alacrity, but then only following it up with said Mirror Image. Hey, I don't mind: Spell Deflection absorbs ten spell levels, and Breach is level 5. Three suitably staggered Breach is all it takes.
No one ever even came close to dying, and we managed to evade all disablers, so Yoshimo and his attendant Murderers can't really do much (Jan and a True Sight by Anomen means they never even get a backstab in). We sneak by Saemon to grab our gear (clobbering the final Stone Golem in the process), though I guess Saemon does open the door once you teleport outside so we could probably have just gone back in if we wanted to. Anyway, we head back to Brynnlaw, clear the local pirate crew, and buy a few things (Spell Deflection scroll can actually be difficult to aquire and is a nice L6 option... we also grab some Potions of Genius).
Once on the high seas, we nearly get killed during the Githyanki ambush. Not sure what was going on, but I think they were throwing around a ton of Cone of Cold, and we mainly focused on getting anti-mind blast defenses and melee protections in place. Not good, but everyone made it.
Severely weakened as we are, a single Ettin is still no threat, and we agree to help the King (we'll of course kill 'em all in the end...). We stop by the Priestess of Sekolah and sell off a ton of crap; why was I hoarding Darts of Stunning and Wounding? Jan just doesn't have the THAC0 to hit anything and no one else but Imoen (who's THAC0 is even worse) has proficiency in the things...
This seems a good spot to stop for now. Next time we'll clear the City of Caverns, which should provide a welcome respite from the frequent life-or-death situations we've been facing (protection against stun means dead fishies... although they pack a serious poisonous melee punch). Then, it's back to death waiting behind every corner, as we enter the Underdark. We can only hope my metagaming holds out. Let's see, there's three Mind Flayers directly to the north of where you appear that can easily end a run...
Amarande is now a level 11/12 Half-Elven Fighter/Mage.
Coremage XXV - half-elf fighter/mage (Corey_Russell, protagonist)
Egg - human undead hunter (@Gate70)
Saile - half-elf avenger (@Grond0)
I could mention how the Trio just breezed through the Cloakwood, or how the Trio easily defeated all the enemies in the Cloakwood Mines. But all that matters is the fateful encounter in an inn where some women wanted to introduce us to entropy. Well Saile got spotted by the mage but he didn't see the mage himself. He was confused. This is potentially a big problem as if he kills commoners then Egg could become fallen. So Egg moves up to try to be the distraction, but now he's being hit by spells so looks like he needs help, so Coremage moved up and tried to assist. Right then the party got hit with horror and everyone failed their save!
The party was helpless as we were taking spell damage. Coremage was taking the brunt of it though. Right at the end, the horror wore off and Corey_Russell attempted to pause, however before the pause could take effect the mage plunged a dagger into Coremage XXV for 13 damage and ending his run - RIP Coremage XXV.
Why, you were hoarding them so you could sell them to this merchant specifically. She does pay you a lot more than anyone else you've met so far would - buy markup 50 instead of the standard 30. And she doesn't stock those darts specifically, so she pays her best prices for the first batch before depreciation sets in.
Or maybe this is just a post-hoc rationalization for something that didn't have a good reason at the time.
Flydian - dwarf wizard slayer (Grond0)
Corefighter - dwarf fighter (Corey_Russell)
Burdock - human dark moon monk (Gate70)
Previous run
The abortive end to the previous run left enough time in the session to make a decent start for a new party. Quickly rolling up a new set of characters, we discovered a strong martial bias this time - should make for quick action.
Burdock is the nearest equivalent to a caster and tried his luck at blinding Shoal - that failed, but it didn't save her for long.
A bit of confusion about whether we were fighting or running from Shoal led to her storming off in a huff - taking her gem bag with her. That was a minor concern though and we pushed on down to Nashkel to pick up the ankheg armor for Corefighter and allow Flydian to learn Bhaal CLW.
On the way to the basilisks, Corey asked "who is going to be petrified". That harked back to the last Trio run I led, which ended with my character being stoned. To protect against that, this time I used the green scroll of PfP on Flydian. That was bad news for Burdock though when a greater basilisk retreated from Flydian towards Burdock and even his monk speed could not get him out of danger when the basilisk refocused its gaze.
After a temple visit a few cleaning up jobs in Beregost included Silke. Flydian had been tempted to rely on his WS abilities to keep her quiet, but Burdock had a better idea.
Flydian had not bothered buying a breakable long sword earlier, so grabbed Meilum's more durable version. Greedily he then headed for Greywolf in search of an immediate upgrade. Greywolf saved against blindness and managed to do a bit of damage before being shot down.
Wizard slayer 4, 54 HPs, 23 kills
Fighter 4, 42 HPs, 19 kills, 0 deaths
Dark moon monk, 37 HPs, 18 kills, 1 death
Current character records
Oh... that's actually true! It was UB. Annoying all the same, though
Also true, and a good point. There are containers in Brynnlaw so I really should've refrained from selling the most high-value loot in Athkatla and just brought it with me instead... the Bag of Holding can take 100 (?) items I believe, so there's no issue getting it down to the City of Caverns once you return from Spellhold.
With the party gathered and some basic experience obtained, it was time to find some equipment, gold and experience for everyone - though not much gold is needed, given that I won't have access to the Ulgoth's Beard Merchant. I will only mention a few of the encounters - all in all, I explored most wilderness areas, skipping only the northern Sword Coast area, Red Wizards, Narcillicus, Ulcaster, the Doomsayer and Kahrk for now. For the tougher battles, I waited for 2 things: a) Finding a web scroll for Beringia and b) Branwen getting her first third level spell. Early on, Branwen's level 2 spells came in clutch against Zargal and Bassilus:
Getting a weapon for Khalid was fairly easy with hold person:
For about half the time here, I still had to use color spray when dealing with big groups of enemies:
Beringis is at level 5, having 27 out of a possible 30 hitpoints
Ajantis is at level 5, with 49 out of 60
Khalid is level 5 as well, with 51 out of 65
Branwen is at level 6, having gained 41 out of 54
Imoen is at 6 as well - with only 30 out of 48, she probly had the worst rolls so far.
I'm not 100% sure how multiclass HP per level work, but Jaheira is at levels 5/5 with 49 hipoints, which seems perfectly fine to me.
When I get to play again, I will propably deal with a few missing wilderness encounters and explore Cloakwood.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184998#Comment_1184998
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185119#Comment_1185119
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185133#Comment_1185133
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185145#Comment_1185145
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185255#Comment_1185255
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185316#Comment_1185316
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185380#Comment_1185380
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185418#Comment_1185418
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185581#Comment_1185581
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185693#Comment_1185693
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185730#Comment_1185730
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185847#Comment_1185847
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185972#Comment_1185972
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186115#Comment_1186115
Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather things, enter Castle Maluradek. Unga-Bunga see Luremaster Ghost when enter castle:
Luremaster ask Unga-Bunga learn story of Luremaster, Lord Maluradek, tell Unga-Bunga poem:
Unga-Bunga watch Luremaster fade away, cast protection magics, enter main chamber. Unga-Bunga see ghostly figures, ghost lords and ladies. Unga-Bunga see Spectral Guards guarding two stairs, both east and west, also guarding runed door in center chamber:
Unga-Bunga find northwest passageway. Passageway lead castle kitchen, Unga-Bunga see Spectral Cook:
Unga-Bunga summon elementals, Spectral Cook summon Spectral Guards. Spectral Guards destroy elementals fast, try trap Unga-Bunga kitchen:
Unga-Bunga bob and weave, hit seam, cast blinding magics on Spectral Guards just in time. Unga-Bunga vision quest nearly over:
Unga-Bunga dance, summon spirits, cast Static Charge, take very long time slay Spectral Guards. Spectral Guards toughest warriors Unga-Bunga ever fight:
Unga-Bunga try be more careful, know Spectral Guards not cast magics. Unga-Bunga look in Holding Bag, take out battle armors, duel-wield enchanted axes with protection magics, cast all defensive magics, make Unga-Bunga tough like old briar:
Unga-Bunga summon elementals, toss Pixie Dust, step on stair. Spectral Guards summon more Spectral Guards. Unga-Bunga wait, see all Spectral Guards attack elementals, sneak up behind Spectral Guards, cast blinding magics:
Unga-Bunga position elementals so Spectral Guards attack elementals, keep center clear for Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga blind Spectral Guards:
Unga-Bunga, elementals battle down all Spectral Guards on main floor. Unga-Bunga tired, out of magics, rest in Hobart shack. After rest Unga-Bunga gather things, toss Pixie Dust, climb eastern stair in castle, see Hobart searching books in castle library:
Unga-Bunga scared, know just left Hobart, get sick feeling. Unga-Bunga remember Eldathyn priests in Dragon's Eye not Eldathyn priests. Unga-Bunga back away, go back Hobart shack, see Hobart:
Unga-Bunga think spirits tell Unga-Bunga leave Fake Hobart be. Unga-Bunga done search 1st floor castle, go back inside castle, climb western stair to 2nd floor castle. Unga-Bunga battle down more Spectral Guards guarding stair:
Unga-Bunga see many Spectral Patrons, leave alone. Unga-Bunga enter hallway, find pools on either side hallway, battle Water Kin Elementals in pools:
Unga-Bunga see hallway open into large chamber, hear music, see Luremaster play music for many ghosts:
Unga-Bunga listen, see ghosts fade away, see Beholder! Beholder make elemental afraid, charge Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga run away, wait for Beholder attack elemental. Unga-Bungs summon elemental army, beat down Beholder. Unga-Bunga take deep breaths:
Unga-Bunga afraid, keep many elementals summoned, have elementals guard front and rear, slowly take eastern passage from music chamber:
Unga-Bunga see Beholder charge elementals, hide behind corner, cower from Beholder gaze:
Unga-Bunga hear battle from rear, see elementals battle another beholder. Unga-Bunga hide, wait for right moment, jump around corner, cast blinding magic:
Unga-Bunga go back front elementals battling Beholder. Unga-Bunga cheer elementals pinning Beholder to wall, cry out when Spectral Guards come from next room, attack elementals. Beholder try kill Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga, elementals kill Beholder. Spectral Guards kill elementals, attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga reach for Pixie Dust fast:
Unga-Bunga almost out summoning magics, summon animals, help elementals battle rear Beholder, Spectral Guards:
Spectral Guards kill animals, elementals. Unga-Bunga know Spectral Guards very strong, lure Spectral Guards down stair, out of castle, call lightning down on Spectral Guards:
Unga-Bunga, animals finally beat down Spectral Guards. Unga-Bunga beat chest some, rest in Hobart shack. After rest, Unga-Bunga return castle, search side chambers off hallway with Beholders, battle more Spectral Guards. Unga-Bunga clear Spectral Guards from side chambers, library off end of hallway:
Unga-Bunga see large chamber at end of hallway, summon elementals into chamber, cast all protection magics. Unga-Bunga enter chamber, find Lord Maluradek. Unga-Bunga see Lord Maluradek long dead, now skeletal lich. Lord Maluradek call Unga-Bunga traitor, say silence Unga-Bunga forever:
Unga-Bunga command elementals attack Lord Maluradek. Maluradek cast powerful magics, dispel Unga-Bunga magics, cast death magics and symbols, teleport elementals, Unga-Bunga to side chambers. Unga-Bunga cast many magics at Maluradek, Maluradek resist all Unga-Bunga's magics:
Unga-Bunga only able command six creatures at once. Maluradek summon dozens of undead, overwhelm Unga-Bunga elementals:
Unga-Bunga realize Lord Maluradek far more powerful than Unga-Bunga, command elementals still battle, cover retreat of Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga flee castle, hope Lord Maluradek not follow Unga-Bunga, run inside Hobart shack. Unga-Bunga wait by door long while, thank spirits Lord Maluradek not come.
Unga-Bunga set down bags, slump against wall, fear Unga-Bunga trapped in Anauroch desert, ruined castle forever. Unga-Bunga fear Vision Quest over...
Unga-Bunga rest, return castle, battle Lord Maluradek many times, always flee Lord Maluradek. Unga-Bunga sit in Hobart shack, ask spirits for aid, search scrolls, potions, items, try find way kill Lord Maluradek.
Unga-Bunga search Holding Bag, hope for answer. Unga-Bunga find greataxe Unga-Bunga barter from Smithy Tiernon:
Unga-Bunga remember buying axe for battles when Unga-Bunga have no hope. Unga-Bunga never wield greataxe in life, take greataxe out to castle courtyard, practice swinging axe. Unga-Bunga not sure axe even cut Lord Maluradek, not sure Lord Maluradek vulnerable disease. All Unga-Bunga know is Unga-Bunga need try. Unga-Bunga take greataxe back to Hobart shack, ask spirits for aid and rest.
Unga-Bunga gather things next day, enter castle. Unga-Bunga stand outside Lord Maluradek's chamber, cast all protection magics, summon elementals. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, send elementals battle Lord Maluradek. Unga-Bunga sneak up Lord Maluradek, raise axe over head, bring axe down onto Lord Maluradek's head...
Unga-Bunga miss Lord Maluradek, miss again and again. Unga-Bunga not greatest warrior...
Unga-Bunga flee from Maluradek, toss Pixie Dust, try attack Maluradek again and again. Sometimes Unga-Bunga strike Maluradek but not deep enough spread disease. Unga-Bunga feel like X-Wing Fighters flying in Death Star trench, trying shoot photon torpedoes into shaft...
Finally, one time, Unga-Bunga bring greataxe down on Lord Maluradek's head:
Unga-Bunga hear Lord Maluradek cry out, wrench greataxe from Lord Maluradek's skull. Lord Maluradek stare Unga-Bunga with eyes filled with infinite evil, bellow death magics, curses at Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga shout, "It's away!", toss Pixie Dust, flee from Lord Maluradek.
Lord Maluradek summon hosts of undead, trap Unga-Bunga in chamber:
Unga-Bunga afraid Maluradek heal disease if not battle, send elementals battle Maluradek, slay undead trapping Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga attack undead, lure undead from chamber into music chamber, toss Pixie Dust, return battle:
Unga-Bunga, Lord Maluradek battle long into day. Unga-Bunga see Lord Maluradek weakening, summon elementals, beetles attack Lord Maluradek. Lord Maluradek cast black curses, death magics at Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga lure more undead from chamber, toss Pixie Dust. As Unga-Bunga return battle, Unga-Bunga hear Lord Maluradek cry out last time, see Lord Maluradek crumble to ground:
Unga-Bunga barely able stand, wearily help elementals battle lingering undead:
Unga-Bunga search Maluradek bedchamber, find magic items, key and journal:
Unga-Bunga put things in bag, know need battle way out castle. Unga-Bunga summon all creatures still able summon, slowly battle down undead horde:
Unga-Bunga, elementals finally battle way out castle. Unga-Bunga crawl into Hobart shack, ignore Hobart's stare, rest long while. After rest, Unga-Bunga wake up, read Maluradek journal, learn full story of Castle Maluradek, learn Lord Maluradek put so many to death, finally put self to death.
Unga-Bunga proud of Unga-Bunga, go out into courtyard, beat chest long while, cry out joy, anger, weariness, all things. Unga-Bunga decide tell young tribesman story of battle if ever escape Castle Maluradek, complete Vision Quest. Unga-Bunga tell young tribesmen never give up, say always answer, need find answer.
Unga-Bunga gather things, enter castle, use key unlock door. Unga-Bunga prepare descend into castle dungeon, where Luremaster Bard imprisoned, put to death...
[Unga-Bunga could only hit Maluradek on a natural 20. With the 15% chance for the disease to take effect, it was only a 3/400 or ~ 1/133 chance of infecting Maluradek with the axe each swing. If there was no retreat allowed from that battle, there would be next to no chance]
Clearing the remaining wilderness areas was no trouble - against webs, even the red wizards couldn't put up a fight:
Thanks! Yeah, the best way Unga-Bunga could make sense of him was saying he's a Lich, but I don't know what he is, to be honest, probably a custom creation. I think he has 250 HP normally, so 830 HP on Heart of Fury mode. He has unlimited casting of the following spells I observed: Animate Dead, Dispel Magic, Horror, Power Word: Blind, Power Word: Kill, Power Word: Stun, Symbol of Pain, Symbol of Hopelessness. He has a sword on him, but I've never seen him attack in melee at all.
Obviously, the big danger is Animate Dead (aside from Dispel Magic), because he has no limits to its castings or amount of undead at a time, so he just fills the room with them, and you're facing a lot of 20's that way. Trying that axe was the last hope, really. He's completely invulnerable to magic (at least Unga-Bunga's magic). It could be he's immune to all spells up to 7th level, which is the highest Unga-Bunga can cast.
As for what he is? That "death knight" animation, in the BG series, is used for demonic creatures known as "demon knights". Which love throwing around power words, symbols, and the like, but lack the usual demon immunities (such as poison). Yeah, I'd say this guy is probably a custom variant on the demon knight.
It's my birthday and, more importantly than that, as of today I'm retired - yay. That might allow me to concentrate better and knock off a few more from my long-life challenge
One issue with the shaman is it comes with a large range of possible tactics, so there's always the temptation to try something new - which is inherently more risky. As I've played it so much now though, there's not that much new to try out! The shaman's signature tactic is the dance. Even at low levels the unlimited summons that produces are pretty useful in a party, but playing solo their poor THAC0 and low damage makes them very slow against most enemies. One exception though is enemies that have no melee weapon equipped and Shoal was soon history to give me a double-level boost.
Baerin was charmed and drawn away from the others. Spirits attacked him, while I stood just out of his sight - spirits will disappear if they leave sight range, but that gives a small window of opportunity for them to attack without exposing me if the spirits are all killed at any point. That was pretty slow progress until Baerin's spear broke and he attempted to attack with his fists.
Even though shamans have spirits and spells, simple ranged attacks are often the best option. With no possibility of dualling, there's no reason not to go for a half-orc character - so strength can be 19. That means that when shots land they tend to hurt - as Oopah found out.
Inside, handing over some 'nymph's hair' took me to level 7.
After resting to get another LMD, the amazons outside the mine died in Fog. Back in Nashkel, Nimbul was confused then held by a nymph before being put out of his misery by lightning. I did have a bit of a delay there though when Mulahey's symbol evaporated and I had to go back to the mine to get a letter as evidence to show the mayor.
Back in Beregost some spiders were meleed in a Fog before Silke failed to survive twin lightning blasts.
At the Bandit Camp the enemies emerged from their tent to find a greeting party of nymphs.
In the Cloakwood the ettercaps in the second area were bombed with Spirit Fire, but otherwise I avoided conflict on the way to the mine. Drasus & co were helplessly confused by a barrage of spells timed to arrive after my initial Call Lightning.
I got quick reputation boosts from Officer Vai, Mr Colquetle, Bjornin, Prism, Brage, Samuel, Joia, a dryad and Drienne to maximise that. While doing those rounds also picked up the charisma tome. There was one more tome in the wilderness and nymphs were able to ignore attempts to charm them on the way to get that. Spirits then sorted out the golems in the cave.
Shaman 9, 69 HPs, 228 kills
Beringia, classic transmuter, second update
I picked up a lot of speed in the big city - with my goal to only get to around 89k experience at the end of the game, I skipped a lot of encounters, including Degrodel's house, Sunin, the sewers (except fot the ogre mage), the Helm&Cloak Party, the ogre mage bounty hunters and Wiven's party. I made sure to gather important item upgrades and tomes, now with haste and slow at my disposal, such as the gauntlets of ogre strength for Khalid:
In the opening dungeon, I learned that upon importing a character with randomized hp rolls to BG2, your hp pool gets rerolled. In the process, Beringia luckily only lost 1 hitpoint. Jaheira lost 10 (though I believe her hp are fixed). We started with exactly the experience we had after Sarevok's death. Did cut it a little close in my attempt to only rest once down here, playing as if it were SCS:
I made sure to make use of a few summons, haste and slow when facing tougher encounters to compensate for the general weakness of my group: