The session started with a quick game of hunt the mace. Regrettably that concluded when we eventually reached consensus that the iMoD had disappeared at the end of the previous session before ever actually being used. That meant no protection against level drain, but we managed to deal with the remaining vampires in their guild house and send Bodhi packing without anyone being drained.
After reporting to Aran and declining the opportunity to take ship immediately for Spellhold, we headed for the Umar Hills. The undead in the ruined temple were headed up by greater mummies and they landed a few lusty blows, but were overcome. With no protection against Thaxy's breath we bypassed her and went straight for the Shade Lord - a hail of missiles taking him down before he could cast anything.
After picking up Valygar's body, we went to Watcher's Keep - primarily because Flydian wanted a container for the growing number of missile stacks in his inventory. The intention was to buff a bit and use summons before checking for vampiric wraiths near the exit, but Corefighter inadvertently opened the door at the other end of the main hall and found the enemies waiting.
We could probably have stayed safe if we'd run immediately, but decided to see if Azuredge could get lucky and take them down. That didn't happen, but an accumulation of damage did manage to dispose of one of them, tempting us to stick around a bit longer.
At this point though another mistake proved fatal. Flydian and Corefighter are both dwarf fighters and their icons look very similar and, not for the first time, I got confused about which was which. Thinking the wraith was attacking Corefighter, I switched to my bow to make use of my grand mastery with that. It was only after a rapid couple of hits that I realised that it was in fact Flydian under attack and he tried to retreat only at the point when one further hit would be fatal.
The wraith moves quicker so keeping away from it would be chancy anyway, but Flydian flinched away from his intended route when Burdock's movement appeared to block that and the wraith took immediate advantage ...
With Trio 33 having taken half our session time we had an hour to roll new characters and hit the road. Dendy arrived outside the Candlekeep inn first and it wasn't long before his companions arrived. Metran looked familiar but Willaim was a blank canvas. A quick portrait share and we were ready.
The equipment check confirmed we had three quarterstaffs between us. Dendy immediately looted a pair of scrolls and purchased himself a shortbow and a set of arrows. Willaim had treated himself to a crossbow and some bolts while Metran looted upstairs and availed himself of studded leather and doubtless a few more items.
Gorion did a double-take. We have 52 charisma between the three of us. He reckoned he could drop us off outside Candlekeep and that's what happened. Shoal the Nereid wasn't particularly pleased to see us, then we visited High Hedge and Beregost before going south to Nashkel. Several rests later Dendy still had no special ability and realised his neutral evilness would be more of a drain than a heal so he elected not to rest further.
We picked up Samuel and on our way to take him to safety ran into a bit of wolf trouble. Three of us with missiles played a good game and the wolf ran between us, changing direction whenever it was hit.
Metran and Dendy did some double backstabbing for the remainder of the session - this leading to the first and only death of the session.
In terms of kills Dendy and Metran are level pegging on 7 each, while Willaim proved to be a wellaim and racing away with 30 kills.
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, third update
Cleared a few more wilderness areas today, mostly west of the Lion's Way. For named bandit/adventuring parties, Minsc scouts ahead in stealth to give Dynaheir the perfect position for dual invoker webs. Bassilus actually failed his saving throw against horror - even his freedom of movement + chaotic command buffs didn't help him there:
I also returned to the basilisk area to retrieve the golden girdle and ended the session when getting revenge for the original Dorian, taking down the webbed wolf pack at the eastern temple with some magical ammo from the beregost blacksmith:
Decided to visit Durlag's. Forgot the basilisks but will do them when I return.
had to leave because of the death of Xzar due to being poisoned by a spider just after creating the mallet. The stupid mage had forgottten to cast stonesskin after resting. At least Baeloth got stoneskin after completing two of the warder quests.
We returned after raising Xzar and after killing the basilisks used traps to kill three of the warders. Unfortunately Coran was a bit too close to the traps and he also got killed. An expensive mistake! After raising him we are progressing well after going down to the next level.
iNDEED WE HAVE NOW DEFEATED THE CHESS BOARD EASILY
Prior to this Coran killed the woman in the Phoenix area with one backstab.
Before confronting the Demon Knight we laid several traps and summoned a plethora of skeleton warriors before buffing. This preparation made the Demon Knight much less dangerous and we were able to deal with both him and some assassins without too much dificulty.
We sold weapons and armour that were surplus to requirements before buying as many wands as we could afford.
Drizzt has asked for help but will have to wait until we have given the Iron Throne a headache.
We will not be doing some of the fetch and carry quests in the Gate as I don't want to have to micromanage my reputation.
I am musing on the possibility of dualling to cleric. Currently wisdom is 15. By the time it reaches 18, my level will probably be 8, so level 9 might be the optimal time to dual-class. My roll whilst excellent, wasn't high enough to have a starting wisdom of 18.
I have yet to decide whether to dual-class at all. My mods allow dual-classing of dwarves.
@Enuhal Thanks for the advice on dualling. I may stay as a berserker for this game and dual in another. The likelihood is that I won't finish BG1 as I intend to try the Drizzt Saga AGAIN!!!
Having found the Helm of Opposite Alignment was missing from the Demon Knight in a previous game, I edited his chr file to add it using EE keeper. I think that the problem is that the itm file name has been changed in EE and not in one of my mods. It might have been a mod conflict. Anyway, I sorted it before this game and the problem is now solved.
@Wise_Grimwald Certainly, dualling during a difficult piece of mod content such as the Drizzt Saga would propably be ill-advised
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, fourth update
Short update: Finished the remaining western wildnerness areas including Cloudpeak Mountains, with the exception of the two Sword Coast areas. Not much in terms of interesting battles, though I did run away once when I was ambushed by a large group of flints when resting at the western edge of the map, didn't want to bother killing them (no sleep spell scribed yet on Dorian, forgot about the wand) decided to run to the north and encountered more enemies in the form of three winter wolves - I didn't really get into trouble and easily evaded further damage, but it made for a funny chase scene:
I decided to spend my gold on the relevant items from the carnival tent and Feldpost's plus Claw of Kazgaroth and Robe of the Good Archmage from High Hedge. Still a lot more upgrades available, but a lack of funds will force me to wait for a while.
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, fifth update
I ventured north, activating a scroll of acid protection on Ajantis to clear the ankheg lair and area. No trouble this time around, I also helped Tenya and the zombie farmer before buying a few scrolls, Cloak of Displacement and Wand of the Heavens at Ulgoth's Beard. I used that wand + some more wand charges + magic missles to take down the doomsayer to the south and took out Meilum before finishing the session - no screenshots this time around, as nothing of significance happened. Some eastern wilderness areas and the Sword Coast areas remain.
@Wise_Grimwald Certainly, dualling during a difficult piece of mod content such as the Drizzt Saga would propably be ill-advised
I also realised that if I am going to dual to cleric, it needs to be planned from the beginning of the game. His name Skaraxe is a clue (**** in axes). A fighter called Spike would be more suitable perhaps.
Journal of Skaraxe Whitebeard
We have just finished the extended Ice island. Due to EE dropping a belt that gives immunity to cold, this waas way too easy. That belt needs nerfing!!
Balduran's Isle was also quite straightforward. EDIT
We finished investigating Candlekeep and after finishing a few minor quests such as Ulcaster we have started a trip to the Nine Hells.
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, sixth update
After venturing through Gullykin, I decided to clear the Nashkel mines out next. The first encounter of significance there, kobold shaman + chieftain, was easily diffused by a horror spell:
Buffing up for Mulahey with two skeletons, haste, bless allowed for another quick kill, with the priest unable to complete a spell:
Nimbul fell to hold person despite his stoneskins, shield and mirror images - his find familiar scroll allowed Dorian to gain some extra hitpoints:
And Tranzig was rushed down before his buffs even went up:
With the gold I gained from all this, I bought a bunch of scrolls from High Hedge and learned them on Dorian and Dynaheir. Also bought full plate and ankheg plate. Not exactly sure where I'll go next.
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, seventh update
After some thinking, I decided to travel to the upper areas of Durlag's Tower next. On the way, I was ambushed by the amazon party and opened with haste, icelance on one spellcaster and silence on the other:
The icelance stun didn't apply, but I got the interrupt. Silence worked, and while Imoen and Dynaheir each got hit by a backstab, that was all of the damage the enemy was able to deal to us:
At Durlag's, I first cleared the doom guards at the walls via wands, magic missles and a few physical attacks:
Inside, the most dangerous enemy with SCS is the ghost. I sent in 3 skeletons to draw out some buffs and spells, waited out his PFMW, fireshield and minor spell deflection while invinsible (had to dodge an oracle once):
When he had only shield left, I engaged again, first using Ajantis to draw out remove magic after noticing that he was casting an abjuration spell:
When he first took damage, he fired off a mirror image + shield sequencer, but Branwen was able to hit him with a silence:
This forced him to spend his next round casting vocalize, which gave us the time needed for the kill:
We took care of the basilisks outside with our newly learned PfP spells and got the tome before leaving. At the mine exit area, we helped Hentold and took down the slime wizard with a quick backstab:
When making my way to the lighthouse, I got ambushed by the Gullykin party. Opening salvo + wand of the heavens on the wizard, icelance on the cleric, haste on our party:
The stun worked this time around, and made this battle much easier. It was still a bit tough for our fighters:
This should be it with the dangerous ambushes for now. Branwen has reached level 7, which grants us access to more powerful skeleton warriors - perfect to deal with sirens. Still, when entering the area, I first wanted to rest because of upcoming exhaustion, and got interrupted by three sirens. I always rest on the edge of maps so I can flee right away, but the juicy experience points that sirens provide were so tempting - well, it was really foolish not to flee here, to be honest. The reason I thought I could stay was me thinking that sirens always open up combat with improved invisibility, and I thought that I could interrupt and kill at least one with ranged weapons + magic missles before fleeing, taking 2k extra experience with me. However, they instead opened up with their charm spells. I was indeed able to interrupt and kill one very quickly, but Dorian and Minsc got charmed, so I couldn't flee. Luckily, the charmed Minsc was using his bow, not his twohander, and Dorian wasn't much of a threat. Dynaheir made sure that the other Sirens didn't get to cast more charm spells, and we actually achieved victory:
Still, that was not a safe play. When my second resting attempt also got interrupted by sirens, I just fled the map. After finally getting a clean rest, I killed the lighthouse worgs, summoned skeletons and let them deal with the sirens at the pirate cave. Ranged magical ammo helped to deal with the flesh golems, and we got our hands on another tome.
Next up: The other Sword Coast area and more wilderness areas to the east.
Drizzt asked me to join him on a quest which, thinking it might be profitable, I did.
I left Xzar and Coran in the house where gavin's parents live, and continued with Thorin, Tenya, and Baeloth.
We were transported to thee nine hells where I let Drizzt lead, due to his magical resistance. The rest of us backed him up with ranged weapons.
Drizzt killed a Greater Tanari with a seies of attacks by stealth.
Demonknights fell relatively easily.
Eltab was a bit trickier, but once we had separated him from the demonknights, once again stealth proved effective.
The next demonknight proved a little tougher.
However Marilith was the toughest opponent. We defeated her by using intelligence rather than brawn. Outside her lair we summoned monsters and buffed both them and us.
We lured her into our trap, removed her magical protections and then killed her. Berserk and defensive stance coupled with Baeloth increasing Drizzt's strength was enough.
[At last Marilith is defeated. Revenge is sweet!]
Not much gold to be had, but expensive equipment galore is sufficient recompense.
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, seventh update
My buffs for Droth were perhaps a bit overkill, considering that he was affected by a command spell right away:
I cleared the area, including the sirens to the southwest, before moving east again - this time, to the red wizard area. We now have recitation and PfE 10' radius in our arsenal, and with a few skeletons and a well-placed horror spell, the big group of spiders to the east was easily dealt with:
The red wizards were webbed from off-screen, while Ajantis, using Dushai's ring (previously stolen by Dorian with a potion of master thievery), helped out ranged attackers and skeletons in taking them down:
We only have the bandit areas left, with two exceptions: Kahrk is still alive (I will propably only attempt to kill him once I get to Baldur's Gate, because I want access to more spell scrolls for that fight), and the Firewine + Ulcaster dungeons are still left to explore - those will be next.
Drizzt has been drained by a lesser vampire. Trnya cast lesser restoration on him several times but to no effect, presumably due to magical resistance.
I took him to a temple, but there the priest would not use either lesser or grater restoration, despite it being on the menu.
Tenya can cast raise dead but not greater restoration.
Any ideas?
Problem solved. We killed him and raised him.
If that had happened to the PC, that WOULD have been a problem.
Fortunately when he was level drained, Lesser Restoration was sufficient.
Just a quick update to report the demise of our latest attempt. This passed through the opening SoD dungeon without problems and we did only a minimal amount of exploring in the City before heading out. A vampire received a helping hand and we hid from an ambush prepared at the bridge before skipping through the Troll Claw Woods on the way to an old temple.
Things started well enough there with Ziatar rendered helpless by being blinded.
A bit of preparation for the Neothelid included spirit armor and improved invisibility for Robthem and a few summons to occupy the wandering swords. That combination of buffs provided good saving throw protection and, against most enemies works well, as the enemies will be dead before the improved invisibility wears off. The Neothelid though has a nasty habit of staying underground for quite a while. It did briefly surface after a number of rounds, but not long enough to be killed. Another few rounds underground and one of its abilities took devastating effect by paralyzing Robthem.
Yodahl bravely got among the swords to turn Robthem invisible and prevent them from attacking him. However, the Neothelid had surfaced to attack its helpless victim and this time, when we wanted the Neothelid to stay underground, it was determined to remain until it had buried Robthem.
@Wise_Grimwald not all energy drains are permanent - is this one? You could always kill Drizzt and revive him, though if the energy drain is bugged then death might not clear that. If you think it should be cureable, you could try the console ctrl-R command, which heals characters and removes all negative effects.
@Wise_Grimwald not all energy drains are permanent - is this one? You could always kill Drizzt and revive him, though if the energy drain is bugged then death might not clear that. If you think it should be cureable, you could try the console ctrl-R command, which heals characters and removes all negative effects.
I tried sleeping again and again, therefore it appeared to be permanent. I am suspecdting that it was his 87% magic resistance that stopped lesser restoration working. I tried it several times. However, after killing him and raising him, his constitution went up from 12 to 14.
I am happy with that, though not happy that restoration wasn't available at temples particularly as it was on the menus, just not purchaseable.
Now alive andd kicking. have killed some cyclops, and after resting everyone is healthy. Progress slow but sure.
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, eighth update
I slowly made my way through Firewine Ruins, with Imoen disarming traps and Ajantis leading the way with his shield and a fire protection scroll. Once I got to Lendarn, I summoned skeleton warriors and buffed them with everything I had, letting them take care of the wizard:
The ogre mage was next, and Dorian got him with an icelance spell:
Next, we travelled to Ulcaster, first having to face Icharyd. I remembered the timeskip once he enters his second phase and didn't buff before the battle - once he transformed day into night and lightning started going around, I immediately unleashed my buffs:
The Wolf of Ulcaster could do little against a fully buffed party, with remove fear preventing his most dangerous moves:
We made our way through Larswood and Peldvale, where Icelance was once again quite helpful against Corsone:
And finally, the bandit camp - usually, with the SCS version of this battle, I find a chokepoint, open fire on a bandit, wait for them to come and throw down lots of webs, following up with fireballs. This time, I went for a more confident approach, going straight into the camp while hasted, shooting wands of fire left and right, using crowd control spells on named enemies, while skeleton warriors dealt with the mage before I could even get rid of his MGOI:
Restoration isn't supposed to be subject to magic resistance, at least in the standard game. And temple restoration is "cast" by the recipient, so it bypasses magic resistance even if the spell itself doesn't.
I suspect that whatever this drain is, it's not affected by restoration because it's not level drain. You mentioned reduced Con? It could be a variant of the "Energy Drain" that Kirinhale uses; that has a duration of one hour.
Dendy opened todays session by confirming Willaim was indeed an elf.
We started by travelling to the gnoll fortress. Bracers of dexterity looked intriguing to Metran until he realised each of us had a natural dexterity of 19. After skirting the fortress to pick up a magical tome (charisma for Dendy) we ventured north and used assassin poison to help bring down a polar bear.
We then returned a drowned cat to it's owner, killed an winter wolf in a counter-ambush, and prepared to save a cow from xvarts. As Dendy activated the xvarts Willaim picked on a nearby ogre so we had to deal with that first. Even so, the cow was saved.
At Firewine Bridge we shot Meilum down, and after a you have them moment Dendy acquiesced and took his bracers.
Next Dendy tracked down a group of half-ogres but Willaim thought we were merely opening up the way to the coast and brought wild dogs into the combat. A minute or two of running and shooting saw all enemies down. Bjornin thanked us for dealing with the half-ogres and we dealt with four spiders in the house next to the tavern. Then on to the Friendly Arm Inn to return items from the house to their rightful owner (and to pick up the golden pantaloons).
Greywolf next (he got a mighty critical hit on Willaim but we persevered and prevented him from capturing his bounty). Then on to the basilisks. Willaim took the protection while both thieves managed to contain their backstabbing enthusiasm and limited themselves to missiles for a clean run through these monsters.
Korax the ghoul helped us deal with Kirian and her gang, failing to paralyse any of them but surviving long enough for us to shoot and poison both spellcasters. Lindin fell to missiles and Baerin briefly looked like outgunning at least one of us but two quick hits had him down also.
Dendy decided Nashkel Mine should be next, meaning we would have two Cure Light Wounds. We made our way through the mine and although backstabs and poison failed to kill Mulahey he ran scared. Willaim was taking a beating from Mulahey's minions so Dendy broke off to help him. Metran finished Mulahey and joined in, belatedly realising that Willaim was grimly clinging on and not dead.
The Amazons took two oils of fiery burning and a potion of explosions. There wasn't much left to shoot down.
Nimbul survived a backstab and Willaim fancied his chance of another fatal bolting, but one of the guards beat both us and Rasaad into claiming the kill. Neira took three backstabs, two by Metran.
Tranzig awaited us at Beregost, not even getting chance to make his usual bold claims. This perhaps due to Dendy having purchased a crossbow of speed for Willaim and the Dagger of Venom for Metran.
We take out a lone ankheg, with Dendy sparehanding (offhand while using two handed weapons) a dagger found with it. At Ulgoths Beard we purchase the +3 quarterstaff, cloak of displacement, greenstone amulet and four potions of mirrored eyes.
We get to the bandit camp. The hobgoblins and archers outside are cleared overnight with Taurgosz Khosann getting a triple damage backstab while badly wounded. This gives us clear entry to the bandit tent.
Metran backstabs Venkt - and poisons him. Metran makes for the door as Dendy adds a second backstab to drop Venkt. Meanwhile Willaim has shot down Hakt and Raemon has exited in pursuit of Metran. Dendy does a good job of battling Britik for several seconds until Willaim adds another kill to his tally. The archer heads outside to claim Raemon's scalp too while Dendy moves items from his backpack to the containers inside it.
A minor detour sees Bassilus, three hobgoblins and Melicamp dealt with.
Silke gives up her quarterstaff for Metran who needs something to bash jellies with. We progressed into and through Cloakwood making rapid work of all. Drasus and his gang were guarding the entrance to Cloakwood Mine, while we could sneak past we chose to share a pair of oils of fiery burning with them and shoot the survivors. Metran took damage from Drasus and Genthore, until Willaim threw a potion of invisibility to Dendy, and Dendy threw it to Metran. Metran re-appeared moments later as the battle continued, until Dendy bludgeoned Drasus down and the outflanked Genthore was another victim of Willaim's bolts.
We killed the final guard outside the mine and then two inside the entrance. Our two hours was up, and Dendy felt we had started with difficulty but with a few more levels and better equipment were becoming a force to be reckoned with.
As usual the party shouted out their kills. Dendy wasn't really paying attention and thought Metran and he had caught up with Willaim, and questioned this before realising he'd missed the "one hundred and" part of Willaim's kills so the archers lead was stretching further away.
Character equipment at session close. Reputation of 20 and charisma of 19 allowed us to buy our pick of gear.
> Dendy has concentrated on hiding, and is using boots of speed to maximise backstabs.
> Metran has concentrated on thieving skills, so his shadow armour and boots of stealth are useful to him.
> Willaim is pretty good at hiding too but the cloak of displacement makes him a harder target to hit at other times.
Upon reaching Catti-brie, I bade her and my good companions farewell and left the room. Upon re-entering I decided to kill Drizzt which was fairly easy whereupon I gained two evil companions.
Outside we then killed Errtu.
We continued onward, often getting badly hurt:
However we survived and headed back south to Baldur's Gate.
Knowing the problems with vampires, I left the last part of the Drizzt Saga as the Moonblade isn't much use to an evil party.
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, ninth update
Fighting my way through Cloakwood, I made sure that both Seniyad and Amaranthe died before being able to finish one of their spells - they're very vulnerable to damage spells at this point:
Picking up Spider's Bane (luring the spiders outside into a fully buffed party with skeletons) for Minsc already paid off when facing Drasus' party - Dynaheir webbed them from off-screen, Minsc and Ajantis (wearing Dushai's Ring of Freedom) and a few skeletons wandered into the webs, achieving a very easy victory:
Difficulty: SCS/Ascension Insane (no additional damage)
Additional mods: Adalon drops silver scales, Waukeen's Promenade Fletcher sells arrows of dispelling in stacks of 5 instead of 40
Additional rules: no xp loop, no area hopping to avoid incoming magic spells (escaping ambushes is allowed though), no Vhailor's Helm before TOB
Game version: 2.5
Weidu log BG2:
// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #0 // Rewritten Final Chapter of Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #10 // Balthazar can be redeemed: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #20 // Improved Sarevok-Player Interactions: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #30 // Improved Imoen-Player Interactions in Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #40 // Restored Bhaalspawn Powers: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #50 // Improved Slayer Transformation: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #60 // Expanded Epilogues for Bioware NPCs -> David Gaider's expanded epilogues for Bioware NPCs: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Tougher Abazigal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1100 // Tougher Balthazar: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Tougher Demogorgon: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1300 // Tougher Gromnir: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1400 // Tougher Illasera: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Tougher Yaga-Shura: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Full-body portrait for Bodhi: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Alternate Balthazar portrait, by Cuv: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Extended Epilogues for additional Beamdog NPCs, by shawne: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Sharper portraits of Abazigal and Gromnir for the Enhanced Edition, by DavidW: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2400 // Slightly improved cutscenes, by DavidW: 2.0.13
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3550 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict a random amount of damage (1d8 per level of the spell, plus 1 point per caster level, to a maximum of 5 points per spell level): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4100 // Improved NPC customisation and management: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4150 // Allow the Cowled Wizards to detect spellcasting in most indoor, above-ground areas in Athkatla: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4215 // Remove unrealistically helpful items from certain areas: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4218 // Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from the game -> Remove all ammo from random containers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4240 // Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorisable spells (each may be taken only once): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4250 // Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends and celestials: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6550 // Smarter beholders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6560 // Smarter mind flayers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai use SCS abilities and AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Ascension demons use SCS abilities and AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8040 // Tie difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings to the difficulty slider: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix"): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8080 // Improved Bodhi: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8085 // Ascension version of Bodhi uses Improved-Bodhi abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8090 // Party's items are taken from them in Spellhold: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Rebalanced troll regeneration: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Improved Drow: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Improved Watcher's Keep: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Improved Sendai's Enclave: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v33.4
Hi all!
It's been a while since I visited the forum, it's good to see a lot of runs still going!
Real life has been demanding last couple of months, but I have finally been able to progress a bit further with Glolin, you can read about his adventure below. I'm not sure when I will have time to continue this run though, as I have some more busy months ahead. Hope to be able to post further in the coming months!
Grove of the Ancients
After arriving at the Grove of the Ancients, Glolin knew danger was coming and prepared himself throroughly. He still had the Human Flesh armor equiped, boosting his MR to 100%, and combined this with the Helm Of Balduran, the Reflection shield and the boots of speed. Glolin summoned 5 fire elementals and by using the dagger of the stars he turned invisible.
After talking to the giant head, he had some time to prepare some more. He positioned the fire elementals strategically on the battlefield and used hardness.
After Illasera's speech, Glolin immediately ran down to the bottom of the map. As only Illasera can see through invisibility, only she
followed him. The rest of the enemies were occupied with the fire elementals.
Switching to crom faeyr, Glolin went to work on her. Using whirlwinds she did not last long.
The Pocket Plane
Glolin was teleported to the pocket plane, and met the Solar there. He used Cespenar to craft the following items:
- The silver dragon scale (using Adalon's blood). This armor will be Glolin's base armor for the rest of TOB.
- Dagger of the Star +5
- Flail of ages +4
- Quiver of Holding +2
- White Dragon Scale
- Helm of the Rock
First Pocket Plane challenge
Glolin prepared for the first pocket plane challenge by summoning some elementals before entering the area.
For the first wave of commoners, Glolin started out with his bow and arrows+2, shooting them down while whirlwinded. He then switched to crom faeyr and used deathblow to quickly dispatch of the rest of them.
The first wave was barely finished when the second wave already started. Glolin now faced Elven warriors. He switched to the reflection shield to be protected from their arrows. Using Greater Deathblow, followed by Greater whirlwind a round later he quickly cleared the battlefield.
The third wave comprised of Knights of the Order. They also were no match for Glolin.
The last wave proved the most challenging, Glolin was now facing Aran Linvail, Duke Eltan and Ellesime.
Glolin activated whirlwind and went straight for Duke Eltan. After finishing him off, Glolin focused on Aran Linvail. Glolin was getting in a lot of hits, causing massive spell failure for Aran Linvail. Not able to renew his defenses he was cut down. Only Ellesime remained now. Glolin waited out her Globe of Blades protection and killed her.
Saradush
Once teleported inside the city of Saradush, Glolin faced some Il-Khan soldiers. Although resilient, they were no match.
Glolin killed some soldiers in the bar. He talked to Pyrgam Aleson about how to get into the castle, and he mentioned Sister Farielle. Glolin had a little chat with her and acquired a key.
He returned Lazarus' missing spellbook and stole another key from the barracks. Glolin also completed the betrayal at the gates quest to acquire the starfall ore. Cespenar could then upgrade the StormStar +3 to +5.
Glolin entered the sewers, he used to mace of disruption to kill all the undead there. He found the hidden door and entered the castle basement. He moved further north until he reached the stairs to the first level of the castle. Then he used his ability to enther the pocket plane where he rested and where Cespenar was so kind to upgrade Foebane.
Castle Saradush First Floor
Before entering the first floor, Glolin prepared himself with hardness + mirror image.
Once on the first floor he was greeted by some Il-Khan soldiers and a high level mage. This mage is extremely dangerous as he has a 3*lower resistance trigger effectively negating Glolin's 100%MR. Luckily Glolin had a plan. The mage will either use a protection from magical weapons spell or a mantle type of spell. If Glolin used the right type of weapon he could apply spell failure to the mage and even though Glolin his MR would be lowered, the mage would not be able to cast any spells at him.
In this case the mage used prot from magical weapons, making him vulnerable to normal weapons and arrows. As he was invisible Glolin had to wait until the mage revealed himself, kiting the other enemies in the mean time. The mage cast time stop while invisible and then used his dreaded 3*lower resistance trigger as expected.
Glolin now had to move fast, he switched to normal arrows, activated Greater Whirlwind and peppered him with arrows. Each hit inflicted a cumulative +25% spell failure, so he needed 4 hits to be safe.
This worked exactly as planned, the mage was hit multiple times causing him to fail any further spell casting (for atleast 5 rounds).
Glolin then switched between attacking soldiers with crom faeyr and attacking the mage with normal arrows to keep his spell failure at 100%. Soon the entire room was cleared, he kited the magical swords until they unsummoned.
Castle Saradush Second Floor
Before going up to the second floor Glolin made the following preparations:
- 2* prot from fire scroll
- prot from petrification scroll
- used the Dagger of the Stars on a summon to turn invisible
- equiped the reflection shield and the boots of speed
- used hardness
Glolin went up the stairs. Once the dialogue with Gromnir ended Glolin immediately ran to the eastern corner.
Because of his invisibility no enemies have spotted him at this point. Now he waited in the corner until his invisibility wore off, once visible this would attract the nearby enemies but not the 2 mages and Gromnir himself. While still invisible he buffed with fire shield.
By using the reflection shield he forced ranged enemies to come to fight him in melee. Berena Elkan was the first to fall, quickly followed by Eler Had.
Using Dwarven Thrower the medusa was shot down. The Minotaur Battle Priest was defeated in melee.
Now only Gromnir and his 2 mages were left. Glolin rebuffed with fireshield and hardness and lured Gromnir away from the mages.
Glolin switched to Soul Reaver and used a Greater Whirlwind to quickly hit Gromnir and apply thac0 penalties. A couple of whirlwinds later it was all over. Melissan still tried to intervene, but came to late...
Glolin ignored the 2 mages and left the castle after collecting all the nice loot. He sold some of it first and then returned to the pocket plane to prepare for his future travels.
With 2 bhaalspawns down, Glolin was about to face his biggest test, the Fire Giant Yaga-Shura...
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, tenth update
The iron mines: After casting invisibility on Imoen, she disarmed the traps going to Hareishan's room - we buffed up and threw a fiew fireballs in there:
Downstairs, I had Ajantis with a skeleon walk up to the ogre mage, and the party had no trouble taking him down. Finally, Natasha was lured out of her room and taken down by physical damage before being able to do much, as she was busy putting up spell defenses:
I rested before challenging Davaeorn. Usually, I have one fighter go in with PfM while the others hold of the spawning guards - this time, I went for an all-out assault, which worked very well - the fight was over before the wizard could dimension door away:
After entering the city, I quickly grabbed the Helm of Balduran and bought a bunch of scrolls. I couldn't resist the opportunity to take down Kahrk, as my bard can use his new SCS katana, which improves spellcasting level and casting speed by one. I prepared for a mostly magical approach, with spell thrusts, wands and damage spells (except for magic missles, as I can't get rid of shield). Karhks opening buffs:
He also had his usual improved haste going, and did some quick damage to Branwen which forced me to move her away. As expected, Kahrk had dispelled my melees and summons, so Dynaheir renewed their haste to keep them flexible and capable of running away. As I dispelled his minor spell deflection, Dorian, Dynaheir and Branwen started unleashing wand charges, spells (such as acid arrows) and a failed attempt at silence:
I saw my foe targeting Imoen with chaos, and she ran away. Meanwhile, the melees got rid of his stoneskins, but he simply renewed the spell:
The fight took a bit longer because I wanted to avoid using wands of frost due to the possibility of losing the loot, so I finished the fight with acid arrows, as Kahrk tried and failed to take down Ajantis, who was also wearing the anti-slashing belt:
The battle in the Ducal Palace went exceedingly well, neither duke dying.
Saverok also died fairly quickly.
Semaj teleported into traps and died.
We then lured Saverok towards the party to avoid interferance from his henchmen, Baeloth removed magic from him after which he died quickly.
Getting back to the Ducal Palace was relatively easy, however both of my mages, Xzar and Baeloth have disappeared. I have 0 gold pieces, so I need to find some more gold, perhaps by selling surplus equipment. Strangely I am heroic with a reputation of 18. The high reputation is of course due to the departure of Baeloth.
From here onwards, everything is new as I haven't played an evil party in Dragonspear before.
Picked up Viconia and arrived at Coast Way Crossing with very little gold but plenty of equipment. Reputation 14.
When I picked up Edwin, I looked for his circlet of the Archmage and one of the two Evermemory rings that we previously had and found that they had disappeared after the Dragonspear prologue. Is this a bug?
Baeloth has one of those rings, though he didn't have one when we finished the prologue. That is wierd!!
EDIT
I was able to get the amulets required by a lich without killing the dwarves. The undead did that for me. I missed out on some experience there but that is not in short supply.
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, eleventh update
I made sure to complete all sidequests in Baldur's Gate, including some big combat encounters for crucial gear, making use of some wands if needed to improve our spell damage - some example screenshots:
When I got to the poisoning questline, I made sure to surround Lothander and kill him for an extra pair of boots of speed:
For Degrodel's home, I also used some potions of defense, hill giant strength and heroism plus spirit armor to make sure everyone had good AC and thac0 - wands are also always super helpful here, and when talking to Degrodel again, I made sure to surround and kill him:
Finally, we ascended the Iron Throne HQ, fully buffing and throwing a few fireballs/wand charges at crucial members of the Iron Throne party:
One of the SCS-added thieves died to the initial fireblast, the other got a backstab in on Imoen - we threw a second pair of fireballs into the western part of the room and made sure to shoot down the remaining thief:
Now I only had to clean up the remaining two fighters, who still did quite a lot of damage to Minsc, but didn't really stand a chance. Before closing the session, I also travelled to Candlekeep to trigger the ogre mage ambush - I didn't bother preservering any ressources here and simply drank 6 invisibility potions and moved to the north, giving me the time to fully summon and buff up, turning this encounter from a very dicey affair to a simple standard fight:
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, twelvth update
We made our way through Candlekeep, killing Rieltar for some extra experience before exploring the dungeons. Prat's party stood little chance, with full buffs, summons and wand getting through their protections within seconds:
Making my way back to BG, I had to break into the Flaming Fist HQ, where a bunch of clerics stood in my way - but they couldn't do much against Branwen's silence:
After taking care of Sarevok's mistress, we rushed down Slythe and made sure to use spell thrust on Krystin once she revealed herself before nuking her down:
For the ducal palace, I made sure to pack a scroll of greater malison, chaos and slow - After full summons and buffs, Dorian opener with malison, Dynaheir followed up with a very successful slow spell:
Two more doppelgangers got confused by Dorian's follow-up chaos spell, leaving the few remaining ones isolated and without a chance of victory:
In fact, none of the dukes even took a single point of damage, though that is of course helped by the fact that SCS Liia pre-buffs with stoneskin.
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, thirteenth update
For the Ice Island, Minsc drank a potion of mind focusing to allow him the use of a PfM scroll - Ajantis using another one. Together, they took out the wizards by themselves, having to fight summons from time to time:
On Balduran's Island, I almost lost the run due to a serious lack of attention. When fighting some wolfweres, I accidentally had Dorian run into melee combat and fight a wolfwere one on one - Through the cover of the trees, I though that it was one of my skeletons fighting there, and only when he was near death, I noticed that I was completely mistaken. Luckily, I was able to save him with an invisibility potion:
Certainly our closest call so far, and quite a big mistake.
We buffed up for the shipwreck, including quite a few potions (heroism and various strength potions, defense potions etc.) and ventured from deck to deck - when I got to the final one, I was able to kill the enemy wizard before she could do anything dangerous:
Dynaheir managed to hit the greater wolfwere with a wand of paralyzation charge, allowing Ajantis and a few wand charges to finish him:
Back in the Beard, I was able to lure the first loup garou outside, killing him with gold and silver weapons, while the other one suffered the same fate inside:
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, fourteenth update
Right off the bat, we got our first party death in Durlag's Tower. The room to the east with 3 greater doppelgangers has already ended one of my runs previously, and this time, Dynaheir died there - the reason, both times, is how small this room his - ranged damage dealers have to approach quite far into the doorway to shoot, and might accidentally get too close to the doppelgangers, while being blocked by other party members from leaving. I knew this, and still didn't decide to simply lure the enmies outside or buff up for this fight. Overconfidence - a surprisingly powerful crit was all that was needed to force a return to the temple:
I played a bit smarter on my return and easily cleared the level, with the warders' only significant damage being a backstab on Imoen:
With the amount of potions in my bags, I always had Ajantis use some kind of giant strength potion, while spellcasters helped out with wand charges against tough enemies such as dwarven doom guards:
In the third level, frost protection potion + scroll on Dorian allowed him to tank the ice room, while a careful approach with summoned skeletons, invisible Imoen and Ajantis (with still active PfU scroll from the skeleton room) allowed me to clear the eastern path:
Buffing up for the chessboard, I used absorption potions for everyone and fire resistance for Ajantis and Minsc - the warriors charged forward with the casters spamming wands of fire:
Finally, I drank a bunch of potions of freedom to make clearing the final level a lot safer, buffed once again with fire resistance on Ajantis for the demon knigh and took him down:
Back in Ulgoth's Beard, everyone immediately drank an invisibility potion and moved to the north to summon and buff. This gave us some needed combat superiority, with Ajantis preventing a remove magic from hitting the group early on:
However, as you can see here, when fighting the second group of cultists, Imoen got hit by a chaos spell. This was the result of my choice to let her run away to prevent chaos from spreading, but not drink a potion of clarity. A very stupid decision, as I realized immediately after that - I forgot that I was in a village surrounded by innocents, one of which was promptly shot by Imoen, causing me to lose 10 reputation points. Dushai also went aggressive, and due to her magic resistance, I was unable to charm her despite many, many attempts - so I had to lure her away and leave the area before returning again:
Sadly, I also hadn't bought everything I wanted from Sorcerous Sundries, and the reputation loss would really hit my wallet rather hard (especially since I forgot to spend some money at the temple to push reputation that way). Anyway, with the final cultists being lured outside I prepared for Aec'Letec with all kinds of potions, including, of course, magic shielding / mirroring for his death gaze. The spellcaster got taken out first, after which the group went around killing cultists while ignoring the demon:
Sadly, I failed to notice one of the cultists, so my initial kill of Aec'Letec didn't do the job - the next one did, though:
The room to the east with 3 greater doppelgangers has already ended one of my runs previously, and this time, Dynaheir died there - the reason, both times, is how small this room his - ranged damage dealers have to approach quite far into the doorway to shoot, and might accidentally get too close to the doppelgangers, while being blocked by other party members from leaving. I knew this, and still didn't decide to simply lure the enmies outside or buff up for this fight. Overconfidence - a surprisingly powerful crit was all that was needed to force a return to the temple:
On that triple doppelganger room - there's a simple but rather counterintuitive strategy to make the fight easy.
1. Send someone forward far enough for all three doppelgangers to see. They cast Mirror Image.
2. Retreat, wait one round. If they don't see you when their spells finish, they won't follow.
3. Send someone forward far enough for all three doppelgangers to see. They cast Haste.
4. Retreat, wait eight rounds. If they don't see you when their spells finish, they won't follow.
5. Haste and Mirror Image are now expired. All three doppelgangers get +12 fatigue, which causes -6 luck.
6. Attack the doppelgangers. Their combat strength is utterly crippled by the luck penalty (effective 13 THAC0 instead of 7, 2.25 damage per hit instead of 6.5, saves failed much more often, maximum damage taken from spells). And they've blown their spells already, so you don't have to worry about any of that.
Sure, it takes patience - but you can use this encounter's very strength against it. The Haste spell is a double-edged sword.
In the temple of Baal the only hard enemy was the Neothelid. This was because my party were being poisoned after its death. (I didn't realise that all that I needed to do waas to walk away. ) This resulted in Baeloth's death. Viconia raised him. The ilithid was a minor problem, but I can see that if the situation had been slightly different, it could have ended a game.
I have forgotten where the activator is to get to Khalid. Perhaps I will blunder into it. Of course I could just use brute force and ignorance.
I returned to the temple of Bhaal and found a room that I had missed. I now have the activation stone.
We eventually reached the Coalition Camp. Some party members have been complaining. I therefore completed some tasks which lowered my reputation to 9, hopefully not too late.
My problem is that I don't know what the evil path should be.
Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt, Core rules + unmodded (Link to session 230) Pleg (male dwarf priest of Talos, Gate70); Fines (female halfling thief, Grond0)
This fine pair of adventurers had rolled up two weeks ago and after lingering outside Winthrop's tavern at Candlekeep did their chores. Fines felt Pleg wasn't paying attention when he asked about the missile launcher on her back and he relented after staring at her larger portrait - it's just a dagger held high. Those sleepy dwarf eyes need to focus pronto.
On the way to see Shoal the Nereid we escaped an ambush - Pleg briefly pausing to ensure Fines switched from shortbow to sword and shield. Good job too as otherwise we'd have had a first death outside Candlekeep being us and not something or someone else (after Imoen obviously, who died from thiefly arrows while Pleg was re-arranging her equipment from her backpack to his).
Shoal was shot down, and Mad Arcand was happy to speak to Fines with her heady charisma.
Neera went hostile on us, surprising Pleg who was re-arranging her inventory into his backpack. Fines was passing arrows one at a time to Neera and she didn't appreciate the help.
A pair of ogrillions were given a brief run around, leaving us to deliver the post they had intercepted.
At about this time we had our mandatory party death. Fines hiding to attack Vax after Zal had been eliminated. Pleg had intended healing Fines but didn't bother saying as we were full flow. Fines missed her backstab and endured several rounds of trying to keep Vax using his melee weapon but out of reach. Vax was having none of it so landed darts at close range or melee hits. Down went Fines.
Pleg felt he could have duked it out with Vax but then party XP would split so he went to a temple and we returned for Vax. After this, Pleg had noticed Fines was attenpting backstabs with a scabby old longsword. We could do something about that couldn't we? Yes (although it meant Pleg resorted to glugging blue healing potions which is something we rarely partake of).
We now had a level or two more each and felt unstoppable, briefly recruiting a third party member which we'll refer to as Post. Pleg and Post stood their ground, while Fines repeatedly hid behind Post to attempt backstabs.
n.b. Grond0 and I both use this post for hiding regularly, the same is often observed with the thin post in the main tent at the bandit camp.
With a sword obtained for Fines, Pleg felt it was time to pick up a cheap war hammer. He plans to cast Silence but Fines decides a backstab is more opportune.
The trio of hobgoblins nearby are treated to a Backstab / Hold combination. We're getting into the swing of things now.
Pleg decides that with lightning protection he is capable of dealing with Silke. Once more Fines takes a shortcut.
Pleg is envious of Fines' dexterity and decides he must find a way to emulate her. These gauntlets will get him half way there, and Fines can use the tome of leadership when we reach it.
We continue on, and without a gnome in the party to embellish a tall tale Pleg makes a blunter appraisal of the current situation, asking if perhaps mummy ankheg is suggesting to daddy ankheg that their next nest should not have many dark nooks and crannies for a thief to emerge from with repeated backstabs.
Fines uses a scroll of protection from petrification on Pleg, and we make our way round many basilisks. Fines keeps her distance (as close as she needs to get for many many backstabs).
Mutamin saves against silence but fails to survive a backstab. Kirian and Peter are both silenced so our horde of one skeleton attacks Baerin. Pleg throws in a Hold Person and we still emerge in good shape.
Pleg fails to memorise more skeletons so our lone horde re-appears to face sirines. They kill it but Fines has glugged a potion of clarity and we cut them down before taking on a second group without skeletal assistance.
Inside the cave traps and flesh golems are cleared.
Pleg can feel the session is coming to a close so he makes a special push to obtain better melee bracers for Fines.
There is just enough time to squeeze Nashkel Mine in, and by that Pleg includes the Amazons. The mine is quickly cleared with a silenced Mulahey taking a backstab plus a few more blows. The amazons take badly to lightning but Pleg belatedly realises so do his skeletons. Never mind, we are stubbornly victorious.
Fines might treat herself to the dagger of venom if she takes dagger proficiency but what we have should be most of what we use. Party gear at the session end.
Comments
Flydian - dwarf wizard slayer (Grond0)
Corefighter - dwarf fighter (Corey_Russell)
Burdock - human dark moon monk (Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186431/#Comment_1186431
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186706/#Comment_1186706
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186953/#Comment_1186953
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1187437/#Comment_1187437
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1187719/#Comment_1187719
Dendy - asssassin (Gate70) halfling
Metran - thief (Corey_Russell) halfling
Willaim - archer (Grond0) elf?
With Trio 33 having taken half our session time we had an hour to roll new characters and hit the road. Dendy arrived outside the Candlekeep inn first and it wasn't long before his companions arrived. Metran looked familiar but Willaim was a blank canvas. A quick portrait share and we were ready.
The equipment check confirmed we had three quarterstaffs between us. Dendy immediately looted a pair of scrolls and purchased himself a shortbow and a set of arrows. Willaim had treated himself to a crossbow and some bolts while Metran looted upstairs and availed himself of studded leather and doubtless a few more items.
Gorion did a double-take. We have 52 charisma between the three of us. He reckoned he could drop us off outside Candlekeep and that's what happened. Shoal the Nereid wasn't particularly pleased to see us, then we visited High Hedge and Beregost before going south to Nashkel. Several rests later Dendy still had no special ability and realised his neutral evilness would be more of a drain than a heal so he elected not to rest further.
We picked up Samuel and on our way to take him to safety ran into a bit of wolf trouble. Three of us with missiles played a good game and the wolf ran between us, changing direction whenever it was hit.
Cleared a few more wilderness areas today, mostly west of the Lion's Way. For named bandit/adventuring parties, Minsc scouts ahead in stealth to give Dynaheir the perfect position for dual invoker webs. Bassilus actually failed his saving throw against horror - even his freedom of movement + chaotic command buffs didn't help him there:
More wilderness areas to come.
Decided to visit Durlag's. Forgot the basilisks but will do them when I return.
had to leave because of the death of Xzar due to being poisoned by a spider just after creating the mallet. The stupid mage had forgottten to cast stonesskin after resting. At least Baeloth got stoneskin after completing two of the warder quests.
We returned after raising Xzar and after killing the basilisks used traps to kill three of the warders. Unfortunately Coran was a bit too close to the traps and he also got killed. An expensive mistake! After raising him we are progressing well after going down to the next level.
iNDEED WE HAVE NOW DEFEATED THE CHESS BOARD EASILY
Prior to this Coran killed the woman in the Phoenix area with one backstab.
Before confronting the Demon Knight we laid several traps and summoned a plethora of skeleton warriors before buffing. This preparation made the Demon Knight much less dangerous and we were able to deal with both him and some assassins without too much dificulty.
We sold weapons and armour that were surplus to requirements before buying as many wands as we could afford.
Drizzt has asked for help but will have to wait until we have given the Iron Throne a headache.
We will not be doing some of the fetch and carry quests in the Gate as I don't want to have to micromanage my reputation.
I am musing on the possibility of dualling to cleric. Currently wisdom is 15. By the time it reaches 18, my level will probably be 8, so level 9 might be the optimal time to dual-class. My roll whilst excellent, wasn't high enough to have a starting wisdom of 18.
I have yet to decide whether to dual-class at all. My mods allow dual-classing of dwarves.
@Enuhal Thanks for the advice on dualling. I may stay as a berserker for this game and dual in another. The likelihood is that I won't finish BG1 as I intend to try the Drizzt Saga AGAIN!!!
Having found the Helm of Opposite Alignment was missing from the Demon Knight in a previous game, I edited his chr file to add it using EE keeper. I think that the problem is that the itm file name has been changed in EE and not in one of my mods. It might have been a mod conflict. Anyway, I sorted it before this game and the problem is now solved.
Dorian II, half-elven lawful neutral bard, fourth update
Short update: Finished the remaining western wildnerness areas including Cloudpeak Mountains, with the exception of the two Sword Coast areas. Not much in terms of interesting battles, though I did run away once when I was ambushed by a large group of flints when resting at the western edge of the map, didn't want to bother killing them (no sleep spell scribed yet on Dorian, forgot about the wand) decided to run to the north and encountered more enemies in the form of three winter wolves - I didn't really get into trouble and easily evaded further damage, but it made for a funny chase scene:
I ventured north, activating a scroll of acid protection on Ajantis to clear the ankheg lair and area. No trouble this time around, I also helped Tenya and the zombie farmer before buying a few scrolls, Cloak of Displacement and Wand of the Heavens at Ulgoth's Beard. I used that wand + some more wand charges + magic missles to take down the doomsayer to the south and took out Meilum before finishing the session - no screenshots this time around, as nothing of significance happened. Some eastern wilderness areas and the Sword Coast areas remain.
After venturing through Gullykin, I decided to clear the Nashkel mines out next. The first encounter of significance there, kobold shaman + chieftain, was easily diffused by a horror spell:
After some thinking, I decided to travel to the upper areas of Durlag's Tower next. On the way, I was ambushed by the amazon party and opened with haste, icelance on one spellcaster and silence on the other:
Next up: The other Sword Coast area and more wilderness areas to the east.
Drizzt asked me to join him on a quest which, thinking it might be profitable, I did.
I left Xzar and Coran in the house where gavin's parents live, and continued with Thorin, Tenya, and Baeloth.
We were transported to thee nine hells where I let Drizzt lead, due to his magical resistance. The rest of us backed him up with ranged weapons.
Drizzt killed a Greater Tanari with a seies of attacks by stealth.
Demonknights fell relatively easily.
Eltab was a bit trickier, but once we had separated him from the demonknights, once again stealth proved effective.
The next demonknight proved a little tougher.
However Marilith was the toughest opponent. We defeated her by using intelligence rather than brawn. Outside her lair we summoned monsters and buffed both them and us.
We lured her into our trap, removed her magical protections and then killed her. Berserk and defensive stance coupled with Baeloth increasing Drizzt's strength was enough.
[At last Marilith is defeated. Revenge is sweet!]
Not much gold to be had, but expensive equipment galore is sufficient recompense.
My buffs for Droth were perhaps a bit overkill, considering that he was affected by a command spell right away:
Drizzt has been drained by a lesser vampire. Trnya cast lesser restoration on him several times but to no effect, presumably due to magical resistance.
I took him to a temple, but there the priest would not use either lesser or grater restoration, despite it being on the menu.
Tenya can cast raise dead but not greater restoration.
Any ideas?
Problem solved. We killed him and raised him.
If that had happened to the PC, that WOULD have been a problem.
Fortunately when he was level drained, Lesser Restoration was sufficient.
Robthem (male elf archer, Grond0); Yodahl (female elf enchanter, Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1187473/#Comment_1187473
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1188062/#Comment_1188062
Things started well enough there with Ziatar rendered helpless by being blinded.
@Wise_Grimwald not all energy drains are permanent - is this one? You could always kill Drizzt and revive him, though if the energy drain is bugged then death might not clear that. If you think it should be cureable, you could try the console ctrl-R command, which heals characters and removes all negative effects.
I tried sleeping again and again, therefore it appeared to be permanent. I am suspecdting that it was his 87% magic resistance that stopped lesser restoration working. I tried it several times. However, after killing him and raising him, his constitution went up from 12 to 14.
I am happy with that, though not happy that restoration wasn't available at temples particularly as it was on the menus, just not purchaseable.
Now alive andd kicking. have killed some cyclops, and after resting everyone is healthy.
I slowly made my way through Firewine Ruins, with Imoen disarming traps and Ajantis leading the way with his shield and a fire protection scroll. Once I got to Lendarn, I summoned skeleton warriors and buffed them with everything I had, letting them take care of the wizard:
I suspect that whatever this drain is, it's not affected by restoration because it's not level drain. You mentioned reduced Con? It could be a variant of the "Energy Drain" that Kirinhale uses; that has a duration of one hour.
Dendy - asssassin (Gate70) halfling
Metran - thief (Corey_Russell) halfling
Willaim - archer (Grond0) elf
Dendy opened todays session by confirming Willaim was indeed an elf.
We started by travelling to the gnoll fortress. Bracers of dexterity looked intriguing to Metran until he realised each of us had a natural dexterity of 19. After skirting the fortress to pick up a magical tome (charisma for Dendy) we ventured north and used assassin poison to help bring down a polar bear.
We then returned a drowned cat to it's owner, killed an winter wolf in a counter-ambush, and prepared to save a cow from xvarts. As Dendy activated the xvarts Willaim picked on a nearby ogre so we had to deal with that first. Even so, the cow was saved.
Next Dendy tracked down a group of half-ogres but Willaim thought we were merely opening up the way to the coast and brought wild dogs into the combat. A minute or two of running and shooting saw all enemies down. Bjornin thanked us for dealing with the half-ogres and we dealt with four spiders in the house next to the tavern. Then on to the Friendly Arm Inn to return items from the house to their rightful owner (and to pick up the golden pantaloons).
Greywolf next (he got a mighty critical hit on Willaim but we persevered and prevented him from capturing his bounty). Then on to the basilisks. Willaim took the protection while both thieves managed to contain their backstabbing enthusiasm and limited themselves to missiles for a clean run through these monsters.
Korax the ghoul helped us deal with Kirian and her gang, failing to paralyse any of them but surviving long enough for us to shoot and poison both spellcasters. Lindin fell to missiles and Baerin briefly looked like outgunning at least one of us but two quick hits had him down also.
The Amazons took two oils of fiery burning and a potion of explosions. There wasn't much left to shoot down.
Tranzig awaited us at Beregost, not even getting chance to make his usual bold claims. This perhaps due to Dendy having purchased a crossbow of speed for Willaim and the Dagger of Venom for Metran.
We take out a lone ankheg, with Dendy sparehanding (offhand while using two handed weapons) a dagger found with it. At Ulgoths Beard we purchase the +3 quarterstaff, cloak of displacement, greenstone amulet and four potions of mirrored eyes.
We get to the bandit camp. The hobgoblins and archers outside are cleared overnight with Taurgosz Khosann getting a triple damage backstab while badly wounded. This gives us clear entry to the bandit tent.
Metran backstabs Venkt - and poisons him. Metran makes for the door as Dendy adds a second backstab to drop Venkt. Meanwhile Willaim has shot down Hakt and Raemon has exited in pursuit of Metran. Dendy does a good job of battling Britik for several seconds until Willaim adds another kill to his tally. The archer heads outside to claim Raemon's scalp too while Dendy moves items from his backpack to the containers inside it.
We killed the final guard outside the mine and then two inside the entrance. Our two hours was up, and Dendy felt we had started with difficulty but with a few more levels and better equipment were becoming a force to be reckoned with.
As usual the party shouted out their kills. Dendy wasn't really paying attention and thought Metran and he had caught up with Willaim, and questioned this before realising he'd missed the "one hundred and" part of Willaim's kills so the archers lead was stretching further away.
Character equipment at session close. Reputation of 20 and charisma of 19 allowed us to buy our pick of gear.
> Dendy has concentrated on hiding, and is using boots of speed to maximise backstabs.
> Metran has concentrated on thieving skills, so his shadow armour and boots of stealth are useful to him.
> Willaim is pretty good at hiding too but the cloak of displacement makes him a harder target to hit at other times.
Upon reaching Catti-brie, I bade her and my good companions farewell and left the room. Upon re-entering I decided to kill Drizzt which was fairly easy whereupon I gained two evil companions.
Outside we then killed Errtu.
We continued onward, often getting badly hurt:
However we survived and headed back south to Baldur's Gate.
Knowing the problems with vampires, I left the last part of the Drizzt Saga as the Moonblade isn't much use to an evil party.
Fighting my way through Cloakwood, I made sure that both Seniyad and Amaranthe died before being able to finish one of their spells - they're very vulnerable to damage spells at this point:
Difficulty: SCS/Ascension Insane (no additional damage)
Additional mods: Adalon drops silver scales, Waukeen's Promenade Fletcher sells arrows of dispelling in stacks of 5 instead of 40
Additional rules: no xp loop, no area hopping to avoid incoming magic spells (escaping ambushes is allowed though), no Vhailor's Helm before TOB
Game version: 2.5
Weidu log BG2:
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #0 // Rewritten Final Chapter of Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #10 // Balthazar can be redeemed: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #20 // Improved Sarevok-Player Interactions: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #30 // Improved Imoen-Player Interactions in Throne of Bhaal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #40 // Restored Bhaalspawn Powers: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #50 // Improved Slayer Transformation: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #60 // Expanded Epilogues for Bioware NPCs -> David Gaider's expanded epilogues for Bioware NPCs: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Tougher Abazigal: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1100 // Tougher Balthazar: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1200 // Tougher Demogorgon: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1300 // Tougher Gromnir: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1400 // Tougher Illasera: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #1500 // Tougher Yaga-Shura: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Full-body portrait for Bodhi: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Alternate Balthazar portrait, by Cuv: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2200 // Extended Epilogues for additional Beamdog NPCs, by shawne: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2300 // Sharper portraits of Abazigal and Gromnir for the Enhanced Edition, by DavidW: 2.0.13
~ASCENSION/ASCENSION.TP2~ #0 #2400 // Slightly improved cutscenes, by DavidW: 2.0.13
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3505 // Wider selection of random scrolls: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3550 // Increase the power of Cure Wounds and Cause Wounds spells to the level found in 3rd Edition D&D -> Spells heal or inflict a random amount of damage (1d8 per level of the spell, plus 1 point per caster level, to a maximum of 5 points per spell level): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3580 // Restoration and Lesser Restoration spells heal ability-score damage: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4000 // Faster Bears: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4100 // Improved NPC customisation and management: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4115 // Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4150 // Allow the Cowled Wizards to detect spellcasting in most indoor, above-ground areas in Athkatla: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4215 // Remove unrealistically helpful items from certain areas: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4218 // Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from the game -> Remove all ammo from random containers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4240 // Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorisable spells (each may be taken only once): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4250 // Make spell sequencers and contingencies into innate abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6030 // Smarter Mages: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6040 // Smarter Priests: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends and celestials: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6550 // Smarter beholders: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6560 // Smarter mind flayers: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6800 // Smarter Illasera: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6810 // Smarter Gromnir: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6820 // Smarter Yaga-Shura: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6830 // Smarter Abazigal: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6840 // Ascension versions of Irenicus and Sendai use SCS abilities and AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6850 // Ascension demons use SCS abilities and AI: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8040 // Tie difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings to the difficulty slider: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix"): v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8080 // Improved Bodhi: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8085 // Ascension version of Bodhi uses Improved-Bodhi abilities: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8090 // Party's items are taken from them in Spellhold: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Rebalanced troll regeneration: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Improved Drow: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Improved Watcher's Keep: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Improved Sendai's Enclave: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v33.4
~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v33.4
Playthrough recording: youtube
Hi all!
It's been a while since I visited the forum, it's good to see a lot of runs still going!
Real life has been demanding last couple of months, but I have finally been able to progress a bit further with Glolin, you can read about his adventure below. I'm not sure when I will have time to continue this run though, as I have some more busy months ahead. Hope to be able to post further in the coming months!
Grove of the Ancients
After talking to the giant head, he had some time to prepare some more. He positioned the fire elementals strategically on the battlefield and used hardness.
After Illasera's speech, Glolin immediately ran down to the bottom of the map. As only Illasera can see through invisibility, only she
followed him. The rest of the enemies were occupied with the fire elementals.
Switching to crom faeyr, Glolin went to work on her. Using whirlwinds she did not last long.
The Pocket Plane
- The silver dragon scale (using Adalon's blood). This armor will be Glolin's base armor for the rest of TOB.
- Dagger of the Star +5
- Flail of ages +4
- Quiver of Holding +2
- White Dragon Scale
- Helm of the Rock
First Pocket Plane challenge
For the first wave of commoners, Glolin started out with his bow and arrows+2, shooting them down while whirlwinded. He then switched to crom faeyr and used deathblow to quickly dispatch of the rest of them.
The first wave was barely finished when the second wave already started. Glolin now faced Elven warriors. He switched to the reflection shield to be protected from their arrows. Using Greater Deathblow, followed by Greater whirlwind a round later he quickly cleared the battlefield.
The third wave comprised of Knights of the Order. They also were no match for Glolin.
The last wave proved the most challenging, Glolin was now facing Aran Linvail, Duke Eltan and Ellesime.
Glolin activated whirlwind and went straight for Duke Eltan. After finishing him off, Glolin focused on Aran Linvail. Glolin was getting in a lot of hits, causing massive spell failure for Aran Linvail. Not able to renew his defenses he was cut down. Only Ellesime remained now. Glolin waited out her Globe of Blades protection and killed her.
Saradush
Glolin killed some soldiers in the bar. He talked to Pyrgam Aleson about how to get into the castle, and he mentioned Sister Farielle. Glolin had a little chat with her and acquired a key.
He returned Lazarus' missing spellbook and stole another key from the barracks. Glolin also completed the betrayal at the gates quest to acquire the starfall ore. Cespenar could then upgrade the StormStar +3 to +5.
Glolin entered the sewers, he used to mace of disruption to kill all the undead there. He found the hidden door and entered the castle basement. He moved further north until he reached the stairs to the first level of the castle. Then he used his ability to enther the pocket plane where he rested and where Cespenar was so kind to upgrade Foebane.
Castle Saradush First Floor
Once on the first floor he was greeted by some Il-Khan soldiers and a high level mage. This mage is extremely dangerous as he has a 3*lower resistance trigger effectively negating Glolin's 100%MR. Luckily Glolin had a plan. The mage will either use a protection from magical weapons spell or a mantle type of spell. If Glolin used the right type of weapon he could apply spell failure to the mage and even though Glolin his MR would be lowered, the mage would not be able to cast any spells at him.
In this case the mage used prot from magical weapons, making him vulnerable to normal weapons and arrows. As he was invisible Glolin had to wait until the mage revealed himself, kiting the other enemies in the mean time. The mage cast time stop while invisible and then used his dreaded 3*lower resistance trigger as expected.
Glolin now had to move fast, he switched to normal arrows, activated Greater Whirlwind and peppered him with arrows. Each hit inflicted a cumulative +25% spell failure, so he needed 4 hits to be safe.
This worked exactly as planned, the mage was hit multiple times causing him to fail any further spell casting (for atleast 5 rounds).
Glolin then switched between attacking soldiers with crom faeyr and attacking the mage with normal arrows to keep his spell failure at 100%. Soon the entire room was cleared, he kited the magical swords until they unsummoned.
Castle Saradush Second Floor
- 2* prot from fire scroll
- prot from petrification scroll
- used the Dagger of the Stars on a summon to turn invisible
- equiped the reflection shield and the boots of speed
- used hardness
Glolin went up the stairs. Once the dialogue with Gromnir ended Glolin immediately ran to the eastern corner.
Because of his invisibility no enemies have spotted him at this point. Now he waited in the corner until his invisibility wore off, once visible this would attract the nearby enemies but not the 2 mages and Gromnir himself. While still invisible he buffed with fire shield.
By using the reflection shield he forced ranged enemies to come to fight him in melee. Berena Elkan was the first to fall, quickly followed by Eler Had.
Using Dwarven Thrower the medusa was shot down. The Minotaur Battle Priest was defeated in melee.
Now only Gromnir and his 2 mages were left. Glolin rebuffed with fireshield and hardness and lured Gromnir away from the mages.
Glolin switched to Soul Reaver and used a Greater Whirlwind to quickly hit Gromnir and apply thac0 penalties. A couple of whirlwinds later it was all over. Melissan still tried to intervene, but came to late...
Glolin ignored the 2 mages and left the castle after collecting all the nice loot. He sold some of it first and then returned to the pocket plane to prepare for his future travels.
With 2 bhaalspawns down, Glolin was about to face his biggest test, the Fire Giant Yaga-Shura...
The iron mines: After casting invisibility on Imoen, she disarmed the traps going to Hareishan's room - we buffed up and threw a fiew fireballs in there:
The battle in the Ducal Palace went exceedingly well, neither duke dying.
Saverok also died fairly quickly.
Semaj teleported into traps and died.
We then lured Saverok towards the party to avoid interferance from his henchmen, Baeloth removed magic from him after which he died quickly.
Getting back to the Ducal Palace was relatively easy, however both of my mages, Xzar and Baeloth have disappeared. I have 0 gold pieces, so I need to find some more gold, perhaps by selling surplus equipment. Strangely I am heroic with a reputation of 18. The high reputation is of course due to the departure of Baeloth.
From here onwards, everything is new as I haven't played an evil party in Dragonspear before.
Picked up Viconia and arrived at Coast Way Crossing with very little gold but plenty of equipment. Reputation 14.
When I picked up Edwin, I looked for his circlet of the Archmage and one of the two Evermemory rings that we previously had and found that they had disappeared after the Dragonspear prologue.
Baeloth has one of those rings, though he didn't have one when we finished the prologue. That is wierd!!
EDIT
I was able to get the amulets required by a lich without killing the dwarves. The undead did that for me. I missed out on some experience there but that is not in short supply.
I made sure to complete all sidequests in Baldur's Gate, including some big combat encounters for crucial gear, making use of some wands if needed to improve our spell damage - some example screenshots:
We made our way through Candlekeep, killing Rieltar for some extra experience before exploring the dungeons. Prat's party stood little chance, with full buffs, summons and wand getting through their protections within seconds:
Next, we have some expansion content to do!
For the Ice Island, Minsc drank a potion of mind focusing to allow him the use of a PfM scroll - Ajantis using another one. Together, they took out the wizards by themselves, having to fight summons from time to time:
We buffed up for the shipwreck, including quite a few potions (heroism and various strength potions, defense potions etc.) and ventured from deck to deck - when I got to the final one, I was able to kill the enemy wizard before she could do anything dangerous:
Next up: Durlag's Tower
Right off the bat, we got our first party death in Durlag's Tower. The room to the east with 3 greater doppelgangers has already ended one of my runs previously, and this time, Dynaheir died there - the reason, both times, is how small this room his - ranged damage dealers have to approach quite far into the doorway to shoot, and might accidentally get too close to the doppelgangers, while being blocked by other party members from leaving. I knew this, and still didn't decide to simply lure the enmies outside or buff up for this fight. Overconfidence - a surprisingly powerful crit was all that was needed to force a return to the temple:
On that triple doppelganger room - there's a simple but rather counterintuitive strategy to make the fight easy.
1. Send someone forward far enough for all three doppelgangers to see. They cast Mirror Image.
2. Retreat, wait one round. If they don't see you when their spells finish, they won't follow.
3. Send someone forward far enough for all three doppelgangers to see. They cast Haste.
4. Retreat, wait eight rounds. If they don't see you when their spells finish, they won't follow.
5. Haste and Mirror Image are now expired. All three doppelgangers get +12 fatigue, which causes -6 luck.
6. Attack the doppelgangers. Their combat strength is utterly crippled by the luck penalty (effective 13 THAC0 instead of 7, 2.25 damage per hit instead of 6.5, saves failed much more often, maximum damage taken from spells). And they've blown their spells already, so you don't have to worry about any of that.
Sure, it takes patience - but you can use this encounter's very strength against it. The Haste spell is a double-edged sword.
In the temple of Baal the only hard enemy was the Neothelid. This was because my party were being poisoned after its death. (I didn't realise that all that I needed to do waas to walk away.
I have forgotten where the activator is to get to Khalid.
I returned to the temple of Bhaal and found a room that I had missed. I now have the activation stone.
We eventually reached the Coalition Camp. Some party members have been complaining. I therefore completed some tasks which lowered my reputation to 9, hopefully not too late.
My problem is that I don't know what the evil path should be.
Pleg (male dwarf priest of Talos, Gate70); Fines (female halfling thief, Grond0)
This fine pair of adventurers had rolled up two weeks ago and after lingering outside Winthrop's tavern at Candlekeep did their chores. Fines felt Pleg wasn't paying attention when he asked about the missile launcher on her back and he relented after staring at her larger portrait - it's just a dagger held high. Those sleepy dwarf eyes need to focus pronto.
On the way to see Shoal the Nereid we escaped an ambush - Pleg briefly pausing to ensure Fines switched from shortbow to sword and shield. Good job too as otherwise we'd have had a first death outside Candlekeep being us and not something or someone else (after Imoen obviously, who died from thiefly arrows while Pleg was re-arranging her equipment from her backpack to his).
Neera went hostile on us, surprising Pleg who was re-arranging her inventory into his backpack. Fines was passing arrows one at a time to Neera and she didn't appreciate the help.
Pleg felt he could have duked it out with Vax but then party XP would split so he went to a temple and we returned for Vax. After this, Pleg had noticed Fines was attenpting backstabs with a scabby old longsword. We could do something about that couldn't we? Yes (although it meant Pleg resorted to glugging blue healing potions which is something we rarely partake of).
n.b. Grond0 and I both use this post for hiding regularly, the same is often observed with the thin post in the main tent at the bandit camp.
Pleg can feel the session is coming to a close so he makes a special push to obtain better melee bracers for Fines.