This is part I of my final session of SoD - part II soon to follow.
The remainder of Dead Man's Pass was easily cleared, with the cave being the only potentially dangerous part, but potions of freedom and a few buffs turn this from a deadly place into a rather relaxed affair:
At the outside of the underground river, Enuhal gets to duel two ogres to become chieftain. Not too troubling as we're fighting outside and can use call lightning:
After obtaing Mizhena's amulet, we free the druids to the west, talk down the goblins, fight a few spiders, wyvners and orcs (nothing new here) and summon and buff ob in order to obtain Caelar's seal. A well-timed true sight by Corey reveals 4 invisible thieves all at once, gettin ready to backstab:
The summons hold the door, while the others make sure to shoot down any wizards that might teleport in:
While I didn't like doing it, I also killed the wychalarn and her protector to get access to their sword (truly great for Grond0) and remove them from the equation during the siege.
With the seal of Caelar in my posession, I made my way to Dragonspear Courtyard, doing every sidequest here. Not much to tell, there is little combat involved (we used another potion of persuasion for the dialogue checks and one of genius to win the strategy game). Some nice new items, though. I bought a few final potions before entering the underground river proper, moving north first - we dealt with the shadow cavern using a barrage of fireballs and a little bit of combat, making sure to avoid getting level drained:
A final potion of persuasion helped with the dialogue check concerning "The Dead" - however, I ended up forgetting to deliver their bodies at Kanaglym (my first missed quest, aside from Unshey's belt, which I missed on purpose). We used the crucial protection from acid scrolls for the blind albino wyrmlings - their breath weapon can be rather deadly otherwise. Now, Alesia got to backstab again, but even with strength and the staff of striking, her damage wasn't quite enough (though one more hit from Grond0 did the job):
We had to fight a few crusaders who turned hostile after that assassination attempt, but they were no trouble. Time to move south - everyone drinks a potion of clarity to avoid all the confusion and charm effects around here - also oils of speed, because why not - we will have enough for the remaining battles. Shambling mounds are still quite dangerous:
We end up firebombing two of the groups of myconids/nymphs/treants/mounds here, just to be safe. The dark druid is taken down before being able to cast a spell, we turn in the various sidequests and enter Kanaglym. Alesia and Grond0 get our two last PfU scrolls to take down the eastern group, everyone else is protected by invisibility 10' radius - there are no bonebats here. Now, we move past the bridge, take down the named wizard before he can react, and the others throw up their protections. However, as the soul jar has shattered, we get help from a dragon:
Alesia and Grim Face throw spell thrusts at two of our foes so we can interrupt/kill them via wands, meanwhile, Grim Face gets hit by two fireballs and has to retreat a bit/drink a healing potion:
However, the dragon is now coming in, and our summons alone would propably be strong enough to take down the remaining wizards. We equip our spectacles and summon the nearby lich, using "The Secret Revealed" to kill him:
I never end up using the sequencer from the robe, though.
Finally, it's time to enter the castle basement, though not after picking up some +3 arrows/bullets. Since this is one of the tougher parts of the game, we use quite a few potion buffs before entering. The first group of enemies is quickly taken down as we poison and water supplies. We move north, awaiting more guards near the lift and Hephernaan to appear, clear out more crusaders in one of the siderooms and now our enemies show up in force. As I'm still somewhat separated from Hephernaan, who is near the lift, two groups of crusaders spawn in before I can even move towards his direction - we are able to take down both of their wizards rather quickly (though Corey sadly gets slowed in the process) and let our summons keep them busy as we move towards the named wizards who assist Mister H. We are able to take them out one by one (and we interrupt the remove magic being cast here with a quick shower of arrows).
Now, we move east to the room with the food supplies - Hephernaan is holed up in there, though he comes out to face us. We throw spell thrusts at him, we throw chaos and slow into the mix to somewhat control the huge masses of spawning crusaders, we successfully insect plague him. Our spell thrusts get stopped (I'm assuming he had a spell shield, I wasn't able to see his prebuffs in all of the chaos), but true sight takes care of illusion defenses and our physical damage does the job - he's forced to flee:
Now, I've never actually done all this on insane. On core rules, yes - you don't get constantly spawning crusaders there in my experience. On insane, I've only ever cleared the lift and ran away as soon as Hephernaan appeared, which is the smart thing to do - so I was QUITE surprised when after I forced Hephernaan to flee (which I thought would just win the battle), a HUGE group of all-named very dangerous looking crusaders that I had never seen before spawned in. I have since learned through reading up on this encounter on the varying difficulty levels that this would've been the final foes that could've spawned in (as the waves are indeed not infinite), but since I'd never seen them before and didn't know their abilities, levels and group composition, I decided to run away and move up the lift. Propably the smarter choice here.
We flee through the dungeon, have to re-haste, kill a wizard and a cleric that I know to cast detect invisibility or oracle, and finally use invisibility 10' radius to make it out safely:
After the meeting with Caelar, we buff up with various long-lasting potions before triggering the camp defense sequence. This is one part of the game where I won't stop firebombing, just for safety. It's easy enough - for the wizard attack, I make sure to move away from any surviving hostile wizards to not get hit by our wizard slayer's dispel magic:
Two barrages of fire are needed for the final group, and Grimgorn needs some extra attention via true sight and a combined attack:
The first part of the siege is almost another Grond0 solo mission. We now use all arrows of detonation we have collected throughout the game. Grond0 drinks an oil of speed and rushes forward in order to save as many soldier's lives as possible. He starts blasting the enemy frontlines with detonation arrows:
Meanwhile, the others spend the rounds buffing up for the battles yet to come, drinking potions, casting a few spells, summoning fire elementals and spirit animals. With most of our allied forces still alive, they are able to overwhelm any enemies that have escaped the detonation barrage - Grond0 moves on to the gate:
Barrages of fireballs explode, the enemy helpless to deal with them or Grond0 in time. Nothing except for a few arrows ever come his way, he doesn't even have to rage. Ashatiel's party teleports in. We decline the duel - I can think of several ways in which Enuhal would be able to win, but the risks aren't worth it. Instead, we throw one barrage of fireballs and assault Ashatiel and her allies with our now well-buffed party - she dies before being able to teleport away:
We avoid the trapped southern road and move along the northern path to the west, take down another huge group of crusaders as Alesia disarms one final trap:
The final group is very spread out - fireballs wouldn't be too useful here, but true sight is great, revealing the deadly assassin right away. We just take out one enemy after the other with overhwelming physical force due to our massive potion buffs. One final true sight to counter sanctuary, and we can free Mizhena's father to obtain Grond0's final weapon, a powerful +3 morningstar:
In the keep, we go for our final scroll-learning session and make sure to memorize a different arary of spells, including enchant weapon for Corey. We quickly move into Avernus, where we immediately buff up with 5 scrolls of chaotic commands and a bunch of potions before taking down the first groups of devils:
With our buffs, nothing here can really hurt us, true sight helps with all the at-will invisibilities, and we gain the helm with some physical protection in a bargain with the devil. Now, time to rest and buff up one last time. We have everything ready for this, obtaining immunity to fire, lightning, cold, poison, all available stat and combat buffs in the game, chaotic commands for everyone, remove fear and all kinds of other improvements, even potions of power. The crucial piece here is a well-timed SI:A (just obtained) for Grim Face - his job is to absorb Belhifet's dispel magic, which is the only thing that could really stop us at this point. Indeed, the timing is pristine, shortly after the cast the cutscene triggers - Caelar enters our party for RP purposes, but we don't really use her at all. Grim Face rushes towards the devil and indeed absorbs the dispel magic:
The others move far away and use the time to slay some of the initial devils plus Hephernaan. They are quickly cleared up, Enuhal summons in a spirit animal as a distraction, Corey uses true sight once Belhifet activates II. We start equipping our void-tipped arrows and +3 bullets, dealing some damage to big B as he spawns in more devils:
We take down all of the devils, and Belhifet teleports away:
The devil is alone, and he's already weak. With all of our potion + combat buffs (even recitation is still active), our damage output is pretty high:
Belhifet goes down as he tries to gate in a third group of devils:
No surprises in the epilogue. We make sure to get the gear we want to import into our inventory and move on. SoA awaits.
Following the defeat of Mulahey, we dispatched the assassins and then charged into Larswood.
Nimbul was unceremoniously chunked astride a stack of traps set for insurance.
The Amazonians proved trickier. This ambush caught me off guard. I reluctantly used Jaheria's Potion of Invisibility here, in the hope of putting Ayla on better footing.
I expected to be able to sneak off to a corner and buff, as I had with the Avatars. That didn't quite work. Ayla got one trap down before Maneria wandered over. That left Ayla unbuffed with a clouded aura. Not good. She was near the edge of the map so she was never really in danger but I wasn't super comfortable in this fight. Ayla knew she'd prevail, but she was hit with an opening Unholy Blight and took her first significant injury of the run. She used darts to disrupt subsequent casts.
Unbuffed and outnumbered, I decided to invest some Necklace of Missle charges. Ayla was grateful for that, and thanked me for the potion of power.
We dropped Tranzig with a backstab trap combo, and then Ayla insisted on taking a detour to the Black Alaric Cave, in search of a cloak she had heard about.
The sirines were cleared by backstabs and bow fire under potion of clarity.
The golems were felled with stealth shots. A potion of perception helped Ayla disarm the traps. Ayla claimed her prize, gleefully donning her new cloak.
To most characters Relair's Mistake is just 3000 gold. For Ayla it was love at first sight. The strength to carry loot, and an extra attack in melee? Yes, please! She'd put her new cloak to good use at Bandit Camp. First, a test drive in Larswood. Yes, yes: this will do nicely. Time to chomp some bandits in the night.
When I discovered what Dorn did in SoA, I realised that I would not be happy playing my party in Amn so decided to bring it to and end now and start a dwarven good party of dwarven triplets.
Whilst their attributes are the same, the deities the have chosen to follow and hence their alignments differ. However there will be little conflict within the party as all three serve a good god ranging from Moradin to Haela, to Hanseath.
All three of us have agreat deal of respect for Hanseath as we all enjoy a pint of Plum and Cherry Porter, a dark ale of some reknown to wash down some Shepherd's Purse Sheep's Cheese on crusty bread. In doing so we also pay respect to the Hearth godess Haela.
Having well drunken, we then go out to fight evil which Moradin favours intensely.
@Enuhal I haven't been reading your SoD posts, since I haven't played SoD yet and don't want to be spoiled. Still, I can tell out of the corner of my eye that you've done a magnificent job. Congratulations and well done! Good hunting in Amn!
@Alesia_BH Thanks. I'm going to give it my best, and the extra experience from SoD will be very helpful in the attempt.
Regarding Relair's mistake, I've used it before for carrying capacity, but never for backstabbing. I'm looking forward to see how much time Ayla is actually going to be spending in wolf shape.
Have fun with your dwarves, Wise. They look tough!
They do, but not having a thief or mage in the party could cause problems, but that is what I like about this game.
I rolled the Holy Redeemer some time ago and used the reroller to filter results in order for them to have identical stats since they are supposed to be siblings. The rolls are not of great import I have found. Any roll over 90 is more than adequate for a fighter. They don't all need high charisma after all. While getting the strength of 18/99 was nice, any strength over 18/90 would again have been more than adequate.
My suspicion is that having a party of three will be a little harder than the solo Holy Redeemer.
I have decided not to recruit NPCs . We'll see how it goes. If I find that not having a mage and thief is too difficult, I may try again but use them.
Ayla, Halfling Thief: Bandit Camp (Or Hungry Like the Wolf)
Okay: I'll admit it. Calling this post Hungry Like the Wolf overstates the role of Relair's Mistake. But since Ayla loves her cloak, and I never skip an opportunity to drop a Duran Duran reference, she and I are in hearty agreement on this one. Deal with it.
In truth, the battle was won by a mostly human form Ayla, but the cloak did come in handy. To the action.
Ayla started her assault by setting a stack of traps to the west of camp. She then approached the tent under stealth, and took her final short duration buff in a secluded corner. The buffs were potion of fire resistance, protection from fire, potion of strength, potion of regeneration, shield and greenstone. Let's do this!
Ayla's opening backstab on Venkt was a crit. Nice start.
A follow up potion of explosions cleared the fodder and softened up the remaining principles.
A surprising string of criticalsl left Ayla wounded. She brought her newest item into play: the Sandthief Ring. My thieves often find themselves choosing between the Shadow Armor and Sandthief at this stage of the game. They alway choose Sandthief and never regret it. Ayla's Cure Light Wounds took care of the healing, aided by our pre-buffed potion of regeneration.
Once Ayla healed, she re-emerged and finished with backstabs. A satisfying victory.
Time for Taugosz. Remember the traps we set pre-battle? Those were for him. We got him started with a backstab.
And then led him to his forever home. Thanks for the potion of firebreath, Taugosz! We have plans for that.
Time to get wolfie!
With her Girdle of Piercing + Boots of Avoidance + Cloak of Displacement combo handling arrows, and movement negating melee attacks, Ayla was neigh unstoppable. Critical arrows were the only threat.
The screenshots didn't turn out well here since we were mostly in the trees, but this was super fun. I highly recommend prowling the bandit camp in wolf form at night. It's the bee's knees. Or wolf's knees, if you prefer.
There's a mod of some sort in play; the vanilla version of the item is incapable of dealing 41 damage on a noncritical 3x backstab, unless you have boosts to strength or flat damage that an unkitted solo thief can't get.
In standard BGEE, the transformed wolf uses the CDWOLFM item, which deals 1d8 base damage with +0 to attack and hits as a +1 magical weapon. You also get a flat 18 strength, for +2 to damage from that.
Against a Blacktalon Elite, they'll have their bow equipped so that's +4 damage. Maximum possible non-critical damage (8+4)*3+2=38.
Still, wolf fangs aren't great backstabbing weapons. Mostly, Blacktalon Elites are just really vulnerable to backstabs. If you've got a +2 melee weapon that you're proficient in, you're probably better off using that.
Still, wolf fangs aren't great backstabbing weapons. Mostly, Blacktalon Elites are just really vulnerable to backstabs. If you've got a +2 melee weapon that you're proficient in, you're probably better off using that.
I'm well aware, lol. Ayla has Aule's, a +3 weapon, and she has a pip in two handed weapons style, allowing her to crit on a 19. That's a better choice from a damage perspective. The cloak is, however, goofy fun
Ayla, Halfling Thief: Drasus and Co. (Or Smooth Criminal)
After an uneventful passage through the Cloakwood, Ayla readied herself for roguish combat with Drasus and Co. This went smoothly. Very smoothly. Ayla was pleased. She and I are starting to get along.
Ayla prepped for combat by setting a stack of traps to the west of the field. Happily, we were not interrupted by guards. She then buffed with oil of speed, potion of strength, potion of regeneration, shield and greenstone. Let's do this! We opened with a backstab on Kysus. That found a home. One down.
A follow up potion of firebreath ended Rezdan. Two down, with Genthore badly injured.
Only Drasus and Genthore remained. Drasus's Boots of Speed insured he would be in the lead heading to the traps.
The traps fired. Three down.
By the time the sluggish Genthore caught up, Ayla was in the shadows and waiting. A backstab finished him. Four moves, four deaths, no damage: A satisfying win.
Ayla doesn't have a theme song yet, but if she did it would be something by the Ramones. Like the Ramones, she is concise and punchy: she keeps it simple and gets the job done. The Davaeorn fight was yet another example.
After using a Sandthief charge to stealth through the upper levels (supplemented by CND + stealth near Hareishan), Ayla disabled the traps and then prepped for Davaeorn with a pro magic scroll, followed by a potion of regeneration. Her Boots of Speed and by now respectable stealth skills made the battle horrors easy pickings.
Once the guards started to arrive, she activated her Shield Amulet and got to work with the Necklace of Missiles. The last guards were cleared with potion of firebreath #2.
Davaeorn, now alone, facing a thief under protection from magic, met a predictable end: backstabbed to chunky bits. Yet another smooth victory for our intrepid hero. Go team halfling thief!
Ayla, Halfling Thief: Baldur's Gate to Candlekeep (Or There and Back Again)
In keeping with the theme of concision, Ayla took a minimalist approach in the Gate.
She snatched the tomes, chunking Ramazith en route...
Nixed the Seven Suns dopes with Aule's...
And stealthed by the Iron Throne blokes wearing the CND. Easy-peezy.
In the ogre mage ambush Ayla quaffed a potion of magic blocking and then broke for the gate. I like this solution. Alternate options, like a PoI or a Potion of Clarity, consume a valuable resource while theoretically leaving avenues for attack. Ayla's potion of magic blocking had no other candidate use, while being a comprehensive solution. I expect to do this again.
A potion of mastery thievery granted her access to the tomes. Ayla's detect traps skill was sufficient to disarm the traps, but she chose to use a potion of freedom in proximity to the phase spiders. She didn't want to risk detection while disarming the trap and a potion of freedom is less valuable to her than a potion of invisibility.
Aside from the opening doppelgänger, the only enemies she fought were the greater basilisks. Glad to finally get those potions of mirror eyes out of the case.
We stealthed by the ogre mages on the exit and then returned to the Gate. Now at the XP cap, Ayla is ready for the endgame. I'll post on that soon.
Ayla's second trip to the Gate was almost as brief as her first. Duke Eltan's faux healer was one shoted, with traps nearby for insurance.
The Duke was transported in wolf form. I can only hope the harbor master likes doggos.
Slythe was dropped with a backstab trap combo, leaving only the Ducal Palace fight and Sarevok.
The SCS Ducal Palace fight has gone through multiple changes over the years. The key thing to know about this edition is that Liia is a rockstar. She won't win the fight on her own - far from it- but she plays defense well, countering Sarevok's last ditch melee assault with a Teleport Field and Mantle. She gives you the time you need to beat the doppelgängers, and she'll do an admirable job of holding off Sarevok in the end. All you need to do is not blow it. Ayla was up to the task.
Her strategy? Ayla buffed up and then bonked the dopes over the head with her staff. That's it. Some early dithering on my part led to a 100% avoidable death for Belt, but Liia did her part, as did Ayla, once I let her do what she does best, win simply. As for the buffs, they were protection from magic, potion of mind focusing, potion of defense, potion of power, potion of regeneration, oil of speed, potion of strength and DUHM. A Greenstone Amulet charge was used, too, as insurance, since the greater doppelgängers had confused on hit in prior editions of SCS, and I've thus far resisted the urge to check the current resource files with Near Infinity. Of course, the pro magic scroll was unnecessary, given that I'm playing on tactical. I was expecting the specialized doppelgängers, as per prior editions of SCS, and the current edition on hardcore and above (The Avatars, my only prior v34.3 run, was on Hardcore).
That was it. Liia did the rest. Kudos to her for rocking Teleport Field here. Excellent choice!
Back in the day I used to breeze through BG1 with ease. The Sarevok fight always felt like a formality. But after six years away from the game, and with a new version of SCS to contend with, I was a teensy bit nervous heading into this fight. That anxiety turned out to be unwarranted. Ayala prevailed without breaking a sweat. I've now completed my first BG1 run since my comeback. That's a step in the right direction, and I have Ayla to thank for it.
Ayla started the fight with a pro magic scroll and minimal buffs. She opened with an arrow of dispelling on Sarevok, removing his haste effect.
Arrows of Detonation targeted on Diarmid ended the invisible Semaj; Angelo was killed while invisible too
Diarmid fell to backstabs, as did Tazok.
With naught but Sarevok and skeleton warriors on the field, Ayla read a protection from undead scroll and then got to work on the big fella.
If there's one thing I admire about Sarevok it's his giddy optimism. He's taking smack after smack with no way to reply against Ayla's range 2 weapon, wielded at speed factor zero. And he still thinks Ayla's death is inevitable? Ok. Long term, yes: everybody dies. But if we focus on, like, this battle, there's but one inevitable loser and it surely isn't Ayla.
More of that giddy optimism: "The streets will run red with blood by the time my work is finished!" What's that you say? He's right again? Agreed, kinda sorta: If he's talking about his blood, I guess.
Last knock. Ayla is onto Amn!
I still have a lot of relearning to do, but at least BG1 feels simple and familiar again. Thanks, Ayla, for helping me get back in the swing. You can always count on a halfling to make you feel at home
Thanks, @Grond0 . The Avatars were fun, and I'm happy we did it, but I never really got comfortable with them game play wise. In the last twenty years I've completed the trilogy with a party exactly twice, and both of those crews were all arcane quads. As a solo thief with a shorty save bonus, Ayla, is a better vehicle for re-learning the game, given my historical playing style. I look forward to exploring Amn with her.
I thought I'd have another go at one of my other long-term challenges - this one only allows kills to be made with the cursed berserking sword, so there's a lot of potential for reputational problems from collateral damage ...
I had a brief run yesterday, but that was cut short by an encounter with a ghast - reminding me of the need to get a ring of free action early. This time I'm trying to put a bit more thought into progress and things have generally gone pretty well so far:
- at Candlekeep I summoned a familiar then did a few quests, but avoiding any fighting (other than punching a nobleman unconscious in order to be able to steal a bit more).
- travelled south, seeing no-one on the journey until finding Brage and picking up the beserking sword. At Nashkel, I dug up the ankheg armor before Noober found it had been a mistake to talk to me away from other people.
Grabbed the invisibility potion from the manor house.
- at the Carnival, got the red and violet potions and bought the green PfP scroll and shield amulet. I intended to rest to get Bhaal CLW, but found out later I hadn't rested enough and got LMD instead. That's not a big deal though as I was intending to get one of each anyway.
- in Beregost, calmed down Marl then slaughtered Algernon for his cloak (reputation down to 7).
- journeying north, picked up a +1 ring and ring of wizardry. Used sleep from out of sight on an ogre to get the belt of piercing. One change I've noted in the latest version of BGEE is that seeing sleeping enemies still triggers a berserk state when you have the sword equipped. Previously it didn't - so it was possible for instance to use sleep to kill all the xvarts attacking Arabelle without going berserk (and then killing Hulrik).
- at the ankheg area charmed Sonner and pulled him away from the others before killing him. Gave the bowl to Tenya (you get more XP for returning the bowl than killing all the fishermen). That took me to fighter level 2 / illusionist level 2 and I decided to risk attacking the nearby ankheg. The delay in that getting above ground meant I had a decent chance of getting next to it before going berserk - meaning it would require a critical to hit. I did indeed get close to it - and the ankheg missed me with an 18, while I got the killing blow with a 2.
- at Ulgoth's Beard, charmed Dushai and moved her away to a quiet spot to get her ring of free action (reputation down to 5).
- at Firewine Bridge I charmed Bentan with the aim of getting him killed by kobolds. However, I was expecting kobold archers there and when a kobold attacked him in melee and came into my sight I went berserk and killed Bentan (reputation down to 3). Poe was then charmed and provided a distraction while I cut down Meilum for his bracers.
- looking to restore reputation, I went to find Prism. He was charmed and moved away, to prevent him from being another berserk victim, before Greywolf got the chop. That took me to fighter level 3 / illusionist level 3.
- in the Cloudpeaks I helped a Dryad by charming Krumm and using him to kill Caldo, before moving to a secluded spot and becoming a victim himself.
- with no more danger of being ambushed by bounty hunters, I returned to Beregost, found a book for Firebead and returned an amulet to Mr Colquetle. I also charmed Neera from distance, then rested and charmed Silke as well. The latter killed the former with a magic missile (avoiding the danger of a critical miss triggering Neera's quest fight). Silke wasted her spells before being cut down in turn.
- at the FAI an attempt to charm Tarnesh failed, but he was pulled behind the temple (out of sight), blinded and decapitated with a single blow.
Landrin got his goods and I picked up the pantaloons. While there, I also charmed Jaheira and pulled her outside to a safe place to recover an invisibility potion from her body.
- I decided I was now up to dealing with basilisks. Used a PfM scroll, topped up with a green PfP scroll and attacked the northern group. I was lucky with one of those, that was in their less usual alternate position near the statue, when I recovered from being berserk just in time to avoid smashing the statue.
Mutamin had no chance to penetrate my defenses and dropped a stinking cloud scroll.
That was used to make the fight with Kirian a bit easier.
The southern group of basilisks were left until last (the PfP scroll lasts a lot longer than the PfM scroll) and killing those took me to fighter 5 / illusionist 5.
- at High Hedge I chopped down the golem guards before buying the potion case from Thalantyr.
- at the Lighthouse, I helped Ardrouine before taking a potion of clarity and attacking the sirines. I was lucky with the first group when I recovered from initially being berserk after the sirines all went invisible. That allowed me to get in among them before I went berserk again, protecting me against potential danger from their arrows of biting. I didn't expect problems from Sil's sirines - and didn't get them.
A potion of absorption then protected me against a lightning trap, as well as ensuring golems would require a critical to hit.
The constitution tome pushed that to 19 to give a few more HPs. I can't currently use Buckley's Buckler to achieve regeneration though, due to the cursed sword jealously requiring both hands for itself. I also got to fighter level 6 there.
- on the way to the Gnoll Stronghold an ogre mage tried an ambush, but proved too slow to do damage.
I cleared the whole area there, hoping to get a random drop of a friends scroll, but didn't get that (I haven't yet learnt any spells and want to use friends to make buying scrolls and intelligence potions cheaper). I did the same to the xvart village, but again there was nothing doing.
- at the archaeological site Charleston Nib was charmed so he could keep out of trouble while I killed the diggers. I had to wait until the charm ended to get a reward from him - that took me to illusionist level 6.
The Doomsayer did a bit better than I expected, but was eventually despatched.
Reputation has now recovered to 10 and I'll be off to the Nashkel Mine next.
Fighter 6 / Illusionist 6, 69 HPs, 217 kills
Edit: oh dear - another moment's lack of concentration proved costly. I got distracted by someone arriving at our house while plowing through kobolds in the Nashkel Mine and mindlessly used a LMD to kill one of a group. That didn't register immediately, but a minute or so later I thought "did I really do that"? Checking back in the text, sadly I did .
Lol! I almost used "Ayla is a Punk Rocker" as a title instead of "Hey, ho! Let's go." I only went with Hey, ho! because I thought more people would get the reference.
I have decided that instead of a party of three, I will have a party of two. Charname is an import from a previous game with a different name and image. She's a Holy Redeemer and worshipper of Borodin and like Borodin she favours war hammers for fighting. She will be aided by her brother who is a berserker, a worshipper of Hanseath. His shield demonstrates his alliegance, as do his drinking habits.
Due to my eyes, everyone thinks that I have divine blood in my veins, but this is not backed up by anything that my foster-father Gorion has told me. I am currently assuming that since I am of lawful good alignment, then the god that sired me was of the same alignment.
I break into one chest and lose all my gold: I break into another and I get whipped. It seems like the gods are trying to teach me a lesson.
At least we are fairly well equipped.
We then broke open yet another chest but managed to exit before we were caught so perhaps the gods were actually trying to teach us not to break the eleventh commandment.
Breaking into yet another chest gained me an unbreakable +1 mace.
Now I need to find an unbreakable axe. Yes there IS one for sale, but I am not rolling in money.
Ayla has gotten underway in Amn. She has escaped Chateau Irenicus, and completed some minor quests in Athkatla. Her early game item set is shaping up nicely, although she is in desperate need -desperate need- of a potion case.
I'll share a full update soon. For now, here's Ayla's current character record and inventory. It feels good to be playing BG2 again after all these years!
De'Arnise Keep was a good place to employ multitude of tools at our disposal. We made some good tactical choices, we made some poor tactical choices, we botched the fight with the yuan-ti mage, cooked some doggos and had fun all along the way. But let's take it one by one.
Death Spell did the heavy lifting, taking out almost everything in our path but for the occasional Spirit Trolls and Spectral Trolls.
May the first screenshot above also serve as an evidence of couple of initial mistakes on my part - forgetting to switch BoIB for the Girdle of Piercing (duh?!), running Fireshield: Blue against Spirit Trolls with 100% cold resistance (double duh?!) and the lack of ProEvil (which I eventually corrected later on).
Sunfire helped us clean up the courtyard.
Our approach for the Spirit Trolls revolved around II, which prevented them from using Flame Strikes and (even though it should not be the case) Greater Command, while our neutral alignment kept us safe against Unholy Blight. With our L6 spell slots dedicated to Death Spell castings, we did not run PfMW and so had to keep a close eye on any STR drain. For the first pair of these, we burned L5 slots with double Sunfire. It worked, but it lacked finesse.
Skull Traps (including 3x from Spell Sequencer) with Teleport Field, meteors and sunstone bullet finish seemed more apt.
The efreeti had his turn at the steering wheel as well.
Once the ground floor was cleared, we rested and moved on to the upper floor. More necromancy from Daelat.
POV: You’re facing a yuan-ti mage with PfMW, Shield, ProMissiles and MGoI. You have your protections up, including SI:A, SI:Ev and Spell Shield (although why on Earth you keep forgetting about that ProEvil remains a mystery to me) and clear aura. What'd you do?
Take out his MGoI with Spell Thrust? Great idea! Blast him with Sunfire? Of course!
I didn't do either. Instead, I waited and then reluctantly decided to bring in the efreeti, thinking that his Flame Strike could go above the MGoI. Meanwhile, the yuan-ti removed our Spell Shield with Spell Thrust. This is what happened next.
I don't recall if it was me clicking the Fireball or if it was the efreeti's own initiative. If me, then I'm simply dumb. If him, then he's both dumb and smart (by at least recognizing our SI:Ev will prevent friendly fire).
With yuan-ti's telefield, things get even more confusing. We manage to scratch him with Sunfire and make our guaranteed save vs. spell against his Slow.
We both exchange offensive abjuration spells, relying on SI:A to prevent his Remove Magic while our Spell Thrust takes down the MGoI.
Finally, Daelat and the efreeti pummeled him with Magic Missiles to death.
As I said in the beginning, it was a botched fight. Really and truly. At least it served as a sobering reminder that we need to stay much more focused if we want to have the slightest chance of successfully progressing the run any further. Let's get this done.
Glacius' charm was dispelled with Remove Magic.
Did I tell you already how much we liked our Death Spell here?
Despite being immune to Death Spell, Spectral Trolls make reasonably good targets for Chromatic Orb, the poor man's Finger of Death, thanks to their mediocre saving throws (save vs. spell 13).
Fighting SCS Improved Golems is not something we'd specialize in and therefore we renounced taking the treasure from the small chapel (with the exception of the remaining FotA head that we took to complete the weapon). With the door leading to Torgal and his ensamble opened, we decide to turn back, with the promise of returning to finish the job as soon as we have access to Globe of Invulnerability.
We eliminated one final group of trolls outside the keep to conclude our stay here on a positive note and were on our way back to Athkatla where we still had some unfinished business with MaeVar.
I'm glad you're getting good use out of Death Spell. I've never considered taking it since I tend to evaluate spells based on how they perform in the toughest battles, but it seems to suit Daelat. Interesting choice!
Her early game item set is shaping up nicely, although she is in desperate need -desperate need- of a potion case.
I know that feeling. Had to fetch mine from the Helmites at the Watcher's Keep, as it seems that the latest patch removed those from Mrs Cragmoon as well as Roger the Fence.
Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying your stay in Athkatla.
Her early game item set is shaping up nicely, although she is in desperate need -desperate need- of a potion case.
I know that feeling. Had to fetch mine from the Helmites at the Watcher's Keep, as it seems that the latest patch removed those from Mrs Cragmoon as well as Roger the Fence.
Yeah. I was seriously irked when Roger didn't have one in his inventory, lol.
Comments
This is part I of my final session of SoD - part II soon to follow.
The remainder of Dead Man's Pass was easily cleared, with the cave being the only potentially dangerous part, but potions of freedom and a few buffs turn this from a deadly place into a rather relaxed affair:
With the seal of Caelar in my posession, I made my way to Dragonspear Courtyard, doing every sidequest here. Not much to tell, there is little combat involved (we used another potion of persuasion for the dialogue checks and one of genius to win the strategy game). Some nice new items, though. I bought a few final potions before entering the underground river proper, moving north first - we dealt with the shadow cavern using a barrage of fireballs and a little bit of combat, making sure to avoid getting level drained:
Finally, it's time to enter the castle basement, though not after picking up some +3 arrows/bullets. Since this is one of the tougher parts of the game, we use quite a few potion buffs before entering. The first group of enemies is quickly taken down as we poison and water supplies. We move north, awaiting more guards near the lift and Hephernaan to appear, clear out more crusaders in one of the siderooms and now our enemies show up in force. As I'm still somewhat separated from Hephernaan, who is near the lift, two groups of crusaders spawn in before I can even move towards his direction - we are able to take down both of their wizards rather quickly (though Corey sadly gets slowed in the process) and let our summons keep them busy as we move towards the named wizards who assist Mister H. We are able to take them out one by one (and we interrupt the remove magic being cast here with a quick shower of arrows).
Next up: The siege and Avernus.
The first part of the siege is almost another Grond0 solo mission. We now use all arrows of detonation we have collected throughout the game. Grond0 drinks an oil of speed and rushes forward in order to save as many soldier's lives as possible. He starts blasting the enemy frontlines with detonation arrows:
Following the defeat of Mulahey, we dispatched the assassins and then charged into Larswood.
Nimbul was unceremoniously chunked astride a stack of traps set for insurance.
The Amazonians proved trickier. This ambush caught me off guard. I reluctantly used Jaheria's Potion of Invisibility here, in the hope of putting Ayla on better footing.
I expected to be able to sneak off to a corner and buff, as I had with the Avatars. That didn't quite work. Ayla got one trap down before Maneria wandered over. That left Ayla unbuffed with a clouded aura. Not good. She was near the edge of the map so she was never really in danger but I wasn't super comfortable in this fight. Ayla knew she'd prevail, but she was hit with an opening Unholy Blight and took her first significant injury of the run. She used darts to disrupt subsequent casts.
Unbuffed and outnumbered, I decided to invest some Necklace of Missle charges. Ayla was grateful for that, and thanked me for the potion of power.
We dropped Tranzig with a backstab trap combo, and then Ayla insisted on taking a detour to the Black Alaric Cave, in search of a cloak she had heard about.
The sirines were cleared by backstabs and bow fire under potion of clarity.
The golems were felled with stealth shots. A potion of perception helped Ayla disarm the traps. Ayla claimed her prize, gleefully donning her new cloak.
To most characters Relair's Mistake is just 3000 gold. For Ayla it was love at first sight. The strength to carry loot, and an extra attack in melee? Yes, please! She'd put her new cloak to good use at Bandit Camp. First, a test drive in Larswood. Yes, yes: this will do nicely. Time to chomp some bandits in the night.
Best,
A.
Whilst their attributes are the same, the deities the have chosen to follow and hence their alignments differ. However there will be little conflict within the party as all three serve a good god ranging from Moradin to Haela, to Hanseath.
All three of us have agreat deal of respect for Hanseath as we all enjoy a pint of Plum and Cherry Porter, a dark ale of some reknown to wash down some Shepherd's Purse Sheep's Cheese on crusty bread. In doing so we also pay respect to the Hearth godess Haela.
Having well drunken, we then go out to fight evil which Moradin favours intensely.
Cheers,
A.
Regarding Relair's mistake, I've used it before for carrying capacity, but never for backstabbing. I'm looking forward to see how much time Ayla is actually going to be spending in wolf shape.
They do, but not having a thief or mage in the party could cause problems, but that is what I like about this game.
I rolled the Holy Redeemer some time ago and used the reroller to filter results in order for them to have identical stats since they are supposed to be siblings. The rolls are not of great import I have found. Any roll over 90 is more than adequate for a fighter. They don't all need high charisma after all. While getting the strength of 18/99 was nice, any strength over 18/90 would again have been more than adequate.
My suspicion is that having a party of three will be a little harder than the solo Holy Redeemer.
I have decided not to recruit NPCs . We'll see how it goes. If I find that not having a mage and thief is too difficult, I may try again but use them.
Okay: I'll admit it. Calling this post Hungry Like the Wolf overstates the role of Relair's Mistake. But since Ayla loves her cloak, and I never skip an opportunity to drop a Duran Duran reference, she and I are in hearty agreement on this one. Deal with it.
In truth, the battle was won by a mostly human form Ayla, but the cloak did come in handy. To the action.
Ayla started her assault by setting a stack of traps to the west of camp. She then approached the tent under stealth, and took her final short duration buff in a secluded corner. The buffs were potion of fire resistance, protection from fire, potion of strength, potion of regeneration, shield and greenstone. Let's do this!
Ayla's opening backstab on Venkt was a crit. Nice start.
A follow up potion of explosions cleared the fodder and softened up the remaining principles.
A surprising string of criticalsl left Ayla wounded. She brought her newest item into play: the Sandthief Ring. My thieves often find themselves choosing between the Shadow Armor and Sandthief at this stage of the game. They alway choose Sandthief and never regret it. Ayla's Cure Light Wounds took care of the healing, aided by our pre-buffed potion of regeneration.
Once Ayla healed, she re-emerged and finished with backstabs. A satisfying victory.
Time for Taugosz. Remember the traps we set pre-battle? Those were for him. We got him started with a backstab.
And then led him to his forever home. Thanks for the potion of firebreath, Taugosz! We have plans for that.
Time to get wolfie!
With her Girdle of Piercing + Boots of Avoidance + Cloak of Displacement combo handling arrows, and movement negating melee attacks, Ayla was neigh unstoppable. Critical arrows were the only threat.
The screenshots didn't turn out well here since we were mostly in the trees, but this was super fun. I highly recommend prowling the bandit camp in wolf form at night. It's the bee's knees. Or wolf's knees, if you prefer.
The foreboding Cloakwood awaits.
Best,
A.
In standard BGEE, the transformed wolf uses the CDWOLFM item, which deals 1d8 base damage with +0 to attack and hits as a +1 magical weapon. You also get a flat 18 strength, for +2 to damage from that.
Against a Blacktalon Elite, they'll have their bow equipped so that's +4 damage. Maximum possible non-critical damage (8+4)*3+2=38.
Noppers! She was just wearing Legacy of the Masters.
Maximum possible damage is 44, not 38. She rolled a 7 for damage. (7+2+4) x 3 + 2 = 41.
Still, wolf fangs aren't great backstabbing weapons. Mostly, Blacktalon Elites are just really vulnerable to backstabs. If you've got a +2 melee weapon that you're proficient in, you're probably better off using that.
Right
I'm well aware, lol. Ayla has Aule's, a +3 weapon, and she has a pip in two handed weapons style, allowing her to crit on a 19. That's a better choice from a damage perspective. The cloak is, however, goofy fun
Best,
A.
After an uneventful passage through the Cloakwood, Ayla readied herself for roguish combat with Drasus and Co. This went smoothly. Very smoothly. Ayla was pleased. She and I are starting to get along.
Ayla prepped for combat by setting a stack of traps to the west of the field. Happily, we were not interrupted by guards. She then buffed with oil of speed, potion of strength, potion of regeneration, shield and greenstone. Let's do this! We opened with a backstab on Kysus. That found a home. One down.
A follow up potion of firebreath ended Rezdan. Two down, with Genthore badly injured.
Only Drasus and Genthore remained. Drasus's Boots of Speed insured he would be in the lead heading to the traps.
The traps fired. Three down.
By the time the sluggish Genthore caught up, Ayla was in the shadows and waiting. A backstab finished him. Four moves, four deaths, no damage: A satisfying win.
Davaeorn is next.
Best,
A.
Ayla doesn't have a theme song yet, but if she did it would be something by the Ramones. Like the Ramones, she is concise and punchy: she keeps it simple and gets the job done. The Davaeorn fight was yet another example.
After using a Sandthief charge to stealth through the upper levels (supplemented by CND + stealth near Hareishan), Ayla disabled the traps and then prepped for Davaeorn with a pro magic scroll, followed by a potion of regeneration. Her Boots of Speed and by now respectable stealth skills made the battle horrors easy pickings.
Once the guards started to arrive, she activated her Shield Amulet and got to work with the Necklace of Missiles. The last guards were cleared with potion of firebreath #2.
Davaeorn, now alone, facing a thief under protection from magic, met a predictable end: backstabbed to chunky bits. Yet another smooth victory for our intrepid hero. Go team halfling thief!
We're off to Baldur's Gate
Best,
A.
In keeping with the theme of concision, Ayla took a minimalist approach in the Gate.
She snatched the tomes, chunking Ramazith en route...
Nixed the Seven Suns dopes with Aule's...
And stealthed by the Iron Throne blokes wearing the CND. Easy-peezy.
In the ogre mage ambush Ayla quaffed a potion of magic blocking and then broke for the gate. I like this solution. Alternate options, like a PoI or a Potion of Clarity, consume a valuable resource while theoretically leaving avenues for attack. Ayla's potion of magic blocking had no other candidate use, while being a comprehensive solution. I expect to do this again.
A potion of mastery thievery granted her access to the tomes. Ayla's detect traps skill was sufficient to disarm the traps, but she chose to use a potion of freedom in proximity to the phase spiders. She didn't want to risk detection while disarming the trap and a potion of freedom is less valuable to her than a potion of invisibility.
Aside from the opening doppelgänger, the only enemies she fought were the greater basilisks. Glad to finally get those potions of mirror eyes out of the case.
We stealthed by the ogre mages on the exit and then returned to the Gate. Now at the XP cap, Ayla is ready for the endgame. I'll post on that soon.
Best,
A.
Ayla's second trip to the Gate was almost as brief as her first. Duke Eltan's faux healer was one shoted, with traps nearby for insurance.
The Duke was transported in wolf form. I can only hope the harbor master likes doggos.
Slythe was dropped with a backstab trap combo, leaving only the Ducal Palace fight and Sarevok.
The SCS Ducal Palace fight has gone through multiple changes over the years. The key thing to know about this edition is that Liia is a rockstar. She won't win the fight on her own - far from it- but she plays defense well, countering Sarevok's last ditch melee assault with a Teleport Field and Mantle. She gives you the time you need to beat the doppelgängers, and she'll do an admirable job of holding off Sarevok in the end. All you need to do is not blow it. Ayla was up to the task.
Her strategy? Ayla buffed up and then bonked the dopes over the head with her staff. That's it. Some early dithering on my part led to a 100% avoidable death for Belt, but Liia did her part, as did Ayla, once I let her do what she does best, win simply. As for the buffs, they were protection from magic, potion of mind focusing, potion of defense, potion of power, potion of regeneration, oil of speed, potion of strength and DUHM. A Greenstone Amulet charge was used, too, as insurance, since the greater doppelgängers had confused on hit in prior editions of SCS, and I've thus far resisted the urge to check the current resource files with Near Infinity. Of course, the pro magic scroll was unnecessary, given that I'm playing on tactical. I was expecting the specialized doppelgängers, as per prior editions of SCS, and the current edition on hardcore and above (The Avatars, my only prior v34.3 run, was on Hardcore).
That was it. Liia did the rest. Kudos to her for rocking Teleport Field here. Excellent choice!
I'll post on the Sarevok fight soon.
Best,
A.
Back in the day I used to breeze through BG1 with ease. The Sarevok fight always felt like a formality. But after six years away from the game, and with a new version of SCS to contend with, I was a teensy bit nervous heading into this fight. That anxiety turned out to be unwarranted. Ayala prevailed without breaking a sweat. I've now completed my first BG1 run since my comeback. That's a step in the right direction, and I have Ayla to thank for it.
Ayla started the fight with a pro magic scroll and minimal buffs. She opened with an arrow of dispelling on Sarevok, removing his haste effect.
Arrows of Detonation targeted on Diarmid ended the invisible Semaj; Angelo was killed while invisible too
Diarmid fell to backstabs, as did Tazok.
With naught but Sarevok and skeleton warriors on the field, Ayla read a protection from undead scroll and then got to work on the big fella.
If there's one thing I admire about Sarevok it's his giddy optimism. He's taking smack after smack with no way to reply against Ayla's range 2 weapon, wielded at speed factor zero. And he still thinks Ayla's death is inevitable? Ok. Long term, yes: everybody dies. But if we focus on, like, this battle, there's but one inevitable loser and it surely isn't Ayla.
More of that giddy optimism: "The streets will run red with blood by the time my work is finished!" What's that you say? He's right again? Agreed, kinda sorta: If he's talking about his blood, I guess.
Last knock. Ayla is onto Amn!
I still have a lot of relearning to do, but at least BG1 feels simple and familiar again. Thanks, Ayla, for helping me get back in the swing. You can always count on a halfling to make you feel at home
Best,
A.
Best,
A.
Previous recorded run
I thought I'd have another go at one of my other long-term challenges - this one only allows kills to be made with the cursed berserking sword, so there's a lot of potential for reputational problems from collateral damage ...
I had a brief run yesterday, but that was cut short by an encounter with a ghast - reminding me of the need to get a ring of free action early. This time I'm trying to put a bit more thought into progress and things have generally gone pretty well so far:
- at Candlekeep I summoned a familiar then did a few quests, but avoiding any fighting (other than punching a nobleman unconscious in order to be able to steal a bit more).
- travelled south, seeing no-one on the journey until finding Brage and picking up the beserking sword. At Nashkel, I dug up the ankheg armor before Noober found it had been a mistake to talk to me away from other people.
- at the Carnival, got the red and violet potions and bought the green PfP scroll and shield amulet. I intended to rest to get Bhaal CLW, but found out later I hadn't rested enough and got LMD instead. That's not a big deal though as I was intending to get one of each anyway.
- in Beregost, calmed down Marl then slaughtered Algernon for his cloak (reputation down to 7).
- journeying north, picked up a +1 ring and ring of wizardry. Used sleep from out of sight on an ogre to get the belt of piercing. One change I've noted in the latest version of BGEE is that seeing sleeping enemies still triggers a berserk state when you have the sword equipped. Previously it didn't - so it was possible for instance to use sleep to kill all the xvarts attacking Arabelle without going berserk (and then killing Hulrik).
- at the ankheg area charmed Sonner and pulled him away from the others before killing him. Gave the bowl to Tenya (you get more XP for returning the bowl than killing all the fishermen). That took me to fighter level 2 / illusionist level 2 and I decided to risk attacking the nearby ankheg. The delay in that getting above ground meant I had a decent chance of getting next to it before going berserk - meaning it would require a critical to hit. I did indeed get close to it - and the ankheg missed me with an 18, while I got the killing blow with a 2.
- at Firewine Bridge I charmed Bentan with the aim of getting him killed by kobolds. However, I was expecting kobold archers there and when a kobold attacked him in melee and came into my sight I went berserk and killed Bentan (reputation down to 3). Poe was then charmed and provided a distraction while I cut down Meilum for his bracers.
- with no more danger of being ambushed by bounty hunters, I returned to Beregost, found a book for Firebead and returned an amulet to Mr Colquetle. I also charmed Neera from distance, then rested and charmed Silke as well. The latter killed the former with a magic missile (avoiding the danger of a critical miss triggering Neera's quest fight). Silke wasted her spells before being cut down in turn.
- at the FAI an attempt to charm Tarnesh failed, but he was pulled behind the temple (out of sight), blinded and decapitated with a single blow.
- I decided I was now up to dealing with basilisks. Used a PfM scroll, topped up with a green PfP scroll and attacked the northern group. I was lucky with one of those, that was in their less usual alternate position near the statue, when I recovered from being berserk just in time to avoid smashing the statue.
- on the way to the Gnoll Stronghold an ogre mage tried an ambush, but proved too slow to do damage.
- at the archaeological site Charleston Nib was charmed so he could keep out of trouble while I killed the diggers. I had to wait until the charm ended to get a reward from him - that took me to illusionist level 6.
Fighter 6 / Illusionist 6, 69 HPs, 217 kills
Edit: oh dear - another moment's lack of concentration proved costly. I got distracted by someone arriving at our house while plowing through kobolds in the Nashkel Mine and mindlessly used a LMD to kill one of a group. That didn't register immediately, but a minute or so later I thought "did I really do that"? Checking back in the text, sadly I did
Lol! I almost used "Ayla is a Punk Rocker" as a title instead of "Hey, ho! Let's go." I only went with Hey, ho! because I thought more people would get the reference.
Hope to see you in Amn!
Best,
A.
Due to my eyes, everyone thinks that I have divine blood in my veins, but this is not backed up by anything that my foster-father Gorion has told me. I am currently assuming that since I am of lawful good alignment, then the god that sired me was of the same alignment.
I break into one chest and lose all my gold: I break into another and I get whipped. It seems like the gods are trying to teach me a lesson.
At least we are fairly well equipped.
We then broke open yet another chest but managed to exit before we were caught so perhaps the gods were actually trying to teach us not to break the eleventh commandment.
Breaking into yet another chest gained me an unbreakable +1 mace.
Now I need to find an unbreakable axe. Yes there IS one for sale, but I am not rolling in money.
Ayla has gotten underway in Amn. She has escaped Chateau Irenicus, and completed some minor quests in Athkatla. Her early game item set is shaping up nicely, although she is in desperate need -desperate need- of a potion case.
I'll share a full update soon. For now, here's Ayla's current character record and inventory. It feels good to be playing BG2 again after all these years!
Best,
A.
Previous posts (BG 1): Introduction, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Previous posts (SoA): Introduction, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14
De'Arnise Keep was a good place to employ multitude of tools at our disposal. We made some good tactical choices, we made some poor tactical choices, we botched the fight with the yuan-ti mage, cooked some doggos and had fun all along the way. But let's take it one by one.
Death Spell did the heavy lifting, taking out almost everything in our path but for the occasional Spirit Trolls and Spectral Trolls.
May the first screenshot above also serve as an evidence of couple of initial mistakes on my part - forgetting to switch BoIB for the Girdle of Piercing (duh?!), running Fireshield: Blue against Spirit Trolls with 100% cold resistance (double duh?!) and the lack of ProEvil (which I eventually corrected later on).
Sunfire helped us clean up the courtyard.
Our approach for the Spirit Trolls revolved around II, which prevented them from using Flame Strikes and (even though it should not be the case) Greater Command, while our neutral alignment kept us safe against Unholy Blight. With our L6 spell slots dedicated to Death Spell castings, we did not run PfMW and so had to keep a close eye on any STR drain. For the first pair of these, we burned L5 slots with double Sunfire. It worked, but it lacked finesse.
Skull Traps (including 3x from Spell Sequencer) with Teleport Field, meteors and sunstone bullet finish seemed more apt.
The efreeti had his turn at the steering wheel as well.
Once the ground floor was cleared, we rested and moved on to the upper floor. More necromancy from Daelat.
POV: You’re facing a yuan-ti mage with PfMW, Shield, ProMissiles and MGoI. You have your protections up, including SI:A, SI:Ev and Spell Shield (although why on Earth you keep forgetting about that ProEvil remains a mystery to me) and clear aura. What'd you do?
Take out his MGoI with Spell Thrust? Great idea! Blast him with Sunfire? Of course!
I didn't do either. Instead, I waited and then reluctantly decided to bring in the efreeti, thinking that his Flame Strike could go above the MGoI. Meanwhile, the yuan-ti removed our Spell Shield with Spell Thrust. This is what happened next.
I don't recall if it was me clicking the Fireball or if it was the efreeti's own initiative. If me, then I'm simply dumb. If him, then he's both dumb and smart (by at least recognizing our SI:Ev will prevent friendly fire).
With yuan-ti's telefield, things get even more confusing. We manage to scratch him with Sunfire and make our guaranteed save vs. spell against his Slow.
We both exchange offensive abjuration spells, relying on SI:A to prevent his Remove Magic while our Spell Thrust takes down the MGoI.
Finally, Daelat and the efreeti pummeled him with Magic Missiles to death.
As I said in the beginning, it was a botched fight. Really and truly. At least it served as a sobering reminder that we need to stay much more focused if we want to have the slightest chance of successfully progressing the run any further. Let's get this done.
Glacius' charm was dispelled with Remove Magic.
Did I tell you already how much we liked our Death Spell here?
Despite being immune to Death Spell, Spectral Trolls make reasonably good targets for Chromatic Orb, the poor man's Finger of Death, thanks to their mediocre saving throws (save vs. spell 13).
Fighting SCS Improved Golems is not something we'd specialize in and therefore we renounced taking the treasure from the small chapel (with the exception of the remaining FotA head that we took to complete the weapon). With the door leading to Torgal and his ensamble opened, we decide to turn back, with the promise of returning to finish the job as soon as we have access to Globe of Invulnerability.
We eliminated one final group of trolls outside the keep to conclude our stay here on a positive note and were on our way back to Athkatla where we still had some unfinished business with MaeVar.
Regards,
B.
***
Spellbook (level 14):
L1 - Blindness, Shield, Magic Missile, ProEvil, Chromatic Orb
L2 - Invisibility, MIs, Resist Fear, MAA, Blur
L3 - Skull Trap, MMMs, Remove Magic, Spell Thrust
L4 - II, Stoneskin, Teleport Field, Fireshield: Blue
L5 - Sunfire, Spell Immunity, Spell Shield
L6 - PfMW, Death Spell
L7 - Spell Sequencer
I'm glad you're getting good use out of Death Spell. I've never considered taking it since I tend to evaluate spells based on how they perform in the toughest battles, but it seems to suit Daelat. Interesting choice!
I know that feeling. Had to fetch mine from the Helmites at the Watcher's Keep, as it seems that the latest patch removed those from Mrs Cragmoon as well as Roger the Fence.
Anyway, I'm glad you're enjoying your stay in Athkatla.
Yeah. I was seriously irked when Roger didn't have one in his inventory, lol.