The Spellhold gantlet can be trying at times, but many of the challenges are optional. I take measures to minimize the risk.
The Mind Flayer you summon at the altar for the Ring of Free Action: I buffed the whole party with Chaotic Commands, but the Mind Flayer crumpled in one round.
The Beholder you summon at the same place: Chaotic Commands all over the place, plus the Shield of Balduran on Zulfer and his clone. The Beholder also died in one round, though.
The Spellhold Lich: I didn't actually find this guy. I thought I would, but it was just the normal group: a ranged and melee Skeleton Warrior pair, a Greater Mummy, and a Bone Golem. I had planned on using Fire Seeds, but it proved unnecessary.
Dace Sontan: I didn't even buff with NPP because I was too lazy. He still died really quick. Zulfer and Azelos have lots of damage output with Sanchuudoku and the Tuigan Bow.
The non-disarmable traps on the second level that fire when you try to grab the monster paintings: SI: Evocation and SI: Alteration.
The Ulitharid on the second level: Didn't fight him.
Jon-bon is next. We buff the party with our standard long-duration buffs: Remove Fear, Chaotic Commands, Protection from Evil 10' Radius, Ironskins, Stoneskin, Death Ward on the most important party members, and Protection from Lightning on Viora alone. Viora also drinks an Oil of Speed to make sure she'll be able to outrun any Fallen Planetars we might see. Finally, Yoren Zovai hides the group.
Viora talks to Lonk, since she can vanish in the middle of the next fight, which means we can stay completely hidden from the start of combat.
Irenicus has a lot of buffs, but he's got a critical weakness.
Ruva can bypass Improved Mantle entirely with Darts +5. His spellcasting is shot for the next 5 rounds. While Ruva is busy with Irenicus, Zulfer takes on his own clone.
Because both of them carry Sanchuudoku--I didn't feel like removing our equipment before the fight to weaken the clones--a single hit will lock them in a feedback loop with Acidic Backlash.
They're both immune to acid, and in fact have 125% acid resistance thanks to the Helm of the Rock, but Sanchuudoku also lowers acid resistance, which means Zulfer can slay his clone in two hits--just so long as he doesn't get hit more than once himself. The method works. The clone starts taking damage.
The damage is tiny, but it fires incredibly fast. Unfortunately, even after Zulfer runs away from his opponent to avoid getting his acid resistance lowered, he somehow starts taking damage from the feedback loop. The weird thing is that it happens in chunks. First he takes 10 or 20 damage, and then is safe for a moment, and then he takes about 30 damage, before the damage stops once again.
Then it all hits him at once. Zulfer goes down.
Notice that Irenicus' spell deflection visual has vanished. One of the inmates hit him with a Warding Whip. That doesn't mean much for us, since we don't use many single-target spells, but it does mean we can hit him with a Wand of the Heavens.
With total spell failure active, Irenicus resorts to his sequencers. We catch him before the sequencer even finishes casting.
I use the quick-loot feature to fetch the Shield of Reflection from Dragomir's Respite on Zulfer's body and equip Ruva with the shield to bounce the Flame Arrows back onto Jon-bon. Somehow the effort fails.
That message about Viora using a wand is ominous. Our party has lots of wands, including a Wand of Paralyzation with over 90 charges. Ruva resisted this charge, whatever it was, but I don't know what SCS lets those clones do.
Viora nails Irenicus with the Wand of the Heavens. It doesn't do much, but she doesn't have anything better to do.
A Shadowdancer/Cleric like Viora can turn invisible immediately after using a wand, while a spell would leave her visible for a moment unless it had a casting time of 0.
An unfriendly Remove Magic nearly debuffs our entire party.
I had a Gate spell memorized in case things went wrong, but it doesn't do us much good if not everyone in our party has Protection from Evil active.
Ruva chases after Jon-bon, trying to land a hit with Sanchuudoku, which she is holding in the hopes of having an enemy trigger an Acidic Backlash. Yoren Zovai's clone, which hasn't bothered to buff itself up until now, finally tries to protect itself.
Yoren Zovai is three levels away from being able to learn Spell Trigger. The clones aren't restricted by what spells you have memorized or even what spells you know.
Ruva gets hit by a double Ray of Enfeeblement Minor Sequencer, and fails a save. She's rooted to the ground.
She can still use darts, but it limits her options.
With the area a bit clearer, we can bring in some Spirit Animals to help out. We use only Spirit Wolves, to disrupt Irenicus' spells with cold damage (he's immune to the snakes' poison).
The other inmates start clearing up the clones, while we concentrate on Irenicus.
Irenicus vanishes with a potion, and we have no divination spells memorized. We were reliant on Zulfer to dispel enemy illusions.
To find Jon-bon, we resurrect Zulfer. He can't equip any armor, but he can drink a Potion of Invulnerability.
That takes time, and in between his resurrection and his drinking the potion, many clones get slain by a second Horrid Wilting spell from Wanev. Irenicus is immune to magical damage due to his pre-buffs, but he has been unable to cast any spells from his spellbook because of Ruva's spell failure effect. Irenicus cannot restore his Stoneskins.
He cannot recover if he can't cast any spells. Irenicus hits 1 HP and flees.
After killing Irenicus, Anselm and his party were sent to Hell. There they completed a series of challenges in order to obtain the tears of Bhaal needed to open the door which separated them from Irenicus. During the Hell trials, Anselm gained +2 AC, +2 Constitution, +2 Strenght, +2 to saving throws and+20% resistance to fire, cold and electricity.
On a side note, I'm now pretty sure that it is possible to cheese the Beholder's telekinesis power : Everytime I face them, I send Korgan alone with the Shield of Balduran while my main character is away with the Cloak of Mirroring and everytime the Beholders try to snatch the cloak first, probably because it is more powerful. But because my Blackguard is far enough, their attempt fail, I keep my cloak and they never think about stealing the shield from Korgan as long as the cloak is mine.
I'm not 100% sure about this but it worked for me everytime.
As for the test of selfishness, I wanted to kill Korgan here to replace him by Sarevok later on, but the damned Dwarf didn't get chunked so I was able to resurrect him with Viconia's Mass Raise Dead ability as if nothing happened. Maybe it has something to do with the BG2Tweaks component that reduces the risk of chunking (Playing on Core Rules).
The party also found a Beggar in Hell. Anselm gave him 1 gold before killing him because he is such an ass.
Then it was time for the final battle. They used everything at their disposal to increase their might, every potions, scrolls and spells available.
Anselm turned out to become a very scary warrior.
Hexxat placed 7 Spike Traps around the door and a few Skeletons Warriors + Elementals were summoned.
As soon as the fight started, every fiends instantly casted Remove Magic on the party, nullifying most of their efforts and spells while Irenicus, turned into the Slayer, was casting an alteration spell, probably a Time Stop.
Edwin used a Haste spell to help the party to retreat to the south. They lured the Balor into the traps they prepared which proved fatal for it while the summons were used as a distraction to help them escape.
Irenicus finished the casting of his Time Stop, used a Spell Sequencer and proceeded to destroy the Skeletons Warriors, hopefully the party was out of his line of sight at this moment.
But now I knew that Irenicus was likely to attack his enemies directly during a Time Stop, which could be extremely bad for Anselm. Soon after, he followed them and started to cast another Time Stop, Anselm and Korgan used Hardiness in order to survive the onslaught while Edwin was also casting his own Time Stop. The Red Wizard finished to cast his spell first, thanks to the Robe of Vecna. He used both his Spell Trigger and his Spell Sequencer to massively buff himself and the party, then he casted Mass Invisibility just before Irenicus could finish.
What a relieve to see that Irenicus was unable to see through the Mass Invisibility, confused, he wandered for a round or two doing nothing before casting PfMW. His Time Stop ended, Viconia successfully casted True Sight and Edwin stopped time again.
Edwin destroyed all his protections during the Time Stop with a combination of Spellstrike, Warding Whip and Breach.
Irenicus was now defenseless, he didn't have any Contingency or Sequencers available and was left without any protections or illusions. Korgan and Hexxat rushed him, Dorn attacked him from range. Dorn and Korgan both used Greater Whirlwind Attack while Viconia casted Implosion.
Edwin casted another Time Stop, blasted him with Dragon's Breath + Comet. Irenicus's Fallen Planetar casted Heal on him to bring him back to Uninjured but Anselm, Dorn, Korgan, Hexxat, Edwin and Viconia were dealing so much damage to him that he died instantly after getting healed.
Jon Irenicus was defeated!
During the short cutscene, Korgan managed to slay the Fallen Planetar for 20,000 more XP, then Ellesime congratulated Anselm and his group, despite what he did in the past and his reputation.
Congratulations from me as well @Gotural, beating SoA in an SS no-reload run is awesome!
Gerland of Candlekeep, NG Half-Elf Skald, 7th BG1 report
1 Nightal, 1368 After our escape from Candlekeep we eventually decided to travel to Durlag's Tower first. We've just arrived at the tower. Our journey here was quite eventful. In a spider-ridden area on the eastern outskirts of the Wood of Sharp Teeth we slew four Red Wizards with fire.
At the Ulcaster School ruins we defeated an evil undead creature called Icharyd,
as well as the Wolf of Ulcaster and its pack.
We also survived a Basilisk ambush.
2 Nightal, 1368 It seems the tower contains several underground levels. We've just cleared the first underground level. Its most prominent dangers were the ubiquitous traps (competently disarmed by invisible Alora), Greater Doppelgangers (thankfully we already had experience fighting them, from our work in Baldur's Gate), Skeleton Warriors, and four very powerful Warders that guarded the entrance to the next level. The Warders themselves warned us that they would attack us as soon as we were to complete a number of riddles. Thanks to this warning Alora placed several traps near the one closest to our escape route ('Love'). We then fought two of the Warders one after the other, taking advantage of the vast space and the many corridors on this floor.
The other two Warders stayed close together, as if they understood their chances of stopping us were better that way. Kivan, Ajantis (buffed with a giant strength potion), and I (singing most of the time), eventually bested the the two with sheer physical force.
We're going to rest now, and sell some loot to Erdane, a fence with a shop near the entrance to the tower, and will proceed to the next level tomorrow.
3 Nightal, 1368 The second level offered more snares, more Doppelgangers (this time taking the shape of Durlag and his family), and more Dwarven guards. The difference with the previous level was that special rune stones would open and lock several doors at a time. We took care not to get trapped, and eventually managed to open all the doors. The Dwarven guardians, Doom Guards, weren't as tough as the Warders on the previous level. Two of them did drop suits of full plate mail armor, welcome back-up armor for Ajantis after his unexpected armor breakage at the Ice Island.
We move on, to the third and who knows final level.
5 Nightal, 1368 The tower's third underground level was a lot less complex in its design than the second level, but it was no less dangerous. We entered the level facing a fountain that cast repeating fireballs. To our right there was a massive hall containing the carcass of a huge dragon. Three Greater Wyverns roamed free there. Even with buffs, with my song and with his immunity to poison Ajantis had great difficulty tanking these powerful creatures. We ended up slaying the beasts with ranged weaponry.
Opposite the hall was a topiary inhabited by nasty backstabbing Ashirukurus and Greater Ghouls. It also held several snares, that ever reliable Alora disarmed without incident. We cleared the area and entered a corridor that connected the topiary and the hall with the dragon. It led to four separate chambers that contained a challenge each, related to the elements. We slew a Polar Bear and two Winter Wolves, a Slime with fire magics,
an Air Aspect and its Invisble Stalker minions, and two Phoenix Guards.
After we completed the last challenge some invisible , higher force took us to a chessboard where we had to defeat a war party in order to proceed to the next level. Since they didn't play by the rules, neither did we. Kivan dispelled their King's protections, and the others all attacked him with missiles and magic until he fell.
[Due to a fairly common SCS bug the party didn't get teleported to the chessboard, so I used a console command to move the party there. Their position in the above screenshot is the point where they arrived.] Having 'won' the game, we gained access to the next level.
7 Nightal, 1368 Our business at the tower is done. The fourth and lowest level held relatively few traps and challenges (a couple of snares, more undead, and two Helmed Horrors). We solved three riddles about Durlag's past, which opened a door to small room where we encountered a wounded adventurer. She warned us of the grave danger that awaited us in the adjacent room, a Demon Knight, and advised against fighting it. We ignored the woman's advice, buffed with strength potions and oils of speed, and exposed the creature to a barrage of missiles. It did not withstand the onslaught.
All in all this excursion has been a profitable venture. It's yielded us several useful goods (Arla's Dragonbone Sling for Dynaheir, Kiel's Helmet as an instant anti-fear item, Bala's Wizard Slayer Axe, and several scrolls, wands and potions). Other valuables we sold to Erdane. We shall now return to Ulgoth's Beard. A Dwarf named Hurgan asked us to retrieve his Soultaker dagger, and it just so happens we took that dagger from the Demon Knight.
14 Nightal, 1368 Upon our return to Ulgoth's Beard we were received by a hostile cult that had somehow learned of our exploits at Durlag's Tower. What followed was a Chaos, literally. I lost my mind quite early on, when a wizard somehow targeted me with a Chaos spell even though I was invisible. I can't remember much of what happened next. All I know is that I wandered off and killed an innocent woman.
I also attacked a rogue, a fellow named Ike. When Kivan saw him go hostile, the Elf felled him with an acid arrow. When I came to my senses again I saw the first wave of cultists defeated by my companions. I insisted we traveled to the FAI to repent for what had happened. I know I didn't consciously kill an innocent, but it was still my hammer, in my hand that took the life of a wife and a mother. I felt terrible. In the end we decided together it would be best to end what we had started, and get rid of the evil cult. We battled more cultists in front of their base, an inconspicuous stable or storehouse, and inside it.
Both Alora and Kivan suffered serious injuries at the hands of Assassins.
And a wizard chose me as his target.
Healing potions kept us going. Kivan dispelled the wizard's protections, and we prevailed.
In the cultists' base we descended a stairway where we found more cultists as well as the object of their devotion, a Tanar'ri. Our battle began well with Dynaheir surprising me as as she slew the cult leader, a female wizard, with a devastating attack with her sling.
The other cultists were stationary, under the fiend's control, but still hard to kill. We had to kill them first though, or the Tanar'ri would simply use them to reappear whenever we defeated it. This bought the fiend a lot of time to remove our buffs, and to attempt to paralyze us and curse us with its death gaze. What I'm going to write now brings tears to my eyes. Alora saw herself exposed to the fiend's death gaze. Both Dynaheir and I tried to save her with castings of Remove Curse and Dispel Magic, but somehow our magics were ineffective.
Alora, brave and noble girl, she told us to look after ourselves, and she added she would continue to fight for us for as long as she could. All she asked for was a quick and merciful release from undeath. Kivan and Ajantis occupied themselves with individual cultists, while Dynaheir, Imoen, Alora and I tried to take down several of the cultists at the same time with Fireballs.
Moments later, there were still two cultists we had to dispatch, the fiend paralyzed me and poor Alora turned into a filthy Ghast, a fate crueler than death. My Stoneskins and a Remove Paralysis cast by my beloved Dynaheir (who risked her neck being under attack by the Ghast) saved me from the Tanar'ri.
Dynaheir then granted Alora's wish as the rest of us dealt with the remaining cult guards.
Once the fiend was no longer protected by the other cultists it proved vulnerable. Its death gaze failed to affect me,
and we banished the demon with overwhelming physical force.
Alora has been avenged but that doesn't seem to make me feel any better.
I don't pre-buff for the fighter with the slaver pirates in Brynnlaw, so Azelos ends up confused and with a ranged weapon in the midst of innocents. She sets her sights on a local fishwife.
The attack roll has already been made. The poor woman is doomed.
Oddly enough, we don't lose any reputation, though another bystander nearby turns hostile. Apparently word in Brynnlaw doesn't carry far enough to damage your reputation. Either that, or that fishwife was actually an evil doppelganger.
I don't know if the other local folks are innocents or not (being flagged as innocent makes their death count as a murder), so it worries me when our summons start attacking people, out of our field of vision.
I don't think to simply click 0 to select everyone, including the animals, and order them to do something other than attack. Instead, I simply rest, despawning the Spirit Animals and keeping them from hurting anybody.
I put up some limited buffs before getting onto Desharik's ship. No time passes in between leaving Brynnlaw and getting shanghaied by the Githyanki, which means a Chaotic Commands spell can keep Viora from getting disabled by Mind Blast. Even though the rest of the party gets confused or knocked out, Viora can run to the northeast end of the ship, and therefore trigger the next cutscene leading to City Sushi.
I have Viora wear the Ring of Free Action for the duration of our stay with the Sahuagin, even though I already checked earlier and found that Free Action doesn't protect against stun effects like you see from Sahuagin bolts. Thankfully, I also keep her buffed with Chaotic Commands just in case. With the whole party protected against stun, only Bolts of Biting pose a credible threat, and we only need to cast Slow Poison twice to keep the party at full health.
By now, Viora is at level 15, and so her Skeleton Warriors are considerably stronger. EE Animate Dead offers different progression than in vanilla: it only ever summons one skeleton, and below level 15, the strength of the skeleton and its MR scale with level. But the level 15 Skeleton Warrior is just as strong as in vanilla, with the full 90 magic resistance.
The elemental portals aren't too tough for our party at this point.
The drow are stronger. Due to their low AC, Zulfer has trouble poisoning the clerics at range. He still has the feedback loop against the drow wizards, though. With the Helm of the Rock and the Dragonscale Shield, he only needs one spell to become immune to both forms of Fire Shield. Then, a Secret Word from Yoren Zovai renders the first drow mage vulnerable to Acidic Backlash.
Despite the whole party being buffed with Chaotic Commands, the drow clerics spam useless disablers.
Zulfer gets debuffed, but it just takes a short trip back to Laosha, our Totemic Druid, in order to restore his defenses.
A feedback loop against an Efreeti's Fire Shield fails to kill it, and after it fades into mist and regenerates itself, it flanks us and strikes with a Fireball, costing us a spell. Zulfer hurries over to slay it with another feedback loop.
He then brings down the other drow mage with the same trick. It's quite fun.
The clerics leave behind a cluster of undead summons when they go away. Curiously, Viora can't turn a single one, despite being level 16, and therefore 5 levels over the strongest of them.
Apparently Skeleton Warriors summoned by Animate Dead are immune to turning.
We go get the Myconids, but can't trigger the Mind Flayer ambush. We proceed to the imprisonment sphere.
I don't bother summoning Alchra Diagott. He's not worth the risk; unlike the Shade and Elemental Liches, he need not be defeated to finish any quest. I just fight the other ones. Riti, the Githyanki with the Backbiter spear, dies to poison; Raelivin Strathi explodes when an Aerial Servant hits him before his Stoneskins go up.
The other drow ambush appears to have no mages. Zulfer solos the encounter.
The Balor dies pretty quick. It has excellent stats, strong spells, and a slay effect on hit (for which we have Death Ward, thankfully), but its Aura of Flaming Death makes it terribly vulnerable to a feedback loop.
It dispels the immunity to fire on Zulfer and his clone, but the two of them did enough damage to bring the Balor to Near Death, letting Azelos deliver the final blow.
Once I get some blood from the Kuo-toa Prince, I can begin the Ust Natha questline. Lots of XP, but some a handful of major threats.
We muscle our way through the Kuo-toa. Zulfer, Azelos, and Viora's Skeleton Warriors do most of the heavy lifting, with Poison Weapon to block enemy spells. The Demon Knights collapse within a few rounds thanks to some high-level thief traps and our fighters under Improved Haste.
I don't bother with the Mind Flayer city or Beholder hive; I can do those later at a higher level. With the Kuo-toa Prince's blood in hand, we enter Ust Natha. We buy everything we need from the three vendors at the entrance to the city before doing anything else, in case we muck something up and have to leave early.
On the way to rescue Phaere, we cast Invisibility 10' Radius after buffing the party.
This lets us sneak past N'ashtar and his friends, so that we fight the Mind Flayers at full strength.
A pre-cast Teleport Field scatters the Mind Flayers. With everyone under haste and a collection of Skeleton Warriors to help out, the Mind Flayers don't last long.
In my install, Mind Flayers don't get the Tactics-style 50% damage resistances, but they can see through invisibility.
Viora leads our summons over to fight N'ashtar and the rest.
After a Death Spell clears out our summons, we bring out some new summons and rush the enemy again. Zulfer's poison works its magic.
Boz hits hard and can be a big issue, but he doesn't get many chances to make attack rolls before he explodes.
On the way to the svirfneblin helmet fetch quest, we trigger the Mind Flayer attack near the Myconid area. I thought they might show up, so I enter the fight with everyone immune to psionics.
Once Mind Flayers break their invisibility, they're not hard to kill. When I go back to the Mind Flayer city later on, I will have to remember to buff with Potions of Genius before the fight... I have a bad habit of hoarding those potions, even though they're so common and so helpful.
I do drink a Potion of Genius, however, before speaking with the Aboleth. I'm pretty sure you only need high Wisdom to get out of killing Qilue, but I'd like to be sure.
On one of our days off, we have Zulfer do all of the gladiator fights in the tavern. Chaotic Commands protects him from the Nabassu and the Shield of Balduran helps with the Beholder.
On the way back to Phaere near the end of the questline, we have to deal with Taso Kala, who forces you to kill a group of Ghaunadar priests within 1 hour, or else you will turn the city hostile. I always approach her while invisible.
I also always talk-block her whenever she's around, to make sure she doesn't interrupt us. But I hate having to worry over her presence all the time. I decide to remove the annoyance so I don't have to think about her.
The only fight left is the fight with the two Egg Guards at the entrance to the Despana treasury. If you let them live too long, they'll alert the entire city, and the only way you can get out is by slaying Matron Mother Ardulace herself, an epic-level cleric with high magic resistance and high-level respawning allies.
They don't have much HP, so a backstab can bring them down. But Ruva has pretty weak THAC0, and luck is never reliable in a no-reload run.
The Egg Guards go hostile, but die an instant later to trap damage and a few strikes that preceded them.
We can snatch the Dragon Eggs and replace them with Phaere's copies without fighting the golems by using stealth.
I find a key I don't recognize. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be for.
An EE quest of some sort? I never saw this key in vanilla.
Before escaping the city, I haste the party and turn it invisible.
If you ever do get caught on the way out, SCS can throw some very dangerous drow parties at you, and the drow keep coming round after round. If you're unlucky, even invisibility couldn't let you escape, as the drow can block the walkways and use divination magic to reveal you. Teleport Field is a good solution for getting boxed in, but in our case it wasn't necessary.
I turn the party invisible before speaking to Adalon. I want to make sure we can escape when she teleports us right on top of the drow pack by the exit to the surface. That group, however, includes a pair of Glabrezus, who can see through invisibility. They can re-cast disablers indefinitely; they never run out.
That's why Chaotic Commands prebuffs are so important. Confusion is bad enough, but Glabrezus in SCS also cast Power Word: Stun, which can only be stopped by Chaotic Commands, Berserker rage, and the Sword of Arvoreen. PW: Stun is a potential game breaker, especially for solo runs.
The Glabrezus don't pursue us for long, however. Adalon keeps fighting the drow, who refuse to fight back.
Laosha casts Farsight so we can send up our first group of summons without getting attacked ourselves.
But the Glabrezus wander over and find us anyway, and when Zulfer goes out to handle them, he loses his Chaotic Commands buff.
He loses more buffs and even gets slowed, a Glabrezu teleports to our more vulnerable party members, and a golem joins the fight, but Detect Illusions cuts through their Mirror Image spells and lets us bring them down before they get a chance to hit Zulfer with PW: Stun.
After sending out our summons to bother the drow, I haste Zulfer to counter his slow effect and send him out to poison the enemy.
Poison Weapon is just not fair.
The enemy Efreeti fades into mist, escaping death, but apparently Sanchuudoku can lower its acid resistance even in mist form, meaning we can damage the Efreeti when it's normally invulnerable.
It ends up dying to a feedback loop rather than dying in mist form, but it's an interesting finding. Before I move on, I hide the party once more.
I don't like fighting the next few groups of drow. I prefer to just get out of the Underdark.
On the way out, we make friends with Drizzt and get him to agree to put himself in mortal peril for our convenience.
Back in Athkatla, Kruin, the Githyanki Wild Mage who attacks if you don't give him the Silver Sword blade, teleports in to demand his prize. Since I always jump around with CLTR-J, he appears near Mira instead of at the edge of the map (where I assume he normally appears).
We're invisible when he shows up, so I take the time to buff the party a bit, just enough to make sure Viora doesn't get disabled or slain. Zulfer breaks his invisibility to start the fight, as he's our standard tank.
Normally I let the Githyanki keep the sword, but for once I'd like to forge it. Zulfer's poison spells Kruin's doom, but he gets mazed in the process by some of Kruin's friends, who arrive late to the fight.
More Githyanki approach. Viora hurries to the side while Laosha calls in his Spirit Animals and Ruva uses her darts on an enemy mage, whom I identify by his MGOI spell. Yoren Zovai casts Project Image for some extra castings of Improved Haste.
I've been shying away from Project Image for several runs, but this time I'd like to try it again.
Ruva struggles to land more than one hit on her target using darts--her THAC0 isn't good enough, even with 8 APR due to Yoren Zovai's clone's Improved Haste spell. I have her switch to Bala's Axe. Greater Malison helps us net a failed save on Ruva's target.
One failed save against Bala's Axe and an enemy mage is ruined. 80% spell failure for 100 seconds is more than enough; Ruva can ignore him and focus on the other enemies.
We clear up the Githyanki, only to see more messages in the dialog box showing Amnish soldiers fighting Githyanki. I find the rest up north, and once Zulfer weathers the next Psionic Maze spell coming his way, he finishes off the Githyanki.
We forge the Silver Sword. Only one party members has any pips in it, Azelos, our Archer, but at level 16 she still has 2 APR with it at -2 THAC0, which is okay. I do still regret not having invested some pips in two-handed swords for Zulfer and Ruva, as they are Chaotic Neutral and can therefore use the Unholy Reaver, where good-aligned rangers like Azelos cannot touch it.
Now that Azelos is level 16, she can summon a level 8 simulacrum via Vhailor's Helm. She couldn't do this a level ago, as single-class simulacra are at 50% of the caster's level, not 60%, and EE clones are immune to Restoration. This means both Azelos and her clone can penalize saves vs. spell using Called Shot.
Called Shot allows us to guarantee failed saves against certain spells and spell effects. We haven't used this much in this run, but it has great potential. Most importantly at this stage of the game, it lets us guarantee a failed save against Feeblemind on a dragon.
It's time to take on Firkraag and Thaxll'ssillyia.
Firkraag is the easier target despite his higher HP, as it's harder to get immunity to level drain than it is to get immunity to fire. We need to hit Firkraag as many times as possible with Called Shot, but Azelos' level 8 clone isn't very accurate, with -2 THAC0 to Firkraag's -12 AC. How do we improve that?
Champion's Strength isn't a very impressive spell. It grants 18/00 STR and +1 THAC0 per three levels, and lasts quite long, but it also completely shuts down the caster's spellcasting. And nearly 60 rounds of disabled spellcasting is not acceptable for this fight or any fight.
The neat thing about Champion's Strength, though, is that you can dispel the effect that disables your spellcasting. One arrow from Azelos' clone, and Viora is free to use her spells again.
The plan is to lower Firkraag's MR with the Magic Resistance spell and then a charge from the Wand of Spell Striking, which together will drop his MR to 16. After he gets hit 12 times with Called Shot, he will automatically fail a save vs. Feeblemind, and only his MR can stop the spell.
Viora runs in to cast Magic Resistance, but she gets warded off by a Remove Magic sequencer, and runs away to let Zulfer take the hit.
I don't trust Viora to successfully cast that spell if Firkraag is hostile; I only deemed it safe because he was neutral. I proceed without it.
I accidentally hit Firkraag with an Arrow of Dispelling; Azelos' clone was supposed to be using Arrows +3 for the extra THAC0.
Those arrows could have dispelled a successful Feeblemind.
I used Project Image to conserve castings of Improved Haste, but this means Yoren Zovai cannot use the Wand of Spell Striking to lower Firkraag's MR, as clones cannot use quick slot items in my install. Our Feeblemind spells therefore have to fight against Firkraag's full 65 MR.
They fail. But Firkraag is taking a lot more damage than I thought he would.
I try once more to Feeblemind Firkraag. His MR is a solid barrier.
But he's been dealing with Arrows of Biting at 19 attacks per round, and a poison Sanchuudoku at 6 attacks per round, at subzero THAC0. Not even Firkraag can stand up to that for long.
Carsomyr is ours! What a shame our Wizard Slayer/Thief never put any pips in two-handed swords.
Thaxll'ssillyia's breath weapon blinds the target and drains levels even on a successful save. We can't keep the whole party protected with Negative Plane Protection spell unless we have Viora and Laosha running around the map at all times, putting themselves in danger. The solution?
A Limited Wish scroll, from Yoren Zovai.
We have a spare scroll, but otherwise we've only got 5 rounds of immunity to level drain.
Thaxll'ssillyia has a truly chilling attack dialog.
The only more alarming line comes from the Warden of the Planar Prison. They are truly vicious critters.
To my dismay, Thaxll'ssillyia casts Remove Magic while Viora is in the middle of casting her Magic Resistance spell.
I decide to let her stay there. It will guarantee she loses her buffs, but she will be able to lower the dragon's MR in the process.
I'm wrong on both counts.
She loses the spell but keeps her buffs. Notice the message at the top of the box: Yoren Zovai has hit Thaxll'ssillyia with the Wand of Spell Striking. That wand functions as a Pierce Magic spell cast at level 20, and therefore lowers MR by 20, but there is no string to display this. Only the "Spell Protections Removed" line, and a visual effect a moment later, let me know the wand has hit.
The dragon lets Viora run away. To my surprise, he actually uses his breath weapon, on the only critter on the map that wasn't immune to level drain.
Yoren Zovai flings off a Feeblemind spell. The lowered MR and Called Shot penalties make the difference. Thaxll'ssillyia fails his save.
You can tell because of the faint yellow glow that persists for a single second after the spell hits. The dragon is helpless. We hasten its demise with poison effects.
Now it's time to take on the Twisted Rune.
With a scroll of Protection from Undead (which I don't think is even necessary, since Shangalar and Shyressa can't see through invisibility last I played this fight) and Hide in Plain Sight, Viora can take down the undead, and with the Shield of Balduran and Poison Weapon, Zulfer should be able to take down Vaxall the Beholder and Layenne.
Viora drinks an Oil of Speed, two Potions of Magic Protection, and uses a scroll of Protection from Undead along with all her other normal buffs before approaching Shangalar's platform in the center of the main chamber.
Shangalar can't see her and won't initiate dialogue despite her being nearby, unlike many characters. Eventually, he just turns hostile, triggering a Horrid Wilting Chain Contingency that cannot reach Viora.
I see him casting a conjuration spell. I know better than to stick around to see what it is. I know what it is.
I wait there until the Planetar goes away. I take the time to have Yoren Zovai and Laosha buff themselves up a teensy bit.
When I go back out into the open, Shangalar is still alone. The other enemies have yet to spawn in.
You can't get the Staff of the Magi without Layenne here, and you can't even escape the place unless you take Vaxall's eye. We need those enemies to spawn. I break Viora's invisibility to start Shangalar's attack dialogue.
Shangalar still will not speak. He just casts Gate.
Apparently the Twisted Rune won't begin properly unless you have at least one visible character for Shangalar to talk to. I decide to reload and try again, this time without invisibility and Protection from Undead pre-buffs.
I went back for the Twisted Rune. It did not go like I expected.
The basic strategy is similar to do what I did in my old Nightmare mode run, replacing Hide With No Sight with Hide in Plain Sight. We hide most of the party in the stairway to the southwest, Viora pushes Shangalar away with Repulse Undead to keep them safe, and then Viora slays Shangalar and Shyressa with stealth and the Mace of Disruption, with the Boots of Speed and an Oil of Speed to help her escape from any Fallen Planetars that may come out. We then slay Layenne with poison, Vaxall with a melee rush, and are left with Revanek alone.
It starts out all right. Shangalar begins the fight normally.
In retrospect, I probably could have gotten this to happen the first time around by simply dispelling Viora's Protection from Undead. Whatever.
Shangalar teleports to his normal spot in the southwest. Viora casts Repulse Undead.
But Shangalar will not move. He should have been pushed into the other room, away from the rest of the party.
Shangalar knows we're here. He summons a Fallen Planetar to seek us out.
I send Viora to the east to avoid the Planetar's vorpal strikes. Finally, Repulse Undead affects Shangalar, but because Viora is to the east, it pushes Shangalar to the west, right into the party's midst. Viora is safe, but both Shangalar and the Fallen Planetar are targeting the party.
Vorpal strikes in SCS offer a save vs. death at -2 to avoid getting chunked. A Potion of Invulnerability can help prevent that, I think (it's possible it does nothing, because the dispel effect on hit may remove the save bonuses before applying the vorpal strike effect), but only two characters can drink one, because Ruva is a Wizard Slayer/Thief without Use Any Item.
The Planetar changes targets. We adapt.
The Planetar goes for the weakest link.
We try to bring down the Planetar as fast as possible to avoid getting chunked. Meanwhile, Shangalar compounds the problem with yet another enemy that can see through our invisibility.
With a little work, I've gotten Ruva behind the other characters so the Planetar can't attack our most vulnerable member, but Yoren Zovai's Teleport Field reverses our efforts. Ruva is once again in danger.
Zulfer gets hit. He survives the vorpal strike, but his Potions of Invulnerability is dispelled, along with his +5 to saves. He replaces it.
To the east, Viora gets to work on Shyressa. If she fails a save vs. death, the Mace of Disruption will destroy her in a single shot. She makes the save--she has a habit of surviving this attack.
I'm very worried about the situation to the west, but I have to make sure Viora isn't wasting time, even if her situation isn't as dire.
Shangalar, protected by PFMW, can get any spell off the ground without fear of disruption. He throws out his worst spells.
A Dragon's Breath spell is on the way, and even if we could run away from the area of effect, it would bring the party into the sights of a Beholder, a second epic-level mage, a vampire, and a high-level fighter, as well as lure the Fallen Planetar over to Viora. We have to weather the attack. I have everyone drink a Potion of Fire Resistance.
The Pit Fiend has the perfect counter.
We're right about to get hit by the most damaging spell in the saga besides the scorcher loop, our resistances are shot, and our auras aren't clear enough for everyone to heal themselves after the spell hits.
I'm surprised Yoren Zovai didn't get chunked by that spell. She barely survives. Worse yet, the Planetar recovers.
It will be around for a while longer.
Shangalar sets off a Comet spell. Our auras aren't clear. We have no means of stopping this.
Laosha is dead, and Yoren Zovai has been chunked once again. Another 1 million XP wiped out.
Viora keeps working on Shyressa. A moment of visibility costs her her buffs. Vaxall responds quickly to threats.
To the west, the party is struggling along. I have little hopes for their success, but killing the Planetar would at least ensure no one else gets chunked.
Layenne wastes a spell.
Apparently time Stop impacts the stealth timer. Viora ends up fully visible even while using stealth. She has a 6-second window before she can hide again.
But because Yoren Zovai got chunked, and she was holding the Potion Bag when she died and left the party, the Potion Bag, like any container or quest item, get transported to Viora's inventory, allowing her to grab a Potion of Invisibility and escape.
Ruva goes down, but she does not get chunked.
I get a message indicating Vaxall has stolen the SOB, but it's still in Viora's inventory when I check.
I have her drop it for a few seconds in the hopes that it sticks around. It does.
Zulfer is in trouble. He's nearly dead and the Planetar can hit for more than 20 damage per hit. He could get chunked even without a vorpal strike.
He could try and recover with a potion, but it's far more important to prevent chunking, and there is a way Zulfer can avoid that. He decides to commit suicide from a minor damage source rather than risk getting chunked.
Azelos follows after. She survives the vorpal strikes, but not the damage.
While the Fallen Planetar is away, Viora takes the time to protect herself. She drinks another two Potions of Magic Protection and then re-casts her normal buffs before waiting out the Fallen Planetar's duration.
Viora is alone but safe. It's time to bring down Shangalar.
The Pit Fiend, unfortunately, is still around, and it's no minor threat. It wipes out Viora's buffs and comes after her. Layenne loses a Contingency when Viora goes visible.
The Pit Fiend follows up with a Symbol, Fear spell. The only sure counter we have is a Potion of Clarity or a Potion of Magic Shielding. We pick the former option, as it's useful for fewer occasions and therefore costs less.
Viora keeps running from the Pit Fiend, but it's hard to figure out where it is, since it keeps turning invisible. Another Remove Magic dispels Viora's immunity to fear, and the visibility costs the enemy another major defensive spell.
Another Symbol, Fear comes our way. Viora downs our last Potion of Clarity.
She keeps running. Finally, the Pit Fiend goes away.
She tries to kill Shangalar with the Mace of Disruption, but he makes his save. When he starts casting a new conjuration spell, I have her run away. It's not as bad as I feared, but I still have to stay away until it's gone, as it, too, can see through invisibility.
When it becomes clear the demon isn't coming our way, I have Viora use the free rounds to strengthen herself a little.
The demon vanishes. The fight can resume.
We attack Shangalar again, but Viora goes visible before she can make an attack roll. Layenne wastes more defensive spells.
The Boots of Speed are to blame for the failed attack. The Boots of Speed apply a haste effect that only impacts movement, but not APR (except in vanilla, where it can round up APR if it's a fraction). This influences the timers for stealth, but does not hasten attacks, and so it's possible for the stealth timer to expire before you can make an attack roll if you only have 1 APR.
I take off the Boots of Speed to solve the problem. Finally, we bring down Shangalar.
Shyressa has gone invisible and must be revealed before we can hit her with the Mace of Disruption. I filch the Book of Daily Spell from Dragomir's Respite.
I used the Wand of Lightning trick to duplicate the Book of Daily Spell. I don't like ending up with the Burning Hands page, so duplicating it lets me reduce the chance to just above 10%.
Shyressa still makes her save.
SCS enemies run away if you're invisible nearby them, and it takes time for them to stop. Viora only gets a few chances to land a hit, and each time, Shyressa makes her save. I don't want to use extra copies of the Book of Daily Spell if I don't have to, so I erase a couple spells from my spellbook and memorize two copies of True Seeing instead. I can't rest to get those spells back, but Wondrous Recall will work.
I accidentally let Viora go visible in Vaxall's and Revanek's sight. It costs her a fair amount of health and all of her buffs, but she can still escape.
Layenne wastes yet another excellent spell. Even SCS enemies have trouble handling incessant invisibility.
When all else fails, they bring out summons that can see through invisibility. We're not out of the woods yet.
Azelos always carried our Oil of Speed potions until Zulfer took them over not too long ago. Viora has to dash over to the bodies of her friends in order to grab an Oil of Speed. Without it, she can't reliably outrun the Planetar.
I run around the table in circles until the Planetar goes away.
My attempts to slay Shyressa have failed. After three True Seeing spells, I don't think this should continue. Viora brings out the Rod of Resurrection and raises Zulfer, who promptly drinks a Potion of Invisibility.
We bring Zulfer over to his equipment and get him properly fitted. Zulfer, like Ruva, has 100 in Detect Illusions. Shyressa cannot hide from Zulfer.
Zulfer can hit much faster and more reliably than Viora, but every miss would cost us a Potion of Invisibility. I let Viora keep attacking Shyressa. Layenne spots Viora and tries to bring her down. But her spell is easy to dodge.
Layenne begins casting a divination spell. Viora's Cloak of Non-Detection can keep her hidden, but Zulfer is reliant on Potions of Invisibility, which could only be protected by SI: Divination. I send him running to the far east so no one will spot him when he turns visible.
Shyressa still sees him and summons a couple of Dread Wolves. Zulfer's spot at the east is compromised.
He seeks out a safer position in the stairway to the southwest, losing another Potion of Invisibility but escaping the attention of the enemy.
When Layenne's True Sight runs out, Zulfer casts Poison Weapon and equips the Shield of Balduran and Darts of Wounding. He starts working on Vaxall, drinking a Potion of Invisibility when Revanek hurts him too much. Vaxall goes down.
Zulfer goes invisible once more. I try my hand at Shyressa again. No such luck.
I switch gears. Zulfer uses Poison Weapon again, leaving him with only one casting, and flings a Dart of Wounding at Layenne. She fails two saves vs. death in a row.
She can't get any spells off the ground, and her HP isn't high enough to survive for long. Layenne goes down, leaving Shyressa and Revanek.
Zulfer cuts down Revanek with Sanchuudoku, while Viora brings back Laosha with the Rod of Resurrection. Laosha hauls out all three of his Spirit Animals to help deal with Shyressa.
Shyressa turns into a bat, which removes her circle and makes it impossible to box her in. It also makes her impossible to target. Only our summons can keep attacking her. Due to a minor bug, she gets stuck in the wall and cannot escape. She attacks Zulfer in bat form, triggering Acidic Backlashes.
This goes on for quite some time. As a vampire, Shyressa regenerates, so this minimal damage is slow to wear her down. An Efreeti hastens the process with Fireball. Finally, Shyressa expires.
I raise the rest of the party and gather our stuff. The Staff of the Magi is ours, but at the cost of our sorcerer and the 1 million XP we invested in her since re-creating her.
After much consideration, I finally decide not to replace Yoren Zovai with a Conjurer, Conjurer->Fighter, Shapeshifter, Shapeshifter->Fighter, Avenger->Fighter, or Haer'dalis. Instead I just re-create Yoren Zovai once again. Since I misspelled her name on the second creation by accident, I misspell her name on the third creation on purpose. She is now Yorin Zovai.
I considered those other options because I wanted somebody who could at least partially carry their weight in the near term, and I did not want to wait a million XP to get Improved Haste back. It's never fun to play characters that are underpowered for long periods of time. But I decided to re-create our sorcerer in the awareness that, in the long run, I would do better with somebody with mage HLAs.
I decided much earlier in this run that I would complete all of the SoA quests I normally skip due to difficulty concerns. I rarely take on the Twisted Rune, Kangaxx, or the Mind Flayer city in no-reload runs, but I've gotten tired of avoiding those fights. That's why I took on the Twisted Rune--I didn't really care about the Staff of the Magi; I just wanted to kill Shangalar and the others.
And one of the fights I most often avoid due to difficulty is the lich in the Crooked Crane. I basically never get Daystar. The logic is that the fight is too much risk to get that sword. People have suggested using Daystar against the lich, but liches have saves vs. spell of 1, which means the instant death effect will not work, and SCS liches come pre-buffed with Protection from Fire, which means the fire damage would do nothing to them. Also, it's an extremely cramped area, which means we have nowhere to flee if a Planetar appears, the exit is blocked (if my memory is correct) until the lich is dead and therefore we cannot run away if things go bad, we can't bring out any summons before the fight because we enter from a separate area, and I've seen that lich summon high-level clones.
It's entirely possible to kill the lich by talk-blocking him. But I don't want to do that. I want to win this fight without tricks, if I can help it. How am I going to do this?
Holy Word can be blocked by magic resistance, but liches have no magic resistance; they only have spell level immunities, which Holy Word bypasses. Holy Word deafens high-level evil critters, which means a guaranteed 50% spell failure.
This stacks. In two castings, Viora can shut down the lich's spellcasting for 10 rounds.
But this leaves the lich with only 50% spell failure on the first round, and it only takes half a round to cast Summon Fallen Planetar. We need Fire Seeds from Ruva and her clone, against a Flesh Golem summoned by Yorin Zovai, to stay truly safe.
I also have Zulfer try casting Sunray via the Helm of Brilliance, but it has no effect. Right before it hits, I realize I've made a mistake.
A Horrid Wilting Chain Contingency. I decided against having Viora drink a couple Potions of Magic Protection for 100 MR, and I forgot to have her equip the Belt of Inertial Barrier instead of the Girdle of Fortitude. Had Viora failed her save, she likely would have died. That would have been a horrible way to end the run.
Ruva hits the Flesh Golem with Fire Seeds. I don't know if her spell failure stacks with the 50% spell failure from Holy Word, but we need as much spell failure as we can get. As always, the Flesh Golem is immune to Fire Seeds thanks to its 100 MR.
Bad news. The lich gets a spell off the ground. A big one.
I've had the sound off for several days, so I can't hear incantations; I can only see spells coming by the visual effects. I don't know what the lich is up to, so I just keep throwing the Fire Seeds.
Zulfer has nothing to do, so I have him reveal the lich.
I see no spells coming from the lich. At first, I'm not sure what's going on. When the lich throws out a Spell Sequencer, I know what's going on.
SCS spellcasters use sequencers instead of spells if their spell failure is too high. But Ruva has been rolling critical misses, and her clone was destroyed by the Horrid Wilting on the first round. She's only hit the lich twice with Fire Seeds since the fight began, and 50% spell failure shouldn't be enough to stop it from trying to cast spells.
Apparently the spell failure from Holy Word's deafness stacks with Wizard Slayer spell failure. That lich won't be casting any spells for a while. Ruva stops throwing Fire Seeds for a moment, as she is running out. When the lich resorts to physical attacks, I know its spell failure is too high.
The lich still has contingencies to maintain its PFMW. It rolls out a Stinking Cloud+Web Minor Sequencer, and we find that Chaotic Commands does not protect the group from Web.
Viora is disabled. It seems that, in EE, the web opcode in the Web spell paralyzes the target, not opcode 109. Notice Ruva refreshing the lich's spell failure with more Fire Seeds.
The lich follows up with a triple Chain Lightning Spell Trigger. It is now completely out of sequencers, triggers, and contingencies.
Viora took no damage because she was buffed with Protection from Lightning. Ruva throws one more Fire Seeds, ensuring us a few more rounds of safety.
I realize that Yorin Zovai can actually play an important role here. She breaks out the Wand of Spell Striking.
With no spellcasting and no sequencers left, the lich has absolutely no means of protecting itself against debuffers. Yorin Zovai Breaches the lich immediately afterward, which lets us get past PFMW a round or two earlier. It also takes down its Stoneskin and Fire Shields, allowing Zulfer to attack it without getting on the losing end of a feedback loop.
We get Daystar. Nobody has pips in longswords, but I don't care. I came for the lich, not for the sword.
@semiticgod, dude your output is hard to keep up with! Anyway, great to see Viora pull through @ Twisted Rune.
Gerland of Candlekeep, NG Half-Elf Skald, 8th and final BG1 report
16 Nightal, 1368 We returned to Baldur's Gate in low spirits, burdened with the recent memory of Alora's fall. It is a bitter irony that the companion whose loss we've been mourning is the one who would know best how to cheer us up in a situation like this. In the city we kept a low profile even though months had passed since we escaped Candlekeep. A woman named Tamoko said she had information for us, but demanded a promise of some kind for it. I told her I couldn't make any promises without knowing what she had to tell us. Others, such as Harper Delthyr, and a Dwarf at the Blushing Mermaid, were more forthcoming with information. Officer Scar, the Flaming Fist's second in command had been assassinated, and its first commander Duke Eltan had fallen ill. The new Iron Throne president Sarevok was bidding for a position as Duke. We first infiltrated the Flaming Fist compound, where we found Duke Eltan "in the care of" a Greater Doppelganger. We dispatched the wicked creature,
and brought the patient to the Harbormaster at Duke Eltan's own request. We then decided to revisit the Iron Throne HQ, expecting to find Sarevok in one of the offices. What we encountered intead were fleeing people that were either disgusted with or fearful of Sarevok's practices. We also met Sarevok's apparent lover, a woman named Cythandria. She was a mage with two Golem aides, and she was not happy to see us. Both the Golems and their mistress were expertly eliminated by Kivan, whose wide array of enchanted arrows seems to offer solutions for all imaginable combat situations.
The woman begged for mercy by the way, something that neither Kivan nor I were willing to grant her. Both Ajantis and Dynaheir disagreed with our ruthlessness, but Kivan and I dismissed their chivalry as naïveté. On the woman's corpse we found two letters as well as Sarevok's diary, implicating the latter in a plot to kill all the Dukes and take control of the city. Two assassins, hired by Sarevok and referenced in one of Cythandria's letters, we tracked down in the Undercellars. One was a rogue, the other a mage. I used my wand of monster summoning to keep the mage busy, while Kivan and Ajantis occupied themselves with the rogue, and I must say they had their hands more than full with him.
We took the fight into the Blushing Mermaid, where Imoen, Kivan, and I suffered painful backstabs (my Stoneskins had been removed by the mage). However, the rogue ran out of invisibility potions and that was pretty much his death sentence.
The mage fell not much later, after Kivan dispelled her protections. On the rogue's body we found a letter from Sarevok, in which he hires the rogue to kill Dukes Belt and Jannath. There was also an invitation for Sarevok's inauguration tomorrow at the Ducal Palace as new Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate. We'll be going to that event.
17 Nightal, 1368 It's over: Kivan's finally avenged his beloved Deheriana, and I my foster father Gorion. At the Ducal Palace six Greater Doppelgangers - including two assassins, a mage, and an assassin - attacked Dukes Belt and Jannath. I cast Invisibility on the latter to ensure her survival, that we might present our evidence of Sarevok's agenda to her after the battle. Imoen (using poisoned arrows), Kivan (using mostly arrows of dispelling and +2 arrows), Ajantis (buffed with a storm giant strength potion), Dynaheir (with 18/00 Str thanks to her gauntlets and 18 dex thanks to a potion), and I, aided by three Skeletal Warriors reluctantly summoned by Dynaheir and hasted by me, then destroyed the Doppelgangers.
We presented our evidence to Duke Belt, fought Sarevok until he teleported away with the help of a mage, and were sent after Sarevok by Belt. Via the Thieves Guild we entered a maze where we had little difficulty defeating Slimes, Battle Horrors, and Skeleton Warriors. Imoen disarmed several traps, a skill she had developed before she started her arcane studies. The maze led to a so-called Undercity that consisted mostly of ruins and a Bhaal Temple, Sarevok's hideout. On our way to the temple we were accosted by an Iron Throne war party that knew we had killed the local Throne leaders. A battle ensued, in which our warriors bested their leader with relative ease. We nevertheless retreated due to the presence of two Aerial Servants, summoned by their Cleric, and a hard-hitting Ogre.
We managed to dispatch our foes pretty much one at a time, and we even slew one of the Aerial Servants.
Sadly the same fate awaited Tamoko, who insisted on fighting us, in front of the entrance to the temple.
We entered the temple, and found Sarevok and four acolytes: battlemage Angelo, mage Semaj, archer Diarmid, and warrior Tazok. Angelo Dimension Doored right into our midst. Kivan treated him to an arrow of dispelling or two, and our collective attack did him in soon after.
We had to destroy a Skeleton Warrior that rose from Angelo's corpse, a mere inconvenience we would have to get out of the way with subsequent corpses as well. Kivan managed to finish both Semaj and Diarmid from a distance, although he suffered severe injuries at the hands of the latter.
The Elf also dispelled Sarevok's haste, before he slew Tazok.
Sarevok had Ajantis gulp many a healing potion, but the party's incessant attacks were too much for the man who slew my foster father and who was, something I've been disinclined to mention, my brother.
I don't know who dealt the killing blow, and honestly I don't really care.
We've reported our success to Duke Belt, and are now preparing for a trip away from the Sword Coast. We've even discussed seeking out Minsc and traveling all the way to Rashemen. Imoen and Kivan seem enthusiastic and willing, respectiely, but Ajantis will have to ask permission from his order first.
@semiticgod Holy cow man that Twisted Rune fight was intense! I read the first two parts before you finished writing the last one and I was so thrilled by the suspense! It really show how powerful Shadowdancers can be, awesome work
Ahh, Throne of Bhaal ... Definitely a part of the game I don't usually play. It's been about 2 years since i last kill Illasera or Yaga-Shura, I never went beyond that and I never played ToB with SCS. It's going to be epic! Hopefully I think my Bhaalspawn is strong enough to take down everything now. We shall see.
Right at the start, Anselm and his party were attacked by Illasera and some Black Reavers. Quick as lightning, he was able to slay a Mage in melee before the prebuffing could trigger. Korgan pulverized someone's head with a 70 damage critical hit. Then Edwin stopped time and blasted everything to oblivion, the end.
In the Pocket Plane, they decided to kick the Dwarf out of the party who didn't like it too much, turning hostile and becoming a Barbarian. Sarevok joined the group instead and immediately dualled to Mage.
The first challenge was pretty straightforward, they only had to deal with Ellesime. A Breach spell and she was defenseless.
Afterward, they went to Saradush, and slaughtered everyone on their path in the city, the prison or the sewers. They also bought all the spells of the game for Hexxat, Sarevok and Edwin.
In the castle, they faced Gromnir and his servants. Dorn feared many of them with his Aura of Despair then poisoned both Mages to death with mundane bolts + GWW while the party dispatched Gromnir swiftly.
Versus the Master Wraith, Edwin annihilated everything and Anselm finished the impostor.
In the Fire Giant Temple, Anselm went alone most of the time because of his Cloak of Mirroring plus his high regeneration from the Ring of Gaxx and his extremely good tanking. It proved to be very good idea, especially against the Fire Lich and the Flaming Skulls.
Everything was going well until I met Brimstone, a Dragon. I wasn't really expecting this. 'Whatever' I thought, he's too big to follow me at the entrance, I'll go back in the previous room and rest before dealing with him.
I was really surprised when he teleported behind us in the previous room and started to nuke everyone with his breath weapon.
Hopefully Dorn has a few Poison Weapon and GWW left, so Anselm tackled him into melee while Dorn dealt the damage. At some point I saw Brimstone looking at Dorn for a few seconds and knew he was about to use his breath weapon, so I ordered everyone except to move in the other room to avoid it. Finally they went back and finished him.
Later on in the temple, Anselm triggered a trap and I was really afraid of losing the run that way. Hopefully it was only a Maze trap and not an Imprisonment one. If somebody know the location of a deadly trap somewhere in ToB I would be very thankful!
Next up is the Beholder Hive, back in the Underdark. I have too many screenshots for what amounts to a fairly simple strategy, so I will dump them in a zip file rather than post them individually.
In a nutshell, we gave the Cloak of Mirroring and Shield of Balduran to Zulfer, who conjured a simulacrum via Vhailor's Helm and attacked the Beholders with Sanchuudoku and poisoned Fire Seeds alongside a group of five hasted Skeleton Warriors, with Laosha casting Farsight to guide them from afar. Enemy Death Spells and Fingers of Death brought down the summons now and then, but since we were far from the Beholders, we could always rest and come back.
The Skeleton Warriors were nearly immune to the Beholder rays thanks to their 90 MR, while Zulfer's clone was protected by both the Cloak of Mirroring and the SOB. With those defenses, they were able to bring down large packs of Beholders at a time. The Hive Mother and Elder Orbs cast PFMW, but that did not stop poisoned Fire Seeds and only lasted 4 rounds anyway.
In SCS with my install options, you cannot sleep in this area. Whatever defenses you have against Psionic Blast will have to last for the whole dungeon. Mind Flayers can deal large gobs of ranged crushing or fire damage as well as stun. They always pre-buff with Improved Invisibility and can teleport. They see through invisibility. And, as always, they can drain Intelligence.
Half our party, including Viora, has 11 INT; the other half has 16 INT. But to make sure we don't get overwhelmed by Mind Flayer attacks--and they get a lot of them--we need to optimize our AC and pre-buff with Potions of Genius.
One minor but cute optimization comes in the form of a Potion of Mind Focusing. These things last for more than eight hours.
This means you can rest after drinking them and still have the effect the next day. Although that's mostly only useful for early-game situations when you need a Friends scroll to save money on potions, and also need potions to guarantee a successful scribing of a Friends scroll.
We re-organize our armor. Viora can't hide from the Mind Flayers, so she dons a suit of Full Plate Mail to improve her AC. We also distribute a bunch of potions across the party, as we will need them later, and memorize as many copies of Chaotic Commands and Animate Dead as we can, with lots of Wondrous Recall spells as insurance. After we get kidnapped by the Mind Flayers, we buff Zulfer with Chaotic Commands so he can handle the Umber Hulks in the first fight.
We fought the Githyanki not long ago and are currently carrying the fully-forged Silver Sword. The dialogue with Simyaz understandably does not factor this in.
Before the fight with the Kuo-toa, I buff everybody with Chaotic Commands, knowing that the Kuo-toa use stunning bolts. To further improve our AC, we down some Potions of Defense and Potions of Invulnerability. We'll need it for later.
After the Kuo-toa and the Ogre guard, everyone but Ruva, our Wizard Slayer, drinks an Oil of Speed.
Viora has drunk three Potions of Genius, giving her 26 AC. Mind Flayers will have a lot of trouble bringing her down. With the whole party hasted, we have little trouble with the first few Mind Flayers.
I enable auto-pause on hit to make sure I always know exactly when I suffer brain drain.
You can save on Control Circlets and reputation by luring a Mind Flayer near the doors you need a Mind Flayer ally to open.
Viora gets hit. I move her away, but it's not necessary. The Mind Flayers don't last long enough to hit her again.
We nab some brine potions. If we get our defenses dispelled, this will let Viora quickly re-establish her immunity to stun--faster than using the Greenstone Amulet we got from the Beholder Hive.
As mentioned before, SCS Mind Flayers can do more than just stun you. They also have powerful ranged physical damage powers.
We lure another Mind Flayer over to the next locked door, to save a Control Circlet once more. We then cast all of our buffs, including a re-cast of Chaotic Commands for safety's sake.
Zulfer charges the Master Brain on his own at first in case the enemy uses Remove Magic. He deals lots of damage very fast.
When no such spell arrives, I bring in the rest of the party, only to see their buffs immediately removed.
Viora drinks a brine potion to quickly protect herself from stun before spending the extra couple of seconds to cast the longer-lasting Chaotic Commands spell. The Master Brain falls in the interim.
@semiticgod Ooh, I love the illithid city. It does make sense to put it off like you did, and is probably smarter, too I just like to live dangerously, plus I am very strict with my roleplaying rules I really liked reading about your strategy! I actually never use the brine potions (I know, I know) but I can totally see where they'd be useful now. I may work them into my current runs
I am back after a tough working period and glad to see that this thread is more alive than ever! Really glad to see @Gotural making it through SoA - Good luck in ToB
I am thinking about a new no-reload run to join the fun, but I haven't figured it out yet ! In the meantime I am going to join the 2nd Black pits' arena since it's been some time.
It is really inspiring to read about your runs again! Have fun and enjoy your holidays!
We run into trouble on the way out of the Underdark. Some drow attack us. They don't look very tough, but as the fight goes on, I realize there's a problem.
I start out simply, with Poison Weapon. The drow here have no mantle spells; they're very low-level at this stage of the game.
Yorin Zovai turns the party invisible just for safety's sake, but we can't run away; two party members are disabled by confusion.
One of the mages goes down. Then I realize something important.
Ruva and Laosha might attack one of the friendly elves in their confusion. I know if you attack Elhan or his group, you get instantly killed via a script. If that also applies to the elves here, we could end up dead if Ruva or Laosha attacks one of those elves for even an instant.
We need to stop Ruva and Laosha at all costs. Zulfer equips Celestial Fury and attacks Ruva; Yorin Zovai hits Ruva with Spook, and Azelos starts firing Kuo-toa Bolts at Laosha.
Ruva fails a save vs. spell and gets disabled. She also gets poisoned, which unfortunately was a necessity.
But Celestial Fury's stun effect only lasts 6 seconds, and Zulfer is needed to slay the other mage, who might confuse more party members if he is not stopped. Yorin Zovai reinforces Ruva's disability using Blindness.
Laosha fails a save against a Kuo-toa Bolt. That lasts 7 rounds, so the confusion will wear off by the time he's able to attack anybody.
Ruva recovers from stun and attacks Zulfer, the closest target. To make sure she doesn't change targets, Yorin Zovai conceals the elf right next to Ruva.
An instant later, the nearby drow is dead, meaning that elven mage won't break invisibility by attacking.
Ruva will therefore not attack any elves, as one elf is invisible and the other is out of her field of vision.
Zulfer slays the last remaining drow, making it just a little bit harder for the invisible elf to break their invisibility. Laosha is trapped behind a Fire Elemental, who is the last possible target to take away that elf's invisibility.
The elf finally goes visible, but Ruva and Laosha recover from their confusion. We're safe!
We get some merchant fodder off of the enemy's remains.
Isn't that the most uncomfortable-looking handle you've ever seen? Some of the item designs in BG2 are really unrealistic. Celestial Fury, Carsomyr, and the Staff of the Magi all look painful or impossible to hold.
Now that we have the blade and handle of the Equalizer from the Mind Flayer city, we can forge the Equalizer sword itself. We have no real need for it, but we've got thousands of gold and nothing to spend it on. Plus, I like collecting situationally useful items in no-reload runs, just in case I ever find a use for them. We go around forging various items and fetching components.
Our party makeup is well-suited to take advantage of the dragon scale armors I usually never forge. The dragon scale armors can't be worn with items of protection, so I normally don't bother. But as an Archer, Azelos could use the superior AC from the Shadow Dragon Scale, and as a Wizard Slayer/Thief without Use Any Item, Ruva can't wear items of protection, so the Red Dragon Scale is a good fit for her.
Comments
I didn't realize SCS mages would think of dispelling True Seeing with Remove Magic.
The Mind Flayer you summon at the altar for the Ring of Free Action:
I buffed the whole party with Chaotic Commands, but the Mind Flayer crumpled in one round.
The Beholder you summon at the same place:
Chaotic Commands all over the place, plus the Shield of Balduran on Zulfer and his clone. The Beholder also died in one round, though.
The Spellhold Lich:
I didn't actually find this guy. I thought I would, but it was just the normal group: a ranged and melee Skeleton Warrior pair, a Greater Mummy, and a Bone Golem. I had planned on using Fire Seeds, but it proved unnecessary.
Dace Sontan:
I didn't even buff with NPP because I was too lazy. He still died really quick. Zulfer and Azelos have lots of damage output with Sanchuudoku and the Tuigan Bow.
The non-disarmable traps on the second level that fire when you try to grab the monster paintings:
SI: Evocation and SI: Alteration.
The Ulitharid on the second level:
Didn't fight him.
Viora talks to Lonk, since she can vanish in the middle of the next fight, which means we can stay completely hidden from the start of combat.
Irenicus has a lot of buffs, but he's got a critical weakness.
Ruva can bypass Improved Mantle entirely with Darts +5. His spellcasting is shot for the next 5 rounds. While Ruva is busy with Irenicus, Zulfer takes on his own clone.
Because both of them carry Sanchuudoku--I didn't feel like removing our equipment before the fight to weaken the clones--a single hit will lock them in a feedback loop with Acidic Backlash.
They're both immune to acid, and in fact have 125% acid resistance thanks to the Helm of the Rock, but Sanchuudoku also lowers acid resistance, which means Zulfer can slay his clone in two hits--just so long as he doesn't get hit more than once himself. The method works. The clone starts taking damage.
The damage is tiny, but it fires incredibly fast. Unfortunately, even after Zulfer runs away from his opponent to avoid getting his acid resistance lowered, he somehow starts taking damage from the feedback loop. The weird thing is that it happens in chunks. First he takes 10 or 20 damage, and then is safe for a moment, and then he takes about 30 damage, before the damage stops once again.
Then it all hits him at once. Zulfer goes down.
Notice that Irenicus' spell deflection visual has vanished. One of the inmates hit him with a Warding Whip. That doesn't mean much for us, since we don't use many single-target spells, but it does mean we can hit him with a Wand of the Heavens.
With total spell failure active, Irenicus resorts to his sequencers. We catch him before the sequencer even finishes casting.
I use the quick-loot feature to fetch the Shield of Reflection from Dragomir's Respite on Zulfer's body and equip Ruva with the shield to bounce the Flame Arrows back onto Jon-bon. Somehow the effort fails.
That message about Viora using a wand is ominous. Our party has lots of wands, including a Wand of Paralyzation with over 90 charges. Ruva resisted this charge, whatever it was, but I don't know what SCS lets those clones do.
Viora nails Irenicus with the Wand of the Heavens. It doesn't do much, but she doesn't have anything better to do.
A Shadowdancer/Cleric like Viora can turn invisible immediately after using a wand, while a spell would leave her visible for a moment unless it had a casting time of 0.
An unfriendly Remove Magic nearly debuffs our entire party.
I had a Gate spell memorized in case things went wrong, but it doesn't do us much good if not everyone in our party has Protection from Evil active.
Ruva chases after Jon-bon, trying to land a hit with Sanchuudoku, which she is holding in the hopes of having an enemy trigger an Acidic Backlash. Yoren Zovai's clone, which hasn't bothered to buff itself up until now, finally tries to protect itself.
Yoren Zovai is three levels away from being able to learn Spell Trigger. The clones aren't restricted by what spells you have memorized or even what spells you know.
Ruva gets hit by a double Ray of Enfeeblement Minor Sequencer, and fails a save. She's rooted to the ground.
She can still use darts, but it limits her options.
With the area a bit clearer, we can bring in some Spirit Animals to help out. We use only Spirit Wolves, to disrupt Irenicus' spells with cold damage (he's immune to the snakes' poison).
The other inmates start clearing up the clones, while we concentrate on Irenicus.
Irenicus vanishes with a potion, and we have no divination spells memorized. We were reliant on Zulfer to dispel enemy illusions.
To find Jon-bon, we resurrect Zulfer. He can't equip any armor, but he can drink a Potion of Invulnerability.
That takes time, and in between his resurrection and his drinking the potion, many clones get slain by a second Horrid Wilting spell from Wanev. Irenicus is immune to magical damage due to his pre-buffs, but he has been unable to cast any spells from his spellbook because of Ruva's spell failure effect. Irenicus cannot restore his Stoneskins.
He cannot recover if he can't cast any spells. Irenicus hits 1 HP and flees.
Fighter/mage, not. I go elven sorcer and throw the foder where they may.
After killing Irenicus, Anselm and his party were sent to Hell.
There they completed a series of challenges in order to obtain the tears of Bhaal needed to open the door which separated them from Irenicus.
During the Hell trials, Anselm gained +2 AC, +2 Constitution, +2 Strenght, +2 to saving throws and+20% resistance to fire, cold and electricity.
On a side note, I'm now pretty sure that it is possible to cheese the Beholder's telekinesis power : Everytime I face them, I send Korgan alone with the Shield of Balduran while my main character is away with the Cloak of Mirroring and everytime the Beholders try to snatch the cloak first, probably because it is more powerful.
But because my Blackguard is far enough, their attempt fail, I keep my cloak and they never think about stealing the shield from Korgan as long as the cloak is mine.
I'm not 100% sure about this but it worked for me everytime.
As for the test of selfishness, I wanted to kill Korgan here to replace him by Sarevok later on, but the damned Dwarf didn't get chunked so I was able to resurrect him with Viconia's Mass Raise Dead ability as if nothing happened. Maybe it has something to do with the BG2Tweaks component that reduces the risk of chunking (Playing on Core Rules).
The party also found a Beggar in Hell. Anselm gave him 1 gold before killing him because he is such an ass.
Then it was time for the final battle. They used everything at their disposal to increase their might, every potions, scrolls and spells available.
Anselm turned out to become a very scary warrior.
Hexxat placed 7 Spike Traps around the door and a few Skeletons Warriors + Elementals were summoned.
As soon as the fight started, every fiends instantly casted Remove Magic on the party, nullifying most of their efforts and spells while Irenicus, turned into the Slayer, was casting an alteration spell, probably a Time Stop.
Edwin used a Haste spell to help the party to retreat to the south. They lured the Balor into the traps they prepared which proved fatal for it while the summons were used as a distraction to help them escape.
Irenicus finished the casting of his Time Stop, used a Spell Sequencer and proceeded to destroy the Skeletons Warriors, hopefully the party was out of his line of sight at this moment.
But now I knew that Irenicus was likely to attack his enemies directly during a Time Stop, which could be extremely bad for Anselm.
Soon after, he followed them and started to cast another Time Stop, Anselm and Korgan used Hardiness in order to survive the onslaught while Edwin was also casting his own Time Stop.
The Red Wizard finished to cast his spell first, thanks to the Robe of Vecna.
He used both his Spell Trigger and his Spell Sequencer to massively buff himself and the party, then he casted Mass Invisibility just before Irenicus could finish.
What a relieve to see that Irenicus was unable to see through the Mass Invisibility, confused, he wandered for a round or two doing nothing before casting PfMW.
His Time Stop ended, Viconia successfully casted True Sight and Edwin stopped time again.
Edwin destroyed all his protections during the Time Stop with a combination of Spellstrike, Warding Whip and Breach.
Irenicus was now defenseless, he didn't have any Contingency or Sequencers available and was left without any protections or illusions.
Korgan and Hexxat rushed him, Dorn attacked him from range. Dorn and Korgan both used Greater Whirlwind Attack while Viconia casted Implosion.
Edwin casted another Time Stop, blasted him with Dragon's Breath + Comet. Irenicus's Fallen Planetar casted Heal on him to bring him back to Uninjured but Anselm, Dorn, Korgan, Hexxat, Edwin and Viconia were dealing so much damage to him that he died instantly after getting healed.
Jon Irenicus was defeated!
During the short cutscene, Korgan managed to slay the Fallen Planetar for 20,000 more XP, then Ellesime congratulated Anselm and his group, despite what he did in the past and his reputation.
Now the Throne of Bhaal awaits.
The report looks like the magic decided everything in the last battle, although the Anselm's stats are superb.
Insightful about the beholders and hilarious about the beggar.
May the power of Blackguards never fail you in ToB.
Gerland of Candlekeep, NG Half-Elf Skald, 7th BG1 report
1 Nightal, 1368
After our escape from Candlekeep we eventually decided to travel to Durlag's Tower first. We've just arrived at the tower.
Our journey here was quite eventful. In a spider-ridden area on the eastern outskirts of the Wood of Sharp Teeth we slew four Red Wizards with fire.
2 Nightal, 1368
It seems the tower contains several underground levels. We've just cleared the first underground level. Its most prominent dangers were the ubiquitous traps (competently disarmed by invisible Alora), Greater Doppelgangers (thankfully we already had experience fighting them, from our work in Baldur's Gate), Skeleton Warriors, and four very powerful Warders that guarded the entrance to the next level. The Warders themselves warned us that they would attack us as soon as we were to complete a number of riddles. Thanks to this warning Alora placed several traps near the one closest to our escape route ('Love'). We then fought two of the Warders one after the other, taking advantage of the vast space and the many corridors on this floor.
3 Nightal, 1368
The second level offered more snares, more Doppelgangers (this time taking the shape of Durlag and his family), and more Dwarven guards. The difference with the previous level was that special rune stones would open and lock several doors at a time. We took care not to get trapped, and eventually managed to open all the doors. The Dwarven guardians, Doom Guards, weren't as tough as the Warders on the previous level. Two of them did drop suits of full plate mail armor, welcome back-up armor for Ajantis after his unexpected armor breakage at the Ice Island.
5 Nightal, 1368
The tower's third underground level was a lot less complex in its design than the second level, but it was no less dangerous. We entered the level facing a fountain that cast repeating fireballs. To our right there was a massive hall containing the carcass of a huge dragon. Three Greater Wyverns roamed free there. Even with buffs, with my song and with his immunity to poison Ajantis had great difficulty tanking these powerful creatures. We ended up slaying the beasts with ranged weaponry.
7 Nightal, 1368
Our business at the tower is done. The fourth and lowest level held relatively few traps and challenges (a couple of snares, more undead, and two Helmed Horrors). We solved three riddles about Durlag's past, which opened a door to small room where we encountered a wounded adventurer. She warned us of the grave danger that awaited us in the adjacent room, a Demon Knight, and advised against fighting it.
We ignored the woman's advice, buffed with strength potions and oils of speed, and exposed the creature to a barrage of missiles. It did not withstand the onslaught.
14 Nightal, 1368
Upon our return to Ulgoth's Beard we were received by a hostile cult that had somehow learned of our exploits at Durlag's Tower. What followed was a Chaos, literally. I lost my mind quite early on, when a wizard somehow targeted me with a Chaos spell even though I was invisible. I can't remember much of what happened next. All I know is that I wandered off and killed an innocent woman.
In the end we decided together it would be best to end what we had started, and get rid of the evil cult. We battled more cultists in front of their base, an inconspicuous stable or storehouse, and inside it.
Kivan and Ajantis occupied themselves with individual cultists, while Dynaheir, Imoen, Alora and I tried to take down several of the cultists at the same time with Fireballs.
The attack roll has already been made. The poor woman is doomed.
Oddly enough, we don't lose any reputation, though another bystander nearby turns hostile. Apparently word in Brynnlaw doesn't carry far enough to damage your reputation. Either that, or that fishwife was actually an evil doppelganger.
I don't know if the other local folks are innocents or not (being flagged as innocent makes their death count as a murder), so it worries me when our summons start attacking people, out of our field of vision.
I don't think to simply click 0 to select everyone, including the animals, and order them to do something other than attack. Instead, I simply rest, despawning the Spirit Animals and keeping them from hurting anybody.
I put up some limited buffs before getting onto Desharik's ship. No time passes in between leaving Brynnlaw and getting shanghaied by the Githyanki, which means a Chaotic Commands spell can keep Viora from getting disabled by Mind Blast. Even though the rest of the party gets confused or knocked out, Viora can run to the northeast end of the ship, and therefore trigger the next cutscene leading to City Sushi.
I have Viora wear the Ring of Free Action for the duration of our stay with the Sahuagin, even though I already checked earlier and found that Free Action doesn't protect against stun effects like you see from Sahuagin bolts. Thankfully, I also keep her buffed with Chaotic Commands just in case. With the whole party protected against stun, only Bolts of Biting pose a credible threat, and we only need to cast Slow Poison twice to keep the party at full health.
By now, Viora is at level 15, and so her Skeleton Warriors are considerably stronger. EE Animate Dead offers different progression than in vanilla: it only ever summons one skeleton, and below level 15, the strength of the skeleton and its MR scale with level. But the level 15 Skeleton Warrior is just as strong as in vanilla, with the full 90 magic resistance.
The elemental portals aren't too tough for our party at this point.
The drow are stronger. Due to their low AC, Zulfer has trouble poisoning the clerics at range. He still has the feedback loop against the drow wizards, though. With the Helm of the Rock and the Dragonscale Shield, he only needs one spell to become immune to both forms of Fire Shield. Then, a Secret Word from Yoren Zovai renders the first drow mage vulnerable to Acidic Backlash.
Despite the whole party being buffed with Chaotic Commands, the drow clerics spam useless disablers.
Zulfer gets debuffed, but it just takes a short trip back to Laosha, our Totemic Druid, in order to restore his defenses.
A feedback loop against an Efreeti's Fire Shield fails to kill it, and after it fades into mist and regenerates itself, it flanks us and strikes with a Fireball, costing us a spell. Zulfer hurries over to slay it with another feedback loop.
He then brings down the other drow mage with the same trick. It's quite fun.
The clerics leave behind a cluster of undead summons when they go away. Curiously, Viora can't turn a single one, despite being level 16, and therefore 5 levels over the strongest of them.
Apparently Skeleton Warriors summoned by Animate Dead are immune to turning.
We go get the Myconids, but can't trigger the Mind Flayer ambush. We proceed to the imprisonment sphere.
I don't bother summoning Alchra Diagott. He's not worth the risk; unlike the Shade and Elemental Liches, he need not be defeated to finish any quest. I just fight the other ones. Riti, the Githyanki with the Backbiter spear, dies to poison; Raelivin Strathi explodes when an Aerial Servant hits him before his Stoneskins go up.
The other drow ambush appears to have no mages. Zulfer solos the encounter.
The Balor dies pretty quick. It has excellent stats, strong spells, and a slay effect on hit (for which we have Death Ward, thankfully), but its Aura of Flaming Death makes it terribly vulnerable to a feedback loop.
It dispels the immunity to fire on Zulfer and his clone, but the two of them did enough damage to bring the Balor to Near Death, letting Azelos deliver the final blow.
Once I get some blood from the Kuo-toa Prince, I can begin the Ust Natha questline. Lots of XP, but some a handful of major threats.
I don't bother with the Mind Flayer city or Beholder hive; I can do those later at a higher level. With the Kuo-toa Prince's blood in hand, we enter Ust Natha. We buy everything we need from the three vendors at the entrance to the city before doing anything else, in case we muck something up and have to leave early.
On the way to rescue Phaere, we cast Invisibility 10' Radius after buffing the party.
This lets us sneak past N'ashtar and his friends, so that we fight the Mind Flayers at full strength.
A pre-cast Teleport Field scatters the Mind Flayers. With everyone under haste and a collection of Skeleton Warriors to help out, the Mind Flayers don't last long.
In my install, Mind Flayers don't get the Tactics-style 50% damage resistances, but they can see through invisibility.
Viora leads our summons over to fight N'ashtar and the rest.
After a Death Spell clears out our summons, we bring out some new summons and rush the enemy again. Zulfer's poison works its magic.
Boz hits hard and can be a big issue, but he doesn't get many chances to make attack rolls before he explodes.
On the way to the svirfneblin helmet fetch quest, we trigger the Mind Flayer attack near the Myconid area. I thought they might show up, so I enter the fight with everyone immune to psionics.
Once Mind Flayers break their invisibility, they're not hard to kill. When I go back to the Mind Flayer city later on, I will have to remember to buff with Potions of Genius before the fight... I have a bad habit of hoarding those potions, even though they're so common and so helpful.
I do drink a Potion of Genius, however, before speaking with the Aboleth. I'm pretty sure you only need high Wisdom to get out of killing Qilue, but I'd like to be sure.
On one of our days off, we have Zulfer do all of the gladiator fights in the tavern. Chaotic Commands protects him from the Nabassu and the Shield of Balduran helps with the Beholder.
On the way back to Phaere near the end of the questline, we have to deal with Taso Kala, who forces you to kill a group of Ghaunadar priests within 1 hour, or else you will turn the city hostile. I always approach her while invisible.
I also always talk-block her whenever she's around, to make sure she doesn't interrupt us. But I hate having to worry over her presence all the time. I decide to remove the annoyance so I don't have to think about her.
The only fight left is the fight with the two Egg Guards at the entrance to the Despana treasury. If you let them live too long, they'll alert the entire city, and the only way you can get out is by slaying Matron Mother Ardulace herself, an epic-level cleric with high magic resistance and high-level respawning allies.
They don't have much HP, so a backstab can bring them down. But Ruva has pretty weak THAC0, and luck is never reliable in a no-reload run.
The Egg Guards go hostile, but die an instant later to trap damage and a few strikes that preceded them.
We can snatch the Dragon Eggs and replace them with Phaere's copies without fighting the golems by using stealth.
I find a key I don't recognize. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be for.
An EE quest of some sort? I never saw this key in vanilla.
Before escaping the city, I haste the party and turn it invisible.
If you ever do get caught on the way out, SCS can throw some very dangerous drow parties at you, and the drow keep coming round after round. If you're unlucky, even invisibility couldn't let you escape, as the drow can block the walkways and use divination magic to reveal you. Teleport Field is a good solution for getting boxed in, but in our case it wasn't necessary.
I turn the party invisible before speaking to Adalon. I want to make sure we can escape when she teleports us right on top of the drow pack by the exit to the surface. That group, however, includes a pair of Glabrezus, who can see through invisibility. They can re-cast disablers indefinitely; they never run out.
That's why Chaotic Commands prebuffs are so important. Confusion is bad enough, but Glabrezus in SCS also cast Power Word: Stun, which can only be stopped by Chaotic Commands, Berserker rage, and the Sword of Arvoreen. PW: Stun is a potential game breaker, especially for solo runs.
The Glabrezus don't pursue us for long, however. Adalon keeps fighting the drow, who refuse to fight back.
Laosha casts Farsight so we can send up our first group of summons without getting attacked ourselves.
But the Glabrezus wander over and find us anyway, and when Zulfer goes out to handle them, he loses his Chaotic Commands buff.
He loses more buffs and even gets slowed, a Glabrezu teleports to our more vulnerable party members, and a golem joins the fight, but Detect Illusions cuts through their Mirror Image spells and lets us bring them down before they get a chance to hit Zulfer with PW: Stun.
After sending out our summons to bother the drow, I haste Zulfer to counter his slow effect and send him out to poison the enemy.
Poison Weapon is just not fair.
The enemy Efreeti fades into mist, escaping death, but apparently Sanchuudoku can lower its acid resistance even in mist form, meaning we can damage the Efreeti when it's normally invulnerable.
It ends up dying to a feedback loop rather than dying in mist form, but it's an interesting finding. Before I move on, I hide the party once more.
I don't like fighting the next few groups of drow. I prefer to just get out of the Underdark.
Back in Athkatla, Kruin, the Githyanki Wild Mage who attacks if you don't give him the Silver Sword blade, teleports in to demand his prize. Since I always jump around with CLTR-J, he appears near Mira instead of at the edge of the map (where I assume he normally appears).
We're invisible when he shows up, so I take the time to buff the party a bit, just enough to make sure Viora doesn't get disabled or slain. Zulfer breaks his invisibility to start the fight, as he's our standard tank.
Normally I let the Githyanki keep the sword, but for once I'd like to forge it. Zulfer's poison spells Kruin's doom, but he gets mazed in the process by some of Kruin's friends, who arrive late to the fight.
More Githyanki approach. Viora hurries to the side while Laosha calls in his Spirit Animals and Ruva uses her darts on an enemy mage, whom I identify by his MGOI spell. Yoren Zovai casts Project Image for some extra castings of Improved Haste.
I've been shying away from Project Image for several runs, but this time I'd like to try it again.
Ruva struggles to land more than one hit on her target using darts--her THAC0 isn't good enough, even with 8 APR due to Yoren Zovai's clone's Improved Haste spell. I have her switch to Bala's Axe. Greater Malison helps us net a failed save on Ruva's target.
One failed save against Bala's Axe and an enemy mage is ruined. 80% spell failure for 100 seconds is more than enough; Ruva can ignore him and focus on the other enemies.
We clear up the Githyanki, only to see more messages in the dialog box showing Amnish soldiers fighting Githyanki. I find the rest up north, and once Zulfer weathers the next Psionic Maze spell coming his way, he finishes off the Githyanki.
We forge the Silver Sword. Only one party members has any pips in it, Azelos, our Archer, but at level 16 she still has 2 APR with it at -2 THAC0, which is okay. I do still regret not having invested some pips in two-handed swords for Zulfer and Ruva, as they are Chaotic Neutral and can therefore use the Unholy Reaver, where good-aligned rangers like Azelos cannot touch it.
Called Shot allows us to guarantee failed saves against certain spells and spell effects. We haven't used this much in this run, but it has great potential. Most importantly at this stage of the game, it lets us guarantee a failed save against Feeblemind on a dragon.
It's time to take on Firkraag and Thaxll'ssillyia.
Firkraag is the easier target despite his higher HP, as it's harder to get immunity to level drain than it is to get immunity to fire. We need to hit Firkraag as many times as possible with Called Shot, but Azelos' level 8 clone isn't very accurate, with -2 THAC0 to Firkraag's -12 AC. How do we improve that?
Champion's Strength isn't a very impressive spell. It grants 18/00 STR and +1 THAC0 per three levels, and lasts quite long, but it also completely shuts down the caster's spellcasting. And nearly 60 rounds of disabled spellcasting is not acceptable for this fight or any fight.
The neat thing about Champion's Strength, though, is that you can dispel the effect that disables your spellcasting. One arrow from Azelos' clone, and Viora is free to use her spells again.
The plan is to lower Firkraag's MR with the Magic Resistance spell and then a charge from the Wand of Spell Striking, which together will drop his MR to 16. After he gets hit 12 times with Called Shot, he will automatically fail a save vs. Feeblemind, and only his MR can stop the spell.
Viora runs in to cast Magic Resistance, but she gets warded off by a Remove Magic sequencer, and runs away to let Zulfer take the hit.
I don't trust Viora to successfully cast that spell if Firkraag is hostile; I only deemed it safe because he was neutral. I proceed without it.
I accidentally hit Firkraag with an Arrow of Dispelling; Azelos' clone was supposed to be using Arrows +3 for the extra THAC0.
Those arrows could have dispelled a successful Feeblemind.
I used Project Image to conserve castings of Improved Haste, but this means Yoren Zovai cannot use the Wand of Spell Striking to lower Firkraag's MR, as clones cannot use quick slot items in my install. Our Feeblemind spells therefore have to fight against Firkraag's full 65 MR.
They fail. But Firkraag is taking a lot more damage than I thought he would.
I try once more to Feeblemind Firkraag. His MR is a solid barrier.
But he's been dealing with Arrows of Biting at 19 attacks per round, and a poison Sanchuudoku at 6 attacks per round, at subzero THAC0. Not even Firkraag can stand up to that for long.
Carsomyr is ours! What a shame our Wizard Slayer/Thief never put any pips in two-handed swords.
A Limited Wish scroll, from Yoren Zovai.
We have a spare scroll, but otherwise we've only got 5 rounds of immunity to level drain.
Thaxll'ssillyia has a truly chilling attack dialog.
The only more alarming line comes from the Warden of the Planar Prison. They are truly vicious critters.
To my dismay, Thaxll'ssillyia casts Remove Magic while Viora is in the middle of casting her Magic Resistance spell.
I decide to let her stay there. It will guarantee she loses her buffs, but she will be able to lower the dragon's MR in the process.
I'm wrong on both counts.
She loses the spell but keeps her buffs. Notice the message at the top of the box: Yoren Zovai has hit Thaxll'ssillyia with the Wand of Spell Striking. That wand functions as a Pierce Magic spell cast at level 20, and therefore lowers MR by 20, but there is no string to display this. Only the "Spell Protections Removed" line, and a visual effect a moment later, let me know the wand has hit.
The dragon lets Viora run away. To my surprise, he actually uses his breath weapon, on the only critter on the map that wasn't immune to level drain.
Yoren Zovai flings off a Feeblemind spell. The lowered MR and Called Shot penalties make the difference. Thaxll'ssillyia fails his save.
You can tell because of the faint yellow glow that persists for a single second after the spell hits. The dragon is helpless. We hasten its demise with poison effects.
Now it's time to take on the Twisted Rune.
With a scroll of Protection from Undead (which I don't think is even necessary, since Shangalar and Shyressa can't see through invisibility last I played this fight) and Hide in Plain Sight, Viora can take down the undead, and with the Shield of Balduran and Poison Weapon, Zulfer should be able to take down Vaxall the Beholder and Layenne.
Viora drinks an Oil of Speed, two Potions of Magic Protection, and uses a scroll of Protection from Undead along with all her other normal buffs before approaching Shangalar's platform in the center of the main chamber.
Shangalar can't see her and won't initiate dialogue despite her being nearby, unlike many characters. Eventually, he just turns hostile, triggering a Horrid Wilting Chain Contingency that cannot reach Viora.
I see him casting a conjuration spell. I know better than to stick around to see what it is. I know what it is.
I wait there until the Planetar goes away. I take the time to have Yoren Zovai and Laosha buff themselves up a teensy bit.
When I go back out into the open, Shangalar is still alone. The other enemies have yet to spawn in.
You can't get the Staff of the Magi without Layenne here, and you can't even escape the place unless you take Vaxall's eye. We need those enemies to spawn. I break Viora's invisibility to start Shangalar's attack dialogue.
Shangalar still will not speak. He just casts Gate.
Apparently the Twisted Rune won't begin properly unless you have at least one visible character for Shangalar to talk to. I decide to reload and try again, this time without invisibility and Protection from Undead pre-buffs.
The basic strategy is similar to do what I did in my old Nightmare mode run, replacing Hide With No Sight with Hide in Plain Sight. We hide most of the party in the stairway to the southwest, Viora pushes Shangalar away with Repulse Undead to keep them safe, and then Viora slays Shangalar and Shyressa with stealth and the Mace of Disruption, with the Boots of Speed and an Oil of Speed to help her escape from any Fallen Planetars that may come out. We then slay Layenne with poison, Vaxall with a melee rush, and are left with Revanek alone.
It starts out all right. Shangalar begins the fight normally.
In retrospect, I probably could have gotten this to happen the first time around by simply dispelling Viora's Protection from Undead. Whatever.
Shangalar teleports to his normal spot in the southwest. Viora casts Repulse Undead.
But Shangalar will not move. He should have been pushed into the other room, away from the rest of the party.
Shangalar knows we're here. He summons a Fallen Planetar to seek us out.
I send Viora to the east to avoid the Planetar's vorpal strikes. Finally, Repulse Undead affects Shangalar, but because Viora is to the east, it pushes Shangalar to the west, right into the party's midst. Viora is safe, but both Shangalar and the Fallen Planetar are targeting the party.
Vorpal strikes in SCS offer a save vs. death at -2 to avoid getting chunked. A Potion of Invulnerability can help prevent that, I think (it's possible it does nothing, because the dispel effect on hit may remove the save bonuses before applying the vorpal strike effect), but only two characters can drink one, because Ruva is a Wizard Slayer/Thief without Use Any Item.
The Planetar changes targets. We adapt.
The Planetar goes for the weakest link.
We try to bring down the Planetar as fast as possible to avoid getting chunked. Meanwhile, Shangalar compounds the problem with yet another enemy that can see through our invisibility.
With a little work, I've gotten Ruva behind the other characters so the Planetar can't attack our most vulnerable member, but Yoren Zovai's Teleport Field reverses our efforts. Ruva is once again in danger.
Zulfer gets hit. He survives the vorpal strike, but his Potions of Invulnerability is dispelled, along with his +5 to saves. He replaces it.
To the east, Viora gets to work on Shyressa. If she fails a save vs. death, the Mace of Disruption will destroy her in a single shot. She makes the save--she has a habit of surviving this attack.
I'm very worried about the situation to the west, but I have to make sure Viora isn't wasting time, even if her situation isn't as dire.
Shangalar, protected by PFMW, can get any spell off the ground without fear of disruption. He throws out his worst spells.
A Dragon's Breath spell is on the way, and even if we could run away from the area of effect, it would bring the party into the sights of a Beholder, a second epic-level mage, a vampire, and a high-level fighter, as well as lure the Fallen Planetar over to Viora. We have to weather the attack. I have everyone drink a Potion of Fire Resistance.
The Pit Fiend has the perfect counter.
We're right about to get hit by the most damaging spell in the saga besides the scorcher loop, our resistances are shot, and our auras aren't clear enough for everyone to heal themselves after the spell hits.
I'm surprised Yoren Zovai didn't get chunked by that spell. She barely survives. Worse yet, the Planetar recovers.
It will be around for a while longer.
Shangalar sets off a Comet spell. Our auras aren't clear. We have no means of stopping this.
Laosha is dead, and Yoren Zovai has been chunked once again. Another 1 million XP wiped out.
The fight goes on.
To the west, the party is struggling along. I have little hopes for their success, but killing the Planetar would at least ensure no one else gets chunked.
Layenne wastes a spell.
Apparently time Stop impacts the stealth timer. Viora ends up fully visible even while using stealth. She has a 6-second window before she can hide again.
But because Yoren Zovai got chunked, and she was holding the Potion Bag when she died and left the party, the Potion Bag, like any container or quest item, get transported to Viora's inventory, allowing her to grab a Potion of Invisibility and escape.
Ruva goes down, but she does not get chunked.
I get a message indicating Vaxall has stolen the SOB, but it's still in Viora's inventory when I check.
I have her drop it for a few seconds in the hopes that it sticks around. It does.
Zulfer is in trouble. He's nearly dead and the Planetar can hit for more than 20 damage per hit. He could get chunked even without a vorpal strike.
He could try and recover with a potion, but it's far more important to prevent chunking, and there is a way Zulfer can avoid that. He decides to commit suicide from a minor damage source rather than risk getting chunked.
Azelos follows after. She survives the vorpal strikes, but not the damage.
While the Fallen Planetar is away, Viora takes the time to protect herself. She drinks another two Potions of Magic Protection and then re-casts her normal buffs before waiting out the Fallen Planetar's duration.
Viora is alone but safe. It's time to bring down Shangalar.
The Pit Fiend follows up with a Symbol, Fear spell. The only sure counter we have is a Potion of Clarity or a Potion of Magic Shielding. We pick the former option, as it's useful for fewer occasions and therefore costs less.
Viora keeps running from the Pit Fiend, but it's hard to figure out where it is, since it keeps turning invisible. Another Remove Magic dispels Viora's immunity to fear, and the visibility costs the enemy another major defensive spell.
Another Symbol, Fear comes our way. Viora downs our last Potion of Clarity.
She keeps running. Finally, the Pit Fiend goes away.
She tries to kill Shangalar with the Mace of Disruption, but he makes his save. When he starts casting a new conjuration spell, I have her run away. It's not as bad as I feared, but I still have to stay away until it's gone, as it, too, can see through invisibility.
When it becomes clear the demon isn't coming our way, I have Viora use the free rounds to strengthen herself a little.
The demon vanishes. The fight can resume.
We attack Shangalar again, but Viora goes visible before she can make an attack roll. Layenne wastes more defensive spells.
The Boots of Speed are to blame for the failed attack. The Boots of Speed apply a haste effect that only impacts movement, but not APR (except in vanilla, where it can round up APR if it's a fraction). This influences the timers for stealth, but does not hasten attacks, and so it's possible for the stealth timer to expire before you can make an attack roll if you only have 1 APR.
I take off the Boots of Speed to solve the problem. Finally, we bring down Shangalar.
Shyressa has gone invisible and must be revealed before we can hit her with the Mace of Disruption. I filch the Book of Daily Spell from Dragomir's Respite.
I used the Wand of Lightning trick to duplicate the Book of Daily Spell. I don't like ending up with the Burning Hands page, so duplicating it lets me reduce the chance to just above 10%.
Shyressa still makes her save.
SCS enemies run away if you're invisible nearby them, and it takes time for them to stop. Viora only gets a few chances to land a hit, and each time, Shyressa makes her save. I don't want to use extra copies of the Book of Daily Spell if I don't have to, so I erase a couple spells from my spellbook and memorize two copies of True Seeing instead. I can't rest to get those spells back, but Wondrous Recall will work.
I accidentally let Viora go visible in Vaxall's and Revanek's sight. It costs her a fair amount of health and all of her buffs, but she can still escape.
Layenne wastes yet another excellent spell. Even SCS enemies have trouble handling incessant invisibility.
When all else fails, they bring out summons that can see through invisibility. We're not out of the woods yet.
Azelos always carried our Oil of Speed potions until Zulfer took them over not too long ago. Viora has to dash over to the bodies of her friends in order to grab an Oil of Speed. Without it, she can't reliably outrun the Planetar.
I run around the table in circles until the Planetar goes away.
My attempts to slay Shyressa have failed. After three True Seeing spells, I don't think this should continue. Viora brings out the Rod of Resurrection and raises Zulfer, who promptly drinks a Potion of Invisibility.
We bring Zulfer over to his equipment and get him properly fitted. Zulfer, like Ruva, has 100 in Detect Illusions. Shyressa cannot hide from Zulfer.
Zulfer can hit much faster and more reliably than Viora, but every miss would cost us a Potion of Invisibility. I let Viora keep attacking Shyressa. Layenne spots Viora and tries to bring her down. But her spell is easy to dodge.
Layenne begins casting a divination spell. Viora's Cloak of Non-Detection can keep her hidden, but Zulfer is reliant on Potions of Invisibility, which could only be protected by SI: Divination. I send him running to the far east so no one will spot him when he turns visible.
Shyressa still sees him and summons a couple of Dread Wolves. Zulfer's spot at the east is compromised.
He seeks out a safer position in the stairway to the southwest, losing another Potion of Invisibility but escaping the attention of the enemy.
When Layenne's True Sight runs out, Zulfer casts Poison Weapon and equips the Shield of Balduran and Darts of Wounding. He starts working on Vaxall, drinking a Potion of Invisibility when Revanek hurts him too much. Vaxall goes down.
Zulfer goes invisible once more. I try my hand at Shyressa again. No such luck.
I switch gears. Zulfer uses Poison Weapon again, leaving him with only one casting, and flings a Dart of Wounding at Layenne. She fails two saves vs. death in a row.
She can't get any spells off the ground, and her HP isn't high enough to survive for long. Layenne goes down, leaving Shyressa and Revanek.
Zulfer cuts down Revanek with Sanchuudoku, while Viora brings back Laosha with the Rod of Resurrection. Laosha hauls out all three of his Spirit Animals to help deal with Shyressa.
Shyressa turns into a bat, which removes her circle and makes it impossible to box her in. It also makes her impossible to target. Only our summons can keep attacking her. Due to a minor bug, she gets stuck in the wall and cannot escape. She attacks Zulfer in bat form, triggering Acidic Backlashes.
This goes on for quite some time. As a vampire, Shyressa regenerates, so this minimal damage is slow to wear her down. An Efreeti hastens the process with Fireball. Finally, Shyressa expires.
I raise the rest of the party and gather our stuff. The Staff of the Magi is ours, but at the cost of our sorcerer and the 1 million XP we invested in her since re-creating her.
I considered those other options because I wanted somebody who could at least partially carry their weight in the near term, and I did not want to wait a million XP to get Improved Haste back. It's never fun to play characters that are underpowered for long periods of time. But I decided to re-create our sorcerer in the awareness that, in the long run, I would do better with somebody with mage HLAs.
I decided much earlier in this run that I would complete all of the SoA quests I normally skip due to difficulty concerns. I rarely take on the Twisted Rune, Kangaxx, or the Mind Flayer city in no-reload runs, but I've gotten tired of avoiding those fights. That's why I took on the Twisted Rune--I didn't really care about the Staff of the Magi; I just wanted to kill Shangalar and the others.
And one of the fights I most often avoid due to difficulty is the lich in the Crooked Crane. I basically never get Daystar. The logic is that the fight is too much risk to get that sword. People have suggested using Daystar against the lich, but liches have saves vs. spell of 1, which means the instant death effect will not work, and SCS liches come pre-buffed with Protection from Fire, which means the fire damage would do nothing to them. Also, it's an extremely cramped area, which means we have nowhere to flee if a Planetar appears, the exit is blocked (if my memory is correct) until the lich is dead and therefore we cannot run away if things go bad, we can't bring out any summons before the fight because we enter from a separate area, and I've seen that lich summon high-level clones.
It's entirely possible to kill the lich by talk-blocking him. But I don't want to do that. I want to win this fight without tricks, if I can help it. How am I going to do this?
Holy Word can be blocked by magic resistance, but liches have no magic resistance; they only have spell level immunities, which Holy Word bypasses. Holy Word deafens high-level evil critters, which means a guaranteed 50% spell failure.
This stacks. In two castings, Viora can shut down the lich's spellcasting for 10 rounds.
But this leaves the lich with only 50% spell failure on the first round, and it only takes half a round to cast Summon Fallen Planetar. We need Fire Seeds from Ruva and her clone, against a Flesh Golem summoned by Yorin Zovai, to stay truly safe.
I also have Zulfer try casting Sunray via the Helm of Brilliance, but it has no effect. Right before it hits, I realize I've made a mistake.
A Horrid Wilting Chain Contingency. I decided against having Viora drink a couple Potions of Magic Protection for 100 MR, and I forgot to have her equip the Belt of Inertial Barrier instead of the Girdle of Fortitude. Had Viora failed her save, she likely would have died. That would have been a horrible way to end the run.
Ruva hits the Flesh Golem with Fire Seeds. I don't know if her spell failure stacks with the 50% spell failure from Holy Word, but we need as much spell failure as we can get. As always, the Flesh Golem is immune to Fire Seeds thanks to its 100 MR.
Bad news. The lich gets a spell off the ground. A big one.
I've had the sound off for several days, so I can't hear incantations; I can only see spells coming by the visual effects. I don't know what the lich is up to, so I just keep throwing the Fire Seeds.
Zulfer has nothing to do, so I have him reveal the lich.
I see no spells coming from the lich. At first, I'm not sure what's going on. When the lich throws out a Spell Sequencer, I know what's going on.
SCS spellcasters use sequencers instead of spells if their spell failure is too high. But Ruva has been rolling critical misses, and her clone was destroyed by the Horrid Wilting on the first round. She's only hit the lich twice with Fire Seeds since the fight began, and 50% spell failure shouldn't be enough to stop it from trying to cast spells.
Apparently the spell failure from Holy Word's deafness stacks with Wizard Slayer spell failure. That lich won't be casting any spells for a while. Ruva stops throwing Fire Seeds for a moment, as she is running out. When the lich resorts to physical attacks, I know its spell failure is too high.
The lich still has contingencies to maintain its PFMW. It rolls out a Stinking Cloud+Web Minor Sequencer, and we find that Chaotic Commands does not protect the group from Web.
Viora is disabled. It seems that, in EE, the web opcode in the Web spell paralyzes the target, not opcode 109. Notice Ruva refreshing the lich's spell failure with more Fire Seeds.
The lich follows up with a triple Chain Lightning Spell Trigger. It is now completely out of sequencers, triggers, and contingencies.
Viora took no damage because she was buffed with Protection from Lightning. Ruva throws one more Fire Seeds, ensuring us a few more rounds of safety.
I realize that Yorin Zovai can actually play an important role here. She breaks out the Wand of Spell Striking.
With no spellcasting and no sequencers left, the lich has absolutely no means of protecting itself against debuffers. Yorin Zovai Breaches the lich immediately afterward, which lets us get past PFMW a round or two earlier. It also takes down its Stoneskin and Fire Shields, allowing Zulfer to attack it without getting on the losing end of a feedback loop.
We get Daystar. Nobody has pips in longswords, but I don't care. I came for the lich, not for the sword.
Gerland of Candlekeep, NG Half-Elf Skald, 8th and final BG1 report
16 Nightal, 1368
We returned to Baldur's Gate in low spirits, burdened with the recent memory of Alora's fall. It is a bitter irony that the companion whose loss we've been mourning is the one who would know best how to cheer us up in a situation like this.
In the city we kept a low profile even though months had passed since we escaped Candlekeep. A woman named Tamoko said she had information for us, but demanded a promise of some kind for it. I told her I couldn't make any promises without knowing what she had to tell us. Others, such as Harper Delthyr, and a Dwarf at the Blushing Mermaid, were more forthcoming with information. Officer Scar, the Flaming Fist's second in command had been assassinated, and its first commander Duke Eltan had fallen ill. The new Iron Throne president Sarevok was bidding for a position as Duke.
We first infiltrated the Flaming Fist compound, where we found Duke Eltan "in the care of" a Greater Doppelganger. We dispatched the wicked creature,
We then decided to revisit the Iron Throne HQ, expecting to find Sarevok in one of the offices. What we encountered intead were fleeing people that were either disgusted with or fearful of Sarevok's practices. We also met Sarevok's apparent lover, a woman named Cythandria. She was a mage with two Golem aides, and she was not happy to see us. Both the Golems and their mistress were expertly eliminated by Kivan, whose wide array of enchanted arrows seems to offer solutions for all imaginable combat situations.
Two assassins, hired by Sarevok and referenced in one of Cythandria's letters, we tracked down in the Undercellars. One was a rogue, the other a mage. I used my wand of monster summoning to keep the mage busy, while Kivan and Ajantis occupied themselves with the rogue, and I must say they had their hands more than full with him.
17 Nightal, 1368
It's over: Kivan's finally avenged his beloved Deheriana, and I my foster father Gorion. At the Ducal Palace six Greater Doppelgangers - including two assassins, a mage, and an assassin - attacked Dukes Belt and Jannath. I cast Invisibility on the latter to ensure her survival, that we might present our evidence of Sarevok's agenda to her after the battle. Imoen (using poisoned arrows), Kivan (using mostly arrows of dispelling and +2 arrows), Ajantis (buffed with a storm giant strength potion), Dynaheir (with 18/00 Str thanks to her gauntlets and 18 dex thanks to a potion), and I, aided by three Skeletal Warriors reluctantly summoned by Dynaheir and hasted by me, then destroyed the Doppelgangers.
Via the Thieves Guild we entered a maze where we had little difficulty defeating Slimes, Battle Horrors, and Skeleton Warriors. Imoen disarmed several traps, a skill she had developed before she started her arcane studies. The maze led to a so-called Undercity that consisted mostly of ruins and a Bhaal Temple, Sarevok's hideout. On our way to the temple we were accosted by an Iron Throne war party that knew we had killed the local Throne leaders. A battle ensued, in which our warriors bested their leader with relative ease. We nevertheless retreated due to the presence of two Aerial Servants, summoned by their Cleric, and a hard-hitting Ogre.
We've reported our success to Duke Belt, and are now preparing for a trip away from the Sword Coast. We've even discussed seeking out Minsc and traveling all the way to Rashemen. Imoen and Kivan seem enthusiastic and willing, respectiely, but Ajantis will have to ask permission from his order first.
Glad to see the no-reload experts switching to the EE versions!
Musigny on mute - going back to weidu coding...
Ahh, Throne of Bhaal ... Definitely a part of the game I don't usually play. It's been about 2 years since i last kill Illasera or Yaga-Shura, I never went beyond that and I never played ToB with SCS. It's going to be epic! Hopefully I think my Bhaalspawn is strong enough to take down everything now. We shall see.
Right at the start, Anselm and his party were attacked by Illasera and some Black Reavers.
Quick as lightning, he was able to slay a Mage in melee before the prebuffing could trigger.
Korgan pulverized someone's head with a 70 damage critical hit.
Then Edwin stopped time and blasted everything to oblivion, the end.
In the Pocket Plane, they decided to kick the Dwarf out of the party who didn't like it too much, turning hostile and becoming a Barbarian. Sarevok joined the group instead and immediately dualled to Mage.
The first challenge was pretty straightforward, they only had to deal with Ellesime. A Breach spell and she was defenseless.
Afterward, they went to Saradush, and slaughtered everyone on their path in the city, the prison or the sewers. They also bought all the spells of the game for Hexxat, Sarevok and Edwin.
In the castle, they faced Gromnir and his servants. Dorn feared many of them with his Aura of Despair then poisoned both Mages to death with mundane bolts + GWW while the party dispatched Gromnir swiftly.
Versus the Master Wraith, Edwin annihilated everything and Anselm finished the impostor.
In the Fire Giant Temple, Anselm went alone most of the time because of his Cloak of Mirroring plus his high regeneration from the Ring of Gaxx and his extremely good tanking. It proved to be very good idea, especially against the Fire Lich and the Flaming Skulls.
Everything was going well until I met Brimstone, a Dragon. I wasn't really expecting this. 'Whatever' I thought, he's too big to follow me at the entrance, I'll go back in the previous room and rest before dealing with him.
I was really surprised when he teleported behind us in the previous room and started to nuke everyone with his breath weapon.
Hopefully Dorn has a few Poison Weapon and GWW left, so Anselm tackled him into melee while Dorn dealt the damage.
At some point I saw Brimstone looking at Dorn for a few seconds and knew he was about to use his breath weapon, so I ordered everyone except to move in the other room to avoid it.
Finally they went back and finished him.
Later on in the temple, Anselm triggered a trap and I was really afraid of losing the run that way. Hopefully it was only a Maze trap and not an Imprisonment one. If somebody know the location of a deadly trap somewhere in ToB I would be very thankful!
Next part, Yaga-Shura and the Heaven.
In a nutshell, we gave the Cloak of Mirroring and Shield of Balduran to Zulfer, who conjured a simulacrum via Vhailor's Helm and attacked the Beholders with Sanchuudoku and poisoned Fire Seeds alongside a group of five hasted Skeleton Warriors, with Laosha casting Farsight to guide them from afar. Enemy Death Spells and Fingers of Death brought down the summons now and then, but since we were far from the Beholders, we could always rest and come back.
The Skeleton Warriors were nearly immune to the Beholder rays thanks to their 90 MR, while Zulfer's clone was protected by both the Cloak of Mirroring and the SOB. With those defenses, they were able to bring down large packs of Beholders at a time. The Hive Mother and Elder Orbs cast PFMW, but that did not stop poisoned Fire Seeds and only lasted 4 rounds anyway.
In SCS with my install options, you cannot sleep in this area. Whatever defenses you have against Psionic Blast will have to last for the whole dungeon. Mind Flayers can deal large gobs of ranged crushing or fire damage as well as stun. They always pre-buff with Improved Invisibility and can teleport. They see through invisibility. And, as always, they can drain Intelligence.
Half our party, including Viora, has 11 INT; the other half has 16 INT. But to make sure we don't get overwhelmed by Mind Flayer attacks--and they get a lot of them--we need to optimize our AC and pre-buff with Potions of Genius.
One minor but cute optimization comes in the form of a Potion of Mind Focusing. These things last for more than eight hours.
This means you can rest after drinking them and still have the effect the next day. Although that's mostly only useful for early-game situations when you need a Friends scroll to save money on potions, and also need potions to guarantee a successful scribing of a Friends scroll.
We re-organize our armor. Viora can't hide from the Mind Flayers, so she dons a suit of Full Plate Mail to improve her AC. We also distribute a bunch of potions across the party, as we will need them later, and memorize as many copies of Chaotic Commands and Animate Dead as we can, with lots of Wondrous Recall spells as insurance. After we get kidnapped by the Mind Flayers, we buff Zulfer with Chaotic Commands so he can handle the Umber Hulks in the first fight.
We fought the Githyanki not long ago and are currently carrying the fully-forged Silver Sword. The dialogue with Simyaz understandably does not factor this in.
Before the fight with the Kuo-toa, I buff everybody with Chaotic Commands, knowing that the Kuo-toa use stunning bolts. To further improve our AC, we down some Potions of Defense and Potions of Invulnerability. We'll need it for later.
After the Kuo-toa and the Ogre guard, everyone but Ruva, our Wizard Slayer, drinks an Oil of Speed.
Viora has drunk three Potions of Genius, giving her 26 AC. Mind Flayers will have a lot of trouble bringing her down. With the whole party hasted, we have little trouble with the first few Mind Flayers.
I enable auto-pause on hit to make sure I always know exactly when I suffer brain drain.
You can save on Control Circlets and reputation by luring a Mind Flayer near the doors you need a Mind Flayer ally to open.
Viora gets hit. I move her away, but it's not necessary. The Mind Flayers don't last long enough to hit her again.
We nab some brine potions. If we get our defenses dispelled, this will let Viora quickly re-establish her immunity to stun--faster than using the Greenstone Amulet we got from the Beholder Hive.
As mentioned before, SCS Mind Flayers can do more than just stun you. They also have powerful ranged physical damage powers.
We lure another Mind Flayer over to the next locked door, to save a Control Circlet once more. We then cast all of our buffs, including a re-cast of Chaotic Commands for safety's sake.
Zulfer charges the Master Brain on his own at first in case the enemy uses Remove Magic. He deals lots of damage very fast.
When no such spell arrives, I bring in the rest of the party, only to see their buffs immediately removed.
Viora drinks a brine potion to quickly protect herself from stun before spending the extra couple of seconds to cast the longer-lasting Chaotic Commands spell. The Master Brain falls in the interim.
We are free, and the Staff of Command is ours.
I am back after a tough working period and glad to see that this thread is more alive than ever!
Really glad to see @Gotural making it through SoA - Good luck in ToB
I am thinking about a new no-reload run to join the fun, but I haven't figured it out yet
In the meantime I am going to join the 2nd Black pits' arena since it's been some time.
It is really inspiring to read about your runs again!
Have fun and enjoy your holidays!
I start out simply, with Poison Weapon. The drow here have no mantle spells; they're very low-level at this stage of the game.
Yorin Zovai turns the party invisible just for safety's sake, but we can't run away; two party members are disabled by confusion.
One of the mages goes down. Then I realize something important.
Ruva and Laosha might attack one of the friendly elves in their confusion. I know if you attack Elhan or his group, you get instantly killed via a script. If that also applies to the elves here, we could end up dead if Ruva or Laosha attacks one of those elves for even an instant.
We need to stop Ruva and Laosha at all costs. Zulfer equips Celestial Fury and attacks Ruva; Yorin Zovai hits Ruva with Spook, and Azelos starts firing Kuo-toa Bolts at Laosha.
Ruva fails a save vs. spell and gets disabled. She also gets poisoned, which unfortunately was a necessity.
But Celestial Fury's stun effect only lasts 6 seconds, and Zulfer is needed to slay the other mage, who might confuse more party members if he is not stopped. Yorin Zovai reinforces Ruva's disability using Blindness.
Laosha fails a save against a Kuo-toa Bolt. That lasts 7 rounds, so the confusion will wear off by the time he's able to attack anybody.
Ruva recovers from stun and attacks Zulfer, the closest target. To make sure she doesn't change targets, Yorin Zovai conceals the elf right next to Ruva.
An instant later, the nearby drow is dead, meaning that elven mage won't break invisibility by attacking.
Ruva will therefore not attack any elves, as one elf is invisible and the other is out of her field of vision.
Zulfer slays the last remaining drow, making it just a little bit harder for the invisible elf to break their invisibility. Laosha is trapped behind a Fire Elemental, who is the last possible target to take away that elf's invisibility.
The elf finally goes visible, but Ruva and Laosha recover from their confusion. We're safe!
We get some merchant fodder off of the enemy's remains.
Isn't that the most uncomfortable-looking handle you've ever seen? Some of the item designs in BG2 are really unrealistic. Celestial Fury, Carsomyr, and the Staff of the Magi all look painful or impossible to hold.
Now that we have the blade and handle of the Equalizer from the Mind Flayer city, we can forge the Equalizer sword itself. We have no real need for it, but we've got thousands of gold and nothing to spend it on. Plus, I like collecting situationally useful items in no-reload runs, just in case I ever find a use for them. We go around forging various items and fetching components.
Our party makeup is well-suited to take advantage of the dragon scale armors I usually never forge. The dragon scale armors can't be worn with items of protection, so I normally don't bother. But as an Archer, Azelos could use the superior AC from the Shadow Dragon Scale, and as a Wizard Slayer/Thief without Use Any Item, Ruva can't wear items of protection, so the Red Dragon Scale is a good fit for her.