In the City the Crew cleaned up all encounters other than the Iron Throne. At that point, with reputation now at 20, they went to do some shopping - including repurchasing the items accidentally sold in the previous session. When they got to Ulgoth's Beard I was a bit careless and got into Shandalar's sight. He seemed a bit annoyed about the death of his daughters and assigned a trip to Ice Island as penance. None of the mages lasted long there and I rested outside on a couple of occasions to cure damage from the various traps rather than use any protections against those.
At that point I decided to go and finish exploring the remaining wilderness areas. Hundreds more magical arrows were acquired from the Black Talon infestation in Larswood and Peldvale. That was all done in melee, but there was still the occasional use of missiles - for instance in shooting down the Red Wizards of Thay.
Weight of shot also accounted for Lendarn when they came in the back door to the Firewine Ruins. As this is a completionist run, they explored the whole of the ruins - Al soloing most of it, using green scroll fire and electricity protection against the traps there. Emerging at Firewine, they took on Kahrk - Mad Dog soaking up a lightning bolt and acid arrow while the others shot him down.
Ulcaster was the last of the non-TotSC to be explored before the Crew headed back to Baldur's Gate to take on the Iron Throne. By this time, 4 of them had Necklaces of Missiles. However, they stuck to their fighter tactics with missiles for the casters and melee for the fighters making short work of the opposition.
The same treatment was meted out to the real Iron Throne leaders at Candlekeep.
While clearing the catacombs a mis-click allowed a phase spider to poison Bugsy. That was potentially dangerous, with the lightning trap between him and Al - but Al managed to avoid triggering that.
However, there was a more serious problem when taking on Prat's gang. Prat himself was neutralized by the weight of shot on him, but Bor managed to stun Bugsy with his darts and both he and Tam continued to target Bugsy despite coming under melee assault - giving him no chance of survival, though the others quickly took revenge.
The rest of the Crew got the XP for a final level up against the basilisks, but Bugsy's death meant they couldn't immediately take that.
After getting Bugsy raised and sorting out inventory, I realised there was still one wilderness area I hadn't cleared (I think I was unconsciously leaving Shoal to the end to use her as a possible way of raising characters - as a holdover from playing my poverty run). Vito bravely put himself in the firing line and was felled by Shoal's kiss. Al used his fists to convince her to reverse that death, but I didn't pay attention when re-equipping Vito - he had the Claw of Kazgaroth and the constitution penalty from equipping that killed him once more. Moments later, Ogre Droth was handing over a nice helmet.
After a temple visit, the Crew returned to make sure Shoal would trouble no more travellers. Clearing the rest of the area was just enough to allow everyone to level up.
Finished the trivial quests in the Gate.
About to go to the Iron Throne.
We won't level up again before reaching the level cap.
EDIT
At the Iron Throne we accidentally killed a barkeeper thus reducing reputation to 10. Apart from that, we were successful.
We will probably spend 2000gp or so boosting our reputation.
Upon seeing how high our gold reserves are, we boosted reputation to 16. We will now scour the sword coast for more reputation before heading to Candlekeep.
Saving Arabelle made us into heroes again.
There is no point in raising it too much at this stage. We have no Rangers or Paladins in the party after all.
The big decision has come up regarding whether to go to Durlag's.
EDIT 2
We are at Durlag's now. The question still remains. To complete it or not?
We have completed the upper reaches and have awoken four warders.
All party members have now reached the experience cap.
Upon returning to the Gate I met up with Viconia who said that she was returning to the underdark.
After finishing off most of the Gate quests, we returned to Candlekeep.
We lost 2000 gp due to being caught raiding chests. However, everything else went well.
After leaving we killed some mages near Pelvale before killing more ankheg as we want to do more shopping at the Gate.
We didn't get quite as much done today, partly because of two mini-disasters, which I will get to shortly
* Circus problem solved without any issue.
* FIrst order of business was to free Hendak. Usually this is routine, but this time (possibly because of MP lag and because we rarely pause which may made inaccurate targeting) Hendak got hit and starting attacking us. So we ran, went to Graveyard, and rested so Theen could load up 5 dominations. We tried to get back to Copper Coronet but got hit with Suna Seni ambush, but we won that fight easily enough. Once back to Hendak after charming him he did give us our experience and we were able to buy the goodies from the store here, such as stonefire, azuredge and sling of sleeking. Hendak even gave us the next quest.
* Clearing the sewers was next. Lilacor was obtained without too much trouble. Theen still doesn't have level 5 cleric spells so no raise dead yet.
* For the Captain Haegan fight, Theen charmed the captain and he was slaughtering his friends while the cavaiiers (who still don't have great armor) took out the dangerous cleric. Haegan was almost dead but his charm wore off and did a big hit on Dayglow. Dayglow tried to withdraw and on Grond0's screen he was far away but on Theen's screen he was close - down Dayglow goes but not chunked. Time to pick up stuff and run to the temple to raise him. We came back and a silence and skeletons helped deal with the mages, with Theen doing great de-trap work like usual. We needed to pull Hendak into the Copper Coronet, charm him and he did give us our reward (whew!)
* By this point, Theen really wanted the potion bag so we tried to get to Watcher's Keep but got ambushed by Renfeld. So we returned him to the docks. We were pretty beat up by this point so Theen wanted to rest in the docks inn while we were here. SInce we were here, we took down Officer Dirth for his full plate. We also took down the pirates that were nearby. Theen managed to hold 3 pirates with just a single hold person spell, made the fight easy.
* We finally got to Watcher's Keep to get Theen his potion bag. Theen noticed he had a +1 long sword and Dayglow mentioned he has long sword proficiency and he would prefer Daystar. So then we went to Waukeen's Promende to get a undead scroll. While here Grond0 suggested taking down Mencar and his gang. We didn't have much but skeletons and a silence, however, Theen managed to charm the berserk fighter and with his help it was a clean victory. Now the cavaliers both have full plate.
* We went to gate area to get the Daystar, a green protection from undead scroll and azuredge making that easy. We also unlocked Trademeet while here and Theen decided we would go there for the shield of harmony. Snares made quick work of the genie outside and skeletons absorbed the petrification spells for the party as they were pre-positioned. While here Theen also bought the Blackblood Club now entire party has good weapons.
* A little bit of time left, we did all the Umar Hills area quests without incident. The chest mephit was no problem thanks to Theen buffing the cavaliers with free action before the fight. We made it to the old temple area and fought our way to the old Amaunator temple and saved our session here.
First major setback as we proceeded through the undercity.
When things began going wrong we should have retreated in order to sleep and return refreshed. We didn't with the results seen below. Yes we defeated them, but we haven't got 800 gp. We will eitther have to sell equipment or go ankheg hunting. A couple would be enough.
I sold enough for the resurrection but went to the FAI to raise him.
Then recruited Dorn and killed ankheg until he reached level 6 and he now has ** in crossbows.
We were ambushed by a large group of bandits. We will sell the scalps and shells upon returning to Beregost.
Perhaps buy more wands at the Gate.
Did that.
Failed to protect myself from Confusion in final battle.
Semaj cast it just before his death.
Sarevok took full advantage of the fact.
Realised afterwards that Punk could have fired one of his arrows of dispelling at me.
After saving Duke Eltan and dealing with Cythandria, the Crew went in search of Slythe and Krystin - who were quickly overpowered. I expected the same to happen to the dopplegangers at the coronation and didn't bother with any buffs there. However, the dopplegangers survived longer than I expected and both dukes only survived at near death.
Most of the traps in the maze posed no threat, but Bugsy's claim in the text of "no problem" nearly proved too optimistic when he was hit 7 times by a lightning bolt bouncing across the corridor.
In the Undercity the Crew wanted to get Rahvin's exploding arrows, so edged into sight of him before immediately retreating once he was hostile. Al then used his Bhaal horror to make him vulnerable.
As this is a completionist run, at this point the Crew reversed course in order to complete the TotSC content. A trip to Balduran's Isle led them to a confrontation with Karoug. For some time he was attacked with a non-proficient dagger and bastard sword. Those could have overcome his regeneration with a bit of luck, but with Al having taken a couple of hits I resorted to throwing in some magic damage as well to complete the job.
I cleared the island of werewolves - and added Dradeel for good measure before he could bring his nasty spells into play. Back in Ulgoth's Beard I was still short of magical weapons that could hurt Mendas - but he had no regeneration to protect him and didn't last long.
Moving on to Durlag's Tower, the Crew started working through the underground. They had to rest quite often to deal with trap damage, but no-one was really in danger on the way to deal with the warders.
On the second level though I was too impatient and Bugsy died of multiple trap damage relatively early on.
After a temple visit a couple more dopplegangers had spawned and one of those provided a nice surprise with a 3rd set of full plate for the Crew. Further traps continued to cause plenty of damage on that level, but there were no further casualties and the final battle with the Dwarven Doom Guards was easy enough.
The third level again required care to negotiate repeating traps amid backstabbing enemies, but I managed that well. The rest of the level was easy enough, with a 4th set of full plate recovered from Tarnor's body. After teleporting to the chessboard, the Crew used a fireball salvo for the first time in order to disrupt the attackers.
On the 4th level Bugsy got held in a web early on with a bunch of attackers on him. However, his equipment made him immune to fire damage and fireballs proved just sufficient to save him.
The rest of the level was no problem and the Demonknight failed to even damage anyone.
At Ulgoth's Beard their high HPs meant the archers and assassins were relatively ineffective and Aec'Letec did no better.
Finally, the Crew returned to the Undercity to find Sarevok. He was dispelled from range and Semaj only lasted a couple of seconds after also being dispelled - though Vito had taken a lot of damage thanks to a bit of careless movement triggering a lightning trap. Tazok was rapidly shot down after getting an invisible attack in. Everyone switched to darts of stunning and successfully tagged Angelo before he could shoot any of his exploding arrows. That just left Sarevok to be the subject of a general attack.
They transferred to SoD with about 220k XP each, so still have some work to do before they can get another level.
Thanks @Corey_Russell. Not allowing any healing did complicate things significantly and there were a number of occasions where the party had to rest to heal trap damage with the 'scout' on the far side of a repeating trap from the rest of the party - using Buckley's Buckler to regenerate. Fortunately, they were tough enough to deal with rest ambushes without significant problems ...
The Crew eased through the SoD opening dungeon without any problems. Korlasz surrendered about half a second after noticing the Crew - but was shot down anyway as she tried to make her getaway.
The Crew did most of the quests in the City, though they weren't required to be quite as comprehensive at clearing SoD as they were with BGEE. With the 80k or so of gold carried through from BGEE they were able to buy anything they wanted.
After sorting out inventory they moved on to the Coast Way Forest. Ikros was shot down before he could buff and Isabella didn't last much longer.
Back at the Coast Way Crossing the Crew went to the dwarven dig site seeking some revenge on Coldhearth for ending my recent poverty run. They got a level early on in that before clearing the place. Although in this run I could have used the Secret Revealed, I thought it would be more satisfying to use weaponry and Coldhearth was duly shot down once his PfMW expired. Mad Dog used an oil of speed to rush back to grab the phylactory and rush it back for destruction.
At the bridge I normally avoid conflict when playing solo, but this time chose to fight the enemies - a round of fireballs not leaving much to finish off.
The trash mobs in the Troll Claw Woods proved no problem. The spiders and associated web traps were a potential danger, but with decent spell saves and 2 of them having free action equipment no-one was threatened this time.
At the temple in the Forest of Wyrms they exploited Ziatar's vulnerability against stun. The Neothelid made the mistake of surfacing immediately rather than attacking the unbuffed characters with status effects. The Shadow Aspect got one backstab in before being shot down. Mad Dog tanked Darskhelin and his minions while the others poured in missile fire. Akanna was just hacked down before Al used the easy option of a throwing dagger to pick up some dragon scales.
A young green dragon made the fatal mistake of asking the Crew for help on their way to Boareskyr Bridge. There, they cut down Vichand without giving him a chance to talk. Dragon scales and rhino beetle shell were made into shields before the rest of work in the area was done. Rather than bother with the big fight the Crew arranged for the surrender of the fort. The mage was dispelled by an arrow from Al and, once a further hit disrupted his opening spell, he stood no chance.
At the Coalition Camp they summoned Nazramu and did some shopping. While doing that I realised that I hadn't crafted some +3 ammunition at Boareskyr Bridge, which was a significant mistake, though the melee power of the group should make short work of Belhifet anyway.
There was plenty more fighting to clear Dead Man's Pass. Using the spectacles again netted the Ring of the Tiny Fiend to improve Bugsy's elemental resistance a bit more. I had one close shave when Baby Face was diseased by a neo-otyugh. I tried resting numerous times in the cave without success and eventually left it too late to get outside to rest, thanks to the movement delay imposed by the poison ticking. To avoid a casualty Baby Face used one of the multitude of heroism potions being carried to provide a few extra HPs.
They stopped off briefly at the Castle to save Skie before going on to clear Bloodbark Grove. On the way to the Underground River they triggered the no-magic zone ambush. I just avoid that when playing solo, but stuck around this time - forcing the Shadowy Figure to retreat instead (I forgot I would have needed to use area damage to kill him before he ran away. There's rather more content at the Underground River, but the Crew didn't take long to pick up a Seal of Caelar and kill Rigah for his useful +3 2-handed sword. The Crew worked their way round the caverns and even took on Hephernaan - using a number of potion buffs there. On descending the elevator again, I didn't fancy the hordes of enemies and used invisibility potions to get away - not very elegant, but still.
Back at the Coalition Camp they took the time to heal up before triggering the invasions. The first wave didn't have much left to finish off after a round of fireballs. The mages did even worse - failing to buff in time for any of them to survive a fiery death. The third and fourth waves performed much like the first.
At the Castle, Al's PfM scroll was wasted when Ashatiel was stunned by the first dart thrown. After entering hell and fighting through the first group of enemies, I belatedly noticed that everyone had got their final SoD level. Thrix's summons didn't last long and the Crew inherited a +3 longsword. That means they all had +3 melee weapons, though only 2 of them are proficient in those.
After buffing, they slaughtered the enemies on the hellevator before confronting Belhifet. With strengths of 23 and 24, critical hits hurt and it didn't take long to sweep him aside.
There were no mistakes with the epilogue, so the Crew managed to complete SoD without any further deaths. Let's see if they can maintain that performance after transferring to BG2EE ...
Al (PC) - L10, 108 HPs, 0 kills (794 in BGEE/SoD), **** 2-handed sword / *** longbow
Baby Face - L10, 101 HPs, 0 kills (605 in BGEE/SoD), 1 death, **** long sword / *** crossbow
Bugsy - L10, 121 HPs, 0 kills (654 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths, **** hammer / *** shortbow
Carlo - L10, 121 HPs, 0 kills (539 in BGEE/SoD), 0 deaths, **** flail / *** sling
Mad Dog - L10, 119 HPs, 0 kills (603 in BGEE/SoD), 0 deaths, ***** axe / ** dual wielding
Vito - L10, 119 HPs, 0 kills (660 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths, **** scimitar / *** darts
A very similar party to my last run. Basically it is just the proficiencies that are different.
The names of the party members give none too subtle hints as to their proficiencies.
I couldn't believe it when gibberlings killed Stan.
@Wise_Grimwald There's a +2 scimitar lying on the ground, along with a set of leather armor and a cursed ring, in the south part of Cloakwood 2 (same area as Centeol's lair).
In the event progress through BG2EE was relatively limited ...
The opening dungeon was no trouble, with Ulvaryl being taken down by a critical before she could run away. After a quick stop at the circus they reported in to Gaelan Bayle before overseeing a transfer of power at the Copper Coronet. Then they improved their defenses by gaining full plate from Officer Dirth, Mencar Pebblecrusher and 3 members of Captain Dennis' gang. They used the skinner house to heal up in and, once that was done, took down the Rune Assassins.
The final set of full plate they wanted was being guarded by Tarnor's Crew. That encounter was potentially more dangerous as retreat options are not quite as convenient there. However, Mekrath's Lair did the job and no-one was badly injured. I noted there that Tarnor had the Helm of Dumathoin. As I rarely do the dwarf area in SoD I hadn't realized that transferred to him. That's potentially quite useful as it allows any of the Crew to get constitution to 20 and hence recover a lot more HPs from resting.
After opening up access to the lich, Mad Dog used a PfU scroll to kill it and followed up with the ones in the Bridge and City Gates Districts. A frost giant strength potion, topped up by DUHM, allowed Al to kick open the door to the latter and get Daystar. I decided to take the risk of attacking Kangaxx as well (without using the protection of a PfM scroll) - bouncing up and down the stairs to avoid his spells. His lich form was duly disposed of, but Baby Face had not yet got grand mastery in long swords to speed up his attacks with Daystar. After a few attempts where he failed to get an attack in, I waited just a fraction too long to go upstairs again and Al joined his namesake in prison.
@Wise_Grimwald There's a +2 scimitar lying on the ground, along with a set of leather armor and a cursed ring, in the south part of Cloakwood 2 (same area as Centeol's lair).
Thanks. I didn't know about that one. It wasn't there pre-EE.
In all the games that I have played, this is the first time that I have been injured.
We then went to Tenya and gave her the bowl and afterwards killed a number of ankheg using command to neutralise them.
In so doing we did a lot of levelling up.
As we killed the last one in the cave it sent a wave of acid towards Stan that killed him even as the command spell from Helmus put it out of action.
At first I thought that it was a mistake going after the ankheg, but then I realised that I would get 500 gp for the shell and that it would onnly take 200 gp to raise Stan. Therefore a risk well worth taking.
Since this is so similar to my last game, I have decided to revert to an old character that I rolled a long time ago, Edur the Eagle.
Here are the starting stats.
Sadly I was unable to help Melicamp, however I did help Firebead and Marl before heading North where I picked up Joia's ring before killing Sonner. I then took the bowl to Tenya before clearing the road to Nashkel where I got some decent armour. I was able to lure Arghain away from his cohorts and to my relief he fell before my last two-handed sword broke. Glad that I now have an unbreakable sword!
I killed Greywolf after the guards at the mine hurt him quite badly. He had previously hurt me and I had to use some potions of healing before fighting him toe to toe.
I then took Samuel to the FAI and did some minor quests to raise reputation to 20.
Bassilus was killed after I protected myself from evil and hold.
Now level 4.
I then went to meet Shoal. She hurt me badly so I didn't wait to take on her husband, but went to The Surgeon who healed me. I then returned a ring that I found on board a wreck before returning to Shoal. Her husband was nowhere to be seen so I killed her and levelled up.
Afterwards I killed some sirine.
I then killed Zargal et al and returned to Beregost to rest.
After helping Charleston Nib, I headed north where even more sirine were killed. The last one disabled me with her spells, but she wasn't able to do me further harm and she too was slain.
Careful planning enabled me to kill all the flesh golems in the cave. In the process I was hurt badly a few times, but I was afterwards able to rest.
Brage was then taken to the Temple of Helm.
I took Jaheira and Khaled to Nashkel and left them there.
Bentha was then rescued.
Dorn joined me, but I bade him farewell after killing Kryll.
I was able to help Melicamp, Marl and Firebead before heading south clearing the road of antagonists as I went., finishing off with Greywolf. The guards at the mine were helpful,but it was I who killed him with a throwing knife. I was totally uninjured during the conflict.
Iwent east and picked up Samuel who I took to the FAI.
I returned Joia's ring, killed Sonner and returned Tenya's bowl.
I killed several ankheg and returned the Colquetle amulet after which I sold the ankheg shells and bought the poisonous dagger.
I was surprised at how quickly Bassilus fell. His spells had no effect on me.
At the Carnival I had seen some useful items that I couldn't then afford. I bought them and used the shield amulet to defeat Zordral unnscathed.
Currently level 6, with **** in daggers, ** in dual wielding.
I'm getting rather lonely so perhaps I should get some friends to accompany me. Reputation now 20.
I chose Xzar and Montaron. Montaron was quite helpful by pickpocketting several items that I needed. However, I soon realised that having people like them in my party was a bad idea and so I bade them farewell before going to deal with Droth and Shoal. Whilst there I killed some sirine before heading to the lighthouse area where I joined up with Safana and more sirine and a number of flesh golems were killed.
We are both at level 7 now.
Heading south we helped Charleston Nib and Brage before heading for the FAI where I killed Tarnesh, recruitedd Khaled and Jaheira and talked to Dorn.
We went down to Nashkel where I left Khaled and Jaheira before heading south where Dorn joined us. We performed his quest before bidding him farewell.
Safana and I proceeded westward completing a number of minor quests before joining up with Dynaheir and returning to the Carnival.
At High Hedge we bought a lot of spells for Dynaheir. She is only level 5 currenttly.
We killed Mutamin and a lot of basilisks and as a result Dynaheir's level was raised to six.
I bought Dynaheir a eobe of the Good Archmage and the army scythe for Safana. I am now poor! Just one gold piece left!
We went down the mine and killed Mulahey and then the Amazons. Xan came with us and charmed Oublek hoping that he would help us fight Nimbul.
Whilst he did attack, he turned on us when the friends spell wore off. Before Xan had a chance to charm him again, Dynaheir attacked Oublek with magic missile, fortunately not killing him. Xan did then manage to charm him whereupon Nimbul finished him off. We then killed Nimbul and picked up the loot.
At Beregost we killed Firebead as we wanted to join up with Viconia and Dorn. This we did and our reputation was now 6.
We found ourselves in the old amaunator temple. We did pretty good for most of this area, but Dayglow got held and killed. His part members did win the fight, and Theen raised Dayglow. The rest of the fights went well but we did run into a problem - somehow we lost the 3rd piece of the yellow circle, which prevented us from making to the Shade Lord. So we cannot finish the quest.
So instead we went to the druid grove, and the trolls and druids couldn't do much against the cavaliers. Cernd once again defeated Faldorn.
We then worked our way into D'Aarnise Keep. The trolls still couldn't do much against us. Golems were straightforward with Azuredge takiout out the iron golem. But we ran into another broken quest, we could only make the +2 flail and not the flail of ages, we have no idea where it went. But fortunately Torgal and his minions were badly defeated. We reported our success to Nalia.
Time for bridge area. Muggers defeated and we had a tough fight with the Rune Aassassins, Theen was forced to run to his backup snares but he had to gulp potions fast as he could but his friends managed to save him. We tried to get boots of avoidance but realized we had to fight in the graveyard which was easy with daystar and azuredge. Theen was furiously trying to loot but his party moves so fast.
We then tried to get a teddy bear but we forgot about the hostile Hendak. One of our party was quite smart and used fists to put Hendak unconscious - we got our bear and managed to escape in time. While we were here, Drubb suggested we get the AoP sure why not. So we head to the docks.
We belated realized we hadn't even done Maevar yet so we worked a bit on that including looting the doors/trapped wall containers. We had just enough time to get the Unseeing Eye quest and looted the amulet from the Weathermistress. We saved at the endge of the Temple area for now.
@Corey_Russell Looking good, sort of. Pity about the unfinished quests, but you've survived.
Journal of Doug
We cleared the wyvern cave and went for the reward. Afterwards picked up Neera, did her quest and dropped her. We had very little gold at the time as we had bought equipment at Ulgoth's, (Wand of the heavens, a cloak, an amulet. a +3 staff etc) so the chance of losing gold wasn't a problem.
The Cloakwood mines were no problem. Davaeorn was easily beaten by sending in skeletons to absorb his spells followed by summoned animals.
Picked up Dorn before going to the Gate.
After the battle we did some healing.
(I haven't given the key yet as I thought that I might need a reputation boost later.)
I used the dexterity increasing tome on myself which meant that I could give the brawling hands to Dorn.
We did several quests including going to the Iron Throne. Just after finishing the top floor I noticed that I was heroic.
I don't know how it happened but to avoid losing equipment if Viconia or Dorn left, I collected the important stuff, went downstairs without them and removed them from the party. Fortunately they hadn't noticed my rep at that time.
I went to the duke and he sent me to Candlekeep.
I then returnd to the Cloakwood mines, handed over the key and picked up Yeslick.
I then noticed that he can't use wands. (Has that changed in EE?)
Before entering Candlekeep I'm going to finish a few more quests.
I then noticed that he can't use wands. (Has that changed in EE?)
Yeslick can't use wands because of his low intelligence; he could if he drank a potion boosting INT to 9 or more. Pre-EE ... well, original BG1 didn't enforce ability score requirements on items.
I then noticed that he can't use wands. (Has that changed in EE?)
Yeslick can't use wands because of his low intelligence; he could if he drank a potion boosting INT to 9 or more. Pre-EE ... well, original BG1 didn't enforce ability score requirements on items.
I haven't enlisted Yeslick since getting EE, and probably won't since there is only one tome for increasing intelligence. Of course I might if I had the Greyclan mod installed as that gives an extra tome.
Journal of Doug
We raided he top floors of Durlag's before going to the area where Bassilus was killed. Killing Kissiq dropped reputation by 7.
We then killed Zargal et al.
Now back to the Cloakwood Mines to deliver the key.
Most of the Baldur's Gate Quests finished. Reputation now 13 and a lot of equipment bought.
We went back to Candlekeep with not much gold left.
The battles against Gorion, Prat and the spiders were made quite easy due to having five skeleton warriors.
All the party is now at or near the level cap. No more levelling up to go.
The big question now is whether to bother with Dulag's, Ice island and Werewolf island. I'm thinking not as the loot is little better than the equipment that I already have.
EDIT
We have reached the site of the last battle with Sarevok. Everyone has reached the experience cap.
Final Party consists of Doug, Dorn, Viconia, Safana and Dynaheir.
This is an update of pure chaos. Not even sure how to write all this up, but will give it a try. Our first goal was to finish off the Maevar quest. So this involved turning in the weather mistress necklace, then dealing with Rayic Gethras. Drubb was given some anti-mage buffs then enganged. After a little bit his party moved up to assist and Theen got the kill shot with his sling bullet. Some documents were retrieved from Marcus, and poor Embarl was slaughtered by Dayglow - not very paladin like. But regardless Maevar was happy. Theen then reported to Bloodscalp the scoop on Maevar, so we were told to finish him off.
Once we battle Maevar's goons and Maevar himself this went pretty well. Bloodscalp was happy with our success. We then reported to Linvail to get our goodies. Dayglow mentioned we hadn't done Harper's Hold yet so we defeated some mages in a house then tried to report our success.
But here is where the chaos ensued. Thieve's from Maevar's guild came out of hiding and starting attacking - when they did that the Harper's guard (who is apparently a mage), Jaheira and Xzar all went hostile! The party ran for their lives taking a lot of damage, partly because invisibility does not work against Xzar who was throwing a lot of lightning bolts, sunfires and fireballs around. But escape we did.
So Theen wanted to get far, far away from this chaos. To that end, we killed Valygar and went into the planar sphere. This quest is hard even with a full party, and was nearly our death. The powerful halflings we meet after talking to the knights of Solmania we were doing well after Theen had charmed a fighter to fight for us. Dayglow was taking melf's acid arrow damage but was not under attack so should survive - well , except his target had physical mirror up and reflected Grond0's range weapons to himself and thus Dayglow kills himself. Fortunately Theen had a raise dead handy to bring his friend back to life.
Only two stone golems and no others, so getting the golem head was easy this time. Theen doing great trap work like usual. A single skeleton was plenty to take down the Necromancer, though we did agree to help him.
Okay try to get the demon heart. Theen likes to clear the weak enemies first, then go for the demon, but his cavalier friends were having none of that and charged the demon directly without waiting for Theen to buff the party. This was chaos as, both Theen and Dayglow got held and Dayglow got killed. Drubb expertly ran the many enemies around until Theen's hold wore off. Theen then raised Dayglow, Dayglow looted this stuff (though losing the boots of avoidance), and then the party ran out of the area. We rested and healed and this time Theen buffed the cavaliers. We did get the demon heart but Dayglow was hurt badly but he did live - success we got the heart the party wasted no time in getting out of there.
Time for Tolgerias. The plan was for Drubb to be buffed with anti-mage buffs but Dayglow opened the door and nearly triggered the fight before were ready. But once buffed, Drubb distracted Tolgerias and his buddy then the rest of the party moved up to assist - success!
Time to clear out the trolls in the cold room, which corey_russell thinks is a little bit easier than the fire room. Then we arrived in the engine room. The golems put quite the beat down on us, and it got worrisome as one golem went around and smacked Theen to 1/2 life. But Theen potioned and his friends were able to kill it before the golem killed Theen. Theen decided let's fix the engine and get out of here, so the party sanctuaried out.
Which reminds me, the fact the entire party can do sanctuary is very useful, as we use it to rest anywhere, plus avoid attacks or to setup attacks.
We report to Lavok our success and finally Planar Sphere is done - whew!
Theen wanted to get another level drain protection item so we worked on the Sir Sarles quest. One problem though dwarf in the Copper Coronet who we need to talk to is right next to Hendak and Hendak is still hostile. So we do our talking and get out of there. We then report to Sir Sarles who doesn't like our illithium substitute, but the Church does so all good as it were. The party finally makes it to the Bridge District (to go after Neb) and saved our session here.
Thieve's from Maevar's guild came out of hiding and starting attacking - when they did that the Harper's guard (who is apparently a mage), Jaheira and Xzar all went hostile!
I believe this is specific to multiplayer so describing as may not be clear what and why it happened. In the past with two of us in a multiplayer session I've seen the client enter the building and thieves immediately appear outside to attack the protagonist/host who may not be ready. Hence you should never enter the building first if not the protagonist.
We made that mistake this time but no thieves appeared. The immediate sign of issues was that there were only 2 thieves inside the ground floor of the building. Some time later we went to the harper building and there were thieves waiting outside it. We started to thin them out before realising casting was taking place and a now hostile Rylock had mirror imaged . We departed as he continued casting. As Corey says other NPC's and commoners were also hostile so we were fortunate not to have destroyed our reputation with an accidental kill and become Fallen paladins.
@Gate70@Wise_Grimwald to be clear, I think the reason the others nearby went hostile is the thieves did a "call for help" and apparently Rylock and Xzar respond to such calls.
New run. Berserker specialising in Flails/Dual wielding
I intend becoming a cleric, but Gorion suggested that I acquire some skill in fighting first.
With the starting gold I was able to buy splint mail, a helmet, a flail, a sling, 240 bullets, and some crossbow bolts and still had one gold piece left over.
A watcher took it as punishment when I broke into a chest, but I accumulated 511 more gold pieces before leaving the inn. The punishment did little to alter my behaviour!
I used 500 gold pieces to raise my reputation by 2.
Phlydia gave me a gem. I sold it and a dagger that I found. With the gold I just had sufficient funds to buy a flail for my left hand.
When I took some bolts to Fuller he gave me a +1 dagger. I then looted some chests outside, as well as one near Fuller.
I took a potion to Dreppin and returned Hull's sword to him.
I consumed Deder's oil of speed which gave me the ability to get an extra potion of healing without being caught.
Imoen joined me but not wanting her company I just gave her some armour and a sword before bidding her farewell.
Sadly, I was unable to help Melicamp. However I was able to help Marl and Firebead.
I headed north and cleared the FAI of hobgoblins. In so doing I reached level 2.
Further north Sonner, Jebadoh and Telman were killed.
I tried to enter the Gate but my way was barred.
I gave Tenya her bowl and killed an ankheg thus reaching level 3. I now have *** in flails.
I killed another ankheg in the nest but was so badly hurt that I deemed it unsafe to proceed further.
In Beregost I sold two shells and bought a sling +1. I also took excellent news to Mirianne.
Upon going to Nashkel I found some good armour and had a long chat with Noober.
I gave 800 gold to a temple and returned the Colquetle amulet.
Then I took on Greywolf, gave the emeralds to Oublek, helped Alfie and the dryad before helping with Drienne's cat.
I killed Ingot and some ogres near the gnoll bridge. After plundering a cave I returned to the carnival. Reputation now 19.
Took Samuel to FAI. Reputation 20. Killed Tarnesh. Was given six antidotes to poison.
Went north and cleared tthe ankheg nest. Took the body of farmer Brun's son to him.
Sold the ankheg shells and killed Karlat.
I recruited Xzar and Montaron whereupon Montaron did a lot of pickpocketting. Xzar was left in Beregost after identifying items. Montaron picked up Algernon's Cloak before picking up some useful items at Ulgoth's Beard where I left him.
Baeloth joined me whereupon we killed more ankheg. When I reached level 7 I went shopping for armour etc. I killed Firebead, dual-classed to Cleric and joined up with Kagain. Killing Firebead cost me nine reputation points so Kagain and Baeloth will be happy with my reputation for some time.
I should clearly have enlisted Baeloth before bidding Montaron farewell as when I tried to re-enlist him, he left permanently.
I spent 1000gp on raising reputation. Viconia and Dorn have joined me. In the Dorn ambush I was seriously injured by lightning. So were my enemies! Quite a storm. Reputation is now 8! That's what you get for enlisting two drows and a Blackguard!
Now looking for Kryll.
(I think thaat this is my first all-evil party. I won't be making a habit of this but was curious as to what it would be like. A pity that I can't have Montaron as the sixth party member! )
So the party found themselves in the Bridge District. We dealt with some thieves and their contact. While here, we also dealt with Neb. We then worked on the main quest and went to the graveyard -- oops can't get in Bodhi's lair need to report to Linvail first. After doing that, Bodhi's lair went pretty smooth with Daystar and Azuredge leading the way. Bodhi herself was badly hurt by Daystar sunray and traps so she didn't last long. We then forged the IMoD, although strangely the paladins didn't want to use it.
We then did the Fallen Paladins quest. Turns out, unfallen paladins fight better and we were successful in wiping out the fallen paladins.
We then peeked into the sewers. Dayglow spotted Gauis while under sanctuary and then Theen sent his bears and skeleton warriors after Gauis - the bears managed to kill Gauis! The party was then able to wipe out Tarnor and his gang. While here, the summons also dealt with the nearby Rakshashka. We then went into Mekrath's lair to get the sphene gem. We encountered some umber hulks which killed Dayglow and nearly killed Drubb but Drubb gulped a potion of invisibility to save himself. After healing up and raising Dayglow with the RoR we then battled the hulks again and this time we won, whew.
We went to the Bridge District and entered the planar prison. We had buffed with death ward and also sanctuary, this enabled a quick kill of the mage. The rest of the area went pretty smooth the Warden being distracted with our summons while the rest of us killed him.
We then worked on the Unseeing Eye quest. Things worked out well until Dayglow took on the beholders with his shield of balduran. Problem though? He didn't have automatic saves vs death and so was held and killed - Drubb tried to help but was nearly killed in the process. Theen summoned some minions, sent them up and then Theen did a turn undead - this chunked most of the undead which then enabled short work of the beholders as they were busy with our summons.
Comments
And Invoker can be removed as one of the kits not yet represented.
Firl, the Invoker: @Enuhal
Notable Mods: None
Difficulty: Core Rules
Start: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1201871/#Comment_1201871
Finish: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1202927/#Comment_1202927
Previous updates
After getting Bugsy raised and sorting out inventory, I realised there was still one wilderness area I hadn't cleared (I think I was unconsciously leaving Shoal to the end to use her as a possible way of raising characters - as a holdover from playing my poverty run). Vito bravely put himself in the firing line and was felled by Shoal's kiss. Al used his fists to convince her to reverse that death, but I didn't pay attention when re-equipping Vito - he had the Claw of Kazgaroth and the constitution penalty from equipping that killed him once more. Moments later, Ogre Droth was handing over a nice helmet.
Baby Face - L8, 89 HPs, kills 302, 1 death, *** long sword / *** crossbow
Bugsy - L8, 103 HPs, kills 321, 1 death, *** hammer / *** shortbow
Carlo - L8, 106 HPs, kills 292, 0 deaths, *** flail / *** sling
Mad Dog - L8, 91 HPs, kills 280, 0 deaths, **** axe / ** dual wielding
Vito - L8, 87 HPs (incl. -16 from Claw), kills 350, 2 deaths, *** scimitar / *** darts
Finished the trivial quests in the Gate.
About to go to the Iron Throne.
We won't level up again before reaching the level cap.
EDIT
At the Iron Throne we accidentally killed a barkeeper thus reducing reputation to 10. Apart from that, we were successful.
We will probably spend 2000gp or so boosting our reputation.
Upon seeing how high our gold reserves are, we boosted reputation to 16. We will now scour the sword coast for more reputation before heading to Candlekeep.
Saving Arabelle made us into heroes again.
There is no point in raising it too much at this stage. We have no Rangers or Paladins in the party after all.
The big decision has come up regarding whether to go to Durlag's.
EDIT 2
We are at Durlag's now. The question still remains. To complete it or not?
We have completed the upper reaches and have awoken four warders.
All party members have now reached the experience cap.
Upon returning to the Gate I met up with Viconia who said that she was returning to the underdark.
After finishing off most of the Gate quests, we returned to Candlekeep.
We lost 2000 gp due to being caught raiding chests.
After leaving we killed some mages near Pelvale before killing more ankheg as we want to do more shopping at the Gate.
Theen - gnomish cleric/thief (Corey_Russell)
Dayglow - cavalier (Grond0)
Drubb - cavailer (Gate70)
We didn't get quite as much done today, partly because of two mini-disasters, which I will get to shortly
* Circus problem solved without any issue.
* FIrst order of business was to free Hendak. Usually this is routine, but this time (possibly because of MP lag and because we rarely pause which may made inaccurate targeting) Hendak got hit and starting attacking us. So we ran, went to Graveyard, and rested so Theen could load up 5 dominations. We tried to get back to Copper Coronet but got hit with Suna Seni ambush, but we won that fight easily enough. Once back to Hendak after charming him he did give us our experience and we were able to buy the goodies from the store here, such as stonefire, azuredge and sling of sleeking. Hendak even gave us the next quest.
* Clearing the sewers was next. Lilacor was obtained without too much trouble. Theen still doesn't have level 5 cleric spells so no raise dead yet.
* For the Captain Haegan fight, Theen charmed the captain and he was slaughtering his friends while the cavaiiers (who still don't have great armor) took out the dangerous cleric. Haegan was almost dead but his charm wore off and did a big hit on Dayglow. Dayglow tried to withdraw and on Grond0's screen he was far away but on Theen's screen he was close - down Dayglow goes but not chunked. Time to pick up stuff and run to the temple to raise him. We came back and a silence and skeletons helped deal with the mages, with Theen doing great de-trap work like usual. We needed to pull Hendak into the Copper Coronet, charm him and he did give us our reward (whew!)
* By this point, Theen really wanted the potion bag so we tried to get to Watcher's Keep but got ambushed by Renfeld. So we returned him to the docks. We were pretty beat up by this point so Theen wanted to rest in the docks inn while we were here. SInce we were here, we took down Officer Dirth for his full plate. We also took down the pirates that were nearby. Theen managed to hold 3 pirates with just a single hold person spell, made the fight easy.
* We finally got to Watcher's Keep to get Theen his potion bag. Theen noticed he had a +1 long sword and Dayglow mentioned he has long sword proficiency and he would prefer Daystar. So then we went to Waukeen's Promende to get a undead scroll. While here Grond0 suggested taking down Mencar and his gang. We didn't have much but skeletons and a silence, however, Theen managed to charm the berserk fighter and with his help it was a clean victory. Now the cavaliers both have full plate.
* We went to gate area to get the Daystar, a green protection from undead scroll and azuredge making that easy. We also unlocked Trademeet while here and Theen decided we would go there for the shield of harmony. Snares made quick work of the genie outside and skeletons absorbed the petrification spells for the party as they were pre-positioned. While here Theen also bought the Blackblood Club now entire party has good weapons.
* A little bit of time left, we did all the Umar Hills area quests without incident. The chest mephit was no problem thanks to Theen buffing the cavaliers with free action before the fight. We made it to the old temple area and fought our way to the old Amaunator temple and saved our session here.
First major setback as we proceeded through the undercity.
When things began going wrong we should have retreated in order to sleep and return refreshed. We didn't with the results seen below. Yes we defeated them, but we haven't got 800 gp. We will eitther have to sell equipment or go ankheg hunting. A couple would be enough.
I sold enough for the resurrection but went to the FAI to raise him.
Then recruited Dorn and killed ankheg until he reached level 6 and he now has ** in crossbows.
We were ambushed by a large group of bandits. We will sell the scalps and shells upon returning to Beregost.
Perhaps buy more wands at the Gate.
Did that.
Failed to protect myself from Confusion in final battle.
Semaj cast it just before his death.
Sarevok took full advantage of the fact.
Realised afterwards that Punk could have fired one of his arrows of dispelling at me.
The battle would then have been straightforward.
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1202940/#Comment_1202940
Al (PC) - L8, 109 HPs (inc. +5 from Helm), kills 557, *** 2-handed sword / *** longbow
Baby Face - L8, 89 HPs, kills 404, 1 death, *** long sword / *** crossbow
Bugsy - L8, 103 HPs, kills 412, 2 deaths, *** hammer / *** shortbow
Carlo - L8, 106 HPs, kills 378, 0 deaths, *** flail / *** sling
Mad Dog - L8, 91 HPs, kills 370, 0 deaths, **** axe / ** dual wielding
Vito - L8, 87 HPs (incl. -16 from Claw), kills 456, 2 deaths, *** scimitar / *** darts
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1202940/#Comment_1202940
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1203009/#Comment_1203009
After sorting out inventory they moved on to the Coast Way Forest. Ikros was shot down before he could buff and Isabella didn't last much longer.
At the temple in the Forest of Wyrms they exploited Ziatar's vulnerability against stun. The Neothelid made the mistake of surfacing immediately rather than attacking the unbuffed characters with status effects. The Shadow Aspect got one backstab in before being shot down. Mad Dog tanked Darskhelin and his minions while the others poured in missile fire. Akanna was just hacked down before Al used the easy option of a throwing dagger to pick up some dragon scales.
There was plenty more fighting to clear Dead Man's Pass. Using the spectacles again netted the Ring of the Tiny Fiend to improve Bugsy's elemental resistance a bit more. I had one close shave when Baby Face was diseased by a neo-otyugh. I tried resting numerous times in the cave without success and eventually left it too late to get outside to rest, thanks to the movement delay imposed by the poison ticking. To avoid a casualty Baby Face used one of the multitude of heroism potions being carried to provide a few extra HPs.
Al (PC) - L10, 108 HPs, 0 kills (794 in BGEE/SoD), **** 2-handed sword / *** longbow
Baby Face - L10, 101 HPs, 0 kills (605 in BGEE/SoD), 1 death, **** long sword / *** crossbow
Bugsy - L10, 121 HPs, 0 kills (654 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths, **** hammer / *** shortbow
Carlo - L10, 121 HPs, 0 kills (539 in BGEE/SoD), 0 deaths, **** flail / *** sling
Mad Dog - L10, 119 HPs, 0 kills (603 in BGEE/SoD), 0 deaths, ***** axe / ** dual wielding
Vito - L10, 119 HPs, 0 kills (660 in BGEE/SoD), 2 deaths, **** scimitar / *** darts
A very similar party to my last run. Basically it is just the proficiencies that are different.
The names of the party members give none too subtle hints as to their proficiencies.
I couldn't believe it when gibberlings killed Stan.
At this stage only 100gp to him.
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1202940/#Comment_1202940
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1203009/#Comment_1203009
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1203108/#Comment_1203108
The opening dungeon was no trouble, with Ulvaryl being taken down by a critical before she could run away. After a quick stop at the circus they reported in to Gaelan Bayle before overseeing a transfer of power at the Copper Coronet. Then they improved their defenses by gaining full plate from Officer Dirth, Mencar Pebblecrusher and 3 members of Captain Dennis' gang. They used the skinner house to heal up in and, once that was done, took down the Rune Assassins.
The final set of full plate they wanted was being guarded by Tarnor's Crew. That encounter was potentially more dangerous as retreat options are not quite as convenient there. However, Mekrath's Lair did the job and no-one was badly injured. I noted there that Tarnor had the Helm of Dumathoin. As I rarely do the dwarf area in SoD I hadn't realized that transferred to him. That's potentially quite useful as it allows any of the Crew to get constitution to 20 and hence recover a lot more HPs from resting.
After opening up access to the lich, Mad Dog used a PfU scroll to kill it and followed up with the ones in the Bridge and City Gates Districts. A frost giant strength potion, topped up by DUHM, allowed Al to kick open the door to the latter and get Daystar. I decided to take the risk of attacking Kangaxx as well (without using the protection of a PfM scroll) - bouncing up and down the stairs to avoid his spells. His lich form was duly disposed of, but Baby Face had not yet got grand mastery in long swords to speed up his attacks with Daystar. After a few attempts where he failed to get an attack in, I waited just a fraction too long to go upstairs again and Al joined his namesake in prison.
Thanks. I didn't know about that one. It wasn't there pre-EE.
We helped Melicamp and killed Tarnesh.
We then killed Sonner et al.
In all the games that I have played, this is the first time that I have been injured.
We then went to Tenya and gave her the bowl and afterwards killed a number of ankheg using command to neutralise them.
In so doing we did a lot of levelling up.
As we killed the last one in the cave it sent a wave of acid towards Stan that killed him even as the command spell from Helmus put it out of action.
At first I thought that it was a mistake going after the ankheg, but then I realised that I would get 500 gp for the shell and that it would onnly take 200 gp to raise Stan. Therefore a risk well worth taking.
Here are the starting stats.
Sadly I was unable to help Melicamp, however I did help Firebead and Marl before heading North where I picked up Joia's ring before killing Sonner. I then took the bowl to Tenya before clearing the road to Nashkel where I got some decent armour. I was able to lure Arghain away from his cohorts and to my relief he fell before my last two-handed sword broke. Glad that I now have an unbreakable sword!
I killed Greywolf after the guards at the mine hurt him quite badly. He had previously hurt me and I had to use some potions of healing before fighting him toe to toe.
I then took Samuel to the FAI and did some minor quests to raise reputation to 20.
Bassilus was killed after I protected myself from evil and hold.
Now level 4.
I then went to meet Shoal. She hurt me badly so I didn't wait to take on her husband, but went to The Surgeon who healed me. I then returned a ring that I found on board a wreck before returning to Shoal. Her husband was nowhere to be seen so I killed her and levelled up.
Afterwards I killed some sirine.
I then killed Zargal et al and returned to Beregost to rest.
After helping Charleston Nib, I headed north where even more sirine were killed. The last one disabled me with her spells, but she wasn't able to do me further harm and she too was slain.
Careful planning enabled me to kill all the flesh golems in the cave. In the process I was hurt badly a few times, but I was afterwards able to rest.
Brage was then taken to the Temple of Helm.
I took Jaheira and Khaled to Nashkel and left them there.
Bentha was then rescued.
Dorn joined me, but I bade him farewell after killing Kryll.
Now Neera has joined me.
Defeated at Adoy's Cave.
A rerun of Doug
Journal of Doug
I was able to help Melicamp, Marl and Firebead before heading south clearing the road of antagonists as I went., finishing off with Greywolf. The guards at the mine were helpful,but it was I who killed him with a throwing knife. I was totally uninjured during the conflict.
Iwent east and picked up Samuel who I took to the FAI.
I returned Joia's ring, killed Sonner and returned Tenya's bowl.
I killed several ankheg and returned the Colquetle amulet after which I sold the ankheg shells and bought the poisonous dagger.
I was surprised at how quickly Bassilus fell. His spells had no effect on me.
At the Carnival I had seen some useful items that I couldn't then afford. I bought them and used the shield amulet to defeat Zordral unnscathed.
Currently level 6, with **** in daggers, ** in dual wielding.
I'm getting rather lonely so perhaps I should get some friends to accompany me. Reputation now 20.
I chose Xzar and Montaron. Montaron was quite helpful by pickpocketting several items that I needed. However, I soon realised that having people like them in my party was a bad idea and so I bade them farewell before going to deal with Droth and Shoal. Whilst there I killed some sirine before heading to the lighthouse area where I joined up with Safana and more sirine and a number of flesh golems were killed.
We are both at level 7 now.
Heading south we helped Charleston Nib and Brage before heading for the FAI where I killed Tarnesh, recruitedd Khaled and Jaheira and talked to Dorn.
We went down to Nashkel where I left Khaled and Jaheira before heading south where Dorn joined us. We performed his quest before bidding him farewell.
Safana and I proceeded westward completing a number of minor quests before joining up with Dynaheir and returning to the Carnival.
At High Hedge we bought a lot of spells for Dynaheir. She is only level 5 currenttly.
We killed Mutamin and a lot of basilisks and as a result Dynaheir's level was raised to six.
I bought Dynaheir a eobe of the Good Archmage and the army scythe for Safana. I am now poor! Just one gold piece left!
We went down the mine and killed Mulahey and then the Amazons. Xan came with us and charmed Oublek hoping that he would help us fight Nimbul.
Whilst he did attack, he turned on us when the friends spell wore off. Before Xan had a chance to charm him again, Dynaheir attacked Oublek with magic missile, fortunately not killing him. Xan did then manage to charm him whereupon Nimbul finished him off. We then killed Nimbul and picked up the loot.
At Beregost we killed Firebead as we wanted to join up with Viconia and Dorn. This we did and our reputation was now 6.
Giving a little gold away raised it to 9.
Theen - gnomish cleric/thief (Corey_Russell)
Dayglow - cavalier (Grond0)
Drubb - cavalier (Gate70)
We found ourselves in the old amaunator temple. We did pretty good for most of this area, but Dayglow got held and killed. His part members did win the fight, and Theen raised Dayglow. The rest of the fights went well but we did run into a problem - somehow we lost the 3rd piece of the yellow circle, which prevented us from making to the Shade Lord. So we cannot finish the quest.
So instead we went to the druid grove, and the trolls and druids couldn't do much against the cavaliers. Cernd once again defeated Faldorn.
We then worked our way into D'Aarnise Keep. The trolls still couldn't do much against us. Golems were straightforward with Azuredge takiout out the iron golem. But we ran into another broken quest, we could only make the +2 flail and not the flail of ages, we have no idea where it went. But fortunately Torgal and his minions were badly defeated. We reported our success to Nalia.
Time for bridge area. Muggers defeated and we had a tough fight with the Rune Aassassins, Theen was forced to run to his backup snares but he had to gulp potions fast as he could but his friends managed to save him. We tried to get boots of avoidance but realized we had to fight in the graveyard which was easy with daystar and azuredge. Theen was furiously trying to loot but his party moves so fast.
We then tried to get a teddy bear but we forgot about the hostile Hendak. One of our party was quite smart and used fists to put Hendak unconscious - we got our bear and managed to escape in time. While we were here, Drubb suggested we get the AoP sure why not. So we head to the docks.
We belated realized we hadn't even done Maevar yet so we worked a bit on that including looting the doors/trapped wall containers. We had just enough time to get the Unseeing Eye quest and looted the amulet from the Weathermistress. We saved at the endge of the Temple area for now.
Journal of Doug
We cleared the wyvern cave and went for the reward. Afterwards picked up Neera, did her quest and dropped her. We had very little gold at the time as we had bought equipment at Ulgoth's, (Wand of the heavens, a cloak, an amulet. a +3 staff etc) so the chance of losing gold wasn't a problem.
The Cloakwood mines were no problem. Davaeorn was easily beaten by sending in skeletons to absorb his spells followed by summoned animals.
Picked up Dorn before going to the Gate.
After the battle we did some healing.
(I haven't given the key yet as I thought that I might need a reputation boost later.)
I used the dexterity increasing tome on myself which meant that I could give the brawling hands to Dorn.
We did several quests including going to the Iron Throne. Just after finishing the top floor I noticed that I was heroic.
I don't know how it happened but to avoid losing equipment if Viconia or Dorn left, I collected the important stuff, went downstairs without them and removed them from the party. Fortunately they hadn't noticed my rep at that time.
I went to the duke and he sent me to Candlekeep.
I then returnd to the Cloakwood mines, handed over the key and picked up Yeslick.
I then noticed that he can't use wands. (Has that changed in EE?)
Before entering Candlekeep I'm going to finish a few more quests.
Yeslick can't use wands because of his low intelligence; he could if he drank a potion boosting INT to 9 or more. Pre-EE ... well, original BG1 didn't enforce ability score requirements on items.
I haven't enlisted Yeslick since getting EE, and probably won't since there is only one tome for increasing intelligence. Of course I might if I had the Greyclan mod installed as that gives an extra tome.
Journal of Doug
We raided he top floors of Durlag's before going to the area where Bassilus was killed. Killing Kissiq dropped reputation by 7.
We then killed Zargal et al.
Now back to the Cloakwood Mines to deliver the key.
Most of the Baldur's Gate Quests finished. Reputation now 13 and a lot of equipment bought.
We went back to Candlekeep with not much gold left.
The battles against Gorion, Prat and the spiders were made quite easy due to having five skeleton warriors.
All the party is now at or near the level cap. No more levelling up to go.
The big question now is whether to bother with Dulag's, Ice island and Werewolf island. I'm thinking not as the loot is little better than the equipment that I already have.
EDIT
We have reached the site of the last battle with Sarevok. Everyone has reached the experience cap.
Final Party consists of Doug, Dorn, Viconia, Safana and Dynaheir.
Theen - gnomish cleric/thief (Corey_Russell)
Dayglow - cavalier (Grond0)
Drubb - cavalier (Gate70)
This is an update of pure chaos. Not even sure how to write all this up, but will give it a try. Our first goal was to finish off the Maevar quest. So this involved turning in the weather mistress necklace, then dealing with Rayic Gethras. Drubb was given some anti-mage buffs then enganged. After a little bit his party moved up to assist and Theen got the kill shot with his sling bullet. Some documents were retrieved from Marcus, and poor Embarl was slaughtered by Dayglow - not very paladin like. But regardless Maevar was happy. Theen then reported to Bloodscalp the scoop on Maevar, so we were told to finish him off.
Once we battle Maevar's goons and Maevar himself this went pretty well. Bloodscalp was happy with our success. We then reported to Linvail to get our goodies. Dayglow mentioned we hadn't done Harper's Hold yet so we defeated some mages in a house then tried to report our success.
But here is where the chaos ensued. Thieve's from Maevar's guild came out of hiding and starting attacking - when they did that the Harper's guard (who is apparently a mage), Jaheira and Xzar all went hostile! The party ran for their lives taking a lot of damage, partly because invisibility does not work against Xzar who was throwing a lot of lightning bolts, sunfires and fireballs around. But escape we did.
So Theen wanted to get far, far away from this chaos. To that end, we killed Valygar and went into the planar sphere. This quest is hard even with a full party, and was nearly our death. The powerful halflings we meet after talking to the knights of Solmania we were doing well after Theen had charmed a fighter to fight for us. Dayglow was taking melf's acid arrow damage but was not under attack so should survive - well , except his target had physical mirror up and reflected Grond0's range weapons to himself and thus Dayglow kills himself. Fortunately Theen had a raise dead handy to bring his friend back to life.
Only two stone golems and no others, so getting the golem head was easy this time. Theen doing great trap work like usual. A single skeleton was plenty to take down the Necromancer, though we did agree to help him.
Okay try to get the demon heart. Theen likes to clear the weak enemies first, then go for the demon, but his cavalier friends were having none of that and charged the demon directly without waiting for Theen to buff the party. This was chaos as, both Theen and Dayglow got held and Dayglow got killed. Drubb expertly ran the many enemies around until Theen's hold wore off. Theen then raised Dayglow, Dayglow looted this stuff (though losing the boots of avoidance), and then the party ran out of the area. We rested and healed and this time Theen buffed the cavaliers. We did get the demon heart but Dayglow was hurt badly but he did live - success we got the heart the party wasted no time in getting out of there.
Time for Tolgerias. The plan was for Drubb to be buffed with anti-mage buffs but Dayglow opened the door and nearly triggered the fight before were ready. But once buffed, Drubb distracted Tolgerias and his buddy then the rest of the party moved up to assist - success!
Time to clear out the trolls in the cold room, which corey_russell thinks is a little bit easier than the fire room. Then we arrived in the engine room. The golems put quite the beat down on us, and it got worrisome as one golem went around and smacked Theen to 1/2 life. But Theen potioned and his friends were able to kill it before the golem killed Theen. Theen decided let's fix the engine and get out of here, so the party sanctuaried out.
Which reminds me, the fact the entire party can do sanctuary is very useful, as we use it to rest anywhere, plus avoid attacks or to setup attacks.
We report to Lavok our success and finally Planar Sphere is done - whew!
Theen wanted to get another level drain protection item so we worked on the Sir Sarles quest. One problem though dwarf in the Copper Coronet who we need to talk to is right next to Hendak and Hendak is still hostile. So we do our talking and get out of there. We then report to Sir Sarles who doesn't like our illithium substitute, but the Church does so all good as it were. The party finally makes it to the Bridge District (to go after Neb) and saved our session here.
We made that mistake this time but no thieves appeared. The immediate sign of issues was that there were only 2 thieves inside the ground floor of the building. Some time later we went to the harper building and there were thieves waiting outside it. We started to thin them out before realising casting was taking place and a now hostile Rylock had mirror imaged . We departed as he continued casting. As Corey says other NPC's and commoners were also hostile so we were fortunate not to have destroyed our reputation with an accidental kill and become Fallen paladins.
edit: I think these clips should be accessible
Entering the guild
Hostility outside the building
Very interesting. It's never happened to me as I haven't played multi-player.
Doug has lost his companions and is now back at the Duke's Palace.
Korlatz surrendered, but she was killed by a fireball before she was able to depart.
I enlisted Dynaheir, Minsc and Safana. I'm kicking myself for forgetting to pick up the gems at the three kegs in BG1.
We cleared the first section of the cave coming back to the dwarves as necessary to rest.
We left the Gate having enlisted Viconia.
We killed a mage who was petrifying refugees and have killed Tsolak the vampire, Isabella and Ikros.
Semahl has now been rescued.
EDIT
As we continued to help the dwarves we had need of resting several times.
Then Safana was held and there was no way to help her other than get her raised when we returned to the fist healer.
Viconia has nearly reached level 9. I'll check on her additional spells when we get there.
EDIT 2
I used the Secret Revealed but still wasn't able to kill Coldearth!
I don't know why. I haven't had problems before.
End of an enjoyable run but wish I knew what I had done wrong.
EDIT 3
Discovered what I had done wrong. I had to use two of the Secret Revealed to hurt him.
It was then easy.
I'll try something completely different for my next run.
I intend becoming a cleric, but Gorion suggested that I acquire some skill in fighting first.
With the starting gold I was able to buy splint mail, a helmet, a flail, a sling, 240 bullets, and some crossbow bolts and still had one gold piece left over.
A watcher took it as punishment when I broke into a chest, but I accumulated 511 more gold pieces before leaving the inn. The punishment did little to alter my behaviour!
I used 500 gold pieces to raise my reputation by 2.
Phlydia gave me a gem. I sold it and a dagger that I found. With the gold I just had sufficient funds to buy a flail for my left hand.
When I took some bolts to Fuller he gave me a +1 dagger. I then looted some chests outside, as well as one near Fuller.
I took a potion to Dreppin and returned Hull's sword to him.
I consumed Deder's oil of speed which gave me the ability to get an extra potion of healing without being caught.
Imoen joined me but not wanting her company I just gave her some armour and a sword before bidding her farewell.
Sadly, I was unable to help Melicamp.
I headed north and cleared the FAI of hobgoblins. In so doing I reached level 2.
Further north Sonner, Jebadoh and Telman were killed.
I tried to enter the Gate but my way was barred.
I gave Tenya her bowl and killed an ankheg thus reaching level 3. I now have *** in flails.
I killed another ankheg in the nest but was so badly hurt that I deemed it unsafe to proceed further.
In Beregost I sold two shells and bought a sling +1. I also took excellent news to Mirianne.
Upon going to Nashkel I found some good armour and had a long chat with Noober.
I gave 800 gold to a temple and returned the Colquetle amulet.
Then I took on Greywolf, gave the emeralds to Oublek, helped Alfie and the dryad before helping with Drienne's cat.
I killed Ingot and some ogres near the gnoll bridge. After plundering a cave I returned to the carnival. Reputation now 19.
Took Samuel to FAI. Reputation 20. Killed Tarnesh. Was given six antidotes to poison.
Went north and cleared tthe ankheg nest. Took the body of farmer Brun's son to him.
Sold the ankheg shells and killed Karlat.
I recruited Xzar and Montaron whereupon Montaron did a lot of pickpocketting. Xzar was left in Beregost after identifying items. Montaron picked up Algernon's Cloak before picking up some useful items at Ulgoth's Beard where I left him.
Baeloth joined me whereupon we killed more ankheg. When I reached level 7 I went shopping for armour etc. I killed Firebead, dual-classed to Cleric and joined up with Kagain. Killing Firebead cost me nine reputation points so Kagain and Baeloth will be happy with my reputation for some time.
I should clearly have enlisted Baeloth before bidding Montaron farewell as when I tried to re-enlist him, he left permanently.
I spent 1000gp on raising reputation. Viconia and Dorn have joined me. In the Dorn ambush I was seriously injured by lightning. So were my enemies! Quite a storm. Reputation is now 8! That's what you get for enlisting two drows and a Blackguard!
Now looking for Kryll.
(I think thaat this is my first all-evil party. I won't be making a habit of this but was curious as to what it would be like. A pity that I can't have Montaron as the sixth party member! )
Kryll was no problem at all, she moved into a position where she had no protection from her skeletons! Stupid woman!
Edwin joined us and we went to find Dynaheir and kill her. Again no problem.
I am wondering if Kagain is worth having since he won't be in the Dragonspear party.
We killed the spiders at Beregost and went to the FAI for the reward.
We then bade Edwin and Kagain farewell. For Kagain it was probably "Adieu" for Edwin "Au revoir."
Of course things could happen to alter that.
Neera nd Safana joined us. With Safana we successfully raided the nearby cave.
We have successfully dealt with Bassilus and Zargal.
Neera asked me to find Adoy which we did.
We killed those pursuing her there and hoped that she might replace Rilsa. Such was not to be as she has gone to the FAI.
We then picked up Edwin as he is a much better fit for the party.
The team that I have now is all available in SoD and so I intend to keep it if at all possible.
Theen - gnomish cleric/thief (Corey_Russell)
Dayglow - cavalier (Grond0)
Drubb - cavalier (Gate70)
So the party found themselves in the Bridge District. We dealt with some thieves and their contact. While here, we also dealt with Neb. We then worked on the main quest and went to the graveyard -- oops can't get in Bodhi's lair need to report to Linvail first. After doing that, Bodhi's lair went pretty smooth with Daystar and Azuredge leading the way. Bodhi herself was badly hurt by Daystar sunray and traps so she didn't last long. We then forged the IMoD, although strangely the paladins didn't want to use it.
We then did the Fallen Paladins quest. Turns out, unfallen paladins fight better and we were successful in wiping out the fallen paladins.
We then peeked into the sewers. Dayglow spotted Gauis while under sanctuary and then Theen sent his bears and skeleton warriors after Gauis - the bears managed to kill Gauis! The party was then able to wipe out Tarnor and his gang. While here, the summons also dealt with the nearby Rakshashka. We then went into Mekrath's lair to get the sphene gem. We encountered some umber hulks which killed Dayglow and nearly killed Drubb but Drubb gulped a potion of invisibility to save himself. After healing up and raising Dayglow with the RoR we then battled the hulks again and this time we won, whew.
We went to the Bridge District and entered the planar prison. We had buffed with death ward and also sanctuary, this enabled a quick kill of the mage. The rest of the area went pretty smooth the Warden being distracted with our summons while the rest of us killed him.
We then worked on the Unseeing Eye quest. Things worked out well until Dayglow took on the beholders with his shield of balduran. Problem though? He didn't have automatic saves vs death and so was held and killed - Drubb tried to help but was nearly killed in the process. Theen summoned some minions, sent them up and then Theen did a turn undead - this chunked most of the undead which then enabled short work of the beholders as they were busy with our summons.
The party needed to save here.