No-Hope Necromancer: A Random Run, Part 5
Previous part found here
Alright, true to plan, we set off for the Unseeing Eye... which means we first need to clear the Sewers.
The Rakshasa, surprisingly, isn't such a big deal: It pops a Sunfire which deals a bit of damage, but we can tank it just fine by now, and fairly rapidly get through its Stoneskins even without Breach available.
Tarnor's party is quite a bit more troublesome. We lead with Skeleton Warriors and several Stinking Clouds, which let us take out Tarnor himself, Draug Fea and Zorl, but that leaves several troublesome enemies... Gaius manages a Flesh to Stone aimed at FT, who thankfully makes his save. We bludgeon our way through, but this again drives home just how weak we are in a straight-up fight (no wonder, since half the party, i.e. PoL, PoT and N, can't really contribute anything of note without firing off spells).
Skeleton Warriors are again key to managing the southern part of the sewers, owing to the Gauths and Beholders that teleport in.
Not sure how I'd handle this without them, though I suppose it'd entail a frantic fully-buffed charge and immediate attempts to nova down the Beholders.
Mekrath is next. He's reasonably high level, but doesn't get 9th level spells... yet still Dimension Door's into the midst of the party.
A Delayed Blast Fireball, aimed squarely at our frontliners (FC/FI/FT) by a minor miracle fails to kill anyone, though FI and FT are both badly singed. We're playing a bit fast and loose here, but what can you do? It's the price you pay for not scribing Breach the moment it becomes available.
Once again, Skeleton Warriors save our bacon.
The Yuan-Ti Mages in his lair are almost worse than Mekrath: We get three (!), all of them Conjurers (!!), and so literally have to wait out the small army of Elementals they conjure up before we can put them down.
Drudgery, drudgery... at least we do come out on top, and as a consolation price, a Ghast in the tunnels below drops a Power Word, Stun scroll. I'll take it. A double Cloudkill and some Skeleton Warriors clear the single Beholder group down here, and we withdraw to rest before descending into the Pit of the Faithless.
Thankfully, we're too pitiful to get a Lich spawn: It's the standard Bone Golem x2, Skeleton Warrior x3, Greater Mummy x2 instead.
Greater Mummies can be bad, but Flame Strike is surprisingly potent against them, as PoL demonstrates. The rest of the undead fall easily enough to buffed frontliners.
The Gauntlets of Dexterity is a vital piece of equipment for FC: We finally have a frontliner that's all but immune to everything (as she's wearing the Amulet of Power as well), and very difficult to land a hit on.
The Unseeing Eye's area goes smooth as well: There aren't that many Beholders/Gauths here, and the few there are succumb easily to Skeleton Warriors. Honestly, the Blind Priests put up more of a fight, though they are quite vulnerable to area damage (and Silence 15' Radius, though we forgot to memorize that).
Even with two Death Tyrants aiding it, the Unseeing Eye, once weakened by the Rod, is no match for Skeleton Warriors, and we emerge triumphant.
Compared to a lair full of Beholders, Gaal doesn't really put up much resistance, and we complete the questline without incident.
Oh, it also turns out that there were yet more Vampire ambushes we hadn't triggered yet... Tanova and two cronies accost us in the Government district, though thankfully the former doesn't have her spellcasting powers during this encounter.
We somehow manage to come out on top.
There was also an Ogre ambush that had yet to occur(really? Ogres? How would they ever be able to move anywhere in a city without being found out?), though as we were traveling invisibly at the time they were no threat to us.
Here we also proceed with the Sir Sarles questline, obtaining the Illithium by brutalizing Neb.
Also, at long last, we do a scroll scribing session: Breach is now available, along with several 6th level spells, notably Improved Haste.
Flush with our newfound (percieved...) power, we immediately underestimate the Vampires, and pay the price.
Again, Skeleton Warriors saved us. We were able to shift them around to momentarily distract the Vampires as (the non-Dominated members of) the party beat a hasty retreat to the south.
We came back refreshed and quite a bit better prepared, as a Fledgling Vampire found out to its detriment; that's a nice critical hit.
Since we're having so much trouble, we take a moment to forge the Improved Mace of Disruption +2: It is put to immediate good use against the ambush downstairs.
Ah, Tanova... how I loathe you. This time, she prepared that Spell Sequencer against which there ought to be a law: Skull Trap x3, aimed squarely at N. Normally, this'd be cause for extreme concern, but being a Necromancer, N was very unlikely to fail all his saves.. and indeed, he made them all, taking only about 35 damage.
We repay Tanova with IMoD +2 to the face.
After easily dispatching Lassal, we prepare for Bodhi. Another oddity here: We somehow get hit by our own False Dawn, but it deals Fire damage (?), and Confuses both Clerics (??). Guess we won't be using that again...
No idea how that came about. Thankfully, we force Bodhi to retreat in quick fashion, and can then leave this dreadful abode behind.
There were some levels, though nothing of much note: Both Clerics reached L12, and the frontliners got Fighter L10.
I'm just glad we made it through in one piece.
Now, with the IMoD +2 as well as a few L6 slots, I feel more confident about braving the Windspear Hills.
Even Trademeet, with its resident Rakshasa, is now an option (with Breach available)... then we can start contemplating the Planar Sphere.
A fairly short update, but it took a lot of time playing to reach this point: As noted before, Clerics don't really contribute much in terms of damage once past BG1EE, and we are suffering a bit from our principal frontliner still lacking weapon specialization.
The situation is slowly but steadily improving, however. I'm considering the sizable investment of purchasing the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength (~11k gold at our current reputation of 17), though we do also need money for scrolls in the Underdark... we'll see what happens.
At any rate, we're all still in one piece, and will keep on truckin'.
Comments
Previous part found here
The Rakshasa, surprisingly, isn't such a big deal: It pops a Sunfire which deals a bit of damage, but we can tank it just fine by now, and fairly rapidly get through its Stoneskins even without Breach available.
Tarnor's party is quite a bit more troublesome. We lead with Skeleton Warriors and several Stinking Clouds, which let us take out Tarnor himself, Draug Fea and Zorl, but that leaves several troublesome enemies... Gaius manages a Flesh to Stone aimed at FT, who thankfully makes his save. We bludgeon our way through, but this again drives home just how weak we are in a straight-up fight (no wonder, since half the party, i.e. PoL, PoT and N, can't really contribute anything of note without firing off spells).
Skeleton Warriors are again key to managing the southern part of the sewers, owing to the Gauths and Beholders that teleport in.
Not sure how I'd handle this without them, though I suppose it'd entail a frantic fully-buffed charge and immediate attempts to nova down the Beholders.
Mekrath is next. He's reasonably high level, but doesn't get 9th level spells... yet still Dimension Door's into the midst of the party.
A Delayed Blast Fireball, aimed squarely at our frontliners (FC/FI/FT) by a minor miracle fails to kill anyone, though FI and FT are both badly singed. We're playing a bit fast and loose here, but what can you do? It's the price you pay for not scribing Breach the moment it becomes available.
Once again, Skeleton Warriors save our bacon.
The Yuan-Ti Mages in his lair are almost worse than Mekrath: We get three (!), all of them Conjurers (!!), and so literally have to wait out the small army of Elementals they conjure up before we can put them down.
Drudgery, drudgery... at least we do come out on top, and as a consolation price, a Ghast in the tunnels below drops a Power Word, Stun scroll. I'll take it. A double Cloudkill and some Skeleton Warriors clear the single Beholder group down here, and we withdraw to rest before descending into the Pit of the Faithless.
Thankfully, we're too pitiful to get a Lich spawn: It's the standard Bone Golem x2, Skeleton Warrior x3, Greater Mummy x2 instead.
Greater Mummies can be bad, but Flame Strike is surprisingly potent against them, as PoL demonstrates. The rest of the undead fall easily enough to buffed frontliners.
The Gauntlets of Dexterity is a vital piece of equipment for FC: We finally have a frontliner that's all but immune to everything (as she's wearing the Amulet of Power as well), and very difficult to land a hit on.
The Unseeing Eye's area goes smooth as well: There aren't that many Beholders/Gauths here, and the few there are succumb easily to Skeleton Warriors. Honestly, the Blind Priests put up more of a fight, though they are quite vulnerable to area damage (and Silence 15' Radius, though we forgot to memorize that).
Even with two Death Tyrants aiding it, the Unseeing Eye, once weakened by the Rod, is no match for Skeleton Warriors, and we emerge triumphant.
Compared to a lair full of Beholders, Gaal doesn't really put up much resistance, and we complete the questline without incident.
Oh, it also turns out that there were yet more Vampire ambushes we hadn't triggered yet... Tanova and two cronies accost us in the Government district, though thankfully the former doesn't have her spellcasting powers during this encounter.
We somehow manage to come out on top.
There was also an Ogre ambush that had yet to occur(really? Ogres? How would they ever be able to move anywhere in a city without being found out?), though as we were traveling invisibly at the time they were no threat to us.
Here we also proceed with the Sir Sarles questline, obtaining the Illithium by brutalizing Neb.
Also, at long last, we do a scroll scribing session: Breach is now available, along with several 6th level spells, notably Improved Haste.
Flush with our newfound (percieved...) power, we immediately underestimate the Vampires, and pay the price.
Again, Skeleton Warriors saved us. We were able to shift them around to momentarily distract the Vampires as (the non-Dominated members of) the party beat a hasty retreat to the south.
We came back refreshed and quite a bit better prepared, as a Fledgling Vampire found out to its detriment; that's a nice critical hit.
Since we're having so much trouble, we take a moment to forge the Improved Mace of Disruption +2: It is put to immediate good use against the ambush downstairs.
Ah, Tanova... how I loathe you. This time, she prepared that Spell Sequencer against which there ought to be a law: Skull Trap x3, aimed squarely at N. Normally, this'd be cause for extreme concern, but being a Necromancer, N was very unlikely to fail all his saves.. and indeed, he made them all, taking only about 35 damage.
We repay Tanova with IMoD +2 to the face.
After easily dispatching Lassal, we prepare for Bodhi. Another oddity here: We somehow get hit by our own False Dawn, but it deals Fire damage (?), and Confuses both Clerics (??). Guess we won't be using that again...
No idea how that came about. Thankfully, we force Bodhi to retreat in quick fashion, and can then leave this dreadful abode behind.
There were some levels, though nothing of much note: Both Clerics reached L12, and the frontliners got Fighter L10.
I'm just glad we made it through in one piece.
Now, with the IMoD +2 as well as a few L6 slots, I feel more confident about braving the Windspear Hills.
Even Trademeet, with its resident Rakshasa, is now an option (with Breach available)... then we can start contemplating the Planar Sphere.
A fairly short update, but it took a lot of time playing to reach this point: As noted before, Clerics don't really contribute much in terms of damage once past BG1EE, and we are suffering a bit from our principal frontliner still lacking weapon specialization.
The situation is slowly but steadily improving, however. I'm considering the sizable investment of purchasing the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength (~11k gold at our current reputation of 17), though we do also need money for scrolls in the Underdark... we'll see what happens.
At any rate, we're all still in one piece, and will keep on truckin'.