Skip to content

"Maybe this time" [NO-RELOAD THREAD]: "The Tale of ONE MILLION visions"

1…7273757778…509

Comments

  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,538
    Melissa SoD update

    She is still alive and going very well. I am amazed at how good alteration spells and evocation scrolls are in the hands of my protagonist. Sure the melee part has some thac0 issues to be fixed, but with a strength spell and/or polymorphing self it is not half bad.
    I am also super positive about the spell repertoire of the shaman. Add to that that M'khiin is a pleasant NPC and has fun interactions with most of the party members so far. A mage and a shaman can clear just about anything in the game up until now, and Melissa is only casting alteration and evocation to boot. A world of insights for me. If you restrict your protagonist, you really get to see how good some spells are, and you really start to experiment with their usage.

    SoD run spoiler below.
    We left off about to face the dragon in the cave, but then Melissa spots a doorway to another portion of the cave, which we identify as the entry towards the temple of bhaal/cyric. Since that is the main goal for now (we need to get the orb to enter bridgefort) we had into the place first.
    A bunch of bugbears are stopping us in our tracks, but the normal dynaheir-web + m'khiin-entangle+writhing fog + Melissa-haste+slow clears out most problems for us.... except this time we are up against invisible foes!
    Dynaheir gets killed by a stealthy bugbear and I am super happy it was not Melissa who bit the dust (totally unprotected and she has low HP by default since she has only 6 constitution).
    .

    More careful, the party presses on and meets some more bugbears along the way. A particular nasty bunch is taken care of with web and teleportation field... only most bugbears at times land right between the back of the party, so they move to a corner of the playing field keeping hopefully Melissa away from backstabs. Then I notice that the bugbear chieftain saves twice against Melissa's polymorph other... why twice (?)... I do not understand that but press on instead (maybe teleportation field?).


    The orb really is easy to obtain in the temple... I did not make screenshots I realise, but I recall killing the neothelid with ranged weaponry, some demon lady with melee and lots of fire, and the mindflayer with web (from scroll)+entangle+writhing fog+spirit fire and it ended really anticlimactic. Area of effect damage is just too good in small spaces with foes focusing on Minsc who can tank rather well and has the ring of free action to counter the party's castings of web.

    After retrieving the orb from below we head back to swap Dynaheir (permadead to me) for Voghlin and go back to face the dragon finally.

    It is a green dragon so we buff Melissa with a green scroll of protection from poison and buff the party in numerous ways.
    Minsc potion of heroism, potion of giant strength.
    Melissa haste, polymorph self (but none yet chosen), strength.
    Glint resist fear, chant.
    Corwin called shot).
    Voghlin shield, stone skin.

    Minsc starts the fight, Corwin and Glint focus fire on the dragon Morentherene.
    M'khiin starts with writhing fog.
    Vohglin starts with lower resistance and then shoots some acid arrows
    After Corwin expended the called shot, she and M'khiin follow up with doom.
    Minsc continuously heals himself from the punishment of Morentherene.
    Melissa stays back to keep a clear aura.
    One of the dooms sticks.
    Voghlin follows up with glitterdust
    Melissa casts polymorph other on Morentherene.
    Greater wyverns are being targeted by Glint with wand of heavens, while M'khinn uses summon insects.

    Both glitterdust and polymorph actually work on Morentherene!


    The rest focuses on the greater wyvern that is poisoning Voghlin, Melissa burns Morentherene to death with burning hands. Then we mop up the wyverns while saving Voghlin with a casting of slow poison by Glint.


    The most worrysome fight so far, but surprisingly not that tough with polymorph other around.
    Feeling quite accomplished the party goes to Bridgefort. Some minor quests there. We sneak into the crusader camp, get the scroll to undo the level draining boulder from a mage and free Dorn from his prison. Then we get back to Bridgefort and convince Khalid to storm the crusader camp. He dies valiantly immediately while the party exercises the strategy of teleportation field and writing fog to clear out most opponents before mopping up.
    Although at some point Minsc gets stunned and punched around a bit, M'khiin is there to clear up his problem with spiritual clarity and Glint heals him back to decent levels. What a nice addition the shaman is to the game. Can solve quite a few problems



    So now we are standing outside Brigdefort, ready to go to coalition camp (I think that is where I need to go next).
  • sluckerssluckers Member Posts: 280
    edited July 2016

    Praxidike, the Skald

    &#$%ing Davaeorn.

    The end. :(
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,538
    Due to the mid level foes, scouting becomes a lot more important than in bgee. If you do it well then the battles are half won.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,760
    I agree with all your observations, @semiticgod. It's a pity these things are overlooked when people talk about SoD.

    Mortuus, the Elven Sorcerer (4th BG1 update)

    We survived a hard test of mother wit. In the battle against Narcillicus and his Mustard Jellies we managed to find a way to save a nearly hopeless situation of losing one of our companions (the alternative would have been losing all XP of this companion).

    At first, all was well, with Narcillicus poisoned by a Spirit Snake. Woden saved against Horror and was getting closer to the wizard.








    With enough damage from poison by both Karasu and the Spirit Snake, Narcillicus went invisible and healed himself.







    Soon the wizard revealed himself and casted Web on Karasu. An immediate reaction with maneuvering managed to let us not get into Web.









    Woden activated his Defensive Stance and it was very effective against Fireball and Lightning bolt (this ability not only gives 50% resistance to physical damage, but also improves saving throws at -2).








    But then a crisis happened. Woden didn't save against double Chromatic Orb by Narcillicus and was stunned. He was severely injured and open to all hits againt him. We were facing a situation of losing our tank and losing all his XP, as if he was killed, we would have to create a new character with 0 XP.







    Luckly, Mortuus had a solution in his scroll case. We had several Invisibility scrolls, and didn't give them to Neera to memorize, exactly for these kinds of situations. Uzume now had to quickly reach the Mustard Jellies to get their attention (relying on halfling saving throws and an ankheg armour in the process).

    So, the rest of the party immediately went to help Woden.







    The Defensive Stance by Woden was still active, and even while he was stunned, this ability still reduced the damage he got from the Mustard Jellies. It probably saved him from death. Meanwhile, Neera used her wand of lightning to kill Narcillicus.







    Woden was saved exactly in the last possible moment.







    Mortuus levelled up in the process (4 from 6 hps). While Uzume tanked the Jellies, Karasu used his backstabs to gradually finish them off. He too levelled up during this fight (5 from 6 hps), and his new backstab multiplier helped tremendously against the last Jelly - Uzume already was slowed and Yahiko kept curing her poison.















    This is how Woden was saved. As a reward for our heroics, Neera decided to share her knowledge of how to find a Stoneskin scroll.





  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    Awesome, @semiticgod I do so enjoy your playthroughs, and your first play of SoD will be most interesting, am sure. I had so much fun with SoD, it is a great game. I will be watching your run with interest.
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,538
    edited July 2016
    I am a bit further than you but I still do not understand neither what Caelar wants nor why we are going to castle dragonspear.
    I think I missed something really big even though I talked to everybody about the trip.
    So far the quests and interactions are great but the main plot has a hole for me. Might be better the second time through I guess or the big reveal Iis around the corner...

    (I did not spoil anything here right?)
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,760
    Mortuus, the Elven Sorcerer (5th BG1 update)

    In the Adoy's enclave Neera reached the 4th level, again getting maximum (4/4) hps.








    We started the fight against Ekandor with Neera using the wand of monster summoning. Karasu then poisoned a thayan wizard, and Uzume silenced all enemies. While Mortuus, under Mirror Image, kited around the room, Uzume successfully casted Hold Person on Ekandor. Then she held the second thayan wizard. The battle was won.












    We bought a robe of the Good Archmagi for Mortuus, so when we were ambushed by hobgoblin archers, unlike the time before (when Mortuus had survived two shots with 1 hp left), AC it gave helped to not get hit.









    The next ambush was much more dangerous, though. A group of amazons attacked us.

    Maneira and Telka went invisible at the start of the combat, and we still didn't have detect invisibilities spells.

    Fortunately, Telka fell under the radius of Hold Person by Uzume.







    Unfortunately, Neera couldn't use magic (thus no Mirror Image, unlike Mortuus) not to risk summoning Nabassu, and fell to a single backstab by Maneira. It was a moment of a great sorrow for the party, and for Mortuus himself, as he clearly had fallen in love with a pretty half-elf... Even 4 perfect HP rolls weren't enough for Neera to survive a double backstab.







    Not long after that, an enemy cleric dispelled Hold person on Telka, and she attempted to backstab Karasu. No more deaths this time!







    Our magic prevailed on the amazons, and we had to bury Neera.







    Reluctantly, we decided to invite Garrick to our party - after losing Neera we needed someone to identify items for us and use wands. Silke panicked because of Spook, then failed a save against Hold Person.








    Yahiko levelled up, getting 8 from 8 hps. Garrick got 13 hps, not many, as the Neera experience could tell...








  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,538
    Amazing SoD battle! Mine was an instant pushover.
    I befriended the dwarves and you get a notification that you should report to them. Then you get a gem which disables the lich. Since I had autopause enemy sighted I used it before its buffs went off (did noot know he would have any) and that was all. I am not sure I would have led to fight it as you have but wow... I do think I missed out this run. Noreload would be troublesome for me :)
  • TheMetaphysicianTheMetaphysician Member Posts: 76
    Great fight! Yeah, they definitely didn't intend you to fight that guy. :smile:
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    edited July 2016
    One of the most intense and epic fights ever! In my run I have entirely skipped this area, it is an optional quest ı think. I never even noticed or knew. I only had one weekend to play on pc so I kinda rushed to the end. Very interesting! And it really shows your skill as a player. Everyone can beat that enemy with lvl 20+ party. Few can beat it twice with a lvl 8 party. Congrats!

    I really, really, really want to see you play the final fight of SoD, it had given me quite trouble. (Didn't reload, but was very tough going and we lost Glint permanently from massive damage) But the game throws lots of hints and help to your way for the final confrontation, which I have recognised along the way, so it was a bit easier for me...still a lot trouble and suitably epic.

    SoD encounters are varied, interesting, and actually quite difficult. They found the perfect mix between bg2's 'distinct enemies with deadly abilities' and iwd's 'throw hordes of enemies' style, I think.
  • JuliusBorisovJuliusBorisov Member, Administrator, Moderator, Developer Posts: 22,760
    How much I want to try myself in that battle too, although I don't exactly know what you're talking about (it will be the first time for me as well, if Mortuus reaches SoD) :)

    I'd like to quote Josh Sawyer from his recent answer:

    "Tabletop RPGs are the world in which save scumming doesn’t exist, so I think it serves as a reasonable subject for comparison. In TTRPGs, most GMs/DMs/storytellers/god emperors won’t allow players to re-roll or take back the consequences of a stand-alone check (e.g., trying to pick the lock on a door). The game may have built in mechanics for retrying a check, but otherwise the player has to live with the results. Some games also have a caution to let the results stand, e.g. Burning Wheel’s “let it ride” recommendation won’t let the player test again unless the circumstances surrounding the test change significantly.

    In these situations, the tension/exhilaration/relief/anguish comes from the “no take back” stakes. Here’s a video from a D&D game we played a few years ago. Darren’s character would die if the incoming damage were over a certain threshold:



    That sort of reaction happens in a TTRPG because you can’t reload from it. The chaos of die ranges normalizes in a combat, which is why save-scumming is not usually as big of a deal outside of early combat save-or-die effects.

    There is also a different feeling for many people that comes from rolling physical dice rather than seeing a RNG spit out a result. A lot of people like an element of randomness in games. It increases tension and uncertainty. It doesn’t really matter that people are colossally awful at understanding probability (e.g. listen to people cry about “bad beats” in poker). The emotional aspect of rolling is more compelling than the rational analysis/problem solving aspect of considering the odds."

    Exactly to the point.
  • sluckerssluckers Member Posts: 280
    edited July 2016

    Fumbling through Faerun: Io the Avenger

    Chapter 1: Risky Business

    First of all, I just want to put out there that the pronunciation of Io goes thusly: Ee-oh.

    If you say Aye-Oh, you've been saying it wrong your whole life. That's right, NASA, I'm looking at you.

    Second, I am admitting ahead of time that I, sluckers, am an idiot.

    No, Io is not dead. She is alive and well and on her way to Nashkell. I have not gotten her smashed, burnt to a crisp, diced, choked, drowned, charmed, feebleminded, or any of the other myriad ways to die in what is sometimes a truly ludicrous 'surprise-you're-dead!' game. It turns out that an Avenger is a darn hard character to destroy, which is good, because despite my idiocy Io has carried my ass through to Chapter 2 of this latest no-reload run of BG1.

    Here's the proof:




    Io is going to be the leader of a 'Force of Nature' no-reload run. Rangers and Druid's primarily, though that theme won't be completely strict. I've been inspired by @bengoshi's current custom party, and seeing Yahiko again has reminded me that I love druids above all the other spellcasters. But I want some conversation (no point in wasting the NPC project mod) so I will use EEKeeper to change NPC classes to fit. That is the theme.

    Now let us begin at the... beginning.



    So first things first, Io must get to the Friendly Arm Inn. Should be simple enough, right? Unfortunately, Candlekeep wasn't the best of places to practice druidic skills, particularly navigational skills. Fortunately, however, Io had the wherewithall to bring her iPhone.

    This is my head-canon RP explanation for the next picture, and I'm sticking to it.



    No, Io had not visited the Nashkell Carnival and picked-up a protection from petrification scroll, nor was she capable of using the helpfully available pro. from pet. scrolls in high hedge, as she's a druid. She had neither the strength or lockpicking picking skill to obtain any potions of invisibility from any chests, either. She was completely unprotected.

    Because I'm an idiot.

    I will admit to being impatient, since my last couple of attempts at no-reloading BG1 have ended in failure due to ambushes or surprise 'gotcha!' moments the game throws at you. I really really really wanted a character that could take more than a single arrow hit.

    And before you ask yourself why I would take such a risk with my beloved Avenger Io in a no-reload attempt, know that it actually was much worse than that. I also had a run in with Neera in Beregost. As it turns out, facing off against Red Wizards isn't the smartest of things to do as a level 1 druid, especially because Neera is a douchebag. Fighting them was, in hindsight, a stupid thing to do.

    But Neera...

    I hate that woman. My hatred for that woman keeps the Nine Hells burning.

    She gets Io to help her, then just walks away and throws us to the wolves. Io then gets hit with a few too many mage spells.

    Getting hit with Melf's Acid Arrow and Drain Declogger is not fun when you have only 9HP. Io spends the next couple rounds unable to do anything except chug healing potions to prevent the bleeding from killing her off. I have her pepper the mage with darts, and every 2 darts she chugs a potion. She manages to stay alive, using the applied AC penalty of entanglement to help land hits.

    Oh, ya, and I forget to collect the coveted gembag from Neera's corpse. Because, like I said, I'm an idiot. That was kind of the whole point I triggered that event in the first place.

    Anyway, things get better. After barely winning against the red wizards and failing to save Neera (not that I tried after what she pulled), Io's map app directs her to walk 37kms east to the Friendly Arm Inn. Unfortunately, all that our tired and lonely Avenger finds over there is a ghoul, a lot of bassilisks and an FAI "We've Moved!" sign.

    Now to fighting bassilisks unprotected...



    I have Korax walk in front and use the contrails of the petrification gazes to aim the ghoul in the right direction. Doing this, and moving him along the edge of Io's line of sight, you can get him into melee range without ever being at risk of petrification... usually. Korax has to successfully freeze the basslisk in the first 2-3 hits.

    Just never ever ever stand along the same angle of attack as Korax. SCS bassilisks will switch targets to spread the petrification around. Having Io stand far away in a different direction means that the bassilisk will turn before using its gaze, which is a helpful visual clue. If it turns, run away. You have about 1.5 seconds.

    Unlike certain summoned monsters or spirit animals, Korax cannot attack beyond line of sight. When the message that the bassilisk has retargeted him appears, you can walk back into visual range and give him another round to hold it in place.

    Oh, and, uh... don't get hit.

    Do this for each bassilisk and wallow in your shameless metagaming crapulence.





    Victory over the bassilisks brings Io to over 30hp. Oh happy days. NOW we can go to the Friendly Arm Inn, hopefully with no diversions along the way.


    Okay, maybe just one diversion.

    Alright, make it two. The fetish orge IS on the way.

    It's all about efficiency in heroic adventuring and errand running.

    So satisfying. I love druids.


    Tarnesh is pretty hard if you try to face him solo, at level 1.

    When Io finally reaches the FAI for a well deserved rest, she unites with Gorion's friends...



    ...who pledge to assist her and help keep her safe by dragging her off to a potential warzone, black pit of death or site of a miner's strike... or whatever the Nashkell mine has become.


    But of course, since we ARE in the area...






    At last, Io is ready for the sword coast.








    Post edited by sluckers on
  • lolienlolien Member, Moderator, Translator (NDA) Posts: 3,108
    Nice, @sluckers .
  • lroumenlroumen Member Posts: 2,538
    I actually did not know whether it would work and since I did not encounter the breath so I still do not know whether Melissa would be protected well enough. The fight took only 3 rounds because when I first spotted her I retreated and circumvented which gave me the opportunity to come back well-prepared (good thing polymorph other works so well).
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    No-Reload Siege of Dragonspear: Poppy the Cleric/Illusionist

    HOLY CRAP
    Part 1

    The dragon is gone and the party is back up to speed, albeit short of some valuable wand charges and a lot of gold. The next fight is an easy one: Bugbears! Apparently Invisibility Purge has really long reach.



    Another AI improvement from SCS: enemies with divination spells will use them if you try to sneak up on them.

    Safana nearly dies because I was too impatient to move forward. Maybe I'll just use CTRL-4 to look for traps when I'm feeling impatient, instead of just charging ahead.

    The next fight was a little complicated, but there's only one interesting screenshot.

    I normally don't use Glitterdust, but Edwin's Conjurer kit imposes an additional -2 save penalty.

    We reach the bottom level. I don't really remember what exactly I'm doing here, but it looks like this is part of the main quest. Some crusaders are here, trapped in a cage.

    You can make some pretty ruthless decisions in this game.

    Not really my style. I chat with one of the prisoners, Madele. Apparently she's a priestess of Bhaal. She's quite happy to see a Bhaalspawn. Or, rather, smell one.


    We can't do anything for her just yet.

    Safana snoops around. To speed things up, I use CTRL-4 to highlight traps. Safana stumbles onto a half-dragon in the southwest.

    I send in the party, in case the half-dragon proves hostile, like the Cultists in the area. Turns out she's Morentherene's sister, and she's not happy that we murdered her.


    She has priest buffs and poison breath. Thankfully, her breath weapon doesn't seem to have much reach, much like Morentherene's.

    Better still, she lacks typical dragon immunities. Spook disables her just long enough for us to drag her down.




    Further exploration reveals that Akanna, one of the folks down here, had a sadistic obsession with the priestess of Bhaal we spoke to earlier. It doesn't look like a very healthy relationship.


    Before we can enter the next room, we see a brief cutscene, in which a pair of cultists get killed by a WHAT THE HELL IS THAT

    Is that a boss? Am I supposed to fight that thing?

    I've never seen that sprite before. It must be something special, and that can only be bad news for us.

    I think I'm going to stay away from that room. I don't wanna fight that horrible thing.

    We finally free Madele, and command her to be good from now on.

    I only knew Madele for a few minutes, but that was a pretty memorable diversion. Disturbing, too. I hope she's okay.

    We keep exploring and get into a fight with some cultists. A pair of assassins surprise us, but fortunately they only poison Rasaad; they don't backstab him.



    Things are looking good. For a moment.

    HOLY CRAP

    Seriously? This humongous tentacle worm thingy can burrow around and chase us?

    I want to end this fast; a critter that big has to be deadly. Edwin and Poppy draw their wands.

    The Wand of Frost failed to bypass the Neothelid's MR, but the Wand of Paralyzation succeeded. The worm, however, is unaffected.

    It's immune to stun. It's immune to all disablers, isn't it? It really is a boss monster.

    Also, it has mind control powers.

    I don't like this monster! This is scary!

    And it has a freaking breath weapon, too.


    Mage spells, poison breath, magic resistance, and burrowing like an Ankheg to teleport. Are there any powers this thing doesn't have?

    As soon as it came, the Neothelid burrows back down and vanishes, leaving a pile of grease behind.

    What just freaking happened?

    Even after the Neothelid is gone, we suffer poison damage. Is it actually still there, or do we have a lingering damage effect? Either way, we lose a character, and the survivors are in bad condition.


    For a moment at least, we're safe. M'Khiin summons a Nymph to heal the party with Mass Cure.

    I think we need to go to that room where I first saw the Neothelid. Maybe we'll figure out a way to get rid of it.

    The far wall says they sacrifice people to the monster in this room. So we need a sacrifice of some sort?

    The Neothelid is still around, attacking our Skeleton Warrior offscreen.

    Ego Whip. That is a goddamn psionic power. This worm can do everything. What's it going to throw at us next? A Fallen Deva? Insect Plague? A Spike Trap?

    No, it just casts Mordenkainen's Sword and kills our Skeleton Warrior. And no, it's not burrowing around; it really can teleport.

    I hoped there was some quest-y thing we could do to get rid of it instead, but I don't think that's an option anymore.

    We have to fight it...
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    edited July 2016
    No-Reload Siege of Dragonspear: Poppy the Cleric/Illusionist

    HOLY CRAP
    Part 2

    As if the Neothelid wasn't enough, we have to deal with traps, too.

    We hurry into an open area for better freedom of movement. The Neothelid follows us, but the move gives us time to heal up and prepare a bit.

    The Neothelid smashes Viconia, but Poppy is already on it.

    The Neothelid resists the Wand of Frost and vanishes.

    When it returns, we greet it with a ray of ice. It takes a sizable chunk out of the monster's life bar.

    Another smart move by Beamdog. Life bars are much faster to check than the old tooltip message system.

    Soon the Neothelid is close to death. To avoid destroying precious loot, we switch to the Wand of the Heavens. The Neothelid goes down!

    That was a horrifying experience. Seeing the monster was scary enough, but then seeing it teleport and use all kinds of magic powers was one more reminder that we didn't fully understand what we were facing.

    I don't want to go back to town to rest and resurrect Rasaad quite yet. Instead, I turn invisible once more and go scouting. We pass by Akanna, the sadist priestess of Cyric who was torturing Madele, and slip away from her Invisibility Purge, which we failed to do against that bugbear spellcaster.



    The Nymph broke invisibility by casting a spell; the crawlers are bound to devour it. It's not worth losing our invisibility to rescue it.

    We open one last door.

    Holy crap.

    We have to fight a mind flayer now. It's just one nightmare after another.

    If this guy has BG2 mind flayer powers, we're kinda screwed. Psionic Blast would annihilate us.

    We run away. No one pursues us yet, so we break invisibility to summon monsters and lay traps. We'll just have to proceed without Rasaad.


    Investing in Set Traps was a good idea. Darskhelin (not Darkshelin, but Darskhelin) the mind flayer takes big damage on the first round when he comes out to play.


    Darskhelin, suddenly close to death, runs to his allies for aid. Pre-buffs flare up. We have a diverse enemy party to deal with. Archer, Berserker, and mage, judging by the dialog box, and a Kensai as well, judging by the unarmored bloke in the doorway.

    Poppy brains Darskhelin with a heavy rock. The mind flayer goes down before attacking us! M'Khiin throws Spirit Fire into the next room; it should bypass the enemy mage's MGOI buff. Edwin's Fireball isn't far behind.

    I've been avoiding Web due to the chance of friendly fire, but Poppy is low on spells and doesn't have many other options. As we cast a Web into the enemy's room, the mage on the other side casts a Teleport Field into ours.

    Normally Teleport Field is there to ward off melee attacks, but that's only useful if the caster is inside the field.

    The mage does benefit from Teleport Field, despite the strange targeting: it puts M'Khiin inside our Web, and she fails her save. Fortunately, her attackers have poor luck as well. Poppy switches to spider form, but the Teleport Field keeps her from reaching the entrance.


    Look at that! The enemy is using a choke point against the player! I've never seen that before. If that was intentional, it was genius.

    I have to stress just how cool that is. I've never thought of using Teleport Field to enhance a choke point, and I love Teleport Field.

    Also notice that the Carrion Crawlers from before have joined the fight. M'Khiin has gotten stunned (I assume by the enemy Archer), but Viconia is there to cast Remove Paralysis. I just hope M'Khiin won't get teleported out of range at the last second. Meanwhile, a single dwarven fighter breaks free of the Web and attacks Poppy, who stuns him with the Wand of Paralyzation.

    But it doesn't work. The dwarf keeps attacking. Berserker rage immunities must have blocked it.

    Viconia successfully frees M'Khiin, only to fail a save against Chaos.


    Poppy needs to focus on the most vulnerable targets, as her THAC0 isn't good enough to hit others reliably. She slays the Kensai first.

    In SOD, spider form does NOT deal poison damage. It is therefore a rather weak anti-mage tool compared to BG2:EE. The APR does benefit from other damage bonuses, like from the Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization (or whatever better name Beamdog came up with) that Poppy started the game with.

    We make slow progress against the enemies, as we are in poor shape ourselves. Poppy's saving throws block a spell of unknown origin--possibly saving her life.



    You know, if they save your life, then "saving throws" isn't really a great name. Why not call them "Life Savers" instead? At least then the name would make sense.

    Poppy finishes off the enemy Archer, revealing a special SOD item that grants +2 DEX to Archers and +1 DEX to other classes. Many SOD items have class-specific benefits. Edwin hits the dwarf with Feeblemind, because I only realized the dwarf was a Berserker when I wrote this. The dwarf fails its save, but keeps fighting anyway.


    Poppy breaks through the enemy mage's Stoneskin. Soon, Jhan Redmoons is dead. Only the dwarf remains. He has no missile weapons, so we kite him to death.


    The battle is won!

    But we can't carry all of this loot home without Rasaad. I break out one of our two Raise Dead scrolls--which I bought a long time ago in case we needed to raise somebody in combat--and heal Rasaad up to full health. Rasaad is quite upbeat about the situation.

    I actually couldn't raise him at all; the scroll is bugged somehow. I used CTRL-R instead, dropped the scroll, and cast the healing spells onto him to imitate having used it normally.

    Rasaad gets a brand new katana, but his damage output is still better unarmed, due to the extra 0.5 APR.

    There are three dead bodies where the mind flayer once stood. These must be the intended sacrifices! Maybe I can get something by bringing them over to the wall that talked about the sacrificial stuff.

    The bodies weigh like 200 pounds apiece. To move them around, I'd need to use Edwin's spell STR-boosting staff, and remove all other equipment from the character. Instead, I have Poppy switch to ogre form. She can carry basically anything now. She uses her newfound strength to squash a bug on the way.


    It doesn't work, though. I don't know if you can sacrifice anybody, or do anything at all with those corpses. I drop them and move on.

    One last enemy remains: Akanna. She says something crazy-like and then attacks us. I figure this will be easy.

    But apparently she has a friend.
    Aerial Servants only get one attack per round, but they hit really hard with it. Mages and bards with Stoneskin need not worry about them, but anyone else can die awfully fast when an Aerial Servant is after them.

    Knowing that the Aerial Servant won't get another attack roll for the next 6 seconds, I send Rasaad running. But he can't move. Soon, I learn why.

    Wow. There were two of them. That sucks.

    I need to take down Akanna and resurrect Rasaad one more time if I'm going to get all of our loot back to camp. I look over our resources and rediscover a special ability I forgot I had.

    I've never even tried out this power. Why not now?

    Safana tries charming Akanna, but it seems not to work despite a failed save. Akanna is disabled by Horror anyway, so it doesn't matter.

    M'Khiin summons her spirits despite a savage blow from an Aerial Servant. Her Nymph is more successful, charming the other Aerial Servant with Mental Domination. While our charmed Aerial Servant and goblin spirits beat down the hostile Aerial Servant, Edwin hits Akanna with Cone of Cold.


    The enemy Aerial Servant doesn't last long. We chase down Akanna and destroy her.



    I raise him one more time to gather his equipment. He gets in trouble when we find yet more hidden enemies, but Poppy rescues him.


    We come back later to finish off the Invisible Stalker, get ambushed by the no-longer-charmed Aerial Servant, and cut down the last enemy.


    We're swimming in gold now.

    Holy crap. First was the lich. Then the dragon. Then a mind flayer. Three of the classic "ha ha ur ded nao loser" enemies of BG2.

    The way things are going, the next fight is going to involve an Elder Orb.
  • OtherguyOtherguy Member Posts: 157
    edited July 2016
    Enter Cain, CG elven FMT with thief duties, playing on core with scs (everything except naked in spellhold), limited resting, limited meta, nothing I deem as cheese or abuse of poor AI.

    Dual wielding longswords is very strong with good str and dex in chateu irenicus, saving everyone as always, getting a scroll of incendiary cloud in the process, letting Yoshi and Minsc grab some beers indefinitely in the copper coronet as soon as we see daylight. Donating a lot of gold to Ilmater for letting Imoens bars break in the earthquake.

    Saving Aerie, accepting Nalia. Letting both tag along immediately since they are both part of my long term plans and I don't want to get a lot of free exp to get them later due to limited meta this run.

    Getting Tuigan for Nalia, grabbing Lilarcor, killing every slaver on that boat (those mages always manage to find a way to surprise me, one of them walked through a web, entangle and stinking cloud).

    Time for the first rest, at this point I really think Cain has earned it. Having 20 potions of extra healing saved up!

    I justify going to Trademeet before De'Arnise because of Jaheira. Getting sidetracked a lot on the way with ambushes leading to the Harper quest, while there I pick up the thief quest but decide it's too unrealistic to rob Mae'vars hideout so I skip it for now. I also deem grave robbing to be out of character so no Namarra for me yet.

    Jaheira is close to her first level 6 spell by now and I really really want a full plate, wrestling with my conscience if I could justify killing that bunch of misfits upstairs in waukeens. Normally I do not kill people for being rude irl... I'll go there on my first shopping spree and see how it turns out, Jaheira needs a belt, Aerie needs a shield and so does the tank, who right now is Cain but that will change after Trademeet. A wand of cloudkill would also be a nice way to deal with all those spirit trolls...

    To be continued.

Sign In or Register to comment.

2025 Overhaul Games, a division of Beamdog. © 2025 Hasbro, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Baldur's Gate, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, Baldur's Gate, Wizards of the Coast and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries, and are used with permission. Hasbro and its logo are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc. and are used with permission. © 1998 BioWare Corp. All Rights Reserved. BioWare, the BioWare Infinity Engine and the BioWare logo are trademarks of Bioware Corp. Black Isle Studios and the Black Isle Studios logo are trademarks of Interplay Entertainment Corp. Atari and the Atari logo are trademarks owned by Atari Interactive, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.