Flayers Flayed
FrdNwsm
Member Posts: 1,069
Well, my group of misfits and malingerers actually ran out of things to do and were getting bored. Bored psychotic Battleragers and vampires are NOT good for the general level of peace in the neighborhood, so "Big Al" decided to look around for some excitement to keep the kiddies occupied. A mind is a terrible thing to waste, and this band had precious little of that commodity to start with.
First stop: The City Gates. Not to head out into the wilderness, but rather to have a chat with a certain lich who had hung his sarcophagus there. Using his new-found knowledge of "gorilla" tactics, "Al" and crew defeated the creaky cadaver without much trouble. Basically, run in hasted, toss off some summonings while the lich put up his protections, run back out, play bridge and eat bananas (the "gorilla" part) for a while until his protections lapsed, then run back in and slap him silly.
Going onward, "Al" recalled those pesky mind flayers living down in the sewers. Feeling rather full of himself, he led his crew on a subterranean scavenger hunt. "Al" and Korgan were all for just charging in and hacking away. Korgan was all like "Hah! I haven't got any mind for them to flay!" and "Al" agreed, but cooler minds prevailed; Jaheira, Hexxat and Edwina sat on them while Viconia explained her cunning plan. And yes, it involved (Surprise!) summoning some cannon fodder to lead the assault.
In the deserted anteroom, we summoned up two fire elementals and two skeletal warriors, a selection which had proven quite effective in the campaign against the Shade Lord, kicked open the door with a knock spell and turned the creatures loose on the hapless foe!
Things did not go well.
First off, the skeletal warriors were met by ... a band of human fighters and a cleric? Apparently these guys had stumbled into the mind flayer territory and were promptly enslaved. While his lackeys fought the undead, the mind flayer there stuck his tentacles into the raging infernos that were our fire elementals, and ... ATE THEIR BRAINS!
Ahem. Even Korgan was taken aback by this; slamming the door behind us, we beat a hasty retreat. This action revealed a definite weakness in the mind flayer psyche, however. They didn't know how to work a door! Doh! Also, they apparently could not eat the brains of the brainless; the undead were safe from that particular attack mode. The amended plan was clear; Viconia was the to be star of the show, with Jaheira and Edwin playing minor supporting roles, and a cameo appearance by Hexxat. Korgan and I ran to town and bought some bags of popcorn; our roles would be purely as spectators.
I'm sure that everyone and his brother can figure what we did, so I am not even going to bother posting a spoiler alert. Viconia summoned a whole platoon of undead, Edwin hasted them and blew open the door, and the undead shuffled forward to engage. After one or two of them went down, Jaheira pulled out two fire elementals and sent them down the corridor to join the fray. Hexxat, who was wearing her spiffy new boots of speed, ran up and slammed the door while the combat went on. Rinse and repeat. Even the Ultra-Ilithids (or whatever they called themselves) eventually went down before this tactic.
Other than Hexxat, nobody in the group even got within eyesight of a mindflayer. Korgan complained afterwards; not only did he not get to kill anything, but he considered the loot to be pretty crappy. He did have a point; no gold or gems and only two items, one of which was actually too dangerous to use. On the other hand, getting Daystar from the lich rather made up for it. Nifty weapon!
Well, we're so desperate for something to do while wairing for Hexxat to be summoned off to China, we decided to go job hunting at ... the Temple of Torm? OK, we do still have a (totally undeserved) decent reputation, so maybe they will actually hire us for something. We'll find out tomorrow.
First stop: The City Gates. Not to head out into the wilderness, but rather to have a chat with a certain lich who had hung his sarcophagus there. Using his new-found knowledge of "gorilla" tactics, "Al" and crew defeated the creaky cadaver without much trouble. Basically, run in hasted, toss off some summonings while the lich put up his protections, run back out, play bridge and eat bananas (the "gorilla" part) for a while until his protections lapsed, then run back in and slap him silly.
Going onward, "Al" recalled those pesky mind flayers living down in the sewers. Feeling rather full of himself, he led his crew on a subterranean scavenger hunt. "Al" and Korgan were all for just charging in and hacking away. Korgan was all like "Hah! I haven't got any mind for them to flay!" and "Al" agreed, but cooler minds prevailed; Jaheira, Hexxat and Edwina sat on them while Viconia explained her cunning plan. And yes, it involved (Surprise!) summoning some cannon fodder to lead the assault.
In the deserted anteroom, we summoned up two fire elementals and two skeletal warriors, a selection which had proven quite effective in the campaign against the Shade Lord, kicked open the door with a knock spell and turned the creatures loose on the hapless foe!
Things did not go well.
First off, the skeletal warriors were met by ... a band of human fighters and a cleric? Apparently these guys had stumbled into the mind flayer territory and were promptly enslaved. While his lackeys fought the undead, the mind flayer there stuck his tentacles into the raging infernos that were our fire elementals, and ... ATE THEIR BRAINS!
Ahem. Even Korgan was taken aback by this; slamming the door behind us, we beat a hasty retreat. This action revealed a definite weakness in the mind flayer psyche, however. They didn't know how to work a door! Doh! Also, they apparently could not eat the brains of the brainless; the undead were safe from that particular attack mode. The amended plan was clear; Viconia was the to be star of the show, with Jaheira and Edwin playing minor supporting roles, and a cameo appearance by Hexxat. Korgan and I ran to town and bought some bags of popcorn; our roles would be purely as spectators.
I'm sure that everyone and his brother can figure what we did, so I am not even going to bother posting a spoiler alert. Viconia summoned a whole platoon of undead, Edwin hasted them and blew open the door, and the undead shuffled forward to engage. After one or two of them went down, Jaheira pulled out two fire elementals and sent them down the corridor to join the fray. Hexxat, who was wearing her spiffy new boots of speed, ran up and slammed the door while the combat went on. Rinse and repeat. Even the Ultra-Ilithids (or whatever they called themselves) eventually went down before this tactic.
Other than Hexxat, nobody in the group even got within eyesight of a mindflayer. Korgan complained afterwards; not only did he not get to kill anything, but he considered the loot to be pretty crappy. He did have a point; no gold or gems and only two items, one of which was actually too dangerous to use. On the other hand, getting Daystar from the lich rather made up for it. Nifty weapon!
Well, we're so desperate for something to do while wairing for Hexxat to be summoned off to China, we decided to go job hunting at ... the Temple of Torm? OK, we do still have a (totally undeserved) decent reputation, so maybe they will actually hire us for something. We'll find out tomorrow.
Post edited by FrdNwsm on
4
Comments
Maybe if he wasn't such a douche to Viconia she might of cast chaotic commands on him and then he could of stomped all the tentacled faces he wanted.
Or it may cast random stuff like web, lightning, fireball, or stoneskin on target.
Wild magi in pnp has a chance to control chaotic items like the wand of wonder and the deck of many things. Shame bg2 lacks such a mechanic.
A mod that improves enemy AI. I don't know if you have experimented much of the new content (Neera Dorn Hexxat Rasaad and black pits 2) but enemies in these quests have an AI similar to SCS AI, they are significantly smarter.
It also hardens a few fights. Liches mostly
Ga! I thought I had met, or at least heard of, just about all of the NPCs; Dorn is also wandering around?
And yes, Dorn is wandering near the Most Radiant Heart Order in the temple district. Just West from its main entrance.
Vanilla game mages and liches are dumb. They almost always cast the same spells in the exact same order.
Scs mages get random new spells at every installation. And they cast them appropriate to the situation, they adapt to the player's doing and take countermeasures, they kite, flee when wounded, heal/buff and return, etc. When in bg1 I accidentaly found out Lendarn's wizard eye sent out to scout my party, I was scared! A.I has become a living, thinking thing! (almost)