Nice to see that you give the Swashbuckler some love Grond0. I still believe in his long-term-potential but even more i am interested in a Paladin Crusade.
I would love to roll a Cavalier as it was my very first character when BG 2 came out. Axes should soften the no-missile-restriction a bit even though Blackguard or Inquisitor feels stronger. Any opinion on that one?
A Cavalier is a decent option, though as a solo you need to manage saving throws carefully (particularly in BG2 where there are fewer scroll and potion alternatives to boost those). Personally I would say a Cavalier is better suited to a solo run than an Inquisitor - the latter is great in a party where his ability to debuff mages sets them up for a quick kill by others, but on his own he's vulnerable.
Calis, the Cavalier is on his way. Being Level 4 now i have to say: The Dark Moon Monk was much easier than this Holy Warrior. At least for someone who loves sneaky guys. Damn i miss my stealth and blind. But - hey - these are things for fools! May the cancerous evil be cut out by the blade of Righteousness!
Pippet the Swashbuckler has made some progress during odd moments today and has just passed through the Nashkel Mine at level 7. I knew Mulahey's troops would be too much for her in an open fight, so she used a potion of invisibility to evade them initially before dragging them one by one into hundreds of traps (literally - those skeletons soak up thief traps) - luckily resting there is automatically successful . For Mulahey Pippet managed to work into a position where she was just out of sight, but a trap laid in front of her triggered immediately - that allowed her to make quick work of the cleric.
@Grond0: Hehe, reminds me of my Monk who used splitpull -> blind to wear Mulaheys support troops down. But stealth would also have worked instead of invi potion. But - okay - i am always forgetting your no-reload-restriction. So safety first!
The Cavalier will go hunting Basiliks and Sirens soon because he nearly has all of his basic equipment ready (+1 Axe, Ankheg Armor, Weapon Gauntlets, +1 Shield, +1 Ring). And the best: Finally a champion who can tank without dying instantly. After playing mostly squishies in the last months this feels like a fresh breeze. May the Armor of Faith protect us from any harm!
Pippet's through the Cloakwood Mine as well. Drasus & co all died from traps (mainly using similar method to Mulahey). Inside the mine the guard near Davaeorn died to stealth attacks (as resting for traps is too difficult there). The mage himself got plenty of stealth attacks as well before I got a bit bored and tried to stand and fight. That nearly proved fatal when Davaeorn got a critical for 32 damage and Pippet immediately switched back to stealth attacks to finish him off!
Yeah, the AI could be better so - maybe - i will put LoB and SCS together. But not for the moment.
Your are welcome to join us with a Swashbuckler Southpaw. I abanonded mine for no obvious reason.
My Monk so far (he is level 8 now) is far more easier than expected IF you are willing to cheese a bit. But as a Dark Moon Monk playing like a Trickster should be your second nature.
I might. Not that much time for playing tho. Casually getting my Berserker->Thief through BGEE on Android tablet and playing multiplayer with my friend from other part of the world on desktop. Dark Moon Monk played as Trickster is THE WAY TO PLAY MONKS these days.
Well Pippet got to the Palace, but in the moment of truth there only one of the dopplegangers attacked her. I knew that gave her no chance, but she played it out to the end. She started by shooting dispelling arrows to slow the dopplegangers down before ditching the one attacking her to prevent it switching to the dukes. She then attacked in melee in the vain hope of persuading a doppleganger to switch targets to her, but her hope indeed proved vain. She actually did pretty well I think to kill 2 of the dopplegangers and have a 3rd at near death before the end came ...
I loaded the autosave about 20 times just to confirm the likelihood of winning that battle. To have even a realistic chance I think you need at least 3 of the dopplegangers to attack you and that isn't common (I once got 4, once 3, twice 2 and the rest 0 and 1). I suspect therefore I would have less than a 10% chance of victory - which isn't enough for me to have another go with a swashbuckler.
Ah, you're getting very close @Grond0! I had the impression you were playing without a trap cap because of the 100s of traps you said you used against Mulahey's Skellies. (Made sense to me as to my knowledge traps deal missile damage and Skeletons are 90% missile damage resistant?) So I expected you to rely on traps at the Ducal Palace too. Are you willing to give it a go with another character?
@Harpargonis, I know how you're feeling when able to tank without dying immediately Keep up te good work!
I did a completely new install, using EE Trilogy for the first time. It includes BG1 NPCs, BG1 Unfinished Business, Ascension, Rogue Rebalancing, most of SCS (but limited pre-buffing), and some tweaks. The only mod components I tried to but couldn't install were Rogue Rebalancing's Bard HLAs and SCS Improved DUrlag's Tower. I decided to roll a new character, a Dwarven Barbarian, instead of continuing my Archer, in order to test for any bugs and to assay my presumption that Barbarians are a good class for this challenge. I must say I find the challenge oddly enjoyable. I say 'oddly' as I'm a bit surprised I have the patience for it.
Character stats: 18/42-17-19-15-8-16, profs: scimitars **, shortbows **.
A first bug was Imoen joining with millions of XP, and the same happened with Khalid, but I tested with a few other characters and they were all level 1. I went straight for Shoal this time, stopping only for a Ghast ambush. This gave me a bit of a HP cushion with two level-ups. Only then did I kill the rogue Ogre. When I tried to melee two Xvarts my scimitar broke. Went to Beregost, did some XP quests, and rage-bashed the lock on the chest in the Travenhurst mansion for the invisibility potion. I drank it to get to the Gnolls and see them attack Drizzt. With Drizzt's armor and weapons, Bera became somewhat viable as a melee character but I wouldn't call her overpowered by any means. She could take on the diggers at the excavation site one by one, and she also successfully meleed Melicamp's Wolf (Thalantyr restored his apprentice), a Beregost Spider, a Dire Wolf and Ludrug. Named melee enemies however remain very dangerous. Thankfully, Bera's walking speed advantage helps with ranged fighting. She defeated Meilum, Ingot, Greywolf, Krumm and Caldo, and Sendai in this fashion, but she had to retreat from Vax and Zal to engage them one at a time. She also had great difficulty against Tarnesh, who was a peril by virtue of his damage spells (2x magic missile, 1x melf-s acid arrow). He pretty much forced Bera to shop for potions at the Gellana's.
Bera has now circa 25k XP. I'm looking to see if I can raise that to 32k, so that she can enter Mutamin's Garden as a level 6 dual-wielding character. I'm really missing my stealth. My love for the kitless Ranger, the only stealthy warrior without armor restrictions, has been rekindled trough this challenge too. That might be my next character if Bera isn't meant to last.
Edit: BTW picking shortbows over crossbows proved an expensive decision: for some reason enchanted arrows are much more expensive than Thalantyr's enchanted bolts. At 18 CHA and 20 rep, ten arrows of biting cost 1125 GP whereas ten bolts of biting cost 562 GP.
Ah, you're getting very close @Grond0! I had the impression you were playing without a trap cap because of the 100s of traps you said you used against Mulahey's Skellies. (Made sense to me as to my knowledge traps deal missile damage and Skeletons are 90% missile damage resistant?) So I expected you to rely on traps at the Ducal Palace too. Are you willing to give it a go with another character?
I must say I find the challenge oddly enjoyable. I say 'oddly' as I'm a bit surprised I have the patience for it.
The trap cap is in place, but you can rest in Mulahey's cave - unlike the palace . I might well try again, but not immediately. I think the chances of success at the Palace with any of the fighter candidates are slim and it takes quite a while to get a character there in LoB - so I'll need to spend some time building up my reserves of patience again . I didn't actually maximise my potential in that last swashbuckler attempt (though I think I would have lost the fight anyway), but using the violet potion and potions of firebreath would bump up the chances of success a reasonable amount - so perhaps I should give a swashie another chance in future.
Glad to hear you're enjoying your run - keep it going.
Time for some words on my progress: As i am low on time my Cavalier has not grown that much. With courage and unshakable will he has reached level 7 and is now heading to the city of Baldurs Gate. After some problems at the beginning i am getting more and more confident. This class just feels great even though i havent met any dragons or demons. Calis especially had a big fun time with the Sirens at the lighthouse as their spells and poison arrows are doing absolutely nothing to him. With other words: Easy kills even when the come in groups. Tanking still works surprisingly well - not like my Monk who got torn to pieces in no time. Throwing axes like crazy still feels very cool so he cant wait to get the very nice returning axe from Prat under Candlekeep. May the light be with you!
@Grond0: Regarding the palace problem. I dont know where the difference is but in my tests i regulary get attacked by two or three and with a bit luck by four dopplegangers. Zero or only one nearly never occurs. The big question is what are the trigger factors for aiming? Is it random? Positioning should be one factor no? I get my best results when standing right next to one of the middle nobles and moving very late. What else?
@Blackraven: Any progress with your Barbarian? Against named Enemies kiting seems to be the easiest way. Anything else is too dangerous - even for the Cavalier. The only thing that bothers me with throwing axes is the huge delay. Once you stop it feels like centuries before the axe is thrown. But - okay - i can live with that.
@Grond0: Regarding the palace problem. I dont know where the difference is but in my tests i regulary get attacked by two or three and with a bit luck by four dopplegangers. Zero or only one nearly never occurs. The big question is what are the trigger factors for aiming? Is it random? Positioning should be one factor no? I get my best results when standing right next to one of the middle nobles and moving very late. What else?
I normally try waiting for all the nobles to change where I'm between them and Belt - which should be pretty much the same location you're suggesting. I did experiment a bit with buffing (or lack of it) and thought it was possible that being too well protected was putting dopplegangers off from attacking, but I haven't tried enough attempts at staying there unbuffed to say with any confidence it makes any difference. It's also possible of course that it's a difference between installations - I was playing mine for instance on Beamdog BGEE v2.3. Starting on SoD is not identical, so that could make a difference, as could using GoG or Steam versions.
@Grond0: Yeah, i was also thinking about different installations - i am also using Beamdog BGEE 2.3. Buffing could be a factor - yes - because i start the fight mostly unbuffed. Maybe thats it. My positioning is also a bit different as i am staying on the opposite site of the middle noble - away from Belt. One could test different settings 100+ times to see what brings best results. Could be interesting. If i only had the time...
@Harpargonis, glad you're Cavalier is going strong. I did make some progress with my Barbie a couple of days ago. In order for her to level up a bit further she went Ankheg hunting, with one PfAcid scroll to mitigate acid damage. Ankhegs are rather random in deciding whether to melee or range attack a character. Unfortunately for Bera, some Ankhegs were more melee-oriented. She had to retreat.
Unifinished Business places a Helm of Charm protection in Feldepost's shop. Bera bought it. Her attacks were damaging enough to allow her to deal with the Basilisks on one PfPetrifcation scroll. A potion of magic shielding enabled her to finish off Kirian with ranged attacks. (Acid arrows mostly.) She beat Peter in melee combat. She relied on her movement advantage to speed past Durlag's Battle Horrors, found herself lacking in a duel against a Ghast,
and used potions and a PfUndead scroll to kill Basilisks and more Ghasts. She stole the wis tome and also the stat tomes in Alaric's cave (raging to avoid status effects from traps) and the Xvart cave.
At the Nashkel Mine she survived 100 damage from Mulahey's Unholy Blight,
She went invisible and noticed that the Half-Orc's minions all gathered around him, much like SCS's Davaeorn's guards. It allowed Bera to take her foe out with ranged attacks. She meleed Nimbul with the help of the Nashkel military and Rasaad. She used Rages and a potion of magic blocking to avoid nasty disablers. And she had to heal as well. She used the Sandthief ring to enter Tazok's tent invisibly, looted the chest and left without fighting anyone. For some reaon the Sandthief invisibility is once per day ability. She secured Spider's Bane as her means of safe Cloakwood travel, but she fought no Spiders. Bera buffed near the Cloakwood Mine entrance (frost giant strength, speed, heroism) and successfully lured just Drasus toward her. She did great against the warrior, making optimal use of her scimitars' weapon speed advantage, i.e. striking and retreating before Drasus could hit her. She suffered no damage at all in that battle. She stalked through the mine invisibly until she reached Davaeorn. A PfMagic scroll and renewed buffs allowed her to take down one of the Battle Horrors but they struck faster than Drasus so she had to heal quite a lot. Bera shook off the other Battle Horror, to focus on Davaeorn. Unfortunately he had taken refuge in the room with the Mustard Jelly. The Dwarf lured the slime toward her, and finished it with difficulty out of sight of Davaeorn's guards.
She finished Daveorn by entering the room from the corridor with her scimitars equipped for better AC, pausing, switching to her acid arrows, shooting, pausing, switching back to her blades, and retreating, until he fell.
She was completely out of healing potions at that point. But she made it to Baldur's Gate where killing the Basilisk in the docks saw her reach level 8.
At the Nashkel Mine she survived 100 damage from Mulahey's Unholy Blight,
Ouch! In my runs so far Mulahey was never able to get this spell of - maybe i am lucky!
Cool Hit and Run vs Drasus Blackraven. Seemed my axes are just too slow for this one so i burned him up with the Necklace of Missiles.
Davaeorn - for a mage of his power - is quite a joke as long as you lure the Battle Horrors away. Will be interesting too see if there are any obstacles in Baldurs Gate waiting. We will see!
After an epic battle against Gretek and his Maulers of Undermountain Calis now wields the Battle Axe +2 as well as the Helm of Balduran - great! The main difficulty was that i stumbled completly unprepared into this fight - with no buffs ready and not enough throwing axes to kite them all. Damn, this could have been fatal. Gorpel Hind and his friends tried to help but the enemies always targeted Calis for some reason. Running out of the Inn was not a good idea because the Mages followed him. Without PfAcid Melfs Acid Arrows brought Calis down to 9 HP once so at the end i had to burn all healing potions left. Once the last throwing axe was gone he had to switch between swift axe blows and shooting the wand of magic missiles. Not to forget: At the end Gorpel Hind and his friends were all dead with only Calis being the last man standing. Damn, i shouldnt take the game too lightly.
Back from a short trip to Shandalar's Island. "Holy cow" Calis, Level 8 Cavalier thought once he got teleported by Shandalar and indeed it was a very strange place. So many mad mages around and everyone trying to kill him. But thanks to his protecions against various elements and some kiting power none of them were a big threat. It was a bit surprising how weak they felt because many, many years ago this was a place were i got murdered a lot. Maybe its time for Baldurans Isle or even Durlags Tower?
I had another attempt with the swashbuckler. All went pretty smoothly up to level 7 - I used more traps this time which slightly reduced the time required overall (compared to running and shooting or making stealth attacks). Having pushed reputation up to 20 I was travelling up to Ulgoth's Beard for the first time and was ambushed by some bandits. With a very healthy 51 HPs I didn't really expect trouble from that, but with a single critical hit doing anything up to 32 damage the bandits just needed a couple of lucky shots - although in fact it was a 3rd critical that provided the killing blow ...
Bad luck Grond0! These bandits can be quite pesty.
I remember an ambush of 8 bandits on my level 1 char a while a ago - this was not funny!
Calis in the meanwhile has finished the Werewolf infestend Island of Balduran. Everything was much easier than expected. For the normal Werewolves kiting with the Throwing Axe +2 was enough to bring them down one after another. It was just a matter of time until Calis faced the dreaded Karoug himself. In the past this always was one of the toughest encounters in BG 1 so i buffed myself into oblivion. I lured Karoug out of the ship (he was the only one who followed all the way down) and started a funny hit-and-run using the Silver Dagger Werebane. Thanks to his fast attack speed Calis was able to hit Karoug and move out of his claw-range most of the time. Some healing potions and a regeneration potion kept him healthy all the time and thanks to the Speed Potion + Potion of Heroism + Potion of Cloud Giant Strength Calis was able to regularly hit Karoug for 24+ damage. Even his insane regeneration couldnt save Karoug from a swift death as the whole battle lasted only around two (or three?) minutes. Using invisibilty Calis skipped the following battles against any Werewolves and sneaked to the hidden ship where Kaishas Gan waited. After some kiting the way was free to return to the homelands...
Calis decided to visit Durlags Tower - so far nothing special. Maybe only the fearsome battle against the Four Warders. They killed me several times long ago because of mindlessly going in with brute force. Calis splitpulled them so he could kill them one by one. Even the dangerous Thief did not stand any chance in a 1vs1. At the end only some healing potions and a potion of speed was all it needed to bring them down. Too easy. Calis will go down further in the next days...
With unbreakable courage and resolve Calis finally managed to destroy the evil in Durlags Tower and - even better - defeat the devious Demon Aec´Letec.
Durlags Tower was all about "beat the enemies with their own weapons". Or with other words: Lure them into the endless traps where they got burned one after another. This worked surprisingly well throughout all levels so Calis managed to get to the Chess Game. Chess - Cheese. Sounds nearly like the same Calis thought and burnt the whole board with the Necklace of Missiles. After some running and kiting in the last level he finally faced the fearsome Demon Knight. With the help of the demons mirror image the fight was over before it has begun - poor guy. Back to Ulgoths Beard Calis used invisibilty to skip the annoying cultists (the assassins regulary killed him with a single backstab) as his main goal was to cut the root of the evil apart. Aec-Letec himself was easy. Calis lured him away so he could kill the cultists first. After this he buffed himself up and hurled one throwing axe after another into the face of the demon until he went down with an unholy roar. Job done - the world is safe again. For now!
Important Items that were found along the way: Great Shield +2 Balas "The Magekiller" Axe Durlags Goblet (!) Flame Tongue Longsword
Calis stormed through the final chapter of Baldurs Gate 1 like a god of holy vengeance. After tanking the palace ambush he took down Sarevok swiftly. Inside the temple of Bhaal Calis fired the Necklace of Missiles and lured Sarevok outside. Thanks to Potion of Storm Giant Strength + Potion of Heroism + Potion of Speed he hacked the villain apart with his beloved Throwing Axe +2. Good shall triumph - once and for all.
Next is "Siege of Dragonspear" which i never played before. This will be interesting!
Equipped with a huge arsenal of items Calis started his journey into the „Siege of Dragonspear“.
To make it short: Lets get ready to rumble! Calis left the entry chamber and headed north a bit to encounter Porios and numerous Followers of Sarevok (Fighters, Archers, Mage + Shadow Blades). But beware: They can be really tough and especially the Shadow Blades can take you down in no time). To surive this battle Calis used „Potion of Speed“ + „Potion of Storm Giant Strength“ + „Protection from Evil“ while he positioned himself near the bridge where the enemies will block themselves (if you get lucky the Shadow Blades will not be able to backstab). With a combination of Necklace of Missiles + Throwing Axes he burned them down one after another (this took several tries).
If you make sure not to hurt Porios at the beginning he will be waiting all alone. Attack and kill him – Calis used Balas Axe to prevent his spellcasting. Dont forget to speak with Ammon, an independent wizard who requests you to find some Cobalt Moss. With Porios Tomb Key Calis Calis unlocked the door in the north that leads to Fanegonorom's Resting Place. He disturbed the sarcophagus to spawn Fanegonorom and accepted his request to remove Korlasz from the House of the Dead.
The Catacombs
Once Calis arrived he heades south to a circular chamber packed full of dangerous undead. After several failures his only hope was the „Protection from Undead Scroll“ he luckily took over to „Siege of Dragonspears“. In combination with a „Potion of Storm Giant Strenght“ + „Potion of Speed“ and the good old Hammer +2 from Bassilus he smashed down the undead in this and the next room to the east. Before he could kill the last undead the „Protection from Undead“ expired so he had to kite them down with his Throwing Axe +2. Not to forget: Sneaking through the hordes of undead did not work as the Bone Bats will see through invisibilty and warn the others!
North of the Sarcophagus room Calis found a small cave infested with beetles. After hacking them down he looted the „Wooden Staff“ from a corpse and got out.
Calis moved on to the south into a room filled with shadows. Thanks to the Ring of Invisibilty he slipped trough unseen. After crossing the northwestern bridge he crossed a group of mercenaries and he moved to the west and manipulated the Strange Machine to open the gigantic door leading to Korlasz's sanctum.
Before challenging the wizard he has been trying to track down Calis buffed himself up again! The bad thing is: Korlasz has a big group of deadly mercenaries protecting him. The good thing is: If you bring him down to „injured“ he will surrender and all enemies in the dungeon will leave and drop their items. Plus: All undead will instantly die and provide a nice experience boost without any fight.
But before Calis managed to get Korlasz down he had to walk down a path of pain. His best chance was: Stay at the small entrance to the chamber with Korlasz and use the Necklace of Missiles (the second one!) plus Throwing Axes in between. When his health went down – and it went down quickly more than one time – he used „Durlags Goblet“ to get back to full health instantly. With this simple strategy he outlasted Korlasz until he offered to surrender. After this lucky victory Calis looted several Invisibilty Potions as well as Potions of Speed. He also found another part of the Shattered Staff and took both pieces to the restless soul.
Calis returned to the colorfully lit torches in the room with the shadows (who are gone now), took the Burnt-Out-Torch and moved back north-east to the Sarcophagus room where he lighted it with the purple brazier. Once the purple torch was back in its old place it revealed and opened a secret door to a hidden chamber. There Calis found a Page of Sarevoks Notes. In the chests are a Helm of Unwavering Purpose (AC +1, Confusion Immunity) and a Twohanded Sword of Ruin +2.
Climbing up the rope Calis collected the Cobalt Moss and returned it to Ammon (Reward: Staff of Monster Summoning). He also visited Fanegonorom again who was very pleased with our success of defeating Korlasz (Reward: Shield of Egons +2).
Time to leave Korlasz sanctum – new adventures are waiting soon...
Impressions after the first maps: Enemies are much smarter - group alert, archers and mages run away for better positioning, there was regulary some mob who was able to watch through invisibilty. Even worse the enemies tend to come in huge groups with no splitpull possible. Thats tough. We will see whats possible - or not!
Calis has made some progress in the meanwhile. After questing and restocking in Baldurs Gate he headed to the Coast Way Crossing where he faced Caelar Argent for the first time. Holy cow the named Crusaders at the bridge were superhard as the Hitpoints went to zero in seconds. Only with some invisibilty and necklace cheese Calis managed to bring them down after talking with Cealar Argent (yes they are optional but i couldnt resist). Calis also managed to solve all quests on Coast Way Crossing and Coast Way Forest - except for the Dwarven Digging Site which is infestend by nearly endless groups of undead. This will be next and it will be tough. If things go wrong Calis will skip it and move on to the Boareskyr Bridge instead. So far the game is still challenging and feels very good. May the light prevail!
I knew he could do it - hah! Calis conquered the Dwarven Mines and defeated the Coldhearth Lich even without the Secret Revealed Stone (he couldnt save the Dwarves at the beginning). Clearing the Mines was so much fun - like good old times in Icewind Dale. Kiting with Throwing Axes, throwing Fireballs with the Necklace of Missiles, abusing open/close doors and - the most important: Patience!
The most troublesome enemy? The shadowed soul! Heavy magic hitters that will constantly heal themselves - impossible to kill without cheese. Also worth to mention: Bone Bats because they can see through invisibity and will warn anyone near. Wights and Shadows were only troublesome if they could get into melee range to cause level- or statdrain. The Coldhearth Lich himself was a joke thanks to the second Protection from Undead Scroll Calis had saved in his pocket (dont know if he would stand a chance without it). Many throwing axes later the Lich went down so Calis took his phylactery and burnt it in the broken fire portal. The forces of evil have been banished once more - hurray!
Finally some dungeon crawling like in good old Icewind Dale with nearly endless hordes of undeads. With other words: Its killing time!
After talking to Daran Highhammer Calis tried to save Deepvein's dwarves from several undead waves – but failed. If i had known about „The Secret Revealed“ Gemstone i might have tried harder but – damn – Calis moved on into the unknown mines and got jumped by numerous undead lurking around each corner.
Clearing the undead-infested tunnels was all about patience and not to stumble into the next undead wave. Once the first groups went down thanks to powerful axe throws the whole kiting game got a lot easier. The only enemies he had to worry about were the Cold Wights (leveldrain), the Ghasts, Ghouls and Crawlers (paralyze). But as long as he kept moving they never got the chance to get in range.
The only enemy group he skipped were the Umber Hulks as he did not want to spare the precious charges of the Greenstone Amulet. Even with protection vs confusion something was a bit weird about them: They moved fast like they were on drugs so kiting was nearly impossible. And they hit for about 40+ damage constantly even with tanking equipment.
Calis entered the Eastern Tunnels and stumbled into an old Library where he looted the shelves and found several books refering to a Lich. East of the Library he found a chamber with a raised pool of water – several undead awaited him there.
This was also the first time Calis met the fearsome Shadowed Soul – one of the most dangerous undead around. They not only hurl magic bolts that will hit for 32-42 damage each round but will also heal for the same amount. With other words: They are nearly unkillable and will hurt you a lot. Calis tricked the Soul with moving around the corner of the door so it couldnt see him anymore while smashing down the Bone Bats. Once the Bone Bats got injured the Darkened Soul will start to heal his ally (which will drown its own lifebar). Once the Darkened Soul changed into its healing phase Calis moved back into vision and used his Throwing Axe +2 to bring it down (combined with a Speed & Strength Potion). If the killing takes too long it switches to his magic deathballs again and will heal to full health in no time! After some more tanking and a bit kiting the chamber with a raised pool was clear.
The eastern door to the next chamber brought more undead which got killed by the usual tanking + kiting. After cleaning the house Calis found a Silver Scepter on the table. Around the corner – and after taking down some burning skeletons – he reached an explosive chamber with a broken portal. This is a good place for farming as it spawns Fire Salamander (2000 xp), Fire Mephit (420 xp) and Lesser Fire Elemental (400 xp).
Calis returned to the raised pooland placed the first Silver Scepter into its pedestal.
After this he headed north and found a secret door – which he did not open yet. Instead he moved north to the Laboratory where he kited down a heavy-hitting Sentry Guardian (Sword of Troll Decapitation +1). In the Laboraty he only snatched another Silver Scepter, Clerics Vestments and a Chest Key before moving out again. Fighting was no option as he faced a group with several Darkened Souls. Sometimes its better to run – and shut the door. At least for now.
North of the Laboratory Calis stumbled into a Pillar Puzzle but before he could solve it he had to fight another big group of undead. It took nearly forever to take down the Drowned in Blood guys as they have a 90 % resistance to missiles and tend to hit for 40+ damage if you get too close. Even more dangerous was the Greater Shadow that sneaks up to you. Its Stat-Drain can be a real pain and took away several Strenght Points of Calis so he had to drink another Strenght Potion to compensate this. After some axe kiting and necklace of missile burning all of them went down. To confuse and split the enemy groups Calis also used the doors constantly. Opening or closing it at the right moments gave him enough time for rebuffing or another necklace fireball.
Time for the Pillar Puzzle. Once Calis had solved it the door next by opened and with it the path to the Ritual Room where the damned Lich is waiting. But before going in for the final boss – and another huge group with four (!) Darkened Souls in front of it – Calis used his second Protection from Undead Scroll he had saved in his backpocket. Without it the following part would have been an endless nightmare for sure – with it the whole story was just like a walk in the park.
Calis ignored the undead group in front of the Ritual Room for now and moved straight to the Coldhearth Lich. Thanks to his Undead Protection all he had to do was: Throw Axes like crazy (Potion of Speed + Potion of Storm Giant Strength). Once the Lich went down he took the Phylactery and burnt it in the broken Fire Portal he visited earlier. Job done – well nearly.
The only thing Calis had to do was: Get the third (and last) Silver Scepter from the secret room and put it into the raised pool of water. With the essence of Perception he got two (out of three) visions as well as more xp.
Stop! Before using the pool and starting the visions Calis moved back to the final three undead hordes and killed - still under the Protection from Undead - all of the Darkened Souls first. Shortly after that the protection expired so he could start his normal kiting game (Axes + Necklace Fireballs). Once Calis had destroyed the second group he already reached the experience cap of 500k – what a pity. He therefore skipped the last undeads, collected all the loot and moved out again.
Conclusion: At the beginning the whole dungeon felt nearly impossible to overcome but once Calis knew about the enemies and their weaknesses it was more about patience than anything else. Without items from BG 1 like the Protection from Undead, the Necklace of Missiles or Durlags Goblet things would have been much more difficult. Especially Durlags Goblet was a real life safer!
Things are getting really funny as Calis moved on into the Forest of Worms and the Ruined Temple of Bhaal.
Especially the temple is just crazy!!!
A Green Dragon called Morentherene with several Greater Wyverns and Smaller Dragons? No problem! Calis used the wyverns and smaller ones as cover while throwing axes like crazy on the Green Dragon. Thanks to Potion of Speed and many uses of Durlags Goblet (Lifesaver again) Morentherene went down. Calis looted the Dragon Scales and went deeper into the dungeon.
The Bugbears and its Chieftain were no big deal as long as he kept an eye on the backstabbing Stalkers. Kite the melee ones while disabling the casters with Balas Axe - easy job. Once the Bugbear Cave was cleared Calis rested and prepared for the Temple of Bhaal.
The Temple was insane and if the enemies will get even stronger in the future this run will end soon!
First Calis met Ziatar the Halfdragon and this one was clearly the easiest. He lured Ziatar outside and closed the nearby doors so it was just a fair 1vs1. After this Calis disabled Ziatars spellpower with Balas Axe and smashed her down with Bassilus Hammer (using Durlags Goblet several times as she really hits hard). After this he reopened the door and killed the two mages - Balas Axe is just OP!
With the keys Calis freed Keherrem and moved on to the Ritual Room and High Priestess Akanna. Before engaging Akanna he lured the heavy hitting Air Aspects out of the room, closed the door and grabbed Balas Axe again. It didnt took too long until she went down so Calis looted the Wardstone and moved out - well at least he tried.
Because outside there was already the Neothelid waiting. As this psionic creature was unable to dominate Calis and he is also immune to its poison nova the only real danger are the constantly spawning mordswords. Taking this beast down took nearly forever as Calis was only able to do damage if it got out of the underground (much like Ankhegs) while luring the mordwords into rooms and closing the doors.
But even the Neotehlid was easy compared to the next battles (even if they are optional). The Mindflayer Darskhelin and his group were just a pain so Calis skipped this one for now. I think it should be doable with some cheese but compared to the reward its not worth the time.
The most ridicoulus enemy Calis faced after solving the mask riddle. Why? Because the Shadow Aspect in the secret room is not from this world. A manifestation of swift death that was nearly constantly one-hit-killing Calis with up to 172 damage backstabs. For a Stoneskin + Mirror Image Mage this might be no problem but Calis decided after several reloads to only grab the loot from the chest (Fractal Blade +3, Godsbane) and then move out again fast!
Boareskyr Bridge and the final of Chapter Nine is waiting - wish him Good Luck!
Calis decided to help the Bridgefortians and break the Siege. Helping a group of Flaming Fists the Attack on the Crusader Camp started.
After the support troops went down – and they went down quickly – Calis was on his own. Thanks to several Speed & Strength Potions he spitted the huge army inside the camp into smaller ones and lured them out into the forest. There he killed them one after another mostly using Rythes Throwing Axe +2, Ring of Free Action for the endless Hold Person spells, Shield Necklace vs Magic Missiles, Balas Axe to cripple Mages, 2 Rings of Fire Protection for Fireballs and – not to forget – Durlags Goblet whenever the Hitpoints dropped low.
Here is the complete kill list of the named Enemies:
The Barghest (+3,000 Exp): Throwing Axes - hard to hit! Oloneiros (+5,000 Exp): Balas Axe + fire/cold/hold protection Hormorn (+3,000 Exp): Balas Axe + fire/cold/hold protection Vichand (+1,400 Exp): Balas Axe + fire/cold/hold protection Kharm (+1,400 Exp): Throwing Axes - hits really hard! Keherrem (+420 Exp): Throwing Axes - weakest named one Delgar Munsch (+975 Exp): Some more Axes!
Killing all of them (plus the Crusaders and Mercenaries) took some time but at the end it was easier than expected. Once the Siege was broken all Calis had to do was killing the last Crusaders who retreated to Boareskyr Bridge, planting barrels of explosives there like in Coast Way Crossing. Calis slew them without problems and finally moved over the safed bridge.
Comments
I would love to roll a Cavalier as it was my very first character when BG 2 came out. Axes should soften the no-missile-restriction a bit even though Blackguard or Inquisitor feels stronger. Any opinion on that one?
The Cavalier will go hunting Basiliks and Sirens soon because he nearly has all of his basic equipment ready (+1 Axe, Ankheg Armor, Weapon Gauntlets, +1 Shield, +1 Ring). And the best: Finally a champion who can tank without dying instantly. After playing mostly squishies in the last months this feels like a fresh breeze. May the Armor of Faith protect us from any harm!
Dark Moon Monk played as Trickster is THE WAY TO PLAY MONKS these days.
I loaded the autosave about 20 times just to confirm the likelihood of winning that battle. To have even a realistic chance I think you need at least 3 of the dopplegangers to attack you and that isn't common (I once got 4, once 3, twice 2 and the rest 0 and 1). I suspect therefore I would have less than a 10% chance of victory - which isn't enough for me to have another go with a swashbuckler.
@Harpargonis, I know how you're feeling when able to tank without dying immediately
I did a completely new install, using EE Trilogy for the first time. It includes BG1 NPCs, BG1 Unfinished Business, Ascension, Rogue Rebalancing, most of SCS (but limited pre-buffing), and some tweaks. The only mod components I tried to but couldn't install were Rogue Rebalancing's Bard HLAs and SCS Improved DUrlag's Tower. I decided to roll a new character, a Dwarven Barbarian, instead of continuing my Archer, in order to test for any bugs and to assay my presumption that Barbarians are a good class for this challenge. I must say I find the challenge oddly enjoyable. I say 'oddly' as I'm a bit surprised I have the patience for it.
Character stats: 18/42-17-19-15-8-16, profs: scimitars **, shortbows **.
A first bug was Imoen joining with millions of XP, and the same happened with Khalid, but I tested with a few other characters and they were all level 1. I went straight for Shoal this time, stopping only for a Ghast ambush. This gave me a bit of a HP cushion with two level-ups. Only then did I kill the rogue Ogre. When I tried to melee two Xvarts my scimitar broke. Went to Beregost, did some XP quests, and rage-bashed the lock on the chest in the Travenhurst mansion for the invisibility potion. I drank it to get to the Gnolls and see them attack Drizzt. With Drizzt's armor and weapons, Bera became somewhat viable as a melee character but I wouldn't call her overpowered by any means. She could take on the diggers at the excavation site one by one, and she also successfully meleed Melicamp's Wolf (Thalantyr restored his apprentice), a Beregost Spider, a Dire Wolf and Ludrug. Named melee enemies however remain very dangerous. Thankfully, Bera's walking speed advantage helps with ranged fighting. She defeated Meilum, Ingot, Greywolf, Krumm and Caldo, and Sendai in this fashion, but she had to retreat from Vax and Zal to engage them one at a time.
She also had great difficulty against Tarnesh, who was a peril by virtue of his damage spells (2x magic missile, 1x melf-s acid arrow). He pretty much forced Bera to shop for potions at the Gellana's.
Bera has now circa 25k XP. I'm looking to see if I can raise that to 32k, so that she can enter Mutamin's Garden as a level 6 dual-wielding character. I'm really missing my stealth. My love for the kitless Ranger, the only stealthy warrior without armor restrictions, has been rekindled trough this challenge too. That might be my next character if Bera isn't meant to last.
Edit: BTW picking shortbows over crossbows proved an expensive decision: for some reason enchanted arrows are much more expensive than Thalantyr's enchanted bolts. At 18 CHA and 20 rep, ten arrows of biting cost 1125 GP whereas ten bolts of biting cost 562 GP.
Glad to hear you're enjoying your run - keep it going.
@Blackraven: Any progress with your Barbarian? Against named Enemies kiting seems to be the easiest way. Anything else is too dangerous - even for the Cavalier. The only thing that bothers me with throwing axes is the huge delay. Once you stop it feels like centuries before the axe is thrown. But - okay - i can live with that.
I did make some progress with my Barbie a couple of days ago. In order for her to level up a bit further she went Ankheg hunting, with one PfAcid scroll to mitigate acid damage. Ankhegs are rather random in deciding whether to melee or range attack a character. Unfortunately for Bera, some Ankhegs were more melee-oriented. She had to retreat.
She relied on her movement advantage to speed past Durlag's Battle Horrors, found herself lacking in a duel against a Ghast,
She stole the wis tome and also the stat tomes in Alaric's cave (raging to avoid status effects from traps) and the Xvart cave.
At the Nashkel Mine she survived 100 damage from Mulahey's Unholy Blight,
She meleed Nimbul with the help of the Nashkel military and Rasaad. She used Rages and a potion of magic blocking to avoid nasty disablers. And she had to heal as well. She used the Sandthief ring to enter Tazok's tent invisibly, looted the chest and left without fighting anyone. For some reaon the Sandthief invisibility is once per day ability. She secured Spider's Bane as her means of safe Cloakwood travel, but she fought no Spiders. Bera buffed near the Cloakwood Mine entrance (frost giant strength, speed, heroism) and successfully lured just Drasus toward her. She did great against the warrior, making optimal use of her scimitars' weapon speed advantage, i.e. striking and retreating before Drasus could hit her. She suffered no damage at all in that battle.
She stalked through the mine invisibly until she reached Davaeorn. A PfMagic scroll and renewed buffs allowed her to take down one of the Battle Horrors but they struck faster than Drasus so she had to heal quite a lot. Bera shook off the other Battle Horror, to focus on Davaeorn. Unfortunately he had taken refuge in the room with the Mustard Jelly. The Dwarf lured the slime toward her, and finished it with difficulty out of sight of Davaeorn's guards.
Ouch! In my runs so far Mulahey was never able to get this spell of - maybe i am lucky!
Cool Hit and Run vs Drasus Blackraven. Seemed my axes are just too slow for this one so i burned him up with the Necklace of Missiles.
Davaeorn - for a mage of his power - is quite a joke as long as you lure the Battle Horrors away. Will be interesting too see if there are any obstacles in Baldurs Gate waiting. We will see!
I remember an ambush of 8 bandits on my level 1 char a while a ago - this was not funny!
Calis in the meanwhile has finished the Werewolf infestend Island of Balduran. Everything was much easier than expected. For the normal Werewolves kiting with the Throwing Axe +2 was enough to bring them down one after another. It was just a matter of time until Calis faced the dreaded Karoug himself. In the past this always was one of the toughest encounters in BG 1 so i buffed myself into oblivion. I lured Karoug out of the ship (he was the only one who followed all the way down) and started a funny hit-and-run using the Silver Dagger Werebane. Thanks to his fast attack speed Calis was able to hit Karoug and move out of his claw-range most of the time. Some healing potions and a regeneration potion kept him healthy all the time and thanks to the Speed Potion + Potion of Heroism + Potion of Cloud Giant Strength Calis was able to regularly hit Karoug for 24+ damage. Even his insane regeneration couldnt save Karoug from a swift death as the whole battle lasted only around two (or three?) minutes. Using invisibilty Calis skipped the following battles against any Werewolves and sneaked to the hidden ship where Kaishas Gan waited. After some kiting the way was free to return to the homelands...
Durlags Tower was all about "beat the enemies with their own weapons". Or with other words: Lure them into the endless traps where they got burned one after another. This worked surprisingly well throughout all levels so Calis managed to get to the Chess Game. Chess - Cheese. Sounds nearly like the same Calis thought and burnt the whole board with the Necklace of Missiles. After some running and kiting in the last level he finally faced the fearsome Demon Knight. With the help of the demons mirror image the fight was over before it has begun - poor guy. Back to Ulgoths Beard Calis used invisibilty to skip the annoying cultists (the assassins regulary killed him with a single backstab) as his main goal was to cut the root of the evil apart. Aec-Letec himself was easy. Calis lured him away so he could kill the cultists first. After this he buffed himself up and hurled one throwing axe after another into the face of the demon until he went down with an unholy roar. Job done - the world is safe again. For now!
Important Items that were found along the way:
Great Shield +2
Balas "The Magekiller" Axe
Durlags Goblet (!)
Flame Tongue Longsword
Next is "Siege of Dragonspear" which i never played before. This will be interesting!
Siege of Dragonspear – Getting Ready!
Equipped with a huge arsenal of items Calis started his journey into the „Siege of Dragonspear“.To make it short: Lets get ready to rumble! Calis left the entry chamber and headed north a bit to encounter Porios and numerous Followers of Sarevok (Fighters, Archers, Mage + Shadow Blades). But beware: They can be really tough and especially the Shadow Blades can take you down in no time). To surive this battle Calis used „Potion of Speed“ + „Potion of Storm Giant Strength“ + „Protection from Evil“ while he positioned himself near the bridge where the enemies will block themselves (if you get lucky the Shadow Blades will not be able to backstab). With a combination of Necklace of Missiles + Throwing Axes he burned them down one after another (this took several tries).
If you make sure not to hurt Porios at the beginning he will be waiting all alone. Attack and kill him – Calis used Balas Axe to prevent his spellcasting. Dont forget to speak with Ammon, an independent wizard who requests you to find some Cobalt Moss. With Porios Tomb Key Calis Calis unlocked the door in the north that leads to Fanegonorom's Resting Place. He disturbed the sarcophagus to spawn Fanegonorom and accepted his request to remove Korlasz from the House of the Dead.
Once Calis arrived he heades south to a circular chamber packed full of dangerous undead. After several failures his only hope was the „Protection from Undead Scroll“ he luckily took over to „Siege of Dragonspears“. In combination with a „Potion of Storm Giant Strenght“ + „Potion of Speed“ and the good old Hammer +2 from Bassilus he smashed down the undead in this and the next room to the east. Before he could kill the last undead the „Protection from Undead“ expired so he had to kite them down with his Throwing Axe +2. Not to forget: Sneaking through the hordes of undead did not work as the Bone Bats will see through invisibilty and warn the others!The Catacombs
North of the Sarcophagus room Calis found a small cave infested with beetles. After hacking them down he looted the „Wooden Staff“ from a corpse and got out.
Calis moved on to the south into a room filled with shadows. Thanks to the Ring of Invisibilty he slipped trough unseen. After crossing the northwestern bridge he crossed a group of mercenaries and he moved to the west and manipulated the Strange Machine to open the gigantic door leading to Korlasz's sanctum.
Before challenging the wizard he has been trying to track down Calis buffed himself up again! The bad thing is: Korlasz has a big group of deadly mercenaries protecting him. The good thing is: If you bring him down to „injured“ he will surrender and all enemies in the dungeon will leave and drop their items. Plus: All undead will instantly die and provide a nice experience boost without any fight.
But before Calis managed to get Korlasz down he had to walk down a path of pain. His best chance was: Stay at the small entrance to the chamber with Korlasz and use the Necklace of Missiles (the second one!) plus Throwing Axes in between. When his health went down – and it went down quickly more than one time – he used „Durlags Goblet“ to get back to full health instantly. With this simple strategy he outlasted Korlasz until he offered to surrender. After this lucky victory Calis looted several Invisibilty Potions as well as Potions of Speed. He also found another part of the Shattered Staff and took both pieces to the restless soul.
Calis returned to the colorfully lit torches in the room with the shadows (who are gone now), took the Burnt-Out-Torch and moved back north-east to the Sarcophagus room where he lighted it with the purple brazier. Once the purple torch was back in its old place it revealed and opened a secret door to a hidden chamber. There Calis found a Page of Sarevoks Notes. In the chests are a Helm of Unwavering Purpose (AC +1, Confusion Immunity) and a Twohanded Sword of Ruin +2.
Climbing up the rope Calis collected the Cobalt Moss and returned it to Ammon (Reward: Staff of Monster Summoning). He also visited Fanegonorom again who was very pleased with our success of defeating Korlasz (Reward: Shield of Egons +2).
Time to leave Korlasz sanctum – new adventures are waiting soon...
Impressions after the first maps: Enemies are much smarter - group alert, archers and mages run away for better positioning, there was regulary some mob who was able to watch through invisibilty. Even worse the enemies tend to come in huge groups with no splitpull possible. Thats tough. We will see whats possible - or not!
P.S. Calis has reached Level 9 now!
The most troublesome enemy? The shadowed soul! Heavy magic hitters that will constantly heal themselves - impossible to kill without cheese. Also worth to mention: Bone Bats because they can see through invisibity and will warn anyone near. Wights and Shadows were only troublesome if they could get into melee range to cause level- or statdrain. The Coldhearth Lich himself was a joke thanks to the second Protection from Undead Scroll Calis had saved in his pocket (dont know if he would stand a chance without it). Many throwing axes later the Lich went down so Calis took his phylactery and burnt it in the broken fire portal. The forces of evil have been banished once more - hurray!
Time to move on to the Troll Claw Forest!
The Dwarven Dig Site
Finally some dungeon crawling like in good old Icewind Dale with nearly endless hordes of undeads. With other words: Its killing time!After talking to Daran Highhammer Calis tried to save Deepvein's dwarves from several undead waves – but failed. If i had known about „The Secret Revealed“ Gemstone i might have tried harder but – damn – Calis moved on into the unknown mines and got jumped by numerous undead lurking around each corner.
Clearing the undead-infested tunnels was all about patience and not to stumble into the next undead wave. Once the first groups went down thanks to powerful axe throws the whole kiting game got a lot easier. The only enemies he had to worry about were the Cold Wights (leveldrain), the Ghasts, Ghouls and Crawlers (paralyze). But as long as he kept moving they never got the chance to get in range.
The only enemy group he skipped were the Umber Hulks as he did not want to spare the precious charges of the Greenstone Amulet. Even with protection vs confusion something was a bit weird about them: They moved fast like they were on drugs so kiting was nearly impossible. And they hit for about 40+ damage constantly even with tanking equipment.
Calis entered the Eastern Tunnels and stumbled into an old Library where he looted the shelves and found several books refering to a Lich. East of the Library he found a chamber with a raised pool of water – several undead awaited him there.
This was also the first time Calis met the fearsome Shadowed Soul – one of the most dangerous undead around. They not only hurl magic bolts that will hit for 32-42 damage each round but will also heal for the same amount. With other words: They are nearly unkillable and will hurt you a lot. Calis tricked the Soul with moving around the corner of the door so it couldnt see him anymore while smashing down the Bone Bats. Once the Bone Bats got injured the Darkened Soul will start to heal his ally (which will drown its own lifebar). Once the Darkened Soul changed into its healing phase Calis moved back into vision and used his Throwing Axe +2 to bring it down (combined with a Speed & Strength Potion). If the killing takes too long it switches to his magic deathballs again and will heal to full health in no time! After some more tanking and a bit kiting the chamber with a raised pool was clear.
The eastern door to the next chamber brought more undead which got killed by the usual tanking + kiting. After cleaning the house Calis found a Silver Scepter on the table. Around the corner – and after taking down some burning skeletons – he reached an explosive chamber with a broken portal. This is a good place for farming as it spawns Fire Salamander (2000 xp), Fire Mephit (420 xp) and Lesser Fire Elemental (400 xp).
Calis returned to the raised pooland placed the first Silver Scepter into its pedestal.
After this he headed north and found a secret door – which he did not open yet. Instead he moved north to the Laboratory where he kited down a heavy-hitting Sentry Guardian (Sword of Troll Decapitation +1). In the Laboraty he only snatched another Silver Scepter, Clerics Vestments and a Chest Key before moving out again. Fighting was no option as he faced a group with several Darkened Souls. Sometimes its better to run – and shut the door. At least for now.
North of the Laboratory Calis stumbled into a Pillar Puzzle but before he could solve it he had to fight another big group of undead. It took nearly forever to take down the Drowned in Blood guys as they have a 90 % resistance to missiles and tend to hit for 40+ damage if you get too close. Even more dangerous was the Greater Shadow that sneaks up to you. Its Stat-Drain can be a real pain and took away several Strenght Points of Calis so he had to drink another Strenght Potion to compensate this. After some axe kiting and necklace of missile burning all of them went down. To confuse and split the enemy groups Calis also used the doors constantly. Opening or closing it at the right moments gave him enough time for rebuffing or another necklace fireball.
Time for the Pillar Puzzle. Once Calis had solved it the door next by opened and with it the path to the Ritual Room where the damned Lich is waiting. But before going in for the final boss – and another huge group with four (!) Darkened Souls in front of it – Calis used his second Protection from Undead Scroll he had saved in his backpocket. Without it the following part would have been an endless nightmare for sure – with it the whole story was just like a walk in the park.
Calis ignored the undead group in front of the Ritual Room for now and moved straight to the Coldhearth Lich. Thanks to his Undead Protection all he had to do was: Throw Axes like crazy (Potion of Speed + Potion of Storm Giant Strength). Once the Lich went down he took the Phylactery and burnt it in the broken Fire Portal he visited earlier. Job done – well nearly.
The only thing Calis had to do was: Get the third (and last) Silver Scepter from the secret room and put it into the raised pool of water. With the essence of Perception he got two (out of three) visions as well as more xp.
Stop! Before using the pool and starting the visions Calis moved back to the final three undead hordes and killed - still under the Protection from Undead - all of the Darkened Souls first. Shortly after that the protection expired so he could start his normal kiting game (Axes + Necklace Fireballs). Once Calis had destroyed the second group he already reached the experience cap of 500k – what a pity. He therefore skipped the last undeads, collected all the loot and moved out again.
Conclusion: At the beginning the whole dungeon felt nearly impossible to overcome but once Calis knew about the enemies and their weaknesses it was more about patience than anything else. Without items from BG 1 like the Protection from Undead, the Necklace of Missiles or Durlags Goblet things would have been much more difficult. Especially Durlags Goblet was a real life safer!
Forest of Wyrms and the Ruined Temple of Bhaal
Things are getting really funny as Calis moved on into the Forest of Worms and the Ruined Temple of Bhaal.Especially the temple is just crazy!!!
A Green Dragon called Morentherene with several Greater Wyverns and Smaller Dragons? No problem! Calis used the wyverns and smaller ones as cover while throwing axes like crazy on the Green Dragon. Thanks to Potion of Speed and many uses of Durlags Goblet (Lifesaver again) Morentherene went down. Calis looted the Dragon Scales and went deeper into the dungeon.
The Bugbears and its Chieftain were no big deal as long as he kept an eye on the backstabbing Stalkers. Kite the melee ones while disabling the casters with Balas Axe - easy job. Once the Bugbear Cave was cleared Calis rested and prepared for the Temple of Bhaal.
The Temple was insane and if the enemies will get even stronger in the future this run will end soon!
First Calis met Ziatar the Halfdragon and this one was clearly the easiest. He lured Ziatar outside and closed the nearby doors so it was just a fair 1vs1. After this Calis disabled Ziatars spellpower with Balas Axe and smashed her down with Bassilus Hammer (using Durlags Goblet several times as she really hits hard). After this he reopened the door and killed the two mages - Balas Axe is just OP!
With the keys Calis freed Keherrem and moved on to the Ritual Room and High Priestess Akanna. Before engaging Akanna he lured the heavy hitting Air Aspects out of the room, closed the door and grabbed Balas Axe again. It didnt took too long until she went down so Calis looted the Wardstone and moved out - well at least he tried.
Because outside there was already the Neothelid waiting. As this psionic creature was unable to dominate Calis and he is also immune to its poison nova the only real danger are the constantly spawning mordswords. Taking this beast down took nearly forever as Calis was only able to do damage if it got out of the underground (much like Ankhegs) while luring the mordwords into rooms and closing the doors.
But even the Neotehlid was easy compared to the next battles (even if they are optional). The Mindflayer Darskhelin and his group were just a pain so Calis skipped this one for now. I think it should be doable with some cheese but compared to the reward its not worth the time.
The most ridicoulus enemy Calis faced after solving the mask riddle. Why? Because the Shadow Aspect in the secret room is not from this world. A manifestation of swift death that was nearly constantly one-hit-killing Calis with up to 172 damage backstabs. For a Stoneskin + Mirror Image Mage this might be no problem but Calis decided after several reloads to only grab the loot from the chest (Fractal Blade +3, Godsbane) and then move out again fast!
Boareskyr Bridge and the final of Chapter Nine is waiting - wish him Good Luck!
Breaking the Siege of Bridgefort
Ok, now its time!Calis decided to help the Bridgefortians and break the Siege. Helping a group of Flaming Fists the Attack on the Crusader Camp started.
After the support troops went down – and they went down quickly – Calis was on his own. Thanks to several Speed & Strength Potions he spitted the huge army inside the camp into smaller ones and lured them out into the forest. There he killed them one after another mostly using Rythes Throwing Axe +2, Ring of Free Action for the endless Hold Person spells, Shield Necklace vs Magic Missiles, Balas Axe to cripple Mages, 2 Rings of Fire Protection for Fireballs and – not to forget – Durlags Goblet whenever the Hitpoints dropped low.
Here is the complete kill list of the named Enemies:
The Barghest (+3,000 Exp): Throwing Axes - hard to hit!
Oloneiros (+5,000 Exp): Balas Axe + fire/cold/hold protection
Hormorn (+3,000 Exp): Balas Axe + fire/cold/hold protection
Vichand (+1,400 Exp): Balas Axe + fire/cold/hold protection
Kharm (+1,400 Exp): Throwing Axes - hits really hard!
Keherrem (+420 Exp): Throwing Axes - weakest named one
Delgar Munsch (+975 Exp): Some more Axes!
Killing all of them (plus the Crusaders and Mercenaries) took some time but at the end it was easier than expected. Once the Siege was broken all Calis had to do was killing the last Crusaders who retreated to Boareskyr Bridge, planting barrels of explosives there like in Coast Way Crossing. Calis slew them without problems and finally moved over the safed bridge.
The Crusaders have been defeated – for now!