Fling, a shadowmaster story

DrakeICN · February 2018

Backstory, mod list and challenges:

Inspired by this thread;
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/68477/your-favorite-charname#latest

And the number of upvotes I and others got for sharing their fav chars with the world (appearently, people do enjoy reading this stuff, and since I enjoy writing it, it's a wi-win in my book), I decided to record my perhaps last ever BG run. Last, because I finally perfected my char exactly the way I wanted it, using Eekeeper. Yes, I cheat. I have finished this game legally so many times, I do not really play it for challenge any longer. This will be a start to finish run, including the entire saga, but since I play on android, there will be a brake after I finish BG saga until SoD (if ever) comes out to android.

Confirmed broken mods for Android OBBs unzipped to computer:
IWDification (cannot find 2DA file – mb can be solved by copying a 2DA file from some other BG install? To lazy to find out)
Spell revisions (oops turns out it was a BGII mod my bad)
Big world setup
Faiths and Powers – conflicts with most other mods, especially SCS. Maybe would work as the ONLY mod, but... I really really wanted to summons shadows (couldnt care less about the other stuff) but

I even googled trying to find another mod that adds shadow monster summons, but no such luck. Or, well, at least I couldn't find it!

Mod list:
Ok, so I decided to try and install a shitload of mods for BGEE on android, but then I chickened out out of fears of incompability issues since for androids install mods is a pain (you cant use BWS) (see the stickied thread in general modding) and installed only a select few mods (and in that order);
(Please be aware that this install order was the result of many hours of frustration. SCS is a REALLY picky and spoiled mod, but everyone keeps nagging about that one, so I figured I cant just skip it)
Battle encounters (just copy and paste the override folder) – I put if first, because appearently many of these files are later addended by other mods, so if you put it in in the recommended order, about 1/10th of files already exists. Why not just let them overwrite these files? Probably some reason I am to lazy to research.
Baldurs Gate unfinished busisness
Baldurs Gate QE... err quest extensions or something I guess?
Sirines Call
Dark horizons
Drizzt saga (option 1 for maps and drizzt joins after Durlag)
Stone of Askavar (option 1 for maps)
Divine remix – did not install sphere system*
Tomes and Blood – did not install cantrip system*
Shadowmonk (really want that cheaty mirror blur combo)
Xan friendship (no homo, this char is a girl aight!)
SCS pretty much all components except the stupid ones, (like improved party AI and move Boo to Minscs inventory). - I hope it worked! It keeps getting stuck when installing "smarter general AI", expecially when faiths and powers is installed (which is partly why I considered it broken, the other part is because it seems to conflict with several of the quest mods, causing "file xxx is out of bonds". I would recommend that you install everything you want first, saying no to generally smarter AI, then open the batfile when the other installations are done and select option 2: finetune and say no to everything (it is already there, saying no does not uninstall files) except generally smarter AI. If you get stuck, you can redo it, and hope it works better, because it seems to just sniff files it has already touched. I think the program runs out of memory or something, and that is why it gets stuck, so when you redo it and it just sniffs the files that came before, only a small amount of memory is lost, or something like that. Someone who actually understands computer can maybe clarify for me. I had to redo it once in my final install. Maybe it has something to do with me using a rather crappy laptop to do the install, or the fact that I switch to other tasks while the install runs in the background, dunno, so maybe maybe I am unfair to SCS and faiths and powers. Maybe. Probably not!

*One of these conflicts with SCS, dunno which one, and after so many grueling failed attempts I was like "You know what, fuck it, I dont care which one, dont need neither!"

Ok, so building my mods.zip file, I put these folders in;
data (just two files, one called DZTS-are.bif and one called WAAR3600.bif)
lang/en_US/dialog.tlk
override (the entire folder, of course)
worldmap (entire folder)
stratagems (entire folder)
stratagems_external (entire folder)

Not sure the last two are needed, and probably not the second last (that one is created by the installer that installs the real installer, so my guess is no, while the second one is created by the installer itself, AND is called external (as in relevant but not in the override folder external?)), so if someone knows if I can remove them because the extra 7000 files maybe drives down prestanda, please do tell me. Or maybe 7000 unnecessary files dont affect the prestanda, like I said, not a computer guy. Anyway, I was to scared to leave them out.

Ok, anyways, did the centralfix thingey, transfered it; moment of truth! Starts up fine, starts a new game fine, with a heartwarder of Sune, so at least the new classes work, I hightail it to Friendly Arms Inn... alright! Seems to work fine, I sure hope I wont run into some gamebraking bug later!!!

Time to kick up a new game, for reals!

I will be playing on hard, which I have not done previously, because the extra damage you take encourages you to finish battles ASAP which I dislike. I want epic battles with a bit of back and forth (which is why I dislike the extreme incapicitate times in D&D is stupid, hold, sleep, emotion hopelessness etc because if you fail the saving throw its instaloss, kind of... and I also dislike the later levels extreme saving throws, which render most all interesting spells utterly useless). I'd much prefer if hard etc instead increased the enemies HP, reduces bad status effect durations and increased the damage an enemy mage needs to take before flinching and losing the spell, and give all their defensive spells 50% chance to not be dispelled when it should (like, breach protection and the like). But there is supposed to some kind of challenge in these threads, right? So I just put it on hard, with protest that the hard challenge implement is BOOORING!!!

Speaking of which, here is my list of challenges:
1. Dont glitch out! This might very well be the hardest one! Android + to lazy to check for incompabilities = high possibility of glitches!!!
2. As mentioned, hard + BE + SCS
3. Minimal* reload
4. Solo, bromance (or, uh sismance, I suppose) or triforce, with backup**
5. Try not to blow the Xan romance – romances fail if you get just one dialogue line wrong, right?
6. No cheese! (Although I use EEkeeper trim my chars to perfection)
7. In keeping with rule six, character approach to quests etc – I care naught for consequences and rewards!
8. Again keeping with rule six, I rest only in thematically sensible locations, such as in inns, or outdoors AFTER the nearby den of ghouls have been burned to the ground.

*Other than dying, or a mule dying in the middle of a dungeon (screw that @ picking up and managing all their loot - I rather reload) I will reload encounters that by chance were unsatisfactory short and unepic. Well, if they are supposed to be difficult that is. This rule naturally only applies to special encounters like the three flaming fist enforcers giving you lip south of Beregost. I will be recording the number of deaths and reloads (for reasons other than dying), with the exception of failed pickpocket attempts, because if you fail once you have to kill a whole town which messes up the game badly, so I just reload without telling.

** Depending on my current whim, I tackle the enemies solo, or together with Imoen and Xan, or together with both Imoen and Xan.

On to the Bhaalspawn; meet my shadowmaster!

Portrait from artist DAR-dEvil, from DeviantArt
(race set to halfelf because of romance discrimination towards halforcs)

As a child, Fling discovered she had a natural talent for sneaking, and relished in listening in on strangers private conversations, or pretend-fire her pretend-crossbow in the back of unsuspecting guards - then she closes her eyes, and watch the guardsman fall dead to the ground in her imagination. Fling has a flexible view on ownership and is of curious nature, helping herself to secrets and things others intend on hiding from the publics eye. With her halfelven halforcish ability to see in the dark, and a dislike of the warmth and strong light of the sun, she came to sleep during the day and nosey about during the nights. With time, it appeared the shadows started to love her back as she loved them, misty formless creatures that would follow her, and help obscur her from view. Eventually, at was as if the shadows spoke to her, in a whispering voice that sounded like the whistling of the winds, but using familiar words. How and when, she cannot remember, but she entered a pact with the shadows, who promised her power beyond mortal means, eventually augmenting her already formidable magical training, recieved from her foster father Gorion. Gorion is proud of her immense academic provess, reading books and mastering spells well beyound her young years. Of her preference of the night, he is well aware and somewhat concerned, but on the subject that the shadows speak back to her, he knows nothing, because as much as Fling enjoys discovering secrets, she is reluctant to share any of her own. Somehow, she knows she is special, chosen perhaps, and a step above the masses.

Her other interest is swordplay, preferring a scimitar for its convienent length - not to short, not to long - perfect for her daring and opportunistic wild swings allowed by her reflexes and perfect for not getting stuck in a crevice while climbing or crawling to hard to reach places. Strapped to her back, she carries a round shield, to avoid scraping her back when she force herself through narrow passages. The shield, which is easily unsheathed, also compensates for the longer swords used by her more acomplished sparring partners. Fling hits hard while at the same time she can take a beating - the occasional sparring match she has won has been through endurance rather than skill. It also helps, of course, that pain sends her to a violent rage, further increasing the speed and force of her attacks, and she is not afraid to utilize her shield as a blunt weapon, if an opportunity arises. Sometimes, she scares herself, as she is occasionally overcome with violent urges - especially during her rages - telling her to maul, even kill, her sparring partners, but so far she has always resisted these uncomfortable impulses. These urges feel familiar yet foreign at the same time, and she wonders if they are a side effect of her pact, although the shadows denies it.

Despite being self-confident and ambitious, eager to set out in the world, Fling lacks any long term goals, any motivation to do anything with her life, but continue to live out her days, under the care of her foster father. A rebel without a cause, or a priveleged child of sorts, unaware and unexposed to the harshness of the reality outside of the safe haven that is Candlekeep. Of the fact that all that is about to forever change, that her world will shatter, she has no idea, as she recieves word that Gorion wishes to speak with her on an urgent matter...

EEkeepering changes to Fling

Like the bio says, Fling has shadow, berserking and warlock related abilities. One side effect of this magic, meant for another realm, is that is fizzles around 50% of the time (see wild magic below).

Oh, and you might recognize Fling from other threads; I decided to start my fav char all over to tackle the new mods.

Make a cleric / thief. Change kit to shadowdancer. You might want to change your race due to romance opportunities, or the lack thereoff.

Innate abilities:
(Remember to increase max spells per level in EEkeeper settings and add non-kit abilities first (when you add via kit, max spells per level is ignored) and to remove all kit abilities you do not use as there is a 12 abilities limit on innate abilities (innate abilities that are accessed through the spell button do not count toward this limit, as far as I can tell)

7x hungering shadows
Real name: Absorb health (blackguard lvl1)
This is fairly shadowy warlocky, no?
5x poision mist
Real name: Boiling rain storm (monster ability, prob some jelly)
Crowd control spell, deals 2D6 poison damage and stuns for one round. Also shadowy warlocky, methinks.
5x shadow summons
Real name: Call of the wild (feralan ability)
So, I wanted Faiths and Powers for the summons shadow abilities. Since that would not work, this will have to do. I will just pretend the critters summoned are shades.
4x Dark mirage (shadowmonk ability)
Mirror image combined with Blur effect. I would say supercheaty, but it only lasts 5 rounds. This is one of three spells Gorion managed to teach her, which then got corrupted by shadows
3x finger of death (beholder ability)
Instacast. Warlocky.
12x lay on hands (cavalier lvl 1)
What? Cleric! Yes, I know I said warlock, but is says cleric right here on her curriculum vitae. Stop giving me the eye already!
4x offensive spin (blade, lvl1 and every 5 lvl)
Ok, ignore the refined deadly dance description, this is actually berserking. The 1 extra APR suits me better that the barbarian rage.
2x Shadow door (shadowmonk ability)
Like the spell with the same name. Never used offensively, used just to escape hopeless battles or city guards.
3x Shadow Missile (shadowmonk ability)
The second spell Gorion managed to teach her was magic missile, again, got corrupted by shadows.
2x shadow step (shadowdancer, every 5 lvl)
Shadowy. Yes yes, I got the ability 5 levels to early, so what? Shadowstep is just so much fun to use, that I just cannot wait!
1x shapeshift werewolf (shapechanger lvl1 and every other lvl)
Berserking + child of Bhaal effect thingy. I self impose 1 encounter limit on this ability (otherwise, it lasts forever until you change back, which is boring) – in times of desperation, Fling is overtaken by her Bhaal side, then regain her composure.
12x Shield bash
Real name: Stunning blow (Monk ability)
The imp ability Salt crystal actually works better as a shield bash (it is ranged, but you can just restrict yourself to melee) however, it counts as a spell, and getting wild surges on shield bashes just seemed really dumb. I guess I could have learned to use Near Infinity and removed the spell flag or whatever for salt crystals, but...
5x wild mage zone (prob some scripted event stuff)
Ok, so this is a really fun ability. You cast it on a mage and (if the ability does not glitch, which does happen) the next spell that mage cast will be wild surged. It is a shadow weave thingy.

Cleric spell list (unfortunately, you cannot remove spells you do not intend on using. Well, you can, but they reappear each time you level, which makes removing them a pain in the ass. I selfimpose restriction from using all shadowmaster non-thematic spells, and add the appropriate spells that are not in the list)
Lvl1: entangle (its living shadows clawing at your feet, alright?), chromatic orb (the last spell Gorion taught her)
Lvl2: web (living shadow!)
Lvl3: call lightning (err... uhmm... warlocky, alright?), lightning, haste, minor spell deflection & summon insects (living shades!)
Lvl4: call woodland being (warlock? Oh fine, I have no excuse, I just so happens like this spell) & fireshield
Lvl5: iron skins (warlock) & pixie dust
Lvl6: chain lightning (warlock)
Lvl7: Nature's beauty (this Mary Sue is very beutiful, naturally)

Effects: (Needless to say, all effects need to have duration permanent, or they will not function)

Item: can use any item
Dont wanna be cleric weapon restricted. I never use any armor, other than those allowed by mages (the handful of special bard chains are fine), because I am a warlock, and it feels wrong to use platemail.

Spell effect: wild magic [280] type 2
All spells ever cast by you will become wild surged. A bit annoying, I know, but it was the only way I could use hide in plain sight and wild magic simultanously - which I really really wanted!

Stat: wild magic [281] parameter 42
Adds 42 to your wild surge rolls. Also, many effects lets you cast your spells normally, so only around half of your spells will fizzle. Note that some abilities count as spells and some do not. Unfortunately, salt crystal does... feel silly when a shield bash explodes in your face, but it was the best emulation of shield bashing I could find.

Swashbuckelr extra to hit & dmg and AC; +2 to everything
Movement modifier: 2
Archer missile to hit and dmg: +2 to everything
Yeah, ok so I made myself a little stronger. So what, my str and dex is low anyways.

Inventory:
With EEkeeper, equips a small shield and heavy crossbow. This can ONLY be done with EEkeeper and the animation when you fire a bolt is kind of funny with a floating shield, and every time I find a better small shield or crossbow, I have to use EEkeeper again to equip it, but this is still so much less annoying than having to manage inventory every time I want to fire a bolt!

Also, I helped myself some knock scrolls, because Fling need to focus on hiding and disarming traps, and Imoen is actually a Jester, not a thief.

Final remark: I agree with... err... whomever else that thinks HiPS is a bit overpowered in BG, since there is no spot skill, and with high enough stealth skills, HiPS makes a character virtually untouchable for all enemies except those with true sight (some of the demons for instance). I was thinking of giving a set use of invisibility or something similar instead... however, those skill 1) can fail if interupted by damage and 2) count as your 1 spell per round (yes, even innate abilities count towards the 1 spell per round limit) which I see as total bullocks. Now, this will not really be a problem for BG1, where the level limit will prevent the ability from 100% guarantee that it will work. So, I will self impose a stealth point spendage limit (even throughout SoD, whenever, if ever, that game reaches android, and BG2), that keeps the chance of success somewhere around 40-60% chance of success – which also plays well with the insane 50% chance of spell failure this character has. Basically, Fling is a bit haphazard in her approach to shadowmagic, be it the HiPS or the spells.

DrakeICN · February 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate 1 Mirtul, Candlekeep:

"In commeroration of the nameless hobgoblin"
Death count: 0
Reload (other than death) count: 0

After ignoring Gorions command to hurry, I instead started running errands, because err... I felt like it. After, in jest, telling some nobleman to abondonen their valuables unguarded in their room... they did! Guess they dont get sarcasm. Not that I complain, I am now a rich woman. Later, a smelly man named Shank tried to shank me with a poisioned dagger. Thinking I would be dead, should he hit me, I summoned a shadow to hide behind, except instead of summoning a shadow creature, I got the hickups. Running past him, I summoned another shadow, except instead magical swirls of light appeared randomly. Unfortunately, this display of powerful magical talent did not impress Shank, and he grinned and threw at me, and now I was cornered, so I swung my scimitar in desperation and... sliced off his arm. On the first try. Fearing he would pick up the dagger with his good arm, I put my shield against his chest, and pushed him up against the wall and then tipped him over, slamming his head into a table as he fell. Rushing out of the building, I slammed the door shut behind me. Let him bleed, he tried to kil me! Later, while clearing out half a dozen rats in a single go using my poison mist, another man named Mendas accosted me, seeking my death, but finding only his own. They really need to up the security at this place! Meeting my third would-be assasin, a rude buffoon named Carbos, I decided to try out, for the first time ever on a living target, my shadowmissile and... I instead summoned a hobgoblin! Since I was standing behind a table, Carbos decided to stick his dagger in the hobgoblin rather than me, and was I right about my initial thought when meeting Shank or was I not? A single scratch from Carbos dagger, and the hobgoblin was done for! But he distracted Carbos long enough for me to draw my crossbow and aim a bolt through Carbos otherwise mostly empty skull - I could now do nothing, but look on in regret as the hobgoblin, who saved my life, slowly but assuredly succumbed to the poison.

I'll never forget your sacrifice, nameless subhumanoid! I'll drink to your name, or, err, your facial features at least. I mean, now your features is forever frozen in an expression of pain and horror, and I did not really get a good look at you before you got stabbed in the gut, but, you know. I do appreciate what you did there bud, honest. Speaking of drinks, I think I'll go spend some of that pawned jewelry I helped myself to, so I can get plastered. I mean, Gorion said to hurry, but I just killed three men, give a girl a break already! My nerves are on the verge as is, I can handle no more stress right now!

DrakeICN · February 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate 2 Myrkul, some random wilderness outside of Candlekeep;

"The ghouls came to feast upon mine fathers remains"
Death count: 0
Reload count: 0

Awwww man do I feel crap right now, or do I? Gorion was murdered in front of my eyes last night, and I couldn't do nothing but watch, as I silently scaled a tree and hid behind the leaves and branches, augmented by my powers. The armored man and his bitch girlfriend - the only survivors following Gorion violent resist of his ambushers brutal attack - only briefly searched the nearby woods, before calling it a day, or, uh night, I guess, looking for me. As if I was no big deal, as if he do not need to worry, as if I can do nothing to him! Oh I'll show him I will! I will track him, and his bitch, down and make them pay for what they did to my father! They have just unwittingly signed their own death warrants, they have! I must have fallen asleep in that tree, because I woke up beneath it, with pain wrecking through my skull, and when I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the ever cheerful smile of my little sister, Imoen the Jester;

I recounted the horrific details of my fathers demise to her;
"Don't worry Fling, I will explain everything as soon as there is time!"
"Uh, father, I know we are in a rush, but we have been walking like forever, and I had a mug of beer or or maybe two... so I reeaaally need to to take a leak! I will be in those bushes over yonder, I'll catch up with you in a bit, I swear it!"
"Wait, we are in an ambush! Prepare your... uh, now where did she go!!?"
"You know why I am here! Hand over your wa... where is your ward?"
"I... I... outwitted you badly, fool! Better turn your merry way, there is nothing for you here!"
"Hmmpff! I will end you now, and take your whelp for desert! Have at thee!"
We then agreed on traveling together - and I can't say I am not reassured at traveling with one family member still alive, be it not the intended one. We still have each other! On Imoens suggestion, I decided to claim my inheritance. I cannot say I was thrilled by the idea, not only does it mean to revisit the scene where yesternights horrific events took place, and to look upon my fathers body, twisted in death, but the area of the ambush is an open area with nowhere to hide and it is broad daylight! If the armed fiend should return, or lay in wait to see if I should be careless enough to return, escape should be much harder - yet, the fiend cannot possible know that I am a shadowmaster, and a simple shadowstep should get me the headstart I need to escape... or so I tell myself. But waiting for us was no armored fiend, instead an undead beast, a creature I have until now only read books of but never seen in the flesh. From the description in those books, I half expected a fierce battle, but, the beast moved at the speed of an elderly lady, and I and my sister took turns, me with my crossbow and she with her shortbow, to transform it into a pincushion.

It shudders me to think that it had came to feast upon the bodies here; really, I should give my father a proper burial, but alas, there is no time. We quickly gathered all of value we could find, especially the note my sister spoke of as of high importance. But all this note could tell me was that my father was warned of what just did transpire by some friend calling himself E - this is not terribly useful information, I am afraid. But I did unexpectedly strike gold; in my fathers possesion was a wand of polymorph with no less than 100 charges. Surely, this boon can help me deal with annoyances I wish not kill! Down the road, we met two scruffylooking vagrants, who spoke in an alarmingly suspicious manner. But despite this, they did offer to travel alongside us, with sword and spell at our disposal, so long as we agree on investigating some far off dank tunnels. I am not in a position to turn down such assistance, seeing how us sisters are poorly armed and poorly prepared for the dangers of the road. But I was not convinced that these fellas did not plan to stab us in the back, or cut our throats in our sleep... until I realized we currently look just as scruffy as they do. If I just keep my mouth shut about the riches I just helped myself to, surely they have no reason to think we are a mark worthy of the risk. So, they want us to investigate some mines? Might as well - better keep busy, that will hopefully keep the armored fiend hunting me off my trail. And who knows? Maybe I will find information along the way, that leads me to him, so I can chose the time and place of our next meeting. Hidden in the night, slowly rasing my crossbow... thwung! and my bolt finds a gap between his helmet and armor, piercing his windpipe before he even knows whats what!

Meta:

Ok, putting Imoens class level in her first class to zero, chose bard as class and Jester as kit, give her 3x Charm person or mammal, 2x mirror image, 3x spiritual hammer, 1x chaos, and 2 prof points in hammers (the ultimate comedy weapon) and shortbows each. Just some minor tweaks, she is an enchantress Jester, confusing her enemies with both charms and antics

. Okay, loading her up, leveling, testing confusion bard song on some gibberling... works fine! These reloads of course dont count towards my total reload count (still at 0). Hmm... the six extra HP, should I remove them..? Nah!

DrakeICN · February 2018

Bugs and fixes:

tarnes.cre in override folder must be replaced with tarnes.cre from battle encounters, see meta 3 Myrkul
weapon tweaks should not be installed, see meta 3 Myrkul
wand of polymorph did not work, to many charges? Replaced with scrolls of polymorph other, see meta 3 myrkul part 2

DrakeICN · February 2018

Shadowmaster log, Stardate 3 Myrkul, Friendly arms inn

"Unreasonably greedy merchants"
Death count: 2
Reload count: 1

Here at last! Oh, I thought I should just note that I met a chatty wizard, or at least a man dressed like a wizard, so I of course attempted to pickpocket him; I followed him for a bit and then "poof" gone! A shadow walker, like me, perhaps? Next thing, I met a blue creature, a gibberling, if my bestiary is worth it's salt, that I pricked with my crossbow. The terrified creature ran away, drank a magical potion and its muscles swelled and it charged me again. A second bolt stopped it dead in it's track, but it got me wondering how such a simple creature managed to get a hold of magic like that... until I stumbled by a rock with a ring lodged inside. The ring had the classic warm touch of a magical item - if such things sprout from the very ground itself, then this world must be awash in magic! Oh, how sheltered I have been in Candlekeep... but oh, how much wonderous sights I must have missed, being holed up in there for all my life until now. On the doorsteps of the fortress, a very nosy mage challenged me! He does not know, that I have learned to project the chaotic wild surges associated with casting magic through the quasi-real shadow realm! It is the perfect defence against all magic; by reaching out, and dimming his spells with my shadowcasting, his spells are tainted by the same quasi-real chaos as my spells but with two very important distinctions: one, he has not learned to account for this chaos, and his chance of spell failure approaches one in one, compared to mine one in two, second, he is unaware of my taint - the target of the taint will think of the magic I cast on him as a failed or weak spell, not realizing the true effect will strike when he does - and will therefore not act in a way as to prevent his spells from going haywire. In the very least, this foul mage certainly did fail to recognize the danger he was now in;

I was tempted to end his life with my hungering shadows, but thought better of it. I am nay bloodthirsty. This mage will have a long time to contemplate the errors of his ways, should the shadowchaos ever wear off. I then meet Khalid and Jaheira, the friends told off in Gorions letter from mister E. They seem much friendlier and more capable than the two rats I picked up along the way. I would say that looks can be deceiving, and as a shadowmaster, I know this particularly well, but since my father have vouched for them, I feel safe in trusting them. As in Candlekeep, this fortress is teeming with folks that need petty errands run. I agreed to them all, since every coppar counts, as I am shocked and dismayed at the exorbant prices of the most simple items! Why, a simple chicken - be it roasted to perfection by what is supposedly a master chef - comes at a price of no less than 289 gold! I bought it none the less, because *I* deserve it. But as I was thinking that, my good mood fell again; potions of superior healing cost THE SAME as potions of regular healing. The basics of trade seems lost on these people, but that is not the issue - oh, why oh why did I buy 5 potions of regular healing from the Oghma priest in Candlekeep!!? I thought I might need it for the journey, turns out I did not, and now I sorely regret that purchase! Later, while fighting some hobgoblins, one of them managed to wing me, just once, but that REALLY hurt, I almost died there! I had to retreat, while my companions charged the brute. It would appear I am not as strong as I had previously thought! I cannot afford such carelessness again - I literally cannot afford it! I saw the most beutiful and wondrous magical dress, sold by a friendly dwarf named Thoreen the Hammer - or some similar dwarf name, they are all named something with hammer or axes in their name, you know - that was pleated with bones from exotic beasts and enhanced with powerful magic. I must have this dress! The asking price, however, was no less than 94990 gold. Is that even that much gold in all of the Sword Coast!!? From now on, I cannot afford to buy any more chickens, no matter how delicious. Gorion have instructed me in many common scrolls of the magical trade, and one in particular called "Friends" come to my mind. I then ventured outside, to some travelling merchants, to discover that a wand of paralyzation costs 7 point 3 million - yes, you heard that right, million! - gold pieces. Surely, the old man selling this wand have gone senile, there can be no other explaination.

Regardless, all of that must wait until I strike gold - incidentially, we are heading towards a mine. But someting that I could afford - had I not wasted all my gold on a chicken and overpriced healing potions - caught my eye; bags of holdings. The seller, a refined woman with exotic clothes, explained to me that this items opens up to another dimension, with near unlimited storage. That gave me an idea; using this bag I can bring with me mundane and near worthless items, such as the swords those filthy hobgoblin carry, and sell. Say that there are a dozen hobgoblins out there - that amass to 12 swords, times seven gold - the gold the merchants here are willing to pay for them - which is, err... 84 piecies of gold. Not a fortune, but also not a sum to scoff at. From my academic education, I know that subhumans like hobgoblins can be found damn near everywhere. Many springs small turns into a mighty river. Why, I would need to kill only err... something like 250 hobgoblins to break even on that bag of holding, and from thereon forward, we are talking pure profit! Thus, I sold everything I did not need urgently, like extra pair of socks and some scrolls found at the ground near a squirrel, to afford my first, very own bag of holding. Anyway, better put down that pen and get going, I have a score of hobgoblins to cull!

Meta:

Oh darn, Tarnesh tried to attack me in melee instead of using spells. Urgghhh! Ok, redoing SCS... no. Replacing tarnes.cre with tarnes.cre from battle enhancer... well there we go! Using spells again! I wont count these reloads towards my reload count (still at 0) they were not due to any gameplay of mine. Also, I hope this will not be an occurency with every mage

Especially considering each time it flops, I have to make a new mods.zip, centralfix, delete the old and put in the new!

Figthing Tarnesh; 1 death WTF I had him confused from Jester song since 2 rounds - so it was not that the confusion had not worked its thing yet - but he still magic missiles me! I guess SCS scripting overwrites confusion? Which makes confusion, well, useless. This one should not count! But argh, rules are rules. Or maybe the Imoen song is bugged somehow, will hafta test it on some hobgoblins. ... ... ... No, works fine-ish. The problem was that SCS autoapplies scrip on your chars, so Imoen must have stopped singing to instead attack and the confusion effect wore off but the overhead confusion floaty symbol stayed, or something. Now, this death should REALLY not count!
Reload: Flinching from attacks, Tarnesh did not cast any spells. Booring!
2nd death: Wild surge: Mooooo!!! Yes! Got him in a non-boring way! Wait what!!? I died too? But I was like 4 m away! Ok, so cows have a gigantic AOE, appearently...

Meta: Some items have funny names, and, I hope, incorrect values, because they dont havy any, at all. It would appear to be all items SCS made "fine". Maybe I should try uninstalling that part with finetuning. ... ... ... No, that would appear to not be possible! And uninstalling SCS, perhaps it would uninstall some other mod files, that I then lose. So, I should really do it all, from the top, but eurghh no way I have the energy for that. I check with EEkeeper, and original +1 weapons are still in the game files. I will just keeper all the necessary items when I find them.

DrakeICN · February 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate still the 3 of Myrkul, Beregost (Twas an eventful day)

"The cursed belt"
Death count: 2
Reload count: 1

Ahhhhhhh aaaaahhhh aaaaaahhhhhhh get this accursed thing off of me! I have a p... eugh... a p... ewwwwww no I can't bring myself to say it! A male part! Some demented mind have created this most foul of cursed belts!!! I would lie if I said I have never fantasized about having... such equipment down there - I am... or was... a fully grown woman after all - but this is *not* what I had in mind! I smell! I smell sweat and beer and orc! As a girl, I had armpits, and drank beer, and was halforcish, but the smells were never as strong - it is as if odors cling to the male body. Maybe it gets stuck in all the hair? Hair on the chin, hair on the chest... hair even on my back and buttocks! Worst part is, I do not seem to mind, at all, actually. Well, I mean, they gnaw on me, intellectually, but emotionally, no. These things would have bothered me to no end just yesterday, but now, I could care less. Oh, now I am getting ahead of myself. Let's start from the beginning. It all started out as an ogre hunt gone wrong. Following a tip of some runt in Friendly Arms Inn, an ogre just south of there had robbed him of his magical belt, and promised a book in return. Thats a shite reward, I thought, but who knows whom else the ogre robbed, and how many riches the beast therefore now holds - on top of the magical belt, that I might borrow for an undefined time? Said and done, I hid in the shadows and scouted until I found it, and then carefully laid out an ambush! It worked to perfection,.. almost! While the beast was trapped by Jaheiras druidic wines, I and my sister and Montarion - one of the two rats - rained arrows and bullets over it, but as victory drew close, would you not believe that a wolf approached from the west, and a trio of xvarts from the south?

(New portrait one of the standard IWD portraits)
Luckily, Khalid and Jaheira were just as talented fighters as I had hoped, and held off the wolf, while Imoen charmed one of the xvarts, keeping them busy fighting each others, so we could deal with the ogre undisturbed. Even so, it took one scroll of magic missiles and two of my shadow missiles to bring it down before it cold reach any one of us in melee, and I also had to summon no less than three shadow creatures to distract it, because it kills with a single blow, and as far as I could tell, it did not miss with a single swing. What a marvel of destruction! It is regretful these creatures are to base to serve, for I would love to keep one around as a bodyguard. But I digress. On the creatures body, I found two, not one magical belt. I asked Imoen if she could identify them for me, but alas, she was as perplexed as me. Knowing, however, that one of them was a belt designed to keep you save from arrows and spears, I put the most exquisite one around my waste, only to find that it starting to move on its own accord, effectively securing itself, like a snare does when it catches a rabbit. Then, I found something else... uh... ewww... I rather not discuss it more. Sufficient to say, I spent several angry minutes trying to rip it off again, while the others, save from Khalid, started laughing and mocking me, addressing me as "sir" or "my lord" or "big brother". In a way, perhaps I should consider myself lucky, that the curse in this item was relatively mild; I have learned my lesson, preventing me from in the future putting on a cursed item of stupidity or weakness. From this point onward, I shall never again equip any item that I cannot identify. Beregost was but a short walk from where I encountered the ogre, but this town does not appear to hold a priest. It seems I am forced to stay in this... fragrant... form for quite some time to come! The first thing I did was when I arrived, was to rush Imoen to the local barber, seamstress, jeweler and alchemist. She complained, of course, but I threatened to ditch her if she failed to comply. You can't roll with me, if you gonna flaunt that "virtuous Oghma schoolgirl" look. I must say, I am quite proud of the result;

(Portrait from this thread: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/39151/portraits-for-baldurs-gate-from-might-magic-heroes-vi-and-now-from-might-magic-heroes-vii-too )
Truly, I did her a favor, but for now, she does not see it that way. Shortly thereafter, while going door to door to out of the goodness of my heart help liberate the townspeople from their burdensome, shallow, earthly possessions, to hurry them along the path of spiritual enlightenment, some bard offering me a hefty sum of gold for a simple bodyguard job. I agreed of course, and we were soon accosted by three murderous thugs. Like most bullies, however, they were weak as children, and quickly disposed of. This minor event would have completely slipped my mind, were it not for the lovely damsel in distress, ms Silke, whose face I can yet see in front of me, if I close my eyes and let my thoughts run wild. It would appear this accursed belt warps not only the body, but also the mind. I pay a whole other kind of interest in women now. Is this what all men are like? Men are such pigs! I'd much rather I never would have learned how they drool over any pretty girl in sight, and kept my naivety on that matter. The belt must go, before it does permanent damage to my person! Then, I met another assassin, or perhaps I should say bounty hunter. I finally bothered reading those slips of paper they carry. It would seem the bounty has increased over time, but also they must have spies everywhere, or powerful divination magic; how else can they have known it was me, given my current predicament? It is alarming, the more they up the ante, the more dangerous folk will attempt to collect. I wonder why they want me dead - it must be related to the armored fiend... but why does HE want me dead? Should I come across whatever den is issuing these orders, I shall surely burn it to the ground, with it's staff still inside. For now, I believe a good strategy is to stay of the main road. Incidentally, I learned that a powerful mage lives due west of Beregost. It is decided then, I shall travel to Nashkel on the small roads - or, I suppose, go bushwhacking - just west of the main road, combining it with a visit to the mage. See what magic he offers, or what errand he needs run... or what treasures he has carelessly left unguarded. As I was heading over, a woman pleaded for help. Her neighbor had turned into a jelly pudding. After poking it with a stick half a dozen times, I got a lead on some mischievous potion seller. When I found him, he wanted to sell me an antidote. Hmm... to let him further profit on his misdeeds? I think not! Eat my staff of polymorph, scoundrel! And... nothing! Ok, again... and again... noooo! My heirloom appears to be malfunctioning! That is when I discovered that the head of the staff can be unscrewed. Said and done, inside I found a cache of polymorph scrolls! Clever disguise, there! Now, you slimy peddler of fraudulent merchandise... swish!

AWWW... how cute he became. Like the mage, he now has a loooong time to ponder the error of his ways, while I help myself to the antidote and any other possessions. Before his unfortunate transformation, Mr Squirrel told me he had a cheap antidote and an expensive one, the latter supposedly augments my strength. I pondered giving the puddle and his girlfriend the cheaper antidote, until I realized I am not putting ANY concoction that charlatan made inside my body - who knows what effect it truly have, regardless of his claims? So, I gave them the expensive potion and poured the other out, that no fool would find it and drink it, thinking it is liquor. Once returned to his former self, the couple become all touchy feely with each others, so I scurried out hastily. In the next building over, there was some family dispute over a pearl necklace. Inspired by the good deed I just did with the slime man, I solved the dispute by buying the necklace, then handing it back to their daughter - after all it was her inheritance, and I was just taught a lesson on family values by an armored fiend. This is really why we do all this breaking and entry into rich and poor people homes alike, knocking the inhabitants unconscious and helping ourselves to everything that is not nailed down; so we can have enough resources to perform the occasional good deed. When making an omelette, one has to break a few eggs. Feeling good about myself, I decided to call it a day, especially since I need a bath, badly! I want to scrub the male away! I'll dose myself with perfumes after the bath, too. But first, I need a drink or two with my traveling companions, of course! What point is there to youth, if you cannot live life? Especially since today is my last day, as far as I know, for what if the bounty hunters are successful tomorrow? Oh, I would regret it, I would, had I spent my last day as a nun!

Meta: Met Morwen, let her join. Level 5, ok whatever. But her equipment and other stuff gives her 3 THACO 8 longbow attacks per round. That's no fun, she is WAY WAY WAY to powerful for Nashkel mines. Kicked her out again, she can wait for me to gain a couple of levels. Wand of polymorph does nothing, replaced with scrolls of polymorph.

Is this conversation original and cut, I wonder? Because it is quite funny banter. Maybe they were going for chattier companions initially, and then realized that with every extra companion added, the number of possible conversations grows exponentially, and they instead went with the more toned down version that the original BG shipped with?

DrakeICN · February 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate 6 Myrkul, Beregost
"My new familiar; Melicamp, the talking chicken."
Deaths: 3
Reloads: 1

Zzzz*snork* eeeuuuhhh... what time is it? Oh, I wake up, and everyone else is sound asleep - or snoring like pigs! It's the alcohol, sometimes I have problems sleeping when I drink to much. I don't want to wake anyone else up, but boy am I bored. My mind is starting to slip, and the image of ms Silke appeared before my inner vision again.
--- Awkward, poorly written erotica omitted, due to forum rules ---
"Uuuuhhhh... Fling? Is that you?" Imoens voice. "NO! Go back to sleep!" I reply, wheezingly. "Why are in the bath? What are you doing there?" Imoens sleepy voice demands. "NOTHING!" I half-shout, causing moans and rumblings from the rest of the crew. I jump out of the bath barrel, walking with my back to the wall. "I just... had a bad dream. A real bad one! But it's okay now. It's nothing!" Imoen eyes me suspicously. "Mmm-hmmm. Well, if you say so..." "I do say so!" I snap back at her. Imoen takes the hint and drops the subject. "Fine. Night nighty then, big si... uh... brother." "Night!" I throw myself under the nearest blankett, desperately trying to fall asleep again, with varied success throughout the night. I wake up the next morning, feeling as if I have been trampled by a herd of sheep. After a frugal breakfast, as we step outside, the town crier announce that some Bassilus has a 5000 gold bounty on his head. Now that is music to my ears! I just need to locate that bag o'shite, stuff him full with bolts and arrows like I did that ogre and I've got meself enough coins for a month or two worth of drinking! I like to take notes of the rumors I hear when I go pubbing, so I rummaged through them all to see if I had any leads, but no such luck. One problem, of course, might be that I write this stuff down after I finish drinking, and I might not always get it right. Instead, I headed out to meet that mage, as was my original plan. The local fauna there, a rather spindly and weaklooking sorts of humanoid dog, were contrary to my initial assessment fierce opponents, and the initial approach of just charging in, swords gleaming, was misguided. We quickly ran through our healing spells. It was unfortunately bright midday, when my shadowy powers of hiding are at the highest disadvantage. Cutting a path through more gnolls and also som skeletons, I reached my destionation. Unfortunately, the mage was a mean old goat with an expensive stock, and his treasury was guarded by some sort of golems. I shall have to return when I am more experienced, before I attempt to loot it. The whore ordeal was deeply disappointing, I do not know what I was expecting, but this was very anti-climaxic. It did end on a good note though; the assorted junk I have been hauling around - this is stuff I would not have bothered picking up had I not had my magic loot bag - sold for around 250 gold. Already, I have payed off one sixth of my investment. The magic bag was a good call, let me tell you! I quickly left the area, before more of them gnolls show up to finish us of! After traveling for quite some time, I suddenly stroke luck! I have always wanted a familiar, I am not a little bit jealous of the mages, all flaunting theirs - why is it Shadowmasters cannot have familiars anyways? - and now I just came across a talking chicken, named Melicamp.

After I promised I would bring him back to the bitter old mage, he climbed into my backpack. Hehehe... he failed to realize I did not agree on any sort of timeframe for bringing him back, so for the time being I have my very first familiar! Appearently, we had just saved the chickens life, for moments before we met the chicken, a wolf had charged out of nowhere and bit deep into Montarions leg, damn near almost chewed it right off, before we managed to slice off enough flesh for it to stop moving about, but even in death, we had to bend open it's mighty jaws. Montarion demanded a healing potion, but I would not have it! Those things are expensive, so instead I left him sitting on a rock while Jaheira - whom also were badly wounded, from the gnolls earlier - patched him up. They can very well stay there till bedtime, so that they might be healed for free after we make our camp, later today. I wanted to scout ahead first, to make sure this area is safe. That is when I met a daft boy, who had a very interesting tidbit of information. Bassilus, and thus my 5000 gold is here, just beyond the hedge.

Appearently, that creep have been turning the local populace into undead. Which worries me - I cannot fight an army, not with these companions, and this equipment. On the other hand, I would hate to have to track Bassilus down again, if I let him slip away now. I decided to cloak myself in shadows - a formidable magical talent I can use twice per day, that allows me to hide even in broad daylight - to get an up close inspection of what I am up against;

Oh my! A score of skellies armed with crossbows, and two zombie bodyguards, on top of the evil necromancer himself. It would be suicide to attempt it now, I need a wand of fireballs or some potions of explosion first. On the upside, as far as I can tell, he has been living here for weeks. I'll go to town, and buy the equipment I need... except I need the reward from Bassilus to afford it. Ugh. I'll just put it on my to do list, and leave it at that! Scouting further, taking advantage that I was still covered in a my wall of shadows, I spotted a lonely hobgoblin standing next to some undead beast. Naturally, I signalled to my non-wounded companions to wait up on the rift above the creatues and rain arrows and throwing daggers upon the undead, while I stabbed the hobgoblin in the back. The plan almost worked. Did you know hobgoblins can fire arrows in defiant rage if someone thrust a scimitar straight through their back and out of their chest? Well, they can, and Xzar caught an arrow in the neck, toppling over dead backwards, before he flung even one dagger. I pulled my scimitar out and started swinging at the hobgoblin, but I must have been under a lot stress, for I missed my every swing. Meanwhile, the undead beast caught my scent. I, of course, shadowstepped just as it was about to get close enough to strike at me. Unfortunately, my shadowmagic failed me, and I was morphed into a dog;

But acting quickly, I used my rapid feline legs to run circles around the undead beast, and once it drew close, I attempted to hide... and succeded! If a blade through the back does not stop hobgoblins, perhaps sharp teeth biting off their jugular vein will! And perhaps it would have, but I could not jump that high, and just bit it randomly all over instead! One of the talents I can still use in animal form is of course to call living shadows to my aid. With the hobgoblin almost dead, and Imoen striking true arrow upon arrow upon the undead, and Khalid rushing in to finish it off with his longsword, victory seemed close... but horror, our struggle drew the attention of a local band of hobgoblin roadside robbers, who exchanged insult with us, before rushing into the fray, to help their kin. But a moment later, the undead beast bested Khalid, and he too toppled over, as dead as they gets - I did not think such a thing possible, an elven warrior felled by a mere lower undead! In a panic, I shouted to Montarion "drink that potion already - the cost be damned - and join the fray!" To my further horror, Imoen caught two arrows in her chest! She, too, gulped down a potion of magical healing, when a third arrow caught her in the chest, quite possibly penetrating her heart, for now she fell to the ground dead, as well. What happened next... I do not know how to describe it! A berserker rage engulfed me, and something... primal... overtook my entire being. Seeking only my enemies death, I threw myself upon them, but nay with scimitar, no, with my bare hands that had turned into monstrous claws, and my mouth, that had turned into a mighty jaw! I tore... ripped... my enemies apart, with my new found strength and speed, and did not stop until nothing was left but broken bodies and gore. Only then, did I calm down. Thinking quick, I packed the bodies of my fallen, and all their belongings, and all the belongings of my enemies into my magical bag, and ran back to Beregost as fast as my legs could carry me. Shouting for a cleric, the startled townspeople directed me to a small temple, just outside the village. With our last gold, the fallen were brought back to life. Now that I had found a cleric of power, I asked of him to also remove my cursed belt, but he counted my last coins, and shook his head no. Out of what I assumed was well hidden gratitude, Xzar stared me in the eyes and demanded we get going to Nashkel NOW!!!

I hugged him, saying "Good to see you to!" which scared and perplexed the wizard, so he pushed me away and remained blissfully silent for the next half an hour or so. Licking our damaged bodies and pride, we limped back to town, back to Feldepost Inn, to take a well needed and well deserved rest. No drinking tonight, we are all to exhausted. I came to a decision; tomorrow we will use the main road for travel. But just as I was about to declare our last expidition an abject failure, Imoen inspected one of the swords the hobgoblins had been carrying, raised an eyebrow and commented "This thing must be worth a lot of gold!" Guess we did not do all that bad, after all!

Meta:

1 death: Oh, cut down by a lowly gnoll. The shame! It did deal at least 13 hp dmg with a single hit, though.

DrakeICN · February 2018

Shadowmasters log, 7 mirtul, in a cave along the road to Nashkel.

"The mercenaries supposed to patrol these roads only makes things worse"
Death count: 6
Reload count: 2

A new day, a new hope! Travelling on the main road to Nashkel, thinking it would be safer, we instantly ran into two ogrillons, who had beaten a poor halfling to death. They were quickly disposed with arrow, bolt and bullets, but this little incident indeed proved that main road were only marginally safer. I would soon find out why; just a tad further, three heavily armed mercenaries hired to keep the roads safe mistook us for bandits and came upon us, swords drawn. As it turns out, what passes for the law in these parts are illtempered meatheads, that I can only assume the real bandits run circles around with easy, while these brutes only makes the situation worse by bullying and pestering the natives. Better equipped and better trained fighters than us, I had Imoen confuse them with her Jester song, while I started summoning shadows. Unfortunately, one of them got in a hit early on, and I had to perform a tactical regroup. I then attempting to steal back my health, through the use of my hungering shadows. Unfortunately, my spells went havoc again, and I could hear an omnius "mooooo" coming from the sky, whereby I frantically yelled to all my mates to back of... and nothing. It was just a mad cow scare, I suppose - the shadowweave truly is unpredictable like that. After we stroke a few true hits upon mine foes, thinking victory was close, my hungering shadows had another misfortune. It would appear that instead of stealing life, my spell, err, healed my foes;

Just shortly thereafter, Khalid took a bad hit, and I told him to back off and use his bow, sending in Imoen to cover his retreat. Next, Jaheira took a bad hit, so I threw her my tasty chicken - the non-talking one - for her to swallow in one gulp to regain her health, while I charged in in melee again, having succesfully used my hungering shadows this time;

But oh, woe is us! Jaheira took another hit, so I yelled at her to back off, while Montarion came charging in to replace her as frontliner. Unfortunately, the stress had gotten to her, so she either did not hear or did not care to listen, so I had to break formation, to heal her with my magic touch, to avoid another expensive trip to the healer. Turning back to face my foe again, my scimitar managed to taste flesh. The cut was not very deep, but the man had already taken a few bolts and arrows, and this final blow brought him down to the ground, gurgling and coughing.

But, as victory seemed close, disaster struck! A savage blow separated Imoens right leg from the rest of her body, and down she went, leaving only me and Montarion as able melee figthers. To avoid getting outflanked, I rushed the man who had bested my sister, trading a blow for a blow. His blade cut deep into my flesh, but mine cut deeper, and down he went. I limped away, aiming my crossbow, but my mates cut the last opponent down, without any more assistance.

Jaheira was still in a frenzy, so she waved her stick at us, but we ran away from her until she managed to calm down. Three mighty platemails in exchange for one little sister. Not convinced that was a good trade, I just hope the clerics can stitch her back in one piece!

Traveling further, I came across a heavily armed duo wearing tailored clothes. Something about this couple comes about as... menacing. I considered firing off a crossbow bolt in the approaching mans chest, but instead I cast a dark mirage - that way, they won't take my by surprise if there is only foulplay! My instinct was correct, the man and his lover openly declared their murderous intent, just as I finished casting my spell... but instead a discusting cloud of smelly fog appeared! The fog forced it's way down my lungs, making it hard to breathe and my head spin. Me and my companions cleared the cloud with haste, but the assasin did not react in time and toppled over, clutching his throat before passing out. Having already declared their intention to murder us, we rained arrows, bolts and bullets over him, until his body looked broken enough for us to conclude he would not ever wake up again.

But where did the girl go? Looking around, worried, I started summoning shadows to protect me from an assasins hidden hand. As soon as the fog cleared, however, the girl went right for Xzar, wounding him badly. But before she could do anything else, I cast a shadow missile upon her... except instead a mighty electrical torrent rolled forth, turning her into crispy bacon - at least, that what it smelt and looked like. Of to the abyss with ye, creeps! Sadly, a quick head count revealed that also Xzar was missing, I guess that bitch got one last stab in, before she fried.

Gathering the spoils, I found another bounty note, but this one had initials at the bottom; M.S. Not very helpful, there are probably a thousand people with a first name that begins on M and last name that begins on S in the sword coast alone... and this is assuming the author of the bounty note used his or her real initial. Still, if I find some... Martha... Steward... or anyone else with a similar name acting all weird around me, I'll be sure to bolt them in the eye, just to be on the safe side. On a positive note, one of the assassins had the most exquisite ruby ring on their person. I donned it immediately, such beauty belongs on beauties, such as me - be that my current form belies my true splendor. But just as I was admiring my new trinket, Jaheira bitched on me, that we are still not in Nashkel. Hells bells people, it has not even been a week since we met, and we are literally ON the road that leads to Nashkel. Chill a bit! Besides, we still have not located a pair of boots of sneaking that some runt thief lost hereabouts. After a bit of scouting, I find a duo of hobgoblins that I, naturally, backstab, but then I am suddenly swarmed! The hobgoblins yell for reinforcements and they close in on me from all directions! I start unleashing all my remaning daily uses of shadowspells, while I call for reinforcements of my own - I always make sure the rest of the team is following me close by when I scout, for exactly this reason. The battle is hard won and brutal, and as I wipe blood from my sword, I therefore decide we shall travel no more today but rather huddle up in a nearby cave I spotted. I know my companions all are in a rush to Nashkel, but better get there late then not at all - we are all out of healing spells and if the road so far is any indicator, there is danger up ahead, and I'll not be stressed into making silly mistakes, nor wasting any expensive healing potions. As always, right before I tuck myself into a sleeping bag, I rummage through todays spoils of war and it turns out that one of the hobgoblins indeed did carry the runts former shoes - they are mine, all mine now!

Meta:

First death: This couple is mighty suspicous, casting dark mirage... oops, fizzle, held instead. And yes, they came to kill. And did so with ease.

Second death: Alright my dark mirage worked... and he hits my mirror clone... and I still get stunned wtf!* He hit my clone not me! Takes a few swings at my companions, misses, many rounds passes, everyone is dead... Oh come on! It must have been 4 rounds by now, and I am still held! And now he cuts me down wtf! Whomever made this mod did not think things through, I think.

*Wasn't Beamdog supposed to fix bugs like these? That's the purpose with an EE, right? Chop chop hop to it for v2.5.

First reload: Spams my finger of death in anger, and now they are both dead. Heh. Oh well, gotta reload, my finger of death was for killing off weak creatures, not for cheating away difficult encounters.

Third death: Ok, new strategy. After the chat, Khalid, Jaheira and Montarion runs in, and I back away, and spam spells and crossbow bolts. Here we go... MOOOOOO!!!! NOOOOO!!! Run away, hopeless, every one dies... except for the assasins, they have plenty of hitpoints, I assume...

What is up with that sword??? I don't think there is any (non-mod) weapon that good in all of BG1, even in Durlags tower. I cant use that! Get one hit in on that causes the hold effect any foe, and they are likely to get hit by another hold effect before the first one wears off. It is to powerful, I might as well give myself 5000 HP if I want to ruin the fun and have absolutely no challenge. Off to the magic bag with you, powersword. Again, what was the author of this mod thinking!!?

lol, you cant actually rest in that cave - I rested outside and pretended I was inside. Something else to fix for the next patch?

DrakeICN · February 2018

Shadowmaster log, 8 of Myrtull, Nashkel;

"I'm back, as a babe!"
Death count: 9
Reload count: 2

The rest of the road to Nashkel was mostly uneventful, save the bands of hobgoblins and kobolds we had to fight off. Oh, and one of the kobolds disembowled Montarion, I suppose that's also newsworthy.

Twas really no good, my magic bag is full of loot already. I really, really, need another mule! Then, I met an exceedingly ugly man! He was friendly enough though, so I left him in peace.

Then he casually mentioned he was on his way to his lover. Brrrr! Poor girl, love truly is blind. Then again, I have not seen her up close, maybe she is not in a position to judge... or maybe she is literally blind! But being off halforc halfelven descent myself, maybe I am the one who should not judge... though what little Gorion have mentioned of my mother, makes me believe she too was beutiful, like me. Maybe my father, I mean, not Gorion, the one who shares my blood, was orchish and ugly like that man. I hope not! Poor poor mother if that is the case! Lastly, I came across the strangest cave. I am certain there is something of interest down there, alas, the opening was to narrow!

The first thing I did, upon arrival, was to pawn all the junk from my fallen foes - I must say, I am a bit disappointed with the going rate for most of these items. Not counting the handful of magic items I pawned, I got only around 350 gold for all those weapons and armors. Thankfully, the jewelry I stripped from my foes sold for another 400 gold, so now I have some spending money again! The second thing was to rush to the temple, doing just that, spending it! Eager as I were, I was not just a liitle bit annoyed that we ran into the major he was going on about the mines blah blah blah. Yes yes, I will venture down that dank tunnel, out of my way already!

YES!!! I am back! I have never felt such relief before! The last couple of days have been a nightmare... perhaps also a learning experience, but I am not sure I have benefitted from my new knowledge. In any case, I am now in the gender I was supposed to be, and this way I will stay, for now and ever! Without thinking, I took my hands and started to check that everything was back, causing the Helm priests to cough, loudly, and demonstratively turn his head while holding up a hand to cover his vision. Oh, give me a break! I thought about shredding that damnable belt and burning it, but I decided not. I might come across someone who needs a lesson in humility, so I just wrapped it nicely and shoved to the bottom of my magic bag. Next, I had Imoen returned from the dead. And then the two rats..? I mean, I suppose I should. I need to travel light and fast, and do not wish to draw unnecessary attention to myself, for that reason, I have arbitrarily decided that I should at all times keep a party no larger than six people. Thing is, when the curse lifted, my mind suddenly blanked, and I had a vision; down in Nashkel mines await me my... love, I think. I plunged through layers of dirt and mud, and in a ray of light, I saw the face of a good looking elf and a voice whispered "I wait for you!" A strange side effect of the powerful magic flushing out the magic of the curse, perhaps it was only my imagination, but it seemed very real indeed. So, someone needs to get cut from the team to make room. I did feel a bit of remorse, but they both have alluded to killing me in my sleep or otherwise enough times to make me start feeling uneasy around them. And anyway, neither one of them would have fallen, had they fought better, so it is really more their fault than mine that their bodies are limp and lifeless. In the end, I left their bodies on the stairs of the temple of helm. That makes the ultimate decision lay with the helm priest, and I can hardly be blamed for whatever course of action he chose, or not chose, regarding their fate, now can I? I did what I could, the matters rests solely on Helms shoulders now!

In any case, as we have run out of healing spells, it is now time to rest. But first of all, we need to have a funeral feast, in honor of my two lost companions - as a precaution, in case that Helm priest is to corrupted to do the right thing! Fare the well, friends, I'll never forget you! The local pub was a rather cosy building, overlooking the river. After getting properly hammered, we walked towards the inn I spotted earlier when some lardass mistook me for someone else and handed me 200 gold. Thanks, dimwit! We continue to sing and stagger towards the inn, but once inside, the mood quickly changes. Another assasin, here? We fire a barrage of arrows, bolts and bullets, but our aim is far from perfect at the moment I'm afraid, and the assasin is unharmed. As she - it is a female assasin this time - begins chanting a cleric spell, I touch her with my shadow chaos. I failed to fizzle her spell, but instead I see the her start moving real slow. She cast her spell, and it strikes Khalid, but it seems to have no effect. Taking advantage of my foes state, I cast a dark mirage AND attempt to touch her with my shadow chaos, before she can cast her second spell. However, I get overconfident, and a magical whip strikes out, rendering Jaheira unconscious, in between my two spells. But, the shadows tainted my second spell instead of hers, and a bolt of lightning strikes from my fingertips, hits the would be assasin square in the chest and bounces through the inn, back and forth.

There aren't terribly many people here, but given the inns size, it is still relatively packed. Thankfully, through a stroke of luck, noone else is hurt. Third times the charm, and as the assasin cast her next spell, I managed to taint it real good this time! Watch out, shouts Jaheira, I know this spell, she is attempting to hold us! Oh but irony, instead the assasin freezes in her place, unable to move.

We took turns bashing, slashing and piercing the evil priest, that when the hold spell let go, her body immediately fell to the ground in a bloody heap with a loud thud. Unconcerned about the violent fight that just occured, the innkeeper offers us rooms and beverages. In fact, not one of the local boys even stopped his drink to cover as arrows and lightning bolts flew past. I'll give the people of Nashkel one thing; they have nerves of steel. That night, or midday I guess, I have a terrible nightmare, seeing my foster father Gorion getting murdered by the armored fiend, over and over. Maybe I should drink less?

Meta:

Yes, this is how you do it!

Hide when you are wounded, back off, they switch melee targets, bolt 'em in the back, they panic, suck them dry with hungering shadows to get your HP:s back!

1 death: Fireball wild surge while fighting off some kobolds. There will be alot of wild surges on my death list, I think...

2 death: Wild surge: Haste, Neira. Wild surge Neira: Summon monster. Neira: casts hold: Khalid held, Jaheira held. Neira: attacks Imoen. Imoen: cast mirror image, interrupted. Dies from another hit next round. Neira: summon skeleton. Fling: shieeet!!!

3 death: Fling: cast wild magic zone, Neira.
Neira: Wild surge: cow.

DrakeICN · February 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate 9 of Myrtil, outside Nashkel mines:

"Shadowmaster versus bounty hunter showdown"
Death count: 10
Reload count: 5

As I was headed out from Nashkel, the village idiot decided to start pestering me. First I told him off a couple of times. Not taking the hint, he then asked what my big weapon was for. Oh, how I nearly gutted him then and there! Instead, I decided to turn him into a squirrel. However, as if fate itself wanted to increase my annoyance level with this sod, my attempts failed, time and again. I was close to giving up, and skewer him instead, when the spell finally came through:

Good riddance, muttonhead! Or, uh, rodenthead, I spoose. My next destination was the Nashkel Carnival, it was the talk of the town. But I did not enter the carnival at first when I got there, I picked up the trail of something lurking in the bushes, and ran straight into a kobold ambush. It took all my skill, healing potions, shadowmagic and luck just to stay alive, and Jaheira was not so lucky - I had to run back to the cleric, thankfully the carnival was close to town. Those kobold archers have a dead aim and their arrows sting something awful - in fact, I was within an inch of my life there, and defeat was imminent... I survived only by a timely chaos surge that healed my party. I think, I shant try to fight no more kobolds, unless I am striking from the shadows. Hopefully, there are no so many more of them around! Time to enjoy the carny! First, I met the amazing exploding ogre, Opah! I could not take my eyes of the spectacle, so I wacthed it time and again - unfortunately, the ogre got annoyed and attempted to go on a killing spree. I did not wish to hurt the noble beast, so with the use of one of Gorions polymorph scroll he quickly became much friendlier!

Would you believe that from the ground, where a mighty ogre once stood, I recovered an exquisite bloodstone ring! I donned it, of course! Soon after, another cretin, this one dressed in clothes of evershifting colors, came to mock me. A simple rattling with my weapons scared him off though. Just seconds later, entering one of the carnival tents, a pickpockets stole some of my hard earned gold! I fear I might have overreacted to this theft;

But you hafta understand, I've been through a lot, lately, and this was the third miscreant in a row! Gambling at the tables did my mood no better, I just lost big. And this is when I ran into the mad wizard Zodral. He was holding a young lady named Bentha hostage while rambling on about how all witches summon gay frogs in the wheat fields or whatever. I pointed out the flaws of his reasoning, where upon he attacked me! His first magical act was to turn invisible. I used a dark mirage as defense, alas, it surged and gave him also extra protection!

When next he appeared, I tried tainting his magic, unfortunately he turned invisible immidiately again, and I wasted my spell! I summoned a shadow for extra protection, but when the wizard appeared again, he used a hold spell to bind me down. My companions quickly rushed in to save the day; Imoen immidiately charmed him, and had him throw a fire arrow on himself! The pain braking the charm Imoen had him charmed a second time, and throwing a melfs acid arrow on himself. Out of charms now, his hold spell wore off, and I quickly tainted his magic - causing him to become the target of his own spell!

Unfortunately, his final spell got me, bad, and I was forced to drink precious healing potions to stay alive. Out of spells, he rushed me in melee! He was a much better fighter than I thought, and I was at first worried, but after his protective spells wore off, and my rage set in, I quickly scored two strong hits on him... where upon he exploded in little meaty bits! Must have been some kind of magical reaction, from all the shadowchaos abound after our little mage duel.

Bentha, the lady mage, thanked us profusely, and asked how she could repay us? I demanded nothing more than a hug, which she found odd and hesitated. But when I told her that I just saved her life, was I not allowed to be odd, she relented. I blinked to Imoen, and after we waved goodbye, I smirked and asked Imoen what she managed to gather from Benthas pockets, while she was distracted, hugging me. Oh my! A healing potion, an antidote potion and a potion of heroism! This more than makes up for the potions I was forced to spend when figthing Zodral, and we got his stuff as well, to boot! Some minor magical scrolls, but more importantly, a fancy new robe!

Just about as I was about to set out, I counted my healing potions, and found I had insufficient. Luckily, there was a potion dealer, but we could not really afford that many potions... that is when I remember that the pickpocket that had an unfortunate accident was carrying a potion of master thievery. Handing that potion to Imoen, I had her rob him blind.

While en route to Nashkel mines, we were held up by bandits. Halfway through their attempts to coerce our valuables from us without having to fight us, a knight in shining armor stepped in and butchered half of them without breaking a sweat. From their conversation, I discerned there were some triangledrama going on between the knight - who later turned out, actually, to instead be the opposite of a knight, a blackguard - and the two bandit leaders. But for all the blackguards bravado, he was almost defeated, and had we not been there, I wonder if he would have survived? Then again, he probably waited for the bandits to be preoccupied with an armed third party, rather than attempt to tackle them all by himself. Not that I complain; I allowed him to travel with me, and as soon as we reached the mines, an ugly dwarf that smelled old socks and cabbage sought to collect the bounty on my head. After I hid in the shadows, then proceeded to shieldbash the dwarf from behind, the blackguard ran him through with his huge sword with ease, and that was that.

Dorn is the blackguards name, and I'll keep him around... for now. He seemed to know me by name, indicating he moves in the kind of circles where they circulate these bounty notices on me, but did not display any interest in collecting. Therefore, as long as he keeps impaling my foes, I have a use for him. I next come across Prism, an artist whom was cutting out some girls face in the rockside behind him. I can respect obsession like that - maybe some heartbroken book keeper is cutting my image into the Candlekeep cliffside. I mean, yeah, it's a tad creepy, but at least it will preserve part of me for houndreds of years, should my enemies get the better of me. So, when Prism asked me to protect him from Greywolf, a killer with a hatred for art I guess, how could I refuse? I decide to crack this bad egg alone. Well, I told the rest of the team to stand by and wait for my signal. Climbing atop the rockside, and leaning out, I kept a watch for the bastard. Once I spotted him, I gulped down some of the powerful magical potions Imoen stole, and cast a dark mirage. As Greywolf approached Prism, declaring his intention to kill him, I lept down, scimitar pointed to his chest, and told him to bugger off. He was not having any of it, declaring he'll simply just kill me first, then Prism. Greywolf could not possibly picked a worse time to attack; it is dark and raining, augmenting my power of vanishing in the shadows. I attacked immidiately, with a simple jostle, which appearently half caught him off guard, as I managed to graze him - and had he not reacted at all, more than that! Realizing he now had a real opponent, he skillfully fended off the rest of my attacks while he used his other hand to drink down some magical potion of his own. His muscles now bulging, he counterattacked and wooosh would of sliced off the head of one of my mirror images, if such a thing was possible, instead the illusion just faded. Taking his temporary confusion, I fell flat on my back and had my shadows cover me. Just as Greywolf was about to stab the ground randomly, a summoned shadow roared and charged him, while I slipped away. Just as he cut the shadow open and it disappeared in a puff of smoke, I threw myself at him with my shield to the back of his skull, hard, attempting to knock him out of commision. But this was one tough son of a bitch, the blow did not even faze him! Yelling out in frustration and pain he swung around sword gleaming. We traded blows for a while, and it took all my skill just to stay alive. I could tell he was many seasons my senior in swordplay - but he does not know how to play dirty. As he cut down another mirror image, I leaped past him and covered myself in shadows. Angry, and confused, he started pacing about and swinging his sword. Because of his defensive stance and rapid movements, it was difficult to get a good hit in, and my strike from the shadows, while winging him bad, did not end him. I even followed up with quick shadow missile, but it is as if this man is made of stone! Happy to see the face of his opponent again, he kept coming at me, while downing a magical potion with his other hand, and some of his wounds closed up. Then, he stabbed my last mirror image - yes, my powers must have grown over the course of my travels, I have previously gotten only two ever since Gorion first taught me this spell amd now he dispelled my third mirrpr image - which scared me and I fell into berserker mode. My speed and power behind my blows picked up, and I caught him off guard once more, getting in two clean slices on his forearms, causing profuse bleeding. But, as if those wounds were nothing, he quickly adjusted to my new fighting style, and were about to get the better of me, had I not rolled backwards, after blocking a fierce blow on my shield, and covered myself in shadows again. "Where did you run off to now, whore!!?" shouted Greywolf, "come back and fi... aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!" Wounded and mad with pain, Greywolf had been careless, allowing me to get close, thrusting my scimitar through his right collarbone and continueing deep down. "I am right here, ye bastard!" I whispered in his ear. I could scarcely believe it, but he had strength left, even now, throwing me off his back with a sharp half-step push backwards, and following up with an 180 degrees wild swing. But I kept my wits about, and blocked it with my shield. The impact was fierce, and I could hear some of my bones cracking, even though my battle trance kept me from feeling any pain. I backed off, and could see this giant of a man take one step towards me, then fall on his knees, gurgling blood and staring at me, the blackest of hatred in his eyes. I used my hungering shadows, to drain the last of this mans strength away and mend my broken bones. He toppled over, and I retrieved my scimitar. Wiping the blood on my sword off on Greywolfs leather armor, I felt an immense rush. This feeling, it's incomparable! I won! I bested what must have been one of the best fencers in the sword coast in a one on one duel! "Yes!" I shout to the world, "I am Fling, defender of the meek and rightoues against the barbaric tyranny of the powerful! Spring forth, and tell the world what you witnessed here today!" Prism took five steps, then fell over. I rushed to him. He had no pulse - he had worked himself to death over his masterpiece, his swan song. My companions came walking towards me. "You saw what happened here, right!?" "No, we stayed out of sight, as you wished, waiting for your signal! We came when we heard the ruckus, but it seems this Greywolf was all talk and no action, seeing how you sliced him up, before we even got here. You failed to protect the sculptor, too, I see." "But I... nevermind, lets get out of here." Before he died, Prism had promised me all that he owns as payment for my protection, alas, he had on his person only two coins of gold. The sculpture had emeralds for eyes, but Prisms final wish had been that I leave them be - I could not possibly refuse this request. At least Greywolf carried a longsword of potent magic, so in the end I did not go without a reward. But now I have had enough distractions - tally ho, to the mines we go!

Meta:

First reload: Ooops killing Lord Buffoonton gives bad rep!

Second reload: Fighting Zodral, wholly unepic barrage of spell failues. Yawn!

Fighting Greywolf;

I am fine about prepping for this fight, because while Greywolf appears as soon as the dialogue with Prism ends, in "reality", I do not think that that timing would have been so coincidental. From Prism's fear and the fact that Greywolf is a bounty hunter, Fling and the rest would have surmised Greywolf is a potent fighter, and therefore go all in. Finally, you can see Greywolf appear from a distance, but you are frozen as he does. Again, in "reality", that would give you one spell prepping time, not to mention start the fight with a barrage of arrows, bolts and bullets, before he can even enter melee.

1 death: Attempting to solo Greywolf, just because. I did not expect to win, but I wanted to give it a try. As it turns out, Greywolf downs a potion of hill giant strength and a potion of freedom WTH!!! Despite this, I got him sweating, because it is dark and raining so I could HIPS and backstab him many times + he missed many of his attacks + I managed to survive a hit with 3 HP:s left. But just as I thought I had a chance, he downs a potion of extra healing (arrgghhh!!!)... then gets another hit in.

Third reload: Ok, teamplay. I take Khalid - who have the highest HP in my party - and give him a potion of defence and a potion of power. Then, I keep the others in arrows distance. Dorn is closest by, with a potion of speed, so he can rush in and bring the pain. The idea is that Greywolf will target Khalid, or me, for melee. If he targets me, I will simply HIPS so he will chose Khalid. Greywolf will start swinging against Khalid - whom hopefully will survive due to the potions - which is when I backstab him and Dorn drinks his potion of speed and mauls him, and the others starts shooting. And... action. Greywolf dies shortly after gulping down his strength potion, he did not even make it to his freedom potion. How anti-climaxic!

DrakeICN · February 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate 9 of Morkill, near a natural bridge deep inside Nashkel mines.

"Filthy dwarves?!! In MY dank tunnel? It's more likely than you think!"
Death count: 12
Reload count: 5

As soon as we set our foot in the mines, we were told that little demons were killing the miners, then a guard told us it was kobolds, then we met and killed some kobolds, then we found a score of dead bodies next to where the kobolds we killed were;

I think I got the problem with the mines figured out already; it is infested by kobolds! Very well, lets just clear out their nest and collect the reward the major promised us. I shudder to find more of them marksman kobold with their fire arrows down here, but these dark tunnels work to advantage. It is much easier to hide - I shall be the one doing the ambushes this time, thank you very much! There were many kobolds to cull, but they are weak, albeit they sometimes deal tremendous damage - why, I was nearly killed by one of their poison daggers, had Imoen not stolen an elixir of health that I quaffed greedily - so I shall not detail all the battles. With the exception of a masterfully placed entangle, that made a huge group of the little pests come one by one, so we could bring them down with missile weapons while they could barely touch us! I am proud, indeed, over that little trick!

While passing a mining cart, Jaheira grabbed a pebble from it. "Look," she said, "the ore, the earth itself! It looks sickly! This must be what is causing the iron crisis!" "The iron wha!?" I replied. "The iron crisis!" I remained silent. "The iron crisis," Jaheira continued, "The iron rot! Do you not remember the sword Khalid broke?" "Yeah, but I gave him a new one!" "Listen, girl, is your brain mush? All across the sword coast weapons and other items of iron is falling apart!" "Okay..." "That is why we are down here, to solve the problem!" "No, Jaheira, we are here to kill kobolds!" "But they are connected! The kobolds must be what is causing the crisis!" "Fine, have it your way! You keep collecting rocks, and I kill kobolds!" Jaheira tossed the rock away. "I don't need any more rocks!" "Than what are you bitching about? Lets go kill more kobolds already!" "This group would do well with better leadership." Jaheira mumbled that last part, but since she was on board with the kobold slaying again, I pretended not to hear that. No need to cause more drama than necessary. Venturing deeper, we found a shaft eerily silent, and a man lay dead at it's base. Scouting ahead, I tripped a wire, and took a bad hit. This place is no longer a mining shaft; it is kobold territory now! And we are starting to run out of healing spells. We found the nearest kobold party, and unleashed all spells we had left on them, or, uh, at least a cow.

Granted how many kobolds we killed - why, my magical bag ran out of storage, and I had to, sadly, leave many many short swords behind! - I feel we have already made the mines a bit safer!.. or I would. I made some last minute scouting, to see if there were any stray kobold nearby, and discovered a dwarf party;

Seeing how they had not killed the kobolds I just killed, I assumed they were in cahoots, somehow. Eeewwww dwarves! Why did it have to be dwarves? I hate dwarves! Gruff, smelly, greedy, shortsighted, ugly, arrogant, subhumanoids!.. that, as the sour cream on top of the rotten mashed apples, are prone to violence! I snuck away again - now we really need to rest, to be able to tackle that party! - and we made our battle plans, as we rested. Earlier, I spotted a large well guarded cave, that makes for a perfect resting spot;

I just hope the dwarves have not noticed we were there - I don't think they would be so foolish as to charge the mine guards to get to us, but I do not want to ruin the element of surprise when we attack them tomorrow. To make sure, I hid the dead kobolds on their level to the best of my ability. Tomorrow, we will ambush those filthy dwarves, send them back to whatever hell spawned them! I did not get much rest that night, thinking about how we best best those runts. So, heres the plan; I will drink a potion of freedom, then I will cast grapling shadows and Jaheira casts entangling vines. Everyone gets in position with bows and slings, and I go in there, and starts backstabbing. Since the tangles and shadows immobilize enemies randomly, this way, I hope we can draw them out, one by one, so they are easier to defeat. If all of them get stuck, great, I can keep backstabbing. If they get stuck in archer range, even better; we can pin them down before they even can get close! The plan is sound. Lets see how it executes! I must say, I am still worried, they looked like fierce fighters. A million things can go wrong - but if it does, at least I went down fighting! The plan seemed to work initially;

First, we tangle our opponents good, second, I got in a solid backstab. When I attempt to shadowstep away, however, instead a foul smelling cloud of toxic mists appear - but that actually worked to my benefit! Getting used to these accidental clouds by now, I avoid it's knockout effect by quickly holding hold my breath and rushing out of there. The dwarves are confounded and shocked, however, therefore failing to react in a timely manner and are out of commision for the time being. One of them comes to, chases me... and get stuck in a grappling shadow while my companions rains arrows and bullets over him! Once dead, his comrade runs over the first ones corpse, but is trapped and shoot down as well... thus falls into the same trap! As can be seen, the third element of my plan also worked to perfection!

I am therefore lulled into overconfidence, and cloak myself in shadows, and run after the next dwarf. Just as I am about to sink my scimitar into his flesh, however, Dorn takes him out with a wellplaces arrow. But that is just one life less on my conscious, so I do not complain. Next, a dwarf comes to, and starts chanting a spell. At first, I plan to taint his magic, but as fate would have it, the gas knocks the dwarf out again, halfway through his spell. I am amused by this and smirk, but my smile is soon replaced with shock! Both my gas and my grappling shadows dissipate, and another dwarf came to, and shoot me square in the shoulder! Not only is the pain overbearing, but I can feel my arm going numb. Poison! I quickly down an elixir of health and pani... make a tactical regroup. He is able to tag me again, this time in the buttocks as I run, but once I make it past the corner, I down another elixir of health. Close call! Now the bastard instead aims at Imoen, and pricks her! I throw my precious sister an elixir of health, but just as she is about to drink it, the spellcasting dwarf casts some manner of spell that causes the air itself to shimmer, and Imoen dies before my eyes...for the third time now! Whatever would I do, without the temple of Helm?

"Charge him!" I yell at Dorn. I must prevent him from fireing any more of those lethal bolts, and being forced to fight a blackguard in melee just might do the trick, eh? Alas, the dwarven spellcaster - a cleric, I believe, judging from his spells and ability to wear armor while casting them - manage to cast a hold spell at Dorn, while the crossbowyer stabs him to death. I repeatedly attempt to taint the clerics magic, but fail every time. The stress must be getting to me! Just then, the cleric gets in a good smack on my ribcage with his mace, and I am forced to retreat into the shadows, lest he does me in for good with his next strike. Things are starting to look grim indeed; now, two dwarves fight only two companions, Khalid and Jaheira... or so I thought! Turned out, the bolt I fired at the crossbowyer, just as the clerics mace kissed me, actually did strike true; through my veil of shadows, I see the crossbowyer lay flat on his belly, a bolt sticking out of his neck! Two against one; let's see some elf on dwarf action! The cleric attempts to rush Jaheira, whom keeps him at bay with her stick. And... the dwarfs back is exposed. I know, should I miss, he might spin around and club me down, but I none the less take this chance! Good call! One clean swing equals one dwarven head rolling away from it's former body.

"Thats all of them?" I ask as much as I state. Jaheira nods. "She has a knack for dying, your sister." Typical Jaheira. Crude. "The temple of Helm should give me a return customer discount, methinks," I say as I start tossing out short swords from my magic bag to make room for Imoen and the loot from the dwarves. The feeling I had after this fight was opposite that of when I bested Greywolf. Even though I won, I feel defeated, and exhausted, and as if I would rather be dirt farming than dungeoun crawling. This life is a hard, brutal, uncomfortable, scary existance. But, I have no choice. I did not start this fight, the armored fiend did,.. but I intend to finish it! On a more positive note, the equpiment the dwarves carried was top notch, and we can sell what we won't keep for plenty! In particular, I found one club I liked and a mysterious armor, that Khalid was unable to wear;

The club is much to unwieldy to backstab with, but I will keep it dangling from my belt, so I might reach for it, for enemies that requires that extra little bit of punishment! To further raise my spirits, shortly thereafter, when attempting to use my poison mists, instead a demon appeared!

I ran away, of course, until I heard the classical whooshing sound of a summon spell expiring, and returned to find kobold body parts decorating the tunnel. I could not help but laugh a bit! But what I saw next took my breath away! A crack in the stone itself, a pit as deep as I couldn't see the bottom! It was amazing, scary and beautiful at the same time, and I found myself staring at it for several minutes! I was lucky I had not missed any enemies, for even the weakest kobold could have easily snuck up behind me without me noticing, and pushed me over the edge!

Finding a natural bridge in just the next tunnel, I contemplated hiking back to Nashkel; I could surely use my sisters bow, jester song and magic against the seemingly endless hordes of kobolds - and any more dwarfs I might encounter. But that is also, I believe, a serious risk-taking. Whomever controls these kobolds - there must be someone like that, kobolds are base creatures, more animal than humanoid, unable to so successfully terrorize a town without more intelligent direction - will surely be spooked by the death of his dwarven henchman, and either concoct a dangerous trap or - far worse - escape, taking the cute elf boy in my vision with him... or killing him, as hostages makes you less mobile. Sure, I take a great risk, thinning my numbers like that, which, in a tight situation, might be the mistake that costs you your life. But the alternative? What if this man is the one fate has prepared for me - and I have him killed by neglect? Then again, perhaps no man waits for me down there, it could as easily have been a hallucination as a vision... or perhaps this man is the leader of the kobolds, forcing my hand to slay him! The choice was a difficult one, but I decided to press on. Time will tell if I am right; either, I emerge victorious with my elf, or some other adventurer will find this journal, stained with me own blood. If that be the case, I implore upon you reading this; avenge me!

Meta:

1st death:
Fling: Cast finger of death, Kobold Commando
Wild surge: AOE
The entire party: Blargh!
At least on the plus side, most of the kobolds died as well.

2nd death:
Oh, you got to be kidding me! Failed backstab, two kobolds - not commandos, ordinary shitty archer kobolds - kill me as soon as I emerge from the shadows! It musta been two crits, for I was at full health! Though, my AC is extremely low, as a warlock I selfrestrict myself to mage robes. Can't wait to afford that mage robe of mages!

DrakeICN · March 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate 11 of Morkrull, Mulaheys pillow stack

"A kobold bridge to far"
Death count: 18
Reload count: 8

The bridge was heavily fortfied, and we relied only on healing potions, having spent most all healing spells recovering from the battle with the dwarfs. Wave upon wave of kobolds set upon us, and I quickly exhausted the rest of my spells. It was a fierce and lengthy battle, made more difficult by tripwires that I, under heavy battle duress, was given no opportunity to disarm, but we prevailed;

The bridge ours, we investigated the nearest tunnel, and were stormed by another horde of kobolds! Fighting was fierce, and in the end we were repelled. So many healing potions spent, that what was left would never suffice. One has to know when one is beaten! Me and Jaheira had to stumble away, while Khalid fought off the kobolds brave enough to give chase.

As I retreated over the bridge, I looked back and thought of my elf. The heavens know I gave it my best shot! Perhaps fate will reward my bravery, by ensuring that whatever sinister force lurks at the bottom believes he have us beaten once and for all, and will not retreat nor take any extra precautions. After all, one of the miners told us we were not the first adventuring party to brave the depths - maybe the kobolds leader have gotten so used to adventurers visiting his mines, that he has become careless? I'll be back for you, elven lover!!! Reviving Dorn, I found he was able to equip the armor we acquired from the dwarves. This armor is sparkly!!!

We had a quick rest - I was not able to get much sleep, out of fear we failed the mission, that the enemies had escaped. Those fears seemed justified at first; not a kobold in sight, only ghouls and spiders... that were surprisingly easy to kill! My powers have grown much since I left Candlekeep! It's only been a tenthday, but it feels like a year! But venturing deeper, again we were beset by kobolds.

These creatures are stupid, or arrogant, for still sticking around after taking the blow we dealt them last time. Or... and I shudder to think this... there are so many of them deep in the depths that they could care less about the ones we culled already. Just as I was thinking that, I came across a spellcasting kobold!

Of course, it also only knew two spells, then charged with a short sword, so I can't have been that clever. Just around the next corner, another bridge guarded by kobold commandos! Thankfully, however, this group went down surprisingly quick, after I surprised them with backstabbing, while dark miraged, and then had the rest of my companions rain arrows and bullets over them.

Before I ventured inside the cave, I scouted the vicinity to make sure no surprises will wait for us and found another ghoul. Like the others, this one moved at the speed of an elderly woman, so it could do us no harm save it's foul stench, while we used it for target practice. We then ventured inside. Scouting ahead, I saw my elf - unarmed and miserable looking - guarded by a handful of kobolds, and in the next room, or uh cave, was a mean looking halforc, noticibly brandishing a mace.

My instinct told me that this was it, the leader of the pack, and therefore probably a mean bastard. I prepared for this fight thusly; I gave Jaheira a potion of invulnerability - her leather armor is no good against many blows - and myself a potion of absorption - I intend to duel this leader in a one on one fight - and had Imoen strip her leather armor, instead casting a mage armor spell, so that she might use other spells, should we need them for this fight. I then barged in, while dark miraged and enraged (I imagined this halforc torturing my elf, to work up a frenzy beforehand), had Dorn rush the kobolds and had the others block the entrance, so that nobody interferes with my duel. To my surprise, the halforc cowed before me and pretty much surrendered without a fight - mistaking me for some henchman of some Tazok fellow - telling me to help myself to the content of his treasure chest. Hrrmf! As if I would be foolish enough to turn my back on this miscreant. I had Jaheira investigate the treasure chest instead, while I kept the cudgel I recovered from the dwarves pointed at him. As soon as Jaheira touched the lid of the treasure chest, the halforc cussed and came at me!

His first act was to call for backup. His second act was to cast unholy blight upon Jaheira, who drank a potion of magic healing to negate the damage, while Imoen cast a sleep spell upon his backups. I could scarcely believe how strong a spellcaster Imoen truly is; all but one kobold fell asleep! As the halforc began chanting his second spell, I tainted it, causing it to fizzle harmlessly. We now traded blows, but he was a poor fighter, and I easily diverted all his feeble attacks, while roughing him up with my cudgel. He begged for mercy, but I granted him none; how much mercy did he show the miners he had murdered by means of his kobold minions? Such a hypocrite! Don't play the game if you're gonna be a sour loser!

He began chanting another spell, which I tried to taint, but failed. Instead, his hold spell went off, just as I bashed in his ribcage and he fell to the ground, as dead as they gets. Unfortunately, the halforcs final spell hit true, and Khalid was locked in place, while skeletons started to tear at his flesh!

We all rushed on to divert attention from our mate, and it worked... for the most part! When the spell lost it's grip, Khalid looked like he had been pushed in front of a wagon, but at least he still drew breath. Almost unimaginable, but we need not a single life trip to helms temple as a result of this clash. With our enemies dead at our feet, I had the other loot what items of value they could find - we cannae take all, my magic bag has filled up from shortswords again! When next an opportunity arise, I shall surely buy more of these bags - the one I already have have easily payed for it's worth, not only in gold but also in sheer usefulness. I then approached the elf, and it was the very same I saw in my vision;

I had him tell me his story, and he started babbling about this iron crisis nonsense, just like Jaheira. I feigned interest, while checking him out, top to bottom to top again. Then I pretended I heard something and took some steps to the side, so I could check again, but this time from behindish. And I must say, oh my, he does have a nice bod. He is an elf, of course, so he's a bit to skinny for my taste, but eh, you cannae have everything you wish for now can you? If there was such a thing as the perfect male specimen - which, let me be clear, there is not - he would already be married. He then told me he is a mighty warrior-mage, trained to defeat other spellcasters, while at the same time being able hold his ground against other warriors - he is no weapons master, but he can kill off weaker foes and stall mightier ones. Now, color me impressed! He's got more than a pretty face to him, which is well, since after all, survival is more important than pleasure - you can't have the latter without the former! Hands off, Imoen, he's mine! Considering the tunnels cleansed, or at least mostly cleansed, from kobolds, dwarves and halforcs... well, present company excluded, I declared we should rest. We threw the corpses in a heap as far away as we could be arsed from the leaders room, then threw ourselves on the pillows, and had a surprisingly good sleep. I have never been interested in a boy before, so I knew not what I should do, to get his attention. Should I just throw myself in his lap, like a total slut, or play all shy or go to him to discuss politics... or... zzzzzzzzzz....

Meta:

6 deaths in a row; the unreasonably difficult battle of the bridge. Since this is a roleplaying run, I can only prep when it thematically makes sense. The bridge is trapped, preventing Fling from scouting ahead and / or backstabbing. Therefore, she is unprepared for the four (!) kobold commandos rushing in and fireing off their lethal arrows. The first four deaths ended with kobold commando fiery arrows. The fifth because of a wild surge lightning bolt. And I had killed 3 commandos already, probably would have won that one if not for the wild surge

I cannot believe it, but I got another wild surge lighting bolt, killing me just as there was only 1 commando left, wtf.

First reload: Call of the wild: Wild surge petrification
Dorn turns to stone, then for no reason in particular, the rest of the crew attacks and kills him.

Second reload: And now Khalid turned to stone.

Third reload: AO damn it Dorn, why are you so weak?

After Dorn fell, the kobold commandos easily turned the rest of the crew into minced meat, while I was charmed. I guess I would have lived out the rest of my days as Tazoks pawn... until someone realized I was the Bhaalspawn Sarevok is after and had me killed. Next plan; Dorn rushes the kobolds, while Khalid guards the entrance!

Ooooohhhh noes!!! As it turns out, putting an armor on a magus crashes the game!!! Now my entire 3 man, or uh, MFF plan is wrecked; 1 magus frontliner with lots of antimage spells, 1 jester / charmer bowgirl and one backstabbing warlock. I mean, I wanted someone to use all heavy armor; Fling, for mage robes, Imoen, for leather armor and finally Xan, for heavy armor! Now I hafta give the heavy armor to temps! Also, Xan will not get 1D8 HP per level, just 1D4. I am sad

Xan EEkeeper enhancement list;
As he will be an antimage, he must be some kind of sorcerer, since you will not know in advance which is the best spell defence. Also, as a sorcerer, he can use evocation spells, if no enemy mage is forthcoming by nightfall. I chose sylvan disciple, the heightened emotion aspect feels very in character with his pessimistic outlook on life.

So...

In EEkeeper, set first level to zero, change class to sorcerer and kit to sylvan disciple. Remove all known spells. Then I added a handful of spells I feel he should know (he has a tad of divine blood as well, alright?): command, armor of faith, remove fear, silence 15" radius, slow poison, strength of one, summon insects, magic resistance and blade barrier. These spells are all antimage or combat oriented, which is thematic. I also gave him some heal spells, just because. Then to abilities; 5x dark bolt (combat, antimage), 4x secret word (antimage), 3x inquisitor dispel (antimage), 2x emotion hopelessness (in character), 1x aura of despair (again, in character). I did not give him inquisitor true sight, I felt that would have made him to powerful. I also wonder about the dispel magic ability - it IS very powerful. I will see if he feels overpowered, in that case I will remove it. Emotion: hopelessness is of course overpowered; like my poison mists, I will use it only for crowd control, and not against epic enemies. Then I gave him 2 dots in daggers, darts and single weapon each, and 1/2 APR per round. I also gave him +3 AC, like a monk of the same level, to compensate that he could not be a magus and wear heavy armor. Even with all this, he wont be superstrong in melee, because he still have not so many HP and mage BAB progression, so it does not feel so cheaty. Back to the game, I level him up and chose antimage spells, like detect invisible and spook, and of course, one attack spell each level, like I said, in case no enemy mage is forthcoming. I also let him keep the extra HP he gained by leveling 4 levels of sylvan disciple; 16 + 12, for a total of 28 HP. He will be an interesting frontliner for sure, having to retreat quite often due to low HP and AC, and having quite low THACO, despite wielding a +3 weapon and having 2 dots in daggers.

I have also grown tired of these weakling wild dogs, so while I anyways am keepering about, I might as well exchange them for Tiax summon ghast ability.

DrakeICN · March 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate12 of Mortill, Nashkel inn

"Good night, sweet princess"
Death count: 19
Reload count: 8

I awoke the next morning - I mean, maybe, it's kind of hard to tell what time it is while deep inside a cave - realizing I probably took the worst possible course of action: ignoring him altogether. Luckily, after we exited the cave, first dispatching some puddings, my elf took the chatting initiative;

Soon thereafter, Xan got a chance to prove his battle prowess; as it so happened, I somehow missed a party of gnolls while scouting, and as I waved the others closer, Xan was jumped by four gnolls. Fearing the worst, that the gnolls would turn Xan to minced meat before the rest of us could arrive, I was proven wrong. While he sustained three gashes (nothing healing couldn't fix), he did hold his own, and while he would have been chanceless, had aid not arrived in time, he is certainly no pansy. Moments later, he got the chance to prove his mageslaying talents; some lunatic mage became agitated after a short verbal exchange.

The mage summoned puddings, so I told Xan "Now is your chance to prove your worth! Take down that mage, while the rest of us will deal with the puddings!" While we started blunting our weapons on the puddings, Xan attempted to get some quick magic missiles in on the mage, but he became invisible, only to reappear and summon gigantic larvae. Xan then cast a dispel magic on the larvae, which, curiously, did not work - it appears summons cannot be dispelled, which, a warrior trained to defeat mages should of have known. However, these larvae had a most nasty bite, which caused paralysis in Khalid and Jaheira, and Xans dispel cured them off this state. Against such opponents, we could not hope to prevail in melee combat, so I cast poison mists, which, ironically, stunned instead the larvae, buying us enough time to get out of there - alas, and double irony, Xan was hit by slime one of the puddings spat on him, which slowed him, and the larvae caught up with him, and paralyzed him.

That was unfortunate, for we yet needed to keep moving, or death would take us all. This decision meant of course that Xan was doomed - but I worry not so much about companions dying on me no more, ever since I got used to that you can just pay the helm priests to bring them back. As long as one of us survives, we all survive! Besides, Xans sacrifice bought us enough time to put some distance between us and the flesheating larvae. To make certain our enemies did not catch up, I released grappling shadow hands - but to my horror, spiders the size of wolves ran across these hands without any impediment to their speed, even further closing the distance by teleporting. When did that mad mage sumon these horrors!!? Just as I was thinking the situation could not get much worse than this, a group of gnolls sniffed out our peril, thinking we would be easy prey due to current circumstances. Do these mongrels not realize the mage will come after them, when he is done with us?

In either case, we had no choice but to keep running, as one of the larvae managed to escape my shadow hands. While running, we stopped to swing weapons or fire bows and crossbows, to create maximal disarray in the enemy, and hopefully get in some damage. During this chaos, Jaheira was wounded, bad, and she gulped down a potion of invisibility. Enough of this, I thought, and attempted a death spell at the larvae. Unfortunately, instead, a cow came crashing down from the sky up above! In a fierce explosion, it shattered in a thousand fragments of cow flesh, bone, and rocks from the impact crater. Traveling with tremendous speed, these fragments were like a barrage of bullets from a slingshot, cutting down Dorn and Jaheira both, and gravely wounding me, my sister, and Khalid. As a small consolidation, it did tear away at my opponents too.

"Use healing potions! I shouted, as we kept running. I tried to get in another poison mists - thinking the enemy is wounded now, perhaps I can bring them all down in one fell swoop - unfortunately, the spell fizzled. Imoen started singing her jester song which caused the gnolls to dance in circles, while I got in a nice clean bolt in the larvae, spreading green gunk all around, as the insect reared and then hit the ground, dead. Finally, the tide turns, I thought... only to notice the gnolls had stabbed Khalid to death. Will it ever end?

Just as I think that, the last spider rushes me. I quickly slid into the shadows, I will not be spider food today, thank you very much. This left Imoen alone with three murderous opponents. While she started running in circles, with that tail after her, I took the opportunity to sink my blade into one of the gnolls.

Noticing now that one of the gnolls look gravely wounded, I tried draining the last life out of it, with my hungering shadows. Instead, two dogs appeared. Worked almost just as well, the gnolls got distracted, leaving me and my sister with the spider. How dificult an opponent can that creature possibly be, I pondered, as we took it head on. The answer was "very". Sinking it's fangs into Imoen, she pushed it off, took a few steps, and fell down dead, from poison.

It's just me, now! As luck would have it, however, one of the dogs I accidentally summoned killed the gravely wounded gnoll, then I backstabbed the other. The spider killed the dog, but only after the dog first got in a good bite on the spider - it was nearly dead now! Attempting to drain the life out of it, my spell was tainted, instead increasing it's speed to a ridicoulsy fast one. Thankfully, however, the creature was very easily confused, and I managed to keep it off by running in a zig-zag pattern, attempting to throw myself in the shadows for cover. When at long last I managed, it was an easy matter to sink my blade into its bulbous hindpart, and it died, finally. Such a nasty critter!

Now, I was mad! My entire team, obliterated, by this summoner hack! Speaking of the summoner, he must have been disoriented by my grappling shadow hands, for he has yet to seek me out, to finish the job. Even better, his larvae must have been unsummoned by now! Well, let us see then, who is the better summoner! Behold, my army of shadow monstrosities! Hiding behind them, I have them charge the summoner, and when his attention is diverted, I let my scimitar taste flesh! The summoner summon creatures of his own, but that was to little, to late, and I quickly cut him down afterwards. The summons remained after his death, however, so I used my powerful shadow magic to slip out of sight; I needed to locate the last pudding, for I counted at least two, but we where able to kill only one, before the larvae forced us to do a tactical regroup. Ok, found it! Good, it is far away and minding it's own busisness, allowing me to gather the corpses of the fallen to drag back to the temple. I just go back to collect Xan and... hello, what is this? It would appear my shadow monstrosities actually won! Well then, to the pudding we go!

...and I am out of there again! Cannot fight what I cannot bleed, yes? Only after I escaped did I remember about the magic club dangling from my belt. Well. Live and learn - now, in hindsight, it is probably a good thing that the pudding patrols the area; I was in such a rush to leave, I left my companions equipment on the ground, for them to collect after my visit to the temple. This way, perhaps the slime deters opportunistic thieves. I mean, we are in the wilderness, so I would feel safe from thieves in any case, but this way it is probably safer. Just as I was about to leave, a stranger gave me a magic dagger. Thanks, dunce!

Returning to the temple, I must pay the priest 2200 in gold. Ouch! At least Xan was in a chatty mood;

I then collected my reward for clearing out the mines. 900 gold. YOU CHEAP BASTARD!!! That does not even cover half of my expenses!!! This is when Khalid broke out of his "just returned from the dead" daze. "Where is Jaheira!!?" I slowly shook my head, an expression of shame and regret crossed my face. I put my hand on his shoulder, and looked him in the eyes. "Her injuries... the priest said, well... it is the risk associated with adventure. I... am soooo sorry!" "Jaheira!!! Nooooooooooooooooo!!!" "Let us hold a funeral feast, my friend, in her honor. I known her for only a short time, yet I still respect her as a mentor, and as a friend!" Said and done, the event was a grave and - at least by my standards - fairly sober event, with Khalid sobbing and complaining, Imoen attempting to comfort him, Xan joining in on Khalids complaining and Dorn keeping to himself.

I decided a speech might best express my condolences, so I slammed my mug in the table, stood up and cleared my throat; "Dear Khalid, I cannot begin to express how sorry I am for dropping a cow on your wife's head. Although I've known her for only roughly a week,.." "You killed her!!?" Khalid rudely interrupted. "Well, no... we were all in danger, I was trying to save us all, and then a burning cow fell through the air, and made a five feet crater, spreading projectile everywhere. We were all injured, remember... hmm... although, I guess since Jaheira had downed a potion of invisibility, there is a slight possibility she would still be with us were it not for the cow. But you know, kill really anyway is such an unprecise word, it speaks nothing of intention, and accidents, and... hey where are you going!!? Come back here! Fine, be like that! Go ahead and live out the rest of your days as a dirtfarmer in this backwater pissant village! No, wait, wait, I'm sorry! I need you, you are essential for soaking enemy fire, those two p****** over there fall over dead if they stub their toes! Don't leave me like that!.. Damn!" Dorn laughed an eerie, hollow laugh. "Truly inspirational, dear leader!" "Shove it, Dorn, or I ain't paying the resurrection fee for you next time." Xan decided to chime in as well "This miserable group is doomed!" "Eeeurgh, you know what gals and guys, let's just call it a night. Tomorrow is a day too, hopefully a better one at that!" Just as we were heading towards the inn, another bounty hunter appeared. Since the rest of the crew was unarmed, I sent them away, deciding to take on this bastard one on one.

Throwing a shadow missile at him, the spell got tainted and instead froze him in place. That is when a bystander lent his assistance, by rushing my assailant and beating him to a bloody pulp, using only hands and feet. I decided to not fire my crossbow, instead letting this kickpuncher handle things. I was impressed with the speed with which he incapacitated that fella. Since my crew now had vacancies, I asked if he wanted to sign up, and he did - he had me understand that he, too, was growing bored of this backwater pissant village. We then scrambled to the inn, we had many aching limbs to attend to, after the encounter with that summoner. I done messed up bad today, didn't I? Memories of Jaheira flashed before my inner eye, and tears of pain and regret rolled down my cheeks. I am not perfect, I am only halforc halfelf after all. Two deaths weighing on my consciousness now, due to my inadequances; my father and now this lady. I had a bad sleep this night, waking up in cold sweat several times.

Meta

1st death: Oh, WTH, the revenant can stun now? This one should not count, I was looking forward to soloing it!!!

Oh shit! Did I ruin the romance now? But I was agreeing with him

Guess he likes being abused a bit? Speaking personally, I have been abused by enough demon witches that I would LOVE to meet a compassionate girl... even if she is just faking it!

Statement on HP:

In case anyone was wondering, no, I did not get superlucky with my HP rolls for y core team; Fling, Imoen and Xan. I like battles to last long, and low HP pushes towards boring cheese tactics, such as backstab rushing mages etc. My core team are set to max HP possible, given their level AND the random "bonus" they got from changing class. To clarify, Fling had 13 HP at level 1, so a 4 HP bonus from setting her thief level at zero and switching to shadowdancer, Imoen 14 at lvl 1, so a 6 HP bonus -II- thief to jester, Xan 28 HP at level 4, so a 12 HP bonus -II- enchanter to sylvan disciple. Now, anyone observant enough might notice one of the core team members may at times have slighty less or slight higher than max per level + bonus, this is because I am not perfect with doing math in my head, and because I do not bother with EEkeeper every time I level. I correct HPs whenever next time I can be arsed to use EEkeeper. With that said, ONLY my core team receives this max + bonus HP. So, with Dorn, I was very unlucky with HP rolls, and with Khalid, I was very lucky, which is why Dorn is relatively weak compared to what he is perhaps is canonically, and Khalid is much stronger than perhaps he is canonically.

DrakeICN · March 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate 13 of Mirtull, some random cave in the wilderness.

"The glorious gibberling battle"
Death count: 19
Reload count: 9

Immediately as I woke up, Xan was hovering over me and started talking to me. I wonder how long ago he woke up, and if he has been staring at me sleeping!? Not cool, Xan, take a chill potion!

The first order of busisness now, was to pawn everything I could in my magic bag, to make room for more loot. 45 kobold shortswords = 90 gold!

When we stepped out of the store, I noticed an anxious looking lady, so I approached her to hear whats what;

Well, we are heading west anyway, to gather our equipment, so why not? Since I am the only one armed, and the kickpuncher does not need any weapons, we two took the lead, with the others following from a distance. First, just a quick stop at the temple. I remember that the pudding poisoned Xan yesterday, and I am starting to run out of elixirs of health, so we needed to stock up. The price for these potions were shocking, to say the least;

But I cannot not have them; if I die, may it be for a thousand other reason, but it shant be greed! Heading out, I was hoping for passing unnoticed, but no such luck. Gibberlings! I laughed to myself! These creatures are such pushovers! Why do they even bother!!? Me and Raasad, the kickpuncher, charged in with zest!

We then noticed that they were quite many, so I yelled "Alright, backup needed, but stay safe!" Even though Imoens jestersong had them distracted, they still managed to strike true at us, time and time again, at one point nearly slaying Rasaad, so he was forced to retreat, then Dorn, then Xan...

When we finally stood victorious, we had been roughed up quite a bit. By gibberlings. I reiterate: by gibberlings. I think my pride took the hardest beating. Xan commented on it thusly;

Reaching our destination, Rasaad started a convsersation;

Uh-oh, I think he is on to me! We got back to our belongings just in time, three ogrillon thieves were hovering over them! We had no choice but to dispatch these filthy thieves! Unfortunately, that was easier said than done, seeing how we were mostly unarmed. The battle was intense, but we managed to fend them off... but not before Dorn took a bad beating.

Out of healing spells, I had not choice but to leave him out of the struggle with the remaining puddle - and I really could have used his huge sword, these creatures... if you can even call them that... are nasty!

Just as predicted, I needed elixirs of health to bring it down. I could scarcely believe it, but we were now in the need of another rest - after fighting a handful of gibberlings, three ogrillons and one pudding! Maybe Xan is right; this miserable party is doomed! But I sure did not want to rush back to town so soon after we left it, so I searched for a nearby safe space. A cave! Perfect! Except, as it turns out, it was inhabited by the undead;

But we were all angry and annoyed at this point. This undead beast attempted to mess with us at the - for his sake - worst possible moment imaginable. We bit down, and manhandled his sorry ass with such enthusiasm, they will need a closed casket for his second funeral!

Your stuffy cave is ours now, ya hear! We quickly went to bed, or, uh, our sleeping bags after that, noone was in the mood for talking. Our collective pride took a bad beating today.

Meta:

First reload: Mustard jelly deals 42 (!!! lol wtf) dmg to Xan, instakill cannot resurrect. My core team must remain, no choice but to reload!

I honestly expected a whole lot of dying from the revenant, but as it turns out, after stunning a party member, he goes for an unstunned one! Finally, a lucky brake!

DrakeICN · April 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate 14 of Martoil, Friendly Arms Inn

"An average day in the life of a Shadowmaster: witches, assassins, daemons, meatheads and damsels in distress. "
Death count: 19
Reload count: 9

As soon as we exited the cave, Xan was chatty again.

Good talk! I had had enough of this wilderness let me tell you, so I got out of there in a rush, traveling, of course, eastward to find that witch Dorn wants dead. The witch had a horde of undead guarding her, but I have already killed more skeletons, ghasts, ghouls and revenants than I care to remember, so that intimidated me scarcely. "Xan, you're on the witch, the rest of us keep the skellies away from Xan. Go team!"

Xan starts out nicely, with a command to whip the witch unconscious midway through her spell. However, when she comes to again, her spell sort of resumes, and she touches me with some manner of draining spell, similar to my hungering shadows. I taint her next spell in retaliation, ignoring my own command to leave her to Xan. Whatever! She needed to be taught a lesson! She casts a spell of weakening, that also targets herself... but since she seems to stick to spells rather than melee, I just got more annoyed.

Xan then targets her with a spook spell, and as she scutters away, he targets her with a silence spell! Go Xan! The witch is pretty much out of commision now... unfortunately, Xan does not seem to be able to cut her down with his blade despite swinging wildly, meanwhile, I am getting fairly certain these skellies just keep popping back up, after we beat them down. "Xan! Focus!" I yell, and he now unleashes a volley of magic missiles, to complement his swordplay. The witch dead, the skellies life, or, uh, unlife, seeps out of them and their bones rattle to the ground in neat heaps. However, one of them gets a last swing in, KILLING Rasaad, just moments before it becomes immobile.

Khalid, I think, I need you know! Why did you have to get so prissy about the whole "you killed my wife is" ordeal? Why could you not just let it go, jeez! It is clear as day that I need a new frontliner, able to soak large quantities of damage without taking an early dirt nap. These silly kickpunchers, blackguards and mages wont cut it! I will be on the lookout for a Khalid replacement, that is for sure! Just around the corner, I met another assasin, but this one got spooked just from me rattling my sword a bit. Why do you even get in the busisness, if you are a scaredy cat?

A short distance later, I came across another tinclad meathead.

Great plan there, knucklehead! Instead of chasing bandits, waste time and resources chasing deserters... who probably deserted just because of incompetence such as this! As fate would have it, the meathead perished just minutes later. Encountering wolves, my defensive spell got tainted and instead conjured a demon. Seeing a battlescarred and heavily armed band of adveturers flee in a frantic panic, the meathead did the only rational thing, and decided to investigate, and was promptly torn apart by hellspawn claws. You can't fix stupid!

Well, at least now I can partly cover Rasaads resurrection fee, using the finders fee for recovering the platemail. Scouting the area for this Samuel, we came across a horde of gibberlings. Having learned my lesson of not underestimating them from the beating we took last time, we furiously unleashed a barrage of spells on them. Even so, we sustained a fair bit of damage, though nothing serious.

Scouting ahead, I found their nest, filled with the bones of what I assume are less careful travellers. Our bravery was rewarded, as one the gibberlings carried a magic rock of healing!

We then came across Samuel, badly wounded. His lady friend asked us to rush him to the friendly arms inn.

We could have just healed him by ourselves you know, but whatever. Maybe there will be a reward for me in it... and anyway, I want MORE of those magic bags, so I'll take any excuse to travel back to the Friendly Arms. Once there, I also took the opportunity to raise Rasaad from the dead. Then, Xan wanted another chat;

I am starting to think this guy is a pessimist. But hey, I was hoping to afford the mage robe by now, but I am still just barely scraping by, so he isn't half wrong. I then decided against buying another magical bag, I need to save gold starting from now. Or, well, after we get drunk tonight. Instead, I bought another scroll case - so I can separate the bounty notices, and other notes I come across, from the spells - and a gem bag, because these gems are a pain to lug around otherwise. And an ammo belt, of course. So much space cleared from our backpacks now, we can fill them with plenty more shortswords for the selling! I also found a nifty helmet, for the low low price of 2400 gold something! What a find! I then drained my coffers, with a most necessary purchase of potions of super healing.

With all this gold spent, my next target is clear; Bassilus, and my 5000 gold! But first, lets have a drunken stupor and a rest at this here fine inn!

Meta:

Ooops accidentally deleted the top of the Xan banter!

You can have several bags of holding... but they all open up the same dimensional space I guess, so it is useless. Urgh! Same thing with gem bags... and potion bags... aha! But not with scroll cases! I am buying just one gem bag and one extra scroll case then.

DrakeICN · April 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate 17 of Markrull, moar wilderness.

"And so, Bassilus lived happily ever after."
Death count: 19
Reload count: 10

Another nightmare! This time I was choking that halforc down in the mines in my dreams. How disturbing! Anyway, we quickly got up on our feet, and left the Friendly Arms with the first light of the day. I first visited Beregost, on my way to Bassilus, for I am still in need of a damage soaking front liner. Asking around, I was directed to Kagains mercenary company. Once there, it turned out the owner was a *brrr* dwarf. He was apparently in a tight spot, having lost some nobleman's son, and actually wanted to hire us! Lucky brake!

Can't say I'm fond of dwarves, and this grim bastard is like a walking stereotype, ticking off all the wrong boxes for me, but they DO soak damage. Dwarves are also useful since they are so expendable - who in their right mind would be upset if one of them go missing? I just need to hide my disdain for him, until Bassilus lay dead at my feet. Yes yes, of course we will find that nobleman's son or whatever, but since we set out to search, we might as well so happen to first search the ruin Bassilus inhabits, before we find the lost brat, no? Now, we are off to visit the wizard. It is on the way, and Melicamp the chicken is nowhere near as fun a familiar as I hoped. No sense of humor this one, and ever since realizing I, uh, took a detour on the way to his master, he has grown sullen and hostile. And maybe the wizard feel like rewarding me for bringing back his apprentice? You never know! So, on to the wizard we go! Double lucky! Skulking about the wizards stone hut was an elven warrior, by far more well built than Khalid. I immediately kicked Dorn to the curb, that weakling have lost me enough gold what with all dyin' n' resurrection going on with him. My new elf's name was Kivan, and he apparently is an archer of great skill. Good, he can keep them gibberlings of my back next time then! Strolling around the high hedge, I realize how my powers have grown; we crush horde upon horde of skellies under our boots - the same skellies that pushed me to my limit, the last time I visited the wizard that lives here! Of course, instead, it just may be that magical club I wield, and magical axe I gave Kagain, and the magical sword Xan carries, weapons that all shatters bone as if it were glass. In either case, this feeling of power is... satisfying, in lack of a better word. Reaching our destination, the old wizard explained he needed an undead skull to turn my familiar back to a human. No problem! I'll just backtrack my steps to the nearest horde of crushed bones... there!

Of course, the old goat did not reward me. Fine, I'll just have a stroll around his property to help myself to a reward. But, as it turns out, there is no hidden stash in the hallway. Then what is his golems for, if they do not protect some treasure or another? Decoration!!? Oh, I hate that old fool, first refusing to pay me and second wasting my time like that! I knew I should have sold Melicamp to chef Martel when I had the chance!

Noticing I was getting irate, Xan decided to get my mind on other things:

What do you know, it worked! Shortly thereafter, we came upon a mysterious abandoned house in the wilderness, so of course I sneaked in to have a look inside. I did find a gem in there, I guess that will have to do as the reward for saving Melicamp, whatever.

Next we came upon yet another horde of skellies, this one in double line battle formation. "Stand back" shouted Rasaad, and next thing fired of a beam of fire;

Properly wrecked, says I! I did not know Rasaad had such impressive powers! Twas right easy to bludgeon them to bits following that fiery display! Since we just now had just about the right amount of pulverizing skeletons - always end on a high note eh? - we made our way towards the henge where we spotted Bassilus earlier. However, halfway through our wilderness trek we were temporarily delayed by a mangy band of bounty hunters;

Despite them - in theory - ambushing us, we got in the first barrage before THEY had the chance to react! Amateurs! After a proper introduction, Xan immediately let go off some hokus pokus that made the mouthy one take off in a panic - now that is lousy leadership have I seen one! Next thing, one of their spellcasters had a moment, when he knocked out Kagain with a spell. I retaliated by tainting him with my shadow chaos - missing the fact that Xan was just casting a spell!

Woof woof! Just then, their leader came to, making Xan outnumbered, so he instead flew at some runt that was pestering Imoen. Sensing we needed some more combat provess, I began besieging the shadow realm for a shadowy blessing.

Guess the shadow realm was in a foul mood today. Imoen stepped up to take the lead now that I were immobilized, first literally cracking the skull of the runt, then charming one of the assailants. She then stepped up the heat even more, permitting the use of precious magical arrows. And that was that, the last of the bounty hunters fell. Well, save the charmed one. Imoen sent him away, ready with the bow, waiting for my shadow chaos to wear off, before we stab our new friend in the back. That's when Xan decided it was time for another chat... while polymorphed to a dog (guess his vocal chords were not polymorphed);

Yes yes, very interesting Xan, but this is kind of a bad moment! Back to business:

I also had Xan dispel the magic on the dwarf, I got tired of waiting for him to come to. I would say the bounty hunters loot were disappointing, but, they were such pushovers I would not mind such ambushes every day, for even though I have no use for their gear, I can still pawn it for coins. But this little encounter did spend some of our spells - I do hope we yet have sufficient to bring down Bassilus! After dispatching some zombies and hobgoblins foolish enough to stand between us and our target, we made preparations in a clearing overlooking the henge when this happened;

Ok, so I bite him instead of stab him, big whoopdo. I won't be able to taint his magic though, but I am sure we will be fine! I charge ahead with my shadow monstrosity bodyguards, but fail to enter the shadows, so I am spotted and Bassilus starts talking to me;

So, I guess his mother was a bitch eh harr harr!!! Since I could not hide, I simply just charged ahead and bit him. That attracted the attention of his, err, relatives, so I fled to the shadows, and gnawing at skeletons instead. This wolf form was particularly efficient in doing so, with great speed and grace I picked many bones apart!

Meanwhile, my companions charged in, engaging the crossbowyers in melee, to diminish their ranged advantage. I left Xan to deal with the cleric - however, this angered him, and he charged at Xan, who, facing a stronger adversary, had to back away.

He then instead targeted my sister, which made my blood boil with anger! I will show him much of a bitch I can truly be! This scared the man, and he cocooned himself inside a divine shell. Meanwhile, the last of his relatives fell. Alone, scared and scarred, Xan then figured the evil cleric was ready for a special breed of spell of Xans own design, as he explained to me later, that instantly transfers Xans worldview to the recipient, hitting like a wave of depression. The cleric went down, crying like a child. So much pain.

Must this tragedy of Bassilus end with hate, anguish and blood? No doubt, he is an evil murderer worshiping a dark god, but he is also vulnerable, and have had a harsh lot in life! What is won, if I simply send his tainted soul to the abyss? How about instead we prove him wrong about this world? Thus, I did not run him through with my scimitar. I had another fate in mind...

Look at how happy he is now! Jumping, running, climbing, frolicking. Maybe he will meet a nice squirrel girl, and have a big happy squirrel family, turning this tragedy into a fuzzy warm story.

Alright... wait why is he following me!? You are starting to creep me out squirrel. Uh! I am out of here! Freak! But just as I am about to leave, Xan starts up a chat:

Oh yes! FINALLY I managed to get him to think about such matters. I always imagined my first time to be all romantic and stuff, but now, I just don't won't to die a virgin. Now I'd do it right here and now in the wilderness, with the rest of the crew watching, if I had to, just so I can get it over with before one of my would be assasins is actually succesful! Xan, you are sweet and cute, alright, and before I left Candlekeep, I could have played this coy game for years, but now I can't wait for an elf's pace of life... I can't even wait for a human or... or... even an orcs idea of romance and dating! You better step up your game Xan. I mean, this is a good start,.. but hurry! I will NOT die before I know love, and that is final! Brrr... there is that nasty squirrel again!

I will run out of here now, I have had it with this place, it's creeping me out badly! Go be a weirdo somewhere else, evil cleric squirrel!!!

Meta:

First reload: Summoning ghasts to prep for Bassilus, and this happened;

Imoen core team, must reload!

DrakeICN · April 2018

Shadowmasters log, 20th of Mankind, Friendly Arms Inn

"My new tool is huuuuge!!!"
Death count: 22
Reload count: 12

On my way to the Beregost temple, to collect my reward, I suddenly remembered some runt in the Friendly Arms Inn would pay me good money for a pair of boots or whatever, from her spider infested den. Since Beregost is on the way, I will simply make a stop there first. On my way to her house, I was stopped, first by a girl telling me to meet some commander at an Inn, and an old mage named Elminster. The latter was utterly useless, while he wanted me to succeed in my quest to avenge my father, he would not give me any gold or items to aid that endeavor - just another self important old goat. Words are cheap, arrogant geezer fools, but magical dresses are not - guess ten times which I prefer!!? The commander was useful though, she will pay good coin for bandit scalps - to bad she didn't tell me earlier, what with all the filthy bounty hunters making attempts on my life. I could have made good coin from their otherwise worthless heads! But it does raise more questions about the utility of these mercenaries; why does she not hunt down the bandits herself? It would appear the Flaming Fist is only all to happy harassing travelers, hunting down their own and drinkin'n'shaggin' (or whatever she and her posse spend all day doing, hanging out at the local waterhole) all the while pocketing the coins of, well, whomever it is who is dumb enough to fit their tab, but to actually go out there and confront the bandits? Screw that, fighting people who actually fight back, that's dangerous! We might get injured! I don't mind though, long as you funnel that sweet sweet scalp gold to me for me doing your job for you.

Turning to the spider house, I sort of expected a fierce battle, but I easily dispatched them. Only thing is, while preparing for the fight, this happened;

My next step was collecting my reward from the major. I realized this man has never seen me as a lady - every time I visited, I have been in the wrong gender! And this cleric is unable to lift the curse. After collecting my reward, I felt I was deserving of a bit extra coin, so I had Imoen pickpocket his harem girls.

4 pearls, not to shabby! After helping some drunk - on behest of Rasaad, personally I could care less - I quickly left this place, the shame of again having a dingly, as if I am into this kind of thing, is unbearable.

Besides, I want to distract Xan from my current state. I remember seeing some chariot wreckages between here and friendly arms inn, maybe this nobleman the filthy dwarf is after is there somewhere. The trek from here to there might make both of us think of other things. Happily, the curse wore off by itself this time!

Praise be, uh, well whomever it is that deserves praise in this instance, I am not really that religious of me.

We soon found some brigands loitering near some wreckages. Now, those wreckages have been here quite some time, at least since I last visited here, what, oh, a tenday ago, so this may well be, or not be, the brigands responsible, but eh, long as I can convince the dwarf we got the right brigands - dwarves are rather thick, after all, should not be impossible - who cares? Just as I thought that, another, wicked, thought entered my mind. Would it not be funny if I - after getting contracted to help slay these bandits - let the dwarf handle them by himself? Why yes, I do believe it would be!

As it turned out, however, he was not quite able to take them (and the interloping xvarts) by himself so I had to backstab one or two brigands meself to even the numbers a bit. Once beaten, their leader plead for mercy. Not happening!

How much mercy did you show your victims, such as Entar Silvershield!!? Do not play the game if you don't like the rules! One of the rotting corpses by the wreckages were indeed the boy we were looking for. The dwarf then wanted to stay in the party, even though we finished the contract (after first having his help with dealing with Bassilus). Not happening! I can stand dwarven stench only for so long.

We then begun traveling towards the Friendly Arms Inn to collect my reward from the spiders, when we met what I surmise where more bounty hunters. These ones did not even speak a word, before they came charging at us!

Seeing how one of them was a spellcaster, I quickly tainted his spell and followed up with a bolt, but missed. Meanwhile, Xan engaged one of them in melee, and was almost killed, from a single wound! "ALL OUT" I shouted, the new command we agreed upon, that indicates that we save no expenses in beating our foes. That is, all those rare and precious magical potions and ammunition and wands and scrolls and whatnots that we save for a special encounter, well, now is the time to use them. Starting, of course, with a potion of superhealing for Xan.

The weirdest thing then happened; a skeleton crawled out of the ground and started to attack our foes. I cannot for the life of me remember how this happened, but a good guess, of course, is shadow tainted magic. Out of the three assassins - initially I thought there were only two, until a third sprung up from out of nowhere, damn near killing Rasaad - it turned out that one was a pushover, easily dispatched by Kivans magic arrows. The potion of heroism might have helped bring his doom sooner, of course. The other two assassins did not sit idle, however, savagely wounding Imoen with a backstab and Xan with melf's acid arrows. Imoen panicked and fled, while my spells fizzled time and again. Thankfully, a Rasaad juiced up on a potion of hill giants strength and a potion of defense was more than these assassins could handle... or so I thought! Gulping down another potion of invisibility, one of the assassins took Rasaad down with a single well placed blow. These bastards rely very much on illusion magic - if only Xan had not spend all his magic fighting that other group of bounty hunters and Bassilus already, then a swiftly cast dispel illusion would have made this struggle that much easier!!! Not that it would have helped much, I suppose; Xan, overcome with pain, decided to try to flee the field, rather than drinking that potion of superhealing that I ordered him to do, not realizing the acid arrows would... and did... kill him soon after. I have lost count now on how many times I have brought Xan to the temple of Helm, but I cannot deny his usefulness in combat... until he croaks.

Next, the assassins cast a spell I thought was unique to Xan - only shows how much I have yet to learn - hopelessness. Kivan started sobbing and fell in a useless pile to the ground, and Imoen was still running around aimlessly in a panic, so it all came down to me now - and I have no means by which to dispel their invisibility, and also cannot possible hope to best them both in melee, being protected by several layers of magic. Thankfully, the bastards were distracted by the aforementioned skeleton, so I slipped into the shadows, starting to summon shadow monstrosities just out of their field of vision - hoping to bring forth an army quick enough to in the very least save Imoen and Kivan. Somehow, however, after I had just summoned forth two of my shadow monstrosities, they discovered me, and targeted me with a spell that hit me with a blending light and then... I can't quite tell what happened next. My memories are much confused. I remember flowers, and running through a tunnel, and everything started burning and then I opened my eyes again, and my shadow monstrosities had killed one of the assassins, and paralyzed the other. Wanting to finish the job myself, I slipped into the shadows, ready to sink my scimitar deep in the bastards back... except Kivan came to, and stole the kill mere seconds before I would have done it meself. Hrrrmf. No matter, the important thing is we, well, most of us, yet breathe, they do not. With the previous owners expiration, I claimed ownership of their gear, as is customary. I found two items of marvel;

My new oversized scimitar, and a pair of thieves gloves! This's the one time I wish the malehood curse had not worn off quite yet, I just missed a golden opportunity to jest about meself compensatin' for sumthing. I also found three scrolls of fireball - lucky for me they did not use these scrolls, preferring to try and stab us instead. We then - yet again, I wonder how much profit Helm be makin' from us lately? - rushed to the temple to bring back our fallen, and again Xan wanted to talk;

I guess a vacation on the other side loosens peoples tongues, when they be realizing life is short and such, and be wanting to accomplish more, such as wooing fine orc maidens. Keep it coming my way, elf lover, I too think life is to short for dilly dallying. Speaking of wasting mine and others youth, why is it, exactly, we are nay drunk yet, standing here in front of this famous watering hole? I scurredly returned some items, such as a spiders body, to their rightful owners, and pawned the content of my loot bag, and then invested the gains well, by partying like there were no tomorrow.

Meta:

First death: Oh no, more of the ridicously overpowered assasins from that mod! Since I can't prep for this battle, as my char did not expect them and this is a RP play, I wonder how many times it will take? These guys are hasted, mirror imaged, stone skinned, constantly backstab dealing 50 dmg, and, knowing this mod and also talking 12 electric damage, probably have some zany cheater weapons equipped. Why did I just kick that dwarf to the curb

?

First reload: Xan chunked! Core team, must reload...

Second death: Almost beat them... then they pull some bullshit magic missile insane damage.

Second reload: Doublechunked Imoen. How considerate.

Third death: Very much almost beat them! Imoen used staff of summoning which distracted one of them, unfortunately, the other one one-hit killed me, despite that I was mirror imaged. Lucky, I suppose. I also had 39 HP, but this mod deal zany dmg, so...

Alright, I won, and thankfully the scimitar I recovered were not super overpowered, only overpowered, so, it's all good. The problem with this mod, I think, is that all the enemies are overpowered AND drop loot that makes you overpowered (should you chose to use it) making all fights but the mods own fights kind of dull! So, I have stayed well clear of the worst offending items. Also, this mod favors them quick encounters that I so dislike.

DrakeICN · May 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate 22 of Miirtul, Ruins of Ushkel Library

"Wolf infested ruins"
Death count: 24
Reload count: 12

The good mood from yesterday kept up this morning, and we were all happy, or happyish - the blokes in my team, Xan, Kivan and Rasaad, they all be a bit of downers, in their own ways - and for this or another reason, Xan decided to discuss philosophy again.

I am a melon-what? I hope that's not the elven way of saying fruitcake. In other notes, way back when, I decided to never again use any item I could not recognize. Good call, look at this terrible item I picked up from only Ao knows where;

When I have the time, I'll dig a deep hole, plop down the gloves, and bury them, so no other poor sod happens by them. Once I stepped outside the keep, I was at a bit of a loss; what now? Yes yes, I know I should hunt down the bandits, but I just don't feel like it right now. Thus, I flicked through my notes; commander Brage - some wreck that butchered his family - is still at large. That is down in Nashkel, uuuuurrrgghh. Travelling all the way down there again, just for a scrawny bounty of 1500 gold!!? Let's see if there anything on the way for entertainment... aha, Ushkel library, some abandoned wizard school, and Finewine bridge, which, is, err, some kind of bridge, where they used to brew wine? Filled with treasures and monsters, I suppose? That'll do the trick! First, I am off to Ushkel, because my map indicates it's closer. Once there, I was impressed with the quality armor we have looted from fallen assasins; I remember in Nashkel mines, how I feared each and every kobold, as their fire arrows hurt bad, and they had a dead aim. Well, immidiately upon reaching Ushkel, we encountered no less than eight of the little bastards, and with raising anxiety I saw their fire arrows coming our way and... bounced off our armors! Well, Rasaad were dodging them I suppose, but still. The kobolds aim was as true as ever, but not even one of their arrows hit us, as Imoen and Kivan returned the fire, while me, Rasaad and Xan sliced and punched them to minced meat. I must say, I do love my new blade; it kills kobolds dead and then some! Next, we encountered some runt trying to pawn a gemstone for 1000 gold. Unbeknownst to this charlatan, Imoen had already picked him dry, so I bid him on his merry way - needless to say, the gem was worth nowhere near the sum he demanded. After climbing a natural stair on one of the plateous of this region, I found the ruins of Ushkel.

Unfortunately, there were an undead guardian patrolling the area, accompanied by a horde of kobolds. While staying hidden in shadows, ready to slice the undead in two, I had Rasaad use a potion of explosions, hoping to finish of the kobolds and winging the undead in one go.

Unfortunately, the undead warrior was unphased by the explosion and some of the kobolds survived - but in the very least, I learned that magic cannot harm this guardian. We will need to grind his bones to dust. Rather than attempting to strike from the shadows, I figured that I would cast a dark mirage and draw the undead warriors attention, that my crew might flank it while it is busy engaging me. However, as luck would have it, instead my tainted magic created, yet again, suffocating fogs.

I don't think skeletons breathe, so this was most unfortunate! At least it distracted it's kobold minions, but as the fog also knocked out Rasaad, the trade was not worth it. The undead warrior then declared his intention to kill, before lunging the head of a flail square in Imoens chest, with a loud thud and the cracking of ribs.

Imoen retreated, instead Kivan challenging the undead warrior, but it was stubborn - completely ignoring Kivans call to exchange blows, chosing instead to keep chasing Imoen. Only after drinking a potion of invisibility did it lose interest in Imoen and turn to face Kivan. Finally halting I came crashing into it from out of the shadows, cracking ribs with my scimitar as payback for what it had done to Imoen. Through trial and error, we quickly established that Xans magical discs and Imoens ordinary arrows could not damage it. Being immune to non-magical weapons, Rasaads fists likely also would be futile. Thus, I threw him my scimitar, while I drew my club, while Xan dispelled his discs. We then surrounded the skeleton and kept blunting our weapons on it, thinking it would break sooner or later.

But just as I thought it would finally shatter, the daylight disappeared, and in a flash of light, the skeleton also disappeared, only to reappear, whole again, as if we had not landed a single blow on it. Not only that, it now commanded lightning, near slaying Rasaad with a thunderbolt. But what choice did we but to attempt to reduce it to dust? So, we started smacking it around again. The second thunderbolt struck Xan dead - no biggie, I'll just take him to the temple again! Thinking we could confuse it into wasting thunderbolts on useless summons, Imoen used a staff of summoning.

Said and done, the next thunderbolt struck a hobgoblin. Since Icharyd next kissed me with it's flail, I thought to use my hungering shadows, only to inadvertantly release powerful healing magic. However, like the potion of explosion, the magic simply washed of Icharyd, making me smirk. Not as clever as it thinks, eh, with magical protection? A few smacks later and the bones stopped moving for good... I hope.

As it died, daylight returned. Have we really struggled with this thing for a whole day? I think not, there is foul play at work here! And as if to mock me, the flail that near killed Imoen was now lying in a crumbled and broken heap. Thus, again, we are left with no reward following the defeat of a dangerous foe. Just rund the next corner, we ran into the largest group of kobolds I have seen to date. Yet, I was overconfident, charging into the fray without much regard for tactics. Kobolds are weak, I thought, though weak they may be, they are still a worthy foe when they attack en masse, as I just learned the hard way. We had to expend many healing potions fighting them off, even as Imoens jester song had most of them in a constant state of confusion.

However, Imoen was so lost in her song, and I preoccupied with fighting the little buggers off, that both of us failed to notice the sheer amount of tiny stab wounds Imoen sustained, and she finally just... dropped. I would think the killing blow actually was nowhere near lethal, had she not already lost so much blood from the many, many, other lacerations.

This prompted me to back off a bit, to force them to come to us in a line, so that we were not constantly flanked. During this process, I got annoyed and used my death spell on one of them, however, instead flames erupted from my palms, burning me and everone in the near vicinity, including Rasaad. I regained my health, by finishing off the few stumbling kobold survivors with my hungering mists, but now there were only two of us left. I contemplated returning to Beregost temple. But no! I am here now, the way to the dungeon is clear, and I have another elf warrior with me. Before I set out on my journey, I had never once thought of elves as tough, seeing how they are scrawny and pampered, but in meeting with Khalid and Kivan I have learned to appreciate elves. Their speed and guile compensates for their thin frames, which, by the by, are nowhere near as fragile as I had previously surmised. Well, I suppose Xan is, but then again, he is a mage warrior and not a warrior warrior. And when I say dungeon, I actually mean basement, and Ushkel ruins indicate the school was actually rather small, not even remotely comparable to a learning institute, such as say, Candlekeep. I think we will be fine! Once we descended down the stairs, I immediately started scouting for traps, seeing how the kobolds had littered traps all over Nashkel mines. Unfortunately, being surrounded by shadows akes everything a bit blurry, and searching for traps at the same time is near impossible. Thus, I did not hide, and I payed to much attention to nooks and crannies to look straight ahead, which is why the ghost spotted me well before I spotted it;

It spoke to me, confused and angry, seeking blood. I had no interest in fighting it, but it left me no choice. I quickly slipped into the shadows, which, curiously, made it wander aimlessly in the corridors instead, as if it forgot about me as soon as I was out of sight. Well, I did not forget it, and followed it until it came to a halt, before I delievered a greeting kiss with my scimitar.

Since the hallways also were home to some puddings, I ran off after hitting it, hoping to lure it closer to Kivan while at the same time escaping the puddings. However, I discovered Kivan engaging in melee with a skeleton, forcing me to take on the ghost alone. That is when it touched me, and a surge of cold flowed inside me, causing exhaustion and dizzyness, but curiously, no pain. It sucks my vitality dry!!! I backed off, not wanting to end up an empty shell, and used another charge of my precious wand of summoning. Suck these beasts dry, for all I care!

I then began offloading bolts at the apparition, but they just passed through. Like the undead warrior above, non-magical weapons do not appear to be able to harm it! Very well, I shall disperse your etheral body with magic, releasing all my shadowbolts as quickly as I can! It was working, I could see the contours of the ghost starting to grow fainter... when a wave of terror hit me. I knew it was just trickery, some undead mind altering spell, but I am ashamed to admit it still overcame me, and I ran away in a panic.

Thankfully, however, my elven warrior had just bested his undead counterpart and was now ready to square off with the ghost. The ghost, confused as it were by centuries of isolation, did not have the presence of mind to engage the biggest threat first, instead trying to suck the summoned hobgoblins dry of their life force. This allowed Kivan to pin it with half a dozen fire arrows. However, when he ran out of them and instead fired a non-magical arrow, he like me discovered the apparition could not be harmed by ordinary weapons. Thus, he had no choice but to engage it with the longsword I had recovered from Greywolf. Two quick cuts were all it took, and the ghosts form dissipated, using it's final moments in this world to once again bemoan the injustice of it all. May it find the peace it never found in this world in the next.

I then returned to slice and dice the puddings, which I managed without suffering a single injury myself. I continue to surprise myself with how much stronger I have grown, ever since leaving Candlekeep. I am no longer a rookie, that much is certain... which then became further selfevident when I and Kivan fought of a pack of wolves.

Venturing deeper, however, I suddenly regretted braving the dungeon with only the two of us;

That is a nasty looking wolf if ever there was one! Besting this beast will likely require expending lots of precious potions and wand charges. Well, lets get on it then! First, I will backstab it, then I will shadowstep out of there, and me and Kivan each throw one exploding potion! That should be the end of that!

I missed! The stress must be getting to me! My shadowstep fizzled and uhhh... I can barely lift my sword! Urrrghhh... my muscles... getting weaker... OWWW!!! Bad doggy, don't bite a defenseless lady! Let me try the trick that worker on that other dog, Greywolf, make a feint attack, quickly just fall backwards and cover up in shadows... yes! It worked! I Live!!! Kivan! Save me!

Oh no! This place is suddenly swarmed with wolves! So many I can barely count them! I hear ruckus down there, Kivan is still alive! I got a plan! "Kivan! Put on the ring of fire protection, and drink the potion of fire protection! We will torch them yet!"

They... survived? Suddenly, I hear Kivan shout in agony... it's all over! I am weak, and bleeding badly, and the only person able to save me is worse off than me! This is the end... but then my mind draws blank and I start screaming. My body swells and contorts... once again, the beast within have taken over my mind and body! "I will not die!" I can hear myself screaming, over and over. Rushing in, to if possible save Kivan, I arrive just in time to see him fall, and is at the same time hit by the wolves trickery, the combined terror able to overcome even this murderous beasts instincts, and I run!

My form is faster and more agile than even the wolves, and they cannot catch me, as I leap and tumble around in a panicked frenzy. Then, my mind returns, as the biggest and baddest wolf stares at me with smug hatred and disdain, as if challenging me to a fight! Very well, a fight it is! In this form, it appears I am much fiercer than the dog, and it is swiftly defeated!

I then summon shadow monstosities to aid me, knowing a whole horde of wolves await just round the corner. It seems my shadow monstrosities and these wolves are evenly matched... to bad my shadow monstrosities are so badly outnumbered! Luckily, while I cannot use my spells in this form - I suspect the brain is altered when I turn - I can still infuse scrolls with magical energy, as this is an action that requires little thinking. Once my shadow monstrosities are nearly dissipated, I unleash a fireball. It beuitifully devastates the wolves, the few limping survivors are easy enough to rip apart with my claws!

Then, a double blessing from the shadows! I guess they sensed my desperation and decided to bestow boons upon me! First, I am invigorated, I can sense my magical energies returning, as if given a good nights rest. Secondly, my shadow monstrosity spell is duplicated! Now, I more than stand a chance! Me and my shadow monstrosities easily rip apart the few remaining wolves. The immidiate threat removed, somehow, my anxiety levels only increase! I need air! I need to get out of here! My brain, now half beast and panicky, is unable to remember the way back, and, finding a staircase, descend deeper into the ruins!

Meta:

First death: Moo

Second death: Damn, Icharyd is tough!!!

DrakeICN · May 2018

Shadowmasters log, stardate 22 of Mirkult, Ruins of Ushkel Library

"Alone in the dark"
Death count: 50
Reload count: 13

AAAHHHH!!! Why is it so dark down here! And who is this ghost woman? What does she want? Oh, she too wants a fight? Well, I can provide!

After talking to this ghost lady, there were a change within me. I am the beast, and the beast is me. When last I turned into this beastly form, I was savage and unrefined, attacking without thinking, until Bassilus fell in a hopeless pile of sorrow, and I retained enough humanity to spare him. I was reverse chocked out of the beastly mind, as it were, Bassilus defenselessness brought back compassion, and with it a sliver of humanity to my mind. Just now, just recently, I was able to use my shadow talents and even scrolls, and right now, my mind is nearly as clear as when I am human - although I still cannot form the thoughts necessary to cast spells. We have grown accustomed to each other, the beast and me! Therefore, instead of charging the ghost mage head on, I formulate a plan. First, I use my wand of summoning on her... to distract the mage and to pull in her minions closer, while I slip into the shadows! Once the enemy has congregated I down a potion of magical protection, and slip back into the shadow. This time, I stay hidden until my last summon nearly falls... after which I toss the potion of explosions I found in the treasure pile downstairs on her, catching the entire mob in the same blast radius!

I then tear into her surviving minions with my claws, followed by another use of the summoning wand. Curiously, she uses a fireball to clear away my summons, and in doing so, clears away her own summons as well, while my potion kept me perfectly safe from harm! One ghoul survived the inferno, but I render it dead, er, deader, with a claw stab through it's neck. Not entirely sure these things breathe, or, uh, have a pulse or for that matter any blood left to actually lose, or indeed have any use of their rotting brains, but it nonetheless did the trick and the ghoul hit the ground, dead...er. But before I could celebrate or even react the mage hit me with a magic missile and every single missile burned me - that magic protection potion sure is unreliable! Badly wounded I slip into the shadows. At a safe distance, I attempt to summon shadow monstrosities, but instead summon... a demon!!!

I have no choice, but to run, and I cannot run back, for there the ghost mage lays in wait, ready to slay me with her next spell, so I run deeper into the catacombs...

...and stumble upon another horde of undead! I quickly slid into the shadows, before they notice me! I find another passageway, and long story short, I come upon an extra strong skeleton, immune to all manner of magic, with one curious exception; it cannot resist my hungering shadows! I thus begin feeding health back from it, when my hungering shadows become tainted, and boosts my vitality! I now hide from the skeleton warrior - I shall have to slay it later, for now, the mage is my focus. Keeping still in the shadows, waiting for the demon to kill it's prey, my heart rate stabilizes, and in doing so, my natural form returns. As it turns out, however, the demon was to far away from the mage, and payed it no attention. My next plan is thus to lure the mage closer to doom, staying safe myself, with a protection from evil spell. However, the spell fizzled. Therefore, I instead engage the mage myself, jumping out of the shadows and tainting the archmages spellcasting before she can even reach to my presence!

However, that did little to stop the ghost mage's onslaught of spells. I therefore use my wand again, to keep the mage distracted, while sneaking closer to the demon, to see if I can pull it in. It targets me, of course, with a silence spell. I run back, while making sure to stand in the general area of the mage. Unfortunately, I was silenced and she was not, so I must sneak away again to regroup once more. But before she I get out of her spell reach, she wings me badly. The demon, meanwhile, have no interest in the archmage. Bah! I down a potion of extra healing, then I am ready to take her down myself!

Third time's the charm! There! How do you enjoy a pack of angry dogs mauling your whatever equivalent female ghosts have of a nutsack, while I keep tainting your magic to kingdom come?

Despite my best efforts of blocking her spells, she still does manage to get in one healing spell and then... engage the nearest dog in melee? Run out of spells already sweetheart? Harumph! I was just getting started, my pack is full of scrolls and potions, and I still have most my spells left! Now to just perform the coup de grace – I am sure whatever awaits you in the afterlife is a damn sight nicer then these pitch dark and claustrophobic tunnels, packed to the brim with your mindless undead minions.

No need to thank me! Though, I thank thee, for keeping the loot safe from all intruders that came before me, starting with whatever you had on your person...

Not to shabby... for someone fighting with daggers. I do not, so I will just toss it in my backpack. I am sure it will fetch a pretty coin. Right, now to finish the undead rabble loitering herein. I'll use my warlocky powers for that, methinks;

Oh, they are immune to electric damage, now, are they? Well, live and learn! Back to the drawing board, or rather, the shadows, for an alternate plan! This place is inhabited by what I like to call "burning skellies", since these skeletons eyes are burning red. These burning skellies are all archers, well, as far as I can tell, and they, as I found out once I cut them down to size, all carry explosive arrows. Since they for whatever reason like to stick to themselves, rather than banding with the other undead hordes down here, it was easy enough for me to pick them off, one by one. I then took out Imoens shortbow from my magical bag. I can't say I know how to use bows – they are rather tricky compared to crossbow. With a crossbow, you just aim the crosshair slightly above where you intend to hit, or, if the target is distant, quite a bit above where you intend to hit. Or if there are strong winds, also a bit to the side of where you wish to hit. Bows, however, are aimed, well, with your shoulder and hip. I think. Like I said, it is not my forte, and I probably could not hit the broad side of a barn with a bow. But since these arrows are explosive, neither do I need to. I just aim the bow in the general direction of the threat and...

BAM!!! Since these arrows are rather precious – I had none before exploring these ruins – I then rush in to smack the weakened survivors around with my scimitar, rather than fire another explosive arrow. My plan was flawless, until I came upon a horned skeleton, that was attracted by the commotion. It smacked me around, bad, and I limped away, barely clinging to life. Naturally, my first instinct was to transfer vitality from it to me, using my hungering shadows. Instead, my magic got tainted, and a cow fell from the ceiling, smack on top of the horned skeleton. "Well, that was the end of that," I thought to myself. But to my horror, the horned skeleton emerged from the exploded cow carcass, unharmed. It to must be immune to magic, just like the horned skeleton we just fought on the surface. Thankfully, it did not have the ability to see the unseen, so it did not follow, as I slunk into the sanctuary of the shadows. Back to the drawing board again, then. I contemplated escaping with my life. But alas, I was unable. Something... inside me... urged me to press on. To kill kill kill. I wanted to resist this voice, but I could not. A residue from my beastly form mayhaps? In any case, while I could not leave, I could manage to kill things at my own pace. I know the horned skeleton was a far superior warrior to me, and that my magic can not touch it. The solution was, of course, potions: a potion of speed, a potion of defense and a potion of heroism. Needless to say, I also prepared myself with a dark mirage, before I was ready to engage the horned skeleton.

The efficacy of these potions far exceeded my expectations. Sure, I needed to jump in and out of the shadows repeatedly, and the horned skeleton had found some buddies to help it fight me, and the horned skeleton with friends managed to slice my every mirror image as well as injure me, but I did win, and rather expediently so. This place is crawling with traps, but since these potions are time limited, I urged on nonetheless. I did not need to walk far to reach more vicious looking foes;

I jumped out of shadow, scimitar swinging wildly, targeting the most wicked looking foe – a spiked knight in black armor -thinking him the biggest threat. I planned to shadowstep out of there, instead, a cascade of fire erupted at my feet!

While it damaged me, mayhaps this was even better than my initial plan, because the spiked knight was to confused by the sudden explosion to attack me at first, realizing the threat only after I had paced out a distance and fired off another explosive arrow. Poor thing, that spiked knight, standing around in his b-boy attire for centuries, looking all mean and waiting for something to cut to pieces, only to be turned into shishkebab before he can even lift his blade. He will be the laughing stock in the warriors hall of whatever deity he worshiped. Well, of course, it was me he was going to cut to pieces, so I am glad it worked out for the better for me, but I can still feel a slimmer of sympathy. But the threat was far from over; both the horned skeleton and the ghost mage emerged unscathed from the pair of explosions.

I jumped into the shadows again, confusing the horned skeleton who ran off on some wild goose chase. Once out of sight, I re-emerged from the shadows to deal with this ghost mage the way I dealt with the first one; I used my wand of summon to create a distraction for the mage. It would appear this ghost mage was way weaker; me and my wolves tore his etheral form apart in a matter of seconds. I then chased down the horned skeleton while protecting myself with a dark mirage. Like that other horned skeleton, it did manage to bring down all my mirror images, but instead of hitting me next, it deciced to butcher two of my wolves. I guess it is unaware that summons only last a short peroid of time in either case? No matter. Since I was still hasted from my potions, I did a complete clean sweep, killing everything in my path, finding and disabling all traps, and most importantly, looting every item of value I could find. So many kobold short bows and short swords I had to empty from my magic bag to make room... this place is a proverbial treasure trove! Just as I was about to leave, with a sinking heart, I noticed another doorway, leading deeper into the ruins.

Should I? I probably should not. I only barely survived the dangers of this hallway, and in any case, I can return later, this time with a full set of party members. I would be foolish to venture any deeper, I was thinking, as I ventured deeper. Immediately after this tunnel ended, I came upon yet another ghost mage, this time guarded by three ghost knights. Thinking I could take out one of the knights quickly, I snuck up from behind and lunged my scimitar deep in one of them, hoping to kill it. But it seemed nearly unfazed by my attack, and they swamped me. I returned to the shadows just as I was hit by another terror spell. My memories of this event are confused. I know I stayed hidden while I ran down eerie corridors and stumbled over traps. When I finally came to my senses again, sharp stabbing pain from an arrow in my gut waking me up, I had no idea where I were. I quickly pulled the arrow out and gulped down a potion of extra healing, praise be Mystra – I know enough anatomy to know this wound would have been lethal were it not for healing magic – and returned to the shadows, gathering my bearings. The ghost mage, nowhere to be seen. The ghost knights, nowhere to be seen. The arrow had come from an ordinary run of the mill skeleton. There were seven skeletons here in total, weaklings all. Even though I could sense the power of the potions had passed - while I cannot recall the exact moment this happened since it happened while I was running around like a madman, I know this to be the case, as my movements now feel curiously similar to the same way one feels when heavily intoxicated, oddly dull and awkward, when compared to the power high I felt just a few moments ago - I still cut them down with ease. I then hunted down the mage. As luck would have it, he and his bodyguards must have scattered when I fleed, perhaps to better search for me, so I could now tackle him without his aides.

I backstab him good, only to discover my blade glances off – he is protected by stoneskin, which I could not tell beforehand, because his ghostly form strobes in weird colors, hiding most visible telltale signs of magical effects. In response to my attack, he struck me with a lightning bolt, but it hit my only ever so slightly on my side, causing me very little pain, and then bounced off down the corridors. He then casts a web spell centered on me, that binds me down, unable to move. To my horror, I discover I had been to eager; there were a skeleton archer here, that begun unloading arrows at my incapacitated form, while the ghost mage is preparing another lightning bolt. I remember thinking that this is the end, when the mage is trapped by his own spell! I then manage to wrestle free of the threads, but my foe stays frozen. It would also appear this particular skeleton archer was squint-eyed, for despite firing off a barrage, only one arrow actually hit me, and that one harmlessly bounced off my shield! Quickly, I slid in and out of the shadows, whacking the skeleton archer in the process. Unfortunately, it survived, and rather than finishing the job, I then targeted the ghost mage with a web spell of my own; I already know he is not immune to web spells, and making the web mesh even thicker will keep the bastard off my arse, while I deal with the pesky skeleton archer.

The archer dead and gone, I started using the immobilized mage for crossbow target practice. But a combination of misses and stoneskin made slaying the bastard time consuming, and I started to get nervous, worrying he would tear himself free of the threads and pour spells over me, like the ghost lady I met earlier had. My instincts tells me I just got lucky with that lightning bolt, and that I could be defeated, should he brake free. I therefore supplement the double webbing with a third webbing, before gulping down a potion of freedom, and rushing in with my scimitar. Surely, it must be easier to hit him in melee than at a range? It was, and I stand victoriously over, well, the emptiness where his corpse would have been had he not been a ghost. But he was, so now I stand victoriously in an empty tunnel. While approaching the mage, I did step on a lose stone that lodged a dart in my back. Nothing to dangerous or painful, just a friendly reminder these corridors are littered with traps. I shall have to watch my step even more carefully from now on.

These dark hallways would probably appear intimidating to most, but they did not to me. The darkness augmented my stealthy talents and only emboldened me. Striking from behind only to vanish again became a game for me, of sorts, and the bodies of the dead – quite literally – started to pile up. That is when I came across no less than three horned skeletons. A single horned skeleton, while I am all juiced up on three precious potions, can dispel all my dark mirage mirror images and badly wing me. Now there is three of them, and I am not juiced up. I snuck past them to, uh, deal with them later.

My next task thus became to hunt down the ghost knights... there! One... two...

Uh... was there not three of them? Hmm!? Nevermind, there are more ordinary skellies, hiding behind a trap. I just disarm the trap, and... oh, more friends attracted by the commotion? Eat fireball arrow! Ahahahaha.... aaaaaahh!!! You had a horned skeleton amongst your numbers!!? RUN!!!

Oh, fancy meeting you here, and how unexpected! Hold still a second would you... there! That's the last of them. Now to just sneak past that fourth horned skeleton to see what it was it was guarding!

I can barely make out the contours of an archway behind him. Or... some kind of oversized dresser? I get a feeling telling me this is it, this the final resistance standing between me and some incredible treasure! Hmmm... I would hate to be attacked from behind. I cannot do much about the four horned skeletons running up and down the hallways, but there is one corridor I have yet to investigate. Our little duel shall wait. Seeing how you waited 300 years to test your mettle, what is another half an hour to you?

The last corridor was housing three skellies and one little trap. Nothing I could not handle swiftly. It contained three colorful necklaces that tingles with powerful magic, unfortunately, I have no idea what they are good for. Shame, they could perhaps (or perhaps not) have helped me best this final ghost mage. It is the last one – it must be – and it is in the deepest part of the ruins I could find. I therefore assume it is simultaneously the most powerful one! I will therefore prepare accordingly.

Standing just out of ears reach from the chamber where the final ghost mage awaits, I begin casting spells and gulping down potions. Starting with a potion of regeneration – while I cleared out the last corridor with ease, I did not do so unharmed. I only have a handful of potions of extra healing left, and I cannot risk running out during a combat, thus I used regeneration. I then downed a potion of defense, and cast a shield spell using a scroll... only for it to backfire and hold me in place! At first, I get terrified, but as I stand frozen there, all alone, I begin to see the humor in the situation. Just over yonder, a ghostly archmage has waited 300 years for something to kill, and now I am here, absolutely defenseless, and he does not notice me! When the tainted spell finally wore off, the regeneration potion had worked it's magic. This time, I used my necklace to cast the shield spell – no need to tempt fate, is there? I need it against the archmage's magic missiles – I surmised that since these mages all come from the same school, their repertoire of spells is also similar. For the same reason, I gulped down a potion of freedom – protection from web spells – and a potion of absorption – protection from lightning bolts. I now felt ready to engage the final obstacle!!!

Sneaking closer, to formulate a plan, I noticed that the spiked knight had just kind of... keeled over!!? I don't complain but, he was alive... or uh... undead and well just the hour before! I wonder how this happened? Maybe the fresh air whooshing down from me opening until then closed doors blew away his flesh or something? It is surely a mystery, but one that I care not to solve. Nor do I have the means to do so, should I have wanted to. Instead, I just get on with it!

The great thing about magical weapons is that they do not incur the magical backlash preventing spells from being used in rapid succession. Thus, in a short time span, it is possible to fire an explosive arrow and then follow up with a lightning bolt scroll, which would have been impossible with say, a fireball scroll and a lightning scroll. I did so, and it worked wonders! Two rapid hits in. I was going to say "before the ghost even had time to react", but this ghost had quite the reflexes, managing to get in a mirror image in between the explosion and the lightning bolt. I sure hope I know what I am doing, engaging a mage so many years – hundreds in fact – my senior! As I expected, his undead bodyguards tried to rush me, to bring down my spellcasting. Just as they come in striking distance, I wheel forward, into a cloud of shadows. They then stand there confused, as I close in on the mage to give him a quick beating with my scimitar. Alas, the crafty bastard had a strategically placed trap that I run straight into! But I payed it no attention – well, other than the pain of course – knowing I was still under the effect of the regen potion and I would shrug off the damage soon enough, while my shield spell and absorption potion should keep me safe from any magic missiles and lightning bolts the ghost mage direct at me.

And he truly did attempt to wound me using magic missiles and lightning bolts! This bought me time. The first order of business, of course, is that he was protected by mirror images, making my scimitar rather ineffective – not that I was planning on using it right now anyway. A final horned skeleton awaited me, that I had not been able to spot, obscured from view by a corner as it were, until I entered the room this ghost mage occupied, so I had no intention of getting any closer for the moment. Therefore, I quickly rummaged through my scroll case, for I knew I had a dispel illusion scroll in there. But as I pulled it out, I noticed yet another scroll; a scroll of protection from undead! This must be the fate! I first used the protection from undead scroll – no undead is now able to engage me in melee! Sure, I am fighting a ghost mage, and he will not engage in melee... but I am now absolutely safe from his bodyguards! I then used my dispel illusion scroll. I wonder if ghosts feel fear, for it should; I now have the upper hand!!! But just as I was thinking that, thing started going sour again! While I my warlock spell of haste fizzled and instead released a short burst of light that made my entire vision go white, the ghost mage had wizened up on how futile his magic missiles and lightning bolts were, and instead hit me with a stinking cloud spell. I ran, tracing from memory my own steps back, to escape the mage and the gas both. I then bumped into something leathery. Acting on instinct, I thrust my scimitar deep into it, and hear a pained gurgling sound, as whatever was in front of me fell dead to the ground. I keep running, but bump my head in a wall. At the exact same moment, I can feel extreme heat, painfully scorching my body all over. Surely, I must have contracted third degree burn wounds from that! Once again I thank Mystra we live in a world of magic – for as long as I survive this encounter, I can make a complete recovery using healing magic! But no time for philosophy now! Fleeing in another random direction, I uncap and gulp down what I hope is one of the potions of extra healing that is dangling from my belt at all times, for cases just like this. Once I bump my head in some other wall, more noxious gas forces it's way down into my lungs! I must keep running, but let's be smart about it this time! I stumble forward as hurriedly as I can, but this time keeping one hand on the wall at all times.

That did not help me none, however, as I instead trip over the body of the spiked knight, landing flat on my face. Hmm, the gas is gone from this room! Very well. I shall hide here, until my sight returns. Or if the ghost mage spots me, this room shall make my final stand! While waiting, I drink down another potion of extra healing. Only one left now. No more mistakes! Hmmm. He never came. It took a few minutes, but with my eyesight lost, I instead start focusing on my other senses. I can hear the choking gas in the other room, pouring, buzzing, popping and moseying... As far as I can tell, the ghost mage seems unaffected by the gas – which is perhaps not entirely surprising, ghosts don't breathe, now do they? Then suddenly, the sound stops. It is eerily silent, with the excepting of ghostly boots faintly clickety clacking on stone floor. I really really should wait it out, right? I do need my vision to fight, right? But what if the protection from undead scroll wears off before my blindness does? Then, the skeletal warriors can tear me apart, while I still can see nothing! Oooohhh... decisions decisions! HERE GOES NOTHING!!!

Starting out with another lightning bolt – I can do this all night, the other ghost mages carried a total of no less than 10 scrolls of lightning bolt – I wing the ghost mage. He then uses another fireball in retaliation, while I take a swing at him. Hmm, flames do not seem to harm him. My blade bounced harmlessly off – like the other mages, he must be protected by many layers of stone skin! Thankfully, the senile old fool then uses a lightning bolt at me, followed by a magic missile – he must have forgotten I cannot be harmed by those! And lightning does harm him, as the bolt bounces off me back at him, and I can sense his unnatural aura weakening. He is almost beaten! I will win! I will live! I will loot the final treasure of Ushkel Library! But I cannot risk him using another fireball, that might be the end of me. Thus, I shall hit him first, using another scroll of lightning bolt! No! What is this!!? A soothing tingling... my burn wounds all vanish, but simultaneously, I can sense his unnatural aura returning at full strength! We are back at square one... or so I thought! The ghost mage has burned through all of his spell. And me being protected by a protection from undead scroll, he cannot even start swinging at me with that dagger of his. He just kind of looks at me with a defeated look, shrugs, and let his arms hang limp along his body. He does not speak, he does not curse, he does not do anything. Just quietly accept his fate! Worry not, this duel was honorable, and you nearly killed me at least two times back there. You can go to the afterlife and meet your other mage friends I just banished there, with your head held high, for you gave me a good square off! Well, lets get to it then!

Of course my blade bounces off harmlessly again! Always with this stoneskin! And I do not wish to waste to much time slaying you – I still do need that protection from undead - at the same time, I do not wish to expend more lightning scrolls that I might need for another foe in the future. Fine, eat shadow missiles... and you are immune to that, of course you are. Eat chromatic orb... and you are immune to acid as well! Fine eat... err... is that a daemon? You know, after careful deliberation, I have decided to instead kill some horned skeletons, right away! Toodeloo!

I did find a horned skeleton and kissed it with my scimitar, but it then ran away... towards the demon. I think the demon lost interest in the mage after it's spells failed to harm the ghost, and instead it tore the skeleton apart. Once the demon unsummoned, I attack the ghost mage from the shadows, which almost dissipated his form then and there. But the ghost ran away, and after I got tired of chasing him, I use another scroll of lightning on him, that, mysteriously, did no damage. Luckily, the mage took a wrong turn and run past right on front of me – or would have, had I no stuck out my scimitar. Gone and gone.

With the last foe able to harm me while under this protection from undead scroll gone, something stirred in me. An unquenchable lust to crush and destroy my defenseless foes. I could have sworn someone... or something... spoke to me "Give into your hunger!" but it was obviously only my imagination. There is nothing else here, save some horned skeletons, and they do not speak anything, save threats. I did not even realize until later, but I had turned into a beast again.

Haha! Feel my claws giving a ribs of your ribcage a haircut! Wait, where are you going? The fun just started! Stop running you cowards!!! Finally, when backed into a corner, you stop? Hehehe nowhere else to ru... ouch! What the hell? Oh no! The scroll must have worn off. If the other skeletons block the entrance to this room, I am screwed. No! Why did I fail to hide in shadows at this just exact moment!!? Alright, I made it out of the room and argh! Two horned skellies at the same time? That's simply just unfair! Luckily, I got yet another trick up my sleve, I will simply shadowstep out of here. You know what, on second thought, maybe I do not need to kill EVERY undead monster down here? Live and let live I say, that has always been my motto!

Returning my attention to the treasure chest. Oh, it's locked, and it appears huge claws are unsuitable for the task of picking locks. Fine, I will use open lock scrolls instead. And... I am a wolf. Great! Now it worked! Oh my! Have a look at those glittery items! They must be worth a lot!

DrakeICN · May 2018

Oh wow, I managed to break the BD character limit on posts!

The shadow taint wore off, and I turned into the beast form again. I decided to try and kill the skeletons again. After all, if I get wounded to badly, I can just hide, forget about them and leave. It was a good decision! Hitting and running in and out of the shadows, I dispatched two of them without sustaining any injuries. The third one nearly slayed me... but I killed it first. The thirst for combat quenched I returned to my natural form. The first thing I did was to equip the healing stone I found earlier. No sense in wasting any more potions is there? I then walked out of there, thinking the danger was over. However, somehow, I had missed a skeleton, a normal weakling one, on the lower level. I failed to spot it, and it struck me in the face with a shield. I retaliated and killed it quickly. That was a sobering reminder to never let your guard down.

Once outside, I dug up the Ushkel Library book, and gave it to the ghost that had demanded it. I then fell backwards from exhaustion and promptly fell asleep.

Tileset help please

Archmage Arias, this must be one of the mods. I wonder if it is supposed to be pitch dark – we are very deep undergound after all - or if android cannot load custom tilesets properly? Alternatively, maybe I messed up the transfer or something. Anyone reading this who knows stuff, feel free to tell me. I suspect it is a bug, since the map is also messed up, it cannot be relied upon at all. Also, on the map, the things are bright, so I my best guess is that it's a bug it's a bug. In any case, like I said, pitch dark scenery fits thematically, so I am just gonna roll with it.

Actually, now I am convinced the tileset is messed up; the floor is transparent in the screenshots = no tileset. So, if anyone reading this knows stuff, I'd like to know how to fix it because maybe the next map won't be deep underground! The reason I was unsure for the longest time was because, even though the screenshots don't show it, corners had a slightly different shade of black or whatever, so you could navigate and also there are fires all over the place, showing the way like tiki torches does in a dark night. Again, I couldn't really tell whether this was intended or not, and again, it really did fit thematically. Won't work, however, if any extra maps are outdoors, so again, please do tell me how to fix it if you know how!!!

Meta:

First death: Double magic missiled by the ghostly archmage. I did not know she could cast two spells in one round

2-3 death: She is really tough!!!

First reload: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! I beat her, the battle was fairely epic, but I forgot to save, and... my android ran out of battery! Arrrghhh!!! The fight is saved in the picture sequence below.

If you are curios what a lvl 6 shadowmaster with a +3 scimitar and potions of defense, haste and heroism looks like, here we go;

Quite impressive for a lvl 6 char me thinks. Potions are AWESOME!!!
P.S. The boosted red stats is not due to potions but some magical items I have equipped, can't rightfully remember off hand what exactly.

4th death: The deathknight... I think... one hit killed me!

5th death: It was glorius (see below)! Except I made a silly mistake! First, I backstabbed the death knight, then I used shadow step, took out some distance, cast and succeeded with dark mirage, shot all three explosive arrows in rapid succession and killed the death knight! Unfortunately, Anton is stone skinned and, I think, have rather high AC, because even though I spent many rounds hounding him, I could not get through his stone skins. Then I made a mistake; thinking I should beat him with magic, I used a scroll of melfs acid arrow, but as soon as I clicked the scroll, I realized he had a minor globe of invulnerability! I should of healed myself instead, maybe then I could have survived, well, whatever spell it was that ultimately killed me. Oh, and yeah, he cast it, but I was the target and therefore the one who turned into a dog by the wild surge in case you wonder how he could still cast spells.

6 death: Deathknight wounded me as I tried to shadowstep, so it fizzled. Long story short, I died.

7 death: Failing a saving throw and became panicky (while hidden, so the enemy lost track of me lol) the potions wore off, surrounding by skellies, all my hide in shadows attempts failed, and then the knights roflstomped me once they found me again.

8-20 death: Garret lightning bolt... Garret lightning bolt... bolt... bolt... bolt... trap... chromatic orb (lol I failed the save)... bolt... trap... bolt... killed myself (and Garret, wished I remembered to take a screenshot)... burning dead archer... bolt...

I think this is a good time to point out that the mages in these two extra levels of Ulcaster have an alacrity effect on them, making them spam spells. Also, that I am roleplaying. I cannot prep in advance without the game giving clues, for instance, I cannot sip my potion of freedom until my character learns that Garret not only casts web but is affected by it.

21 death: Oh come on! I disarmed one trap, got attacked by burning dead, rush it and... another trap... with a lightning bolt that dealt at least 49 dmg, wtf.

Like that, except the first time, I spotted only the first trap, thought that was it, and rushed the skeleton!

22 death: Killed by skeleton warrior, oh, the shame!

23 death: Trap sprung... after this glorious little exchange; immediately badly wound the archmage, and the deathknight has a heartattack shortly after suffering explosive arrow damage! Such a shame!

24 death: This was glorious! As the archmage casts a cloudkill, my lightning bolt scroll cause a wild surge, holding me in place. If one has to die, this is certainly one way of going about it!

25 "death": Awwwww I failed my vs spell to charm saving throw!

26 death: Shitbag! My undead immunity wore off, while surrounded by three skellies... AND my HIPS failed!

I... made it!!! Wohoo!!! But now, I am lvl 8, due to all of the XP. I hope this won't make the rest of the game crazy easy.

Loldrup · July 2018

This is a REALLY great playthrough! I am mightily entertained

Fling, a shadowmaster story

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