SO bumbling. XD Every time I boot up, I end up trying to scout with Tilly, not knowing she can't hide. Then I cast invisibility.
But I like being able to spray with the power of the skunk. I'm going to get minor sequencer to double-up on low level spray spells: combined blindness & horror fun! :u
Does cloudkill count as skunk magic? If so I'd use the tome on tilly so she could cast it. I'm using it alot in my Cavalier run. It really pairs well since he's immune to poison. I think of tilly whenever i cast it. Well sometimes at least.
Edit. We'll -> well. seems my most common mistake. I do my best, @typo_tilly, i know you catch those things.
Yeah. That level 5 spell and 7 spells-per-level limit increase would really help me out! You'll never know how important spells are until you're severely limited. At least sorcerers have flexibility in casting.
This stage included save game 100 for this run through. ^_^
I really want to do Durlag's before even visiting Ulcaster. Normally I go through every wilderness zone before attempting the tower.
Finished Basement 1. Now, my least favourite area in the entire game... it's Durlag Basement 2! ^_^
-------------------- In the tower's first basement, we go about and break a lot of things that the many traps haven't already broken. When we finished in the area, these 4 spirits (in the central room) seemed satisfied to let us pass to the second basement... by dint of our rummaging, breaking, and stealing of their things? Well, it's not for us to question the workings of the dead! After all, we'll need to sell their things to raise money to raise us!
I take that back: the 4 spirits did NOT like us! They attacked right after 'thanking' us, those two-faced, sarcastic ghasts! Minsc died instantly from whatever corpse gas was in their container. We killed 3 of 4... with the 4th one disappearing somewhere. Makes us uneasy as we leave with our fallen.
Worst floor yet. The second basement had a permanent fireball -- yes, FIREBALL -- trap. With no other choice, I ran through protected from fire. (Always handy to have to cast!) And on the other side? More dopplers. I ran back, and they got caught in the furnace. Ghouls-alive, even the monsters are insane down here.
Wherever we managed across (a tomb of Durlag's son?), we go back struggle to return to the surface: levers everywhere in this other room. All doors to the upstairs can be sealed. Minsc looks like he could weather one rest... but after that? We really need Dynaheir resurrected.
-------------------- Level-ups! Tilly = 4+0 hp! Wow! For a multi-cleric, that's a maximum roll. Branwen = 3+1 hp. Dynaheir = 1+2 hp.
Death Count! Party Wipes = 1. We get wiped out at the 4 spirit guards in the first basement. XD I knew I wasn't prepared, but I wanted to try before going to bed.
Minsc is killed once. Killed after failing his save from the spirits' Cloudkill. I thought he would've been alright at level 6 (level 5 creatures are killed outright), but I didn't remember about the saving throw for level 6s.
Dynaheir died in the throneroom fight. Got caught in her own webbing. :c
Tilly died. I was mucking about, trying to use the [non-thief XD] as a scout. Cast protection from fire, went by the fire trap, then went ahead to see if I could open a door for everyone else. One of the 3 dopplegaengers killed me.
Spell Learnings (52% success so far, 35% learning chance) Starting Spells: Shield, Grease Successes: 9 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball) Failures: 8 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes Tilly: 4 + 3 party wipes Minsc: 7 Branwen: 3 Dynaheir: 5 Imoen: 3
EDIT - Changed some text that had made it sound like Durlag's son's tomb was the same room that had all the levers.
What level is your party at by now, @typo_tilly ? I'm under the impression they're quite lower mid-level yet and it's a daring move to do Durlag now, but I might be wrong.
Yes, we did come to Durlag's early. Even just getting to the tower was difficult, but fun.
When we first came (at save #64!) and did the upper levels, the team was at Imoen | level 6 | 29hp Minsc | level 5 | 37hp Branwen | level 5 | 28hp Dynaheir | level 5 | 26hp Tilly | level 5c/4m | 24hp Neera | level 4 | 12hp
Now (at save #108!) we're about to go to the 3rd basement and we're at Imoen | level 7 | 33hp Minsc | level 6 | 52hp Branwen | level 7 | 41hp Dynaheir | level 7 | 35hp Tilly | level 6c/5m | 30hp Kivan | level 6 | 36hp
So everyone's gained a level or 2. I wish Minsc and Kivan had closer to 60hp. I have been lucky with rolls so far, though! Tilly's max right now should be 34? *-) And she's at a whopping 30!
We spend the next 4 days getting further into these ruins. Twice we've carried our dead back to Nashkel. I don't think there are any kobolds in here... but what could be at the bottom? We stumbled over dead adventurers and even met some adventurer ghosts. We're not the first to explore. However, judging by the well populated upper levels (dopplegangers!), it has been a long while since anyone's been this deep.
----------- Lots of deaths in 3rd floor of Durlag's. O_O Mostly from the backstabbing invisible ghosts in the garden. Kivan's first death!
----------- Level Ups Imoen = 6+2 hp. Max, yeah!
Death Count Kivan and Minsc both died from skeletons after falling unconscious in the gas trap on the 3rd basement. I almost thought it was a party wipe!
Tilly died in the garden. :c Backstabbed after making Kivan invisible so he could heal.
Dynaheir and Immy and Branwen all die from the same garden ghost. That hide in plain sight trick is killer for the ashirukuru. Glad there's only 3 of them!
Spell Learnings (52% success so far, 35% learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 9 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball
Failures: 8 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes Tilly: 5 + 3 party wipes Minsc: 8 Branwen: 4 Dynaheir: 6 Imoen: 4 Kivan: 1
There were 4 doors left. And inside each of them? A beating. We rest after each fight. We rest knowing this dungeon is now dead and empty, except for these last doors.
Now? Now we've been teleported to a giant board. All this for killing a polar bear? I don't even know how to play checkers...
I regret believing this could ever have been a kobold hangout. How do we get back to the surface?!
----- Level Ups
Minsc = 8+1hp!! for level 7 Way to go, Minsc! 57 hps! oh yeah Think this is his final level for BG1-TotSC, though.
Tilly = 1hp for mage level 6 n.n She has 31 hp. Not bad. I think max hp (with no con bonus) for a 6/6 cleric/mage is 36. ^_^
Kivan = 5hp for 41 hps total. It's okay for an archer. Also now he has 3 attacks per round. >:3
Death Count
1 party wipe in the air aspect room, of all things! o_O I hadn't played in months -- and that thing is hard to hit!
1 party wipe in the bear wulf room. The bear froze Minsc. After he died I couldn't be arsed to go back to town, so I reloaded.
Spell Learnings (52% success so far, 35% learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 9 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball)
Failures: 8 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes Tilly: 5 + 5 party wipes Minsc: 8 Branwen: 4 Dynaheir: 6 Imoen: 4 Kivan: 1
It was neat completing Durlag's Tower before going to the Ulgoth's Beard and getting the quest. I wonder if the tourist guy will be there? If he is, I'll go on the tour to see if the skeleton does anything. I checked -- and the skeleton is still there, waiting for the tour!
Also, at the bottom, the Dalton kid and his companion never referenced Ulgoth's Beard or me being sent by his mother. (Which I wasn't 'cause I haven't been to Ulgoth's yet.) I like that.
------ If the first 3 levels were a confusing slog, the 4th level was a slog alone. Dynaheir and Imoen spoke to some golems. Likely about riddles, but who really pays attention? Minsc and Branwen get along quite well! And I? I stuck back with Kivan. Nice, quiet, rageful fellow.
Appears we were in a basement. Muck and ghouls. Durlag's old friends apparently? They helped fight a demon or devil... were turned to ghouls by chance.
In the end, a ghost dwarf implored us to face a demon knight. Several arrows later, another ghost dwarf thanked us then teleported us out of the tower. Never did find the kobolds. ------
Death Counts
Party was wiped 3 times while fighting the demon knight. It's to be expected. n.n!
Minsc was killed in the 4th and last fight when Dynaheir webbed that bugger knight down!!
Spell Learnings (52% success so far, 35% learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 9 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball)
Failures: 8 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes Tilly: 5 + 8 party wipes Minsc: 9 Branwen: 4 Dynaheir: 6 Imoen: 4 Kivan: 1
Favourite Levels Going through the tower early was fun. In order, my favourite levels are level 4: the muck pits and spider room level 3: the dragon skeleton and garden level 1: the dinner hall level 2: the sliding doors (and being trapped in rooms with dopplegaengers)
I also like those basilisks on the roof... Because it justifies me always having protection from petrification. n.n
Favourite Loot My favourite loot is the alien fire sword, The Burning Earth, on level 4. It's such a neat thing to find, lore-wise! Also, Kivan will have no trouble with Karoug later.
Pellan's Shield is also cool. Shiny. Rewarding.
Kiel's Helmet. To keep Minsc from not running. ^_^
And who could forget Arla's Dragonbane. +3 sling for me!
Level ups from when we started Durlag's to when we finished. (Note that Kivan was recruited at level 6 mid-way through doing the dungeon.) Everyone is now either at maxed level (the fighters) or 1-2 levels from being at max level. Before I started Durlag's, I did pretty much all wilderness areas from just south of Candlekeep excluding, I think, the NW coast area with the flesh golems.
Minsc's max 57hp isn't as bad as some runs, but he'll need summoned creature support from Dynaheir. If Kivan had more hp (max 41), I could have had Kivan attack first melee with Minsc coming up from the side with the +3 World's Edge sword. I'll have a think on it.
Tilly Spells Back in Nashkel, to my surprise, Tilly successfully learned both Greater Malison and Emotion: Hopelessness! This brings success up to 57.8% when my individual learning chance is 35%. I've been quite lucky so far. I should note she can't cast level 4 spells yet. XD
Spells without asterisks are ones I still need to get. I can have 6 spells per level up to level 4. These are from my self-imposed role-playing restraints of having only 9 intelligence. This time I won't be using potions to increase my intelligence to learn beyond these restraints.
My spell selection is based on skunk-like spells and defensive hide-y spells.
Approached by an old gnome in the forest. Said he recognised me in his dreams... and an evil man who watches me. He forced a protection scroll in my hand -- "to battle the six who serve your father's killer". So there's 6 of them? Or 6 plus the evil man?
As he leaves, I worry that someone will kill him after being seen with us. Immy says that's nothing we can do. Dynaheir says one more sweep of this area for kobolds, then we head north to clear out the bandits.
Saw a damned Fire Fist officer. Luckily, he wasn't out for us.
Ha! Stick it to the Flaming Fist! We've helped an injured fellow the officer was looking for. Fight the power!
We got to the steps of the Friendly Arm Inn then turned straight back. One old man attacked us (that damned bounty), while another old man told us to go west. Yeah? We'll see about that -- we're going east!
... To the east, lay spiders.
------ Imoen died once in the spider area east of the temple. I was searching for the spider traps, but I did not see it in time.
Spell Learnings (58% success so far, 35% individual learning chance) Starting Spells: Shield, Grease Successes: 11 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness) Failures: 8 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes Tilly: 5 + 8 party wipes Minsc: 9 Branwen: 4 Dynaheir: 6 Imoen: 5 Kivan: 1
------ South of the spiders and south of the halfling town, Kivan spotted kobold tracks. He led us to Firewine Bridge.
Under the bridge, a frenzied woman threw a jar at us. Out popped an ogre genie even madder than she. With the great number of bolts it threw*, I'd say the genie was quite literally... lightning in a bottle.
*Boo counted 4 lightning bolts, apparently.
Kobold urine. The floors were sticky with kobold urine. We walked single file in floors sticking of kobold urine. We killed an ogre and met a ghost. Inside a bridge. With floors. Covered in kobold urine. The peoples of Gullykin and Nashkel are now free. From bridges. Covered in kobold urine.
Our boots stick when we walk. For we are adventurers.
Robbed another tomb today. (This time near the coast.) Ghost did not like it, no sir.
Rescued a child from wolves. Does it make up for the tomb robbing? Probably not.
------ SO MANY KOBOLDS... BUT NOT THAT MANY KOBOLDS?
So 70 kills inside Firewine. I started counting right away, because I ran into ~30 kobolds right away. However, no kobolds ever spawned behind me. Usually they spawn behind the party, making the area more difficult.
The 3 areas near the coast are still left (or 2 of the 3 are). Then? On to Cloakwood.
------ Level ups! Dynaheir levelled to 8. Gained 2+2 hp.
Tilly was lightninged by the jar genie. :c Immy was lightninged by a trap. :c Kivin got charmed (sirin'd) then killed Dynaheir. :c
Failed 2 more spells.
Spell Learnings (52% success so far, 35% individual learning chance) Starting Spells: Shield, Grease Successes: 11 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness) Failures: 10 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness, Remove Magic, Protection from Fire)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes Tilly: 6 + 8 party wipes Minsc: 9 Branwen: 4 Dynaheir: 7 Imoen: 6 Kivan: 1
Trampled through the Cloakwood bush for a week, looking for bandits. The forest seemed rather empty: not many animals around. Kivan spotted an entrance to a mine. That's where the bandits were hiding. Only they were more guard-like than bandit-like. We found a wizard at the bottom, but he didn't want to say much. His diary (why do people even keep diaries of their goings-on? only idiots keep diaries) told us of a laughably Stupid Evil company called The Iron Throne. "The Iron Throne"? What a name for a company that's set itself up to ruin everyone else's iron while they hoard iron for themselves. Way to advertise your evil scheme, guys. Their hideout is in Baldur's Gate.
Before entering Baldur's Gate, we went about the farmer's fields and towns to the east of the city. In Ulgoth's Beard, we were jumped by cultists. Honestly, at first I thought they were more Iron Throne assassins, but they took umbrage at this suggestion. Then we asked if they were after us for stealing the statue of Kozah from an ancient tomb. They weren't. Then I thought they Talos cultists who were after us for killing those fishermen. They weren't. Then while we were discussing everyone we may have upset, the cultists went through our bags and took something from it.
By the time we chased them to their leader, they had killed Branwen. Villagers looked on throughout, not moving away from us and the cultists killing each other. As well, a venerable mage approached us with a request to help him in a far away land. Alas, we fought on against the assassin-cultists.
Their leader summoned a demon that she proclaimed would take over the Sword Coast... before she killed herself, conveniently leaving everyone else to deal with her problem. The remaining cultists went down in flames to our fire bombs, while the flames on the demon (who did not wish to negotiate or discuss his problems through words) were put out by Minsc and Boo.
------ EDIT: In Cloakwood, I did enjoy going through the forest, but I didn't have much to write about it. In retrospect, my above journal entry glosses over everything and in a clipped manner. Sorry! n.n'
Until I realised that even a buffed up Minsc had to roll a 20 to hit the demon, I was having major pains. I killed him easily once I gave Minsc a potion of power, which buffed his THAC0, and cast Improved Invisibility to lower his AC. In my defence, I normally restart before this point, so I completely forgot that potions of strength and heroism were not enough. I also had tried to kill the cultists using normal attacks, but they also have incredibly AC (weird for standing in one spot). Solved this by giving everybody fire bombs to throw for 2-3 rounds.
At the end of the fight, I saved immediately -- then didn't return until a few days later. What happened when I returned to resurrect everyone and organise the equipment? I noticed Tilly had the ghoul icon! o_O Frantically, Dynaheir cast Spell Thrust. Didn't work. Then I had Kivan shoot Tilly with one of his two arrow of dispelling. It worked! Then Kivan shot her again because I forgot to tell him to stop.
------ Deaths Tilly (31hp) got hit by a druid's lightning bolt in Cloakwood 1. Did not expect 1 shot kill. This happened twice in a row. o_O On the third fight, I made Tilly run as far off screen as possible.
Cultist assassin backstabbed Branwen in the room right before the big bad.
Big Bad Demon killed Tilly. Party was doing well, except she was Held at the start of battle.
Big Bad Demon wiped my party 6 or so times.
Big Bad Demon killed Imoen. Forgot how. (Was a few days ago.)
Level Ups Tilly levelled cleric 6 to 7. Rolled an enormous 4+0hp. Maximum, baby! HP is now 35. Branwen levelled. Rolled 5+1hp. Now at 47. Imoen levelled. Rolled 3+2hp. At 46. Tilly levelled mage 6 to 7. Rolled another max 2+0hp. HP is 37.
I went to use an Identity scroll, but accidentally tried to scribe it -- and failed, of course. XD Now at 11 fails and 11 successes.
Spell Learnings (50% success so far, 35% individual learning chance) Starting Spells: Shield, Grease Successes: 11 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness) Failures: 11 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness, Remove Magic, Protection from Fire, Identity)
Running Death Count Party wipes: 14 Tilly: 8 Minsc: 9 Branwen: 5 Dynaheir: 7 Imoen: 7 Kivan: 1
*sling (sling +1) *quarterstaff (Staff of Striking +3)
Kivan ranger 7 41 hp
Most powerful vanquished: Demon Knight / level 18 (maybe Kivan killed Aec'Letec, then? Aec'Letec is only level 12, even if it is more powerful) Kills: 324
**long sword (Varscona +2 and Burning Earth +1) **halberd (-not using-) **longbow (The Deadshot +2) **two-handed weapon style
------ Because there's no priest to resurrect party members in Ulgoth's Beard, I was worried about all the equipment disappearing when I went back to Friendly Arm to resurrect Imoen and Branwen. And... everything did disappear. So I had Minsc run around and put everything in barrels first. XD Gained 3000 gold from selling everything.
After that, we went to the Sorcerous Sundries shop in Baldur's Gate. It was there that Tilly failed to memorise several key spells. XD Including Stoneskin, Remove Magic, and Secret Word. Also, in the fight with the big bad, I used the only Improved Invisibility scroll I had. :c
------ Spells still to get (* = spells I have) Level 1 *Shield *Grease *Chromatic Orb *Protection from Petrification *Blindness Spook
Here are the screenshots I've taken so far. Does the link work? It used to be on Google Picasa. Unfortunately, I can no longer add descriptions to the bottom of each screenshot, but they still might be fun to look through.
Do they stretch the viewing window or do you have to play the game in a square window?
The viewing window is not stretched in the sense of stretching out what is viewed, characters don't get fat from widescreen, but the part of the gameworld shown is very wide, so you have much more field of view left-right than top down, meaning top-down the screen is sometimes not big enough and I find myself wanting to click inside the game, but the quickloot-bar and dialogue screen get in the way, giving the need to scroll down before I can click where I want (in 1600x900).
I see. Well, I'm happy with my square screen. ^_^ If I were playing on a really wide screen, I'd probably play in a square window. At least for a little while.
Shipwrecked on an island of wolf people. (They haven't told us outright yet, but humans don't tend to sniff about your ass.)
Kivan was killed in an ambush. Our weapons did nothing! Except for Kivan's strange, fire sword from Durlag's Tomb and Minsc's giant sword from the same.
No priests on this island, so no resurrections. Everyone who dies, stays dead unless we can find a boat (correction: "ship"). We've tied Kivan's body to keep his arms in as we drag him to one of the shipwrecks. ------
I totally forgot that normal wolfweres need magic arrows X( So only Minsc (fighting up close) was hurting the pack that ambushes you. Once I realised that, we were overrun. It's been a long time since I've played.
------ Spell Learnings (46% success so far, 35% individual learning chance) Starting Spells: Shield, Grease Successes: 14 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness, Non-Detection, Slow, Vampiric Touch) Failures: 16 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness, Remove Magic, Protection from Fire, Identity, Remove Magic, Stoneskin, Secret Word, Contagion, Vampiric Touch)
Running Death Count Party wipes: 14 Tilly: 8 Minsc: 9 Branwen: 5 Dynaheir: 7 Imoen: 7 Kivan: 2
When we dragged Kivan's corpse back to the village, a teddy bear stuck to his boot. A little girl snatched it up and thanked us.
We went around the huts looking for fire. We found two fire bombs. Going to put them to good use on the wolves. They definitely did not like the fire sword.
No, them wolves did not like it. At first I balked that the ship hadn't burnt down, but then Imoen reminded me it was wet from sitting next to an ocean.
------ This update was written in my in-game journal from several months ago. I don't even remember how the fight with Karoug went down. Difficult, though, because I wanted Kivan up front to help and he had died earlier. (EDIT. Now I remember: we used fire bombs and wands of frost.) After returning to the mainland and finishing up the idiot wolves, I got this message. Incredibly nostalgic.
"Adventures you have seen and dangers you have faced, and through them all you have emerged alive. Creatures both fell and familiar have opposed you, and yet you have persevered. With your acts come a closure, and these Tales of the Sword Coast are behind you. However, the world continues, and it awaits your further adventures."
I think the city of Baldur's Gate is the only thing left. I'm really looking forward to re-playing SoD, although the feeling of leaving the plains of of BG1 makes me sad.
------ Level Ups! Dynaheir levelled to 9! Rolled a big 4+2 hp 45 hp
Spell Learnings (46% success so far, 35% individual learning chance) Starting Spells: Shield, Grease Successes: 14 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness, Non-Detection, Slow, Vampiric Touch) Failures: 16 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness, Remove Magic, Protection from Fire, Identity, Remove Magic, Stoneskin, Secret Word, Contagion, Vampiric Touch)
Running Death Count Party wipes: 14 Tilly: 8 Minsc: 9 Branwen: 5 Dynaheir: 7 Imoen: 7 Kivan: 2
Comments
But I like being able to spray with the power of the skunk.
Edit. We'll -> well. seems my most common mistake. I do my best, @typo_tilly, i know you catch those things.
hm... level 5 *-)
Chaos, Cloudkill, Cone of Cold, Sunfire (fwoosh! :u), Spell Immunity.
This stage included save game 100 for this run through. ^_^
I really want to do Durlag's before even visiting Ulcaster.
Finished Basement 1.
--------------------
In the tower's first basement, we go about and break a lot of things that the many traps haven't already broken. When we finished in the area, these 4 spirits (in the central room) seemed satisfied to let us pass to the second basement... by dint of our rummaging, breaking, and stealing of their things? Well, it's not for us to question the workings of the dead! After all, we'll need to sell their things to raise money to raise us!
I take that back: the 4 spirits did NOT like us! They attacked right after 'thanking' us, those two-faced, sarcastic ghasts! Minsc died instantly from whatever corpse gas was in their container. We killed 3 of 4... with the 4th one disappearing somewhere. Makes us uneasy as we leave with our fallen.
Worst floor yet. The second basement had a permanent fireball -- yes, FIREBALL -- trap. With no other choice, I ran through protected from fire. (Always handy to have to cast!) And on the other side? More dopplers. I ran back, and they got caught in the furnace. Ghouls-alive, even the monsters are insane down here.
Wherever we managed across (a tomb of Durlag's son?), we go back struggle to return to the surface: levers everywhere in this other room. All doors to the upstairs can be sealed. Minsc looks like he could weather one rest... but after that? We really need Dynaheir resurrected.
--------------------
Level-ups!
Tilly = 4+0 hp! Wow! For a multi-cleric, that's a maximum roll.
Branwen = 3+1 hp.
Dynaheir = 1+2 hp.
Death Count!
Party Wipes = 1. We get wiped out at the 4 spirit guards in the first basement. XD I knew I wasn't prepared, but I wanted to try before going to bed.
Minsc is killed once. Killed after failing his save from the spirits' Cloudkill. I thought he would've been alright at level 6 (level 5 creatures are killed outright), but I didn't remember about the saving throw for level 6s.
Dynaheir died in the throneroom fight. Got caught in her own webbing. :c
Tilly died. I was mucking about, trying to use the [non-thief XD] as a scout. Cast protection from fire, went by the fire trap, then went ahead to see if I could open a door for everyone else. One of the 3 dopplegaengers killed me.
Spell Learnings (52% success so far, 35% learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 9 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball)
Failures: 8 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes
Tilly: 4 + 3 party wipes
Minsc: 7
Branwen: 3
Dynaheir: 5
Imoen: 3
EDIT - Changed some text that had made it sound like Durlag's son's tomb was the same room that had all the levers.
When we first came (at save #64!) and did the upper levels, the team was at
Imoen | level 6 | 29hp
Minsc | level 5 | 37hp
Branwen | level 5 | 28hp
Dynaheir | level 5 | 26hp
Tilly | level 5c/4m | 24hp
Neera | level 4 | 12hp
Now (at save #108!) we're about to go to the 3rd basement and we're at
Imoen | level 7 | 33hp
Minsc | level 6 | 52hp
Branwen | level 7 | 41hp
Dynaheir | level 7 | 35hp
Tilly | level 6c/5m | 30hp
Kivan | level 6 | 36hp
Difference
Imoen | level +1 | +4hp
Minsc | level +1 | +15hp
Branwen | level +2 | +13hp
Dynaheir | level +2 | +9hp
Tilly | level +1c/+1m | +6hp
So everyone's gained a level or 2.
We spend the next 4 days getting further into these ruins. Twice we've carried our dead back to Nashkel. I don't think there are any kobolds in here... but what could be at the bottom? We stumbled over dead adventurers and even met some adventurer ghosts. We're not the first to explore. However, judging by the well populated upper levels (dopplegangers!), it has been a long while since anyone's been this deep.
-----------
Lots of deaths in 3rd floor of Durlag's. O_O Mostly from the backstabbing invisible ghosts in the garden. Kivan's first death!
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Level Ups
Imoen = 6+2 hp. Max, yeah!
Death Count
Kivan and Minsc both died from skeletons after falling unconscious in the gas trap on the 3rd basement.
Tilly died in the garden. :c Backstabbed after making Kivan invisible so he could heal.
Dynaheir and Immy and Branwen all die from the same garden ghost.
Spell Learnings (52% success so far, 35% learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 9 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball
Failures: 8 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes
Tilly: 5 + 3 party wipes
Minsc: 8
Branwen: 4
Dynaheir: 6
Imoen: 4
Kivan: 1
Now? Now we've been teleported to a giant board. All this for killing a polar bear? I don't even know how to play checkers...
I regret believing this could ever have been a kobold hangout. How do we get back to the surface?!
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Level Ups
Minsc = 8+1hp!! for level 7
Tilly = 1hp for mage level 6 n.n She has 31 hp.
Kivan = 5hp for 41 hps total.
Death Count
1 party wipe in the air aspect room, of all things! o_O I hadn't played in months -- and that thing is hard to hit!
1 party wipe in the bear wulf room. The bear froze Minsc. After he died I couldn't be arsed to go back to town, so I reloaded.
Spell Learnings (52% success so far, 35% learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 9 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball)
Failures: 8 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes
Tilly: 5 + 5 party wipes
Minsc: 8
Branwen: 4
Dynaheir: 6
Imoen: 4
Kivan: 1
Also, at the bottom, the Dalton kid and his companion never referenced Ulgoth's Beard or me being sent by his mother. (Which I wasn't 'cause I haven't been to Ulgoth's yet.) I like that.
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If the first 3 levels were a confusing slog, the 4th level was a slog alone. Dynaheir and Imoen spoke to some golems. Likely about riddles, but who really pays attention? Minsc and Branwen get along quite well! And I? I stuck back with Kivan. Nice, quiet, rageful fellow.
Appears we were in a basement. Muck and ghouls. Durlag's old friends apparently? They helped fight a demon or devil... were turned to ghouls by chance.
In the end, a ghost dwarf implored us to face a demon knight. Several arrows later, another ghost dwarf thanked us then teleported us out of the tower. Never did find the kobolds.
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Death Counts
Party was wiped 3 times while fighting the demon knight. It's to be expected. n.n!
Minsc was killed in the 4th and last fight when Dynaheir webbed that bugger knight down!!
Spell Learnings (52% success so far, 35% learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 9 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball)
Failures: 8 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes
Tilly: 5 + 8 party wipes
Minsc: 9
Branwen: 4
Dynaheir: 6
Imoen: 4
Kivan: 1
Favourite Levels
Going through the tower early was fun.
level 4: the muck pits and spider room
level 3: the dragon skeleton and garden
level 1: the dinner hall
level 2: the sliding doors (and being trapped in rooms with dopplegaengers)
I also like those basilisks on the roof... Because it justifies me always having protection from petrification. n.n
Favourite Loot
My favourite loot is the alien fire sword, The Burning Earth, on level 4. It's such a neat thing to find, lore-wise! Also, Kivan will have no trouble with Karoug later.
Pellan's Shield is also cool. Shiny.
Kiel's Helmet. To keep Minsc from not running. ^_^
And who could forget Arla's Dragonbane. +3 sling for me!
Level ups from when we started Durlag's to when we finished. (Note that Kivan was recruited at level 6 mid-way through doing the dungeon.) Everyone is now either at maxed level (the fighters) or 1-2 levels from being at max level. Before I started Durlag's, I did pretty much all wilderness areas from just south of Candlekeep excluding, I think, the NW coast area with the flesh golems.
Minsc's max 57hp isn't as bad as some runs, but he'll need summoned creature support from Dynaheir. If Kivan had more hp (max 41), I could have had Kivan attack first melee with Minsc coming up from the side with the +3 World's Edge sword. I'll have a think on it.
Imoen | level 6 | 29hp
Imoen | level 8 | 41hp
Minsc | level 5 | 37hp
Minsc | level 7 | 57hp
Branwen | level 5 | 28hp
Branwen | level 7 | 41hp
Dynaheir | level 5 | 26hp
Dynaheir | level 7 | 35hp
Tilly | level 5c/4m | 24hp
Tilly | level 6c/6m | 31hp
Kivan | level 6 | 36hp (recruited mid-way through dungeon)
Kivan | level 7 | 41hp
Tilly Spells
Back in Nashkel, to my surprise, Tilly successfully learned both Greater Malison and Emotion: Hopelessness!
Spells without asterisks are ones I still need to get.
My spell selection is based on skunk-like spells and defensive hide-y spells.
Level 1
*Shield
*Grease
*Chromatic Orb
*Protection from Petrification
*Blindness
Spook
Level 2
*Ray of Enfeeblement
*Invisibility
*Stinking Cloud
*Horror
*Detect Invisibility
Vocalize
Level 3
*Fireball
Invisibility 10' Radius
Remove Magic
Slow
Spell Thrust (not sure)
Protection from Fire (not sure)
Non-Detection (not sure)
Level 4
*Greater Malison
*Emotion - Hopelessness
Improved Invisibility
Contagion
Minor Sequencer (probably)
Stoneskin (probably)
Secret Word (not sure)
Teleport Field (not sure)
Fireshield (Red/Blue) (probably not)
Ice Storm (probably not)
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Spell Learnings (58% success so far, 35% individual learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 11 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness)
Failures: 8 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes
Tilly: 5 + 8 party wipes
Minsc: 9
Branwen: 4
Dynaheir: 6
Imoen: 4
Kivan: 1
As he leaves, I worry that someone will kill him after being seen with us. Immy says that's nothing we can do. Dynaheir says one more sweep of this area for kobolds, then we head north to clear out the bandits.
Saw a damned Fire Fist officer. Luckily, he wasn't out for us.
Ha! Stick it to the Flaming Fist! We've helped an injured fellow the officer was looking for. Fight the power!
We got to the steps of the Friendly Arm Inn then turned straight back. One old man attacked us (that damned bounty), while another old man told us to go west. Yeah? We'll see about that -- we're going east!
... To the east, lay spiders.
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Imoen died once in the spider area east of the temple. I was searching for the spider traps, but I did not see it in time.
Spell Learnings (58% success so far, 35% individual learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 11 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness)
Failures: 8 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes
Tilly: 5 + 8 party wipes
Minsc: 9
Branwen: 4
Dynaheir: 6
Imoen: 5
Kivan: 1
South of the spiders and south of the halfling town, Kivan spotted kobold tracks. He led us to Firewine Bridge.
Under the bridge, a frenzied woman threw a jar at us. Out popped an ogre genie even madder than she. With the great number of bolts it threw*, I'd say the genie was quite literally... lightning in a bottle.
*Boo counted 4 lightning bolts, apparently.
Kobold urine. The floors were sticky with kobold urine. We walked single file in floors sticking of kobold urine. We killed an ogre and met a ghost. Inside a bridge. With floors. Covered in kobold urine. The peoples of Gullykin and Nashkel are now free. From bridges. Covered in kobold urine.
Our boots stick when we walk. For we are adventurers.
Robbed another tomb today. (This time near the coast.) Ghost did not like it, no sir.
Rescued a child from wolves. Does it make up for the tomb robbing? Probably not.
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SO MANY KOBOLDS... BUT NOT THAT MANY KOBOLDS?
Kill count inside Firewine Bridge: killed (before, after):
Immy 13 (246, 259)
Minsc 30 (491, 521)
Branwen 1 (128, 129)
Tilly 0 (121, 121)
Dynaheir 0 (84, 84)
Kivan 26 (158, 184)
So 70 kills inside Firewine. I started counting right away, because I ran into ~30 kobolds right away. However, no kobolds ever spawned behind me. Usually they spawn behind the party, making the area more difficult.
The 3 areas near the coast are still left (or 2 of the 3 are). Then? On to Cloakwood.
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Level ups!
Dynaheir levelled to 8. Gained 2+2 hp.
Tilly was lightninged by the jar genie. :c
Immy was lightninged by a trap. :c
Kivin got charmed (sirin'd) then killed Dynaheir. :c
Failed 2 more spells.
Spell Learnings (52% success so far, 35% individual learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 11 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness)
Failures: 10 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness, Remove Magic, Protection from Fire)
Running Death Count + Party Wipes
Tilly: 6 + 8 party wipes
Minsc: 9
Branwen: 4
Dynaheir: 7
Imoen: 6
Kivan: 1
I can't wait until we get into Baldur's Gate. So many more spells to fail at memorising.
Before entering Baldur's Gate, we went about the farmer's fields and towns to the east of the city. In Ulgoth's Beard, we were jumped by cultists. Honestly, at first I thought they were more Iron Throne assassins, but they took umbrage at this suggestion. Then we asked if they were after us for stealing the statue of Kozah from an ancient tomb. They weren't. Then I thought they Talos cultists who were after us for killing those fishermen. They weren't. Then while we were discussing everyone we may have upset, the cultists went through our bags and took something from it.
By the time we chased them to their leader, they had killed Branwen. Villagers looked on throughout, not moving away from us and the cultists killing each other. As well, a venerable mage approached us with a request to help him in a far away land. Alas, we fought on against the assassin-cultists.
Their leader summoned a demon that she proclaimed would take over the Sword Coast... before she killed herself, conveniently leaving everyone else to deal with her problem. The remaining cultists went down in flames to our fire bombs, while the flames on the demon (who did not wish to negotiate or discuss his problems through words) were put out by Minsc and Boo.
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EDIT: In Cloakwood, I did enjoy going through the forest, but I didn't have much to write about it. In retrospect, my above journal entry glosses over everything and in a clipped manner. Sorry! n.n'
Until I realised that even a buffed up Minsc had to roll a 20 to hit the demon, I was having major pains. I killed him easily once I gave Minsc a potion of power, which buffed his THAC0, and cast Improved Invisibility to lower his AC. In my defence, I normally restart before this point, so I completely forgot that potions of strength and heroism were not enough. I also had tried to kill the cultists using normal attacks, but they also have incredibly AC (weird for standing in one spot). Solved this by giving everybody fire bombs to throw for 2-3 rounds.
At the end of the fight, I saved immediately -- then didn't return until a few days later. What happened when I returned to resurrect everyone and organise the equipment? I noticed Tilly had the ghoul icon! o_O Frantically, Dynaheir cast Spell Thrust. Didn't work.
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Deaths
Tilly (31hp) got hit by a druid's lightning bolt in Cloakwood 1.
Cultist assassin backstabbed Branwen in the room right before the big bad.
Big Bad Demon killed Tilly. Party was doing well, except she was Held at the start of battle.
Big Bad Demon wiped my party 6 or so times.
Big Bad Demon killed Imoen. Forgot how. (Was a few days ago.)
Level Ups
Tilly levelled cleric 6 to 7. Rolled an enormous 4+0hp. Maximum, baby!
Branwen levelled. Rolled 5+1hp.
Imoen levelled. Rolled 3+2hp. At 46.
Tilly levelled mage 6 to 7. Rolled another max 2+0hp.
I went to use an Identity scroll, but accidentally tried to scribe it -- and failed, of course. XD Now at 11 fails and 11 successes.
Spell Learnings (50% success so far, 35% individual learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 11 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness)
Failures: 11 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness, Remove Magic, Protection from Fire, Identity)
Running Death Count
Party wipes: 14
Tilly: 8
Minsc: 9
Branwen: 5
Dynaheir: 7
Imoen: 7
Kivan: 1
Party Status
Total Kills: 1824
All wilderness zones are clear. The only areas left are Baldur's Gate, Wolf Island, and Candlekeep Catacombs.
Tilly Wigglebottom
cleric 7 / mage 7
37 hp
Most powerful vanquished: Queen (a Sirine Queen? / level ??)
Kills: 159
*sling (Arla's Dragonbane +3)
*club (club +1)
*sword and shield style
+1 Wisdom tome (Durlag's) to 13
Imoen
thief 9
46 hp
Most powerful vanquished: Greater Basilisk / level 10
Kills: 317
*short sword (Whistling Sword +2? (in storage))
*dagger (Dagger of Venom + 2)
*shortbow (shortbow +1)
*single weapon style
+1 Charisma tome (Gnoll) (for better store prices) to 17
Minsc
ranger 7
64 hp
Most powerful vanquished: Davaeorn / level 11 (but not Aec'Letec / level 12?!)
Kills: 761
**two-handed sword (The World's Edge +3 or Spider's Bane +2)
**mace (Krotan's Skullcrusher +2)
**longbow (composite longbow +1)
**two-handed weapon style
+1 Constitution tome (coast cave) to 16
Branwen
cleric 8
47 hp
Most powerful vanquished: Battle Horror / level ??
Kills: 156
*war hammer (Ashideena +2)
*flail / morning star (-not using yet-)
*sling (sling)
*sword and shield style
Dynaheir
mage 8
39 hp
Most powerful vanquished: Knight (which knight? XD / level ??)
Kills: 107
*sling (sling +1)
*quarterstaff (Staff of Striking +3)
Kivan
ranger 7
41 hp
Most powerful vanquished: Demon Knight / level 18 (maybe Kivan killed Aec'Letec, then? Aec'Letec is only level 12, even if it is more powerful)
Kills: 324
**long sword (Varscona +2 and Burning Earth +1)
**halberd (-not using-)
**longbow (The Deadshot +2)
**two-handed weapon style
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Because there's no priest to resurrect party members in Ulgoth's Beard, I was worried about all the equipment disappearing when I went back to Friendly Arm to resurrect Imoen and Branwen. And... everything did disappear.
After that, we went to the Sorcerous Sundries shop in Baldur's Gate. It was there that Tilly failed to memorise several key spells. XD Including Stoneskin, Remove Magic, and Secret Word. Also, in the fight with the big bad, I used the only Improved Invisibility scroll I had. :c
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Spells still to get (* = spells I have)
Level 1
*Shield
*Grease
*Chromatic Orb
*Protection from Petrification
*Blindness
Spook
Level 2
*Ray of Enfeeblement
*Invisibility
*Stinking Cloud
*Horror
*Detect Invisibility
Vocalize
Level 3
*Fireball
*Slow
*Non-Detection
*Vampiric Touch
Remove Magic
Invisibility 10' Radius
Level 4
*Greater Malison
*Emotion - Hopelessness
Improved Invisibility
Secret Word
Stoneskin
Minor Sequencer
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Spell Learnings (46% success so far, 35% individual learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 14 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness, Non-Detection, Slow, Vampiric Touch)
Failures: 16 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness, Remove Magic, Protection from Fire, Identity, Remove Magic, Stoneskin, Secret Word, Contagion, Vampiric Touch)
Running Death Count
Party wipes: 14
Tilly: 8
Minsc: 9
Branwen: 5
Dynaheir: 7
Imoen: 7
Kivan: 1
Ha, nope. I just don't have a wide monitor.
Kivan was killed in an ambush. Our weapons did nothing! Except for Kivan's strange, fire sword from Durlag's Tomb and Minsc's giant sword from the same.
No priests on this island, so no resurrections. Everyone who dies, stays dead unless we can find a boat (correction: "ship"). We've tied Kivan's body to keep his arms in as we drag him to one of the shipwrecks.
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I totally forgot that normal wolfweres need magic arrows X( So only Minsc (fighting up close) was hurting the pack that ambushes you. Once I realised that, we were overrun. It's been a long time since I've played.
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Spell Learnings (46% success so far, 35% individual learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 14 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness, Non-Detection, Slow, Vampiric Touch)
Failures: 16 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness, Remove Magic, Protection from Fire, Identity, Remove Magic, Stoneskin, Secret Word, Contagion, Vampiric Touch)
Running Death Count
Party wipes: 14
Tilly: 8
Minsc: 9
Branwen: 5
Dynaheir: 7
Imoen: 7
Kivan: 2
Not looking forward to fighting Karoug! Kivan was built with the long sword in mind to fight Karoug. XD
We went around the huts looking for fire. We found two fire bombs. Going to put them to good use on the wolves. They definitely did not like the fire sword.
No, them wolves did not like it. At first I balked that the ship hadn't burnt down, but then Imoen reminded me it was wet from sitting next to an ocean.
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This update was written in my in-game journal from several months ago. I don't even remember how the fight with Karoug went down. Difficult, though, because I wanted Kivan up front to help and he had died earlier. (EDIT. Now I remember: we used fire bombs and wands of frost.) After returning to the mainland and finishing up the idiot wolves, I got this message. Incredibly nostalgic.
"Adventures you have seen and dangers you have faced, and through them all you have emerged alive. Creatures both fell and familiar have opposed you, and yet you have persevered. With your acts come a closure, and these Tales of the Sword Coast are behind you. However, the world continues, and it awaits your further adventures."
I think the city of Baldur's Gate is the only thing left.
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Level Ups!
Dynaheir levelled to 9! Rolled a big 4+2 hp
Spell Learnings (46% success so far, 35% individual learning chance)
Starting Spells: Shield, Grease
Successes: 14 (Chromatic Orb, Protection from Petrification, Ray of Enfeeblement, Invisibility, Stinking Cloud, Horror, Blindness, Detect Invisibility, Fireball, Greater Malison, Emotion: Hopelessness, Non-Detection, Slow, Vampiric Touch)
Failures: 16 (Protection from Petrification, Protection from Petrification, Invisibility, Invisibility, Spook, Horror, Horror, Blindness, Remove Magic, Protection from Fire, Identity, Remove Magic, Stoneskin, Secret Word, Contagion, Vampiric Touch)
Running Death Count
Party wipes: 14
Tilly: 8
Minsc: 9
Branwen: 5
Dynaheir: 7
Imoen: 7
Kivan: 2