@Arvia , I get around that by pretending my animal companion is a "spirit animal". It cannot be killed, only temporarily sent back to the spirit plane. I also invest considerable magic energy in my animal companion. It does not fight without Magic Fang, Barkskin, Cat's Grace, Stoneskin, and Awaken, at minimum. I prioritize all buffing spells on my animal companion, before even myself. I also prioritize my healing spells on my animal companion. If it gets even close to half its hit points, I start healing it.
You people make me feel kind of envious that I've never had a pet animal. Except for the goats when I was a kid (unfortunately I was not allowed to bring them into the house ) I bet goats would make really cool animal companions, they're incredibly smart and fun. But I think I would be afraid to take an animal companion into battle.
Doesn't it worry you, even if it's just a game, to send your cat into a fight?
nah, by 3.5 edition standards, the average house cat has a higher challenge rating than a kobold, so kitties should be okay haha
Inspired by your recent posts about NWN, I've decided to make a paladin and remind myself what it might be like for you, trying to play a first level pally in NWN:EE. I can't say how far I'll go before I want to move on, but I'd say I'd like to at least play through Chapter One and compare my experiences to yours, and maybe be able to give you better advice in the future.
Introducing to the NWN minimal reload challenge, Todangelus Lightbringer, paladin of Torm. I might get into some more in-character rp reporting later, but for now, I just want to report on build and progress in somewhat abbreviated fashion.
Here are my attributes:
I have taken 14 in most relevant attributes, except for constitution, which I gave up for 13 dexterity and 12 intelligence. The 13 dexterity is for +1 AC while wearing plate, plus the Dodge line of feats that go with it. The intelligence is so I can max my four favored class skills, which are...
Discipline (for resistance to Knockdown), Heal (for, um, healing), Lore (because I can't stand not being able to identify magic items I find in the field, since many of them will be immediately life-saving later on), and Persuade (not that useful in the OC for a pally, but it can at least give me a better chance to get Nyatar's Neverwinter Zoo quest without reloading. Plus, in any user-generated content, it becomes much more useful, and, it fits my class fantasy of being a Jedi Knight with the "mind trick".)
My feats as of level three are Dodge, Mobility, and Weapon Focus: Longsword. I only took the weapon focus so I could possibly take Champion of Torm levels later, although I doubt I'll do that until I have my divine spell list fully available as a single-class pally with no prestige class.
My companion will of course be my bro Tomi, as always in this game.
Notice that the first four places in my main quickbar are filled with the companion commands that will give me the control to give Tomi orders that I will need.
I'll be back with more after I make some progress in the prison district.
@Arvia , Okay, before bed tonight, I just played up through the gang leader in the sewers to get his key. We barely took any damage. I'm still trying to troubleshoot what might be happening to you, but here are a few things:
1) I had Tomi unlock some healing supplies on the burning dock, and we took them. The entire district has descended into anarchy. It makes no sense to leave low-value healing supplies lying around in crates. We also checked every house without a locked door (to check if anyone in there needed help), and without fail, there were mobs of murderous, escaped prisoners in there, and they usually had some healing supplies either on them or in chests of drawers. If I could find any cheap healing supplies or two gold pieces or some such left behind in mostly empty crates, I took those, too.
2) At the first gang leader outside the sewers, I drank a Potion of Barkskin I had gotten somewhere. That got my AC up to 23. Tomi and I destroyed most of the surrounding minions in one or two hits each, before the gang leaders could even get to us. After the outside gang leader went down, I still had plenty of time left on the Barkskin's duration to head down into the sewer and attack the second gang leader. We dispatched the minions within two rounds, and I pulled aggro on the gang leader while Tomi sneak attacked that poor, unfortunate soul relentlessly for double-digit hits. When he went down, I had not even needed any of my collected healing supplies, and I still had my Barkskin.
3) Torm is blessing Tomi and me with an abundance of healing supplies we still haven't needed.
4) I've rested maybe three or four times since I've started. A word about resting in NWN. You can pretty much rest freely at will. It supposedly takes "24 hours" in theory, but in practice, it takes five seconds. You cannot control the clock or the time of day in the OC. (The great user-generated campaigns like @Savant1974 's famous "Saga of Aielund" provide mechanics that give you inn rest for eight-hour increments of time control, but that is not a thing in the NWN OC.)
I like to think of hitting that rest button as "We are growing tired, and we should stop for a moment, to pray and do some deep-breathing. We need to catch our breath and ask Torm for his continued guidance. Let us relax for a moment, breathe, and pray."
@BelgarathMTH , or rather "Todangelus Lightbringer, paladin of Torm", I wish I could give several likes at the same time ?.
I'm inside the prison, going down into the pits. Tomi with his sneak attacks makes a huge difference.
My inventory looks like a medical kit . Since everybody got killed at the academy and it was swarmed with goblins, I have taken all the potions and healing kits that I could find there. I have looked into the unlocked houses of the Peninsula District, too.
I still had to reload twice. One gang leader outside where we couldn't disengage from the fight, and a mage in the prison who fried me with fireballs while Tomi ran around hitting everyone else. I have rested more often and used the Stone of Recall twice to get out of too big trouble when badly wounded. And I've also used a potion of barkskin. The gang leader in the sewers was not such a big issue this time. But I also had to pick up Tomi twice at the temple because he got himself killed. I need to constantly tell him to stay with me.
I think your better AC with Dodge and Mobility makes a difference here, especially against attacks of opportunity.
I thought constitution was better, but the extra HP per level doesn't really save me. I guess I'll have to restart again and adapt my dexterity and feats. Dodge+mobility seems much more useful than Power Attack, also because it's automatic. I always forget to use feats that need to be activated during combat, and Power Attack just increases damage, but until I manage to hit someone with the penalty, I'm exposed. (and got killed the one time that I tried).
You're right about Lore. Concentration seems to be wasted points (others have told me so, but I didn't believe it) and I'm losing much money to identify things. Also, as you have pointed out, being able to use things immediately after finding them might save my life.
Forgot that I won't have party members who can do it.
See, I should have asked you which feats are useful. The others were focused on "do more damage", but I prefer to be protected. I thought constitution might help me, but I never knew how useful Dodge and Mobility are.
I didn't understand how to get the companion commands to the quickbar I keep pausing and ordering Tomi around with the radial menu.
Going to restart again after work tonight, with your stats and feats, to see if that makes a difference, or if I'm just doing something wrong in combat.
@Arvia , I could explain how to put the commands on the quick bar on the PC if you wanted, and maybe make a screen shot or two, but I'm not sure that would help you on the tablet controls, which might be different. On the PC, I can right click on a quick bar space to bring up a radial menu attached to the quick bar slot. Then, I can select a command like "Stand Your Ground" and attach it to that slot. I use the same method to attach paladin abilities like Lay on Hands and Smite Evil to a slot. Eventually we'll also have a weak version of Turn Undead, but it's not very good compared to the cleric's. (I think it's two levels lower than the cleric version.)
I'm nervous about those sorcerers down in the pits. I'm used to having access to the Resist Elements spell. I want to check and see if Aribeth has cleric scrolls of that, and if we paladins can cast it from a cleric scroll, but I don't think we can. It's such a good spell - it lasts 24 hours per cast, and absorbs a lot of elemental damage. If I can't get elemental protection, I'm going to need to metagame a bit and try to build up some levels while avoiding the big sorcerer fights until I have some more hit points, and then hope to tank the damage, which will be challenging because of my low constitution score.
One thing that can help with the first sorcerer in the pit is to try to draw out all those prisoners away from him and get them killed off before confronting the sorcerer. I've seen him occasionally come on out in the hall with them, but he usually will stay behind next to his "throne".
I have to go teach some lessons this morning, but I should have some time later to play further. I'll probably post a progress report or two this evening.
We have found our way into the barricaded prison in the Penninsula District. Actually we found two ways, as I wanted to try to clear the streets of rioting prisoners before going in, and escort any civilians in need of assistance out of the district, and one of the citizens we were helping told us about a secret underground tunnel from a Lady Penbrook's estate into the prison, and that Lady Penbrook was missing. She also told us of a key under Lady Penbrook's welcome mat that would get us into the house, and that the Lady almost certainly needed assistance, such that we should go in.
Upon entering Lady Penbrook's house, we found it overrun with vermin, and a diary explaining that she was having a romance with the Head Gaoler of the prison, and that they liked to meet to play chess in her basement. That was almost surely the location of the secret tunnel we had been told about. Sadly, lying in her own life-sized chessboard, we found the Lady's corpse. She had apparently tried to defend herself in the end with a large double-bladed sword that glowed faintly, almost surely magic.
She also had a very disturbing hole in her skull, and her brain had been devoured. There must be some monster behind this riot and prison break, or else a very sick and twisted individual.
Since the owner of the magic sword was clearly dead, we took it to trade for better equipment. I was able to purchase a Necklace of Natural Armor +1, and a tower shield, raising my defense before potions to AC 22.
The other way we found into the barricaded prison was a key to the front gate that was held by a gang leader who attacked us.
Fearing the fact that it was a matter of public record that several dangerous sorcerers had been imprisoned there, and that we were defenseless against sorcery, I prayed to Torm to grant me some defense. Shortly after, I received a message that the Beggar's Nest was being overrun by zombies. The dead were rising out of their graves, killing the residents, and those residents were also rising as zombies. This city is falling apart. Plague, prison riots, zombie invasions. Sigh. Torm help me restore order to this sad place.
We cleared the streets of Beggar's Nest of zombies, saving many citizens in the process. The ability to turn weak undead I get from Torm, while not usually effective against stronger undead, was enough to force them away from the citizens we were trying to save. Since this district had not descended into anarchy and still had innocent citizens and guards trying to protect it, I did not take anything from the shop containers on the streets, unless the owner's corpse was lying right beside the wares. Most of this property is likely to be reclaimed by the rightful owners if we can stop the zombies from rising.
We found several clues about who is behind the zombies, which we will have to pursue after the prison riot is put down, and the reason behind it is solved. After we saved many citizens from the zombies, Torm saw fit to bless me with a spell that can protect me from sorcerer's fire. Now I have a much better chance to survive in the prison. My patroness, Lady Aribeth, had ordered me to quell the prison riots as a priority, so we will have to succeed in that quest and then come back to Beggar's Nest as soon as possible.
***********************************
Gang Leader #3. This one is more dangerous than the first two, because he has a swarm of minions. I kept very tight control over Tomi, who of course wanted to run off and draw attacks from every prisoner on the floor. As soon as I saw the gang leader coming, I drank a potion of Barkskin. During the fight, the gang leader got a critical hit on Tomi, and I thought I would lose him. I made a desperate attempt to use a healing kit on him, and got it off just in time. I think we might have gotten lucky with bad confirmation and damage rolls on that crit.
Unfortunately, after that, we still had the mobs of prisoners on the north end of the floor to deal with, and they managed to get Tomi surrounded, and I couldn't get him healed in time to stop that many attacks. Respawn number one for Tomi. They were little threat to heavily armored me, so I finished them off and used the portal stone. I think they made me use one healing item on myself somewhere in there.
Back in the city after collecting Tomi from the temple respawn, we talked to Nyatar the druid and got his quest to save some animals from a corrupt zoo in Blacklake. The ethics of doing so are very debatable, but these are very, very bad men, and I cannot tolerate animal cruelty, especially not for trophy and sport.
Turning zombies in Beggar's Nest:
Level 4. At last Endure Elements is mine! Also Protection from Evil will be very helpful at the boss fight. Protection from Evil in NWN stops all mind-affecting spells cast by evil creatures.
I took my new stat point to raise my strength to 15. I will need it to wear full plate while holding a tower shield. The next one at, I think, level six, will also go to strength, to 16, to get my attack and damage bonus up to +3. All the rest will go to charisma at higher levels. I may round out my constitution from 11 to 12. The reason I put it at 11, was that I know Nyatar sells some boots that give +1 to constitution, as well as +1 Dodge AC bonus, so I'll get the 1 hit point per level bonus from constitution anyway as soon as I put on those boots.
On the second level of the prison, we killed mobs and mobs of minons, and I drew the sorcerer's right hand minions out into the door (fighting Tomi's imperative every step of the way to rush in there immediately and start taking Fireballs to the face as well as hits from at least six prisoners). Against Tomi's suicidal AI, I was only able to draw the fight to the last door in the chamber (We had already cleared the hall all the way around.) The sorcerer got his first Fireball out the door at us before I could spring my next trick on him. Luckily, because of my Resist Elements spell, I took only 3 damage.
Paladins can cast Silence from scrolls in NWN. There is a trick with Silence where, if you cast it on yourself instead of your enemy, there is no saving throw involved, (since it's a friendly spell when cast on self), and then you can carry the radius of it to the caster. Notice the dotted white line circle around the sorcerer and me. That's my Silence radius. Sadly, I had not been able to get the scroll read before his second Fireball hit, and my Resist Elements shield was mostly spent. Also, the Silence lasted a disappointingly short time when read from a scroll. But at least it shut down his casting for a crucial round or two.
We got a really rare drop off the sorcerer, a suit of splint mail +1. It did not give me any better AC than my half plate, but it was 5 pounds lighter, and I am desperately near my weight limit, plus it looks kind of cool, so I decided to wear it for now and trade in my half plate.
There's a mechanic in this game where you can avoid a reload by accepting respawn at the temple, and taking a hit to gold and experience. The xp hit will not drain levels, though, so the worst that can happen is getting reset to the beginning of your current level. I always accept respawn instead of reloading. There are fights where you cannot respawn, though, so a separate reload counter is still needed.
Level: 4
Reloads: 0
Personal Respawns: 0
Tomi Respawns: 1
@BelgarathMTH , I wish I had not continued to play, and had read your report before.
Im making bad choices all the time, I've messed things up again. I restarted with the stats that you chose, and at first, things went better in the Peninsula District (I still felt like it was a priority to go there), at least until I entered the prison.
Killed twice by the last gang leader (the one inside the prison) even with barkskin, killed once by the first sorcerer with his fire damage (dealt me such high damage that I couldnt keep up with healing), and then at level 4 (which I reached with the sorcerer's death) I took the "recommended" choice to raise Charisma, and now with half plate and tower shield I'm always at my weight limit and can't even take a sword out of a crate.
AND I didn't know there was Endure Elements, otherwise I would have tried to reach level 4 before confronting the sorcerer. I also didn't know that I can cast from scrolls, and the only person that I found in need of help in the Peninsula District never told me about that lady's house. Or maybe I just asked too quickly if he needs to be escorted to the gate, instead of asking more questions.
Good to know about the boots to raise constitution, I had been thinking about putting the extra stat point at level 4 there. And what a lucky drop, that armor! Looks much cooler than the strange golden half plate.
I very much like to read your reports, and this one was especially helpful for me, because it also shows me what I can change and do better. I don't feel like writing one yet, because I'm not sure if I should restart again (that would be the fourth time already, because of bad choices). And although I thought it was getting better, the last hour was more troubleshooting than playing, and I've only cleared the first half of the first level in the prison pits. I doubt it will get easier there.
Why does the game suggest that you should go to the Peninsula District first, by Lady Aribeth and the girl that asks your help in front of the temple, and then it's too difficult there? Or don't other people mind to get killed all the time?
edit: forgot to mention, I have Tomi with me, too, and I'm learning to keep him under control, but the AI is still annoying sometimes. And even my own character sometimes seems to switch targets without reason.
@Arvia , hard as the prison dungeon is, the other dungeons are harder, so Aribeth's order of priority really is the safest approach. The thing you can do, though, is to "grind trash mobs" on the early part of at least Penninsula District and Beggar's Nest, to get that fourth level that is critical for paladins to at least get one first level protective spell.
(Clerics don't have this problem. They have at least three first level divine protective spells at level one, unless they gimped their wisdom for some strange reason. I often play clerics as though they were paladins, and take Martial Weapons feat to make up for the loss of swords or warhammers. The abundance of buffs even from low levels make up for the lesser attack bonus progression. Really, if you know how to metagame and power game the engine, lawful good clerics make better paladins than actual paladins. They don't call divine casters in 3rd edition "Clericzillas" and "Druidzillas" for nothing )
******************
Captain's Log, supplemental
We have succeeded in quelling the prison riots in the Penninsula District and restored order there. The disturbance had been masterminded by a very nefarious monster,
an intellect devourer! This was the creature that had removed Lady Penbrook's brain, and "body snatched" the Head Gaoler with its evil psionic powers. I think Illithids keep these things as pets.
We returned to report our success to Lady Aribeth, who advised us to continue investigating and defeating the zombies in Beggar's Nest, which will likely lead to the second of our four needed plague cure reagents.
*****************
Gang leader number four in the pits. I couldn't taunt him or get aggro, so he went for Tomi just like the last gang leader. (Sudden thought - I wonder if "taunt" skill might work like a WoW tank's ability to force aggro onto himself?) I used at least two healing kits on Tomi to make sure he didn't die (he might have anyway), and we were victorious, with Torm's help!
Sorcerer number two in the pits. I had bought a second Silence scroll from Aribeth with this fight in mind. As a rule, if I'm not metagaming, I always want at least one Silence scroll in my inventory in case of a surprise caster fight. And of course, I always cast Resist Elements immediately after any rest. That 24 hour duration is just so darn OP! Talk about Torm's blessings on his clerics and pallys! My Silence scroll bought us time, but he still managed to complete one of his Fireball spells near the end. Resist Elements to the rescue, for the second and nowhere near the last time.
The second to last boss of the dungeon. He is very dangerous, so I drank a potion of Barkskin for this fight. I also had already switched out Resist Elements for Protection from Evil, because Prot from Evil not only provides immunity to mind-affecting spells from evil enemies, it also provides +2 deflection bonus to AC, and we don't have any rings or cloaks yet. This guy hits like a truck and attacks multiple times per round with his double bladed weapon. He surrenders at "Near Death", and we are able to spare his life. If you fight an enemy who surrenders, don't forget to immediately click "Stand your Ground" on your companion, or they might finish the person before he or she can talk or you can accept the surrender.
The fight with the boss of the dungeon. It can be won without Protection from Evil, but that divine spell sure does help, because this guy spams mind-affecting psionics.
There is a chest near the boss of this dungeon that spawns a class-appropriate item. For paladins, it is a +1 longsword. So, I am now the proud owner of a +1 light saber.
If anyone is wondering why my pictures are so brightly lit in the near total darkness of the pits, it is because I invested in and am wearing a Ring of Cyan. This ring provides a permanent bright blue light source, which I think looks more natural than the red or green light of the other light rings, and I consider it a must-have for any character who cannot cast a Light spell. A Glittering Necklace is better, but you really need that slot for an amulet that provides natural armor. The Ring of Cyan can be switched out for a Ring of Resistance +1 once you can get one, because, although the orange light it gives isn't as good as the blue light, it gives a very helpful +1 to all saves.
Level 4
Reloads: 0
Personal Respawns: 0
Tomi Respawns: 1
edit: forgot to mention, I have Tomi with me, too, and I'm learning to keep him under control, but the AI is still annoying sometimes. And even my own character sometimes seems to switch targets without reason.
Hey, I was just proofreading, and noticed this last statement. As soon as you see your character turn to face an opponent other than the one you ordered your attack on, double click on the enemy you really want to attack, and upon whom you ordered your avatar to attack in the first place.
I'm sad that Beamdog couldn't improve the horrible, awful AI in NWN, which doesn't affect only your companion, but also your orders to your own character. That said, there are workarounds.
Like I said, watch where your avatar is facing. If she suddenly does an about face towards some other enemy, you say "No, no, you stupid avatar!", and double-click on the target you really mean to attack. You do that repeatedly if needed.
Also, sometimes it is necessary to click on the companion commands more than once to override some idiocy or the other that the AI is trying to use to override your orders and kill both you and your companion. There are times when I have to click "Stand Your Ground", "Follow", and/or "Guard Me" several times against Tomi's (or any other companion's, or even my own avatar's) infuriatingly suicidal and stupid AI to keep control of the battlefield. I've just come to not really think about it that much, since I long ago developed control binds and player reflexes to compensate for the stupid parts of this game, so I could get into and enjoy the deep, rich, and highly enjoyable good parts of this game.
As I said before, there are very rich role-playing and gaming rewards to be had from mastering NWN, not only from the OC and the expansions, but from the vast wealth of user-created content you can eventually enjoy, such as @Savant1974 's "Saga of Aielund".
We have returned to our investigation of the zombie uprising in the Beggar's Nest. Our first lead led us to a "strange house" where we had been told by Jermal that his brother had disappeared, and this Jermal had given us a "snake cult" ward stone to enter the house to try to find his brother. The password for the ward was "Yes, I serve the snake." Okay, I suppose it's not lying if I'm only speaking a password to a magical security device.
Inside, there was indeed a cult operating, as evidenced by the fact that they were caught red-handed summoning the first of who knows how many demonic imps via a fel portal they had set up inside. My padawan Tomi and I put a stop to that, and then had to kill their evil leader, who was a cleric of some sort. He had a journal. (Why do villains of all sorts *always* keep detailed notes of their evil plans, when they don't outright just *tell* you in the middle of trying to kill you? I suppose I should be thankful for that.)
It seems the person behind the "snake cult" is one "Gulnan", and the dearly departed evil priest's notes lead me to believe she is the same yuan-ti that escaped from the Neverwinter Academy all those fortnights ago, and therefore is needed for the plague cure. We are on the right track to find her.
In the cult priest's basement, we found many secret passages occupied with more cultists, undead, and vermin. We came upon a chamber with spider web cocoons, more than I had ever seen. I was not confident that I could defeat a powerful spider monster at this point, so I had us turn back, as we had a second lead about the zombie infestation.
We had been told by a dwarf hiding out in one of the houses that an evil gang called "The Sword Coast Boys" could be involved with the zombie infestation, and that they were hiding out in an abandoned warehouse in the north part of the city.
When we went to the warehouse, we found it completely overrun with zombies. The crates and supplies there were mostly medicine and healing supplies, so I did not feel guilty to take some of them, as Tomi and I were getting desperately low on medicine and first aid.
The leader of this gang that we found there, after slaughtering his zombie army, was one "Drawl". The dwarf had mentioned that name. He had been turned into some kind of skeleton warrior, and he kept babbling about how "Gulnan" had made him too powerful to beat. I don't think so. Just before, I had bested his apparent right-hand lieutenant in solo combat, who had been turned into a zombie warrior with a Stoneskin. I bested the skeleton warrior as well, but that did take some of my precious healing potions and my Lay on Hands ability to accomplish.
(OOC: I like thinking of my Heal skill and healing kits as just having more Lay on Hands to use.)
Drawl was keeping one of the Beggar's Nest guards held prisoner in a cell, apparently to torture him for intelligence about guard strength and deployment, and before we freed him, the guard told us again about hearing the name "Gulnan" over and over. I suspect the yuan-ti who fled has founded the snake cult in the Beggar's Nest, using her snake-like appearance and manner, as well as likely somehow being behind the zombie uprising. The presence of a zombie warrior and a skeleton warrior fighting in her name would suggest that she somehow has found the power to create undead. This is very disturbing intelligence.
As we proceeded down into the basement of the warehouse, it connected to the same network of tunnels and secret passages we had already explored. And, we came back to the same spider chamber.
This time, I felt I had no choice but to press forward. I ordered Tomi to stay back, and then, the biggest spider I've ever seen, as big as a horse, came out of the shadows and attacked. Tomi ran forward to try to defend me and sneak attack the dire spider. It seems enemies almost always have a preternatural ability to attack the most vulnerable of the two of us. I desperately started to try to keep him healed, using several healing packs. In the end, I could not fight the dire spider and keep poor Tomi alive at the same time.
I thank Aribeth, her god Tyr, and my Torm yet again for the magic transporter they have provided that takes either of us who are mortally wounded instantly back to the temple!
I was able to finish off the dire spider the very next moment after Tomi went down and was teleported away. I went back to the temple to recover him, and now, we will take the stairs up out of the dire spider's chamber into the graveyard above. We must defeat this Gulnan, obtain her cure reagent, and stop the zombie uprising.
***************************
The fight with Drawl. Tomi cannot sneak attack undead, plus, already at level four, he is becoming a drain on my healing resources with his low AC and bad AI. So, I am already at this point clicking "Stand Your Ground" on him and leaving him far away from danger until I need him to disarm a trap or open a lock. At higher levels, I often dismiss my companion and go totally solo rather than have the companion absorb those precious healing resources. I soloed this fight.
Some conversation with the guard I freed, where he mentions Gulnan.
The fight with the dreaded dire spider. I drank potions of Bless, Barkskin, and the one Bull's Strength potion I had that I was saving. This is one of the hardest fights in the game relative to the level, maybe even harder than the fight with Gulnan herself. I was very nervous going in, and very relieved when I won without dying (although Tomi did die). I had called in Tomi hoping for his sneak attacks to make a difference. I'm afraid it wound up being more that he absorbed all the attacks and especially the poison for me. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Maybe I should have also done this fight solo.
Oh yes, this thing has Knockdown. It kept knocking down Tomi. It may be that if I had been trying to solo, it could have knocked down me, and the fight might have ended with my death and need for a respawn. I don't know if my high AC and Discipline skill could have prevented that at such low level.
Tomi died in this fight at the exact moment I successfully got a Heal off against both the poison and the damage. Then, I killed the bloated dire spider on the very next attack. It was so close to our not getting another ding on Tomi's respawn counter!
Level: 4
Reloads: 0
Personal Respawns: 0
Tomi Respawns: 2
After restarting and changing stats and feats numerous times, I have decided to stick to the character that I have made now, and share my clumsy beginner's run, no matter how high the respawn/reload counter gets.
Arvia had spent most of her childhood in the streets of the Beggar's Nest, coming from a poor family with too many siblings. When she was 8 years old, a Cleric of Tyr spotted her trying to save a beggar child from being robbed by two thieves, and taking a thorough beating. He recognized her sense of justice and her determination to defend the weak as signs of a calling and took her to the temple to be healed. The cleric, Father Alexander, talked to her parents and took care that she received a balanced education and learned what it meant to follow Tyr's dogma. When she was older, he introduced her to Sir Albrecht, a Paladin of Tyr and Knight of the Merciful Sword, who continued to teach her and support her wish to become a paladin herself. When she completed her training and swore her oath in the temple, she took the name of her god as part of her own name. She didn't have a family name, her parents had died already, and the Tyrrans were her family now. "Arvia of Tyr" she would be from now on. Sir Albrecht, who remained her mentor, was on a mission in the south when the Wailing Death hit the city, and Arvia decided to follow Lady Aribeth's call.
(Honoring the names of two real people from my past here who have made a big difference in my own life.)
“Reveal the truth, punish the guilty, right the wrong, and always be true and just in your actions. Uphold the law wherever you go and punish those who do wrong under the law. Keep a record of your own rulings, deeds, and decisions, for through this your errors can be corrected, your grasp on the laws of all lands will flourish, and your ability to identify lawbreakers will expand. Be vigilant in your observations and anticipations so you may detect those who plan injustices before their actions threaten law and order. Deliver vengeance to the guilty for those who cannot do it themselves.”
This picture is at level 4. Same beginning stats as Todangelus, with +1 to Strength at level 4, to be able to carry more weight. Points go equally into Healing, Persuade, Lore and Discipline.
I like Persuade as a skill, even if people say it's not much use in the OC. I want to be the kind of paladin who can fight well when needed, but can say the right things to resolve things peacefully when necessary. Feats: Dodge and Weapon Focus Longsword, which is Tyr's favourite weapon, Mobility taken at level 3. The better AC, especially against Attack of Opportunity, really makes a difference.
I will try to write in-character reports later. I'll just report what happened until now. If I don't write anything down before going to bed, I might restart again tomorrow
After receiving my orders from Lady Aribeth, I hired Tomi Undergallows, a rather unusual character for a paladin to associate with, but he hasn't broken any law here in this city and I need someone with the skills that I don't have. Also, I grew up in the Beggar's Nest and have known all sorts of people. You can't judge them by appearance, and I will keep an eye on him. He reminds me of a childhood friend who might have taken a turn in the same direction, and people can change.
The Peninsula District had been suggested as a starting point by Lady Aribeth, and a girl asked us for help there, too, but we had to see how the situation was. We talked to several people and leared that the plague had started in the Beggar's Nest and that the district was swarming with undead. I decided to take a look at that, because there were guards already fighting in the Prison District, and very few people lived there. The Beggar's Nest was full of people, and nobody would make them a priority.
On our way, we talked to a druid.
He had discovered an illegal zoo in the Blacklake District, owned and maintained by a poacher from a noble family, where exotic animals were held under bad conditions and would be killed for their sick idea of fun.
He had tried to work with the authorities to resolve that matter, but his contact persons had died of the plague.
I agreed to investigate the matter, because obviously, with this plague, the authorities were not capable of upholding the law anymore in every part of the city. I had been temporarily assigned to support the city guard, and someone had to remind the noble families that justice didn't turn a blind eye because of somebody's wealth and name. (so there, a perfectly lawful reason for a paladin to rescue those poor animals). But it would have to wait until we had another reason to go there, other matters were more urgent now.
We went to the Beggar's Nest to clear the streets of a lot of zombies. We went into an inn to talk to that shorty, I dont remember his name, and to an undead hunter, we entered into two or three houses and saved some people, talked to a young man who was missing his brother, a member of a gang or something. Something or someone seems to turn people into zombies, and some of them hang around an old warehouse. We checked the streets, found a dead mage, took his possessions, went to the Temple of Helm. Another young man there was looking for his friend or brother and the description fit, so we gave him the sad news and his brother's property.
There seems to be a house where mages go and join a sort of cult. We will have to look into that later, we have no experience in fighting mages yet.
We went to the old warehouse and found it infested by many zombies, seems to be a sort of headquarter. We killed all of the weak zombies and took everything we found there, because it's obviously not somebody's shop anymore. In the next room, we had an unpleasant surprise.
He was absorbing all the damage, we were too weak to beat him now and I had to constantly heal Tomi, so I decided to hit the Stone of Recall to get us out of there. We would have to be stronger and better equipped before we could face him. At least we have cleared the streets of many zombies, hopefully people would be a little safer and find their way to the Temple of Helm there, where the priest was offering protection.
It was time to go to the Peninsula District. We checked the situation with the guard captain and tried to find our way to the militia headquarters when we got swarmed by 7 or 8 prisoners, half of them the big green guys, probably half-orcs or something. I was so focused on fighting our way our of there, we were stuck between them and couldn't get back to the guards for help, they hit all at once and I forgot that I could use the Stone of Recall to get us out.
Sigh. The nice priest who had dragged me back from the edge reminded me to use the stone to get out of trouble when necessary. We walked back and tried to remember to draw bigger groups of prisoners back to the gate to fight them together with the guards.
We helped both of Lady Tanglebrook's servants, and this time we asked them enough questions to find out about the key and the tunnel and her family relation to Alaefin.
We beat the first gang leader next to the sewers without too much trouble, because there were only two others with him and I paid attention to our health bars this time.
By the way, Tomi has the annoying habit of drinking healing potions (I don't know where he got them from) when surrounded by several people who then scream "Attack of Opportunity" all at once. I wish I could tell him to stop that and let me just heal him. It really works better in combat.
Unfortunately I have no Potion of Barkskin this time. So I bought a tower shield, and we always went back to the militia HQ to rest when necessary, but we still had to go to the sewers for the prison key.
I'm beginning to appreciate Tomi. He still has to learn to listen to my orders in the heat of battle, but he's very fast and his sneak attacks have saved me several times.
Then we went to check out the Tanglebrook Estate.
Ugh. Good that their poison is relatively harmless and short-acting.
Poor Lady Tanglebrook, one more victim, just not as nameless as the others. We will find the one who was responsible for all those deaths and bring him to justice!
Her journal told us that she had no more family left, and the district was overrun by criminals, so I decided to take the dagger+1 from her house and sell it together with the two-bladed sword +1 that we had found next to her body. That gave me enough money to buy an Amulet of Natural Armor and that ring that gives light, and to get more healer's kits. It's necessary to be able to do our duty.
I have AC 22 now, and I reached level 4 after killing the first or second gang leader. I have memorized Endure Elements in my spellbook and have two Silence scrolls. Time to go into the prison.
I will skip the details, here is the next gang leader.
[
I imagine Elan singing "Keep, keep, keep, keep the crazy halfling from getting himself killed."
The player AI is also crazy. Sometimes my avatar runs off to attack someone, but surrounded by 5 enemies she kills one and then just stand there staring at the others until I select her next target. And then she turns around and hits someone else!
Anyway, it's time to face the central room of the second level, the Containment Level boss with his fireballs.
Being well prepared, because of someone's very useful example
Endure Elements was already cast, and I read the Silence scroll right before entering the room.
But Silence seems to have a very short duration, and when it wore off, the Fireball followed immediately.
That was very, very close for Tomi (see his HP bar), but I could heal him quickly enough and then we finished the job.
After travelling back with the Stone of Recall, selling stuff and getting another Silence scroll and a Potion of Clarity, and resting at the temple, we went down to the first level of the pits.
We didn't have real problems in the first rooms, but somewhere in the back, through an opened door, I spotted something sparkling like when I use Endure Elements, so we went in prepared for a mage battle, with the same protective spell on me and Silence again.
Silence doesn't last long and he was lurking with his Fireball right when it ended, and poor Tomi didn't make it this time. Sorry, friend. I could heal myself quickly enough to finish it.
I don't know what happened there, see the combat log, is it possible that the sorcerer killed himself with the Fireball or what? I saw his avatar fall, and he dropped loot, but the combat log doesn't say that he's dead and I didn't get XP for it.
Also, I think it's unfair that I chose to play on "Hardcore D&D Rules" difficulty setting, where it's explicitly stated that the player's fireballs will harm party members, but his fire doesn't hurt the prisoners.
So, I went back to the temple to get Tomi. Since I receive a penalty when I respawn and he doesn't, I've decided to drop 50 GP into the divining pool behind the portal everytime that he is brought back.
That's it for now. I'm wide awake although it's almost 3am here, because I'm adapting to my new dosage of medication, but I really should try to get some rest now. Typos will be edited tomorrow.
That was fun! Not the frustration that I felt yesterday.
Level: 4
Reloads: 0
Personal respawn: 1
Tomi respawn: 1
By the way, I've had to read a bit about Tyr to know how to roleplay. Of the Triad I still prefer Torm, but Tyr seemed more appropriate because of Aribeth and everything.
@Arvia , That was the most fun reading I've had in a long time. I had the longest, loudest laugh I've had in recent memory when I read, "I kept hearing Elan's voice singing 'Keep, keep, keep, keep the crazy halfling from killing himself". ROFLMAO
Also, at "...they kept yelling 'Attack of Opportunity!' at him...". I see you've drank the Order of the Stick, D&D "kool-aid" like so many of the rest of us.
(If you need me to explain that "drink the kool-aid" idiomatic expression, let me know. )
I love your backstory and your writing style. I wish there would be more readers for these reports, but you have thoroughly entertained and delighted at least one middle-aged gentleman from America with your time spent on writing tonight. Also, thank you for the little subtle shout-outs and thanks for my advice and the references to my own current run.
I don't know if you're a "Game of Thrones" fan, but your choice of character portraits for Arvia and even a bit of your basic manner have made me start thinking of you as "Brienne of Tarth", from "Game of Thrones". I hope that telling you that makes you smile if you're a fan, or if you're not a fan, then please disregard.
That was such a fantastic run report! Thank you so much for joining the thread and sharing. I hope I will read a lot more of these kinds of posts in the future, when you have the time, although I understand completely if real life makes it not possible to write reports with pictures very often.
@BelgarathMTH , I wrote that late at night and just typed down the first things that came into my mind without thinking much about it. I'm glad you liked it . I don't need many readers. Making one person smile or laugh is worth the effort.
I think I have learned from Stargate what "drink the kool-aid" means. But thank you for offering to explain.
My choice of character portraits is very limited. Even with portrait packs, it's hard to find pictures of women in proper armor (as opposed to bikini "armor" wearing succubi). If I play a paladin, I want the portrait to look like one.
I read your last report after posting my own. There's a lot of helpful detail in it for my near future again. And spiders again ?. Maybe that "Lightsaber" +1 that I will get soon is going to help.
I really like to read your "Captain's Log". But :stern look: you can't write a Captain's Log and have a padawan and lightsabers, you have to decide which galaxy you belong to!
Please keep writing more of that, at least until you decide to move on and start another game.
@Arvia , What, can't a jedi knight also be a military captain? Obi-Wan Kenobi held the rank of "general" during the Clone Wars, after all.
I know my mixed references are silly, but I kind of write that stuff "tongue-in-cheek", going for humor. I'll probably eventually mix in Order of the Stick, Stargate, and who knows how many other silly references. It's just how I have fun with writing the reports.
I'm glad you're having more fun with the game now, and enjoying the thread.
It's not silly, I like it. It was only a joke because I always have to roll my eyes when people at work or somewhere don't know the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars. ?
We have at last defeated the evil yuan-ti priestess, Gulnan, only barely. She was the most dangerous foe we have ever faced.
***********************
I'm having trouble taking screenshots with Steam. I can't find a control to take the screenshot that doesn't do something else in the game. My Snapper app doesn't work with the Steam version of NWN:EE. I tried putting the Steam screenshot key to num pad 0 instead of F12, but that has marred my last several photos with a radial menu. I was getting better pictures with F12, but, the reason I wanted to change it was that F12 brings up some kind of spell cast icon and makes any document or journal text I'm trying to take a picture of disappear before the screen shot is taken. This problem is getting a little frustrating for these reports.
Anyway, we made level 5 while fighting the trash mob zombies outside Gulnan's stronghold.
We found one of the tombs of those who had taken the Chronicles of Halueth Never. Judge Oleff in the Hall of Justice had asked us to find and collect these, using the relics we had obtained from the dwarven archaeologist in the prison district. There's a mummy in there, and a trapped sepulcher. The setup implies that the mummy has gotten out of the sepulcher, and was evil, so taking the book for Judge Oleff is the right thing to do.
Tomi almost immediately succumbed to the mummy's Fear Aura, but, being a paladin, I didn't have to worry about that.
We fought one of Gulnan's first strong minions, a zombie lord. These always have Stoneskin, and many new players get confused when the combat text keeps saying "damage reduction" or "weapon ineffective". In reality, you're just needing to batter down the Stoneskins, after which you'll be able to damage normally. Battles against zombie lord Stoneskin at lower levels take a long, long time, but they fight as monks with Flurry of Blows activated, giving them four attacks per round, but horrible BAB. The thing could have cut Tomi to ribbons, but it could only hit me on a 20, so I held Tomi back out of this one.
The fight with Gulnan.
This is a *very* hard fight for a paladin. I went in with Resist Elements, Bless, and Barkskin, from potions, but Gulnan's first move was to dispel them. Yikes. The first thing I do when entering here is to run to the right and destroy Gulnan's magic power altar, which should make her much weaker than she would be if you didn't do that. She didn't feel weakened this time!
I held Tomi back at the start of this fight so I could focus. There was a wraith in there. The zombies were irrelevant, but the wraith was a serious threat. It can strength drain, and *level drain*. If I got level drained, this fight was going to be lost. Luckily, with Barkskin, it could only hit me on a 20. I was able to kill the wraith without Gulnan leaving her podium.
After being dispelled by Gulnan, I used a scroll of Resist Elements I had found to get that back up. She can cast Flame Strikes sometimes. I then drank another Potion of Barkskin. I needed to drink another Potion of Bless, but things were getting desperate.
Gulnan almost killed me several times. Feeling like I was about to lose this fight, I called in Tomi, hoping he could sneak attack Gulnan. That turned out to be a good decision, because she *summoned a shadow fiend*. Those things can also stat drain and level drain. If I started getting hit by that thing, it was going to be over. l've never seen Gulnan do that before. Surprise!
By the skin of my teeth, I was able to heal myself, heal Tomi, get some good attacks in on Gulnan, (Tomi also got several good Sneak Attacks in on her), and kill her before the shadow fiend could destroy us. In NWN, killing the caster automatically unsummons anything it has summoned.
Whew. This was a very satisfying, but nail-bitingly close fight.
Now, @Arvia , We have a key to a locked treasure room we saw at the entrance to this crypt. I happen to know that there's an incredibly valuable suit of armor in there. But, you have to take it out of a locked and trapped casket, and you get attacked by a mummy if you do. This particular setup implies that you were trying to take the armor off the mummy's dead body when you got attacked. And the other treasures in the many chests in the room suggest that this mummy may have been a nobleman who got buried here and wanted to "take it all with him". I'm thinking I should not take anything from this poor, deluded person's crypt. What do you think?
I take things from undead-infested crypts when it looks like the "owners" have gotten out of their tombs and started being "walking dead". But if a grave or casket is still closed and locked, such that the buried person can reasonably be presumed to still have their body inside and not be undead, I usually won't unlock it or take anything nearby.
Right before Gulnan's chambers, there are four crypts guarded by animated armors (kind of combination undead/golems) who are created to guard the final resting places of rich wizards or nobles. Those come out and attack, and you don't want to have them at your back while you fight Gulnan, but, the caskets inside are still locked. I decided this time not to take anything out of there, either.
Level: 5
Reloads: 0
Personal Respawns: 0
Tomi Respawns: 2
We have been advised by Aribeth to look next into the Blacklake District for the third of four plague cure reagents that we need. The outskirts of Blacklake have fallen into anarchy, and are now being controlled by a half-orc boss named "Loxar". We defeated him, but he was very powerful, and this was done at great personal risk to Tomi and me.
Before we went through the gates to Blacklake proper, we were attacked by strong enemies, one of whom held a bounty notice telling us that we were now targets of some nefarious organization called "The People of the Eye", who are behind the Plague, and who do not want us to recover any more reagents. We turned in this evidence first to Aribeth, who told us to give the document to Fenthick. Desther acted very strangely during this episode, seeming to suggest to Fenthick that I had forged the notice and that I was lying to Aribeth and him. This person strikes me as increasingly more and more suspicious in the way he speaks. I do not understand why Fenthick trusts him. Lady Aribeth confided that she does *not* trust him, but that her consort Fenthick had talked her into putting up with this obnoxious Helmite priest.
After returning to Blacklake, we met an old, kindly cleaning woman on the streets who told us that she knew a secret passage into her former lover Meldanen's estate. We had heard much about the supposed evil committed by this man, including that he was stockpiling food away from the city and the Plague victims, that he was kidnapping people for magical experimentation, and that he had likely kidnapped the dryad who had escaped from the Neverwinter Academy so long ago.
We were fortunate that we had been able to Persuade Milly into telling us about that secret passage, because the guard at Meldanen's estate refused to let us in, and it became clear that the only way in through the front gates of the estate was going to be to kill this guard.
Before we went to Milly's house, we found the Neverwinter Zoo, where the druid Nyatar had asked us to rescue exotic wild animals who were about to be killed for the pleasure of a noble's son named "Sureshot", who had inherited the zoo when his father was killed by the Plague.
We used the magic items Nyatar had given us to rescue these animals and transport them magically to Nyatar's care, with a minimum of killing. The guards in the restricted area behind the animals' cages attacked us on sight, but we had already seen the front side of the cages, with permanent unopenable bars, but had also seen the exact location of the bars behind, which we could assume were the entrances to the cages.
We did not steal anything from the zoo, and we never went into the guards' quarters, or found wherever "Sureshot", the noble's son was hiding out. We sadly had to kill some guards who attacked us, and the hunter who was guarding the lever that would open the animal cages, but I feel good that we rescued the animals for the druid with the least killing possible.
**********************
After defeating Gulnan, I had some money to decide how to spend. I bought a suit of full plate armor, and a set of Bracers of Armor +1. I sold my Ring of Protection +1, just because I wanted to replace it with a Cloak of Protection +1, for the look. We paladins are supposed to present our best possible and most striking, shining, appearance, after all, to inspire the people.
Now I have a nice, brown, cloak, which makes me look more like a good jedi knight wearing a nice, plain, brown cloak. Although, I also am wearing a suit of shiny full plate, and I am holding a brilliant tower shield, to look like a D&D paladin should. (I'm mixing several class fantasies from several settings again, I guess, but that's what I do. )
With the new gear, I now have AC 25 before potions.
The fight with Loxar the half-orc is *extremely* dangerous for almost any character. He fights with a scythe, which in this game has "Critical 20, X4". What that means, is that if he rolls a 20 at any point, and confirms the threat roll, you get a respawn on your counter. A critical with a scythe will one-shot any level five or below character, barring lucky rolls. That's why a lot of the DPS-oriented warrior players always choose scythe for their weapon, and take a lot of scythe-related feats. We basically got lucky in this fight that Loxar never rolled a 20.
The disease on Tomi came from Loxar's rabid dog, which we were ignoring in favor of the bigger threat. I healed the disease with my paladin "Remove Disease" ability.
The notice of the bounty on our heads by the "People of the Eye". The symbol of these evil villains is the same icon that represents the entire "Neverwinter Nights" game on various screens. It's ... an eye.
The fight in the zoo. The resolution of this quest can be confusing and frustrating to a new player. You not only have to talk to each of the four distressed animals and tell them to walk outside to the tree where you used Nyatar's Transport via Plants scroll, you have to go back out to the tree and talk to each of the four animals again to tell them to go through the portal.
I seem to still have the "Skyboxes Lite" mod that I installed in support of my installation of @Savant1974 's "Saga of Aielund". Look at this beautiful photo of sunset over Neverwinter, that I took while returning Nyatar's quest.
BTW, I found a key for screen shots that lets me finally take pictures of in-game document texts without activating other in-game features that ruin the shot. It was num pad - .
Level: 5
Reloads: 0
Personal Respawns: 0
Tomi Respawns: 2
Arvia had spent most of her childhood in the streets of the Beggar's Nest, coming from a poor family with too many siblings. When she was 8 years old, a Cleric of Tyr spotted her trying to save a beggar child from being robbed by two thieves, and taking a thorough beating. He recognized her sense of justice and her determination to defend the weak as signs of a calling and took her to the temple to be healed. The cleric, Father Alexander, talked to her parents and took care that she received a balanced education and learned what it meant to follow Tyr's dogma. When she was older, he introduced her to Sir Albrecht, a Paladin of Tyr and Knight of the Merciful Sword, who continued to teach her and support her wish to become a paladin herself. When she completed her training and swore her oath in the temple, she took the name of her god as part of her own name. She didn't have a family name, her parents had died already, and the Tyrrans were her family now. "Arvia of Tyr" she would be from now on. Sir Albrecht, who remained her mentor, was on a mission in the south when the Wailing Death hit the city, and Arvia decided to follow Lady Aribeth's call.
Wow, thats such an engaging story. I feel like this introduction will easily echo through your entire gameplay. Nicely done. It fits so perfectly in the story of the game, especially at the start.
Your portrait choice is so awesome as well!
@BelgarathMTH , great reports! For me, it's reading a story and learning a very good lesson at the same time. Thank you again for including so much important information. For example about the "damage absorbed* or *weapon ineffective*. I thought that I need another weapon, and now I know it was just Stoneskin. Or the damages or attacks that some undead will use, and that killing the caster dispels the summons. Without all that knowledge, my beginner's frustration would go through the roof.
Interesting insight about the "People of the Eye". I have only talked to the Priest of Helm in the streets in the Peninsula Disctrict, and the one in the temple in the Beggar's Nest, but I had the feeling that there was something off about them and was beginning to suspect that the Helmites, or at least some misguided splinter group, had something to do with the plague. Apparently my real life Wisdom of 5 is beginning to increase
Beautiful sunset. I wondered why I never see the sky, and then I found out that you can tilt the camera angle. I've been playing from bird's eye perspective all the time.
And I like the colored icons, it looks better and makes them easier to recognize.
I have changed to Steam, too, after you told me that mods and user created campains are easily installed there. The only problem is that I don't know if I can install things like that in my current run and it will affect the saved files, or if I have to wait until the next time.
I've started using Snapper for screenshots when I play on PC (on the tablet you just press the power and volume button at the same time to take a screenshot), because you had recommended it earlier in this thread in your NWN2 run. For me, it works the same way when I'm playing on Steam.
About your decisions regarding tombs, I always find that difficult. From what you have explained about the setting, I think it's right to leave that rich man's tomb alone. Of course it's delusional to want to hoard his possessions even after death, but that doesn't give us the right to disturb his rest and steal things, least of all taking them from his dead body in a locked casket. It's a different thing if there are undead attacking you and you find items there. Even then, I'm sometimes undecided and would rather leave things there. I make those decisions as I go, and don't always take the same choices, depending on the circumstances. For example, I didn't raid the Candlekeep Catacombs in BG:EE, but I did take things out of caskets in the undead infested starting dungeon in SoD, although they were locked.
I hope to have time to continue tonight (last night I didn't get further than finishing the prison) and write some more.
One last important question: I couldn't find any dwarven archeologist. Judge Oleff had said something about a house in the east part of the Peninsula District, but I couldn't find it. Or is it the same as that shop next to the Militia HQ?
@Arvia , the reason the dwarf is so hard to find is that he is in the basement of a house that is unmarked on the Penninsula District exterior map. That house really should have a map marker, and I think it was a developer oversight that it doesn't have one.
The house is located next door to the merchant with the iron gate. The merchant with the iron gate is next door to the guard headquarters where the woman gave you the quest to get into the prison. Both of those buildings do have a map marker. They're on the east side of the map, marked "Mizzenmast Mercantile" and "Militia HQ". The dwarven archaeologist's house is just to the north of those two locations.
You have to have been given the quest to find Halueth Never's artifacts by Judge Oleff before they will talk to you or give you the quest items you need. There's a guard on the top floor of the house who will ask you why you're there, and then you can go down to the basement where the archaeologist is digging. He will tell you about what's going on, explain about how to find the rest of the artifacts, and then invite you to take the relics that they think act as keys from the chest beside him.
On each of the Beggar's Nest, Blacklake, and Docks maps, you can find a closed chamber with a chest outside that contains a note with a clue about which relic you should place into that chest to open the chamber. The ones in Beggar's Nest and the Docks are worth opening, because you can kill some undead, return the artifacts to Oleff, and get a very small gold and xp reward, plus some "good" points on your alignment score.
I don't think the one in Blacklake is worth trying to do, so I always skip it. The artifact in there is guarded by four animated swords, and their challenge rating (CR) is way too high for Chapter One of the game, in my opinion. If you run into those swords, I recommend running, or you're likely to get more respawns. I think I've beaten them a time or two over the years, so they're not impossible with lucky rolls, but I think the risk is too great for a minimal reload.
Helmets in NWN don't do anything except provide a small bonus to concentration. They offer no protection whatsoever as far as AC or critical hits. Most NWN players don't wear them early on, because they get in the way of roleplay, since they remove your head and face model. Later, there will be head gear that does have powerful enough enchantment to be worth wearing, if you're willing to have to cover your face to get the protection. It's usually not any huge bonus, though.
Thank Tyr and his servant Lady Aribeth for the saving grace of pulling us back to the temple when mortally wounded. I used the Stone of Recall to pick up Tomi and we went back to the prison pits. I fought Kurdan Fenkt, who was a tough opponent, but suprisingly "Smite Evil" didn't work on him. Not evil? When he was almost defeated, he surrendered and told us that Alaefin was possessed by a "brain thing" and had dazed the remaining guards. When he heard that we still wanted to go downstairs and fight, he recommended talking to the guards to make them snap out of their daze, so that the intellect devourer couldn't possess them if he killed its host.
Fenkt was not an innocent man, but I won't kill someone who has surrendered, and his information was vital to our survival and to finding the cure for the Wailing Death, so we didn't follow him when he ran away. Justice will find him if Tyr wants it, and maybe justice was what let him get away now. Perhaps he has redeemed himself for whatever got him imprisoned in the first place. After all, he had provided key information to fight a great evil here.
I know we Tyrrans are sometimes called Tyrants, but there are different factions. My mentor belongs to the Knights of the Merciful Sword, who understand that justice needs to be tempered, and that the balance between lawful and good, when in doubt, needs to be in favor of good.
I was able to persuade all the guards to get out of there before attacking the Head Gaoler. When he died, the Intellect Devourer left his body, and lacking another suitable host it started to attack us in its natural form. I was under the effect of Protection from Evil (thank you, teacher), so its mind affecting magic couldn't harm me. It still took a long time to kill that very resistant creature. We took its brain and gave it to Lady Aribeth.
She was very grateful und full of praise, but I'm beginning to feel uneasy about all this. I have to obey her, and I will, and I know that many people are dying, but I had assumed until now that the Waterdhevian creatures would have to be examined to find a cure, not killed to harvest powerful body parts. Desperate times may require desperate measures, but to imprison, experiment on and then kill sentient beings to save others does not seem the right way. Unfortunately, I can't question their motives. Perhaps I will have a chance to address that in the future.
We were stronger and better equipped now, so after a short rest in the temple we went to continue our task in the Beggar's Nest. On our way to the warehouse with the Sword Coast Boys we were ambushed by four thugs who claimed to have been hired to kill me. They were carrying alarming information with them, and I went back immediately to present it to Lady Aribeth:
I have a very bad feeling about this.
(OOC: But at least, after learning that it's useless in battle, I can finally take off that silly pot helmet!)
I obeyed and went to see Fenrick. Of course, Desther was there, too. Sigh.
This is outrageous, he can't seriously be questioning my integrity and accuse me of lying and forging evidence! I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that anger leads to bad decisions. Tyr, give me the strength to remember that the truth will always come out, and that judgement needs to be tempered. He might just be a man under a great strain, but I feel that something is wrong here.
Trial to test our faith indeed! Ilmater have mercy on us. And they say that we Tyrrans are zealots.
I'm not sure if that last statement is true when it comes to Desther, but I'm glad that Fenrick still trusts me.
This smells more like politics than religion. I'm out, I don't have much experience and my diplomacy skills are not yet what they should be. I wish I could talk to my mentor Sir Albrecht, but I'm not even sure where exactly he is right now, and nobody can leave the city with a letter. I should just continue doing my duty.
We have to go back to that warehouse in the city district where we had barely escaped that Sword Coast Boy with the Stoneskin.
Whatever had protected him from damage, Stoneskin or something similar, seems to have been applied by someone else, because it had worn off when we faced him again and he couldn't renew it.
Drawl was next. It shows that he used to be the head of a street gang. I had known people like him when I lived here as a kid. Big mouth, big stick, impressive gestures to intimidate others. He looked dangerous in his undead form, but I'm not a street kid anymore. I am Arvia of Tyr, loyal servant of the Just God who won't let my sword arm tremble in battle.
I would say "save your breath", but he doesn't have lungs anymore. Why is it that the evil guys always waste so much energy on talk during a fight?
Definitely not immortal. But Gulnan seems to be a very dangerous and powerful opponent.
Walters used to be a Sword Coast Boy and was a guard now. He was weak and there might still be zombies around, so we asked him to wait here in relative safety until the streets were free of the undead infestation.
There was a door leading into some underground tunnels. We weren't sure what expected us down there, and if we were ready to face Gulnan yet. I decided to follow the other clue about the snake cult first.
That was not a lie. " I do follow the snake... to reveal the truth and bring justice!" I added under my breath.
We had to fight several cultists, but none of them were strong enough to be dangerous, they were just many. I ordered Tomi to stay hidden in the background and only attack if I called him. I know he is brave, but he is also fragile, and I can't afford to use all our healing supplies on him.
After defeating them all, I had to face their leader. He was not a strong fighter, and thanks to Protection from Evil he couldn't harm me with his mind spells.
If Gulnan was feared even by the followers of Cyric, I would need all my strength and resources and Tyr's blessing to defeat her.
But something else down there in the crypts was to be feared and took a heavy toll on our supplies and our health. A Bloated Dire Spider! It had been lurking behind a corner, I had seen it too late, and before I could call him off, Tomi was already attacking it. I quickly drank a Potion of Barkskin and charged, but the spider's attention was on Tomi, I couldn't distract it enough with my attacks and also had to keep healing him. It was not enough, its posion and brutal strikes were too strong.
I'm sorry, my friend.
I continued to fight, but she kept dealing me very high damage and draining my strength with her poison.
I couldn't even walk anymore, I could only stand there and hit when the monster got close, and I was affected by the poison and couldn't heal myself as fast as it was hitting me and piercing me with its strong and pointy legs, like spears. I should have used the portal stone to get out, but my judgement was clouded by the poison, and under its effect I misjudged the amount of damage that I could endure.
I was pulled back to the temple and restored to full health. I went back immediately without picking up Tomi, for his own safety. I drank another Potion of Barkskin, and I think I added a Potion of Bless, too, and attacked again.
I got poisoned, Strength drained and severely wounded again, with every one of its strikes, and I was quickly running out of healing supplies. I sometimes even failed the healing spell, and it never worked against the poison. I decided to use the Stone of Recall and take a moment at the temple to stock up on healing kits and to think about a strategy. This was a creature to be feared, and I didn't have experience how to fight such a powerful and dangerous beast. Tyr's grace protects me from Fear in a battle, but I will need much more experience, and listen to wisdom, to distinguish courage from recklessness. Some Tyrrans are prone to martyrdom and self-sacrifice. I don't approve of that, but I can see where it comes from. I will have to be very careful to keep my inner balance and not to fall into that trap.
((Time to sleep. I will write down the part from there until the fight with Gulnan another time))
Level: 4
Reloads: 0
Personal respawns: 2
Tomi respawns: 2
(The edits are, as usual, minor corrections like typos and expressions)
Back in the soothing atmosphere of the temple, I meditated on my failure and prayed to Tyr for guidance. It came from an unexpected direction. Tomi Undergallows, my roguish, hired henchman, turned out to be more loyal and resourceful than I had thought. He helped me check my inventory and recommended using every enhancement that I could, and get from Aribeth whatever might be needed (and could be paid with our meagre budget). I looked through her stocks, talked to a cleric and found out that a Potion of Lesser Restoration would not only reverse the effects of the typical things like vampire attacks, but also of that dreaded strength drain the spider hat used to disable me.
I bought two of those, just in case, and of course a few more healing kits.
I had wanted to save the one Potion of Bull's Strength for desperate times, but if this wasn't desperate, then what? I drank it, added Potions of Barkskin (my last one, and nobody around here sells them) and Bless, cast Protection from Evil (just in case, although I wasn't sure if this was a creature of evil or just a rare natural spider), and also drank a Potion of Cat's Grace that I had found somewhere. The last one was probably wasted, because it enhanced Dexterity and I doubt that changed much, but that's how it is.
Tomi insisted on coming with me. He knew the danger, but he said that the least thing he could do was keep the zombie off my back and maybe try to get a little sneak attack on the spider while it was focused on me. I accepted, but he had to promise me to stay a little behind so that the spider wouldn't go for him like last time.
The plan was working so far. My greater Strength helped me to hit true and deal more damage, Tomi was keeping the zombie off my back and the spider kept its focus on me. My AC was 25 with Barkskin, so the Dexterity potion had really been wasted, but this time the monster didn't hit me. I don't know if it was the Bless, or if the spider only had a limited amount of poison, but I was very grateful for it.
Then Tomi, brave and reckless, turned his back on the zombie and landed a few sneak attacks. That shifted the spider's attention to him, and before I could intervene, it hit him.
Tomi, that was very courageous, but also irresponsible. However, he had weakened the spider enough that my next strike ended its life the same moment that Tomi vanished back to the temple.
I felt very bad about that. I should have left him behind. His presence might have made the difference between winning and losing, but I have the feeling that I have sacrificed him. I'm going to let him rest at the temple for a while and continue alone. I will have to hurry as long as my abilities are enhanced, because I have no more of those potions left and no more money to buy new ones.
The exit led me to the graveyard. Gulnan must be in a building somewhere, so I started to look around in the fog, when several zombies closed in around me. They're not strong, but killing them one by one would take precious time, time for my potions to wear of.
I remembered that I had recently learned to Turn Undead, and decided to give it a try.
Very useful against weak undead. Several of them dropped all at once, the few remaining were killed with one or two strikes.
I found the entrance to the crypts and was "welcomed" by talking zombies seemingly possessed by Gulnan.
The first thing she said made me uneasy, because it coincided with my recent doubts about the whole issue of using the Waterdhevian creatures for a cure. But this was not the time to question. She had committed clearly evil acts after her escape, and that was her own choice.
The next room was occupied by a zombie lord. He was protected by Stoneskin and casting something, so I quickly drank another Potion of Bless. Of course my Barkskin chose this exact moment to vanish. My other buffing resources were drained, but fortunately he was not too dangerous, just very resistant. It took a long time to smash his Stoneskin.
Tyr granted his favor. When he was dead, I hadn't even needed to use one of my precious few healing kits.
His death also got me to level 5.
(10 HP! That's great. I was very lucky with my rolls, have 50 HP now)
And not only that. I found a very much needed Potion of Barkskin on one of the corpses in a corner!
I decided to rest for a moment, give thanks to Tyr for his help, remember the deaths of those people who had been killed here, and regain my health and my abilities befire facing Gulnan.
And so thoughtful of Gulnan to leave information how to weaken her.
But my success had made me careless. I found a room with various chests, and needing supplies so badly I took the risk to open them without going back to get Tomi first. The few traps I had walked into until now had dealt little damage or stunned me. Foolish, foolish girl.
52 fire damage all at once!
I think I will need my companion with me after all. I really need to be more careful and stop being overconfident. Thank you, Tyr, for reminding me to be more humble.
When I got transported back, I took Tomi with me. I had made an oath to donate 50 gp (by dropping it into the divining pool behind the portal) for every time that they pulled him back to the temple and healed him, so that I would never abuse that privilege and take my responsibility for him seriously.
That hurt, because I had to give 100 gp for having him almost die twice during the spider fight, which left me with 4 gp. But I had made that oath to myself and I would keep it.
( OOC:I will skip over the details in the dungeon. Minor undead, those flying armors guarding the tombs, and like you @BelgarathMTH I chose to leave the caskets alone, as well as that rich man's tomb. And I accidentally freed Jared, a Priest of Cyric, from a cell next to the zombie lord. He had pretended to want to speak with me and then fled.)
Now, we had to face Gulnan! Or rather, I did. I ordered Tomi to wait in the doorway until I called him.
I ran to the altar and destroyed the pedestal and then killed as many zombies as I could before drawing Gulnan's attention. (no wraith for us, just usual zombies, and ghouls who looked like oversized Asgard or other aliens)
Turn Undead is so useful when you're in a hurry.
I used Barkskin and Protection from Evil to face Gulnan. I was more afraid of her ability to control my mind than of fire.
Then she dispelled my protections.
Woah. Healed just in time. But I was right to fear her control spells. I should have taken the Potion of Clarity after her dispelling my protections. She paralyzed me and I just stood there, ready to be slaughtered.
Respawn again.
I went back immediately. But this time I asked Tomi to join the fight when necessary
I don't know why I didn't cast the protection before being transported. I failed the concentration check and drank the Potion of Clarity. I should have memorized Endure Elements *and* used the potion.
I healed myself just in time, and Tomi jumped in to finish her.
Thank all the gods, and give me better judgement next time.
Lady Aribeth was content and rewarded us with gold, and so did, I can't remember his name, the one from the inn in the Beggar's Nest. I couldn't refuse, I needed the money badly.
We still had to go to that tomb where Judge Oleff had sent us, but right now I finally got a good suit of armor.
I was out of money again, but good armor must have the highest priority. I have AC 24 now and look like a serious paladin. My half plate was too fancy with golden glitter and didn't give as much protection. When I have money again, I will buy those bracers, too.
I went back to the temple to rest, meditate on the latest events to learn from my many mistakes, and to consider where to go next.
Level: 5
Reloads: 0
Personal respawns: 4
Tomi respawns: 3
@Arvia , wonderful report! "I would say save your breath, but he doesn't have lungs any more." LOL. I love your sense of humor in your writing.
Congratulations on getting past that dire spider! That is an unbelievably hard fight.
I love the screen shots of Arvia in action. One of the things I like best about NWN is that when you take a screenshot, you can often catch great "action hero" poses of your avatar in mid-attack. With a couple of good shots like that, a run report really comes to life, and sometimes I like reading a well-written report like yours better than watching a video.
They can be fun to write, too, and I often enjoy going back over mine and reading them again as my run progresses as kind of a storybook I've written for myself, plus it gives me a written record of my past runs so I can remember them.
@Arvia , I posted that last in response to the report before the one that just went up. Going back to read the new one, now. I meant to say in that last comment, I love your roleplaying of your character. You're great at using in-game lore to create a character who reads like she really grew up in that world and belongs to Neverwinter and the Forgotten Realms.
@Arvia , another great report! Loved it! I especially like that screen shot that looks like Tomi has backstabbed Gulnan in the killing blow.
It appears Gulnan is even more dangerous than I thought. I don't know if her AI is good enough that she changes which spells she casts according to what the player is trying to do, or if she's casting randomly from a huge spellbook. To have that many Flame Strikes, a fifth level cleric spell, I think she'd have to be at least 12th level with 18 wisdom.
When I fought her, she did all those "Cause Wounds" spells, but then she went for summoning the shadow fiend instead of using her Flame Strikes. Maybe she's scripted to do that when the battle is going badly for her, like at a certain low number of hit points. She's also very good with her scimitar. So, my guess is that I had luckier hit rolls and got her hit points down low enough that she went for her summoning spell (I think creating a major undead like a shadow fiend is a sixth level cleric spell, or else she had a special ability to do it), before she had time to start in with the three Flame Strike spells.
Congratulations on beating another extremely hard fight!
One hint: You can buy more Barkskin potions from Nyatar the druid at the tree outside the Hall of Justice.
Comments
nah, by 3.5 edition standards, the average house cat has a higher challenge rating than a kobold, so kitties should be okay haha
Inspired by your recent posts about NWN, I've decided to make a paladin and remind myself what it might be like for you, trying to play a first level pally in NWN:EE. I can't say how far I'll go before I want to move on, but I'd say I'd like to at least play through Chapter One and compare my experiences to yours, and maybe be able to give you better advice in the future.
Introducing to the NWN minimal reload challenge, Todangelus Lightbringer, paladin of Torm. I might get into some more in-character rp reporting later, but for now, I just want to report on build and progress in somewhat abbreviated fashion.
Here are my attributes:
I have taken 14 in most relevant attributes, except for constitution, which I gave up for 13 dexterity and 12 intelligence. The 13 dexterity is for +1 AC while wearing plate, plus the Dodge line of feats that go with it. The intelligence is so I can max my four favored class skills, which are...
Discipline (for resistance to Knockdown), Heal (for, um, healing), Lore (because I can't stand not being able to identify magic items I find in the field, since many of them will be immediately life-saving later on), and Persuade (not that useful in the OC for a pally, but it can at least give me a better chance to get Nyatar's Neverwinter Zoo quest without reloading. Plus, in any user-generated content, it becomes much more useful, and, it fits my class fantasy of being a Jedi Knight with the "mind trick".)
My feats as of level three are Dodge, Mobility, and Weapon Focus: Longsword. I only took the weapon focus so I could possibly take Champion of Torm levels later, although I doubt I'll do that until I have my divine spell list fully available as a single-class pally with no prestige class.
My companion will of course be my bro Tomi, as always in this game.
Notice that the first four places in my main quickbar are filled with the companion commands that will give me the control to give Tomi orders that I will need.
I'll be back with more after I make some progress in the prison district.
Level: 3
Reloads: 0
1) I had Tomi unlock some healing supplies on the burning dock, and we took them. The entire district has descended into anarchy. It makes no sense to leave low-value healing supplies lying around in crates. We also checked every house without a locked door (to check if anyone in there needed help), and without fail, there were mobs of murderous, escaped prisoners in there, and they usually had some healing supplies either on them or in chests of drawers. If I could find any cheap healing supplies or two gold pieces or some such left behind in mostly empty crates, I took those, too.
2) At the first gang leader outside the sewers, I drank a Potion of Barkskin I had gotten somewhere. That got my AC up to 23. Tomi and I destroyed most of the surrounding minions in one or two hits each, before the gang leaders could even get to us. After the outside gang leader went down, I still had plenty of time left on the Barkskin's duration to head down into the sewer and attack the second gang leader. We dispatched the minions within two rounds, and I pulled aggro on the gang leader while Tomi sneak attacked that poor, unfortunate soul relentlessly for double-digit hits. When he went down, I had not even needed any of my collected healing supplies, and I still had my Barkskin.
3) Torm is blessing Tomi and me with an abundance of healing supplies we still haven't needed.
4) I've rested maybe three or four times since I've started. A word about resting in NWN. You can pretty much rest freely at will. It supposedly takes "24 hours" in theory, but in practice, it takes five seconds. You cannot control the clock or the time of day in the OC. (The great user-generated campaigns like @Savant1974 's famous "Saga of Aielund" provide mechanics that give you inn rest for eight-hour increments of time control, but that is not a thing in the NWN OC.)
I like to think of hitting that rest button as "We are growing tired, and we should stop for a moment, to pray and do some deep-breathing. We need to catch our breath and ask Torm for his continued guidance. Let us relax for a moment, breathe, and pray."
Level: 3
Reloads: 0
I'm inside the prison, going down into the pits. Tomi with his sneak attacks makes a huge difference.
My inventory looks like a medical kit . Since everybody got killed at the academy and it was swarmed with goblins, I have taken all the potions and healing kits that I could find there. I have looked into the unlocked houses of the Peninsula District, too.
I still had to reload twice. One gang leader outside where we couldn't disengage from the fight, and a mage in the prison who fried me with fireballs while Tomi ran around hitting everyone else. I have rested more often and used the Stone of Recall twice to get out of too big trouble when badly wounded. And I've also used a potion of barkskin. The gang leader in the sewers was not such a big issue this time. But I also had to pick up Tomi twice at the temple because he got himself killed. I need to constantly tell him to stay with me.
I think your better AC with Dodge and Mobility makes a difference here, especially against attacks of opportunity.
I thought constitution was better, but the extra HP per level doesn't really save me. I guess I'll have to restart again and adapt my dexterity and feats. Dodge+mobility seems much more useful than Power Attack, also because it's automatic. I always forget to use feats that need to be activated during combat, and Power Attack just increases damage, but until I manage to hit someone with the penalty, I'm exposed. (and got killed the one time that I tried).
You're right about Lore. Concentration seems to be wasted points (others have told me so, but I didn't believe it) and I'm losing much money to identify things. Also, as you have pointed out, being able to use things immediately after finding them might save my life.
Forgot that I won't have party members who can do it.
See, I should have asked you which feats are useful. The others were focused on "do more damage", but I prefer to be protected. I thought constitution might help me, but I never knew how useful Dodge and Mobility are.
I didn't understand how to get the companion commands to the quickbar
Going to restart again after work tonight, with your stats and feats, to see if that makes a difference, or if I'm just doing something wrong in combat.
I'm nervous about those sorcerers down in the pits. I'm used to having access to the Resist Elements spell. I want to check and see if Aribeth has cleric scrolls of that, and if we paladins can cast it from a cleric scroll, but I don't think we can. It's such a good spell - it lasts 24 hours per cast, and absorbs a lot of elemental damage. If I can't get elemental protection, I'm going to need to metagame a bit and try to build up some levels while avoiding the big sorcerer fights until I have some more hit points, and then hope to tank the damage, which will be challenging because of my low constitution score.
One thing that can help with the first sorcerer in the pit is to try to draw out all those prisoners away from him and get them killed off before confronting the sorcerer. I've seen him occasionally come on out in the hall with them, but he usually will stay behind next to his "throne".
I have to go teach some lessons this morning, but I should have some time later to play further. I'll probably post a progress report or two this evening.
I'm playing on PC, the controls, especially the camera turning, were too annoying on a touch screen. And it looks so much better on a bigger screen!
We have found our way into the barricaded prison in the Penninsula District. Actually we found two ways, as I wanted to try to clear the streets of rioting prisoners before going in, and escort any civilians in need of assistance out of the district, and one of the citizens we were helping told us about a secret underground tunnel from a Lady Penbrook's estate into the prison, and that Lady Penbrook was missing. She also told us of a key under Lady Penbrook's welcome mat that would get us into the house, and that the Lady almost certainly needed assistance, such that we should go in.
Upon entering Lady Penbrook's house, we found it overrun with vermin, and a diary explaining that she was having a romance with the Head Gaoler of the prison, and that they liked to meet to play chess in her basement. That was almost surely the location of the secret tunnel we had been told about. Sadly, lying in her own life-sized chessboard, we found the Lady's corpse. She had apparently tried to defend herself in the end with a large double-bladed sword that glowed faintly, almost surely magic.
She also had a very disturbing hole in her skull, and her brain had been devoured. There must be some monster behind this riot and prison break, or else a very sick and twisted individual.
Since the owner of the magic sword was clearly dead, we took it to trade for better equipment. I was able to purchase a Necklace of Natural Armor +1, and a tower shield, raising my defense before potions to AC 22.
The other way we found into the barricaded prison was a key to the front gate that was held by a gang leader who attacked us.
Fearing the fact that it was a matter of public record that several dangerous sorcerers had been imprisoned there, and that we were defenseless against sorcery, I prayed to Torm to grant me some defense. Shortly after, I received a message that the Beggar's Nest was being overrun by zombies. The dead were rising out of their graves, killing the residents, and those residents were also rising as zombies. This city is falling apart. Plague, prison riots, zombie invasions. Sigh. Torm help me restore order to this sad place.
We cleared the streets of Beggar's Nest of zombies, saving many citizens in the process. The ability to turn weak undead I get from Torm, while not usually effective against stronger undead, was enough to force them away from the citizens we were trying to save. Since this district had not descended into anarchy and still had innocent citizens and guards trying to protect it, I did not take anything from the shop containers on the streets, unless the owner's corpse was lying right beside the wares. Most of this property is likely to be reclaimed by the rightful owners if we can stop the zombies from rising.
We found several clues about who is behind the zombies, which we will have to pursue after the prison riot is put down, and the reason behind it is solved. After we saved many citizens from the zombies, Torm saw fit to bless me with a spell that can protect me from sorcerer's fire. Now I have a much better chance to survive in the prison. My patroness, Lady Aribeth, had ordered me to quell the prison riots as a priority, so we will have to succeed in that quest and then come back to Beggar's Nest as soon as possible.
***********************************
Gang Leader #3. This one is more dangerous than the first two, because he has a swarm of minions. I kept very tight control over Tomi, who of course wanted to run off and draw attacks from every prisoner on the floor. As soon as I saw the gang leader coming, I drank a potion of Barkskin. During the fight, the gang leader got a critical hit on Tomi, and I thought I would lose him. I made a desperate attempt to use a healing kit on him, and got it off just in time. I think we might have gotten lucky with bad confirmation and damage rolls on that crit.
Unfortunately, after that, we still had the mobs of prisoners on the north end of the floor to deal with, and they managed to get Tomi surrounded, and I couldn't get him healed in time to stop that many attacks. Respawn number one for Tomi. They were little threat to heavily armored me, so I finished them off and used the portal stone. I think they made me use one healing item on myself somewhere in there.
Back in the city after collecting Tomi from the temple respawn, we talked to Nyatar the druid and got his quest to save some animals from a corrupt zoo in Blacklake. The ethics of doing so are very debatable, but these are very, very bad men, and I cannot tolerate animal cruelty, especially not for trophy and sport.
Turning zombies in Beggar's Nest:
Level 4. At last Endure Elements is mine! Also Protection from Evil will be very helpful at the boss fight. Protection from Evil in NWN stops all mind-affecting spells cast by evil creatures.
I took my new stat point to raise my strength to 15. I will need it to wear full plate while holding a tower shield. The next one at, I think, level six, will also go to strength, to 16, to get my attack and damage bonus up to +3. All the rest will go to charisma at higher levels. I may round out my constitution from 11 to 12. The reason I put it at 11, was that I know Nyatar sells some boots that give +1 to constitution, as well as +1 Dodge AC bonus, so I'll get the 1 hit point per level bonus from constitution anyway as soon as I put on those boots.
On the second level of the prison, we killed mobs and mobs of minons, and I drew the sorcerer's right hand minions out into the door (fighting Tomi's imperative every step of the way to rush in there immediately and start taking Fireballs to the face as well as hits from at least six prisoners). Against Tomi's suicidal AI, I was only able to draw the fight to the last door in the chamber (We had already cleared the hall all the way around.) The sorcerer got his first Fireball out the door at us before I could spring my next trick on him. Luckily, because of my Resist Elements spell, I took only 3 damage.
Paladins can cast Silence from scrolls in NWN. There is a trick with Silence where, if you cast it on yourself instead of your enemy, there is no saving throw involved, (since it's a friendly spell when cast on self), and then you can carry the radius of it to the caster. Notice the dotted white line circle around the sorcerer and me. That's my Silence radius. Sadly, I had not been able to get the scroll read before his second Fireball hit, and my Resist Elements shield was mostly spent. Also, the Silence lasted a disappointingly short time when read from a scroll. But at least it shut down his casting for a crucial round or two.
We got a really rare drop off the sorcerer, a suit of splint mail +1. It did not give me any better AC than my half plate, but it was 5 pounds lighter, and I am desperately near my weight limit, plus it looks kind of cool, so I decided to wear it for now and trade in my half plate.
There's a mechanic in this game where you can avoid a reload by accepting respawn at the temple, and taking a hit to gold and experience. The xp hit will not drain levels, though, so the worst that can happen is getting reset to the beginning of your current level. I always accept respawn instead of reloading. There are fights where you cannot respawn, though, so a separate reload counter is still needed.
Level: 4
Reloads: 0
Personal Respawns: 0
Tomi Respawns: 1
Im making bad choices all the time, I've messed things up again. I restarted with the stats that you chose, and at first, things went better in the Peninsula District (I still felt like it was a priority to go there), at least until I entered the prison.
Killed twice by the last gang leader (the one inside the prison) even with barkskin, killed once by the first sorcerer with his fire damage (dealt me such high damage that I couldnt keep up with healing), and then at level 4 (which I reached with the sorcerer's death) I took the "recommended" choice to raise Charisma, and now with half plate and tower shield I'm always at my weight limit and can't even take a sword out of a crate.
AND I didn't know there was Endure Elements, otherwise I would have tried to reach level 4 before confronting the sorcerer. I also didn't know that I can cast from scrolls, and the only person that I found in need of help in the Peninsula District never told me about that lady's house. Or maybe I just asked too quickly if he needs to be escorted to the gate, instead of asking more questions.
Good to know about the boots to raise constitution, I had been thinking about putting the extra stat point at level 4 there. And what a lucky drop, that armor! Looks much cooler than the strange golden half plate.
I very much like to read your reports, and this one was especially helpful for me, because it also shows me what I can change and do better. I don't feel like writing one yet, because I'm not sure if I should restart again (that would be the fourth time already, because of bad choices). And although I thought it was getting better, the last hour was more troubleshooting than playing, and I've only cleared the first half of the first level in the prison pits. I doubt it will get easier there.
Why does the game suggest that you should go to the Peninsula District first, by Lady Aribeth and the girl that asks your help in front of the temple, and then it's too difficult there? Or don't other people mind to get killed all the time?
edit: forgot to mention, I have Tomi with me, too, and I'm learning to keep him under control, but the AI is still annoying sometimes. And even my own character sometimes seems to switch targets without reason.
(Clerics don't have this problem. They have at least three first level divine protective spells at level one, unless they gimped their wisdom for some strange reason. I often play clerics as though they were paladins, and take Martial Weapons feat to make up for the loss of swords or warhammers. The abundance of buffs even from low levels make up for the lesser attack bonus progression. Really, if you know how to metagame and power game the engine, lawful good clerics make better paladins than actual paladins. They don't call divine casters in 3rd edition "Clericzillas" and "Druidzillas" for nothing
******************
Captain's Log, supplemental
We have succeeded in quelling the prison riots in the Penninsula District and restored order there. The disturbance had been masterminded by a very nefarious monster,
We returned to report our success to Lady Aribeth, who advised us to continue investigating and defeating the zombies in Beggar's Nest, which will likely lead to the second of our four needed plague cure reagents.
*****************
Gang leader number four in the pits. I couldn't taunt him or get aggro, so he went for Tomi just like the last gang leader. (Sudden thought - I wonder if "taunt" skill might work like a WoW tank's ability to force aggro onto himself?) I used at least two healing kits on Tomi to make sure he didn't die (he might have anyway), and we were victorious, with Torm's help!
Sorcerer number two in the pits. I had bought a second Silence scroll from Aribeth with this fight in mind. As a rule, if I'm not metagaming, I always want at least one Silence scroll in my inventory in case of a surprise caster fight. And of course, I always cast Resist Elements immediately after any rest. That 24 hour duration is just so darn OP! Talk about Torm's blessings on his clerics and pallys! My Silence scroll bought us time, but he still managed to complete one of his Fireball spells near the end. Resist Elements to the rescue, for the second and nowhere near the last time.
The second to last boss of the dungeon. He is very dangerous, so I drank a potion of Barkskin for this fight. I also had already switched out Resist Elements for Protection from Evil, because Prot from Evil not only provides immunity to mind-affecting spells from evil enemies, it also provides +2 deflection bonus to AC, and we don't have any rings or cloaks yet. This guy hits like a truck and attacks multiple times per round with his double bladed weapon. He surrenders at "Near Death", and we are able to spare his life. If you fight an enemy who surrenders, don't forget to immediately click "Stand your Ground" on your companion, or they might finish the person before he or she can talk or you can accept the surrender.
The fight with the boss of the dungeon. It can be won without Protection from Evil, but that divine spell sure does help, because this guy spams mind-affecting psionics.
There is a chest near the boss of this dungeon that spawns a class-appropriate item. For paladins, it is a +1 longsword. So, I am now the proud owner of a +1 light saber.
If anyone is wondering why my pictures are so brightly lit in the near total darkness of the pits, it is because I invested in and am wearing a Ring of Cyan. This ring provides a permanent bright blue light source, which I think looks more natural than the red or green light of the other light rings, and I consider it a must-have for any character who cannot cast a Light spell. A Glittering Necklace is better, but you really need that slot for an amulet that provides natural armor. The Ring of Cyan can be switched out for a Ring of Resistance +1 once you can get one, because, although the orange light it gives isn't as good as the blue light, it gives a very helpful +1 to all saves.
Level 4
Reloads: 0
Personal Respawns: 0
Tomi Respawns: 1
Hey, I was just proofreading, and noticed this last statement. As soon as you see your character turn to face an opponent other than the one you ordered your attack on, double click on the enemy you really want to attack, and upon whom you ordered your avatar to attack in the first place.
I'm sad that Beamdog couldn't improve the horrible, awful AI in NWN, which doesn't affect only your companion, but also your orders to your own character. That said, there are workarounds.
Like I said, watch where your avatar is facing. If she suddenly does an about face towards some other enemy, you say "No, no, you stupid avatar!", and double-click on the target you really mean to attack. You do that repeatedly if needed.
Also, sometimes it is necessary to click on the companion commands more than once to override some idiocy or the other that the AI is trying to use to override your orders and kill both you and your companion. There are times when I have to click "Stand Your Ground", "Follow", and/or "Guard Me" several times against Tomi's (or any other companion's, or even my own avatar's) infuriatingly suicidal and stupid AI to keep control of the battlefield. I've just come to not really think about it that much, since I long ago developed control binds and player reflexes to compensate for the stupid parts of this game, so I could get into and enjoy the deep, rich, and highly enjoyable good parts of this game.
As I said before, there are very rich role-playing and gaming rewards to be had from mastering NWN, not only from the OC and the expansions, but from the vast wealth of user-created content you can eventually enjoy, such as @Savant1974 's "Saga of Aielund".
I like your character name, by the way. Just be careful. You know what happened to the angel who used to bear that name. Don't fall!
We have returned to our investigation of the zombie uprising in the Beggar's Nest. Our first lead led us to a "strange house" where we had been told by Jermal that his brother had disappeared, and this Jermal had given us a "snake cult" ward stone to enter the house to try to find his brother. The password for the ward was "Yes, I serve the snake." Okay, I suppose it's not lying if I'm only speaking a password to a magical security device.
Inside, there was indeed a cult operating, as evidenced by the fact that they were caught red-handed summoning the first of who knows how many demonic imps via a fel portal they had set up inside. My padawan Tomi and I put a stop to that, and then had to kill their evil leader, who was a cleric of some sort. He had a journal. (Why do villains of all sorts *always* keep detailed notes of their evil plans, when they don't outright just *tell* you in the middle of trying to kill you? I suppose I should be thankful for that.)
It seems the person behind the "snake cult" is one "Gulnan", and the dearly departed evil priest's notes lead me to believe she is the same yuan-ti that escaped from the Neverwinter Academy all those fortnights ago, and therefore is needed for the plague cure. We are on the right track to find her.
In the cult priest's basement, we found many secret passages occupied with more cultists, undead, and vermin. We came upon a chamber with spider web cocoons, more than I had ever seen. I was not confident that I could defeat a powerful spider monster at this point, so I had us turn back, as we had a second lead about the zombie infestation.
We had been told by a dwarf hiding out in one of the houses that an evil gang called "The Sword Coast Boys" could be involved with the zombie infestation, and that they were hiding out in an abandoned warehouse in the north part of the city.
When we went to the warehouse, we found it completely overrun with zombies. The crates and supplies there were mostly medicine and healing supplies, so I did not feel guilty to take some of them, as Tomi and I were getting desperately low on medicine and first aid.
The leader of this gang that we found there, after slaughtering his zombie army, was one "Drawl". The dwarf had mentioned that name. He had been turned into some kind of skeleton warrior, and he kept babbling about how "Gulnan" had made him too powerful to beat. I don't think so. Just before, I had bested his apparent right-hand lieutenant in solo combat, who had been turned into a zombie warrior with a Stoneskin. I bested the skeleton warrior as well, but that did take some of my precious healing potions and my Lay on Hands ability to accomplish.
(OOC: I like thinking of my Heal skill and healing kits as just having more Lay on Hands to use.)
Drawl was keeping one of the Beggar's Nest guards held prisoner in a cell, apparently to torture him for intelligence about guard strength and deployment, and before we freed him, the guard told us again about hearing the name "Gulnan" over and over. I suspect the yuan-ti who fled has founded the snake cult in the Beggar's Nest, using her snake-like appearance and manner, as well as likely somehow being behind the zombie uprising. The presence of a zombie warrior and a skeleton warrior fighting in her name would suggest that she somehow has found the power to create undead. This is very disturbing intelligence.
As we proceeded down into the basement of the warehouse, it connected to the same network of tunnels and secret passages we had already explored. And, we came back to the same spider chamber.
This time, I felt I had no choice but to press forward. I ordered Tomi to stay back, and then, the biggest spider I've ever seen, as big as a horse, came out of the shadows and attacked. Tomi ran forward to try to defend me and sneak attack the dire spider. It seems enemies almost always have a preternatural ability to attack the most vulnerable of the two of us. I desperately started to try to keep him healed, using several healing packs. In the end, I could not fight the dire spider and keep poor Tomi alive at the same time.
I thank Aribeth, her god Tyr, and my Torm yet again for the magic transporter they have provided that takes either of us who are mortally wounded instantly back to the temple!
I was able to finish off the dire spider the very next moment after Tomi went down and was teleported away. I went back to the temple to recover him, and now, we will take the stairs up out of the dire spider's chamber into the graveyard above. We must defeat this Gulnan, obtain her cure reagent, and stop the zombie uprising.
***************************
The fight with Drawl. Tomi cannot sneak attack undead, plus, already at level four, he is becoming a drain on my healing resources with his low AC and bad AI. So, I am already at this point clicking "Stand Your Ground" on him and leaving him far away from danger until I need him to disarm a trap or open a lock. At higher levels, I often dismiss my companion and go totally solo rather than have the companion absorb those precious healing resources. I soloed this fight.
Some conversation with the guard I freed, where he mentions Gulnan.
The fight with the dreaded dire spider. I drank potions of Bless, Barkskin, and the one Bull's Strength potion I had that I was saving. This is one of the hardest fights in the game relative to the level, maybe even harder than the fight with Gulnan herself. I was very nervous going in, and very relieved when I won without dying (although Tomi did die). I had called in Tomi hoping for his sneak attacks to make a difference. I'm afraid it wound up being more that he absorbed all the attacks and especially the poison for me. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Maybe I should have also done this fight solo.
Oh yes, this thing has Knockdown. It kept knocking down Tomi. It may be that if I had been trying to solo, it could have knocked down me, and the fight might have ended with my death and need for a respawn. I don't know if my high AC and Discipline skill could have prevented that at such low level.
Tomi died in this fight at the exact moment I successfully got a Heal off against both the poison and the damage. Then, I killed the bloated dire spider on the very next attack. It was so close to our not getting another ding on Tomi's respawn counter!
Level: 4
Reloads: 0
Personal Respawns: 0
Tomi Respawns: 2
Arvia had spent most of her childhood in the streets of the Beggar's Nest, coming from a poor family with too many siblings. When she was 8 years old, a Cleric of Tyr spotted her trying to save a beggar child from being robbed by two thieves, and taking a thorough beating. He recognized her sense of justice and her determination to defend the weak as signs of a calling and took her to the temple to be healed. The cleric, Father Alexander, talked to her parents and took care that she received a balanced education and learned what it meant to follow Tyr's dogma. When she was older, he introduced her to Sir Albrecht, a Paladin of Tyr and Knight of the Merciful Sword, who continued to teach her and support her wish to become a paladin herself. When she completed her training and swore her oath in the temple, she took the name of her god as part of her own name. She didn't have a family name, her parents had died already, and the Tyrrans were her family now. "Arvia of Tyr" she would be from now on. Sir Albrecht, who remained her mentor, was on a mission in the south when the Wailing Death hit the city, and Arvia decided to follow Lady Aribeth's call.
(Honoring the names of two real people from my past here who have made a big difference in my own life.)
“Reveal the truth, punish the guilty, right the wrong, and always be true and just in your actions. Uphold the law wherever you go and punish those who do wrong under the law. Keep a record of your own rulings, deeds, and decisions, for through this your errors can be corrected, your grasp on the laws of all lands will flourish, and your ability to identify lawbreakers will expand. Be vigilant in your observations and anticipations so you may detect those who plan injustices before their actions threaten law and order. Deliver vengeance to the guilty for those who cannot do it themselves.”
This picture is at level 4. Same beginning stats as Todangelus, with +1 to Strength at level 4, to be able to carry more weight. Points go equally into Healing, Persuade, Lore and Discipline.
I like Persuade as a skill, even if people say it's not much use in the OC. I want to be the kind of paladin who can fight well when needed, but can say the right things to resolve things peacefully when necessary. Feats: Dodge and Weapon Focus Longsword, which is Tyr's favourite weapon, Mobility taken at level 3. The better AC, especially against Attack of Opportunity, really makes a difference.
I will try to write in-character reports later. I'll just report what happened until now. If I don't write anything down before going to bed, I might restart again tomorrow
After receiving my orders from Lady Aribeth, I hired Tomi Undergallows, a rather unusual character for a paladin to associate with, but he hasn't broken any law here in this city and I need someone with the skills that I don't have. Also, I grew up in the Beggar's Nest and have known all sorts of people. You can't judge them by appearance, and I will keep an eye on him. He reminds me of a childhood friend who might have taken a turn in the same direction, and people can change.
The Peninsula District had been suggested as a starting point by Lady Aribeth, and a girl asked us for help there, too, but we had to see how the situation was. We talked to several people and leared that the plague had started in the Beggar's Nest and that the district was swarming with undead. I decided to take a look at that, because there were guards already fighting in the Prison District, and very few people lived there. The Beggar's Nest was full of people, and nobody would make them a priority.
On our way, we talked to a druid.
He had discovered an illegal zoo in the Blacklake District, owned and maintained by a poacher from a noble family, where exotic animals were held under bad conditions and would be killed for their sick idea of fun.
He had tried to work with the authorities to resolve that matter, but his contact persons had died of the plague.
I agreed to investigate the matter, because obviously, with this plague, the authorities were not capable of upholding the law anymore in every part of the city. I had been temporarily assigned to support the city guard, and someone had to remind the noble families that justice didn't turn a blind eye because of somebody's wealth and name. (so there, a perfectly lawful reason for a paladin to rescue those poor animals). But it would have to wait until we had another reason to go there, other matters were more urgent now.
We went to the Beggar's Nest to clear the streets of a lot of zombies. We went into an inn to talk to that shorty, I dont remember his name, and to an undead hunter, we entered into two or three houses and saved some people, talked to a young man who was missing his brother, a member of a gang or something. Something or someone seems to turn people into zombies, and some of them hang around an old warehouse. We checked the streets, found a dead mage, took his possessions, went to the Temple of Helm. Another young man there was looking for his friend or brother and the description fit, so we gave him the sad news and his brother's property.
There seems to be a house where mages go and join a sort of cult. We will have to look into that later, we have no experience in fighting mages yet.
We went to the old warehouse and found it infested by many zombies, seems to be a sort of headquarter. We killed all of the weak zombies and took everything we found there, because it's obviously not somebody's shop anymore. In the next room, we had an unpleasant surprise.
He was absorbing all the damage, we were too weak to beat him now and I had to constantly heal Tomi, so I decided to hit the Stone of Recall to get us out of there. We would have to be stronger and better equipped before we could face him. At least we have cleared the streets of many zombies, hopefully people would be a little safer and find their way to the Temple of Helm there, where the priest was offering protection.
It was time to go to the Peninsula District. We checked the situation with the guard captain and tried to find our way to the militia headquarters when we got swarmed by 7 or 8 prisoners, half of them the big green guys, probably half-orcs or something. I was so focused on fighting our way our of there, we were stuck between them and couldn't get back to the guards for help, they hit all at once and I forgot that I could use the Stone of Recall to get us out.
Sigh. The nice priest who had dragged me back from the edge reminded me to use the stone to get out of trouble when necessary. We walked back and tried to remember to draw bigger groups of prisoners back to the gate to fight them together with the guards.
We helped both of Lady Tanglebrook's servants, and this time we asked them enough questions to find out about the key and the tunnel and her family relation to Alaefin.
We beat the first gang leader next to the sewers without too much trouble, because there were only two others with him and I paid attention to our health bars this time.
By the way, Tomi has the annoying habit of drinking healing potions (I don't know where he got them from) when surrounded by several people who then scream "Attack of Opportunity" all at once. I wish I could tell him to stop that and let me just heal him. It really works better in combat.
Unfortunately I have no Potion of Barkskin this time. So I bought a tower shield, and we always went back to the militia HQ to rest when necessary, but we still had to go to the sewers for the prison key.
I'm beginning to appreciate Tomi. He still has to learn to listen to my orders in the heat of battle, but he's very fast and his sneak attacks have saved me several times.
Then we went to check out the Tanglebrook Estate.
Ugh. Good that their poison is relatively harmless and short-acting.
Poor Lady Tanglebrook, one more victim, just not as nameless as the others. We will find the one who was responsible for all those deaths and bring him to justice!
Her journal told us that she had no more family left, and the district was overrun by criminals, so I decided to take the dagger+1 from her house and sell it together with the two-bladed sword +1 that we had found next to her body. That gave me enough money to buy an Amulet of Natural Armor and that ring that gives light, and to get more healer's kits. It's necessary to be able to do our duty.
I have AC 22 now, and I reached level 4 after killing the first or second gang leader. I have memorized Endure Elements in my spellbook and have two Silence scrolls. Time to go into the prison.
I will skip the details, here is the next gang leader.
I imagine Elan singing "Keep, keep, keep, keep the crazy halfling from getting himself killed."
The player AI is also crazy. Sometimes my avatar runs off to attack someone, but surrounded by 5 enemies she kills one and then just stand there staring at the others until I select her next target. And then she turns around and hits someone else!
Anyway, it's time to face the central room of the second level, the Containment Level boss with his fireballs.
Being well prepared, because of someone's very useful example
Endure Elements was already cast, and I read the Silence scroll right before entering the room.
But Silence seems to have a very short duration, and when it wore off, the Fireball followed immediately.
That was very, very close for Tomi (see his HP bar), but I could heal him quickly enough and then we finished the job.
After travelling back with the Stone of Recall, selling stuff and getting another Silence scroll and a Potion of Clarity, and resting at the temple, we went down to the first level of the pits.
We didn't have real problems in the first rooms, but somewhere in the back, through an opened door, I spotted something sparkling like when I use Endure Elements, so we went in prepared for a mage battle, with the same protective spell on me and Silence again.
Silence doesn't last long and he was lurking with his Fireball right when it ended, and poor Tomi didn't make it this time. Sorry, friend. I could heal myself quickly enough to finish it.
I don't know what happened there, see the combat log, is it possible that the sorcerer killed himself with the Fireball or what? I saw his avatar fall, and he dropped loot, but the combat log doesn't say that he's dead and I didn't get XP for it.
Also, I think it's unfair that I chose to play on "Hardcore D&D Rules" difficulty setting, where it's explicitly stated that the player's fireballs will harm party members, but his fire doesn't hurt the prisoners.
So, I went back to the temple to get Tomi. Since I receive a penalty when I respawn and he doesn't, I've decided to drop 50 GP into the divining pool behind the portal everytime that he is brought back.
That's it for now. I'm wide awake although it's almost 3am here, because I'm adapting to my new dosage of medication, but I really should try to get some rest now. Typos will be edited tomorrow.
That was fun! Not the frustration that I felt yesterday.
Level: 4
Reloads: 0
Personal respawn: 1
Tomi respawn: 1
Also, at "...they kept yelling 'Attack of Opportunity!' at him...". I see you've drank the Order of the Stick, D&D "kool-aid" like so many of the rest of us.
(If you need me to explain that "drink the kool-aid" idiomatic expression, let me know.
I love your backstory and your writing style. I wish there would be more readers for these reports, but you have thoroughly entertained and delighted at least one middle-aged gentleman from America with your time spent on writing tonight. Also, thank you for the little subtle shout-outs and thanks for my advice and the references to my own current run.
I don't know if you're a "Game of Thrones" fan, but your choice of character portraits for Arvia and even a bit of your basic manner have made me start thinking of you as "Brienne of Tarth", from "Game of Thrones". I hope that telling you that makes you smile if you're a fan, or if you're not a fan, then please disregard.
That was such a fantastic run report! Thank you so much for joining the thread and sharing. I hope I will read a lot more of these kinds of posts in the future, when you have the time, although I understand completely if real life makes it not possible to write reports with pictures very often.
I think I have learned from Stargate what "drink the kool-aid" means. But thank you for offering to explain.
My choice of character portraits is very limited. Even with portrait packs, it's hard to find pictures of women in proper armor (as opposed to bikini "armor" wearing succubi). If I play a paladin, I want the portrait to look like one.
I read your last report after posting my own. There's a lot of helpful detail in it for my near future again. And spiders again ?. Maybe that "Lightsaber" +1 that I will get soon is going to help.
I really like to read your "Captain's Log". But :stern look: you can't write a Captain's Log and have a padawan and lightsabers, you have to decide which galaxy you belong to!
Please keep writing more of that, at least until you decide to move on and start another game.
I know my mixed references are silly, but I kind of write that stuff "tongue-in-cheek", going for humor. I'll probably eventually mix in Order of the Stick, Stargate, and who knows how many other silly references. It's just how I have fun with writing the reports.
I'm glad you're having more fun with the game now, and enjoying the thread.
We have at last defeated the evil yuan-ti priestess, Gulnan, only barely. She was the most dangerous foe we have ever faced.
***********************
I'm having trouble taking screenshots with Steam. I can't find a control to take the screenshot that doesn't do something else in the game. My Snapper app doesn't work with the Steam version of NWN:EE. I tried putting the Steam screenshot key to num pad 0 instead of F12, but that has marred my last several photos with a radial menu. I was getting better pictures with F12, but, the reason I wanted to change it was that F12 brings up some kind of spell cast icon and makes any document or journal text I'm trying to take a picture of disappear before the screen shot is taken. This problem is getting a little frustrating for these reports.
Anyway, we made level 5 while fighting the trash mob zombies outside Gulnan's stronghold.
We found one of the tombs of those who had taken the Chronicles of Halueth Never. Judge Oleff in the Hall of Justice had asked us to find and collect these, using the relics we had obtained from the dwarven archaeologist in the prison district. There's a mummy in there, and a trapped sepulcher. The setup implies that the mummy has gotten out of the sepulcher, and was evil, so taking the book for Judge Oleff is the right thing to do.
We fought one of Gulnan's first strong minions, a zombie lord. These always have Stoneskin, and many new players get confused when the combat text keeps saying "damage reduction" or "weapon ineffective". In reality, you're just needing to batter down the Stoneskins, after which you'll be able to damage normally. Battles against zombie lord Stoneskin at lower levels take a long, long time, but they fight as monks with Flurry of Blows activated, giving them four attacks per round, but horrible BAB. The thing could have cut Tomi to ribbons, but it could only hit me on a 20, so I held Tomi back out of this one.
The fight with Gulnan.
I held Tomi back at the start of this fight so I could focus. There was a wraith in there. The zombies were irrelevant, but the wraith was a serious threat. It can strength drain, and *level drain*. If I got level drained, this fight was going to be lost. Luckily, with Barkskin, it could only hit me on a 20. I was able to kill the wraith without Gulnan leaving her podium.
After being dispelled by Gulnan, I used a scroll of Resist Elements I had found to get that back up. She can cast Flame Strikes sometimes. I then drank another Potion of Barkskin. I needed to drink another Potion of Bless, but things were getting desperate.
Gulnan almost killed me several times. Feeling like I was about to lose this fight, I called in Tomi, hoping he could sneak attack Gulnan. That turned out to be a good decision, because she *summoned a shadow fiend*. Those things can also stat drain and level drain. If I started getting hit by that thing, it was going to be over. l've never seen Gulnan do that before. Surprise!
By the skin of my teeth, I was able to heal myself, heal Tomi, get some good attacks in on Gulnan, (Tomi also got several good Sneak Attacks in on her), and kill her before the shadow fiend could destroy us. In NWN, killing the caster automatically unsummons anything it has summoned.
Whew. This was a very satisfying, but nail-bitingly close fight.
Now, @Arvia , We have a key to a locked treasure room we saw at the entrance to this crypt. I happen to know that there's an incredibly valuable suit of armor in there. But, you have to take it out of a locked and trapped casket, and you get attacked by a mummy if you do. This particular setup implies that you were trying to take the armor off the mummy's dead body when you got attacked. And the other treasures in the many chests in the room suggest that this mummy may have been a nobleman who got buried here and wanted to "take it all with him". I'm thinking I should not take anything from this poor, deluded person's crypt. What do you think?
I take things from undead-infested crypts when it looks like the "owners" have gotten out of their tombs and started being "walking dead". But if a grave or casket is still closed and locked, such that the buried person can reasonably be presumed to still have their body inside and not be undead, I usually won't unlock it or take anything nearby.
Right before Gulnan's chambers, there are four crypts guarded by animated armors (kind of combination undead/golems) who are created to guard the final resting places of rich wizards or nobles. Those come out and attack, and you don't want to have them at your back while you fight Gulnan, but, the caskets inside are still locked. I decided this time not to take anything out of there, either.
Level: 5
Reloads: 0
Personal Respawns: 0
Tomi Respawns: 2
We have been advised by Aribeth to look next into the Blacklake District for the third of four plague cure reagents that we need. The outskirts of Blacklake have fallen into anarchy, and are now being controlled by a half-orc boss named "Loxar". We defeated him, but he was very powerful, and this was done at great personal risk to Tomi and me.
Before we went through the gates to Blacklake proper, we were attacked by strong enemies, one of whom held a bounty notice telling us that we were now targets of some nefarious organization called "The People of the Eye", who are behind the Plague, and who do not want us to recover any more reagents. We turned in this evidence first to Aribeth, who told us to give the document to Fenthick. Desther acted very strangely during this episode, seeming to suggest to Fenthick that I had forged the notice and that I was lying to Aribeth and him. This person strikes me as increasingly more and more suspicious in the way he speaks. I do not understand why Fenthick trusts him. Lady Aribeth confided that she does *not* trust him, but that her consort Fenthick had talked her into putting up with this obnoxious Helmite priest.
After returning to Blacklake, we met an old, kindly cleaning woman on the streets who told us that she knew a secret passage into her former lover Meldanen's estate. We had heard much about the supposed evil committed by this man, including that he was stockpiling food away from the city and the Plague victims, that he was kidnapping people for magical experimentation, and that he had likely kidnapped the dryad who had escaped from the Neverwinter Academy so long ago.
We were fortunate that we had been able to Persuade Milly into telling us about that secret passage, because the guard at Meldanen's estate refused to let us in, and it became clear that the only way in through the front gates of the estate was going to be to kill this guard.
Before we went to Milly's house, we found the Neverwinter Zoo, where the druid Nyatar had asked us to rescue exotic wild animals who were about to be killed for the pleasure of a noble's son named "Sureshot", who had inherited the zoo when his father was killed by the Plague.
We used the magic items Nyatar had given us to rescue these animals and transport them magically to Nyatar's care, with a minimum of killing. The guards in the restricted area behind the animals' cages attacked us on sight, but we had already seen the front side of the cages, with permanent unopenable bars, but had also seen the exact location of the bars behind, which we could assume were the entrances to the cages.
We did not steal anything from the zoo, and we never went into the guards' quarters, or found wherever "Sureshot", the noble's son was hiding out. We sadly had to kill some guards who attacked us, and the hunter who was guarding the lever that would open the animal cages, but I feel good that we rescued the animals for the druid with the least killing possible.
**********************
After defeating Gulnan, I had some money to decide how to spend. I bought a suit of full plate armor, and a set of Bracers of Armor +1. I sold my Ring of Protection +1, just because I wanted to replace it with a Cloak of Protection +1, for the look. We paladins are supposed to present our best possible and most striking, shining, appearance, after all, to inspire the people.
Now I have a nice, brown, cloak, which makes me look more like a good jedi knight wearing a nice, plain, brown cloak. Although, I also am wearing a suit of shiny full plate, and I am holding a brilliant tower shield, to look like a D&D paladin should. (I'm mixing several class fantasies from several settings again, I guess, but that's what I do.
With the new gear, I now have AC 25 before potions.
The fight with Loxar the half-orc is *extremely* dangerous for almost any character. He fights with a scythe, which in this game has "Critical 20, X4". What that means, is that if he rolls a 20 at any point, and confirms the threat roll, you get a respawn on your counter. A critical with a scythe will one-shot any level five or below character, barring lucky rolls. That's why a lot of the DPS-oriented warrior players always choose scythe for their weapon, and take a lot of scythe-related feats. We basically got lucky in this fight that Loxar never rolled a 20.
The disease on Tomi came from Loxar's rabid dog, which we were ignoring in favor of the bigger threat. I healed the disease with my paladin "Remove Disease" ability.
The notice of the bounty on our heads by the "People of the Eye". The symbol of these evil villains is the same icon that represents the entire "Neverwinter Nights" game on various screens. It's ... an eye.
The fight in the zoo. The resolution of this quest can be confusing and frustrating to a new player. You not only have to talk to each of the four distressed animals and tell them to walk outside to the tree where you used Nyatar's Transport via Plants scroll, you have to go back out to the tree and talk to each of the four animals again to tell them to go through the portal.
I seem to still have the "Skyboxes Lite" mod that I installed in support of my installation of @Savant1974 's "Saga of Aielund". Look at this beautiful photo of sunset over Neverwinter, that I took while returning Nyatar's quest.
BTW, I found a key for screen shots that lets me finally take pictures of in-game document texts without activating other in-game features that ruin the shot. It was num pad - .
Level: 5
Reloads: 0
Personal Respawns: 0
Tomi Respawns: 2
Wow, thats such an engaging story. I feel like this introduction will easily echo through your entire gameplay. Nicely done. It fits so perfectly in the story of the game, especially at the start.
Your portrait choice is so awesome as well!
See? You don't have just one reader
Interesting insight about the "People of the Eye". I have only talked to the Priest of Helm in the streets in the Peninsula Disctrict, and the one in the temple in the Beggar's Nest, but I had the feeling that there was something off about them and was beginning to suspect that the Helmites, or at least some misguided splinter group, had something to do with the plague. Apparently my real life Wisdom of 5 is beginning to increase
Beautiful sunset. I wondered why I never see the sky, and then I found out that you can tilt the camera angle. I've been playing from bird's eye perspective all the time.
And I like the colored icons, it looks better and makes them easier to recognize.
I have changed to Steam, too, after you told me that mods and user created campains are easily installed there. The only problem is that I don't know if I can install things like that in my current run and it will affect the saved files, or if I have to wait until the next time.
I've started using Snapper for screenshots when I play on PC (on the tablet you just press the power and volume button at the same time to take a screenshot), because you had recommended it earlier in this thread in your NWN2 run. For me, it works the same way when I'm playing on Steam.
About your decisions regarding tombs, I always find that difficult. From what you have explained about the setting, I think it's right to leave that rich man's tomb alone. Of course it's delusional to want to hoard his possessions even after death, but that doesn't give us the right to disturb his rest and steal things, least of all taking them from his dead body in a locked casket. It's a different thing if there are undead attacking you and you find items there. Even then, I'm sometimes undecided and would rather leave things there. I make those decisions as I go, and don't always take the same choices, depending on the circumstances. For example, I didn't raid the Candlekeep Catacombs in BG:EE, but I did take things out of caskets in the undead infested starting dungeon in SoD, although they were locked.
I hope to have time to continue tonight (last night I didn't get further than finishing the prison) and write some more.
One last important question: I couldn't find any dwarven archeologist. Judge Oleff had said something about a house in the east part of the Peninsula District, but I couldn't find it. Or is it the same as that shop next to the Militia HQ?
The house is located next door to the merchant with the iron gate. The merchant with the iron gate is next door to the guard headquarters where the woman gave you the quest to get into the prison. Both of those buildings do have a map marker. They're on the east side of the map, marked "Mizzenmast Mercantile" and "Militia HQ". The dwarven archaeologist's house is just to the north of those two locations.
You have to have been given the quest to find Halueth Never's artifacts by Judge Oleff before they will talk to you or give you the quest items you need. There's a guard on the top floor of the house who will ask you why you're there, and then you can go down to the basement where the archaeologist is digging. He will tell you about what's going on, explain about how to find the rest of the artifacts, and then invite you to take the relics that they think act as keys from the chest beside him.
On each of the Beggar's Nest, Blacklake, and Docks maps, you can find a closed chamber with a chest outside that contains a note with a clue about which relic you should place into that chest to open the chamber. The ones in Beggar's Nest and the Docks are worth opening, because you can kill some undead, return the artifacts to Oleff, and get a very small gold and xp reward, plus some "good" points on your alignment score.
I don't think the one in Blacklake is worth trying to do, so I always skip it. The artifact in there is guarded by four animated swords, and their challenge rating (CR) is way too high for Chapter One of the game, in my opinion. If you run into those swords, I recommend running, or you're likely to get more respawns. I think I've beaten them a time or two over the years, so they're not impossible with lucky rolls, but I think the risk is too great for a minimal reload.
Helmets in NWN don't do anything except provide a small bonus to concentration. They offer no protection whatsoever as far as AC or critical hits. Most NWN players don't wear them early on, because they get in the way of roleplay, since they remove your head and face model. Later, there will be head gear that does have powerful enough enchantment to be worth wearing, if you're willing to have to cover your face to get the protection. It's usually not any huge bonus, though.
Fenkt was not an innocent man, but I won't kill someone who has surrendered, and his information was vital to our survival and to finding the cure for the Wailing Death, so we didn't follow him when he ran away. Justice will find him if Tyr wants it, and maybe justice was what let him get away now. Perhaps he has redeemed himself for whatever got him imprisoned in the first place. After all, he had provided key information to fight a great evil here.
I know we Tyrrans are sometimes called Tyrants, but there are different factions. My mentor belongs to the Knights of the Merciful Sword, who understand that justice needs to be tempered, and that the balance between lawful and good, when in doubt, needs to be in favor of good.
I was able to persuade all the guards to get out of there before attacking the Head Gaoler. When he died, the Intellect Devourer left his body, and lacking another suitable host it started to attack us in its natural form. I was under the effect of Protection from Evil (thank you, teacher), so its mind affecting magic couldn't harm me. It still took a long time to kill that very resistant creature. We took its brain and gave it to Lady Aribeth.
She was very grateful und full of praise, but I'm beginning to feel uneasy about all this. I have to obey her, and I will, and I know that many people are dying, but I had assumed until now that the Waterdhevian creatures would have to be examined to find a cure, not killed to harvest powerful body parts. Desperate times may require desperate measures, but to imprison, experiment on and then kill sentient beings to save others does not seem the right way. Unfortunately, I can't question their motives. Perhaps I will have a chance to address that in the future.
We were stronger and better equipped now, so after a short rest in the temple we went to continue our task in the Beggar's Nest. On our way to the warehouse with the Sword Coast Boys we were ambushed by four thugs who claimed to have been hired to kill me. They were carrying alarming information with them, and I went back immediately to present it to Lady Aribeth:
I have a very bad feeling about this.
(OOC: But at least, after learning that it's useless in battle, I can finally take off that silly pot helmet!)
I obeyed and went to see Fenrick. Of course, Desther was there, too. Sigh.
This is outrageous, he can't seriously be questioning my integrity and accuse me of lying and forging evidence! I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that anger leads to bad decisions. Tyr, give me the strength to remember that the truth will always come out, and that judgement needs to be tempered. He might just be a man under a great strain, but I feel that something is wrong here.
Trial to test our faith indeed! Ilmater have mercy on us. And they say that we Tyrrans are zealots.
I'm not sure if that last statement is true when it comes to Desther, but I'm glad that Fenrick still trusts me.
This smells more like politics than religion. I'm out, I don't have much experience and my diplomacy skills are not yet what they should be. I wish I could talk to my mentor Sir Albrecht, but I'm not even sure where exactly he is right now, and nobody can leave the city with a letter. I should just continue doing my duty.
We have to go back to that warehouse in the city district where we had barely escaped that Sword Coast Boy with the Stoneskin.
Whatever had protected him from damage, Stoneskin or something similar, seems to have been applied by someone else, because it had worn off when we faced him again and he couldn't renew it.
Drawl was next. It shows that he used to be the head of a street gang. I had known people like him when I lived here as a kid. Big mouth, big stick, impressive gestures to intimidate others. He looked dangerous in his undead form, but I'm not a street kid anymore. I am Arvia of Tyr, loyal servant of the Just God who won't let my sword arm tremble in battle.
I would say "save your breath", but he doesn't have lungs anymore. Why is it that the evil guys always waste so much energy on talk during a fight?
Definitely not immortal. But Gulnan seems to be a very dangerous and powerful opponent.
Walters used to be a Sword Coast Boy and was a guard now. He was weak and there might still be zombies around, so we asked him to wait here in relative safety until the streets were free of the undead infestation.
There was a door leading into some underground tunnels. We weren't sure what expected us down there, and if we were ready to face Gulnan yet. I decided to follow the other clue about the snake cult first.
That was not a lie. " I do follow the snake... to reveal the truth and bring justice!" I added under my breath.
We had to fight several cultists, but none of them were strong enough to be dangerous, they were just many. I ordered Tomi to stay hidden in the background and only attack if I called him. I know he is brave, but he is also fragile, and I can't afford to use all our healing supplies on him.
After defeating them all, I had to face their leader. He was not a strong fighter, and thanks to Protection from Evil he couldn't harm me with his mind spells.
If Gulnan was feared even by the followers of Cyric, I would need all my strength and resources and Tyr's blessing to defeat her.
But something else down there in the crypts was to be feared and took a heavy toll on our supplies and our health. A Bloated Dire Spider! It had been lurking behind a corner, I had seen it too late, and before I could call him off, Tomi was already attacking it. I quickly drank a Potion of Barkskin and charged, but the spider's attention was on Tomi, I couldn't distract it enough with my attacks and also had to keep healing him. It was not enough, its posion and brutal strikes were too strong.
I'm sorry, my friend.
I continued to fight, but she kept dealing me very high damage and draining my strength with her poison.
I couldn't even walk anymore, I could only stand there and hit when the monster got close, and I was affected by the poison and couldn't heal myself as fast as it was hitting me and piercing me with its strong and pointy legs, like spears. I should have used the portal stone to get out, but my judgement was clouded by the poison, and under its effect I misjudged the amount of damage that I could endure.
I was pulled back to the temple and restored to full health. I went back immediately without picking up Tomi, for his own safety. I drank another Potion of Barkskin, and I think I added a Potion of Bless, too, and attacked again.
I got poisoned, Strength drained and severely wounded again, with every one of its strikes, and I was quickly running out of healing supplies. I sometimes even failed the healing spell, and it never worked against the poison. I decided to use the Stone of Recall and take a moment at the temple to stock up on healing kits and to think about a strategy. This was a creature to be feared, and I didn't have experience how to fight such a powerful and dangerous beast. Tyr's grace protects me from Fear in a battle, but I will need much more experience, and listen to wisdom, to distinguish courage from recklessness. Some Tyrrans are prone to martyrdom and self-sacrifice. I don't approve of that, but I can see where it comes from. I will have to be very careful to keep my inner balance and not to fall into that trap.
((Time to sleep. I will write down the part from there until the fight with Gulnan another time))
Level: 4
Reloads: 0
Personal respawns: 2
Tomi respawns: 2
(The edits are, as usual, minor corrections like typos and expressions)
I bought two of those, just in case, and of course a few more healing kits.
I had wanted to save the one Potion of Bull's Strength for desperate times, but if this wasn't desperate, then what? I drank it, added Potions of Barkskin (my last one, and nobody around here sells them) and Bless, cast Protection from Evil (just in case, although I wasn't sure if this was a creature of evil or just a rare natural spider), and also drank a Potion of Cat's Grace that I had found somewhere. The last one was probably wasted, because it enhanced Dexterity and I doubt that changed much, but that's how it is.
Tomi insisted on coming with me. He knew the danger, but he said that the least thing he could do was keep the zombie off my back and maybe try to get a little sneak attack on the spider while it was focused on me. I accepted, but he had to promise me to stay a little behind so that the spider wouldn't go for him like last time.
The plan was working so far. My greater Strength helped me to hit true and deal more damage, Tomi was keeping the zombie off my back and the spider kept its focus on me. My AC was 25 with Barkskin, so the Dexterity potion had really been wasted, but this time the monster didn't hit me. I don't know if it was the Bless, or if the spider only had a limited amount of poison, but I was very grateful for it.
Then Tomi, brave and reckless, turned his back on the zombie and landed a few sneak attacks. That shifted the spider's attention to him, and before I could intervene, it hit him.
Tomi, that was very courageous, but also irresponsible. However, he had weakened the spider enough that my next strike ended its life the same moment that Tomi vanished back to the temple.
I felt very bad about that. I should have left him behind. His presence might have made the difference between winning and losing, but I have the feeling that I have sacrificed him. I'm going to let him rest at the temple for a while and continue alone. I will have to hurry as long as my abilities are enhanced, because I have no more of those potions left and no more money to buy new ones.
The exit led me to the graveyard. Gulnan must be in a building somewhere, so I started to look around in the fog, when several zombies closed in around me. They're not strong, but killing them one by one would take precious time, time for my potions to wear of.
I remembered that I had recently learned to Turn Undead, and decided to give it a try.
Very useful against weak undead. Several of them dropped all at once, the few remaining were killed with one or two strikes.
I found the entrance to the crypts and was "welcomed" by talking zombies seemingly possessed by Gulnan.
The first thing she said made me uneasy, because it coincided with my recent doubts about the whole issue of using the Waterdhevian creatures for a cure. But this was not the time to question. She had committed clearly evil acts after her escape, and that was her own choice.
The next room was occupied by a zombie lord. He was protected by Stoneskin and casting something, so I quickly drank another Potion of Bless. Of course my Barkskin chose this exact moment to vanish. My other buffing resources were drained, but fortunately he was not too dangerous, just very resistant. It took a long time to smash his Stoneskin.
Tyr granted his favor. When he was dead, I hadn't even needed to use one of my precious few healing kits.
His death also got me to level 5.
(10 HP! That's great. I was very lucky with my rolls, have 50 HP now)
And not only that. I found a very much needed Potion of Barkskin on one of the corpses in a corner!
I decided to rest for a moment, give thanks to Tyr for his help, remember the deaths of those people who had been killed here, and regain my health and my abilities befire facing Gulnan.
And so thoughtful of Gulnan to leave information how to weaken her.
But my success had made me careless. I found a room with various chests, and needing supplies so badly I took the risk to open them without going back to get Tomi first. The few traps I had walked into until now had dealt little damage or stunned me. Foolish, foolish girl.
52 fire damage all at once!
I think I will need my companion with me after all. I really need to be more careful and stop being overconfident. Thank you, Tyr, for reminding me to be more humble.
When I got transported back, I took Tomi with me. I had made an oath to donate 50 gp (by dropping it into the divining pool behind the portal) for every time that they pulled him back to the temple and healed him, so that I would never abuse that privilege and take my responsibility for him seriously.
That hurt, because I had to give 100 gp for having him almost die twice during the spider fight, which left me with 4 gp. But I had made that oath to myself and I would keep it.
( OOC:I will skip over the details in the dungeon. Minor undead, those flying armors guarding the tombs, and like you @BelgarathMTH I chose to leave the caskets alone, as well as that rich man's tomb. And I accidentally freed Jared, a Priest of Cyric, from a cell next to the zombie lord. He had pretended to want to speak with me and then fled.)
Now, we had to face Gulnan! Or rather, I did. I ordered Tomi to wait in the doorway until I called him.
I ran to the altar and destroyed the pedestal and then killed as many zombies as I could before drawing Gulnan's attention. (no wraith for us, just usual zombies, and ghouls who looked like oversized Asgard or other aliens)
Turn Undead is so useful when you're in a hurry.
I used Barkskin and Protection from Evil to face Gulnan. I was more afraid of her ability to control my mind than of fire.
Then she dispelled my protections.
Woah. Healed just in time. But I was right to fear her control spells. I should have taken the Potion of Clarity after her dispelling my protections. She paralyzed me and I just stood there, ready to be slaughtered.
Respawn again.
I went back immediately. But this time I asked Tomi to join the fight when necessary
I don't know why I didn't cast the protection before being transported. I failed the concentration check and drank the Potion of Clarity. I should have memorized Endure Elements *and* used the potion.
I healed myself just in time, and Tomi jumped in to finish her.
Thank all the gods, and give me better judgement next time.
Lady Aribeth was content and rewarded us with gold, and so did, I can't remember his name, the one from the inn in the Beggar's Nest. I couldn't refuse, I needed the money badly.
We still had to go to that tomb where Judge Oleff had sent us, but right now I finally got a good suit of armor.
I was out of money again, but good armor must have the highest priority. I have AC 24 now and look like a serious paladin. My half plate was too fancy with golden glitter and didn't give as much protection. When I have money again, I will buy those bracers, too.
I went back to the temple to rest, meditate on the latest events to learn from my many mistakes, and to consider where to go next.
Level: 5
Reloads: 0
Personal respawns: 4
Tomi respawns: 3
Congratulations on getting past that dire spider! That is an unbelievably hard fight.
I love the screen shots of Arvia in action. One of the things I like best about NWN is that when you take a screenshot, you can often catch great "action hero" poses of your avatar in mid-attack. With a couple of good shots like that, a run report really comes to life, and sometimes I like reading a well-written report like yours better than watching a video.
They can be fun to write, too, and I often enjoy going back over mine and reading them again as my run progresses as kind of a storybook I've written for myself, plus it gives me a written record of my past runs so I can remember them.
It appears Gulnan is even more dangerous than I thought. I don't know if her AI is good enough that she changes which spells she casts according to what the player is trying to do, or if she's casting randomly from a huge spellbook. To have that many Flame Strikes, a fifth level cleric spell, I think she'd have to be at least 12th level with 18 wisdom.
When I fought her, she did all those "Cause Wounds" spells, but then she went for summoning the shadow fiend instead of using her Flame Strikes. Maybe she's scripted to do that when the battle is going badly for her, like at a certain low number of hit points. She's also very good with her scimitar. So, my guess is that I had luckier hit rolls and got her hit points down low enough that she went for her summoning spell (I think creating a major undead like a shadow fiend is a sixth level cleric spell, or else she had a special ability to do it), before she had time to start in with the three Flame Strike spells.
Congratulations on beating another extremely hard fight!
One hint: You can buy more Barkskin potions from Nyatar the druid at the tree outside the Hall of Justice.