In the previous post we did Neera's TOB quest (leaving the people of Saradush to hopefully die).
Off to the Marching Mountains! When we entered Yaga-Shura's Lair, a few spell triggers with Chain lightning and some hard fighting took care of the fire giants guarding the entrance. Collecting stones to then operate a machine to gain access to the next level, took up most of our time in this scorching place. We did pick up a pretty nice sword though.
After gaining access to the next level (the intruders, so us) were greeted by Brendan (I know that isn't his name) and a few of his friends. Using Hexxat's special ability to summon shadows at a higher level, they held off the fire giants as more chain lightning, magic missiles and a few placed traps hit the giants at long range before Dorn and Sarevok cleaned the rest off them off.
Slaying a fiery elemental resulted in a nice halberd, the Ravager and we collected the hearts we seeked. Special delivery. We rushed back to the old temple, but we were betrayed. No matter. Then I had an appointment with a certain giant of fire.
We were ambushed! I had been accused of great crimes, which I was of course guilty of. If I had the time I would go, track down the so called ''King and Queen'' of Tethyr, end their lives and appoint myself the queen of Tethyr.
In the very spirit of being a queen, I declared ''off with his head'' and we slaughtered Jamis Tombelthen's entire company.
What do we have here? A bounty? I collected a few copies of the bounty notices, thinking to myself how whenever I go to places and taverns in the future I would have to drop a copy or two off. I'd like the arrogant fools who think that they can kill me, to come and try.
Of course, I might have to frame a copy of the bounty as well.
I thought a good place from where we left off is to show what my current party has equipped/is wearing: Right below. A few notes: Dorn has 100% fire resistance, which is useful and from Neera's quest we were able to purchase a cloak which protects the wearer (in this case Sarevok) from death effects. Nice.
This post is very stop and start so far, before things could get rolling I was interrupted by someone who wanted to purchase that mechanical bird Neera gave me. Of course I accepted the large amount of gold on offer. Neera's basically paid off her gold debt (caused by wild surge effects), with the sale of this bird.
Time for Hexxat's quest and the big bad tomb. Each and every room was dangerous, yet interesting. I've included a bunch of screenshots from that below. I'll label this first part, the library section. Strange rooms, rooms with book selves, un-dead, strange jars and even a beholder or two. Did I mention traps?
In the second part of this maze, we walked in on a creepy gnome (I hate gnomes, they remind me of my old loser ''uncle'') of course he had some spiders with him. Stupid Gnome, we stomped him to the fllor. I'm not racist, I swear. More screenshots.
And we were back. I headed straight to the the cave of the dead, where we had some business to attend to. You know me, of course I'm going to pick up that beautiful soul stone. Goodbye Marlowe. I then turned on the Lich, surely he would have some magical gear. He did drop a ring, but nothing really too great. Oh well. We slaughtered his summoned minions, him and everything which was summoned, from those strange mirror tables.
Enough time wasting. We looked at our map and began the route to Sendai's enclave. Unfortunately we were ambushed, before we could reach our destination. Who could it possibly be?
Bandits, gnomes who heard me be racist towards them in the above comment (not sorry), bhaalspawn ants or maybe demons? No it was a few pathetic holy people after myself and Dorn. They were really after me, though.
One of them ran away (coward), and I was told that I was being added to a list. We then had a problem on our hands. Cancel the trip to Sendai's enclave, we're going to Lunia.
Continuing from where we last left off, we headed to Lunia.
We instigated a fight with a planetar and a few holy men and women, only half way through the battle for another planetar to arrive bringing more backup. We killed them all, and after noting that this was the only exit point to the portals back we should really make sure if something were to happen, to be on our guard. Obviously we were not just going to walk out of this place without a fight in my mind, so we planted multiple spike traps and snares to help us make a swift escape.
I picked up a Sigil of Tyr, it would make a nice souvenir (screenshot below). We also bumped into an old face, Bollard Firejaw! Our little interaction didn't last long.
We corrupted a good (silver?) tree, killed a scribe, I wrote down Noober's name in replace of my own (this actually happened, we''ll have to see what happens there) and did a few more evil deeds. We then headed for the exit only to, predictably be stopped. By two silver dragons. I've killed a silver dragon in the Underdark before, so these two should be easy. Which they were, taken out by traps and a greater whirlwind attack by both Dorn and Sarevok (aftermath below).
After all resistance was crushed, I wanted to circle back around Lunia to make sure we left no one standing. It appears we had left some survivors, not for long anyway. A small crowd had gathered around the tree we had corrupted. Note the commoner. A well placed fireball killed the commoners, dropping my reputation down to 1 and we slaughtered the forces of good. What a day.
The hunt for Sendai begins. I came across a woodcutter who was nice enough to point me in the direction of where he had spotted some Drow. I soon angrily returned to the woodcutter, what a surprise it turns out he was Drow as well! Funnily enough his companions disguised as animals, stayed in their animal forms.
We entered Sendai's base and we killed all who stood in our path, eventually reaching the barracks. After a battle in the barracks, we collected the key and entered through the southern door. Disgusting spiders! I sent them to hell.
Epic moment, crossing the bridge. What a view.
Challenge time. I was expecting to fight more umber hulks, but I got some earth elementals instead (one of them was a prince). I'm not complaining, on to the next room. This was a more challenging battle, but we dragged some of the fighters out (vampire, demon knight) and secondly took out the spell-casters. In the next room I was challenged to single combat. Oh, I just a love a fight. I beat the puny drow and watched as his company died. Heh.
Mindflayers, those creepy tentacle freaks. I wanted to make quick work of them, which I of course did. I have a feeling I will come face to face with Sendai soon. That pleases me, as I look forward to being the sole remaining child of Bhaal.
What more can be said about this Drow, other than us ruining her plans, statues and then finishing her off once and for all? How about, her voice made my ears bleed. Which gave me further motivation to kill her.
Sendai greeting me and her statues being killed, screenshots right below.
Sendai talking nonsense. Oh and I had a conversation with... myself. This is getting weird. I might do some challenges in my little plane next, or continue on with Watchers Keep. Tune in.
Did you know that there are numerous versions of myself? Obviously there is the generic version of myself which everyone seems to use, for some reason and then there is the lawful evil version of myself (the one in this play-through).
But there are others. In one of the pocket plane challenges I came across a cool looking alternate Aerie, who uses a sword! Nice. Alternate me, seems pretty cool. After killing her party she actually ran away in fear! I then killed that *lesser* version of myself with an implosion.
I also got a cool lava room. Then it was time for another challenge, which meant another version of myself showed up. This Aerie, was my ''doubt''. I didn't like this, Aerie. Screenshots below!
Watchers Keep level 3. The maze. We picked a random portal and we walked in on a wild magic room with mephit, imps. Lotsss of wild surges. After clearing the room, we shortly came back across this excact same room. Hmm this maze was tricky.
Next up, after going through a random portal we came across some tieflings. Just like that, they were gone.
To my delight we came across a devil, of course I made a bargain with the devil promising to kill some demon if I had the chance to come across him. So I make deals with devils. Deal with it.
We progressed through the maze killing some Alu-Fiends before chancing upon the demon I had made a deal to kill. I of course killed him and tore out his heart. Now I just have to find my way back to that other guy...
Yes! I found him. I actually spared this devil, because he seemed quite respectable. I gave him the heart in return for a reward and was quite happy with how things turned out. I then left him to whatever he was upto.
Look at that. A weird tree. Oh, and demon knights were in that room. Well they were soon dead. And then we found the exit, sweet. I then had a game with Aesgareth and beat him. Turns out he's also a sore loser. Well I killed him and took his card deck.
Time to use my brand new toy! The deck of many things. Now I didn't get screenshots of the first two draws, but I got: Ruin. So I lost all my gold. I then got Sun, which gave us a decent bit of XP, not the best draw but still not that bad. And then I immediately afterwards drew Throne! Which gave us a lot of valuable experience. I'm thrilled with that.
Look at this smug fool, I can't wait to smash that glass and choke him to death.
After slaughtering mindflayers and Gith, we came across the dragon Saladrex. Once his protections were disabled, Sarevok landed a massive deathbringer assault and that was an end to Saladrex's life story.
The mere presence of me, scared the two minotaurs so much they ran away in terror! I then smashed the glass killed the mage and it was time to unlock the exit and get a few stat upgrades. I gave myself the magic resistance boost. I gave Hexxat strength and dex, Dorn got the Con stat, I hogged the Wisdom and Intelligence stats for myself and I thought Neera deserved some love so she got a charisma boost (going from 11 to 12).
I was feeling in a particularly violent mood today, and so upon returning to the desert city. I lay waste to the towns people, monks, mercenaries and even killed a few cows.
Take a look at my handiwork.
Then Dorn said something to Neera, but I feel it also applies to me.
Oh and one more screenshot for the road. This was pretty fun, I spent like half an hour just killing commoners, children, monks and mercenaries.
what has happened to my beloved @Aerie , the cute little girl that used to gain confidence adventuring at my side, that was so often the mother of my son and remained so good oriented even when she gained a great power becoming one of the most powerful casters of the whole faerun and when she wanted a more then respectable front line fighter?
i see that she is become a monster, her soul corrupted, and she is now an agent of everything she used to fight against at my side!
i surely don't like it and i am not even sure that i will trust her in my future play troughs when she, in ogre form, tells me she is an elf with ogre like appearance for a spell imposed on her...
sweet @Aerie you broke my hearth, how i wish that i had never followed this thread as it is possible that my feeling for you has changed forever.
or maybe i have to do a play trough with a good oriented @Aerie as charname and post it on the forums to wash away from my mind the horrible feeling of having sided so many times with a monster in disguise...
what has happened to my beloved @Aerie , the cute little girl that used to gain confidence adventuring at my side, that was so often the mother of my son and remained so good oriented even when she gained a great power becoming one of the most powerful casters of the whole faerun and when she wanted a more then respectable front line fighter?
i see that she is become a monster, her soul corrupted, and she is now an agent of everything she used to fight against at my side!
i surely don't like it and i am not even sure that i will trust her in my future play troughs when she, in ogre form, tells me she is an elf with ogre like appearance for a spell imposed on her...
sweet @Aerie you broke my hearth, how i wish that i had never followed this thread as it is possible that my feeling for you has changed forever.
or maybe i have to do a play trough with a good oriented @Aerie as charname and post it on the forums to wash away from my mind the horrible feeling of having sided so many times with a monster in disguise...
Well you see ''the cute little girl'', and all the good comments are actually an inaccurate representation of myself. You're hearing this from one of the in-game characters, but I was actually intended to turn evil or have a chance to turn evil but that was cut from the original game. I'm totally speaking the truth.
Yes I am a monster, my soul is corrupted (check) and I am an agent of evil. Nice of you to notice.
When starting a new game you wouldn't want to dare try to imprison me, my ogre rage would tear you to pieces.
This is the true version of myself. Keep reading the thread (this is my attempt at mind-control). No! Anything but a.. *yuck* good playthrough as myself, why would someone do such a thing? That would be a strange and unusual, not to mention frowned upon play-through. No one uses me in a good party... anymore.
I see a lot of CM gnome, very strong and very good oriented charnames in my future.
I can live without my cute little avariel friend as i have finally found out what her real nature is, but for me no CM in the party = no fun
but probably your corruption is working on me, my beloved agent of evil as i can not refrain to tell you: "hey @Aerie , your wings have been clipped, and by the way those scars look quite horrible...
but now i have to go, my new lover, nalia, is waiting for me, we plan to go paragliding today, to fly is so amazing"
Anyways back to the play-through I wanted to take on the 5th level of watchers keep. We completed the globe machine and the room with the orcs without too much struggle, however the dragon room was the most interesting.
I noticed Hexxat's ability to summon shadows (at higher levels), was interesting as the Shadows can cast spells. I had Dorn walk towards the dragon turning it hostile and ran away. The shadows used their spells, which were animate dead, invisible stalker, summon monsters, to great effect distracting the dragon and sucking up a lot of it's spells. Eventually all my summons fell dead and the dragon ran towards the party which was what I was ready for.
A spell-trigger of breaches from Neera, and Dorn and Sarevok killed the dragon.
Now to unlock those seals, the first of which was a Lich? And some skulls appeared. We ran them through. The next seal we also unlocked, this battle was a bit more harder but we prevailed. Honestly I was getting tired of battling harder and harder enemies, perhaps I was getting too used to killing and slaughtering defenseless commoners. Just kidding. But we did what he hadn't previously done for the last seal. We planted as many spike traps as possible. I was quite proud of that. Screenshots of each battle below.
Face to face with the one, who has been imprisoned. Also known as the imprisoned one. I made a deal with him and shortly after betraying the knights, I came down to visit the imprisoned one. You see he's obviously some powerful creature,he's bound to have powerful items hidden away somewhere. So I figured I would demand payment from him, a Mace +65 would do nicely.
It appears he didn't like what I was about to say (reading minds and all that). He then summoned a few demons and attacked! I lured his demons away, killed them and prepared spike traps in case he summoned more of those brats. We than rushed him.
I didn't even get to use my spell trigger containing three bolts of glory! No matter, I had the perfect recipient for that. Imoen. If I'm going to claim the Throne of Bhaal all the bhaalspawn have to die, including her. It's just business (mostly). I summoned Imoen, told her to stand in the corner and then blasted her in the face with the spell trigger. She's dead now. She did not see that coming!
I feel like now's a good time for a little... Romancee updatttee . Me and Hexxat are still a thing and I think I've completed her romance.
I'd been putting this off for a while (doing watchers keep and killing commoners instead), but it was finally time to visit the last enclave. I was greeted at the entrance by a humanoid who was actually a dragon. He was soon dead, and I picked up his bloody head and used it to enter the enclave. Another fight occurred with more monster servants of the Bhaalspawn I was after, very interesting indeed. We started diving into the pools afterwards, killing all that stood in our path.
I noticed a monk who was being held prisoner. Instead of speaking with him, trying to get helpful information or even trying to help him out we instead (at my command) pelted him with spells. The fool even ran away in fear! He didn't even go hostile or fight back (he couldn't even fight back from that range ). I am truly a fiend.
Shortly after grabbing the dead monk's rope, we entered an eye-ball room. I promised to hunt down some eye-creature and bring back the eye for a strange mage. We collected the eye, killed some adventurers who had been turned into stone previously, gave the mage the eye he wanted and then attacked him. Using the scroll of reversal I released the green dragon, only to goad it into a fight intentionally. I squatted down and picked up the ward-stone which would allow us to pass...
Before starting a fight, I sent Sarevok around the room to scout and kill all of those pesky minions of Abazigal's. Let the battle begin. I enjoyed this battle and once Abazigal's flames were snuffed out I was transported away for a quick chat with the Solar. Screenshots of the battle below.
And then something strange happened. After exiting the enclave, I saw Noober... and then a Planetar of Justice appeared (you see I had inscribed Noober's name in the Scroll which was part of Dorns quest). The Planetar executed Noober, and then we came to blows. I obviously came out on top and killed the Planetar earning some sweet exp.
Shortly after, while visiting my pocket plane I took on the next challenge. I spoke with Cyric threatening to kill him and then he ran away sending some of his ''chosen'' to hold me off before I could rip him to pieces.
He managed to escape, but his chosen were not so lucky. More screenshots of that challenge and the Noober bit below.
I returned to the desert village, and decided to visit the inn for some information. On my rampage of the town previously it was the only place I didn't enter and kill townspeople. I was attacked by some mercenaries who I slew, and then I bullied the innkeeper for the information I needed, which came in the form of the monastery gate key. Nice. I then killed everyone in the building.
Time to fight my way into the Monastery. Let the slaughter begin. Monks and scores of mercenaries tried to oppose me, but I plowed through them. No one could stop Balthazar from suffering my wrath.
Epic ominous shot before this battle.
Foolish Balthazar! He even had the nerve to ask how many I had killed, seeming to forget that I had wiped out his entire village. Bah! Epic final battle screenshots:
Balthazar was no more.
In other matters Melissan revealed herself to me, and I killed the Ravager. Some screenshots of that stuff below:
If I am going to fight at the Throne of Bhaal, I and my party need to be in the best condition possible. Which requires training. That means ''sparring'' partners (the remaining other characters). However some of them were not very agreeable.
After Mazzy's death and Neera killed Anomen in a rather uneventful battle, I myself took on both Haer'Dalis and Jaheira.
Next up Dorn vs Rasaad and Jan. Dorn as expected crushed the monk into pieces, the whole time that mini fight was going on Jan went invisible, buffed up and mirror imaged. When Jan eventually showed himself, one hit from Dorn's Blackguard sword dispelled all of his protections and that was that.
Next up Sarevok vs Korgan and Viccy and Hexxat vs Cernd. I turned both Viccy and Korgan hostile with Sarevok punching them both to start the fight, but this session was still short lived. There was time for a Skeleton to be summoned though. While Hexxat fought Cernd, Neera took on Minsc and Neera's finishing move was a Dragon's breath.
All things considered, I think we are now ready to visit the Throne of Bhaal after some rest. Oh and one more thing. As a result of hitting Cleric level 25, I got a holy symbol. I was really hoping for a symbol of Talos but this will have to do, I suppose.
The final battle - The Throne of Bhaal *MEGA spoilers*
Melissan was kind enough to greet me. Let the battle begin! We rushed her, removed her spell protections and cut her down. ''If you are wise, you will flee'', an obvious empty threat. You may notice I am already fatigued (exhausted) that's because it is hard work carrying the rest of my team.
After a short battle with some air elementals it was time for round two. Melissan's summons seemed endless as there were wave after wave of them, but again we tore down her defenses and spell protections and kept up our attacks. Round three approaches.
Is it weird that I found this battle (number 3) much easier than number two? Regardless, we were beginning to get to Melissan. She was a fool to cross me. Before we could finish her off, she knocked us all away. A hard fight with some demons, fiends and a planetar stood in between me and getting to Melissan. Sarevok one hit the Planetar. Once the rest off the troop was massacred it was time to face Melissan again.
The only problem being I only had one spellstrike left and we had all but run out of breaches. We would have to make that spellstrike count in our next battle with her. Screenshot of the 3rd battle below.
Strong enough to best you Melissan! We all know I am the much superior Cleric/Mage.
And that is what I did, defeating Melissan in single combat (with just a little help from my friends). Eventually the gods decreed me: Aerie the most majestic, violent and evil person alive to be the victor....
You know I had to become the Lady of Murder. Aerie will reign supreme!
Time for the speeches, Neera went first:
Awww thanks Neera
Then Hexxat, Dorn and Sarevok..
And finally myself! Though what I said seems a little inaccurate, I'm just a bit sleepy thats all. I love the sound of more fighting.
I'd already made my decision. I was going to become a god and rule the Throne of Bhaal. Hexxat and Sarevok chimed in. I reassured them, I wasn't going to regret it because Hexxat would rule alongside me and Sarevok would be my righthand man. I reassured them.
This has been a really fun play-through so it is a lil bit sad to end it and see it come to an end. But this is a new beginning.
Massive thanks to all the readers, people who commented, everyone who liked this play-through and of course everyone who witnessed an all time great play-through (not everyday one of the party members posts a full on play-through ).
Thank you so much for a *very* unique and entertaining type of playthrough. The narration was short, often pithy, and always full of personality. Congratulations to you!
My one regret is that it was not on the Challenges and Playthroughs subforum haha But really, I look forward to anything of this sort you might do in the future.
Thank you so much for a *very* unique and entertaining type of playthrough. The narration was short, often pithy, and always full of personality. Congratulations to you!
My one regret is that it was not on the Challenges and Playthroughs subforum haha But really, I look forward to anything of this sort you might do in the future.
Thanks for the comment Rao and your compliments. I really enjoyed this playthrough and I'm glad to know others enjoyed it too.
Hahha. For sure, the next play-through I do will be on the challenges and playthroughs forum subsection. I might have to do a forum play-through annually, with random party members, crazy rules etc.
Thank you so much for a *very* unique and entertaining type of playthrough. The narration was short, often pithy, and always full of personality. Congratulations to you!
My one regret is that it was not on the Challenges and Playthroughs subforum haha But really, I look forward to anything of this sort you might do in the future.
Thanks for the comment Rao and your compliments. I really enjoyed this playthrough and I'm glad to know others enjoyed it too.
Hahha. For sure, the next play-through I do will be on the challenges and playthroughs forum subsection. I might have to do a forum play-through annually, with random party members, crazy rules etc.
How about a play-through as Valygar the misunderstood Stalker next time?
This has certainly been inspirational. I don't think I would have started my current BG1 playthrough (The Dukes Get Off Their Butts, starring a party of Eltan, Belt, Liia, Kelddath, and Imoen as the Bhaalspawn) without it. It's also given me ideas for a Dorn run - that would be both games, and I'm leaning toward a double Anomen/Viconia romance over the self-love option.
But not right away. I've got other themes percolating, like a no-spellcasting challenge, or a party of illiterates, or maximum paladin.
Thank you so much for a *very* unique and entertaining type of playthrough. The narration was short, often pithy, and always full of personality. Congratulations to you!
My one regret is that it was not on the Challenges and Playthroughs subforum haha But really, I look forward to anything of this sort you might do in the future.
Thanks for the comment Rao and your compliments. I really enjoyed this playthrough and I'm glad to know others enjoyed it too.
Hahha. For sure, the next play-through I do will be on the challenges and playthroughs forum subsection. I might have to do a forum play-through annually, with random party members, crazy rules etc.
How about a play-through as Valygar the misunderstood Stalker next time?
I was thinking more play-throughs as myself (for example modifying Aerie to be a shadow dancer), however play-throughs using other party members is an intriguing option.
I might have to do one with Valygar, that sounds really good. It would focus on the sides of Valygar you haven't seen (I might even make him romance Dorn ) thanks for the suggestion!
This has certainly been inspirational. I don't think I would have started my current BG1 playthrough (The Dukes Get Off Their Butts, starring a party of Eltan, Belt, Liia, Kelddath, and Imoen as the Bhaalspawn) without it. It's also given me ideas for a Dorn run - that would be both games, and I'm leaning toward a double Anomen/Viconia romance over the self-love option.
But not right away. I've got other themes percolating, like a no-spellcasting challenge, or a party of illiterates, or maximum paladin.
I'm happy I've inspired you, those do sound like some interesting ideas you have. The Dorn run especially sounds great!
Thank you so much for a *very* unique and entertaining type of playthrough. The narration was short, often pithy, and always full of personality. Congratulations to you!
My one regret is that it was not on the Challenges and Playthroughs subforum haha But really, I look forward to anything of this sort you might do in the future.
Thanks for the comment Rao and your compliments. I really enjoyed this playthrough and I'm glad to know others enjoyed it too.
Hahha. For sure, the next play-through I do will be on the challenges and playthroughs forum subsection. I might have to do a forum play-through annually, with random party members, crazy rules etc.
How about a play-through as Valygar the misunderstood Stalker next time?
I was thinking more play-throughs as myself (for example modifying Aerie to be a shadow dancer), however play-throughs using other party members is an intriguing option.
I might have to do one with Valygar, that sounds really good. It would focus on the sides of Valygar you haven't seen (I might even make him romance Dorn ) thanks for the suggestion!
Well, being too evil would cause Valygar to fall and become just a gimped fighter. It would force you to play 'smart' evil!
Thank you so much for a *very* unique and entertaining type of playthrough. The narration was short, often pithy, and always full of personality. Congratulations to you!
My one regret is that it was not on the Challenges and Playthroughs subforum haha But really, I look forward to anything of this sort you might do in the future.
Thanks for the comment Rao and your compliments. I really enjoyed this playthrough and I'm glad to know others enjoyed it too.
Hahha. For sure, the next play-through I do will be on the challenges and playthroughs forum subsection. I might have to do a forum play-through annually, with random party members, crazy rules etc.
How about a play-through as Valygar the misunderstood Stalker next time?
I was thinking more play-throughs as myself (for example modifying Aerie to be a shadow dancer), however play-throughs using other party members is an intriguing option.
I might have to do one with Valygar, that sounds really good. It would focus on the sides of Valygar you haven't seen (I might even make him romance Dorn ) thanks for the suggestion!
Well, being too evil would cause Valygar to fall and become just a gimped fighter. It would force you to play 'smart' evil!
Agree with that keeping the reputation high and be more neutral than evil or don't go all the way evil is the way to go. Though a fallen ranger is an interesting challenge in itself.
Comments
Off to the Marching Mountains! When we entered Yaga-Shura's Lair, a few spell triggers with Chain lightning and some hard fighting took care of the fire giants guarding the entrance. Collecting stones to then operate a machine to gain access to the next level, took up most of our time in this scorching place. We did pick up a pretty nice sword though.
After gaining access to the next level (the intruders, so us) were greeted by Brendan (I know that isn't his name) and a few of his friends. Using Hexxat's special ability to summon shadows at a higher level, they held off the fire giants as more chain lightning, magic missiles and a few placed traps hit the giants at long range before Dorn and Sarevok cleaned the rest off them off.
Slaying a fiery elemental resulted in a nice halberd, the Ravager and we collected the hearts we seeked. Special delivery. We rushed back to the old temple, but we were betrayed. No matter. Then I had an appointment with a certain giant of fire.
Nighty night, oh Yaga-Shura.
In the very spirit of being a queen, I declared ''off with his head'' and we slaughtered Jamis Tombelthen's entire company.
What do we have here? A bounty? I collected a few copies of the bounty notices, thinking to myself how whenever I go to places and taverns in the future I would have to drop a copy or two off. I'd like the arrogant fools who think that they can kill me, to come and try.
Of course, I might have to frame a copy of the bounty as well.
I thought a good place from where we left off is to show what my current party has equipped/is wearing: Right below. A few notes: Dorn has 100% fire resistance, which is useful and from Neera's quest we were able to purchase a cloak which protects the wearer (in this case Sarevok) from death effects. Nice.
This post is very stop and start so far, before things could get rolling I was interrupted by someone who wanted to purchase that mechanical bird Neera gave me. Of course I accepted the large amount of gold on offer. Neera's basically paid off her gold debt (caused by wild surge effects), with the sale of this bird.
Time for Hexxat's quest and the big bad tomb. Each and every room was dangerous, yet interesting. I've included a bunch of screenshots from that below. I'll label this first part, the library section. Strange rooms, rooms with book selves, un-dead, strange jars and even a beholder or two. Did I mention traps?
In the second part of this maze, we walked in on a creepy gnome (I hate gnomes, they remind me of my old loser ''uncle'') of course he had some spiders with him. Stupid Gnome, we stomped him to the fllor. I'm not racist, I swear. More screenshots.
Here's an above view of the maze-tomb.
And we were back. I headed straight to the the cave of the dead, where we had some business to attend to. You know me, of course I'm going to pick up that beautiful soul stone. Goodbye Marlowe. I then turned on the Lich, surely he would have some magical gear. He did drop a ring, but nothing really too great. Oh well. We slaughtered his summoned minions, him and everything which was summoned, from those strange mirror tables.
Enough time wasting. We looked at our map and began the route to Sendai's enclave. Unfortunately we were ambushed, before we could reach our destination. Who could it possibly be?
Bandits, gnomes who heard me be racist towards them in the above comment (not sorry), bhaalspawn ants or maybe demons? No it was a few pathetic holy people after myself and Dorn. They were really after me, though.
One of them ran away (coward), and I was told that I was being added to a list. We then had a problem on our hands. Cancel the trip to Sendai's enclave, we're going to Lunia.
We instigated a fight with a planetar and a few holy men and women, only half way through the battle for another planetar to arrive bringing more backup. We killed them all, and after noting that this was the only exit point to the portals back we should really make sure if something were to happen, to be on our guard. Obviously we were not just going to walk out of this place without a fight in my mind, so we planted multiple spike traps and snares to help us make a swift escape.
I picked up a Sigil of Tyr, it would make a nice souvenir (screenshot below). We also bumped into an old face, Bollard Firejaw! Our little interaction didn't last long.
We corrupted a good (silver?) tree, killed a scribe, I wrote down Noober's name in replace of my own (this actually happened, we''ll have to see what happens there) and did a few more evil deeds. We then headed for the exit only to, predictably be stopped. By two silver dragons. I've killed a silver dragon in the Underdark before, so these two should be easy. Which they were, taken out by traps and a greater whirlwind attack by both Dorn and Sarevok (aftermath below).
After all resistance was crushed, I wanted to circle back around Lunia to make sure we left no one standing. It appears we had left some survivors, not for long anyway. A small crowd had gathered around the tree we had corrupted. Note the commoner. A well placed fireball killed the commoners, dropping my reputation down to 1 and we slaughtered the forces of good. What a day.
We entered Sendai's base and we killed all who stood in our path, eventually reaching the barracks. After a battle in the barracks, we collected the key and entered through the southern door. Disgusting spiders! I sent them to hell.
Epic moment, crossing the bridge. What a view.
Challenge time. I was expecting to fight more umber hulks, but I got some earth elementals instead (one of them was a prince). I'm not complaining, on to the next room. This was a more challenging battle, but we dragged some of the fighters out (vampire, demon knight) and secondly took out the spell-casters. In the next room I was challenged to single combat. Oh, I just a love a fight. I beat the puny drow and watched as his company died. Heh.
Mindflayers, those creepy tentacle freaks. I wanted to make quick work of them, which I of course did. I have a feeling I will come face to face with Sendai soon. That pleases me, as I look forward to being the sole remaining child of Bhaal.
What more can be said about this Drow, other than us ruining her plans, statues and then finishing her off once and for all? How about, her voice made my ears bleed. Which gave me further motivation to kill her.
Sendai greeting me and her statues being killed, screenshots right below.
Sendai talking nonsense. Oh and I had a conversation with... myself. This is getting weird. I might do some challenges in my little plane next, or continue on with Watchers Keep. Tune in.
But there are others. In one of the pocket plane challenges I came across a cool looking alternate Aerie, who uses a sword! Nice. Alternate me, seems pretty cool. After killing her party she actually ran away in fear! I then killed that *lesser* version of myself with an implosion.
I also got a cool lava room. Then it was time for another challenge, which meant another version of myself showed up. This Aerie, was my ''doubt''. I didn't like this, Aerie. Screenshots below!
Watchers Keep level 3. The maze. We picked a random portal and we walked in on a wild magic room with mephit, imps. Lotsss of wild surges. After clearing the room, we shortly came back across this excact same room. Hmm this maze was tricky.
Next up, after going through a random portal we came across some tieflings. Just like that, they were gone.
To my delight we came across a devil, of course I made a bargain with the devil promising to kill some demon if I had the chance to come across him. So I make deals with devils. Deal with it.
Yes! I found him. I actually spared this devil, because he seemed quite respectable. I gave him the heart in return for a reward and was quite happy with how things turned out. I then left him to whatever he was upto.
Look at that. A weird tree. Oh, and demon knights were in that room. Well they were soon dead. And then we found the exit, sweet. I then had a game with Aesgareth and beat him. Turns out he's also a sore loser. Well I killed him and took his card deck.
Time to use my brand new toy! The deck of many things. Now I didn't get screenshots of the first two draws, but I got: Ruin. So I lost all my gold. I then got Sun, which gave us a decent bit of XP, not the best draw but still not that bad. And then I immediately afterwards drew Throne! Which gave us a lot of valuable experience. I'm thrilled with that.
After slaughtering mindflayers and Gith, we came across the dragon Saladrex. Once his protections were disabled, Sarevok landed a massive deathbringer assault and that was an end to Saladrex's life story.
The mere presence of me, scared the two minotaurs so much they ran away in terror! I then smashed the glass killed the mage and it was time to unlock the exit and get a few stat upgrades. I gave myself the magic resistance boost. I gave Hexxat strength and dex, Dorn got the Con stat, I hogged the Wisdom and Intelligence stats for myself and I thought Neera deserved some love so she got a charisma boost (going from 11 to 12).
I was feeling in a particularly violent mood today, and so upon returning to the desert city. I lay waste to the towns people, monks, mercenaries and even killed a few cows.
Take a look at my handiwork.
Then Dorn said something to Neera, but I feel it also applies to me.
Oh and one more screenshot for the road. This was pretty fun, I spent like half an hour just killing commoners, children, monks and mercenaries.
i see that she is become a monster, her soul corrupted, and she is now an agent of everything she used to fight against at my side!
i surely don't like it and i am not even sure that i will trust her in my future play troughs when she, in ogre form, tells me she is an elf with ogre like appearance for a spell imposed on her...
sweet @Aerie you broke my hearth, how i wish that i had never followed this thread as it is possible that my feeling for you has changed forever.
or maybe i have to do a play trough with a good oriented @Aerie as charname and post it on the forums to wash away from my mind the horrible feeling of having sided so many times with a monster in disguise...
Well you see ''the cute little girl'', and all the good comments are actually an inaccurate representation of myself. You're hearing this from one of the in-game characters, but I was actually intended to turn evil or have a chance to turn evil but that was cut from the original game. I'm totally speaking the truth.
Yes I am a monster, my soul is corrupted (check) and I am an agent of evil. Nice of you to notice.
When starting a new game you wouldn't want to dare try to imprison me, my ogre rage would tear you to pieces.
This is the true version of myself. Keep reading the thread (this is my attempt at mind-control). No! Anything but a.. *yuck* good playthrough as myself, why would someone do such a thing? That would be a strange and unusual, not to mention frowned upon play-through. No one uses me in a good party... anymore.
I can live without my cute little avariel friend as i have finally found out what her real nature is, but for me no CM in the party = no fun
but probably your corruption is working on me, my beloved agent of evil as i can not refrain to tell you: "hey @Aerie , your wings have been clipped, and by the way those scars look quite horrible...
but now i have to go, my new lover, nalia, is waiting for me, we plan to go paragliding today, to fly is so amazing"
Anyways back to the play-through I wanted to take on the 5th level of watchers keep. We completed the globe machine and the room with the orcs without too much struggle, however the dragon room was the most interesting.
I noticed Hexxat's ability to summon shadows (at higher levels), was interesting as the Shadows can cast spells. I had Dorn walk towards the dragon turning it hostile and ran away. The shadows used their spells, which were animate dead, invisible stalker, summon monsters, to great effect distracting the dragon and sucking up a lot of it's spells. Eventually all my summons fell dead and the dragon ran towards the party which was what I was ready for.
A spell-trigger of breaches from Neera, and Dorn and Sarevok killed the dragon.
Now to unlock those seals, the first of which was a Lich? And some skulls appeared. We ran them through. The next seal we also unlocked, this battle was a bit more harder but we prevailed. Honestly I was getting tired of battling harder and harder enemies, perhaps I was getting too used to killing and slaughtering defenseless commoners. Just kidding. But we did what he hadn't previously done for the last seal. We planted as many spike traps as possible. I was quite proud of that. Screenshots of each battle below.
It appears he didn't like what I was about to say (reading minds and all that). He then summoned a few demons and attacked! I lured his demons away, killed them and prepared spike traps in case he summoned more of those brats. We than rushed him.
I didn't even get to use my spell trigger containing three bolts of glory! No matter, I had the perfect recipient for that. Imoen. If I'm going to claim the Throne of Bhaal all the bhaalspawn have to die, including her. It's just business (mostly). I summoned Imoen, told her to stand in the corner and then blasted her in the face with the spell trigger. She's dead now. She did not see that coming!
I feel like now's a good time for a little... Romancee updatttee
I'd been putting this off for a while (doing watchers keep and killing commoners instead), but it was finally time to visit the last enclave. I was greeted at the entrance by a humanoid who was actually a dragon. He was soon dead, and I picked up his bloody head and used it to enter the enclave. Another fight occurred with more monster servants of the Bhaalspawn I was after, very interesting indeed. We started diving into the pools afterwards, killing all that stood in our path.
I noticed a monk who was being held prisoner. Instead of speaking with him, trying to get helpful information or even trying to help him out we instead (at my command) pelted him with spells. The fool even ran away in fear! He didn't even go hostile or fight back (he couldn't even fight back from that range
Shortly after grabbing the dead monk's rope, we entered an eye-ball room. I promised to hunt down some eye-creature and bring back the eye for a strange mage. We collected the eye, killed some adventurers who had been turned into stone previously, gave the mage the eye he wanted and then attacked him. Using the scroll of reversal I released the green dragon, only to goad it into a fight intentionally. I squatted down and picked up the ward-stone which would allow us to pass...
Next up Abazigal!
Before starting a fight, I sent Sarevok around the room to scout and kill all of those pesky minions of Abazigal's. Let the battle begin. I enjoyed this battle and once Abazigal's flames were snuffed out I was transported away for a quick chat with the Solar. Screenshots of the battle below.
And then something strange happened. After exiting the enclave, I saw Noober... and then a Planetar of Justice appeared (you see I had inscribed Noober's name in the Scroll which was part of Dorns quest). The Planetar executed Noober, and then we came to blows. I obviously came out on top and killed the Planetar earning some sweet exp.
Shortly after, while visiting my pocket plane I took on the next challenge. I spoke with Cyric threatening to kill him and then he ran away sending some of his ''chosen'' to hold me off before I could rip him to pieces.
He managed to escape, but his chosen were not so lucky. More screenshots of that challenge and the Noober bit below.
I returned to the desert village, and decided to visit the inn for some information. On my rampage of the town previously it was the only place I didn't enter and kill townspeople. I was attacked by some mercenaries who I slew, and then I bullied the innkeeper for the information I needed, which came in the form of the monastery gate key. Nice. I then killed everyone in the building.
Time to fight my way into the Monastery. Let the slaughter begin. Monks and scores of mercenaries tried to oppose me, but I plowed through them. No one could stop Balthazar from suffering my wrath.
Epic ominous shot before this battle.
Foolish Balthazar! He even had the nerve to ask how many I had killed, seeming to forget that I had wiped out his entire village. Bah! Epic final battle screenshots:
Balthazar was no more.
In other matters Melissan revealed herself to me, and I killed the Ravager. Some screenshots of that stuff below:
After Mazzy's death and Neera killed Anomen in a rather uneventful battle, I myself took on both Haer'Dalis and Jaheira.
Next up Dorn vs Rasaad and Jan. Dorn as expected crushed the monk into pieces, the whole time that mini fight was going on Jan went invisible, buffed up and mirror imaged. When Jan eventually showed himself, one hit from Dorn's Blackguard sword dispelled all of his protections and that was that.
Next up Sarevok vs Korgan and Viccy and Hexxat vs Cernd. I turned both Viccy and Korgan hostile with Sarevok punching them both to start the fight, but this session was still short lived. There was time for a Skeleton to be summoned though. While Hexxat fought Cernd, Neera took on Minsc and Neera's finishing move was a Dragon's breath.
All things considered, I think we are now ready to visit the Throne of Bhaal after some rest. Oh and one more thing. As a result of hitting Cleric level 25, I got a holy symbol. I was really hoping for a symbol of Talos but this will have to do, I suppose.
Melissan was kind enough to greet me. Let the battle begin! We rushed her, removed her spell protections and cut her down. ''If you are wise, you will flee'', an obvious empty threat. You may notice I am already fatigued (exhausted) that's because it is hard work carrying the rest of my team.
After a short battle with some air elementals it was time for round two. Melissan's summons seemed endless as there were wave after wave of them, but again we tore down her defenses and spell protections and kept up our attacks. Round three approaches.
Is it weird that I found this battle (number 3) much easier than number two? Regardless, we were beginning to get to Melissan. She was a fool to cross me. Before we could finish her off, she knocked us all away. A hard fight with some demons, fiends and a planetar stood in between me and getting to Melissan. Sarevok one hit the Planetar. Once the rest off the troop was massacred it was time to face Melissan again.
The only problem being I only had one spellstrike left and we had all but run out of breaches. We would have to make that spellstrike count in our next battle with her. Screenshot of the 3rd battle below.
Strong enough to best you Melissan! We all know I am the much superior Cleric/Mage.
And that is what I did, defeating Melissan in single combat (with just a little help from my friends). Eventually the gods decreed me: Aerie the most majestic, violent and evil person alive to be the victor....
Oh that can be arranged Melissan
Time for the speeches, Neera went first:
Awww thanks Neera
Then Hexxat, Dorn and Sarevok..
And finally myself! Though what I said seems a little inaccurate, I'm just a bit sleepy thats all. I love the sound of more fighting.
I'd already made my decision. I was going to become a god and rule the Throne of Bhaal. Hexxat and Sarevok chimed in. I reassured them, I wasn't going to regret it because Hexxat would rule alongside me and Sarevok would be my righthand man. I reassured them.
This has been a really fun play-through so it is a lil bit sad to end it and see it come to an end. But this is a new beginning.
THE END
Massive thanks to all the readers, people who commented, everyone who liked this play-through and of course everyone who witnessed an all time great play-through (not everyday one of the party members posts a full on play-through
My one regret is that it was not on the Challenges and Playthroughs subforum
Thanks for the comment Rao and your compliments. I really enjoyed this playthrough and I'm glad to know others enjoyed it too.
Hahha. For sure, the next play-through I do will be on the challenges and playthroughs forum subsection. I might have to do a forum play-through annually, with random party members, crazy rules etc.
How about a play-through as Valygar the misunderstood Stalker next time?
But not right away. I've got other themes percolating, like a no-spellcasting challenge, or a party of illiterates, or maximum paladin.
I was thinking more play-throughs as myself (for example modifying Aerie to be a shadow dancer), however play-throughs using other party members is an intriguing option.
I might have to do one with Valygar, that sounds really good. It would focus on the sides of Valygar you haven't seen (I might even make him romance Dorn
I'm happy I've inspired you, those do sound like some interesting ideas you have. The Dorn run especially sounds great!
Well, being too evil would cause Valygar to fall and become just a gimped fighter. It would force you to play 'smart' evil!
Agree with that keeping the reputation high and be more neutral than evil or don't go all the way evil is the way to go. Though a fallen ranger is an interesting challenge in itself.