After resting at the Sea's Bounty, Jaheira returns. The Harpers want to see us again - Aerys specifically. We head right over for that.
Galvarey asks his questions:
Red, of course. Maybe mixed with some orange and yellow. Fire is everything.
... wait, what? The color of blood? Are you even listening?
Before long, it devolves into a fight. We open with a pair of sequencers, for a total of five fireballs.
Aerys gets Bessen and Nadinal. Nalia gets Kail and Iko. Only Galvarey himself survives the initial barrage, and he doesn't last long. That was easy.
All right. There were two reasons to wait this long before we went after the Cowled Wizards - making sure we had enough spell power to handle them, and securing the perfect place to set our ambush. Since we're using party-unfriendly fire spells, we need somewhere that civilians will stay away from. And the best place for that is the roof of the Harper Hold.
The other half, of course, is how we're fighting them. Aerys prepares a Sunfire contingency, and casts another instantly as soon as the battle starts. The party has been pre-buffed with fire immunity.
After those two spells and a third Sunfire a round later, only one enemy mage remains.
The survivor is the initial enforcer, who teleported in to give the warning. He's 9th level capable and cast Protection from Fire, so he won't go down so easily. And with those magical swords on the scene (an initial Chain Contingency), we're not going to stick around and tempt fate. Back through the door, to wait out the summons inside. They can't follow us inside; the doors are party-required, no NPCs allowed.
The swords get unsummoned, and we head back up. Absolute Immunity. Down. Improved Mantle. Down. Remove Magic. Dodge, right back up. Next cast ... disrupted.
And once a spell gets disrupted, that mage has no chance. The first group of Cowled Enforcers has been eliminated.
I pick up Montaron's body for some experience, and head out. We're only really set up to fight one cowled group per day, so I'll intersperse that with Jaheira's quest and a few other minor things. First, we travel to Trademeet ... and get ambushed on the way.
Orcs. I make some space, and hit them with a couple fireballs.
That clears out a lot of the riff-raff; Nalia gets seven kills with her shot. Most of the survivors are easy to deal with as well, but the mage is troublesome.
With PfMW and a fireshield, we're a bit short on good options to hurt him. He resisted a Remove Magic, so I have Anomen (higher level) go for a dispel. That does the trick, and he only manages a Slow after that shot - too little, too late.
After some healing spells, we complete our travel. Once in Trademeet, Jenia greets us - it's time for that quest. On the way over to her house, we get a cutscene:
I especially like that one extra-realistic statue.
Rasaad offers to join - not now. We'll take care of his quest later.
The investigation is rather easy, especially with a paladin in the party:
Yeah, we know who the bad guys are here. We kill the skin dancers, then have Anomen cast Lesser Restoration on Raissa. And now, since he's exhausted, we rest. We don't pick up that point of reputation, and instead return to Athkatla.
Back in town, we take care of a couple things in the graveyard (Wellyn's parents, Risa) and then head over to the docks for another round of mage-hunting.
This time, Nalia adds a contingent Sunfire of her own.
Nice scrolls, too. Nalia already has Pierce Shield, but she'll appreciate the Finger of Death.
Of course, there's still that original wizard. We go through a few rounds of door chicken ...
Ouch. A triple Flame Arrow sequencer, and Isra is dead. She saved against two of them, but not the third - and that one dealt 72 damage. Combined with the other two, it was enough damage to take her down from full health.
Still, recovery is simple. We pick up her stuff, head back down, and cast Resurrection. Head back up ...
The enforcer goes down. He also gets off a spell despite two hits from acid arrows and two from a flaming sword - a Clenched Fist. Fortunately, Nalia's stoneskin takes care of the damage. Then she saves on the first chance, and we can leave.
Rather than stretch out the day with more stuff, we head for a rest. But first, a scribing session. By the end of this, Jaheira reaches 2 million XP and fighter level 12. She takes two-handed style, in preparation for her weapon choice at epic levels.
After that rest, it's late at night. Time for another vampire encounter:
The thieves are outnumbered here, but that's Arkanis. They have the advantage. We join in, and get credit for two of the kills.
Now, back up to the rooftop spot for another round of Cowled Enforcers.
We get lucky on the contingencies; they trigger practically instantly, and the enemy leader goes down before he can get his buffs up. By the time Aerys can cast his spell (modified casting speed zero), it's already over.
The random drops here include a Spell Trigger scroll. It can be cast, but the spell can't be learned. An unfortunate interaction between the random scrolls component and the innate sequencers component of SCS.
We take off for a bit of aimless travel, and get an ambush:
They try to run. We launch some fireballs. They don't get away. And with that sequencer discharged, Nalia can switch to a triple-fireball option.
After a rest, it's back to the docks - and the final shadow war encounter.
This version of Bodhi doesn't get the massive SCS enhancements, but she's still pretty dangerous. The shadow thieves she's fighting are helpless against her, so we go with a mix of flame strikes, scorchers, and one character with drain protection in melee.
Then she leaves. Without attacking us, which is nice. I'll count that as a win.
All right, time for round four with the wizards.
No easy kill on the leader this time. Head down to wait out the swords, then back up. Absolute Immunity. Improved Mantle. And then, we attack.
That enforcer cast one offensive spell - a triple Lower Resist spell trigger on Cernd.
Then we get a complication ...
Our reputation isn't quite good enough to placate her, so we duck down to reapply fire protection and return for the fight. Sequencers first:
Priest down. Cernd is badly hurt by Meronia's melee attacks, so we duck down for a few rounds to regenerate and time out the mage's protection. Head back up:
Why no experience entry in the log? Because this Harper is worth 0 XP. Actually, there are a number of enemies in the Harper plot that aren't worth any XP.
Then there are two more Harpers in this group ... but they're not on the roof.
They go down easily enough. This was not planned, of course; it's entirely by accident that we had the terrain split the encounter.
Now, for some more questing. I pick up the illithium alloy and head over to the government district to deliver it, but Isra's quest interrupts us. There's some trouble with the Jysstevs, and Isra is interested in investigating the crime. Still, we're there - we show Sir Sarles the alloy, and he storms off. Oddly enough, Isra doesn't have anything to say about this.
I run around for that investigation, and also realize that Anomen's knighthood timer has expired ... OK, spawn in Sir Ryan Trawl. That gets him called, and we head over for that after we report to the temple of Helm. Anomen's trial brings him to cleric level 17, a key threshold. Why is that important? Because you need a five-level advantage for Turn Undead to have a chance of blowing up undead enemies, and the vampires in the chapter 3 version of Bodhi's lair are all level 12 or lower. Except for Tanova, of course.
But before we face the vampires, we have some fallen paladins to take care of.
Anomen opens with a Greater Command. Three out of six enemies fail their saves. The other three quickly fall in melee, and it's just mop-up from there.
We get a nice chunk of XP, a point of reputation, and some gloves with an irrelevant healing ability.
After a rest, Isra finishes her investigation ... and comes to a troubling conclusion.
She may care for the Jysstev family, but she can't deny their guilt in this case. And that means her paladin code demands she allow the law to work.
216 total fire kills. The Cowled Wizards burn well.
"If you're not willing to shell your own position, you're not willing to win."
- Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries, Schlock Mercenary
And now, it's time to take on Bodhi's lair. We pass some spiders on the way in:
One fireball takes out the little ones, and the party handles the rest in melee.
That brings us to the entrance, where Haz waits. He dies, but his golem successfully opens the door. The grimwarders are no trouble.
And now, the party falls back and we start our plan. Anomen has four instances of Sanctuary memorized, and uses them to fight alone.
He's borrowing the Amulet of Power here, as protection against level drain attacks when Sanctuary is down.
The ten rounds of that first Sanctuary take out Gellal, a fledgling, and a Greater Ghoul. Then it's the second Sanctuary. A second fledgling, a second greater Ghoul, and Durst.
Then he heads over to Tanova. He's lucky enough to take out the last fledgling, but then the Sanctuary runs out. Tanova acts.
She has PfMW, Spell Deflection, and enough levels (16) that our Dispel Magic isn't reliable. Against that, Anomen retreats. We want the full party for this.
Anomen gets hit twice on the way out, before she switches to spells...
... with mixed results. Enemy fiend summons are supposed to be friendly to each other and their casters (aside from Blood War issues), but the AI trickery needed for that isn't very reliable when they're out of sight.
I wait for the fiends to unsummon, then head in. Tanova adds an Improved Invisibility contingency, further increasing the number of spells needed to break her defenses. We'll start with a Pierce Magic:
Then a True Seeing, so we can target her with a Breach. I go to cast that ... Spell Trigger. She has a Spell Deflection and a Spell Shield up.
OK, we need another Pierce Magic. At the same time, Anomen goes for a Holy Smite, and follows up with melee attacks:
Wait, she's dead? A Smite Evil for 39 points, followed by 3 points of melee acid, with the Stoneskin still intact?
But ... I think that's a misleading shot. That incarnation of Tanova has 140 HP. There's no way we did enough damage to beat her - I think what happened is that Isra got her with Azuredge, and the attack roll for that was earlier in the log.
Also, some sloppy play is on display there; Tanova needs +3 to hit, and we had some party members using mere +2 weapons.
There's one more enemy on this level - a Clay Golem. I have enough magical blunt weapons for everybody, so it doesn't take long.
All right, Cernd got cursed. I have a Remove Curse memorized, and his regeneration ignores the curse anyway.
Then, just as I stake Gellal and Durst, the computer freezes. I haven't made any saves, so - back to the beginning of the level.
This time around, it takes all four Sanctuary spells for Anomen to clear out the vampires. When it's only a +5 level advantage, the chance of blowing up an undead target on any given round is pretty low, and that makes this unreliable. Still, this is what those spells are for. We can afford to spend them this way. Once again, Tanova wastes her fiends, we wait them out, and we engage.
On the other hand, her strategy against her is different. You see, she left off a key defense. Time to bring the fire:
Ah, Maze. It takes some time to go into effect, so I switch the amulet of power over to Isra. And I also switched some weapons around ...
The final blow comes from the Mace of Disruption.
Downstairs, we run into a couple greater ghouls before a big battle against several fledglings and grimwarders. Turn Undead handles the vampires easily.
The fledglings are only level 8. A 9-level advantage kills enemies very reliably. As for the grimwarders - they're constructs, not undead. We just beat them down normally. We talk to Lassal, loot the area, and head back up.
Since I don't have any Sanctuary spells left, fighting Lassal is a bit trickier than the vampires we faced earlier. He summons some dire wolves and attempts a Domination. Then he gets turned, and there's not much more to it.
It isn't long before he goes splat.
We stake him, and then meet Bodhi. At a distance.
Your sacrifice will be remembered, Kitthix. Cernd steps out of sight, and Bodhi crushes the spider. A turn later, she leaves and we're done with the area.
That's a tweak SCS makes; while this version of her is upgraded to have all the tricks she does later and be a very scary fight, she also has a timer you just have to survive. And that means the best strategy is to completely avoid the fight.
We go to report success, and Isra hits level 15. She takes flail proficiency. We don't leave for Spellhold, though. We still have some very important things to do.
And now, it's time for round five of our Cowled Enforcer hunt. Aerys gets two enforcers with his Sunfire, but Nalia's contingency misses entirely.
Cernd took a Lower Resistance spell trigger, and we ducked down to avoid a Remove Magic. Head back up to see if we can deal with the last one that's vulnerable to fire ... no, Aerys isn't in position. I go back down immediately rather than try to reposition ...
Just about the most useless Time Stop ever, actually. All he casts is a Teleport Field. I change the party order, and head back up ...
Ah, there it is. Now, we get back to the door-dodging cycle. Meteor Swarm, Absolute Immunity, wait for swords to go away. Since our fire protection spells have expired, I partially renew them - after all, that triple Flame Arrow sequencer is still in play. Improved Mantle, and then the next round is ours.
Once that happens, he doesn't have any tricks left.
Our next objective is the real illithium so we can upgrade the Mace of Disruption. Due to an Unfinished Business component, that means we need to go visit the Umar Hills and the shade temple. We run into an ettin on the way:
One ettin, alone? Nothing to it.
We buy a gem bag here, and mark the merchants for future thieving opportunities. It would take a whole lot of potions for Nalia to guarantee success, so we don't do anything with that right away. And now, for the minor quests in the area. We help out some delinquents, then go after a mimic:
Everyone saved. That was easy.
For the Umber Hulks deeper in the cave, I get out some protection:
Lilarcor, the Shield of Harmony, and two instances of Chaotic Commands. Only the two mages aren't immune to confusion.
Then the hulks bash Isra down to less than half health. They hit hard in melee too.
Back with the wizard Jermien, the golem focuses on him (protected by Stoneskin), and that makes the fight very easy. Ilbratha is ours, not that we'll ever use it.
We run around a bit, talking to Madulf and picking up a beljuril. Then, off to the ranger cabin ... and we find an unexpected windfall.
My mod updates added this sword in, sitting in one of the containers in that cabin. And that's Isra's new off-hand weapon. I don't care that it's terrible at dealing damage and she's not proficient; 50% fire resistance is worth it.
We rest, and talk to "Fael" while the other merchants are inside. I wonder why Dermin isn't appearing ... ah, the area check explicitly rules out the Umar Hills. And also the temple exterior where we're going next.
The shadows here are, of course, trivial for Anomen to blow up.
Even the occasional shadow fiend can't do anything.
Anomen basically solos the whole area without ever using his weapon. The rest of our party gets a few kills near the end, but that's it.
Inside, we face more low-threat undead foes. And then, I see something odd in the log.
The lich group spawned in, and some of them are in the fire pit? Weird. Still, the damage notices stop before too long. None of those enemies die at this time.
We free Mazzy, pick up a sun gem, and open up the first shadow barrier. That lets us free Gorje Hilldark, and we're done here for now.
Dermin appears when we get back to Athkatla, and we speak to the Hilldarks. Then it's time for one last trip to the Harper roof. After five rounds of the regular Enforcers, they're mad enough to send their highest members.
We have the usual two Sunfires, plus a pre-cast Sunfire from Nalia and an instant-cast Sunfire from Aerys. That takes out the initial enforcer before he can get his fire protection up.
Then the contingencies go off. Nalia's contingency takes out one of the Cowled Wizards, leaving just two of them. Zallanora is one of those, of course; we still have to face that 9th level capability.
Then two party members get stunned, including the one with the necklace of missiles. We all get dispelled. There's really only one thing we can do now ...
Cloudkill. Because they're never immune to Cloudkill, and we have more hit points if it's a race. Their next spells are disrupted before Zallanora wises up and uses a Spell Sequencer to cast faster:
Unfortunately for her, her selection of spells wasn't the best for the situation. Spider Spawn makes a Sword Spider, which dies instantly.
The poison wears down Zallanora, and the other panics. That looks like a win for us.
Indeed, killing that last wizard is routine. We pick up the piles of random loot, including the +1 chain mail, and head back down. Despite our lack of a license, we won't have any more trouble casting spells in Athkatla. We have the "too much trouble, leave alone" designation instead.
224 fire kills. Very little fire this time, and for that reason I'm including a quote that isn't about fire.
"Thar be no compromise! Thar be no parley an' thar be no reasonable discussions! Yer a frickin' vampire, Malack! Yer a danger ta everyone livin' on this continent! An' e'en if'n I ignor'd tha, ye still cannae be 'llowed ta seize this place!"
- Durkon, The Order of the Stick
And a fire quote too.
"To the righteous we bring hope. To the tainted we bring fire."
— Castellan Garran Crowe of the Grey Knights, Warhammer 40000
Over the last few updates, I've been running through Jaheira's romance and quest. A lot of this involves just waiting for talks to trigger, letting those 72 minutes of real time between each of them go by while I do things outside the game. This time around, we'll finish that.
But first, a diversion into a character quest. I recruit Jan for a little thievery - using his pickpocket skills to sell and steal back some wands. I'm limiting myself to one shoplift per item, so I can't gain infinite gold by looting fences repeatedly.
But of course, it's been a while since I last dealt with him, and that means his quest triggers. Solving this takes us to several places, including the sewers under the slums. And while I'm here, I take on the myconids.
Oops. Two party members confused. We got unlucky there. Still, Anomen has some dispels memorized. I end up needing to use two because of all the running around, and Nalia takes a friendly fire hit.
One hit, though? No big deal. We have a ring of regeneration, and Nalia recovers by the time the quest turns to combat again. There are two githyanki in the Five Flagons, and I decide to have some fun with priestly magic:
Unfortunately, I only get one of those storms off. Cernd's attempt is disrupted by a melee attack, as he was standing in the door trying to cast and blocking Isra's movement. Still, Anomen's storm claims a victim.
Wait, what about the experience? As it turns out, that has to wait for the Maze effect to end. As long as Anomen is unavailable, his kill experience is on hold.
We complete the quest, and do our business with the merchants. A few Jaheira talks later, we head over to that abandoned building on the Bridge.
He hides, but I have True Seeing active. We kill him, releasing the spirits. That triggers a restoration effect that fatigues the party, so we head over to the docks to forge the improved mace of disruption.
The party may be rested, but we're coming up on a point in Jaheira's romance at which she'll need to rest outside. As such, we head over to the nearest outdoor area - the keep. This brings a waylay:
And we've run out of the good ones. It's just goblins now. One wand fireball, and they're dead.
Then, at the keep, a spawn point that didn't trigger the first time around finally activates:
A bunch of trolls. The initial pair of fireballs takes out three ice trolls and one regular troll. The follow-up flame strikes finish the two remaining trolls.
Then the final ice troll falls to Isra's flaming sword. Five different party members each got at least one fire kill in that encounter, with only Jaheira left out.
Dermin's second visit follows, and then we rest.
Yoink. It took a few tries to get in the pickpocket attempts before he could escape, but Nalia picked up a +2 ring and a +2 cloak for the party.
Of course, that also means we're headed back to Athkatla to tell Jaheira we'd rather be with her. Some mercenaries try to get in our way.
That fireball is really just our way of saying hello. Almost all of the actual fight is physical damage.
Upstairs, Jaheira rejoins. And that brings us back down, to a fresh group of mercenaries.
This group is slightly more dangerous, with their spellcasting support. We send some fireballs their way, while we fight the warriors in melee. The mage puts up a Minor Globe, so that's the regular fireballs nullified. Rather than try to break the defense, I have Aerys use a scorcher on the priest, and then have Isra use her necklace when the mage starts casting ...
Not fast enough. The mage gets off a Chaos. Also, that blast took out the priest.
Still, we're lucky with the saves this time. Only Nalia is confused, and we continue the fight without any real disruption. The mage doesn't take long to hunt down after the warriors fall.
All right, back out to the keep. And because that particular route has an extremely high encounter chance, more goblins.
One fireball, six kills.
Once there, we wait. Some real time and a couple of rests later, Dermin returns.
This time, it's a fight. We mostly focus on Dermin at first, but the priests get some flame strikes too. Also, Aerys casts a Chaos.
Another round of fire pays off, but at the same time ...
Oops. A failed save against a Chromatic Orb, and Jaheira is down. It took some bad luck, but she's really very vulnerable to effects with spell saves before she gets the Harper Pin. With her current equipment and levels, she has a spell save of 9 - 10% chance to fail against a Chromatic Orb.
Dermin is next to fall, as both sides of the conflict scatter.
Then Lennah, as we fight the mage Jeremon and run from the hasted dwarf Thenry.
I try for a resurrection ... oh, Anomen got silenced. Here, borrow the Amulet of Power.
Finally, we burn through Jeremon's combat defenses.
That just leaves one.
He deals more damage than the rest of the group put together, even including the instant kill. I really should have hit him with a Slow or a Remove Magic.
Incidentally, Jeremon is worth no XP. Looking him up, it appears to be a case of two fields getting transposed; he is listed as having 3000 XP and being worth none, rather than the other way around. Another level 12 mage in Jaheira's quest has the same pattern.
After some more waiting, the final step comes. Nalia drinks a pair of potions, and Terminsel returns.
It's much easier to loot him with the increased movement speed. For some reason, the 100K quest XP here goes to Aerys instead of Jaheira. That's enough for level 16, an important milestone. Aerys only gets one new spell, but that spell is Incendiary Cloud. Coupled with his fire resistance reaching 100%, this greatly increases his firepower.
And now that Aerys has his new level, it's time for a new major quest. Specifically, Aerys needs a stronghold.
We start by traveling to the Umar Hills, and check in on the cave there:
Naturally, they run off deeper into the cave, past the gibberling. Idiots. Sir Anomen zaps the gibberling with his wand, so that we don't have to get close to the filthy thing.
Then we head up to Valygar and recruit him. Anomen heads back to Athkatla on his own, so we can pick him back up once Valygar has opened the door. The ranger gets some irrelevant levels and normal ammunition; as he won't enter in combat at all, I see no reason to detail anything.
Once the door to the sphere is open, Anomen reclaims his place. There's no going back until we're done.
The very first fight is a Clay Golem.
We take it down, but only at the cost of Isra being cursed. Her curse is immediately removed, but that's the only instance of the spell we had memorized. And we'll face a lot more of those golems before we're done in here.
The other side has a mephit - easily dealt with - and then we activate the sphere. Now there's really no way out until we're done.
Passing through the formerly locked door brings us to the knights, and then to the serious fights. Aerys projects an image for this, and the sahuagin get his very first incendiary cloud.
The other side of the room gets his second cloud.
Before long, the room is clear. Cernd gets two kills, while Aerys gets the rest. And while Cernd takes plenty of damage, his regeneration lets him recover quickly.
That same image follows up with the pack of halfling warriors at the other door.
That shot was a three-fireball sequencer from the image.
That just leaves single spells for the second group:
After that fireball, the party joins in, and all of this group die to our attacks.
The next encounter has a group of named halflings with considerable spellcasting power, and for them I want a fresh image. So then, we whack the current image, bring Aerys up to the party, and make a new one.
And this time, I'm casting from out of sight. Mogadish and a warrior are first to fall, before the image can even finish casting its second cloud. Kayardi, Togan, and an Invisible Stalker follow.
That just leaves Entu and the last warrior - they fall on the next round. The image moves forward a bit, provoking a skeleton warrior summon to wake up and walk into the cloud. It dies too.
The cleric Mogadish at 14K XP is a new top kill for Aerys - not that it'll show up that way, since it was his clone that did the deed.
Once the clouds clear, the party moves forward. This clone gets one last shot in:
That's a triple fireball, wiping out most of the spiders and ettercaps in that room. It also has the advantage of getting there before the party is in melee to receive collateral damage.
Now, we examine the loot from the halfling group. There's one special item here, the gauntlets of ogre strength. Those go to Isra.
Continuing to the north, it's time for a new image. And with more halfling spellcasters, we're casting from out of range again.
Some of the melee forces escape the clouds to die in melee. The spellcasters both burn.
Anomen reaches cleric level 18 with this fight. Lots of new spell slots, although he still only has two at level 7.
Before I take on the fire elementals in this room, I open the way to the golem pack beyond. They are a serious threat.
Between Slow, Haste, and cursed hits, we take a lot of pain. We don't have a problem hurting the clay golems, but we can't stop them from hurting us back.
By the end, it's a hasted Juggernaut golem trying to chase down a cursed Isra. Still, we get through it all with no deaths, and regeneration still works even on cursed party members.
But at 1 HP per round for one party member, that's going to take a long time to recover from.
Indeed, for the fire elementals, I have the highly vulnerable Anomen wait in another room.
Indeed, Isra takes a hit that would have killed Anomen from the last elemental. Fortunately, she has the regeneration ring and has recovered enough HP to survive that.
I take this opportunity to update my kill tracking - and leave the game running while I do it. By the time I'm done, Anomen is in the green and Isra is in the yellow, although the mages' Stoneskins cast before the pre-sphere rest expire.
All right now. Wake up the golem, and head out with it to take out the beholder.
We hung back long enough for it to fixate on the golem, then charged in to get credit for the kill. It's pretty safe that way.
The lower levels of the sphere await - but this update has already gone on long enough. Come back Monday for the conclusion of this adventure.
267 total fire kills. With the power of Project Image and Incendiary Cloud, we can take on entire high-level encounters with our fire.
"I WANT FIRE ON THAT LOCATION!"
— Commander, Mud And Blood
We have cleared the first floor. Lavok comes next. And against him, I just stay out of sight.
Five rounds later, it's over. Then Cernd steps forward to trigger the dialogue, and we move on.
Actually, with that skeleton warrior's death ... there's a subtle bug here. SCS precasts long-duration summons using an ApplySpell() effect, which appears to use a caster level of 1. So, instead of a level 9 skeleton warrior with 80 HP and 90% MR, Lavok gets a level 3 skeleton warrior with 20 HP and 25% MR. As such, it dies immediately in that cloud.
There are a couple of small rooms beyond, for which we can't bring along the image that dealt with Lavok. We use some fire anyway.
Aim is a concern, of course. Nalia could only aim for two of those lizardfolk.
The spore colonies in the other room go down without summoning any myconids, and the loot is ours.
For the rune-locked door, Aerys just plays around with trial and error. He takes two fireballs before finding the correct order, for no damage.
That takes us down to Tolgerias. And since incendiary clouds from out of sight worked so well on Lavok, I go for the same strategy here.
Wait, no. That's a Protection from Fire. The cloud takes down the lesser mage, but Tolgerias is immune. And he's active enough to cast a Chaos that gets Cernd. I need a plan B here ... I could burn down those defenses, but there's another hole I could exploit instead. Tolgerias didn't cast a Protection from Acid.
Let's go with Death Fog instead. Aerys casts two before being shut down with a PW: Blind. Still, that's enough.
We never even saw him. That's a new top kill for Aerys, and the first non-fire kill a clone of him has picked up.
The clone unsummons before we can take on the ice room, and Aerys is out of level 7 slots. All right, time for the real Aerys to step up and use his fire spells.
The snow trolls and winter wolf are tough enough to survive a round of the cloud, but not the party's follow-up attacks.
That earns us a very useful new item - a helm of defense. It will shuffle around between many wearers, but we're very unlikely to ever leave it completely off.
The fire room comes next, and we renew some fire protections.
No fire spells of our own, though. Nearly everything in here is immune. The noble efreet starts throwing around spells like Fire Storm and Flame Strike - useless. Still, we can't just stay in there indefinitely. Anomen retreats as his fire immunity expires, and Jaheira retreats after taking heavy physical damage.
At least we took out the strongest physical threat there.
But then - I make a mistake. I let Jaheira re-enter the fight a little too soon ...
Oops. That Heal is wasted, and we'll need to spend a Resurrection instead.
We finish off the lesser foes, but the efreet goes gaseous:
That is a very annoying ability. We keep on its tail, beating it down again when it returns to its normal form - but not enough. Gaseous again. Then the third round of beatdown, with several party members removed due to lapsed fire protection ...
Finally.
Now, the engine room. We enter through the ice entrance, avoiding the golem spawn points to take out the lone clay golem:
Isra gets hit, but she was already cursed. And now Nalia has the ring of danger sense, so she can deal with any trap. A crucial item for this party.
On the other hand ... I didn't come here to avoid challenges. It's time to activate those golem packs. For the first pack, I have a dirty trick:
Two invisible path-blockers, two castings of Fire Storm. The clay golems have 50% fire resistance, but the stone golems and juggernaut golem are fully vulnerable. And magic resistance doesn't help them at all.
That's just the clay golems left.
The vanilla version of these packs has an Iron Golem instead of a Juggernaut Golem. It's immune to fire, but its larger size means it can hardly maneuver at all in spaces like this, and might well block the other golems on its own.
For the second golem pack, we don't have any more fire storms memorized. Anomen's two level 7 slots went to a Fire Storm and a Shield of the Archons, Cernd had one slot which went to a Fire Storm, and Jaheira doesn't have any level 7 slots yet. Still, we can pick of most of the pack at long range with an invisible blocker.
And then ... I blunder. I tell more party members to join in the bombardment, including Jaheira. Since she's the blocker, that breaks her invisibility and immediately gets her pounded. Drink an invisibility potion - just in time.
Well, at least she's still alive. We take out the stone and juggernaut golems, leaving only the two clay golems.
Then I move to retreat and reposition. We take out one of the golems on the way out, but Nalia is still added to the list of cursed party members.
And immediately after, I realize that I really should have waited out the Slow effects. It's not like they could reapply those anymore.
We do that now, pop back in ...
We appeared already surrounding it. It went for a Haste. It didn't get the chance to attack.
I did have another option I really should have used for the clay golems - ooze form from the Cloak of the Sewers. Isra would have had 2 APR in that form, and the ranged crushing damage would have allowed us to take them down safely.
Most of my recent runs have featured Rasaad; attacking clay golems from stealth with those high-damage fist attacks makes things a lot easier. Without that option, we get cursed a lot.
Now, there's just one more area to handle - a section of the Abyss. And most of our party is under that no-healing curse. Also, everything down here is resistant to fire and many enemies are outright immune. Our own fire won't be of much use.
Before long, we come to the first demon:
It summons fire mephits and imps. They're not much trouble, although Anomen gets paralyzed.
Unfortunately, all that scratch damage adds up, since we basically can't use healing spells. And Isra takes some serious melee hits.
Nobody died, but that's a lot of damage.
Now ... I do have some healing that can work despite the curse. Specifically, potions of regeneration. At 2 HP/round for three turns, that's a lot of healing. Isra and Anomen each drink one, and then I cast Haste to double the regeneration.
That also improves fighting ability, and we charge off to slaughter the various pests. That's Nalia reaching level 16 in that shot, by the way. She can memorize an Incendiary Cloud now.
The second demon comes next, and is much like the first.
With Haste aiding us, it's a much smoother battle.
We turn north with the haste still active, and bring on the final demon.
This one calls for some fire. Unlike the imps and mephits, the maurezhi aren't fully immune to fire. The boss isn't either. So then, Aerys casts his final Incendiary Cloud of the day. Add some fireballs ...
That's one maurezhi down. Cernd is badly hurt, but he's the one tank that can still drink potions for healing. Drink one and stay in there, have Anomen retreat. But then one of the Maurezhi casts a Cloak of Fear ...
There goes Anomen. And with Isra paralyzed, she can't snap him out of it. We really should have buffed with Remove Fear before staring this encounter.
Jaheira brings in a fire elemental, but Lea turns to Isra.
Well, we're not getting that Remove Fear until we can raise her. And then Cernd fails his save against another Cloak of Fear. We really should have buffed properly.
Still, our enemies are being worn down as well. Anomen snaps out of it, the last maurezhi falls, and Lea is on death's door. I go for some spell damage ...
Nope. It's a critical dagger throw that finishes the job.
With the battle over, Anomen raises Isra.
Wait ... even dying doesn't clear that curse? Ouch. Still, there aren't any enemies left in the quest. We can just let her slowly regenerate, and memorize a bunch of Remove CUrse spells for the next day.
Activate the engine, get some XP. Return to Lavok, get more XP. And all the while, we're slowly regenerating.
The quest is over. The sphere belongs to Aerys now. We talk to Valygar, and send him home.
282 total fire kills. We can even kill magic immune golems with fire now.
Sir Bedevere: "And what do you burn apart from witches?"
Villager: "More witches!"
— Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Now that night has fallen, we can take care of another matter in the area. Namely, talking to Travin.
That leads us to Borinall, who holds the Dawn Ring. He won't give it up without a fight.
Just not much of a fight. A fireball sequencer takes Borinall out immediately. He does have some invisible aid, though. And those muggers inflict a bit of damage before going down.
Nalia got into the fire act too, taking out one of the muggers with a wand fireball.
With the ring retrieved, we memorize several instances of Remove Curse and rest. Upon waking, the party is restored and can heal properly.
Then it's time to visit the sphere and start the stronghold quest. First order of business: send the knights home. Ribald knows a guy ...
And now, a quest we've been ignoring since chapter 1: the circus tent.
We free Aerie, but don't invite her into the party - she can wait until we've cleared the area.
The fights in here are a mix of real shadows and illusionary werewolves. Lacking Detect Illusion, we just kill them all.
It's not like they're a threat, after all.
That brings us to Kalah. He opens with a double-Horror minor sequencer.
We have a Cavalier, so that's not a threat. Aerys briefly panics before our Remove Fear restores him. Anomen turns the shadows, leaving only Kalah himself. Since we haven't used any fire on this mini-quest, a few flame strikes:
Not quite enough for the kill. He saved all three times, so we have to settle for overwhelming his Stoneskin and taking him down with physical damage.
With that, the quest is over. The ring of human influence is ours, not that we have any real use for it. The quest also brings two oddities.
First, SCS turned Kalah into a necromancer - kind of the opposite of the illusionist he's supposed to be. But since the mod doesn't support mage scripts for illusionists, that's just something we have to live with.
Second, we got kill credit for some but not all of the illusionary werewolves. Their death script was only partially effective at blocking credit.
While I'm in the area, I head over to the Seven Vales, and the party upstairs.
The mage Amon is first to fall to our incendiary cloud. And - oops. Anomen wasn't quite fire immune. I switch helmets to correct that.
The second cloud brings another kill:
With Pooky down, spells are no longer a concern. Smaeluv gets a whack in on the Aerys image, so Isra falls back to stop him from causing more damage.
The clouds get to Mencar next, leading to an unexpected event:
Brennan leaves. We try to chase him down, but it's not enough. That Sandthief's ring will not be ours.
Finally, Smaeluv walks back into the fire, and it's over.
Looting the chests ... one is beyond us. 95 difficulty is too much for Nalia, even with the ring of lockpicks. We might come back later for it, once we have better tools.
And now, over to the Bridge District. We claim the horn with our improved trapfinding skills, and then take on the hostile party:
Sunfire contingencies activate, as the image casts an incendiary cloud.
And then, the cloud doesn't happen. Nalia's Sunfire deals zero damage to Aerys, disrupting his image. Oops.
Still, the foes in front of us don't last.
That's the melee fighter Falahar out. The priest Pitre only lasts moments longer. Add another Sunfire ...
Invisibility is no protection. And our party has already started to reach the dart thrower Valeria. She doesn't last in melee.
While we're in the area, we clear another trap from Neb's former hideout. The bridge district is thoroughly pacified now.
Now, back to the Copper Coronet. Anomen takes a break, and it's Korgan's turn. Let's go find a book.
On the way down to the tomb, some spiders respawn:
But that's it. We've already cleared everything else, except for the final room.
It's just a mummy and two skeleton warriors here. No problem.
But ... the book is gone. After a bit of a runaround, we find Korgan's old crew on the Copper Coronet roof.
We open with a couple of fireballs, because that's always a good way to start.
And that's two dead goons. The remaining foes are no trouble at all. Korgan is happy, and we part ways.
The sun is still up, but it won't be for long. It's time for something more involved, with Hexxat. Two of our party members conflict with her, but one of those conflicts is easier to resolve than the other. Isra takes a break, and Hexxat joins.
Anomen objects immediately.
All right. Goodbye, Hexxat.
Seconds later ...
Hello, Hexxat. There will be no further issues.
Since we have some time, we head out to loot some merchants with her. Arledrian, Roger the Fence, the Bridge District cutpurse. Night falls as we're leaving the Bridge District, and Cabrina shows up. To the tombs of Shou Lung, then.
For our first challenge, a friendly ghost monk warns of brain-eaters. All right, then, time for some Chaotic Commands. We only have enough spells to protect half the party; Nalia will have to make do with a spell save of 2, Jaheira with a potion of invulnerability, and Hexxat with her immunity to death from brain-sucking. Also, we use some stolen potions. Anomen and Jaheira each get 22 strength.
The mind flayers are nice enough to make themselves vulnerable by teleporting over to the party:
Meanwhile, the monks do a very good job of beating up the umber hulks. We get one, but they take out the other three.
Now, on to Goxxa, the alhoon leader of this bunch.
He's not great at defending himself, so we get down to attacking. Well, mostly. Hexxat takes a hit from the confused Keno and has to retreat.
During the fight, Cernd gets brain-sucked twice and has to retreat. Then Jaheira takes a hit and falls back as well. But we've done enough:
All right. Now we just have to wait for the monks' confusion to clear so Keno will hand over the key ...
Nope. Before that can happen, one of the other monks speaks up. And he's not inclined to honor Keno's deal.
So be it. We're fighting, then. First some ghostly monks, then a ghostly priest that joins in ...
... but Anomen switches to turning automatically, and blasts it. Looking things up, the ghostly priests are undead and only level 11. The ghostly monks aren't undead, but they have a standard undead immunity item.
Keno snaps out of his confusion, and joins the fight on our side. Before long, the rebellious monks are dead, and Keno hands over the key.
The way forward leads to a chamber full of caskets. We search them for treasure, unleashing a pack of mummies. I go for a pair of wand fireballs...
Not a very smart move. Anomen blasted most of them with Turn Undead, and the fire did more damage to us than to our enemies. But hey, at least Hexxat gets a new dagger out of this.
The next big fight is avoidable, but when have we ever avoided fights?
Well, OK, that's not our full preparation. By the time we're done, the whole party is immune to fire, Aerys' image has a sequencer and a spell trigger loaded with fire, and fire elemental summons are in place. Let's do this.
Our party gangs up on those first two enemies, while the image of Aerys unleashes its long-range fire spells. We take the first two foes down, but Anomen gets a Creeping Doom aimed at him - retreat, so that doesn't affect the whole party.
Next, unleash the fireballs.
That's the priest down. Now, we fall back and let the enemies follow us into the burning clouds. The mage didn't put up fire protection - he's next to fall. The last two come:
All right, one of them died to physical damage. That's all six of this bunch dead, and Nan Kung Chi awaits.
The mummy himself ...
Alone, he's nothing. He tried to cast a spell, and never finished.
Now, before we leave, let's clear out the ghost infestation. The first ghostly priest tries to follow us ... Turn Undead. Actually, that takes out all of the priests without bothering the monks. And while Hexxat is sometimes affected, I regain control of her immediately.
The ghostly monks have to be force-attacked, though.
One or two at a time, they're no trouble. Keno tries to fight back without even going hostile ...
... but not well enough. The Claw of the Black Leopard is ours, along with nearly 300K kill experience. Those ghosts are really worth a lot, considering their low difficulty.
Back in town, I loot a few more merchants, and pick up some arrows of dispelling. Buy one stack, sell it back to increase the fletcher's stock, steal more. Then sell some of those arrows to a fence to recoup our investment. Also, upgrade that horn to its final form.
In a strange glitch, Hexxat says "I hope you won't let it stop you. It certainly won't stay my hand" on every area transition during this segment. I have no idea what was up with that.
But soon enough, it's over. We have no further need for Hexxat until her next quest, and we let her go.
297 total fire kills. There weren't that many good opportunities for fire this time, but we made use of what we got.
"A nice explosion now and then keeps the mind sharp."
— Urdnot Wrex, Mass Effect
It's a week until Hexxat's next adventure. What now? Well, there's another evil companion to work with: Dorn. Anomen has ... issues ... with him, so I let the cleric have some time off. And Isra's a paladin, so she stays away too. With those two out, we invite Dorn in for a party of five, and crash a wedding.
Ah, a bit of violence. With that welcome, this should be an entertaining wedding.
The guards fall easily enough, and it's merely a preview of the trouble to come. We interrupt this wedding with some inspired nonsense:
No, this isn't that sort of fanfic. Still, the line does its job. Colin is out of the way, leaving only Dorn's grudge match with the priest.
An easy victory. For no experience, since it was a cutscene. The guests disperse, and we head out as well.
Dorn's quest also takes a week to trigger at this point. He'll stay in the party for that, and we'll spend the time with pointless travel.
Two days later, I check in at the planar sphere. Aerys has apprentices now:
He'd rather have a wand of nothing but fire, but that random blasting wand still sounds neat. And properly unique.
Also, Ribald's friend has come through:
For our expenditure, we get 45K XP and a nice girdle. Since this party doesn't need many strength belts, that girdle will be useful for a long time.
Four more days, and the apprentices are done with their first project. Aerys has a new wand. On to the second project:
Mislead is fairly easy to come by, but Horrid Wilting isn't available until chapter 5. And Meteor Swarm is a terrible spell. The middle ground is definitely the way to go here.
One more travel cycle, and the timer is done. Dorn has a new mission.
This calls for a diplomatic approach. Dorn, stand back.
Dorn objects, but backs down rather than press the issue.
Now we can head over to the camp. And Anomen joins for this, because he has no problem fighting followers of Helm.
I make one preliminary move before joining battle:
There's one innocent around. I don't want that cook to burn.
Then Nalia heads back to the party. Apply potion buffs and fire resistance, start the fight. Note that Nalia isn't quite immune here, so she'll have to stay back and avoid any incendiary clouds.
Nalia casts her cloud, and Aerys adds one ...
... but I realize that I made a mistake. That initial Insect Plague caught the cook, who is taking damage now. That certainly wasn't intended. Reload.
For take two, I leave out the Insect Plague and just stick with the fire. The cook still gets fire protection, of course.
Incendiary clouds take down this bunch easily; the named foes all burn. The Shield Knights are resistant to fire, so they're merely injured, and the final blows on them come in melee.
We take very little damage in the whole thing, and lose one point of reputation. The cook lives.
Leaving the area brings another fight immediately - and our potion buffs are still active.
Those are fireball sequencers I'm launching, of course. They're aimed at the southern group.
And that's one enemy down. Six fireballs did the trick. Garfunkle was in range, but blocked it all with magic resistance - he just naturally has drow-grade MR for some reason.
Insect Plague comes next, targeting a well-placed party member.
That's all of the remaining enemies plagued, and another one down. Simon and Traggor follow soon after:
Garfunkle has Sanctuary, a min-HP item, and lots of MR. There really isn't any point in trying to hit him with area attacks. But then, he breaks Sanctuary with an attack, and we can beat him down.
With the battle over, Azothet shows up - a rival of Dorn's patron. Hmm...
We get a victory reward of 24K XP - twice, for some reason - then pick up the loot and continue to Athkatla. Anomen reaches level 19, for substantially improved THAC0 and saves.
After a rest in the city, we head back out to Resurrection Gorge. On the way over to the action, we pass by a bunch of animals doing nothing ...
Burn them! And since they're still not hostile, do it again.
No killing the nymph, though. She's immune to fire.
We beat up Treadsoft, and Yarrow sends us down. I wanted to kill her, but must not have picked the right dialogue options for that to come up.
Down below, we pass right by Winterbrook under the waterfall without talking to her.
Just some myconids to beat up for the goods. Anomen gets confused, but doesn't attack us.
After leaving, we talk to Winterbrook. That starts a fight, and she goes down for another potion of clairvoyance.
The annoying Fil comes next. Talk to him, kill some ankhegs:
Sending us into an ankheg ambush? We have a bone to pick with Fil. Make the trade ...
... then whack him.
Now, for Xachrimos.
Ah, a well-timed boast. Our attacks quickly bring the demon to its knees ... and somehow, Dorn seizes control of the conversation and grants the requested mercy.
Dorn! Haven't we told you that making deals with demons is a bad idea?
In the tree, the Berserk Warrior is our sacrifice.
It's even nice enough to drop an oil of speed for us.
But ... glitch. The ritual is stuck.
After a bit of waiting, I fix things with a SetGlobal command; the variable controlling the ritual's progress belongs to the area, and that's easiest to manipulate with the in-game console commands.
With this correction, Azothet arrives.
She has a lot of disabling power - Aerys and Dorn get paralyzed, Nalia gets stunned - but the other half of our party has Chaotic Commands protection.
Dorn gets the final blow ... wait, what?
Isn't he paralyzed? Looking up the ability in question, it seems to do paralysis but not have an explicit portrait icon, which is the opposite of what I just observed ...
... Uh, anyway. Ur-Gothoz hands over the Visage, and Dorn's quest is complete. That Azothet death is by script, so no XP or kill credit - that's not a fire kill.
We raise Vernus just for the heck of it, but he stands there with no interaction possible. You can't even tell Summerheigh about him.
We return to the "entrance" of the area to be transported back up ...
... and Xachrimos kills Yarrow. Huh. Saves us the trouble.
Since our bloodthirst was thwarted down in the gorge, we go around killing critters:
Those small spiders are actually pretty tough.
And that's it for Dorn. Next time, we'll get back to Hexxat's quest.
307 total fire kills. Dorn's quest is surprisingly full of ways to avoid combat.
"Some men just want to watch the world burn."
- Alfred, The Dark Knight
With Hexxat's return, we start with a bit of shopping. Unfortunately, Mrs. Cragmoon is on her lunch break, so we can't loot her potion supply. We do buy something else in the area, though ...
Rest to advance time. Cabrina meets us, and we're off to Al-Qadim.
In the tomb, the first thing we do is pick a fight. Come on, those ghosts are right there...
One Sunfire, as they try to cast True Sight. And only one of the mages gets disrupted. We follow up with attacks for the archers and a dispel for the mages:
But ... we haven't done anything to stop them from casting spells. Time Stop for one, Time Stop for the other ...
And that's us thoroughly wrecked. Reload.
The second time around, I avoid that fight. At least, at first. I'll come back to the ghosts later. But first ... even wandering close to them causes them to cast True Sight. Apparently, they have a problem with the purely cosmetic blur effect on Cernd.
First, clear some space to the south.
Hmm, lots of little spiders - that's fireball material.
We take considerable collateral damage. It's worth it.
The corridor has two more of those bloated spiders. They get a Cloudkill from out of sight:
That instant death has a side effect; they don't spawn the small spiders.
Disarm some traps, and reach the trapped corridor. Statues awaken, and I blast some with a wand fireball:
The statues have one hit point each, so they die instantly ... but as it turns out, that fireball was a mistake. We'll come back to why soon enough.
Next, I use that item I bought. One scroll of Stone to Flesh.
Reverse the petrification on one of the wizard statues. That wakes up the others as well, which we kill.
Now, protect the party from fire and cross the spike field.
One fireball, five statues down. Only the mage that got protections up survives.
But ... Hexxat is taking way too much damage from the spikes. The djinn adds more, and she goes down.
We finish this battle ... and realize the earlier mistake. That fireball we used on the first statue group killed one of the petrified mages, and that locks us out of what I was trying for.
Well, that's more than one reason to reload. Back to the beginning, then.
This time around, I go for the ghosts right away again. With considerably more fire than my first try.
That's two incendiary clouds and two fire storms. The mage Sukayna goes down first:
All right, that's a good start. The other mage puts up fire protection.
Hmm... no spell deflection/turning effect. Breach that. Meanwhile, Nalia's arrows take down a second foe:
And now, the priests have enough fire protection to enter into melee. Not that it matters, because the fire is enough.
I was reluctant to do this the first time because it represents so much of my daily resources, and I can't have Aerys make an image to cheat his part. But in the end, it was the way to go.
With our fire protections still up, killing the spiders is considerably less painful than the first time around.
That's four kills with one wand fireball. Then the next spider gets a scorcher instead:
The little spiders charge forward into the fire. Dead.
Well, then. How about more scorchers?
The target that time fled off screen. I've got more scorchers where that came from ...
And ... actually, it seems to be consistent. If you kill those bloated spiders with spell damage, the small spiders don't spawn. All right, Cernd, you can enter melee.
Nalia gets two of the little ones, and Cernd gets three. More fire kills than if I had let Nalia kill the big spider with fire.
And now, back to the statues. This time, we don't use a fireball on the first group.
Melee attacks suffice, especially as we only have to hit our targets once each. And then, it's time to release the mages.
Now we can use a fireball.
On to the second group, and Cernd traveling ahead means that the mages have time to put up some defenses.
Well, I know how to beat a Minor Globe. The necklace of missiles hits as level 9.
Then the Furious Djinni shows up, introducing itself with a fireball. We get three kills, while the djinn gets the other three.
Cernd doesn't make much progress fighting the djinn in melee, so he draws it back to the party. That works better.
And now, we claim our reward. By letting all the statues transform and killing them while awake, we activate the secret chest.
It contains boots of elvenkind and some random treasure. Not actually all that useful; we already have a set of boots of stealth, which are better.
Crossing the spikefield ... I just haste up the party. Getting it over with quickly is really the best I can do.
The next room brings a trio of mages. We could talk them into fighting each other ... but it's more fun to just fight all of them.
Make an image, cast some incendiary clouds.
But ... there's a catch. They have a protection active that no other mages in the entire game use. Spell Immunity: Evocation. The clouds do nothing unless I break that defense - individually.
They start casting something - necklace fireball.
Again, it proves its worth against spell defenses. That fireball isn't evocation, so it deals damage.
At the same time, Aerys goes for some Spell Thrust action. That lands just as the nearest enemy falls in melee:
Another Spell Thrust, and both remaining foes are vulnerable to the cloud.
They still have Spell Turning up for protection against targeted spells, but that isn't going to stop us. Very soon ...
And then one simple fireball.
Now, we just have to stop the confused Anomen from killing the equally confused Hexxat. Extra weight? No, he's got strength 24 from DUHM up. Dispelling arrows? Nalia is stunned, so I don't have anyone that can fire them. About all I can do is put Cernd in the way and hope he draws Anomen's attention.
I also hand Anomen a bunch of full plates. The DUHM expires ...
And now we can just wait it out. No serious harm done.
The next section brings a bloated spider and a web trap - we end up blundering into the trap after killing the spider. No harm done, though. It's just a delay when no enemies are present.
Finally, past some riddles that rely on reading the quest's flavor text, we find Raffiyah.
We do it like most of our major battles. Load up on fire protection, then cast an incendiary cloud.
It's immediately effective. Spiders tend to have low HP. We clear out the remaining spiders, then the cloud ticks again:
Nalia added a fireball in there too, although she didn't get any kills for it.
Claiming the shroud brings a substantial chunk of XP, and levels for multiple characters.
That's fighter level 13 for Jaheira (more APR, better saves), thief 15 for Hexxat, and sorcerer 17 for Aerys. He takes Delayed Blast Fireball and Pierce Shield as his new spells.
Hand over the goods to Cabrina, and Hexxat's business is concluded.
Well, except for looting Mrs. Cragmoon. We do that now, like we planned earlier. And then we say goodbye to Hexxat until ToB.
331 total fire kills. Not including the false starts at the beginning of this update. We're back in the groove of burning everything in our path.
Today's late post brought to you by a complete internet outage at my building. I had to walk a few blocks over to the library to put this up.
Part 37: Into Windspear
Before we let Isra back into the party, a brief diversion. I'd like to handle all the evil characters' quests before Spellhold, and that means it's time for Edwin. He joins, and we're off to the lower tombs again.
Most of the way is clear, but some mummies and ghasts have respawned.
Scorchers clear that up nicely. Mummies have negative fire resistance, after all.
That clears the way to Neveziah. Unlike most liches, he's not an epic mage. Instead, he's only level 14.
We hit him with one Remove Magic, and just beat him down. Fire would have worked - he starts with negative resistance, and didn't cast Protection from Fire - but only if I used the high-level spells. He does still have the standard lich immunity to low-level spells.
Oh, right, Turn Undead works too. And at level 19, Anomen could have wiped him out with a lucky roll.
Edwin now has the Nether Scroll. It'll take a few days for him to interpret that, so we pick up Isra and get on with other things. First up, our adventures with Dorn cost us two points of reputation. 2500 gold undoes that, bringing us back up to 15.
Oh. There's Habib again. He throws some gold on the ground, and the priest doesn't have any problem with us picking it up.
Next, Aerys checks in on his apprentices. Sadly, they have failed in their latest project, and not produced a scroll of Horrid Wilting.
Now they want to try something even riskier? Hold on.
Back off. We don't need an AC 3 robe; the robe of Vecna and archmage robes are better anyway. We don't need another ring of wizardry, since our mages' ring slots are pretty much all spoken for. And the staff of power has its uses, but it'll kill all of them. No. Just stay alive.
Before I head out on the next major quest, I do a bit of aimless travel to pass time. We get waylaid by goblins:
And then meet a pack of trolls:
That calls for a fireball sequencer.
All but one troll went down to the sequencer. That last one reached the party, only to fall to Isra's flaming sword.
Back in Athkatla, Nalia prepares two instances of Limited Wish. After a rest and a potion of insight, she wishes for adventure and riches.
The apprentices graduate, and then we go to the bridge district to start our new quest.
We stole the item reward long ago, but the experience is still good.
Down in the sewers, we run into some respawned kobolds:
Ah, fireballing a pack of kobolds. It brings back memories ...
Roger is, of course, cooperative. We already solved his troll problem, so he just points us to the Druid Grove.
Before leaving Athkatla, I grab some low-hanging reputation points. There are a couple of quests that I didn't grab the reputation reward for before, and do now - up to 17. Then we hit the city gates. A thief is extorting a merchant ... scare him off, then plunder the merchant's wares ourselves.
And we didn't spend a single gold piece on that.
Incidentally, the thief Hanz in this scene is one of the thieves you direct if you take over Mae'var's former guildhall for the Shadow Thieves.
Our real goal is inside the Crooked Crane, though. We brought a lamp (part of a UB quest regarding Kalah), and that gets the mysterious Jafir to take an interest.
He's actually a rakshasa. We pick a fight, and unleash the fire.
Nalia's spell fails when he casts a Cloudkill. Aerys, on the other hand is faster. We force Jafir into retreat easily.
All right, now we can call up the genie that empowered Kalah.
Obviously, disrupting this rakshasa's plan is the way to go. We wish for the genie's freedom, gaining 5000 XP and a point of reputation. We're up to 18.
We could go farther - but Edwin's quest still has a few steps left. Those last two points of reputation will wait.
Instead, we head out to the Windspear Hills. Trouble greets us immediately.
After a round, Nalia unleashes her newly created Spell Trigger:
Not terribly effective, really. I think they all saved against the Chaos. Aerys adds a Glitterdust, which does better by blinding some of them.
Not long after ...
The enemies are defeated, and we took minimal damage. But ... the corpses look human. Something isn't right here.
Garren Windspear arrives, and reveals the truth. These were warriors of the Radiant Heart, and they were deceived just as much as us. He escorts us to his home, and promises to work on clearing our name.
While we wait there, bandits arrive.
Melee attacks suffice for the orcs. Plath Rededge gets the fire.
And then ... after the battle ends, during the cutscene, Jaheira walks over to where Plath was and takes scorcher damage herself. Oops.
With that over, we son head out. Clearly, this "Lord Firkraag" and his malicious plots must be stopped.
The hills are full of encounters, most easy. Like this band of orcs.
A wand fireball ... not really enough against orcs. While Aerys gets one kill, most of them require melee attacks.
Soon after that little fight, I get out my stash of stolen potions. Anomen drinks a potion for 19 strength, and will renew that as many times as necessary. That puts all of our front line up to 18/00 or better.
Out here, we finally finish a quest from chapter 1:
The acorns have been delivered.
The next little encounter is a pack of gibberlings.
Insignificant, except for that remarkably lucky drop. A magic item from random treasure.
We then turn west, for something less random. A bunch of fighters going up against gnolls ... burn them all.
Of course, those fighters are actually werewolves. After the gnolls are all dead, they transform and attack us. Ineffectively.
The loot's pretty good too - those gnolls drop a bunch of level 6 scrolls.
And then, one last pack of foes.
Just some goblins, which get a wand fireball. While spell slots are renewable, I'm not planning on resting in the dungeon - so I'd like to save those for later. And wand charges are cheap.
We head back to the cabin to stash the junk we've picked up, before taking the ominous entrance. With all the humanoids, this area throws a whole lot of weapons and basic armor at you. We'll fill up that bag of holding quickly, and regular trips back to a stash spot are the best option unless we want to let that stuff rot.
And now, we go in. The entrance brings an immediate fight with a bunch of hobgoblins.
Also, DigDag - but he runs off. It's possible to kill him here and not fight him later, but I didn't pull that off this time. Instead, I just launched fireballs from a wand and the necklace, instantly killing all of the hobgoblins.
With that encounter dealt with, Aerys makes an image to burn the rest of the area. Cernd scouts, image casts spells.
An incendiary cloud for a bunch of hobgoblins? All but one die instantly. There is no "overkill".
The Rukh Transmuter comes next. As a rakshasa, he's immune to spells of level 7 and below.
Incendiary Cloud is a level 8 spell. The first burst of fire deals with the kamikazes. Well, three of them - the fourth has to be burned closer in (see behind the combat log).
That just leaves the rukh. He's resistant to fire with his ring, and smart enough to try to get out of the fire. Well, then, we can just add another. And draw him out with Cernd.
A few rounds later, the inevitable end comes.
The ring of fire resistance is ours. Combined with the resistance items we already have, Isra will now be immune to fire without needing any spells.
This image is out of incendiary clouds, so it settles for a normal fireball against the nearby orcs.
That's still plenty. On the other hand, vampiric mists soon emerge - and those are immune to fire.
They're not immune to Turn Undead, though. At level 5 to Anomen's 19, I don't even need a lucky roll to blast them to bits.
With that, the image expires. We're ready to enter the dungeon proper, and acquire even more fire resistance gear.
385 total fire kills. This section had lots of fodder to burn.
Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness.
— Men at Arms
The first challenge inside the dungeon is a locked room with orc archers shooting at us. The doors to get at them are even hidden. Time to launch some fireball sequencers.
... Wait, what? You don't have a fireball sequencer memorized, Nalia? OK, sorry about that. Let's just step back out and do this when we're actually ready.
Aerys gets three out of four with his sequencer. Nalia fails to find a spot she can launch hers from.
I scramble to re-target that sequencer:
Fortunately, we buffed with fire protection. No damage taken, and we recover 77 out of 80 fire arrows from the enemies. With the enemies down, it's simply a matter of waiting for Nalia to spot the doors and unlocking them.
After an empty room, we reach a corridor with a pack of golems. Time to repeat a tactic that served us well back in the Planar Sphere.
Namely, an invisible character to block their path and a pair of fire storms to kill them. It works just as well here as it did there.
Actually, better in a way.
Some orcs decide to intervene - and walk right into the still active fire storms. Two encounters burned for the price of one.
After stashing some junk and renewing some buffs (stoneskins cast before the last rest, Anomen's strength potion), we move on. Two hapless orcs on once side die after revealing what little they know.
The other side brings a troll cook and a bunch of hobgoblins:
That's a wand fireball thinning out the hobgoblins. Weapons suffice for the troll and the two surviving hobgoblins.
The spot those hobgoblins came from leads to an otyugh trapped in a room it can't escape. Scorch it.
Two wand scorchers do the trick, without having to risk melee at all.
Now that we've cleared out a bunch of riffraff, we face a more serious challenge. Vampires. My plan this time is to combine an image of Aerys casting fire spells with Anomen under Sanctuary using Turn Undead.
Uh, oops. I forgot to make Anomen immune to fire there. But that's a spell he can cast without breaking Sanctuary, so he's good.
Also, there are some mummies and ghasts mixed in with the vampires. They're no threat. Aerys puts up a second cloud, but a vampire summons some dire wolves to push him into a corner:
A Sunfire resolves that issue. That frees up the image to cast its third and final cloud, and vampires finally start dying.
The last vampire tries to run away, but we chase it down.
Correction - that was the second to last vampire. The very last one ran the other way. We get over there, and Anomen turns it.
For an overall breakdown ... Anomen blew up four vampires. Aerys burned the other two, the ghasts, and the mummies.
An oddity about these vampires: there are two kinds of "ancient vampire" that spawn in this group. One is worth 14500 XP, the other 10500. With SCS, they have the same HP, physical stats, class, and levels. What's the difference? One of them has a more powerful level drain attack and better saves. The one that's worth less XP.
In vanilla, the one that's worth more XP also has slightly worse stats all around; SCS actually equalized most of it. SCS also makes them a lot tougher, from 96 or 102 HP in vanilla to 156 with the mod. And they're just called "vampires" without the mod.
The image is still active, so I have it throw some fire at the room full of shades. And Anomen casts a second Sanctuary.
These undead aren't nearly as tough as the vampires. Fewer hit points, and more importantly fewer levels.
One shadow burned. Anomen got the rest.
At some point during all this, Samia gets agitated and tries to open a door ... a fake door. She gets a Stinking Cloud for her trouble. By the time our party arrives, that cloud is gone.
With two permanently fire-immune characters, the guardians are a breeze. Aerys and Isra handle it on their own.
The second and third guardians get in melee hits, so Isra gets some healing. After that, no more.
With the mask complete, Nalia puts it on. She doesn't have an ioun stone yet, after all.
Now, there's one corridor we skipped past killing the guardians.
It may look like a beholder, but it doesn't have any of the abilities that make beholders really dangerous. We just attack, and kill it without too much trouble.
Kill the fire elemental ... and crash. It's that hard freeze I keep getting, which I'm pretty sure is related to overheating. Oh well, nothing to do but go back to the most recent save.
That save is at the beginning of the maze. Not too bad. It's mostly the same, though I go for a pair of Flame Strikes on the Director ... MR, MR. 20% each time. Oof.
All right, then, time for the counter-ambush. Before picking up the treasure, I have Aerys summon an image which casts some delayed blast fireballs ...
And only Samia gets hit, because she showed up first. Nowhere near as effective as thief traps, which hit the whole group when they go hostile simultaneously.
All right, then. Start casting incendiary clouds.
Akae falls, and then Samia - but we're taking heavy damage too. Jaheira might have to retreat soon.
Chak and Ferric follow, and then the image finally gets around to casting that second incendiary cloud I told him to earlier. As it does, the mage Kaol burns.
And as soon as that cloud lands, it takes down Legdoril. The relic hunters are dead, leaving us with their mediocre equipment.
But of course, the main reward here was the treasure we found. Jaheira replaces the Shield of Harmony with the Dragon Scale shield, because we always want fire resistance.
Now that this side maze is clear, we move forward to a corridor with some greater wolfweres:
We don't have trouble hitting them, which means the rapid regeneration is the only issue. Against that, our best option is to focus them down one at a time.
Some poorly equipped orogs follow...
... but the trouble is only beginning. A pack of golems come charging, and this time we can't just burn them down from a distance.
So, then, we're risking curses. Cernd tanks in front, while our other warriors switch to blunt weapons to go after the clay golems. The first one goes down without too much trouble, but then the Slow comes down:
In this desperate moment, we turn to oils of speed. But then, Cernd's regeneration fails him.
At least we take out the clay golem - but then we retreat. Fighting that bunch as we are is suicidal. With Cernd down, we can't even come close to tanking a threat like this. And the Slow is a crippling problem.
This retreat offers an opportunity. Jaheira drinks an invisibility potion ...
With the door blocked, we can plink away at the enemies from long range. It's very slow, but they're doomed.
Also, we raise Cernd. And since the only clay golem hit was the final blow, he's not cursed - the curse effect can't stick on a dead target.
The stone golem goes down first. Then some orogs. And finally, the juggernaut golem.
Whew. Also, we did have a Remove Curse or two memorized. Anomen doesn't have to worry about that.
Now that those golems are dealt with, we can get out into the well.
The air elemental is easy enough to deal with, and the Dragon Helm is an excellent prize. Another 25% elemental resistance for us. Jaheira takes that for now, and the entire party has at least 50% fire resistance.
An open cave lies beyond, and an argument.
Let's just kill everybody, shall we?
Beyond them, we run into a few golems. These, we draw back to the well.
After all, the adamantite golem can't fit through a door that narrow.
Isra is immune to the gas clouds, so she and Nalia slowly wear the enemy down. Isra ends up getting the kill with a 3-point crit.
Then the last stone golem comes charging in, and promptly dies against the party's combined might.
Some wolfweres try to trap us. We don't buy it.
The mages may be slowed, but that's no problem for us.
At this point, I go to reconcile XP counts, and come to an issue I can't figure out - Anomen's kill XP seems to have dropped by 11650 from the previous checkpoint, without changing the total kills.
Coming back much later, I think I have it figured out. A Fell Ghast (850 XP) that I thought was uncredited was actually properly credited to him, while an Elder Vampire (12500 XP) that he killed wasn't credited. Vampire credit issues at least make sense, with their death scripts frequently throwing things off.
Moving on, the orogs have already come down after us. That just leaves Tazok, DigDag, and their few minions.
Tazok is tough. And he hits hard. We hit him with a pair of Flame Strikes, but he inflicts a lot of damage on Isra.
And Jaheira. And Cernd. Ouch. All that for only 6000 XP.
Tazok is a level 18 fighter with 20/18/19 physical stats, 136+Con HP, a +2 two-handed sword, and +1 full plate. SCS makes two changes here. First, he becomes a berserker and uses Enrage right away. Second, his specialization in large swords is upgraded to grand mastery in two-handed swords and specialization in two-handed style. Before, 2.5 APR at THAC0 -3 for 1d10+12 damage. After, 3 APR at THAC0 -7 for 1d10+18 damage. None of the individual pieces looks big, but it adds up to more than twice the damage potential against typical front-liners.
DigDag didn't come out with the others. We heal, and then go in after him. After Tazok, he's nothing.
Down we go, into the dragon's den. Isra wants to fight Firkraag - but we came here for a rescue, and that comes first. Back up, then, to face the mage Conster.
He's protected by Improved Mantle and some very persistent illusions. But he's not 9th-level capable, and that means a Remove Magic has a pretty good shot at bringing his defenses down.
Indeed, it does. Moments later, Isra cuts him down.
Garren's daughter is rescued. And for once, she heads for the actual exit instead of the way further down.
Isra: Now can we fight the dragon? Aerys: Yes. We're not leaving while that monster still lives. And just think of what a red dragon's scales can be made into!
437 total fire kills. The total is somewhat inflated by the swarms of rats the vampires sent after us, but that's still a very healthy total for a single floor of a dungeon.
"I don't have to blow up everything I see. I just like to."
— Kell Tainer, Wraith Squadron
Naturally, fighting a dragon requires preparation. Potions of strength for the warriors. Potions of power for the non-warriors. Fire immunity. Haste. Shield and Spell Turning for the mages. Abjuration immunity for Aerys. Protection from Evil. Draw upon Holy Might. And finally, a pair of fire elemental summons.
Firkraag opens with Haste, Spell Deflection, and Improved Invisibility, along with the standard dragon Stoneskin. I counter with True Seeing, and try to hit him with a dispelling arrow. At the same time, Aerys launches his Pierce Magic/Pierce Magic/Breach spell trigger:
Spell protections removed. Resistance lowered. But the Breach ran into the protections, and failed. Lesson learned; Breach travels at exactly the same speed as spell-breaking effects, and won't be effective if it arrives together with them in a spell trigger. Similarly, simultaneous spell-breaking attacks will all run into the same Spell Shield if one is present.
Firkraag is not idle, of course. He casts Lower Fire Resistance and follows with his breath weapon:
Oh, how I wish I could use that spell.
Meanwhile, Nalia has missed all five of her dispelling arrows. The dragon's AC is just too good. I give up on that plan and switch to arrows of piercing for the +4 to hit. I'll just have to live with that haste.
Well, all right, I cast Slow ... no reaction at all. Oops. I should have remembered; dragons are outright immune to that.
The battle drags on, and I try to blind him a couple times - nope.
We keep in it with healing potions. We have plenty - no reason to be stingy.
And ... wow. That is a total badass move.
Firkraag literally killed a fire elemental with fire. There's nothing we can possibly do to top that.
Firkraag has a few dispels, too:
Dispelled, then clawed. She didn't stand a chance.
And then it's Jaheira's turn.
With two of the party down and two others very near death, I abort. It's time to rethink this one.
But not too long. I come right back with only a few changes to my strategy. First, instead of using the spell trigger right away, I have Pierce Magic and Breach from my two mages.
Also, an insect plague.
Once the defense-breakers land - the Breach is successful this time - Firkraag has a contingency Stoneskin. Now I respond with that Spell Trigger.
Nalia misses with a roll of 18? All right, the dispelling arrows definitely aren't worth it.
The Insect Plague arrives, and I cast some debuffs - Greater Malison and Doom. This leads to something wonderful:
Dragons can panic. They're not immune to fear!
But Insect Plague only panics one round at a time. Firkraag manages a Remove Magic, hitting Anomen and Isra's buffs.
We apply new strength potions in response.
We do have a longer-lasting fear effect - Horror, which Nalia has in her minor sequencer. Cast that, and Firkraag is out of it for a full ten rounds. That's more than enough for us.
Jaheira gets the final blow. The red dragon scales are ours. Along with a sword, but who cares about that sort of thing?
Looking back on the fight, the real issue for us was that Firkraag has -12 AC (including Dex bonus). This party is good at a lot of things, but hitting super-low AC isn't one of them. It's particularly a weakness for Cernd - base THAC0 12 from druid level 14, +4 to hit from strength, and I think his other gear only grants +1. He basically can't hit the dragon except on a critical.
So, then, I really needed those debuffs. And between dragon immunities and the suite of spells I had memorized, fear was the best option. It's definitely something to keep in mind for future dragon fights.
We return to Garren Windspear and his gratitude.
The quest reward brings Anomen to level 20. His spells will have their maximum effect, and he picks up the fourth dot in clubs.
We're getting close to Spellhold, and also HLAs. I want Aerys at level 18 before I go, so I start making plans ... he needs about 200K XP, or 1200K combined for the party. I have the equivalent of 585K XP in my scroll cases. Outstanding quests I plan to do before the trip are worth a little more than 200K. Sister Garlena sells enough scrolls to cover the rest, but that would get really expensive ... we'll need a bit more easy XP.
All right, we have a plan. First, I finish up the gong quest with a visit to the druid grove.
Grae attacked us first. She doesn't get to live.
Drush is much nicer, trading the gong for an 8-charge wand of frost without complaint.
And now, back to Athkatla.
Sergeant Natula showed up to deliver a message while we were in the grove, so our first destination is the planar sphere. I buff for fire immunity, then enter:
Yep, trouble. Natula was setting us up. Well, then. Time to bring the fire.
Aerys takes two hits from a wizard slayer - but nor before casting an incendiary cloud. Nalia adds one of her own, and the enemies start going down.
Jaheira gets her target Vilhelm next, and then Nalia gets three more kills:
That just leaves the leader Natula and one other.
Five out of seven kills for Nalia's incendiary cloud. None for Aerys.
With the battle over, Aerys steps out into the other room. Wouldn't want Teos to come back early and get burned.
The clouds dissipate, and Teos delivers the final mission - imprison Ketlaar Argrim, who started this mess. Also, the Cowled Wizards kind of pointed him at Aerys ... but that'snot important! Just deal with this mage-hater, because he's definitely coming after you if you don't!
Ketlaar is at the Crooked Crane. I hand Aerys the rune of imprisonment to use with his improved casting time, while Anomen and Cernd cast fire storms to clear out the minions.
Battle is joined, but Ketlaar is in the area of fire. With the rune being touch-range, he takes considerable damage before Aerys can use it ...
Also, those are some nasty hits on Cernd. He falls back to avoid the risk of instant death to another hit, and ...
Oops. That wasn't what I wanted at all.
Let's do that again, shall we? And this time, Aerys gets (improved) haste so he can deliver the imprisonment faster.
Much better. Only one of the enemies (an archer) actually dies to the fire, but that's fine.
The sphere is ours for good, and Aerys' apprentice Morul shows up to start making potions.
Now, back to the Bridge District to hand in the gong for a nice chunk of XP. And then, some more character quests. I check in with Edwin ... nothing yet. All right, make that Minsc instead. Visit the docks, make the red dragon armor. Jaheira gets it for now, giving her a full set of snazzy dragon-themed gear and fire immunity.
Back at the Copper Coronet, I check in with Edwin ... still no action. Check the save ... ah, a glitch. The timer variable was never set. Correct that, then. Not long after:
Hellfire? Go ahead. I don't burn.
It's another day to the next event, so I swap back to Minsc.
Well, then. Time to find a hamster.
After a good deal of silliness, we find Eleanya. I go for the flattering answers to her ridiculous riddles, earning 20K XP. Minsc gets Boo back, as well as a strength increase and the ability to summon "Boolets". Also, we have an official license to practice magic in the city, rather than merely being too scary for the Cowled Wizards to fight.
Back with the regular party, I get in a bit of combat:
We won't go lich-hunting yet, but that's no reason not to clear out the minotaurs above Kangaxx's lair. With plenty of fire, because ... I don't need a reason to cast incendiary clouds.
We go through some pointless travel running Edwin's ten-day timer down. One leg brings a pack of goblins:
And of course, they get a fireball. Five more fire kills for Aerys, five points of friendly fire damage.
Degardan shows up, and leaves peacefully. Two days later, he comes back - and we're ready for him.
And now, the fight. Degardan makes a mistake ... he puts up Protection from Cold and not Protection from Fire.
The incendiary cloud ends it in two hits. We don't have to take any of his other defenses down.
We have no further use for evil companions in SoA. Therefore, we head off to Trademeet for the last two reputation points. There's another bunch of goblins on the way:
It's Cernd that gets singed this time; he regenerates that in under a round.
Once there, the Lurraxols offer a key to the sealed tomb, and we enter.
I'd go for a fourth fire spell, but Anomen needs a rest before he can use Fire Storm again. The skeleton warriors have plenty of magic resistance, so they resist the first incendiary cloud ... but not the fire storm or our attacks.
While our fire contributed, it didn't actually kill any of the enemies.
Logan gets the mantle, for 8000 XP and reputation 19. Jenia expresses her gratitude for earlier actions, and we have reputation 20. We celebrate by spending some gold:
One robe of the good archmagi, purchased at maximum discount for just over fifteen thousand gold. This merchant can't be shoplifted from, after all.
With the new robe, Nalia leaves her old fire resistance robes and AC 5 bracers behind. Instead, she'll wear bracers of archery.
And now, off to Watcher's Keep. Aerys needs about 160K XP for level 18, and the scrolls in our cases won't cover all of that (unless we reduce party size, which we won't). So then, we head down to pick up the rest of the easy XP on the first level. We can remove the trap on the chest by the entrance now, and pick up the paladin bracers for Isra. Then the archivist, the priest, the ritual notes ... 32K XP each with no trouble at all.
Then I fight the golems, because I can.
It tries to cast its gas cloud, and doesn't finish before going down. The second is the same.
And that's where we stop. The statues can wait.
Back on the roof, Nalia drinks a pair of potions and we start scribing. Our cases aren't quite enough, so I buy a few more cheap scrolls from Sister Garlena. Her prices are very low, and she has a lot of low-level scrolls for sale; her shop is the best place to spend gold in chapter 2 if you want scrolls for XP.
And that's enough. Isra reaches level 17, perfecting her saves. Anomen is just short of level 21. And Aerys reaches the all-important level 18. Summon Planetar. Chain Contingency. Wish.
With the power of Project Image, Aerys can wish up to 14 times per day, all with his 18 wisdom. That's enough for a free rest most of the time, although not with certainty.
Why Summon Planetar? Because planetars get three castings of Fire Storm. And with SCS at this difficulty, they cast instantly. They also get Raise Dead, so Anomen doesn't need to memorize that anymore.
Chain Contingency (1/day innate with SCS) is also crucial. From now on, Aerys' standard opening move for a dangerous foe is a 3x Incendiary Cloud chain contingency. Trigger condition "when you see an enemy".
We buy five scrolls of Freedom from Ribald to replace the stolen scrolls we scribed. And we're down to less than 5K gold, so no more big purchases. Waste a bit more time so that Morul can finish a batch of potions, prepare a chain contingency for the first time, and we're ready to go. Aerys leaves mainland Amn at dawn on day 71.
452 total fire kills. When the biggest fight of the episode is against a red dragon, there's not much opportunity for fire. Except for the dragon's fire, of course.
"Dracarys!"
— Daenerys Targaryen, A Song of Ice and Fire
The ship takes us to Brynnlaw, and we prepare for a fight. Fire protection on the party, and on Sime too. No need for Stoneskin, because that's what we put in our contingency slot. Step off the ship itself, and ...
Three vampires. Three clouds. But ... vampires are tough, and they survive the first round of fire. And the one that went for Aerys level-drains him right away, because he handed the amulet of power to a front-liner. No.
I reload, and this time I cast my NPP spells. Five rounds of immunity for everyone except Nalia. I can handle dodging one person out of the way of melee attackers.
But of course, it can't all go smoothly. This time, the contingencies are slow. Despite being set to activate when Aerys sees an enemy, a vampire reaches him and takes a swing before they go off.
And here we have Aerys taking actual damage in a melee attack. A rare event.
Meanwhile, our melee attackers are quite effective, with Anomen wielding the mace of disruption. The fire does its job too, killing Del after another round.
With this fight, Anomen reaches cleric level 21. Still only two level 7 spell slots, though.
We head out to explore Brynnlaw - which is full of backstabbing pirates.
That was a True Seeing he was trying to cast, since I heard the pirate act. Oops. Well, just whack the pirate, then. He's only a level 7 thief, after all. (THAC0 17, long sword, starts invisible and has single-weapon style because SCS. He needs a critical 19+ to hit even from stealth.)
A couple more pirates try stabs. They don't get lucky, and die equally easy once they're visible. The path toward the asylum brings a more substantial foe - the mad cleric Greyhand.
He's still no match for us, of course. The boots go into storage, as we have no use for them - everybody in this party wants to cast spells and/or attack
The tavern comes next. Sanik drinks a healing potion and thus takes two arrow hits to die in his cutscene:
The assassin, of course, easily falls to our might.
Now, this little encounter showcases some oddities of the system. According to his creature file, Sanik is a level 16 mage with 1/1 HP and neutral Con. The engine doesn't like this, and increases his maximum HP to the lowest value allowed - his level.
Normally, this wouldn't cause any issues. His current HP of 1 are unchanged. But SCS gives him random potions, and low HP convinces him to drink a healing potion if he has one. This is very likely to put him out of range of a single hit from the assassin. Oops.
This restriction on maximum HP is also why Polymorph Other effects set characters to "5/N" HP when their level is greater than 5. The effect doesn't change their level, so the maximum has to increase from the 5 forced by the spell to something larger. But the spell has already truncated their current HP down to 5, so that stays.
Back to the story, we need a new source. We help out Ginia and Ason, then enter Galvena's "festhall". Nalia's stealth lets us arrange for the guards to be knocked out without them suspecting anything:
Then we kill the guards, of course.
Galvena and her mage aren't asleep, so they put up a fight. And with the mage putting up a Mantle, Isra gets out Carsomyr.
That does the trick. Without his defenses, Vadek can't get off another spell, and dies very quickly.
Why no fire spells? Because there's an innocent here we don't want to catch in the splash damage.
We know the ways into Spellhold now. For the first one, we need to go through a dangerous fight. Perth the Adept is a level 20 mage.
We prepared for this fight. Chain Contingency active. Perth puts up a host of defenses - Minor Globe, Spell Turning, Improved Mantle, Shadow Door, Spell Shield. That would take a lot of effort to get through with our spells. Or one whack from Carsomyr. But since there's no fire protection, I just ignore it all.
The Sphere of Chaos ... that's troublesome. Anomen fails a save and is polymorphed.
With Perth invisible, we just cast an Incendiary Cloud each instead of relying on the contingency. Three damage ticks later ...
That was easy. We never landed an attack, and never needed to. The chain contingency didn't even trigger.
Wait for the fire and chaos to disperse so we can loot the place...
[spoler][/spoiler]
Wait, what? He just died? ... Oh. His DUHM ran out, and with it the increased Con bonus. Take away 28 HP from a character at 5, and he dies. We really should have healed him.
Looking back on the fight ... Sphere of Chaos is more dangerous than I've given it credit for, because I keep building for fantastic spell saves. Save versus spell each round (no bonus or penalty) or get one of several random effects. And one of those effects is disintegration. That permanently kills a character and destroys their items - completely unacceptable.
We have two ways to stop that: either boost spell saves to 1 or better, or keep Death Ward up. The former is quite difficult for Anomen - base save 7 even at epic levels, and we'll soon have him in enchanted armor so he can't wear a protection item. The latter ... well, Death Ward has a turn/level duration. And we have a lot of 4th level priest slots. We'll definitely want it up for high-level mage battles, at least.
All right, now to the recovery. Aerys calls up an image, which summons a planetar to cast Raise Dead and then Heal on Anomen. Then he starts wishing ... first wish, resurrect all. I guess I didn't need the planetar. Second wish, free wand (lightning). Kill the image and recover the wand. Second image - 25 stats, Hardiness. Third image - rest, random potion (cold resistance).
As for the book of infinite spells ... start rolling. Fireball isn't bad, but we can do better. Wyvern Call. Stinking Cloud. Fireball. Spell Turning.
And now, the entire party can have strong spell protections. At least, once Jaheira reaches druid level 14. Isra gets the book, and it will be part of her buff suite for the most dangerous fights.
Our turn/level buffs expire, but we can renew them after that wish-rest. Not that we need to; the party won't be in combat for a while.
And now, we enter the asylum. The best way in, of course, is to convince Desharik you're crazy with the truth. "I am the child of a god, and I will destroy you all!".
Inside, we have little to do but wait and talk to the inmates. And ... uh, don't talk to Aphril more than once with Aerys in sight. Those demons are hostile even though they can't act, and letting the chain contingency activate is a bad idea.
Eventually, the Coordinator arrives and the plot continues. We have unwittingly delivered ourselves straight into Irenicus' hands.
This soon brings Aerys to a strange dream version of Candlekeep. The door is guarded by a demon that demands a sacrifice:
Dex? No. Aerys is at 19 right now, so that would cost him a point of ranged THAC0.
Wis? No. Aerys is at 18, so that would leave him with considerably worse wish options.
Int? Maybe. Aerys is at 10, so that would only cost him ten points of lore.
Con? Now you're talking. Aerys is at 15+2, so losing a point of Con won't cost him anything at all. Clearly the best option.
With that, the demon leaves and the way inside is open. Now, to face the threat here - a representation of Bhaal, in the form of Sarevok.
This activates the chain contingency. I lead it around in the cloud for a few rounds, causing more than enough fire damage. Then draw it inside to meet Imoen, and it dies as soon as she sees it.
But despite our success in there, Irenicus has what he wants. We are discarded as useless, and Bodhi throws us into a dungeon of tests for her amusement. The real Imoen is here as well, and both Isra and Jaheira pipe when we choose not to take her. Sorry, there's only room for one good female thief-mage dual class in this party, and Imoen is the inferior option.
We also picked up a bunch of experience in that dream. This brings Cernd to level 15, and his first HLA. Fire elemental form, of course. Now he can be immune to fire without spending any spells. And also hit things reliably, and deal fire damage with melee attacks.
The level also earns Cernd oodles of spell slots. He has three Fire Storms memorized now among his six level 7 slots.
Still, I don't switch to that form full-time right away. In fact, the very next battle sees him still in greater werewolf form.
Cernd is here as a spotter; the real damage will come from an image of Aerys with an Incendiary Cloud contingency.
And unlike the contingencies he's been using, this one targets himself. Why? Because, like those sequencers we used way back in the Durlag's Tower demon knight fight, the spells in this contingency ignore magic resistance when they target the caster. Yuan-ti have some MR, but that won't help them here.
That first round of fire only kills two enemies, but the cloud sticks around. Cernd takes out some of the regular snake-men, and then the second round finishes off another mage.
The earth elemental summon and the last mage don't last much longer. The last enemy to fall is actually a gnoll the mage summons at the last minute.
Oh, and that djinn is from the image wishing. It can be hurt by fire, but not killed.
Before I give up on the image, I have it summon a planetar for the clay golem on the other side.
Cernd and the planetar both cast fire storms, and Cernd beats down in elemental form. The final blow this time goes to Cernd. His AC comes through as well, with no cursed wound taken.
The third exit from our starting room leads to a pack of gibberlings. I want to use another planetar fire storm...
Well ... uh ... that's still a fire kill? Stupid overly willful AI. I do tell it to cast a fire storm next, and that handles the rest of the pack.
Incidentally, planetars have the class "Mage". Despite being level 25, their priest spells are cast at minimum caster level. It's not too big a deal for a fire storm (2d8+14 damage per round instead of 2d8+20), but it cripples their Dispel Magic.
One projected image, three encounters burned. Now, we take stock and collect the loot. This includes a scroll of Delayed Blast Fireball - a spell that Nalia doesn't have yet. Nice.
We answer some riddles, picking up more stuff. Nalia has an ioun stone now, and the party has a second ring of regeneration. And now, we apply some turn/level buffs. Protection from Fire for Nalia, Death Ward and Chaotic Commands for the melee half of our party.
With that in place, another image tackles the next room.
Three incendiary clouds, plus Jaheira to whack the fire mephit. Both characters entered under invisibility. The mephits go down in one round, and the rukh in the second.
With the cloud still up, I turn to the portal.
The greater wolfwere goes down quickly, especially since the image's first wish results in party-wide improved haste.
The Pit Fiend is immune to the fire and to Jaheira's blade, but it doesn't last either. All it manages is an Unholy Word deafening Anomen and Isra.
And then, the second wish from the image is a free rest. We're back at full daily resources, including all those spell slots Cernd just picked up.
The battles here also bring a key milestone for Jaheira - 3 million total XP, for level 14 in both of her classes. She takes fire elemental form and Hardiness. We also take the opportunity to shuffle gear, giving Anomen the dragon armor and accessories. Only Nalia still needs spells for her fire immunity, and she's using mage Protection from Fire with its turn/level duration.
There's one last encounter in this area - another bunch of yuan-ti. The image joins a summoned planetar and Isra to take them down:
Fire and blades combined. All three get kills, with the final word going to the planetar:
Now that the incendiary clouds have dispersed, the party heads back to use the last stone at the portal. We get a useless piece of armor for our trouble.
There's only one direction we can go now. After buffing the mages with the same Death Ward and Chaotic Commands as the rest of the party, we take the final exit from the room we started in.
474 total fire kills. Not too many this time, but that's mostly because it's a short update.
"Don't worry! On Pandora, it's super-weird if something's not exploding!"
— Claptrap, Borderlands 3
The path we take immediately leads to a trapped room full of Umber Hulks, and the doors lock around us. We have Chaotic Commands on the whole party, and clouds of fire from an image.
With that response, I'm not worried. Nalia goes to unlock the doors, as the rest of the party fights on autopilot and quickly kills the hulks. Despite the clouds, none of these enemies die to the fire.
Nalia reaches level 18 with this fight, taking long sword proficiency and a Summon Planetar of her own. She still only has two eighth level spell slots, though - no triple-cloud chain contingencies just yet.
That same projected image that just used its contingencies moves forward to the random undead in the corridor:
Ah, mummies. So wonderfully vulnerable to fire. I try to draw the rest back to the clouds, but they just move so slowly - in the end, the image just finishes them off with Delayed Blast Fireballs.
We turn left at the crossing ahead, and find some mist in the next room:
An interesting kill there: it used a spell, and the retaliatory fire damage from Cernd killed it. There's also a planetar fire storm in the shot - we can afford to throw at least some fire at pretty much every encounter now.
Up next, the book that summons monsters. The first few are trivial - a kobold captain, a sword spider, an umber hulk. Then comes a mind flayer:
It doesn't even last long enough to get the physical resistance bonus.
And finally, a beholder.
It at least gets off a ray. Antimagic on Aerys, so he'll have to re-buff.
But before the antimagic effect even ends, we open the door and burn some kobolds:
More kobolds follow, with Aerys using a cloud ...
... too late to kill much, because the party shredded nearly all of them with Improved Haste.
Still, we're not done with the kobolds. Some stronger kobolds show up around an altar:
Fireballs thin them out. Specifically, fireballs from spell slots. The fire elementals get some kills too.
Once we kill them all, we get a crystal shard - another piece of the way out.
And then, as I'm heading out toward the hardest encounter of this area...
Wait, what? I thought I didn't install that. Or anything at all from Tweaks Anthology. Well... I suppose Bodhi is hunting me. Launch the incendiary clouds, then.
That takes out half the grimwarders immediately. Anomen whacks the vampire, we finish the other grimwarders, and then we just beat on Bodhi until she leaves. Despite being essentially surprised by this encounter, we don't take any level drain.
In preparation for the lich, I go for a wish-rest ... and get it on the first try. That image spends its second wish on something far less relevant, and we have Anomen draw the minions out:
That also triggers the lich's prebuffs. The ones we care about ... abjuration immunity, spell turning, fire protection, and magical weapon protection. Though we weren't going to try for a dispel anyway given our level disadvantage, so the first isn't a big deal.
The first spell the lich casts after that? Time Stop. And then nothing for three rounds, because the party is out of sight range.
Soon, the minions arrive. A summoned skeleton, then the bone golems (immune to fire). The mummies and regular skeleton warriors follow.
How many times do I have to tell you. I want a Fire Storm, not a Flame Arrow! Oh, wait ... it's a different planetar every time, isn't it? That's why you don't remember my preferences?
Anyway, it doesn't take long to clear them out. That just leaves the lich.
That's the Spell Turning down. Abjuration immunity still up. Also, Aerys isn't in the shot; his image just unsummoned, and it'll take some time for him to walk over. The planetar casts Holy Word ... no, that's an abjuration spell. I hear spellcasting, and have Isra use the necklace of missiles:
Zero damage dealt. Spell disrupted anyway.
I follow up with a Spell Thrust, and the planetar uses another Holy Word:
Deafened. Another spell disrupted, and the defenses are down so we can breach it. Actually, Nalia used a Ruby Ray to really make sure of that.
And the first hit after the Breach lands is a vorpal strike from the planetar. The lich is dead.
Jaheira did get breached during the fight, so I renew her buffs. We're keeping Death Ward and Chaotic Commands on the whole party all the time now, since we have wish-rests and a ton of spell slots.
As we head to Dace, the planetar unsummons. No problem.
He's trivial to just bash.
But then ... he gets his revenge.
The cutscene breaks. With a party member standing where the apparition needs to go, it just runs around indefinitely. My only option is to force quit.
That takes us back to before the lich and minions. But that's not too bad; it just takes time to batter down the lich's defenses.
This time around, I go for better placement on the incendiary clouds. An invisible image runs forward...
The melee skeleton warrior dies instantly, and the greater mummy and skeleton archers follow the next round. The image doesn't even break invisibility doing this, and just runs back out to the party safely.
We still have to bash the bone golems, though. Those are immune to fire.
Against the lich itself, I have both mages on scene this time. Spell Thrust ... ineffective. There must have been a Spell Shield too, even though it wasn't in the log. Ah, well. We still only need two more spells to clear the way for Holy Word and Breach.
I switch Anomen to the Mace of Disruption, and that kills the lich this time.
Instead of a Breach, it went for a Remove Magic. That wiped away a whole lot more buffs, but we killed the lich before it could really take advantage.
Finally, Dace goes down to a vorpal planetar hit, but not before draining Jaheira by three levels. Anomen cures that, fatiguing him. We'll need a wish-rest soon.
After traveling to a new area, we call up a new image - and immediately ruin the day of some snake-men.
Activating contingencies doesn't break invisibility. They don't even know we're there.
The image then uses its wishes, for a random wand and a random potion. Not what I wanted, but I won't complain too much. Since it still has some time left and another cloud ...
... we burn some trolls. Call up a planetar, and then it's time to whack the image.
If you let an image expire naturally, its items go away. If you kill it in battle, any droppable items (such as the results of wishes) are there for you to take.
Also, that's a wand of spell striking. It comes with five charges Breach and no charges Pierce Magic. Not the best, but definitely nice. We can always sell it and buy/steal it back if we want the other ability.
On to the next room, and a bunch of minotaurs:
They get a fire storm, but it's physical damage that takes them all down.
Then the corridor beyond has a troll:
Along with one just past the door in the next room; that one dies to physical attacks.
Around this time, I noted just how much more effective fire elemental form was than greater werewolf form on the attack, due to the improved THAC0. I speculated on when I would switch back... the answer is never. Aside from regeneration out of combat, and the occasional need for lightning protection, Cernd has stuck with fire elemental form full-time.
The exit room is normally where we encounter Bodhi, but the "hunting" component I inadvertently installed has changed that. Instead, it's just a couple vampires. I initially send in Aerys alone under PfMW, but follow up with Anomen using Turn Undead when I realize this.
And now, a new image:
One cloud for the gauth. Another for the stray minotaurs. And more on the other side.
The first horn is ours, along with some tokens and other junk. No rest from the wishing, though.
Paintings ... let's see, it's two fire damage traps and a Disintegrate. All of those are harmless to our fire-immune party with Death Ward active. Renew some lapsed protections, have Nalia summon a planetar, and start opening the doors.
The planetar's fire storm is a bit late, but we still get the fire kill on the ulitharid. Then the planetar gets willful for the spirit troll:
OK. Flame Arrow works too.
The noble djinn is invisible.
That doesn't stop the planetar from just killing it.
The umber hulk isn't even worth a picture. Isra gets the kill, and we continue to the wolfweres.
That fire storm gets one of the kills too.
That brings us to the trio of clay golems. They get an image and a self-targeted chain contingency.
Two out them burn. Jaheira smashes the third. The Gesen bow string is ours.
And this image finally draws that rest I was looking for, after hasting the party. We pick up out boots - speed and the north - and head for the exit. Isra gets the speed boost, and Anomen gets the cold resistance for now.
Returning the horns grants a big chunk of XP, and we pick up some levels. Druid level 16 for Cernd, cleric level 22 for Anomen. Cernd takes spear proficiency, and both take Mass Raise Dead.
I go for all right answers in the riddles - though I have to reload after a misclick. Another massive chunk of XP when we're done brings Isra to level 18, for flail specialization and Hardiness. The Flail of Ages is her new primary weapon.
We also picked up some stuff in the riddle rooms. Anomen now wears the cloak of reflection, so he's immune to all of fire, cold, and lightning.
Now, we prepare for the big fight. I mess with the party's gear to defang clones - put the magic weapons and some of the fire resistance gear away, add fire resistance buffs to compensate. Then buff for a mage fight, and go through the door. Lonk first.
Improved Mantle? Try a whack from Carsomyr. He's dispelled immediately, and dead soon after.
A cutscene follows, and the inmates are easy to rile up. We fight together against Irenicus!
Absolute Immunity. Spell Shield, among various spell protections. No fire protection. Well, I know what we're doing in this one. Unleash the incendiary clouds!
Also, when Irenicus goes to clone us, our spell protections do funny things to that.
Spell Deflection or Shield of the Archons eat the clone spell, resulting in no clone. Spell Turning reflects the spell, resulting in a clone of Irenicus that doesn't do anything. So, with our current setup, that's three clones of Irenicus, one of Anomen, and one of Jaheira. I'm always up for more chances to actually kill Irenicus.
Also, the clones don't have the smartest AI. Enemy Anomen aims a Holy Smite at Isra, resulting in damage to Tiax and three instances of Irenicus. Oops.
Our clouds kill off all the clones. An ally puts out a Horrid Wilting to take care of the magical swords. And then our allies all die.
Moments later, Irenicus leaves. He calls in some murderers after that, but they're no threat.
After all, we still have clouds up to burn them. And they don't even have magical weapons.
This battle, and the massive XP reward for driving off Irenicus, brings Aerys to level 19. His new spells are Dragon's Breath, Horrid Wilting, and Time Stop. And with his third level 9 slot, wish-resting gets more reliable.
Updating my kill counts, I note that the clones in the Irenicus fight do count toward your kill totals. They're not worth any XP, but they do show up in the numbers. So now my record shows Jon Irenicus killed three times.
Also, we have passed a milestone: a million XP from fire kills in BG2. With that, I end the session. Next time, we'll get off this island.
523 total fire kills. With so many images using incendiary clouds, a consistently large fraction of our kills come from fire.
"Things are so much prettier when they burn."
— Willow, Don't Starve
With the battle behind us, we head out. Saemon greets us, and offers a way off the island - despite our misgivings about him, that does sound good. He teleports us outside, so of course the first thing we do is clear out the exterior. With fire.
And another encounter:
Then the image wishes - rest, wand of frost.
With the exterior clear, we head inside for a bit more loot. There's a stone golem to beat up, but that's nothing.
Meeting with Saemon again, he tells us the details of his scheme. And we'll have to wait for night to pull that off. Time for some actual sleep.
On the first attempt, Aerys dreams. On waking moments later, he can assume the Slayer form. Since no time passed, we repeat for some actual rest.
Now that it's night, we reapply our long-lasting buffs. Add three potions of master thievery for Nalia. Then, swindle some gold from the local blacksmith by selling scrolls and stealing them back, sell and steal back the wand of spell striking so it has both kinds of charges, and loot the rest of his stuff. We make enough gold doing this that we can afford to shop at the temple of Umberlee. One fish (for Wilson), one wand of the heavens, and one belt of crushing AC. Sell/steal that wand, and all three of our priests have fully charged wands to flame strike enemies with.
All right, on to the action. At Cayia's place, we let the noncombatants leave before unleashing any fire.
Once they're gone, though ...
... Anomen uses his new wand for the first time.
There's one new encounter out on the streets of Brynnlaw - a large group of pirates. We prepare with a True Seeing:
And, of course, a considerable amount of fire.
The pirate mage throws out some ice, while Aerys adds a fireball on the second round.
That's one pirate exploding, after the enemy mage killed him with ice.
Naturally, the image does some wishing after the battle. First, all stats 25 - Nalia uses the opportunity to learn a few new spells. Second, this:
Ouch. We take improved haste for all outside the party as the best option. Strength 18 for 200 rounds would really hurt, level drain is just terrible, restoration adds fatigue, and bad luck would make everyone hostile. At least the haste option doesn't really hurt us; the pirate lord's people haven't spawned in yet.
The third wish is a random potion - clarity.
And just because I can, I head over to the asylum. The exterior spawn points are different at night, which means new monsters for us to kill.
We have the fire elementals take the lead with their normal weapon immunity - they can't be level-drained. And that incendiary cloud does nothing - before the image can finish casting it, Anomen auto-switches to turning and wipes out the remaining enemies.
Up near the entrance, we get shadows:
One wraith rolls a natural 20, level-draining Jaheira. Fortunately, this time I remember that a planetar can cure that without incurring any fatigue.
The wish sequence for this image ... rest, improved haste for the party, rest again. We're back to full strength, and more.
In fact, that haste is still going when we reach the boat:
They don't stand a chance.
No time later (despite what the flavor text says), the ship is invaded by githyanki.
With our party still hasted, we make very short work of them. And since we're protected by Chaotic Commands, their psionic powers are useless. They try a Remove Magic - not enough levels to matter.
That's all of them, except the immortal captain, dead before the sahuagin even arrive.
With the githyanki out of the way, these five go down in moments. The ship is briefly peaceful before it sinks. As the test on the transition screen says, "The ongoing battle is soon the least of your worries."
By the power of cutscene, we are captured and brought before a sahuagin king. He wants an exiled prince dead, and we have little choice but to cooperate with his demands. First, as a test, we fight an ettin:
Improved Haste may have worn off, but a lone ettin is still a pushover.
Back in the main city area, I realize that the Remove Magic the githyanki cast did do something - it dispelled Nalia's thieving potions. We'll have to spend a potion later if we want to get the most out of things here.
The priestess hands over an orb so we can at least talk to the rebel leaders, and we're off to find the key to get into their sector. I throw in a bit of fire against the spiders here:
After that group, it's just a bone golem and a lot of traps. Normal attacks and cautious movement suffice.
The goods we find after solving the imps' riddle ... well, they're not worth much. The boots aren't very interesting, and we have no use for the sixth +2 protection item.
Then, it's a matter of talking our way into the beholder's chest. Wisdom 13 required, which is anyone in our party except Nalia. The tooth is ours.
The rest of the city brings constant ambushes by rebel forces, all of which are hostile to us. So much for negotiations.
All right, bring out the projected images. Sahuagin have negative fire resistance, which makes our incendiary clouds particularly lethal.
Some of them retreat out of the cloud. And then come back to die.
We follow that group with a skirmish between loyalist and rebels - everyone is hostile here, so I just launch a cloud to kill them all.
In a nasty little "gotcha" to my kill tracking, the rebels in this skirmish are worth more per kill than the rebels I killed earlier. Despite the same names. I'll have to watch closely.
The second round of that cloud clears out the rest of them:
And now, we press on. More rebels die, and we finally come to a stopping point at the top of the stairs.
And now, regroup. The image makes its wishes, picking up healing, rest, and a wand of paralyzation. It summons a planetar, and then I whack the image.
For the next battle, I have the planetar bring the fire.
It doesn't get any fire kills here, but it does at the next group:
Turn around for another skirmish with both sides hating us:
And the planetar's final fire storm, of course. Which gets one kill.
All but one of the kills go to us; the sahuagin manage to kill one rebel with poison.
There's one spot we skirted around earlier. I call up another image, and enter the shark's mouth.
This spawns in a group of enemies, including one notable unique foe. This is where you find the priestess with the cloak of mirroring, immune to damage spells such as Incecndiary Cloud.
But not to Dragon's Breath. If she had failed her save, she'd be dead. And not to dragon disciple fire breath either:
And there it is. An enemy wearing the cloak of mirroring, killed with fire damage spells.
After cleaning out the last stragglers, it's off to the last place we haven't been.
And more clouds, of course. Cernd spots for the image, and picks up one kill. Aerys' fire gets the rest of them.
This image doesn't get a rest out of its wishes - just a potion of clarity and a wand of spell striking. And now, we head down the stairs to the rebels' domain.
They're still hostile inside, and they're in the water where we can't reach them with melee.
So then, that calls for wands and missile attacks.
We come to a platform next that lets the melee get involved:
And, of course, more wand action for the two in the water.
Beyond the door, someone is finally willing to talk. The prince offers his own deal, but after seeing his followers' intransigence? No. And the king offers a better reward anyway.
He gets in one good hit on Anomen, then wastes the rest of his attacks on Jaheira's iron skins.
Meanwhile, Aerys calls up an image to burn the other rebels. It takes a bit to hunt them down, but they're easy enough to kill.
Having depopulated the city, all that remains is to return the heart to the king. The image wishes, picking up improved haste for the party. Convenient.
But before we talk to the king, a bit of shopping. The Temple of Sekolah has great prices, both buying and selling. We use it to sell off a whole lot of ammo - largely, those bolts of biting all the sahuagin drop. It's cumulatively worth about 60K gold.
Then Nalia drinks a thieving potion and picks the king's pockets. The treasury key is ours. Loot the treasury, get the king's rewards, pickpocket some scrolls as he leaves.
With that, we descend into a new chapter. Two large XP rewards accompany the transition, and we gain two new levels. Cleric level 23 for Anomen, and Aura of Flaming Death. Mage level 20 for Nalia, and Comet. The Underdark awaits.
566 total fire kills. That sahuagin vulnerability was really working for us.
"If only I could hold a sun in my hand, I would purge all worlds of life. Wipe them clean of sin.
I would burn whole cities, boil oceans down to their bedrock."
— Judge Fire, Judge Dredd
Additional author's note: I have now finished gameplay for this run. Posting is scheduled to go until Friday, July 2. Now I just have to write the remaining parts (34 plus an epilogue with the final kill counts).
Now that I'm in the Underdark, there's something I realize I should have in my standard buff package: Protection from Magic Energy. High-level mages love casting Horrid Wilting or Skull Trap sequencers, and illithids toss around lots of their psionic Detonate spells. If I buff the party for immunity to magic damage, all that goes away as a problem.
Sadly, Aerys doesn't currently know that spell, and his next opportunity to learn a level 6 spell is at level 21. So instead, Nalia fills all three of her current level 6 spell slots with PfME.
The first thing I do down here is go after that trio of mind flayers. Make an image, have it memorize a chain contingency ...
Then one of the flayers teleports over to the helpless real Aerys and attacks twice. Game Over.
Uh, right. Lesson learned. Don't use projected images against mind flayers, ever. Don't have images out while any are active. The original mage is considered helpless so attacks hit automatically, draining 5 Int. Unless you buffed for super-intelligence, you're dead within a round if they get to you. And they can teleport.
Actually, not having stoneskins up might save you; the image is dispelled after the first real damage, and you get both control and your AC back. That defeats the purpose of using the images, though.
OK, then, take two. No images this time. Instead, it's the real Nalia that prepares a chain contingency. Two Incendiary Clouds and a Greater Malison, targeted on herself.
The damage to Isra and Nalia is two Ballistic Attacks and a Detonate. Ouch. Then two more Detonates follow, since the clouds didn't kill them instantly.
Still, they survived.
We heal up and start wishing before going any further. We'll definitely need that PfME going before we take on the illithid city in the Eastern Tunnels.
One image suffices this time: improved haste on the party, random wand, rest. Summon a planetar, then have Nalia call up a simulacrum to help with the buffs ... oops. It seems that at some point, the way simulacrum level drain is calculated for dual-class characters was changed. Nalia's simulacrum is level 12, exactly like a mage of her level. We only get four PfME spells this rest cycle, and I'm not casting any more simulacra for a while.
Still, we have an image out with a load of fire spells. There's a drow group up north just waiting for a good burn.
Most of these creatures are just named "Drow" in the standard game. The name variation is a tweak I made to aid in tracking the kills. I didn't change any actual stats, except for giving magic resistance to a few that lacked it.
Checking the log for defenses ... none of them put up Protection from Fire. The only resistance is the Armor of Faith on the priestesses.
And that's all but one of them instantly dead after the clouds trigger. That one goes down to melee attacks. All they managed were some initial spells, silencing most of the party.
Still silenced, we head off for the next fight.
In addition to Jaheira's fire storm, the planetar is casting fire storms and the image of Aerys is casting its remaining incendiary clouds.
That first elemental reaches the party by the time the fire spells arrive at its spawning point - but it still goes down to fire damage.
The next few all die to attacks - one even from Nalia's simulacrum. It takes until the sixth for the spells to finally claim a victim.
The eighth, ninth, and tenth all join it.
And then the very last one ...
... dies to a cloud from an image that is no longer present. We don't get any XP that way.
We still have that party-wide improved haste and a planetar, so we hit the fire elementals next.
After four elementals (three killed by the planetar), they stop coming. It's a clear glitch - the death script failed to fire - so I force-summon one.
That gets things back on track. We kill eleven of them, as we should. The planetar gets seven of those kills.
Cernd reaches level 18 with this fight, taking Implosion as his new spell. Also, he gets +10% elemental resistances.
For the last elemental portal, Aerys brings out a new image:
And the contingency fires too early, missing the target. Oops. I should have used an enemy-targeted contingency instead.
Ah, well. He still has two clouds he can cast normally.
And other fire spells.
Four out of eleven earth elementals die to the fire overall.
With Isra slightly injured, the image casts a few Sunfires to heal her. Standing in the clouds doesn't work due to the immunity provision, but Sunfire ignores that and just does damage.
The image spends its wishes - potion, potion, greater deathblow, unsummoned before I can whack it. So, nothing of value.
And now, we take a break from fighting to loot the duergar merchant. Worst prices in the game, both buying and selling. So, it's a good thing I'm just stealing instead. Two additional potions for Nalia, and I have all of their good stuff for free.
We visit the svirfneblin next. There are some myconids in the way, but we have Chaotic Commands up.
Without the ability to confuse anyone, they don't stand a chance.
Talk, head back to free Bedlen from the soul cage, return to the merchant. And loot all his stuff, because Aerys is mean like that sometimes. While we're at it, we sell and steal back some wands Aerys' images have produced with wishes.
Now, for that Balor. Renew a bunch of lapsed buffs, then add even more as we get ready for the fight.
That's a self-targeted 3x Horrid Wilting contingency for Aerys, by the way.
Trigger the demon's arrival ...
No damage from the wilting, but the melee is doing fine. We even disrupted the demon's first attempted spell.
The Balor applies a new Stoneskin, so I breach it ...
Dead. It made one attack roll (a miss), cast one spell (a Stoneskin that lasted two hits before being breached), and died.
This was a very dangerous fight that required special preparation when my non-casters faced it. This time around, the demon inflicted literally no damage. Really, negative damage; our melee all had Armor of Faith up for at least 115% fire resistance.
The quest reward brings Isra to one point short of her next level, and we pick a lock to clear that up. Isra is now level 19, and takes a Power Attack.
We have the light gem now, but it's not time to visit the dragon just yet. We have quite a few things left to do around here. First, the soul cage. Gont comes first, and we let him go.
Next, Raevilin Strathi.
We're doing this one the hard way. Rather than fight him, we're going to heal him.
Let's see, defenses. I don't care about the combat protections, but I need to deal with the invisibility and the Spell Turning. Isra uses Peridan to cast Detect Invisibility, Aerys' image hits him with a Pierce Magic, and then Anomen casts Heal.
For doing it this way, we get slightly less XP than fighting him plus the unique bastard sword Albruin.
Raevilin cast one spell during this - a Breach on Jaheira. We'll need a rest to renew her defenses, since our priests spent their Death Ward and Chaotic Commands spells earlier.
The image takes this opportunity to wish. Improved Haste on the party, heal everyone, rest. OK, Jaheira can have her buffs now.
The second madman can't be cured.
So we just kill him, and claim the sword.
A githyanki is next.
He doesn't even have time to speak.
And finally, the lich.
He got to speak, but he was already seriously injured by then. Dead, before his prebuffs can activate.
Vithal comes next. Nalia casts the Freedom she has memorized for lack of choice. We get back his book of rituals for a small payment, then get working.
Since Vithal is vulnerable, I'm leaving off the indiscriminate fire spells. No need to get him mad. Also, it's nice that none of our party got knocked down by that Earthquake. Actually, that spell backfires on the greater elemental:
Fireshield retaliation for a tremor deals the final blow.
Fire comes next, and the greater fire elemental uses a Sunfire. Hah.
Still, they're slightly troublesome. They all focus on Isra, and deal substantial melee damage. Anomen heals her after the battle.
The air elementals have a neat trick:
Windstorm tosses the party back, and knocks out our summon too. Also of note: unlike the other two encounters, the additional summoned air elementals are worth XP here.
Vithal leaves, and we prepare. Call up an image, prepare a contingency, summon a planetar, wish.
No good options at all. I go with removing half the caster's HP as the best of a bad lot. Wait, no, there's actually one good option in that list. "Lose" 10000 GP, which actually lets you gain 10000 gold when cast by a clone. This is something I only discovered at the very end of the run, so I obviously didn't know it at the time of this shot.
What, you're saying that time control is a good option? No, it isn't. We're not in combat, so that would just run six rounds off the image's duration for nothing. Forget it.
The second wish brings a Greater Deathblow. And then Vithal comes back.
Greed is good.
Vithal puts up Spell Turning, Spell Trap, and PfMW. But no fire protection, and only Stoneskin against the Insect Plague the planetar casts. I cast a Ruby Ray and a Pierce Shield ...
... and he burns to death before I can even finish those spells.
With this, Jaheira levels up to fighter 15. Her new spell is Mass Raise Dead, and I give her staff specialization.
Now, off to the eastern part of the map. First, the drow war party to the north.
As soon as the arrival cutscene ends, two of the warriors are dead. The survivors are all near death, and we mop up quickly after that.
The priestess did manage an Unholy Blight, but only Isra took damage. Anomen was out of range, and Nalia was protected by her PfME.
Then we head south to the kuo-toa. The image readies to cast ... illusion dispelled. Right, they have True Sight. We'll just crush them conventionally, then.
Cernd's iron skins finally fall, and I take a moment to replace them. No actual damage taken, though.
On to the next group, and Anomen gets confused. Darn. I must have let Chaotic Commands lapse without noticing it.
It doesn't stop us, of course. That same wizard adds a Horror that catches Anomen - OK, Isra has a Remove Fear for that.
Some incidental fire kills follow, and we kill the kuo-toa. Wait for Anomen to regain his senses, and the Underdark hub is clear.
Next time, we leave the hub to face some of the game's most unique challenges.
599 total fire kills. The drow in particular are excellent targets for our firepower.
"How do you wanna die? The quick, incinerating flash of an EXPLOSION!? Or a nice, SLOW BUUURN!?"
— Garfield Lynns a.k.a. Firefly, Batman: Arkham Origins
Our first objective now is the illithid city in the eastern tunnels. As I noticed in the last part, using images in combat against mind flayers, like we've been doing against most threats, is suicide. We'll have to lean much heavier on wish-resting instead, and fight with the real Aerys.
We could just buff everybody with Chaotic Commands and fight with physical attacks ... but that just isn't the sort of party we are.
As such, we start by trying for a rest. The first image gets Improved Haste, Greater Deathblow, and 25 stats. That last one allows us to identify the drow items we've picked up and have Nalia learn a few new spells.
Using drow items? No. Only the armor is of interest, and we'd rather have saving throws than AC.
The second image gets Greater Deathblow, 25 stats, and a wand of lightning.
The third image gets a rest. Pause wishing to apply PfME to the other half of the party, then continue with another couple irrelevant wishes.
Now, we head in. The cutscene tries to knock us unconscious, which Chaotic Commands blocks, but we're still captured and thrown in an illithid cell. Now we wait.
The first break from boredom is a fight with some umber hulks.
We don't bother with any spells. Just bash them.
That sends us back to the cell, and opens the door to some githyanki. They have a plan for escape, which we're just fine going along with. Wait some more, then ...
This fight doesn't earn any spells either, though we still pick up a fire kill with Cernd's melee attack.
That frees us to bash the ogre jailor, and then the other prisoners. First kuo-toans.
Then sahuagin.
A neat moment there; the prince burns on Jaheira's fire shield. That does finish off her iron skins, so we renew that before continuing.
To the east, we run into the first mind flayer down here. And in it's genius intelligence ...
... it deals more damage to itself than to us with a Detonate.
Isra takes a melee hit in this fight, but only one. And at five rounds to recover from a brain-sucking, she'll be clear by the time we fight again. The serum is ours.
Now, to the south. Against this room, I go for the fire. Two self-targeted chain contingencies...
Uh, oops. Nalia's Protection from Fire lapsed, and I didn't notice it. Against six clouds, 50% resistance wasn't enough to save her from instant death.
At least the two mind flayers died instantly from the MR-ignoring clouds. Three fire kills for Aerys' count, since the friendly-fire kill of Nalia is counted.
We wait until the clouds disperse, then raise Nalia. Also apply her buffs of Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Protection from Fire, and Stoneskin. PfME will have to wait until our next wish-rest.
I also take this opportunity to use a few potions. Mind focusing for Aerys, Anomen, and Jaheira so that two hits won't be enough to kill one of them. 24 strength for Isra and Anomen, so they deal more damage. Since illithids have essentially no dispel capabilities, potion buffs are excellent here.
We wake the slaves and make a set of control circlets. We'll be using those to open the doors.
That opens the doors in the northern room, and the flayer is easy to kill after that. Then the githyanki teleport over to say they're leaving without us. Cowards.
Now, time for a wish-rest before we hit the large group in the next room. The first image gets it, on wish #3. Apply new contingencies, give Nalia her PfME, head for the next room.
Nothing's there. Backtrack, return ... ah, there they are. Must have missed the spawn trigger the first time somehow.
This group is actually supposed to have eight creatures, not seven. A typo turns the second umber hulk into a nonexistent creature, so nothing spawns in that slot.
Anyway, we charge into the room. Aerys' clouds go off early, although they still manage to take out two flayers.
Oh, right, we also brought a planetar to add some fire storms to this fight. It's not much compared to a triple cloud, but it can't hurt.
Then Nalia's contingency triggers.
That isn't even all of the instant kills she got. Another ulitharid dies immediately after the shot, leaving only a single mind flayer to die in melee.
One point of damage taken, a melee hit on Isra.
Anomen reaches cleric level 24 in this battle, and grand mastery in clubs. His new spell is Implosion. Cernd hits level 19 for his final save boost, and Globe of Blades.
Then I blunder. Go for a wish-rest - time stop, strength 18, Greater Deathblow. Realize that I used the real Aerys for that instead of an image. Reload.
That takes me back to a save from a couple encounters back, before we used the potions. And I skip the mind focusing potions this time. Since we're destroying mind flayers with so little need for melee, that extra layer of protection is unnecessary.
Anyway, take two on the group of six illithids and a hulk.
They're smarter this time. Three simultaneous ballistic attacks, and Isra is in the red. I should probably buff her physical resistance for rooms like this.
This time around, Aerys' clouds are too far back to matter, and Nalia cleans up. Two flayers on the first round, then the survivors on the second.
All right, let's try that wish-rest again. Properly.
Three images later, the party has all of its spells back and improved haste to boot. We head west to the second big flayer group...
And as promised, I added some physical resistance. Hardiness for Isra, Armor of Faith for Anomen. Illithids won't use Ballistic Attack on anyone with stoneskin protection, so the other four party members don't need it.
All of our contingent clouds are wasted by going off too early, but we have another source of MR-ignoring fire.
With the enemy already softened up by the planetar's fire storm, that kills five flayers and an ulitharid. Cernd gets the last ulitharid with melee fire, and the room is clear.
Isra did get brain-sucked twice, but she's in the half of the party that can survive that.
Clearing this room opens the way south, to this dungeon's real prize.
The ring of fire control. Nalia can now be immune to fire without the need for spells. We'll never need to worry about her fire resistance again ... except all those times she has to take it off in favor of thief skill rings, and forgets to put it back on.
This is a key milestone for the party. For the first time, everyone is undispellably immune to fire. And we will strive to maintain that in all combat situations the rest of the way.
Anyway, there are two side rooms to hit up north. Wish-rest again, on the first try. Apply the usual chain contingencies, and head over.
One flayer burned, two finished in melee. That gets us a bunch of brine potions we'll never use. Isra takes a Ballistic Attack, so that's a bit of healing for her.
On to the next room, after another rest and renewing our Chaotic Commands.
Oops, I forgot to make new chain contingencies. I guess that just means we're doing this room the physical way.
A second control circlet opens the final door, and we prepare for the Master Brain. Actually cast those chain contingencies this time ...
Also, the strength potions expire. Anomen and Isra use DUHM instead.
And now, the fight.
Oops. PfME expired for half the party, so we actually take a bit of damage there.
Then the clouds trigger.
Nothing left but a bit of cleanup; Jaheira finishes the last ulitharid with melee fire.
We get a big chunk of XP, and Aerys reaches level 20. Two more level 9 spell slots, Comet, and Spellstrike. Also, he has reached the milestone of a million fire kill XP over both games combined.
We head out, earning the gratitude of the rescued slaves. But not the githyanki.
While we put out a bit of fire in this fight, the actual kills all came with weapons. The image I used spends its wishes, and one is a rest. Aerys can now actually use those new 9th level slots he just picked up.
The southern tunnels come next - the beholder lair. We enter fully buffed including global Chaotic Commands and Death Ward, so it's safe enough.
Cernd and Nalia get their buffs wiped out, but with SCS the antimagic ray also grants a round of magic immunity. No actual harm done.
In retrospect ... Death Ward doesn't protect against petrification. And with his spell save of 7, Anomen has a significant vulnerability to the Flesh to Stone ray. Nalia really should have added a PfP spell for him. It didn't come back to bite us, and his spell saves will eventually be good enough to ignore that problem, but it's something to keep in mind for future runs.
With the room clear, we regroup for the next part. Now, time to have some mage-flavored cheese.
One projected image, protected by Improved Invisibility and the Cloak of Mirroring. One spotter, also invisible and with saves good enough that she can get away if that drops. And one Chain Contingency, to burn this encounter.
One drow survives.
Summoning a planetar takes care of that, by luring him into the cloud.
The image and planetar continue forward to face the Hive Mother. As the only beholder that can see through invisibility, she's a serious threat to the strategy in general. And because of that advantage, I stay at long range.
Well, at least we're taking care of her companions. The Hive Mother herself? Too much resistance, to both magic in general and fire in particular.
Aerys' image adds a Dragon Breath on round two:
That, plus the second tick of the cloud, take care of four gauths and three beholders. The planetar's fire storm gets a fifth gauth, but Mom appears to have moved out of the bombardment area.
Move forward into the room, and the planetar takes care of another beholder:
As it was badly hurt already, a mere 9d6 flame strike was plenty to finish it off.
The room is clear, but where's the Hive Mother?
Ah, there she is. And since fire didn't work so well, let's try a physical assault. The planetar casts Globe of Blades, Aerys tries a Remove Magic ... nope, Improved Mantle is still up. All right then, Time Stop. Comet. Delayed Blast Fireball. Delayed Blast Fireball. Time unfreezes ...
... and the Improved Mantle is down. Vorpal hit. Dead.
Unfortunately, this took us dangerously close to the mind flayer/gauth encounter. The planetar tries to attack, but gets stunned by a mind blast. Then the flayers teleport over to the party:
Luckily, they didn't go straight for Aerys. We take some brain drains, but no real harm.
During this, the image unsummons. Also, the planetar passively finishes off two gauths with its globe of blades; I haven't gotten the experience, so I send Isra over to cast Remove Paralysis. That does the trick, and the planetar responds by renewing Isra's invisibility.
With that taken care of, Aerys summons a new image. First up, a pair of Death Tyrants.
It's a scary name, but all they really have over regular beholders is a few more HP, undead immunities, and immunity to nonmagical weapons. One incendiary cloud, one comet, dead.
The elder orb and its companions come next. Since most beholders have no MR, I go with "nearest enemy" targeting on the chain contingency.
Since Aerys is still fully invisible, just wait. Well, OK, spend some wishes. Rest on the first try, just before some kill XP comes in and Cernd hits level 20 (Dart proficiency, Summon Deva).
Six kills in, I get bored. Time for some more loophole abuse.
Sunfire doesn't break invisibility. Despite casting multiple offensive spells for tons of damage and kills, Aerys is still fully invisible.
Sadly, that's it for the image. Its duration runs out before I can clear any more of the area. We take the opportunity to bring the party forward and pick up some loot. The amulet of spell warding goes to Anomen (he really needs the help), and the resulting shuffle retires the amulet of metaspell influence. Nalia no longer has any bonus spell slots form equipment, and she never will.
And now, back to the killing.
Apply one self-targeted contingency, wait for the second round to tick. Elder Orbs aren't scary if they never see anything.
Moving to the north, one stray gauth actually manages to cause a bit of damage:
Nalia didn't renew PfME, so a Cause Wounds ray got her.
The image continues, and applies some Sunfire to a group of gauths.
Then the remaining incendiary clouds.
One last Sunfire to finish the gauth, and the area is clear.
Despite the clouds making the image visible, that beholder never tried any rays. The SCS script has a specific answer to summons - a variant of their death ray with no save. That only applies to the "summoned" gender, which clones aren't - they're "illusionary" instead. Beholders are also willing to use Cause Wounds, Flesh to Stone, and Death rays on any enemies in sight.
If the script were a bit smarter, it could use an antimagic ray - among its many effects, that instantly destroys illusionary creatures. But no, antimagic rays are only ever targeted at actual party members. As such, a clone with the cloak of mirroring can completely humiliate beholders, leaving them nothing but melee attacks to work with.
Incidentally, using images as we did has caused Aerys' clones to outstrip the official kill XP of every party member - including their creator. They won't stay that way forever, but it's definitely interesting. And not the sort of thing you'd catch without logging kills.
We're now up to 657 total fire kills. A whole lot of them this time, and they're high-value kills too. The fortresses of the worst monsters the Underdark has to offer have been reduced to smoldering ruins.
"Yes... Dragons happened. Harrenhall was built to withstand an attack from the land. A million men could have marched on these walls, and a million men would have been repelled. But, an attack from the air, with dragonfire. Harren and all his sons roasted alive within these walls. Aegon Targaryen changed the rules. That's why every child alive knows his name, three hundred years after his death."
- Tywin Lannister, Game of Thrones
We could visit Adalon, but I feel like hitting the kuo-toa first. So then, we're off to the west. The first room here holds a pair of gauth and a beholder, so we send an image at them.
One invisible image, three clouds, immediate victory. Then, since engaging the fish-men will get that image dispelled immediately, I cash it in for wishes. 25 stats, 25 stats, Hardiness, Greater Deathblow, Improved Haste.
All right, then. Time to get aggressive. Call up a planetar, whack the image, and move out.
First up, there's another of these side rooms with kuo-toa in it.
We just smash them with the overwhelming force of party-wide improved haste, though I also have the planetar drop a fire storm on them for a couple of kills. Pick up some corrupted tadpoles and continue.
The next group gets more of the same.
The wizard drinks an invisibility potion to try to hide. There's no hiding from fire storms.
And with that, Nalia hits level 20. Her new HLA is an extra level 6 spell, and she gains another from the level's natural progression - five total now, which lets her spend two slots on spells that aren't PfME.
Back with the combat, we chase after the retreating priest ... straight into another group of enemies.
I'm going for some fire here, and not just a single fire storm. Aerys is adding a Dragon Breath to really wreck them. When it lands ...
Four different enemies fail their saves and take triple-digit damage. Eight die instantly. Only the captain, who both makes his save and doesn't have negative resistance, survives the blast.
A few enemies come in from the sides; they're easy enough to mop up.
Including the planetar getting one with a flame arrow as he tries to run away.
Then the prince comes out. We haven't weakened him with the tadpoles, so he regenerates extremely rapidly and has very high magic resistance. It doesn't help.
And that's all three ingredients for the drow ritual found, before we've even entered the city.
This area has two rooms we haven't visited yet - the exit with its drow guards, and the demon knights' shrine. We'll leave the former alone, but the latter is fair game.
On the way over, there's an undetectable trap that deals fire damage. We just ignore that and pass right through.
For the battle itself, demon knights are immune to fire and massively magic resistant. They also drain levels with their melee attacks. So, then, I make some special preparations.
Blades on the priests to deal some extra damage, Negative Plane Protection for the party, and a self-targeted Horrid Wilting contingency for Aerys.
Send in a summon to die on the altar, and fight.
Naturally, the demon knights cast a Remove Magic. There goes Cernd and Isra's drain protection. As for the Horrid Wilting? Magic resistance. Unlike most other spells, a self-targeted Horrid Wilting does not ignore MR. And I don't know why.
So that just leaves a conventional fight - for which we still have party-wide improved haste and a planetar. More Remove Magic spells come and we lose more buffs. Then a Symbol:Fear:
Right, Chaotic Commands doesn't protect against fear. Not that we have any trouble recovering with a Cavalier in the party.
We take some level drain before the end, but still win through easily enough:
The planetar restores Cernd and throws a little healing around; we'll be back to full strength before long. Isra reaches level 20, taking ... I didn't log it, but from all the other levels it must have been Critical Strike.
And now, we face the most dangerous challenge of the Underdark - the polymorph crash bug. I'll have to be very careful in order to use my druids' shapeshifting abilities while under the influence of Adalon's illusion.
However, I know more than the last time I faced the area with shapeshifters in the party. The crash requires both a two-handed weapon (such as a shapeshift token) and something in the off hand. As long as I keep Cernd and Jaheira's off hands clear - and avoid handling shields while they're shapeshifted, because the item comparison triggers crashes too - I should be good. Cernd has already been using two-handers when not shifted, and Jaheira can easily pick up a staff as well. Put her shield away, and head over to meet Adalon.
The two blurred figures there are our two druids. They can transform back and forth ... but they're still outwardly elvish with the illusion.
An interesting look. The shapeshift token "daggers" come in character colors, which is a bit more obvious with Cernd's green.
Inside the city, we talk to Solaufein, then get to buffs and wishes. Three images later, we have fresh 20-turn Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, and PfME on the whole party, plus fresh spellbooks.
Back at the entrance, I go "shopping". Four potions for Nalia, and she can loot all the merchants with impunity. Two cases completely full of stolen scrolls. So many potions that I have to stash most of them. Firetooth +3 for Aerys. Spear of Withering +4 for Cernd's humanoid mode. Harbinger for Isra when I'm feeling silly.
We get our orders, and head back out into the hub area. The party here has an ogre ... gore off, because I don't want to lose his nice item to Harbinger petrification.
Isra immediately sets off a fireball.
Wait ... I forgot to apply a fire resistance buff. 66 damage to enemies, 8 to Isra including retaliation. And the incendiary clouds are on the way - weapon switch, right now.
That's most of them. Including the thief that was trying to sneak up behind us. The remaining enemies don't last long.
Before we meet Solaufein, we have another shop to loot - the duergar's new inventory. It's mostly just new scrolls, although we take all the +1 weapons too.
Over in the east, indiscriminate fire is not an option. So instead, I go for a couple of regular contingencies.
Slow and Greater Malison. Self-targeted, so they ignore MR.
We beat down the umber hulks quickly, but the mind flayers all started invisible.
OK, then, go for a True Seeing. Since that takes some time, two of the flayers becom visible before Anomen finishes.
Of the two remaining foes, one dies to ice and one to fire.
Wait, ice? Well, that's from the drow whip, a weapon many of their clerics get. 20% chance each hit for 20 cold damage on a failed save, along with other debuffs. We hit the flayers with both Greater Malison to lower their saves and True Seeing to remove their Improved Invisibility, so the cold damage was reasonably likely here. And as luck would have it, it came up twice in this battle.
The icon over Phaere's head? She's immune to charm and stun in this scene, but not to the cosmetic effects.
Back in the city, an aboleth takes notice and diverts us to a side quest. Eliminate Qilue and bring her brain. OK, we'll do it, because we're always up for killing drow.
Isra gets a fire protection buff this time, so she can make good use of Harbinger. Well, as long as she isn't attacking enemies with protection spells up.
All right, have some incendiary clouds instead.
They protected against melee attacks. They didn't protect against fire. Qilue herself, though - dodged with a Dimension Door. I send some of my melee after her, along with a Comet:
Anomen stayed back because of the Blade Barrier. Aerys and Nalia stayed back because of the Physical Mirror. The other three had the saves and/or stoneskins to safely engage in melee.
The fireball does nothing, because of the Minor Globe. The Comet does nothing, because ... oh, magic resistance. Clearly, not as good as I thought. It's faster than Dragon's Breath, but a weaker spell overall because it's subject to MR.
The planetar's fire storms, though ...
Those are very good against drow. Anomen's going for one of his own on the last two enemies.
x
A room full of magic-resistant mages, all killed without any use of dispelling or antimagic. All we did was cast fire spells and attack over the Mantles.
Anomen reaches level 25 here, and takes Summon Deva. The level doesn't grant any new spell slots directly, but the holy symbol he earns for it does.
Cernd got breached, so I renew his buffs and wish for a rest. First try.
After returning to the aboleth, we meet with Phaere in the tavern. She has no immediate mission for us, so we're free to branch out and see what Ust Natha has to offer - next time.
687 fire kills. Just another normal update. And while we had a bit of fun with Harbinger, its time is done. We don't have a problem with random fireballs, but Isra can just plain do better than a +3 two-handed sword.
Now that we have some breathing room, let's enjoy some dueling. First, observe Lasaonar slaughter some weaklings. Then, challenge him. Aerys will take this duel.
One chain contingency, 3x self-targeted Incendiary Clouds. Surrender is instant. If I hadn't gotten lucky on that 25% chance to fail his save, it would have taken two rounds.
Immediately afterward, we answer Chalinthra's challenge.
She dies so quickly that I can't get a shot in the pit.
Then the first mage:
I didn't even see him.
The second:
Well, at least this one got his buffs off. They didn't include protection from fire, though.
And the third:
One chain contingency. Five fights won. The only other actions Aerys took were a bit of movement to place the cloud properly in the first fight, and looting the bodies.
We did get lucky, taking them all out in one round each. Though in the mages' case, that was pretty much guaranteed. Chalinthra had a Protection from Fire memorized; if the timing had been a little different, Aerys would have needed a Remove Magic there.
I let Nalia handle the beast fights. Let's try that same Incendiary Cloud tactic ...
And already, we start out worse with the enemy saving and surviving the first round. Barely. A standard umber hulk has 74 HP, and that was 70 damage.
Then it wanders out of the cloud, and Nalia finishes with a stealthy stab.
(Base THAC0 14, +8 to hit from stealth and +4 dagger, enemy AC 2 ignoring Dex. Nalia hits on a 4 or better, and is guaranteed to get the kill if she does.)
On to round two.
It takes two rounds to deal enough damage. Fortunately, the nabassu doesn't wander off.
Round three ...
Nalia steps back to yell at Szordrin, and the sahuagin prince is finally delivered to the arena. After the cloud has already dispersed.
All right, then. We have fireballs. That's 70 out of 100 HP dealt with. Follow up with a Comet ...
It misses outright, with the prince's rapid movements. That spell's area of effect can be annoyingly small.
All right, then, something more reliable. Nalia hides behind the pillar, and comes out with a Sunfire:
That does the trick. Exactly.
Finally, the beholder. I bring out Aerys for this one, with his considerably larger collection of damage spells. And start by casting an incendiary cloud from beyond visual range.
Second cloud ... nope. Antimagic ray, and the beholder leaves the cloud entirely. It's time for plan B.
Plan B is, of course, a bunch of fireballs.
That old standard works.
In retrospect, I could have done better with that beholder fight. I know more ways to utterly humiliate beholders now than I did then. And there's not even any restriction against sending in multiple party members to these fights. It still worked, and that's good enough for me.
After the duels, we swap some tales. One tale, by Merinid, offends another patron. We thought it was funny, so we give him Barkskin and Improved Haste ...
It's not enough. Stat-wise, both are level 6 fighters with no armor, but Merinid wields a plain dagger and Tathlyn wields a +1 two-handed sword. Also, Tathlyn has 25% more HP (60 versus 48). After the buffs, Merinid deals an average of 20.5 damage per round and Tathlyn deals 8.6 damage per round - a clear advantage to Merinid, but a lucky crit or two can swing it.
There isn't much left to do at this point, so we rest. After scribing and erasing a whole bunch of scrolls, just to clear up some room. Cernd reaches level 21, for Storm of Vengeance and a boost to his elemental resistances.
After the rest, Phaere is ready to continue working with us. Up next, we have a beholder to deal with. Before the fight, I give Solaufein a Death Ward - I'd rather not risk him dying on a bad roll and blowing this whole operation.
As it is, only two rays are fired. Antimagic on Aerys, Cause Wounds on Nalia. We need to re-buff a bit, but that's all.
The next few steps are pure talking. Fake an attack on the gnomes, get Solaufein's cloak as a trophy, meet the Matron Mother. And rather than handing over the goods immediately, we go after the side quests that just opened up.
We buy a rope, then get sent after some ooze-worshippers:
The incendiary clouds don't help us much, though they do kill a summoned skeleton. What does help is the Dragon's Breath:
And that's not even the full extent of the blast. Nine enemies die. Only the gray oozes (immune to fire), the mage (protected with a spell), and one otyugh survive.
The mage Relonar goes on to breach Anomen and follow up with a Chaos/Greater Malison spll trigger to confuse him. Meanwhile, our Remove Magic fails to make him vulnerable despite a four-level advantage. OK, do it again.
That does it.
Post-battle, Aerys reaches level 21, taking Improved Alacrity. He won't use it much, but that's no reason not to have it. More importantly, he adds Protection from Magical Energy to his known spells. As for Anomen, Isra gives him a whack with Carsomyr to snap out of it.
The image I made for this fight spends its wishes, including a rest. We fix up some buffs and report back - no gratitude, but at least we haven't made any extra enemies.
Now, on to Deirex. I go in cold the first time, and get dragged off to meet Jarlaxle. The second time, we bring the fire. And more importantly, spell-breaking attacks. At level 28, we definitely can't just dispel him. Rather than the usual chain contingencies, we go with IC+IC+Pierce Shield and IC+IC+Ruby Ray, targeted at the nearest enemy. While Deirex may have been a drow in life, he doesn't have any magic resistance now. We apply spell protections all around, plus abjuration immunity for the mages.
Now that the preparations are done, the fight.
A lot of buffs there. And for once, we can see the Spell Shield. That and the Spell Turning are his only protections against Breach, so our two contingencies should get through that ... but no. They hit simultaneously, and the Spell Shield trades for both of our spells.
All right, next plan. Secret Word into Breach.
And ... nope. I can't breach him because of improved invisibility. All right, add a True Seeing.
Before that can finish, it's a Time Stop into Cloudkill and Teleport Field. Anomen loses his spell.
Then Improved Alacrity into various damage spells. It's painful, but there's a silver lining. We're hitting him now, since his PfMW expired.
Before long ...
We never did get that Breach in. The swords go down to the Skull of Death, and we get on to recovery.
Summon a planetar for healing ... nope. Spell Turning and Shield of the Archons block the Heal spell. I end up getting healing from a wish instead, alone with a rest.
Jarlaxle gets his gems back, and we're off to House Jae'llat:
Ah ... right. Let's just back off and do that right. The party-wide Improved Haste is about to expire, so there's no reason to hit them before the lich's treasure room. Also, we need to get back into our fire-immune configuration before the fight.
The second time around, Aerys calls up an image to apply PfME to the party. This image makes some wishes, one of which is party-wide Hardiness. Nice.
Call up an image, cast Dragon's Breath.
That's one guard and one priestess down. Also, while the incendiary clouds aren't exactly well-placed, they are doing some damage. A mage goes down, and a guard is brought low enough for one more melee attack to finish him.
Our druids go after Rilloa, and she falls:
Also, I've been trying to summon a planetar all this time. I give the command again, and it finally works. All while the incendiary clouds keep on giving.
The planetar casts a fire storm, and the image gets to wishing. In combat, there are more good options than usual:
Oh, yes. Party-wide Greater Deathblow ... that's one hit kills against all but the named House members. Movement speed is the limiting factor now, and three of ours move with haste.
Ist'tar comes after our mages, only to die in the cloud:
Then the planetar's fire takes out Hindra.
A round has passed, and another wish is in. This time, it's party-wide improved haste.
Also, another dead named house member. It's just mooks left, and the remaining round of Greater Deathblow is enough for all of them. Only the Aerial Servant doesn't die instantly.
House Jae'llat can be a brutal fight. Not this time, with the power of fire and wishes. We take about 20 damage total, and clear the whole thing fast enough that the initial incendiary clouds are still going.
Anomen picks up level 26 with this fight, and Globe of Blades.
One minor note: I changed some names in this fight. Specifically, I swapped names between the "Jae'llat Priestess" and "Jae'llat Mage", so that the female fighter/cleric was called a "priestess" and the male fighter/mage was called a "mage", correcting a mistake in SCS.
After that, we free some slaves and then head in to hand over the ritual ingredients. There's nothing left for us here except the plot.
That, of course, is good for a whole bunch of XP. Isra reaches level 21, taking hammer proficiency and Whirlwind Attack.
Next up, the eggs. Open the door, provoking the guards:
They go down in one hit each. Their stats betray some hasty adjustments - they have the THAC0 and saves of 11th level fighters, but they're only level 3 with 10 HP.
Then again, if they actually had the toughness of mid-level fighters, the quest would be a lot harder. If you can't kill them in a round and a half, they alert the whole city and you fail.
Inside the chamber, we go for some fire storms on the golems:
The stone golems go down instantly.
The clay golems, being resistant, last a little longer. But then, everyone in the party can deal crushing damage to finish them off. The swap is made.
Phaere gets the other fake eggs, and we're off to the ritual. Cutscene fire brings down the two ambitious drow:
The demon lord leaves. We could leave too ... but I'd like to deliver a message to Ust Natha first. A message written in blood and smoking corpses.
718 total fire kills. Another thirty or so, as drow resistance doesn't even slow us down.
"A letter from Mr. Osaki asks, 'how do I get rid of these nasty roaches?' Easy, just burn your house down!"
"We got another letter from Osaki. He says: 'I burned my house down. What should I do now?' How should I know, fool?"
— DJ Professor K, Jet Set Radio
This update will consist entirely of one extended battle. The longest battle in the game, and the hardest given when it comes and the resources available to the party. Over 150 enemies at Insane difficulty, worth over 1 million XP. It was not designed with the intent of being beatable, and many parties simply don't have a chance. I speak, of course, of the SCS version of Ust Natha's defenders.
A comparison with some horde battles from ToB:
- Watcher's Keep orcs: Enemies spawn as fast as you kill them for ten rounds. No more than ten foes at a time.
- Yaga-Shura's army: 63 enemies, or they stop spawning in if you push to him. No more than 12 active at any one time, and the regular soldiers don't even have magic weapons.
- Sendai's slaves: Four enemies every 2 rounds, until you push to the slavemaster. No upper limit, but also no high-level enemies or spellcasters.
- Ust Natha: One wave of up to 15 enemies (18 for the last) every 4-5 rounds, for a total of 156 foes. A new wave can spawn if there are less than fifteen enemies out, for nearly thirty enemies active at a time. The warriors are well-equipped, spellcasters are included, and later waves have high-level leaders.
So, against all that, what do we have? We have fire. Lots of fire.
I choose the tavern as my battlefield, setting up on the stairs to the bartender. Renew some buffs, then start the battle.
A simple beginning. We cast some fire storms, make an image, and attack the bartender. We'll be facing several weaker waves at first, along with those drow already present in the bar.
To start with, Baragh and Nym Khalazza run, while Ilmryn and Szordrin attack and die. The image fills the area at the foot of the stairs with incendiary clouds, and they soon claim a victim:
With all of the image's clouds out, it starts wishing. That's when the first wave arrives - five level 9 fighters and one level 12/12 fighter/mage.
I get a wish here that's short on good options, and end up choosing to haste everybody. Then again, that's improved haste for everyone currently present on the map, and it'll last considerably longer than the current wave of enemies does. On balance, it's quite good for us.
Cernd gains enough XP for level 22, and I move to take that now in the middle of the battle. It's a THAC0 boost when he's in human form, after all. This involves casting Remove Curse on him so he can keep both the Claw of Kazgaroth and his personal cloak.
And then, before I can finish with that, a wish comes up Time Stop/Improved Alacrity. Well, then. Unleash all the fire.
Dragon's Breath. Comet. Delayed Blast Fireball. Fireball. Sunfire. When time resumes, all three of the currently visible drow burn.
The image is spent now, but I'll keep it out as long as the incendiary clouds are up. To bridge the gap, a planetar gets into the action with some fire storms.
Before long, the clouds expire. OK, time to whack the image and make a new one.
The new image wastes no time in blanketing the area with fire, and the third wave arrives.
How do I know it's the third wave? Because I saw some cleric buffs in the log. The second wave is the weakest of all with just four fighters, while the third brings that up to six fighters and a level 10 cleric.
I'm doing my best to keep the party back and draw enemies into the killing field, but it's a constant struggle; they love to charge forward and attack. Then again, with their current haste, they usually do pretty well at that.
The current incendiary clouds mostly belong to Nalia, and she starts picking up kills:
Also, a level. Level 21 for her, picking up Dragon's Breath and a 2-point save improvement. With the way innate spell HLAs work, she can use that DB immediately without needing to rest ... but she'll wait for a more target-rich environment.
We keep casting clouds, but no enemies are dying. We must be between waves right now. Until we aren't.
The fifth wave has arrived. Ten level 9 fighters, a level 10 cleric, a level 14 cleric, a level 10 mage, a level 14 mage, and a level 10/9 fighter/cleric. This is the standard full-strength wave, and from here on out the battle just won't let up.
Meanwhile, the image has moved on from casting clouds to wishing. Nothing too exciting yet, but Nalia tries out her new Dragon's Breath:
Three kills for that - two warriors and the lesser mage. Enemies keep running into our clouds and dying as well - including the stronger mage.
This isn't luck. SCS mages never memorize elemental protection spells if they're under level 16. Same with clerics. Only the three "boss" spellcasters of waves 11, 13, and 15 have any chance of elemental protection in here.
We pick up that "improved haste for everyone" wish. With as fast as the drow are dying already, hasting them won't make a bit of difference. On the flip side, our buffs are starting to fade. An enemy wizard casts Chaos, and I notice the issue:
We didn't get any actual confusion, but we should make that impossible. Death Ward for both mages, Chaotic Commands for Nalia.
Then a double Acid Arrow minor sequencer lands on Nalia. That's the first damage we've taken in the battle, at least six waves in.
The clouds are starting to thin out, and the drow are crowding in. Time for some heavier fire from the image:
That takes out three warriors and a priestess. More kills follow in the normal flow of battle, and the image adds a Comet on another clump:
It may not ignore MR, but it can still get lucky.
Finally, the clouds fully expire. Time to whack the image and get a new one.
Nalia has lost her buffs to a Breach as well. She has renewed her stoneskin, but the others will require allies' time.
And that's a magical sword that has made its way up the stairs. Aerys has Death Fog rather than Death Spell, and Nalia doesn't have Death Spell memorized - so planetar vorpal attacks are our best way of killing swords. It's really quite inconvenient having one this far back.
Still, I can at least do something about the drow. The new image calls up a planetar, then starts working on the fire.
One cloud on the way, but that force will need a lot more than one. Really, the situation calls for an immediate Dragon's Breath:
Much better. Seven kills for that one spell, and we have some breathing room. The image continues casting clouds, and Isra falls back for healing. Also, the drow are casting lightning spells, so I have Cernd cast some Protection from Lightning.
The clouds continue their work, now dense enough to get kills even through MR:
The highlighted death is a priestess in Sanctuary. Sanctuary doesn't help against incendiary clouds.
Oh, yeah, that's the planetar engaging the magical sword up on the stairs. Keeps it out of the way of the party.
Another wave arrives, and several of them die immediately:
Then the last cloud goes up, and the image makes the transition to wishing. But ... wait, the real Aerys is up to something ...
That's the original Aerys, helpless with no AC protection, charging down the stairs to join in the fight. Presumably by attacking a sword in melee, which is just a complete waste. Well, at least we get control back as soon as he takes any damage. This shouldn't be too bad ...
The planetar is mixing in fire storms as well, and the enemies are dying fast.
Wishes ... party-wide improved haste, though that doesn't erase the existing Slow effects. And then, I finally get lucky.
Rest. Everyone has their spells back, except the image. Nalia can cast clouds. The priests can cast fire storms. And we can even renew some buffs that have been breached.
The clouds disperse, but they - and the fire storms - have done their job. There are no drow in sight.
So instead, we're hitting swords with vorpal hits. And just after that shot, we get the other one. It's a true lull in the battle.
But not for long. Another wave appears. I'm pretty sure this is wave 10. We have some fire storms out, but it's definitely time to whack the image and get a new one.
The priests are all silenced too; we're very short on spellcasting capability right now.
The new image hasn't even gotten around to putting up any incendiary clouds yet when the next wave arrives. Wave 11, complete with demons.
We start casting clouds, but something bad happens; Isra gets confused. She had a 90% chance of making her save, but that wasn't certaintly. Let's see, what can we do about that ... Anomen might be able to cast a dispel. But planetars cast faster ... yeah, I didn't realize at the time that planetars cast their priest spells at level 1. That's not going to work. As for dispel-on-hit weapons, Isra is carrying both Carsomyr and the dispelling arrows.
The planetar takes down the matron mother, but she's actually not the most troublesome enemy in this wave.
The most troublesome enemy is that glabrezu. It follows up that teleport with a True Sight. No more image, and no chance of a new one until we take the demon down.
The incendiary clouds that the image cast stay up, but now they're dealing anonymous damage. We won't get credit or experience for any of their kills, though I'll still track them. I try to add some more fire to the field with Anomen, but a sword goes after him and he loses his spell to the disruption. The damage also drops him into the red.
The planetar makes that dispel attempt:
No effect. A level 1 dispel just doesn't do anything. Well, at least Isra is doing good work even while confused.
But not for long. Soon, she heads farther out in her confused rampage, and we just can't support her enough to keep her alive.
If we had a deva out instead of a planetar, the deva's dispel would have easily solved Isra's problem. But no. Planetars are better at just about everything else, especially fire-based offense, so that's what we use.
I keep trying to tell Nalia to cast spells ... oh. She's silenced. That's why she isn't casting anything.
And then, the glabrezu finally goes down.
Now we can finally bring out a new image, and get some fire going. Renew planetar. Then a Dragon Breath.
Four kills from that spell, and we add some clouds for more.
Then golems start showing up. We've reached wave 13.
All right. It's fire storm time. We're only killing those things if we completely ignore MR, after all. And lucky for us, we have some already going.
Then I roll a really nice wish. Party-wide Greater Deathblow. You've seen what that does to groups of drow before ...
... but it doesn't do anything this time. The djinn gets interrupted, and fails to apply the effect.
Still, the rest of the package is working. Another golem burns, and we pull the party back to draw enemies in. Then the archmage comes into view.
Improved Mantle, abjuration immunity, protection from the elements, and a self-targeted incendiary cloud. Well, thanks for the MR-ignoring cloud. That's definitely going to kill some drow for us.
The archmage follows up with a Time Stop, using it to summon a sword and aim some lightning at the real Aerys (who again ran down into harm's way). Mostly harmless. What isn't ... the physical attacks. Aerys' stoneskins run out, and he takes damage from a drow bolt. The image will be dismissed momentarily.
As soon as I get control back, he retreats up the stairs again. The fire storms continue, and we pick up the experience for a new level.
Level 27 for Anomen. His new spell is Storm of Vengeance. Sadly, the instant death effect stops at level 8; we can't kill either drow warriors or magical swords with it.
The archmage aims a Clenched Fist at Aerys; he responds with a stoneskin, only taking damage for the initial round. Then a new image for some more action:
Let's see about taking down that archmage. First, a Spell Thrust. Also, raise Isra.
Follow up that Spell Thrust with a Remove Magic. Not good enough; the fire protection is still up, presumably because we failed the level check.
But before I can do any more about that mage ...
The final wave is here. Including two glabrezu, so that image isn't going to last. And this wave has a lot of clerics in it. New priority: burn them
Two Dragon's Breaths. A bunch of drow burn. And the balors are nice enough to add some fire storms for us to kill even more.
That was the planetar trying to dispel the archmage, by the way. A waste of time, given what I know now. Go do something productive instead, like attacking a balor.
Jaheira gets hit with an Implosion. Remove Paralysis that...
Balor down. On the very first swing, no less. Excellent. Now go for some other demons. Also, Anomen fails his save against a nabassu's gaze and is stuck ... we only have the one Remove Paralysis. But that doesn't last, and soon he's back in the action. Our melee takes out a glabrezu, and the planetar takes out the other ... with Aerys' image still there. OK, then, keep wishing.
This leads to a choice between a rest and party-wide Hardiness; at this stage of the fight, I want the immediate advantage more. Hardiness it is. Then the archmage reminds me that he's still around ...
Horrid Wilting aimed at Anomen. I tried to give him a PfME, but it wasn't fast enough. At least he saved, and survived.
On the bright side, Cernd took out the other nabassu. Only one demon remains.
Nalia's down there in the wilted area; the zero damage also disrupts here attempt to cast an Incendiary Cloud.
With the enemies starting to get thin, I draw a really helpful wish: heal everybody.
Now everyone's back in fighting form. The planetar vorpals the second balor, and Aerys finally dispel's the archmage's defenses. He dies immediately.
That just leaves the matron mother. Lower her resistance with Nalia's Pierce/Pierce/Breach spell trigger, apply fire.
Wait, no damage? Oh. She actually cast Protection from Fire, and had Shield of the Archons up to eat the Breach. Well, she's not immune to physical attacks.
And with that, the battle is over. All that remains is to gather up the loot and count the kills.
My final count, including the drow that started in the bar: 165 kills for nearly a million XP, including some summons. Most of them were 4000 XP drow warriors. About a quarter of my kills each went to Aerys' images and to planetars. Enemy friendly fire - that archmage's incendiary cloud and balor fire storms - took out nine enemies worth 59K XP. We had six uncredited kills for 34K XP, from clouds cast by the image that the glabrezu popped. I was able to fully account for all but two kills, a summoned skeleton and a fighter/cleric. ("Handmaiden of Lolth" in my naming scheme)
If I hadn't gone through and assigned distinctive names, there's just no way I would have been able to keep the kills straight. This battle is the main reason for my drow renaming tweak.
As for fire kills? Counting only those kills that we actually got credit/XP for, the party killed exactly 100 enemies with fire over the course of the battle. That brings the total to 818 fire kills for all of BG2.
With as many updates as this story has, I've sometimes had trouble finding enough appropriately themed quotes to fill them. Even so, I held some back for the right occasion. Like this one. From the start, I knew where this quote would go.
"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
- Ripley, Aliens
We've cleared out the organized resistance in Ust Natha, but there are still plenty of drow around, and they're all hostile now. But before we get to that, we take a break to restore our buffs. I include an image of Aerys in this, which wishes after it's done casting PfME ... Hardiness and Improved Haste. Well, that's a serious boost to the party's combat effectiveness.
I also shuffle some equipment; Anomen switches from the dragon helm and shield to the helm of defense and his personal shield, leaving the dragon helm free for Isra. She couples it with the Gorgon Plate, allowing her to put something more broadly useful in her off hand - Belm. As long as that Improved Haste is up, she has 9 APR in dual-wield mode. She can also switch to two-handed mode at a moment's notice, without waiting for a fire resistance buff. This is all a temporary measure, of course; Isra will have a better option for her fire immunity before long.
I also shuffle some belts; since Anomen has his holy symbol now, he doesn't need the 19 strength belt. Nalia gets it instead and switches to throwing daggers as her primary weapon.
Anyway, we head upstairs with the party-wide buffs running.
Needless to say, it all goes very quickly. There's one spot up here that I use some fire for: the cage.
A couple fire storms, and the prisoners die.
Outside the tavern, there's a well-armed party:
Thase enemies, plus a few near the city entrance, are the vanilla reinforcements for Ust Natha. Just one group to cover the whole city area, and only half as strong as a standard wave in the SCS battle.
I drop a Dragon Breath on them. Despite making his save, the wizard dies instantly. The warriors don't all die immediately, but they're easy to mop up.
The platform at the city entrance comes next.
The merchants die easily enough, but there's also an invisible mage with a Mantle up. I aim a fire storm at his presumed location. The rest of the city reinforcements show up - but we still have that Improved Haste going.
It's not all going our way, though. Cernd gets breached, so he's a bit more vulnerable to that wizard.
The party starts working on the torturers; as spellcasters, they're a bit more dangerous. Meanwhile, Cernd is soloing the wizard - and a summoned nishruu really isn't going to help.
After all, a nishruu's attack counts as nonmagical. It can't hit Cernd at all. In the end, even never taking down the mage's stoneskin, Cernd gets enough damage through for the kill.
In the end, we get through it all with no real trouble. We merely have to re-buff Cernd.
The upper levels come next.
Ah, a fighter/mage. He goes for PfMW, we go for fire. His haste poses a bit of an issue, as he runs out of the storm area to engage in melee, but we draw him back in easily enough.
In the end, it's Jaheira that gets the kill. Isra and Anomen would have broken through eventually with their normal weapons, but fire was faster.
There are a few foes in the spider pit, and then it's on to the Temple of Lolth for the last pocket of resistance. I summon a planetar for this part.
Said planetar, of course, adds some fire.
That's one kill. And the Sanctuary won't protect the Handmaiden from the fire storm.
Or ... the planetar could just attack her.
That's not how Sanctuary is supposed to work.
The path to the former egg chamber brings a few more guards:
And with that, Ust Natha has nothing left. The city has been completely vanquished.
Now, we return to Adalon. I buff up in preparation for a fight, and wish-rest ... then just give her the eggs. The fight comes after.
We are teleported to the exit, where the drow party is still in place. Adalon moves to attack some of them, but before she can ...
Our clouds trigger, damaging her. Several drow die instantly, and the dragon in humanoid form gets mad. But rather than stay and fight, she just leaves.
The biggest threat here is the drow archmage. He has fire protection and abjuration immunity up, but only an Improved Mantle as a combat defense. Isra can dispel the elemental protections, then.
Then some bad luck comes up. A Chaotic Commands wears off at the exact wrong time, and ...
Nalia gets stunned.
Still, the kills continue even without our direct input. A Slow hits our party, affecting Isra, and so the archmage isn't dispelled quite fast enough:
Horrid Wilting into Delayed Blast Fireball. Mostly harmless; only Jaheira takes damage from the first, and the second doesn't hurt anyone on our side.
Then the time stop ends. The dispelling hit lands, and it's over for that mage.
The last enemy there is the priestess, who also has fire immunity up. She goes down to the planetar's Globe of Blades.
With the battle over, we pick up a couple levels. Aerys reaches level 22, for an extra level 6 spell slot, Skull Trap, and Mordenkainen's Sword. Cernd reaches level 23, and takes Elemental Summoning.
Since Adalon gets triple health from SCS, there was no real way to kill her there. We just can't burn through 750 HP in the very short time before she's gone. On the other hand, antagonizing her does allow us to claim all ten kills for the exit party.
I go for a wish sequence before heading up, and the log informs me that there are kuo-toa present. They respawned? OK, I'll kill them too before heading up.
Of course, we have some buffs for this. Party-wide Greater Deathblow and Improved Haste really tears through them.
There's another group on the other side:
The Greater Deathblow has expired, so this bunch are slightly slower to die.
Isra also picks up level 22 here, and a second Hardiness.
And now, we head out the door.
Chain contingencies are ready ...
And done. No more drow here.
For the second part of the area, we have elf allies. No fire spells, then. And I have a number here, but no picture. Oops.
We pick up some fire kills from melee attacks anyway.
And after we're done ... we head back down to sell off all of the drow gear we've accumulated. Once that's done and we've picked up everything we stashed, it's back up to the surface and Elhan. He hands over stakes and holy water, and we're off to Athkatla.
On the way there, we meet Drizzt. This could be awkward...
He doesn't recall us. Whew. Let's leave it that way.
I don't want his help against the vampires, so we just go our separate ways.
Note that picking a fight is a very bad idea here; it mortally offends Jaheira, and she goes hostile if you do that.
We stop off at the city gates, and use the top floor of the Crooked Crane to buff. Trouble is coming. And on the way to our stash spot inside the Copper Coronet, it arrives.
With innocents right there, we're not using any indiscriminate fire spells. Or any fire spells, actually. At this point, I still hadn't internalized that Comet and Dragon Greath were safe to use around neutrals.
Instead, Aerys opens with a Chaos. Kruin is confused before he can cast any offensive spells. The only real trouble we run into comes from the anti-paladin:
A dispelling hit there. The anti-paladin's weapon is an undroppable Ir'revrykal; 50% chance of dispelling, with no level check.
Still, it doesn't take long to clear out the mooks. After that's done, the party just gangs up on Kruin until his defenses run out.
We didn't bother taking down his Mantle. It's not like he posed a threat with the confusion active.
After stashing our stuff and picking up a new batch of potions, it's over to Ribald. His new stock contains some things we want: eight scrolls of new spells for Nalia, and the Helm of Brilliance for Isra. After the shuffle is complete, Anomen has the dragon set of helm, armor, and shield, while Isra has the Helm of Brilliance and ring of fire resistance with normal full plate.
Finally, we can get back to questing. We picked up a key the last time we were in mainland Amn, and it's time to use it. Prepare contingencies, and enter the illithid lair:
The clouds don't quite catch everyone in the area of effect.
That's what the follow-up Dragon's Breath is for. Meanwhile, Jaheira gets brain-sucked. I pull her back to avoid a second hit, and the mind flayer follows her into the cloud. Dead.
The breath lands, bringing down a mage and a fighter. After that, the rest is trivial.
All right, time for a fresh start on the next room. Image wishes: 25 stats, rest. Kill it, make the new contingencies. Also, Nalia learns her new spells.
The second room has one umber hulk and a bunch of illithids.
They fare a little better than the other room, because the clouds go off early.
We add some breath to clear out the other half of the room:
Done. Isra took a chunk of damage from ballistic attacks, and the planetar healed her.
Finally, it's on to the last room. We go for a rest again, and get it on the first try.
The alhoon opens with a Remove Magic sequencer. Only the buffs Anomen cast survive. Since it's level 20 and our casters range from level 21 to 23, it got lucky - or the multiple dispel attempts paid off.
I aim a Remove Magic at the alhoon, but it doesn't matter. The creature didn't put up fire protection, and it runs right into the cloud.
Now we just have to beat the remaining ulitharids. One teleports into the cloud and dies. The other goes down in melee.
Anomen reaches level 28 in that last battle. He takes Energy Blades as his new spell, picks up a fifth level 7 spell slot, and takes his third dot in slings. We also claim the hammer of thunderbolts - there's only one piece we still need for Crom Faeyr.
We finish the day with a trip to the docks to assemble the Gesen bow and get some real rest. Our business in Athkatla is done for the moment.
871 total fire kills. Still a lot, but all the battles in this update don't add up to as much as the one last time.
"You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!"
— Taylor, Planet of the Apes
We have one more target to hit before dealing with the vampires: the ruined temple near the Umar Hills. I don't want to trudge through an undead-infested ruin to restore Jaheira after she gets turned, after all.
On the way over, we run into some trouble:
They imitate our appearance. But they don't copy our fire immunity.
Not even the ones that look like fire elementals.
That's one incendiary cloud and one dragon's breath, by the way.
And that's what it looks like when the second spell lands. While we had a few melee attacks in there, essentially all of the damage was fire.
At the temple itself, there are plenty of shadows and shade wolves out in the grounds. Anomen obliterates them with turning, and we enter the ruin. With Cernd fatigued (the rest at Cromwell's shop comes at the beginning of the day), it's time for a wish-rest. But first, let's clear out the bridge.
Make some clouds, trigger the summoning trap. Toast.
Now we prepare contingencies, wish-rest, and buff. During this process, I send Isra to wake up the enemy. The lich has abjuration immunity and the usual damage type protections, but no other spell defenses yet.
Once buffed properly, I send in the image along with Nalia. Nalia sets off her Chain Contingency, while the image hits the lich with a Spell Thrust:
At the time, I blamed that failure on a Spell Shield. Now, I know that it's because liches are immune to level 4 spells (Spell Thrust hits as level 4).
All other protection removers work on liches, and on spellcasting demiliches. Rakshasas are also immune to Pierce Magic, Ruby Ray, and Warding Whip.
No matter. I have time. The image lands a Spellstrike the next round, before being zapped by a True Sight.
Now if only I'd opened on that, I could have had the lich breached already.
We have at least wiped out all of the minions except the fire-immune bone golems. I bring up the party for that.
And now the real Aerys heads in for the breach. Two rounds later ...
Meanwhile, the rest of the party was just hanging out in the fire pit. It's not like it can hurt us.
Wait for the clouds to disperse, disarm the traps. Speaking with the ghosts brings different dialogue than usual; we have to backtrack a bit for the bones.
There's another lich ahead, and I'll have Aerys bring the fire this time.
It has similar protections, including abjuration immunity. I go for a Secret Word and a Spellstrike on round one this time, then a Dispel Magic from Anomen. Since the random liches are only level 25, it has enough of an advantage to most likely take down the protections.
It's not quite fast enough ...
... but the Time Stop isn't that harmful. A Cloudkill targeting Jaheira, a Warding Whip for Nalia, and a Spell Trigger for three copies of Animate Dead also centered on Nalia. Then the dispel lands. Half of our protections fall, but the lich's protections remain.
All right. Just breach it.
The lich gets in one nasty move before the end - a triple Skull Trap sequencer.
It's painful with our PfME down, but SCS nerfs it to 12d6 maximum. None of our people die, and healing up is easy.
All right. Now it's time to cross the puzzle floor. Step only on the tiles to spell out -
Or we could just ignore it and run right over. It's only fire, after all.
We help a shadow cross the trap, but it just can't leave well enough alone.
Two flame strikes of our own deal with that.
All that remains up here is to perform the rituals and unlock the final door. We prepare for battle beyond ...
The contingencies are already in place, of course. Summoning the planetar doesn't make the dragon hostile, so we add fire elementals on the next round ...
Dragon fear, and Anomen panics? That's OK, we have a Cavalier. The contingencies go off. Six incendiary clouds, a Greater Malison, and a Horror. All self-targeted so they ignor magic resistance.
We've basically won now. There's just a bunch of HP to burn down.
Nalia gets the kill. Her top two kills are now a lich and the dragon from this dungeon.
We took one hit each on Anomen and Isra, which was all the damage we suffered. And it's here that I realize Chaotic Commands doesn't protect against fear. We'll need to add Remove Fear to the buffing routine.
Against the Shade Lord? I don't bother with drain protection. Instead, I just establish new chain contingencies.
It's over instantly. And that's Aerys' new top kill, displacing the lich from earlier in the dungeon.
One aggressive animal later, we're back in Imnesvale. The reward there isn't impressive. The new item we forge in Athkatla is.
Crom Faeyr is comparable to the various endgame ToB weapons. Very high damage including an elemental component, plus a powerful on-hit effect that instantly slays many troublesome enemies. And you get it earlier, in SoA chapter 6.
At least, that's what I'd say if the weapon didn't also grant strength 25 when equipped. With that as well, it's just the most powerful weapon in the game. Any party that can use it should.
Yes, you're giving up good items for this. It's worth it. In our case, we weren't using the gauntlets anyway, so Isra just trades 21 strength from a belt for 25 from a weapon.
Isra isn't specialized in hammers yet, so it's an off-hand weapon for now. Belm goes into storage, because our party with a dual-wielding warrior and two druids has no use for it.
It's currently hour 3, and entering the graveyard advances time to midnight. Besides, Cernd is fatigued. We rest first, then head over to the graveyard. We haven't recruited any aid. We don't need any.
Travel to the graveyard, exchange taunts with Bodhi ... and Jaheira doesn't get turned. That's nice. Now, we buff up and take the fight to them. Standard buffs, plus a wish sequence for the image I used ...
We start things out with Improved Haste and Greater Deathblow. Eight out of ten attack rolls hit, and all four hits are instantly lethal. The enemies make one attack roll, and roll a natural 1 against Cernd. It would have taken a natural 20 to hit him. With that, the graveyard is clear.
All right, then. On to the lair. The deathblows run out, but we're still hasted. For the first group, Aerys heads forward invisibly and triggers his contingency:
Aerys breaks invisibility with an attack, but that's OK. He puts up PfMW, and stays in the cloud to draw enemies in.
Or try, anyway. Isra gets the first two kills:
Vampires just wander too much to pin down in an incendiary cloud.
The other named vampire from this group, though ...
That's one for Aerys and the cloud.
On to the blood pool room, and Nalia handles this one.
One instant death, and some more enemies that need to be drawn in. PfMW, then start shooting.
Also, apply a Comet. Uh ... and that damage is self-inflicted. Nalia forgot to put on the fire resistance ring again.
Then comes a Dragon's Breath.
That gets the reinforcements. Or, at least, most of them. Two vampires and a dire wolf get past the cloud to die at the party's hands later, as Nalia exits the room.
While all that was going on, Aerys called up an image to wish for a rest. Our mages are recharged and ready for the next enemies. And for the central room, Aerys provides an image.
No damage on Tanova, so the image heads over and casts Sunfire to hurt her.
That fiend summoning is of some concern, though. It spots Aerys so that Tanova activates her prebuffs. Worse, it's a glabrezu. True Sight from the demon, and the image is gone.
On the other hand ... no fire protection. Tanova approaches the party, and we just drop a Comet on her.
With that, the way down is open. Who needs holy water?
The Guard to the east is a bit trickier; he isn't hostile until after a conversation and goes invisible immediately after that, so we it's hard to use fire.
On the other hand, we also have an epic cleric. Splat.
The spike room and its vampiric mists are handled by Cernd. Between iron skins and normal weapon immunity, we don't have any trouble there. The gauntlets go to Jaheira.
Now, one last thing up here. Looking at the map, there's another vampire spawning trigger - out in the entrance hall that we used in the other version of this map. We're not the sort to skip fights, so let's set that off.
They spawn up in this corridor. Between that contingency and some follow-up clouds, the image gets nearly all of them. One runs away into the spike room, and another image eliminates it.
A few wishes follow. I get improved haste and a rest, so the party will be at full power for Bodhi.
The kill count finds four uncredited vampires. I can account for three of them, but one remains a mystery.
Now, we head down. Contingencies are in place, a planetar has been summoned, and we've buffed the party with cold resistance on top of the usual.
That cloud of bats is targeted on Anomen. As such, I have him retreat so that it doesn't afflict the rest of the party. The mages cast PfMW, the druids bash onve vampire, and Isra goes after the grimwarders.
Then the clouds trigger.
One elder vampire is already down. The mages didn't put up fire protection, so they're hurting badly. And now, we get some dueling fireshield fun:
Cernd hits Bodhi. Her cold shield retaliates. And the fire elemental shield retaliates for that. In fact, all of our priests are cold immune at the moment. They can engage Bodhi in melee without taking any extra damage.
The mages make their presence known. Hazarmaveth sneak-attacks Jaheira to drink blood, before burning in the clouds. Manasseh follows, without managing an attack:
Also, ouch. Five levels of drain really hurts. Fortunately, I have a planetar out to cure that.
Bodhi drops to near death, and speaks up - but at this difficulty, she gets a second wind. That doesn't last long.
Cernd gets the kill, with melee fire.
Also, that's not the same level drain as before on Jaheira. That's a new five levels of drain. Well, the planetar can cast Restoration up to three times. Just do it again.
Reconciling the kills again ... the vampire death scripts strike again. Cernd is denied credit for killing Bodhi, the single highest XP value of any kill in the game. On the whole ... no help, no holy water, no problem.
Staking Bodhi brings a bunch of levels. Aerys makes it to level 23, taking an extra level 7 spell slot, Spirit Armor, and Simulacrum. Isra reaches level 23, taking Smite. Anomen reaches level 29, taking Elemental Summoning - his last HLA. Cernd reaches level 24 for club proficiency, Greater Elemental Summoning, and a 10% boost to elemental resistances. He's fire immune in werewolf form now, though he'll still use fire elemental form most of the time.
Before we leave, there are some minor encounters out in the open area to the south.
First, these skeleton warriors. They're guarding some high-level scrolls, so they're very much worth killing.
That Dragon's Breath gets two out of three, by the way.
Second, some spiders.
This duplicates a trigger from the other version of the map. We might as well go there.
And with that, I end the session. We could move on to chapter 7 now, but there's still a good deal of content out there.
Total fire kills: 953. The rats some of those vampires summoned really run up the numbers.
"Because. They can't grab me if I'm on fire."
- Dan McNinja, The Adventures of Dr. McNinja
After wiping out the vampires, we stay in Athkatla for our next quest. The cult of the Unseeing Eye has been left alone for a while, and it's time for that to end. Re-applying our buffs, the image used wishes up a rest, so we're at full strength again. Plus improved haste, so we're moving fast.
Wait, piercing damage? Oh, Cernd forgot to change into elemental form there.
Keldorn heads back to the Radiant Heart, and we go down. The first major room starts empty, but calls up some hell hounds as an ambush:
We burn the shadows coming from the next room, while the hell hounds try to burn us. That doesn't go well for them. Add some scorchers as the shadows keep coming:
All right, the hell hounds could have hurt us with their bites. But at a modified THAC0 of 12, that would require a lucky roll. It didn't happen.
Past the open chamber and another corridor, we have the gas trap room.
Nalia is there to unlock the doors, while Cernd is there to kill the vampiric mists in melee. He takes a hit, but - weapon ineffective. That's why I chose him. Meanwhile, both of them can ignore the Cloudkill due to poison immunity.
One mist does escape the room, unfortunately:
Vampiric mists have ridiculously good THAC0 - zero. Add the bonus for attacking from stealth, and Isra didn't have a chance.
Of course, then we just kill it. And call up a deva to ... devas don't get restoration. I guess she'll just have to wait for a planetar.
Now we talk to Gaal and get the key that allows us to progress. The defectors help us out with some more exposition, and then it's time to burn some shadows:
An image handles that. The fire kills all of them except one shadow fiend, which we eliminate in melee. Then the image summons a planetar, which rectifies that mistake from earlier and restores Isra.
Down below, we kill a few spiders before setting up for the summoning trap. Lots of incendiary clouds.
Trigger the trap repeatedly, and just let them all die. 45K easy XP before it shuts off.
Wishing after the cloud, we get five good ones. Two potions, Improved Haste, Hardiness, and a rest.
The path ahead brings some random monsters. One fireball for the gibberlings:
Three fireballs for the ghasts and mummies:
That brings us to the bridge. The puzzle's not hard, but the enemies beyond are not to be trifled with.
Still, we know what to do with their ilk. An image, launching a triple-cloud contingency. All but one die in two rounds, and the image walks up to Sunfire that last one.
Or not. It decided to head back into the cloud, and no action was needed.
There are also some spectral undead to the north. Isra breaks invisibility to attack the shadow fiends, while Aerys burns the rest.
With the enemies clear, we bring up the party. Loot a container, disarm a trap, and talk to the "diseased ones" beyond.
That brings us to the last encounter down here. With Aerys' Bhaalspawn healing unavailable, we turn to an equally quick option:
Namely, Neutralize Poison. Casting time 1, so we're definitely not getting interrupted.
With that, the avatar returns and gives us half of the rift device. We have a plan. Some talking, and then we're off to the undead village. It can be a nasty spot for an underprepared party - you can't back out - but we're certainly not underprepared for anything.
Against the random undead out here, I call up an image to have some fun:
Three contingent clouds launched from invisibility for the first group. Then a single cloud for the second group.
And a final cloud for the third group.
Two mummies survive the first round's damage. They don't survive to reach the image.
Now that the enemies are all dealt with, the image makes some wishes. We pick up a free rest, but don't finish all five wishes. The image unsummons, leaving behind a confused djinn.
You can't talk to it. It just stays there, waiting for quite a while.
That brings us to the hut.
Pure autopilot here. Some die to Anomen's turning, some to attacks. And then the real threat spawns. All right, now we take control and do things right.
Before engaging, we step outside to prepare incendiary contingencies. One set self-targeted, one aimed at the nearest enemy. Also, apply abjuration immunity and improved invisibility.
Engage.
Oh dear. I'm doing it again. Spell Thrust ineffective, because it always is against liches. And now it'll take longer to get through the defenses and breach the lich.
The other half of the plan works properly, though.
Except for Nalia getting burned by her carelessness again. Oops. Also, that's a Spellstrike hitting Nalia. We follow with a Spellstrike and a Breach of our own, before the lich can take advantage and bring down Nalia's other defenses.
Also, we've brought the warriors forward to deal with the bone golems. The breached lich responds by re-establishing PfMW. And then it dies.
The gauntlets of dexterity are ours. Anomen claims them, for four more points of AC.
And now, with that cleaned up, it's on to the beholder tunnels. We did get dispelled and breached, so I re-establish those buffs before moving on. And wish-rest, so my beholder-killing images can work at full strength.
Not that they need it. Three incendiary clouds for a single gauth is serious overkill.
That image follows up with some sunfire against the next couple enemies:
In addition to that beholder, a gauth already burned. Note that this image is still fully invisible.
The image comes out of invisibility for the next gauth:
A Comet did most of the damage on that one, with Burning Hands for the last sliver.
On to a new image. The lair has been pretty empty ... we missed a spawn trigger the first time through.
There they are. Three clouds, and they're dead. One more beholder gets some sunfire, and now it's just the blind priests in the center. I have Nalia provide the fire here:
Ah, this contingency seems to be slow to trigger. Two bears are already down by the time it goes off.
Have you heard the word? The word is "Burn".
The only negative effect we take in that fight is a Silence on Cernd.
Now, on to one last fight in here. We grab the second piece of the Rift Device and call up the Unseeing Eye.
Use the device, of course. The Eye has ridiculously good defenses before you do so - lich immunities plus immunity to level 6-9 spells and 95% physical resistance, and you need +4 weapons to hurt it. We still might be able to beat it down with fire elemental attacks, but I have no interest in playing that out fully.
Immediately after that shot, the buffs activate. Improved Mantle, Spell Deflection, and summon a pair of Death Tyrants. I go to tap the Eye with Carsomyr ...
... and the chain contingency triggers. No need.
The enemies in that fight used two rays. Cause Wounds on Nalia (immune to the damage) and Flesh to Stone on Anomen (saved). That ... our standard buffs don't protect from petrification, and Anomen's spell save isn't good enough either. There was a real risk of stoning him.
So, options. I could add PfP to the buff routine when the party faces beholders, but that's not a spell on Aerys' list. Nalia would have to spend her level 1 slots on that. Or, I could boost his saves. In particular, Aerys knows Spirit Armor, and it has a two-hour duration - we should have that up all the time. And from now on, we will. Maybe not the full party, but most of them. Certainly always Anomen (for the saves) and the two mages (for the AC).
Now, for the anticlimax. We still have some cult remnants to clear up.
Just one image for some fire here. Incendiary clouds, and then a Comet.
All right, the Comet is after that shot. We get one important item out of this encounter: the belt that grants eight hours of 18 constitution. With our wish-resting, we could apply that to multiple party members - if we remember to.
The remaining cultists all try to run. They don't all succeed.
There's also a 95-difficulty lock. Nalia can't pick that even with the ring ... so she brings out a 9th level spell for it.
Shapechange, become a giant troll for 20 Dex. Another +10 to the skill is enough for this, and any other pickable lock except that one weird one in ToB.
With that, the cult has been routed. All that remains is to report to the Temple of Helm ... but we have something else to do down here first.
1044 total fire kills. This cult was truly cleansed with fire.
"By the power of the Light, BURN!"
- Priest, Warcraft III
We skipped past the lich's tomb while working on the quest. Let's rectify that now.
I made a mistake in preparation here - abjuration immunity as a contingency, rather than casting it properly. The lich opens with a Remove Magic, and the whole party's buffs are wiped out.
Still, we attack. A wasted Spell Thrust, a Spellstrike, and a Breach.
The summoned cornugon took a vorpal hit from the planetar, so it gets credit for both kills here. Once the Breach landed, victory was inevitable; either quickly with a melee blow before the lich could get combat defenses back up, or slightly slower with the fire.
Reporting to High Watcher Oisig, Anomen reaches level 30 and we get a useless mace.
After that, we're off for more lich-hunting. First, the Crooked Crane.
This one isn't a necromancer, so it goes invisible. Isra activates Detect Invisibility on Peridan to clear that up. Then it's a Ruby Ray of Reversal to clear up the Spell Trap, after a Spell Thrust for the Spell Shield ... which was actually there. Huh. Spell Thrust doesn't work on liches, but it still trades with a Spell Shield. The deflection effect takes priority over the immunity effect.
The incendiary clouds in that shot are mine, of course. We follow up with a Breach, which weirdly only half-works. Stoneskin and mirror images up. Protection from fire and from magical weapons down.
So, we land a disrupting melee blow. That gives us a round for the clouds to do their part ...
We clear out the swords with the Skull of Death, and then claim our prizes. Daystar is the most important, of course.
That's two liches down. The Bridge district comes next, where we face the Elemental Lich.
This lich is immune to fire. We don't bother with any incendiary clouds. Instead, the image we cast for buffing purposes wished up an Improved Haste. Attack ...
... Done. It was over before the lich could buff at all. Seven hits across five party members.
And finally, Kangaxx. That Improved Haste is still active when we reach him. Add spell protections for everybody, DUHM for Anomen and Isra, and swap those two to more effective weapons (Mace of Disruption, Daystar).
We attack, dealing 103 damage before his protections go up. Then turn to spell-breaking.
This gives Kangaxx some time. A Remove Magic sequencer wipes out our front line's buffs, so Isra recasts a Remove Fear. A round later...
Breached. Moments later, we've beaten him down enough for phase 2. Keep beating ... ah, there's the transformation. Nalia aims a Spell Trigger to lower his resistances, but before that can land ...
Yol. Not even demilich spell defences can stop Dragon Disciple breath, and it ignores magic resistance.
And here's a complete log of the fight, from his transformation to the end.
He went down before he could do anything at all. 74 damage in considerably less than one round, out of 52 HP.
Incidentally, the "spellcasting demiliches" component of SCS weakens their spell defenses so that level 6-9 spells can get through. Some of them, anyway. There are still a number of specific immunities, including Incendiary Cloud and Fire Storm. Dragon's Breath will work, though.
Aerys gets the Ring of Gaxx, and the Reaching Ring goes into storage. We have no more use for extra spell slot jewelry. Since I'm already in the docks, I visit Cromwell and forge a bunch of items that I'm not going to use.
And now, back to the quests. It's Rasaad's turn to join the party, with Anomen taking a break. And while I'm at it, I buy the scarlet ninja-to for Rasaad to use, main-hand. At level 13, it's the same 3 APR as his fists, slightly less damage, and slightly better THAC0 and AC.
We visit the city gates with him, and then it's off to the quest.
Over at the amphitheater, my buffing image rolls a wish-rest. That lets Cernd double up on his buffs and protect the whole party instead of just half. Nice. All right, now that we're buffed, we move out.
The first threat we face is Geld and his wolves. They get fireballs.
One fireball sequencer for the first pack. Another for the second.
Geld himself survived the blasts. The Detect Invisibility reveals him before he can backstab, and he falls quickly in melee.
I've given Rasaad a wand of the heavens. He gets to use it against some aggressive wildlife.
And now he has a fire kill. The second moose goes down to physical damage.
I prepare contingencies, and move forward to the Vagrant Blades ... oops. There's a hostile wolf in the way, so the mages back off and let the melee handle it. Our contingencies are still intact when we arrive.
There are many options here, but I choose to offend them all. Bring on the fight!
Huh. I've never seen that before. I didn't realize that Cless was a Shadowdancer. The time stop is nice enough to trigger our contingencies, so when things remove she dies instantly. As does the mage Aldun. The remaining three take some time, partly because they're not all in the clouds.
The spot behind our mages is Hojar burning up. Dalton is the one entirely outside the cloud, and Jaden is standing inside the cloud protected by some fire resistance. It doesn't take long to finish them off.
We took a couple hits on stoneskins, but no actual damage.
Then, after the battle is over, as we're headed north to confront the monks ...
A squirrel wanders into the fire, and Cernd caps it off with a wonderful line.
Before the big fight, we wish-rest and set up new contingencies. It's overkill, of course, but I really don't care.
Also, that's a party-wide Improved Haste. They're toast.
Correction. Burned toast. No fire resistance, no magic resistance. That main group doesn't hurt us at all, and we draw the stragglers into the cloud to die as well.
OK, not all of them. We do hunt down the last of them.
Pick up the map and the potions the monks drop, go through a few images for another wish-rest, and leave. Some monks show up for Rasaad, and we talk them down, getting a cloak we won't use and a minor XP reward. That gets Cernd to level 25 and his final HLA - Energy Blades. He also picks up a level 7 spell slot - his last. From here on out, he's not getting anything but HP and caster level.
Over at the temple, we warm up with some animals:
Two fireballs, and they're dead. Rasaad's slight magic resistance protects him from the first, but not the second - and I forgot to give him fire protection. Since he's wearing the Ring of Gaxx, a bit of damage isn't a problem.
Just as we reach the bridge, the sun rises. Morning light reflects off the golden dome, for a beautiful sight. I really quite like this area's look.
After a bit of exploration, we help out a bear:
Just remember to talk to him before opening the cage. He zooms off at hasted speed, because one of the wishes during our buff sequence was improved haste for everybody. That also affected the cutscene of monks fighting animals, though the haste wasn't enough for the animals to win.
There's one more fight outside.
He's crushed before he can even attack. That was Isra hitting with a 2 on the final blow.
Inside the temple, we face the tests. Or, rather, Aerys faces them all alone. Pain comes first, and he regenerates while we loot the side rooms. Nalia has to use her troll form on some of the locks here.
The bright room brings some invisible stalkers, and Aerys uses a pair of incendiary clouds.
Standard invisible stalkers are fire-resistant. These aren't. And Aerys has enough AC that they only hit him once. Run around until they die, and that's it for this challenge.
The last two challenges don't require combat. And with that, we're ready for the big fight. Summon an image to renew Spirit Armor and wish up some buffs, but no incendiary clouds due to friendly fire. We'll have to rely on other options here.
Huh. I've never seen a friendly guard still alive there. Also, that's Nalia casting our first fire spell.
Aerys' chain contingency fires. 3x Simulacrum, which ... doesn't work as I would have liked.
Only one simulacrum actually forms. But hey, at least we killed a bunch of enemies. And with innate HLAs, the clone has Dragon's Breath and Comet available despite its lower level. The real Aerys casts a Comet, while the image goes with a Dragon's Breath. Then one more DB from the real Aerys:
Eight enemies died in fire. Three died to our physical attacks. Two fell to our allies.
In the wake of the battle, Rasaad feels doubt. We let him leave and join the Twofold Trust ...
... whereupon we receive the real reward.
Any "critical" items he has when he leaves the party get duplicated, due to a bug in how that's handled. The Ring of Gaxx, which he was wearing, is one such item.
Reconciling kill counts ... the invisible stalkers didn't get counted. Also, Rasaad picked up an extra kill for zero XP; as best as I can tell, it was an image of Aerys. Those kills have never been counted before, but this one was - and it won't be the last time.
That final battle also brings Jaheira to fighter level 18, for spear proficiency and a second Hardiness. And with that, we return to Athkatla.
1093 total fire kills. Not quite as many this time, but we got one very high-value kill that way. Dragon fire is not to be trifled with.
"In your tongue, the word simply means "fire." It is change given form, power at its most primal. That is the true meaning of Yol - suleyk, power. You have it, as do all Dov. But power is inert without action and choice. Think of this as the fire builds in your su'um, in your breath. Su'um ahrk morah. What will you burn? What will you spare?"
— Paarthurnax, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
We're starting to run low on remaining content, but there's still one stronghold quest left. It's time to help out Haer'Dalis.
Mekrath's lair is populated by some random monsters. First, mephits:
We seriously outclass them now. I do have Anomen use a wand shot on the ice mephit, and get a fire kill that way. The party takes a total of one point of damage in the encounter.
More seriously, there's a pack of yuan-ti. Aerys calls up an image for them:
And it sweeps the board, taking all seven kills.
We liberate the various minor loot, and the experience from traps and locks is enough for Isra to reach level 24. She takes hammer specialization and Greater Whirlwind, letting her switch Crom Faeyr to her main hand whenever it's convenient.
For Mekrath himself - let's make a deal.
The task he wants its to kill an imp and recover a mirror. Trivial.
We head back to him, and ... hey, there's some goblins.
Correction. There were some goblins.
Mekrath gets his mirror back, and leaves. That opens up his container too, so we still get the rod of resurrection. Haer'Dalis joins, and I send Anomen back to the Copper Coronet for a bit. The bard levels to 15, taking longsword proficiency and the free specialization - not that he'll ever use it. We pick up the portal gem, and we're off.
Back with the troupe, we help guard them against some random critters as the conduit opens.
They're no real threat. The bounty hunters that show up - those are trouble. The entire troupe is snatched away, and it's up to us to get them back.
This, of course, means that we bring Anomen right back into the party. We can spare a few minutes, right? By the time we come back, our Spirit Armor has worn off, so Aerys calls up an image to renew it. That image wishes up a rest, and we enter the portal at full strength.
"Full strength", in this case, includes chain contingencies.
That's the mage and the backstabber down instantly, plus an archer to weapon damage. The last few foes still have some fight in them:
Wait, a Flame Strike? On us? Targeting a character in fire elemental form, who is obviously immune to fire just at a glance? The enemies can be stupid sometimes.
Anyway, we finish that up. No more enemies die to fire. Then we reconcile the kill counts, taking advantage of the in-game numbers to figure out who killed each "bounty hunter".
And now, we head east. Thralls resist us, and we are forced to fight:
Anomen goes for a fire storm on the mage, but it's moot. The incendiary cloud gets her first.
After that, we investigate one of the sphincter traps. Nalia prepares a chain contingency and heads down invisibly ...
All but one of the githyanki die instantly. The knight survives long enough to run out of the cloud ...
That's what scorchers are for. It breaks stealth, but that doesn't matter when there aren't any enemies left.
Leaving the room activates the next group of enemies, and Aerys makes an image for this fight. It's mainly a pack of yuan-ti, which get incendiary clouds from us.
Aerys gets most of the kills, while Nalia's lone cloud finishes off the mages.
The killing doesn't stop there. The wyvern comes over, and dies immediately after introducing itself.
The thralls in the area haven't come over yet, so we fight them. This includes the female thrall with Kundane and a mage who casts a fireshield.
Why is Anomen casting Aura of Flaming Death? Because I just can't resist a good dueling fireshield setup.
Attacking into PfMW? No problem. We don't need our hits to be effective to get damage through. Note that the druids also have fireshield effects going, inherent in their form. Unfortunately, the mage got off a Breach. Anomen's buffs are down, including that aura he just cast.
Then the mage goes invisible, twice. All right, just drop a Comet on her.
Unconscious, still invisible, and not dead. All right, True Sight. Isra ends up getting the kill with Crom Faeyr's electric damage.
For the Master of Thralls, I just fight in melee. He's only a nabassu, after all.
Anomen does take a Silence here, but that's all.
We could move on to the battle with the warden now, but there are still enemies behind those sphincters. And breaking the mastery orb makes them inaccessible. So, then, time for some detours.
First, in the north, a room of wolfweres.
Between fire resistance and regeneration, the greater wolfwere actually survives the clouds. I send in some melee to finish the job.
Second, efreeti. Jaheira takes on this room.
They're fire immune, but so are we. And they're not good at dealing non-fire damage.
Meanwhile, we got close enough to the warden to provoke some enemies. Two efreeti, a panther, a greater yuan-ti.
The noble efreet goes gaseous, so Jaheira comes back up to join the party. Then she and Cernd head back through the sphincter to finish the job.
That's the northern corridor clear. On to the west.
Aerys breaks invisibility to lure the remaining minotaurs into the clouds, and it's over.
We have now depleted both mages' level 8 spells, so it's time for a wish-rest. After that, Nalia takes on the second room.
The clouds go off, and the golems die instantly. Only the priest survives the initial barrage. Then she gets out of the fire and casts Sanctuary. Follow up with a healing spell ... no.
Fireball splash damage finishes her off before the spell can complete.
Nalia recasts invisibility for the escape - you can't really go back from this room to the entrance area, so you have to run through the warden's area. This activates the warden's long list of prebuffs and initial spells.
That's a lot, but nothing too bad. And we have a level advantage, so a simple Remove Magic will eliminate most of it.
Now, we break the orb. Also, wait for that brief blindness to wear off. The freed thralls fight loyal monsters, and lose badly. Then we join in, facing the warden himself.
Huh. I've never seen that message for the AI. And it seems like the sort of thing the SCS mage AI shouldn't do ... because it is. This one's an interaction involving his other script. Once the orb is destroyed, when he next sees the player, he kills the remaining thralls and casts a Sunfire and a Mantle. In this case, that Mantle ran into an already-active PfMW, and got canceled.
Anyway, we land that dispel. Beat him down to near death, and the clouds trigger.
Just a few stragglers to hunt down. I throw in a Dragon's Breath for the yuan-ti.
Only a pair of summoned spiders survive, to face Jaheira's melee fire instead.
The area is webbed up, but that's no reason not to stand there while we sort out the loot. It's not like we're at any real risk of failing saves here. The fighting is over, and before long we head over to talk to the troupe. 44K XP for everybody, though that isn't quite enough for any levels. Haer'Dalis sticks around in the Five Flagons, but he'll never be part of the party again.
1148 fire kills. A respectable total for this relatively short update.
"I'm not anime, I'm just surprised that my head's on fire."
— Cyanide and Happiness
There's one last major quest for us to tackle: Neera and her Red Wizard problems. We finally travel to the Wild Forest and meet her.
On the other hand, we don't invite her into the party just yet. This whole area is a wild magic zone, so she would be dead weight. Warriors are where it's at here.
The first encounter here is Quaid. He's an illusion, so thief Detect Illusion pops him. Or you can just not talk to him. This party?
Boom. A fireball is nothing to us.
And now, on to the monsters. There are lots of little groups here, usually with a spellcaster or two mixed in to throw some wild surges around. Like these hobgoblins.
Explosion? I feel cheated. There's no fire!
Except for our melee attacks, of course. We'll always pick up a few fire kills that way.
I usually leave the snake alone, but this time I pick a fight.
Not much of a threat, really. Some wyverns come next:
That's the first damage we've taken in the area.
Back with the spellcasting foes, there's a group of kobolds with some trap protection:
The trap in question launches multiple fireballs. I could win by triggering it, but I'd rather kill the kobolds myself. Also, hah. Not that being held makes any real difference for kobolds against our might.
Disarming the trap is worth more experience than all of the kobolds put together, and it brings Aerys to level 24. No new spells, so all he gets is a level 8 spell slot. More incendiary clouds are always welcome.
An ogre mage actually gets something useful out of a wild surge:
Slow. Not that it helps; as soon as the mage becomes visible, we kill it.
There are a few more critters scattered around, but nothing notable. That brings us to the bridge, where I have to use the gravel for once.
That's what you get for not having Neera in the party here.
Over in the camp, Neera joins in Cernd's place, and we deal with the various foibles of the wild mages. Reginald attacks Aerys:
Out of all of that, he only took one actual swing. And with his THAC0 of 16 (modified), he would have needed a natural 20 to hit. No wonder Aerys could just stand there and let him work out his aggression.
The next mini-quest can be tedious, but I just give Jaheira a set of boots of speed for double-haste. We take two trips, but no cat food refills are needed.
And no, Balerion would not appreciate the presence of Dings. One cat is enough.
Kirik is next, and I make a different choice from my usual:
He gives up magic for now, and we get a shield. 3 to AC, +10 to elemental resistances, an aura of 5% MR to all nearby, and 1/day Spell Turning. Pretty nice, really. Even a Wizard Slayer can have spell defenses with this. Between that, the book of infinite spells, and normally cast Shield of the Archons/Spell Turning, our whole party can protect themselves for dangerous mage fights.
This choice has no other significant effect; only the item reward depends on whether you encourage or discourage his magic.
After that, we head out for errands all over the map. Along the way, we fill up Neera's spellbook. That's enough scrolls for about 80K experience each, and Anomen reaches level 31. One more level 7 spell slot for him.
Once all of them are done, we come back to Daxus.
We buffed right before the fight, and that included a very productive wish sequence. Improved Haste, Hardiness, and a rest.
The fight itself is very quick.
I include a Comet, but it wasn't going to be hard either way.
That brings us back to the Refuge, and the next stage of the plot. The mages we've just helped have been taken, and it's time for revenge. Back to Athkatla. Buff up, and that image wishes up all of Haste, Hardiness, and a rest. We're ready now.
He gets a couple of charges from the wand of the heavens, but the final blow is physical from a thrown dagger.
Inside, Nalia drinks three potions and transforms into a troll - 185 skill, enough to loot the three merchants in complete safety before we kill them. Then buy a few things from Gul Dukeem (including archmage robes for Neera), give him a Protection from Fire spell, and start the trouble.
The direct approach of asking about slaves is hidden behind an Int check, but threatening the Cardassian gets him to help you as well. He'll still be here when we're done.
Our wish buffs have expired, but we still have the contingencies. They take a bit to go off, but when they do ...
Instant victory. And all those clouds of fire don't bother the folks in the next room at all. Just more wizard problems.
The bar does pose something of a challenge - we can't reach Mironda to cast Protection from Fire on her. Instead, we'll have to be a lot more careful about placing those clouds.
Of course, since we'll be using fire, there's no point in getting the mercenaries drunk. Just start the battle.
Fadell is the first to fall, and she's quite well-equipped.
Then the clouds go off.
We got the placement right. Mironda should live. Also, that's Nalia burning herself again. Oops. The clouds are enough for most of the foes, but we add a Comet for some wizards at the door deeper in.
They were outside the clouds, after all.
Those clouds are still going strong when the battle ends; we're just overwhelmingly powerful here. Nalia burns herself and gets breached, but that's it. And despite a mess of different enemy types with the same name, it's pretty easy to figure out who killed what and reconcile the kill counts.
For the next battle, I free Ghallus and friends, then don't set up any fire contingencies. Also, I'd have to wish-rest for that. No, not interested.
Instead, we apply some party-friendly fire. Dragon's Breath.
Then Nalia's blast lands.
Goodbye, Lanneth. One more Comet takes down the last red wizard:
Taking down enemy defenses? Bah. There's no need for that.
The last room has a few fighters and a wizard. We fight more conventionally here:
Dispel, attack. Easy. Neera uses some minute meteors here, but the mage's Minor Globe blocks any fire damage. Aerys ends up getting the killing blow on this mage.
We pick up the treasure, free the mages, and head out. Trademeet first:
He goes invisible. A Remove Magic stops that, and it's over in two more hits.
Not a satisfying end at all, but at least he's worth a decent chunk of XP.
Then we close it out with a trip back to the camp.
Yes. King Aerys does have a nice ring to it. We part ways with Neera, who didn't get a single kill in her time with the party.
1171 fire kills so far. This is the least fiery update in a while, mostly because we couldn't afford to use fire spells in the wild magic zone.
"The Mad King was obsessed with it (wildfire). He loved to watch people burn, the way their skin blackened and blistered and melted off their bones. He burned lords he didn't like, he burned Hands who disobeyed him, he burned anyone who was against him."
- Jaime Lannister on Aerys Targaryen, Game of Thrones
We've cleared out all of the major quests in chapter 6. It's just small things left - some side areas, high-level battles, and character quests.
With the party reunited, our first target is the Twisted Rune.
The wish sequence got us Improved Haste and Magic Resistance. On top of that, we have Mass Invisibility; we're not going to be failing any saves here, with every party member at 0 or better save vs death and -4 or better save vs spell. No spell defenses, though - I really should have added some.
We charge forward, get into position, and exchange some taunts.
The battle is on. Shangalar teleports over, and the other foes show up. Aerys gets hit with an anti-magic ray first thing. But ... of the three mages, only Shangalar has fire protection. We can trust in our contingent clouds to wipe out everyone else without intervention, while we focus on the lich.
Case in point, Layene. As soon as Nalia's contingency triggers, she's dead. Aerys picks up the staff of the magi for some improved protection while his buffs are down.
The elder orb Vaxall somehow dodged the cloud of fire on the first round. Not so for the second.
Also, the fighter Revanek goes down.
The vampire Shyressa heads into the clouds, and we add a fireball:
No more vampire. Now it's just the lich and a bunch of summons. We've been working on Shangalar's defenses, and we get the Breach through. PfMW immediately restored.
OK, then. We aren't attacking that defense. Fire Storm. Dragon's Breath. Comet.
Dead. All that remains are the summons - a fire-immune cornugon, two fire-immune efreeti, and the surviving rats. One of our elemental summons actually gets the final blow.
Cernd took 7 net damage from an efreet's fire arrow. That was the only damage our party took in the encounter, and only dispels and antimagic debuffed us. All five of the Twisted Rune burned.
I did set up an attempted trap - a pair of Symbol:Fear spells from Anomen, meant for Vaxall. They weren't in the right place, and never triggered. Nalia reaches level 24, taking shield style and Improved Alacrity. She also passes the milestone of 1 million XP from fire kills, and gets a new top kill in Shangalar.
We then take a side trip to the Windspear Hills, to pick up a bunch of junk I stashed and take it to Trademeet to sell. There are a few orcs and goblins to blow up, but nothing of note.
After that, it's off to the side areas that opened up with chapter 6. We arrive in the North Forest at night, and face some vampires first.
With SCS, the more advanced vampires are seriously tough. That vampire shown dying in this shot took about 150 HP of damage from the incendiary cloud, and still needed a melee hit to finish it afterward. The second went invisible and summoned some wolves before charging into the cloud afterwards.
It goes down as soon as it's revealed, but it gets a level-draining hit in on Jaheira first. Well, then. Time for a planetar.
The planetar cures her, and we move on to some random encounters. Like this group of mists.
No risk of them level-draining her.
There's one truly high-level encounter out here - a full party. We come in fully prepared with an incendiary cloud contingency.
And ... set it off too early, mostly missing them. Well, at least the mephit's down instantly. All right. That clearly wasn't enough fire.
So we add more. A normally cast incendiary cloud, a Dragon's Breath. That second spell clears out nearly everything.
That last straggler wanders back into the cloud, and dies. This party is defeated, and their stuff - including a 9th level scroll - is ours.
Now, that spot with the vampires has another encounter during daytime. We rest to advance time and pick that one up too.
It's not any actual challenge, of course.
Some yuan-ti are nearby, so I have an invisible image blast them:
Along with a rabbit. Oops.
There's also a spawn point for trolls in the southeast - that one's really finicky about when it's active.
Naturally, they get fire too. Probably our fireball sequencers, but I didn't write anything down.
Small Teeth Pass comes next. We buff again there, and clear the whole area while hasted. There is absolutely nothing notable there.
That brings us to the forest of Tethir, and we buff again. The image prepares a chain contingency, and we head out to the action...
That's nice. Some mists are immune to fire, but the Crimson Death isn't. I fall back out of the fire to try and draw the rest of the group in ...
Ah. Another group activates. The wolfweres get a Comet, and we clean up the others in melee.
Then, before long, the image expires. After all, the buff routine takes around half of the spell's duration.
We continue west, killing some panthers and mists along the way. That brings us to a cabin, where Coran waits. Sure, we'll help him out. After dealing with that house, of course.
I prepare both a Chain Contingency and NPP spells before going in. An enemy Wandering Horror casts a Death Fog before our contingency goes off, but dies to the fireshield retaliation.
Then our clouds come in.
Two out of three Crimson Deaths die instantly, and we mop up the survivors easily. Step out to clear the clouds, then re-enter to loot the place.
Down to the south, there's a wyvern cult. I sneak up on them with an image ...
Then the contingent clouds go off. Only the fire elemental survives.
Really, it feels like there should be a bit more to this encounter - a few lines of dialogue before they attack. It's a weird cult in the forest, ant they just fight you silently?
Combined with a few post-cult kills, Isra reaches level 25. She takes Summon Deva. Only Jaheira is still unable to summon a celestial, and she'll pick that up before too long.
And now, back to Coran and his wolfweres.
Mostly melee here, with a Dragon's Breath for flavor.
There are a number of other minor encounters on the map, but the only area of real note is the cave. I prepare two chain contingencies ...
... and kill them all with a Comet before they can go off. Oh well, there's always the second pack.
They get another Comet, and this time one even survives the initial blast.
With that, this forest area is clear and we have the Mana Bow. Which none of the party can even equip. I end the session there, with all of the areas on the world map explored.
Coming back for another session, I go for something quick. Specifically, the Guarded Compound. I could have done it much earlier, but there just wasn't that much incentive.
We start with the summons on the first floor. The nishruu gets focused down before it can do anything. Then the others arrive, and the clouds go off.
Only the fire-immune efreet survives. Since the entire party is there to focus on it, it doesn't last long.
Before heading upstairs, we add some additional buffs. Most importantly, spell defenses and Mass Invisibility.
Since they can't see us, we have time to act. Detect the traps, disarm one so we can get out of the corner safely.
And ... we're not the only one with an Incendiary Cloud contingency.
Sion has fire protection and abjuration immunity up, along with that contingent cloud. But his combat defense is only Improved Mantle, so a whack with Carsomyr or the Staff of the Magi will clear that up. Just as we land that dispelling hit ...
Sion steals some of our kills. Stalman, Olaf, and a summon all go down to his cloud rather than ours.
We follow up by taking out Koshi and Maferan with physical damage, leaving only Sion and Ketta. Then the second round of cloud damage comes.
Victory. We overpowered our enemies so thoroughly that they couldn't take any offensive actions.
The loot holds lots of expensive junk and one really good item. Another Helm of Defense is always welcome.
1239 total fire kills for the party. We're using fire practically all the time now. And when that's not enough, we add more fire.
"As the size of an explosion increases, the number of social situations it is incapable of solving approaches zero."
— Vaarsuvius, The Order of the Stick
And now, time for the last loose ends. To start with, there are a few character quests I haven't done yet. We'll begin with a mod quest: Wilson's quest, from the mod expanding him.
To do this quest, we have to wait through a lot of friendship dialogues. Once that's done with, Wilson's brother shows up and the quest is on. We have a beetle to find and kill. After getting a local ranger to help - Isra gives him some tips on love - we're off to the fight.
The beetle is tough. It's not tough enough for this fully developed party. The fight is already over by the time our clouds go off.
The reward for this is a shell, which can be made into an absolutely fantastic item. The Beetle-Shell Bracers grant +15% physical resistance and +1/2 APR. Once we make that, we'll be using it for the rest of the game.
The second half of Wilson's quest is a bit trickier to activate; one of the talks requires that the protagonist be injured. That basically never happens for us in normal gameplay, so I just bash Aerys in melee for it.
After that and a bit more waiting, Wilson talks about corrupted ducklings. And with that, we're off. We need to find four groups of them, and there are four under Athkatla.
I try fire. They're immune. Melee it is, then.
We continue on, killing two more groups. Also, some random enemies on the way.
And more.
Plus an otyugh and an ooze mephit, not pictured.
For the last group of ducklings down below, we bring back the fire.
After all, their death brings the bishop, a nabassu that isn't immune to fire.
It arrives in the middle of a cloud of fire that ignores magic resistance, with fire storms on the way. Before very long at all, it's over.
That claw can be used as a necklace, but it's not worth much. This is mostly just about the satisfaction of a job well done.
Wilson's final friendship dialogue goes off, we fireball a group of respawned gibberlings, and we're off to the next quest.
For this one, we bring back Haer'Dalis. He gets arrested, and we now have to solve the murder. Our investigation leads us to the art dealer Quataris:
A few guards are no problem. Once they're down, Quataris surrenders and confesses his theft.
With that confession, Haer'Dalis is free. But there's still a murderer to account for ... and we don't need to keep the bard in the party to deal with him.
He's a dangerous mage, capable of 9th level spells. But he didn't put up a Protection from Fire, and that means he's toast.
Also, the battle ended so quickly that Nalia's chain contingency didn't activate. It's a bomb just waiting for the next battle ...
All right, next. Mazzy has her quest, so we head off to Trademeet. On the way, some githyanki ambush us:
Ah, there's the chain contingency. At least it goes to good use. There are several enemies in the shot, but mere moments later all but one enemy burn. That last anti-paladin goes down to an arrow from Nalia instead, and she claims all of the kills in this encounter.
Once Mazzy joins, I take her to the Copper Coronet. Advance to the right time of day, and Gorf shows up.
All right. Let's have a duel.
I prepare some powerful equipment, give her Improved Haste ... and then she drops all of that equipment and enters the arena with only a short sword and small shield.
Eh, she still has Improved Haste, and I gave her short sword mastery. She'll be fine.
She takes a few hits, but inflicts far more. There are opportunities to cheat in the duel and sabotage Gorf, but we didn't take anything like that. It's just not worth it.
Mazzy's next event is still several days away, so I spend that on some chores. Move some items to a stash point in Watcher's Keep, forge the last couple things with Cromwell. And then, the timer runs down.
Hey, it worked this time. No need for console tricks to make Mazzy's quest work.
A bit of investigation, and we confront the cleric Barl. He doesn't take it well.
All right, time for some spells. Party-friendly only.
Done. Mazzy has the antidote, and leaves to cure Pala. We'll pick her up briefly later to retrieve the equipment she borrowed, but other than that we're done with her.
That's all the quest content. There are just a few more encounters out there for us to trigger. First, SCS adds several random travel encounters to chapter 6 - but most of the paths don't trigger encounters, so we have to deliberately go down certain routes. We've already seen some of that, but not all of them.
Anyway, we travel a bit ...
The githyanki show up again. Two dragon's breath shots, and it's over.
Six kills for Aerys, four for Nalia, two in melee.
And while we're here ...
Might as well knock out that limited wish fight. Isra slays the Sand Golem with Crom Faeyr. Aerys burns the juggernaut golem.
That just leaves the adamantite golem for us to fight in melee. It's resistant, but we just have so many attacks.
It cast a gas cloud. We just ignored it, since between poison immunity and saves that cloud has zero chance of affecting any of the party.
After retrieving stuff from Mazzy, some trolls respawn at the keep:
One triple-fireball sequencer, and they're all dead. Including the spirit troll.
A bit later, again on the Athkatla to de'Arnise transition, I get that next encounter I was looking for.
That "glorious battle" doesn't even last long enough for a single attack roll.
Well, all right, there's a second round.
Oops. I forgot to have Cernd and Jaheira return to their elemental forms. Still, all four foes die immediately. And Nalia gets an extra kill from the friendly fire.
This encounter seems to be bugged; there are dialogue lines for a maharajah, but no such creature actually appears.
Now that we've cleared everything out, we sell the generic magic items and plate armor we've been picking up all game. That 700K gold goes right back into buying useful items for us, and an additional 1500 scrolls of Freedom - thirty stacks of 50 each. That's the most efficient way to convert gold into experience, and so we get started on that.
Ten stacks later, Aerys has gone from level 24 to 26 (Energy Blades, Spell Trap), Anomen has gone from level 31 to level 35 (4th dot sling), Cernd has gone from level 25 to 27, Isra has gone from level 25 to 27 (GWW #2, Deathblow, bastard sword proficiency), Jaheira has gone from levels 18/14 to 20/15 (Implosion, Globe of Blades, Summon Deva), and Nalia has gone from level 24 to 26 (Energy Blades). We stop there; really, I just wanted Jaheira to hit that 6 million mark for poison immunity and a pile of spell slots.
Of course, that isn't the only experience-grinding trick we have. With Nalia in the party, we can use Limited Wish to summon 63K worth of vampires and kill them. Anomen's turning should do the trick.
Buff up, cast the spell. And ... no. Anomen gets dominated despite that Sanctuary, and Nalia gets hit hard despite that PfMW.
All right, reload.
On closer examination ... the wish doesn't summon those undead "right now". It first advances time to midnight, which will probably expire your party's buffs. Especially any with short duration. You're going to enter this fight flat-footed, and that makes it a real challenge.
Still, I'll do it at least once.
This time, Anomen saves against all of the Domination spells that target him. And then the fire goes off to obliterate our foes.
Also, that's the limited wish djinn just hanging out and getting burned. For some reason, it didn't feel like leaving.
While still in here, I go to wish for a rest. At some point, I choose a meteor storm as the least bad option ...
Wait, what? I just did zero damage to the planetar, and now it's hostile? Oh well, we shouldn't have any trouble killing it.
Jaheira gets the kill, for zero XP. Also, the planetar cast a fire storm at us, for zero damage the other way.
And now, there's just one more encounter in chapter 6 I'd like to get. That pack of drow at the underdark exit ... but they only show up at night, and no amount of resting will get us to the right time. Ah, well, we have another way of adjusting the time.
Wish for vampires, kill them. They go down so fast that Nalia's chain contingency doesn't go off ... which is actually a problem this time. I can't use that in the next fight because of allies. Fortunately, there's a button on the sequencer/contingency screen to cancel a contingency.
Anyway, we head back up ...
And drop a pair of Dragon's Breaths on them.
It's just the fire elemental left. Isra gets that kill.
With that, chapter 6 comes to an end. There's nothing left to do but hand over the Lanthorn and enter Suldanesselar.
1304 fire kills. So many enemies to burn that sometimes we can't even use our contingencies.
"Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb."
— Batman, Batman: The Movie
Handing over the plot token to Elhan immediately earns us a pile of experience, and we are transported to the entrance of the elven city. Aerys reaches level 27 (no new spells) and Isra reaches level 28 (Greater Deathblow). After wishing up a rest, we head in.
On entry to the city I notice that I forgot to apply my standard buffs. Eh, that shouldn't matter yet. We'll fix that by the time it matters.
Our first encounter is a pack of golems, which we drop some fire on:
Except ... with her improved haste, Isra slays all of the clay and stone golems before the priests finish casting. So much for the fire.
Isra takes some melee hits, but that's no big deal. We have plenty of curse-removal and healing power.
Then, before we can go anywhere...
Ah. We have those fire storms going, so let's make use of them. Kill the iron golem, draw the others in.
A complete success.
After one more roving adamantite golem (encountered alone), we're on to some less sturdy foes.
With allies here, we go for more precision. Just melee attacks and flame strikes. And that's an ally of ours getting a fire kill.
Now that those first few battles are done with, we cure Isra's curse and heal her. That brings us to the first building we can enter - the priest's place. That's also a good place to apply our buffs, with no other creatures to be affected by our wishes.
The building also holds a new ninth level spell - Meteor Swarm. You know, the fire spell that Aerys hasn't taken. We'll never use it, since it just doesn't stand up to either Incendiary Cloud or Fire Storm.
Now that we've buffed, we also have a contingency ready. So when the next fight is skeletons and elvish allies, the mages stay back.
We still get a fire kill there, from Cernd's melee attack. Also, the random drops include a Simulacrum scroll.
After that, it's the drow mage Raamilat's turn.
He lasts just long enough to give his speech. Then the clouds hit and he dies. The nabassu is fire resistant and makes its saves, so it only takes 67 damage - not lethal, with the SCS fiend boost. Still, the clouds aren't our only way of dealing damage.
Two ranged hits to bring it near death, and then Cernd's fireshield deliferes the final blow in retaliation for its aura.
Incidentally, Raamilat lacks the usual drow magic resistance. Since he's up on the surface, this might be intentional; I've fixed other such cases, but left him alone. Not that it mattered here, since our clouds were self-targeted and ignored magic resistance.
The building he guards is home to the priestess Demin:
One enemy goes down to our melee attacks before it can cast anything. Then the buffs go up ... no fire protection. Comet ... missed. Dragon's Breath:
One down. Then Adsaan gets a Remove Magic, and that's all we need.
The belt goes to Anomen, bringing him to 21 strength. After all, we rarely use DUHM or Righteous Magic, so the 2-point boost matters most of the time. It's still the lowest strength among our melee front line.
With the battle done, we get exposition. Also, a scroll - Absolute Immunity. That one might theoretically be useful, but we probably won't do anything with it.
Heading out, we run into some more golems:
One stone, one sand, two iron. That Dragon's Breath takes out the stone golem, but the sand golem survives with its 50% fire resistance. The iron golems, of course, are immune to fire.
We finish it in melee. The elves take some hits. We don't.
That clears the way for us to pick up the stone harp. Next up, the dragon. We call up an image for a wish sequence, picking up haste and magic resistance along with the rest to re-establish our contingencies. That should be good enough. I also use some regular contingencies - Greater Malison and Horror.
Well, no panic there. The dragon saved against the Horror. The clouds of fire are dealing plenty of damage, though.
Still, the dragon can hit back:
That breath weapon hurts. Most of the party saves, but Anomen retreats. With him off the front lines, Nizi turns to Isra; before long, she falls back as well. But all this time, the clouds have been doing their work...
So much for that Flame Strike. The battle is over already. Three rounds of fire was enough. Anomen finishes his cast, and according to the log the dead dragon's magic resistance beats the spell.
I tallied the damage dealt in this fight. Aerys did the most damage by far, 288 fire damage over eight IC hits. Nalia only dealt 142 fire damage over her six IC hits - Nizi saved against most of her hits. Jaheira did 30 fire and 88 physical damage, while Cernd did 25 fire and 48 physical. Neither Anomen nor Isra dealt any damage at all; Anomen's only hit came before we broke the Stoneskin, and Isra got stuck outside of attack range. Combined, that's 485 fire and 136 physical damage, out of 600 HP after the SCS boost.
Jaheira picks up a level here - druid level 16. She takes Storm of Vengeance.
Now that the cup is ours, we head out. The moonblade is ours without a fight - then we step off the platform and back to trigger the encounter here.
They're tricky; some of the enemies stay in rakshasa form, while others look like elves. And some are Mislead clones. Well, Dragon's Breath will hit the enemies no matter what they look like.
There are still illusions around, so we throw in a Remove Magic.
That leaves them defenseless, and it's over in moments. We killed one clone as well as the real rakshasa; that clone granted no kill credit.
That brings us to the temple. We have contingencies up for this rakshasa pack.
The first set of clouds kills two of them immediately, and we follow up wit a melee kill on a third foe. The second set of clouds doesn't trigger right away ... oh, Nalia got blinded. She doesn't see any enemies.
All right, go for a Neutralize Poison ... no, Cernd is slowed, and she isn't right next to him. We'll just live with the one set of clouds we have.
The enemies put up PfMW. I never bothered dispelling it.
Well, since we have a contingency active, we might as well use it. Into the temple, then.
So much for Suneer. That's a level 20 mage instantly dead. The clouds also injure the glabrezu, and we finish it off in melee. Gang up on the golem, let the rakshasa run into the cloud chasing us ...
It's just a matter of time now.
There. And now we head out - no need to summon the avatar yet.
I make a new contingency, and hit the last building ...
Oops. That's a dead innocent. Which offends the other, and our reputation falls all the way to 6. Let's ... just reload that. Cancel the contingencies, or better yet just don't make them.
Simple physical attacks are plenty here. Anomen gets slowed and takes a hit, but that's all.
There's one last spot to deal with - the palace's platform. There's a Balor here:
Wait ... what's that? This Balor is vulnerable to fire?
Now that's something I just have to take advantage of. Lower its MR, then go for some single-target and party-friendly fire.
Cernd gets the final blow with a wand flame strike.
And with that, there's nothing left to do but awaken the avatar.
A few more enemies spawn in to be disintegrated. We don't poach any of the kills. We also get a pile of XP, bringing Anomen to level 36 - he takes grand mastery in slings. Cernd gets the Staff of the Woodlands, for reasonable AC when not in elemental form.
And now, the final confrontation with Irenicus awaits us. We will enter the Tree of Life - next time.
1328 total fire kills. There aren't that many enemies in Suldanesselar, after all.
"I know my face is going to dry out. I know I'm going to smell like smoke. But nothing beats this warmth."
— Rin, Laid-Back Camp
As we reach the tree, our old buffs expire. I'll wait until the battle with Irenicus to renew them. Before that, it's just the parasites and their elemental guardians. Earth:
Then Fire.
And Air.
The fire elementals get in a hit on Isra. Other than that, we're unharmed.
That brings us to the final battle, for which I buff thoroughly.
Chaotic Commands. Death Ward. PfME on half the party. Spirit Armor. Wish-rest. Protect Ellesime from fire. Summon a planetar. Spell defenses all around. Mass Invisibility.
And then, before the actual fight, Ellesime teleports away. Okay, that step was unnecessary. We also get teleported into convenient positions around Irenicus, and the fight is on.
Except for the planetar, which is elsewhere. Irenicus applies his buffs ... invisibility, summons, no fire protection.
Well, this will be easy. Just ignore him and beat on the summons. We get a fire kill in here:
That djinn cast a PfMW. No use against us, of course. Bash the hakeashar, and then the cloud's second round deals enough damage to finish things.
Aside from his initial flurry of spells, he didn't cast anything. He tried, but got disrupted by the clouds. The only damage we took was self-inflicted, from Isra starting the battle with her fire resistance ring off.
And with that, we're drawn down into hell. Time for some trials. Fear comes first, as the previous battle's buffs are still active.
Aerys calls up an image for this one, which launches a triple-cloud contingency.
Isra's not fully invisible, so she gets targeted in her role as spotter - but she has PfME and unbeatable saves. Only an antimagic ray can actually cause problems for her, and that'll give her a round of immunity. She retreats immediately after that shot, of course.
Then the clouds arrive.
That's two gauths and two summoned djinni down immediately. A beholder follows, and the second goes down to a Sunfire. But they've caught up with Isra and hit her with an antimagic ray now ...
All right, just attack the elder orb in melee. One whack with Carsomyr to dispel the Improved Mantle, then back to the one-handed weapons.
That's the second round of the clouds. All that remains are the invisible stalkers it summoned with its spell trigger. They're fire resistant, but that's not enough to save them from the clouds when we move the party over. Only the one that attacks the real Aerys needs to be put down with weapons.
With that, we can pick up the loot on the other side - Isra can cast Remove Fear for the party. Though we'll have to wait for abjuration immunity to wear off before we can protect everyone. The tear is ours, and we move on. Nalia takes level 27, for a fourth level 9 spell slot.
The remaining challenges are far less involved. Pride is trivial.
Just some conversation, and that tear is claimed.
For Selfishness, Nalia has a Maze spell prepared.
Oops. And I don't have a scroll as a backup. Aerys has to make the sacrifices instead. Two hit points, 75K XP, and a point of Dex - which translates to a point of missile THAC0. Also, Nalia gets fully dispelled when she's released; we'll have to re-buff her later.
For Greed, I try to have it both ways.
Don't give the sword at the first opportunity, then attack the genie after handing it over.
It doesn't work. We aren't quite fast enough, and Isra doesn't get to wield Blackrazor. One more hit would have done the trick.
Finally, Wrath.
Wraith Sarevok focuses on Anomen, and does substantial damage. If he had chosen one of the druids instead, he would have been completely helpless.
Ah, well, we have plenty of healing. There's no point in using fire in that fight, by the way - Sarevok is immune to the elements.
One more fight remains. I buff fully, including giving my summoned fire elementals Chaotic Commands.
Then use the Tears. Immune to +1 and less. +10% MR. +2 to saves. +20% fire/cold/electric resistance. +1 Wis and Cha. And the doors open.
From the sound of it, our contingencies have gone off. Once conversation mode ends, our enemies will burn. We exchange some taunts, and the battle begins.
One glabrezu dies instantly to a double dose of fire, and Irenicus is near death. It appears that this version of him didn't apply fire protection either.
So, then, we ignore him and target the demons. Dispels come from both Irenicus and the balors, so Cernd and Jaheira lose their protections. And then ... Irenicus turns back.
The three surviving demons die by script - the balors' death explosions inflict considerable damage - and it's over. We didn't target Irenicus with anything, and the only offensive action he took was a Remove Magic sequencer.
Irenicus took 152 damage the moment the battle started, then transformed. Another 145 to the Slayer in the next round, plus 19 more from the planetar's fire storm. Finally, 77 damage in round three, from Aerys' clouds - he moved out of Nalia's. That's considerably more than his HP, but he does regenerate rapidly.
All of the damage to us is wiped away in victory, as we return to the elves' domain for one last cutscene.
And that's it for SoA. 1341 total fire kills in this campaign, up from 808 in BG1. Not including enemies like those last two versions of Irenicus we didn't actually kill, or the enemies that other enemies killed with fire. It's a bit disappointing that we only got to kill one of the demons in the final battle, but that's life.
Our top nine fire kills for this campaign:
Bodhi (91000, Cernd)
Kangaxx the Demilich (55000, Aerys)
Nizidramanii'yt (52000, Aerys)
Shangalar (50000, Nalia)
Thaxll'ssilyia (45000, Nalia)
Unseeing Eye (30000, Aerys)
Balor (26000, Cernd) (the one in Suldanesselar)
Deril (26000, Cernd)
Shade Lord (25000, Aerys)
Tenth place is that glabrezu from the final battle; I didn't record who killed it. As for the more detailed stats - I'm saving them for the very end.
"Good old Hellfire. For when regular fire simply won't do."
— Spider-Man, Runaways
After that battle, we're thrown straight into ToB. The Ascension version of Illasera can be a serious fight, so I'm putting up some special preparations. All three priests get Physical Mirror, Isra switches to Crom Faeyr/Reflection Shield, and the mages buff for as much missile AC as possible. With Aerys at -22 plus improved invisibility, she'll need a good roll to hit him.
And now, we fight.
Illasera opens by going ethereal rather than firing any arrows. OK, there's not much we can do about her immediately. Focus on the Black Reavers instead. I see fire protection in the log, so we'll need to dispel that mage. Meanwhile, Nalia goes for the Dragon's Breath.
Then our incendiary clouds go off.
Illasera reveals herself with an attack on Aerys. And hits. So much for all that AC. It's her anti-mage arrow, with a spell failure chance and a dispel - though the dispel is slightly delayed. She has also moved out of the clouds, so we go after her.
Then Nalia's spell lands.
There goes the mage. Meanwhile, I notice that the priest has fire protection too - divert an attacker back over there, since our ongoing fire spells aren't going to do it alone.
Another round of fire, and the other melee Reaver dies.
The priest follows shortly. Meanwhile, the planetar and our clouds are occupying the summons to the north - the hakeashar and djinn both go down, leaving only the efreet.
That just leaves Illasera, with our whole party attacking in melee. Jaheira gets the final blow.
Sadly, not fire. And I didn't think to use Aerys' innate spells to try for the fire kill without a spell failure risk. We regroup to smack the efreet, then get whisked off to the pocket plane.
Up in our new base, Sarevok gets restored but not invited to join. Cespenar upgrades some things, but nothing we're actually using. We restore Aerys' buffs and wish up a rest, then head off to the first challenge.
Wait, where's that guy ... oh, I ran past the trigger with double haste. Backtrack to activate it.
We start, of course, with enemies that die in a single blow. Six kobold commandos and one doppelganger later, the contingent clouds trigger.
After a few rounds of that, the enemies get stronger.
Sahuagin, gnoll captains, and ogre mages. Looking things up ... this challenge runs on timers. Five rounds per wave, plus you have to clean out one wave before the next set of enemies starts spawning. They come in as fast as you kill them, so kill count is a measure of prowess.
Since our clouds will expire around the beginning third wave, I summon a planetar to add some fire storms.
And that's the initial clouds expiring. Before long, the third wave arrives.
Drow. They're magic resistant, but that's no reason not to cast more incendiary clouds. And fire storms, of course. Also, I have Isra activate Deathblow to rack up a few kills.
The battlefield is thoroughly blanketed in fire now. Deathblow has expired, so I replace it with Greater Deathblow.
And then, the final wave.
Three bosses. Bodhi, Irenicus, Sarevok. Irenicus puts up Spell Trap, abjuration immunity, PfMW, and fire protection - it'll take a bit to crack that. Bodhi launches a cloud of bats at Nalia ... should have memorized a Protection from Normal Weapons there. A bit of an oversight, really.
Irenicus gets a Spell Thrust and an Insect Plague ... not enough to prevent the Time Stop.
But the insects on him don't stop. They eat through his stoneskins, and ...
Also, that's the second Death Spell he's cast. Since they rely on a projectile, they won't take effect until the Time Stop ends. Irenicus snaps out of the panic and gets off a triple Animate Dead spell trigger, but that was still a beautiful waste of a Time Stop.
All right, now that time has resumed - Spellstrike down his remaining protections, launch a Dragon's Breath, and Breach.
Also that's Bodhi down. She's really the most dangerous threat in this fight. The Dragon's Breath... doesn't kill anything, because two of the skeletons were already down and the third had too many HP. Smack down Irenicus and that last skeleton in melee:
And that just leaves one enemy to beat down.
Challenge complete. 96 kills, though a great many don't get credited due to the death scripts. I'm able to attribute 87 of them properly, but I'll need to record things more accurately in the future. After all, I clearly can't trust the game to.
Coming back for another session, we exit the pocket plane into Saradush - where a woman Melissan immediately draws us into a fight.
That Dragon's Breath kills one soldier. Nalia follows up with a Comet...
And that's two more. The other two are easily dealt with.
Oh, and that "weapon ineffective" notice? Some of the soldiers here have +2 weapons, but others have nonmagical weapons. And that isn't good enough against a druid in elemental form. Jaheira reaches fighter level 21 with this fight, taking spear specialization and Power Attack.
Melissan gives some exposition after the fight before teleporting away ... and noting that nobody can escape Saradush. Except her. She's clearly trouble.
With that battle done, we're free to explore a bit. This includes an unambiguous good deed, as we resurrect a recently deceased man. And some more ambiguous deeds, as we hit some rude soldiers with a giant flaming rock:
This pair are notable mostly for being particularly well armed. We don't have any use for generic +3 weapons, but they do sell for a good amount of gold.
Next, we help out Lazarus. And while we're at it, we free Viekang.
Isra reaches level 29 once we're done, taking a third Hardiness. Then I bring in Jan temporarily for some pickpocketing; invest discretionary points, drink one potion, loot the merchants with impunity. That gets us the big bag of holding, all the 9th level spell scrolls, the sixth scroll case, two more potion cases, a second ring of fire resistance, and enough boots of speed to give everyone in the party fast movement. Also, we pick up a supply of +3 arrows and +4 bullets.
And now, back to the fights of Saradush. We pay a visit to the walls first:
We have four party members that can attack with infinite ammo, while remaining immune to fire. It's completely safe. I let it run for ten kills before moving on.
Up next, after renewing some buffs, it's a mage.
No free rest with our wish sequence, but we do pick up Hardiness and Improved Haste. Attacking disrupts her first spellcasting attempt, leaving her with no absolute protections. While invisibility briefly protects her, it can't last.
All right ... we really do need that rest. Pop into the prison and spend some images on a systematic hunt for the wish-rest ... we pick up 25 stats at one point, allowing Nalia to complete her spellbook. And then we head back out, because there's another encounter I'd like to do up top.
Namely, the barracks. I've prepared contingencies ... wait, that's a peasant wandering around. Protect him from fire!
... wait, that's a peasant wandering around. Protect him from fire!
All right, now we don't have to worry about collateral damage. I cast more clouds ... wait, why aren't more enemies spawning? They called for reinforcements.
Looking it up, it's because they all died too fast to actually get the message out. Eh, I'll force it anyway.
That's half of what we need. We also have to set a timer variable. Do that, and they come.
And start dying. This is a particularly ineffectual horde. Just three waves of them ...
And that's the last wave, falling to Dragon's Breath. 29 of 33 enemies in here died to fire.
We wish for a rest again ... quite an ordeal. We have to go all the way to the sixth image and twenty-seventh wish for it. Still, that brings us up to full strength. Next time, we'll venture below Saradush to find the way in to Gromnir's throne room.
1409 total fire kills. The hordes of ToB offer so many opportunities.
"When the Planessss burnnnn and all life is but torchesss, then Ignusss ssshall at lassst... be at peace."
— Ignus, Planescape: Torment
Having cleared out the barracks, we now have the key to go down into the sewers. Still, I'd rather start with the jail. We don't go for fire spells right away, but we still do some fire damage.
Isra doesn't get many fire kills, but she got that one.
Still, we do use some magic. A pair of vampires in a side room gets some Dragon's Breath:
The survivor goes down to Cernd's flaming fist.
Continuing on, we help out the spirit for the bronze ioun stone, and Anomen reaches level 37. And then, it's time for the last group of vampires. I prepare some contingencies for this, and get a philosophical banter while I'm waiting:
Aerys: Potential for destruction? Absolutely. That's what fire does. I try to focus on destroying the bad stuff, but fire is never entirely under control.
All right, back to the action.
And despite a full six incendiary clouds, it's a physical attack that takes down Phlydian. Only one lesser vampire actually dies to the fire.
This area also holds one door with a lockpick difficulty of 150. Nalia would need not only the ring of lockpicks but also two potions in order to open it. I opt to just go around and not come back.
That brings us to the next area, where I go with some stealth to start. Well, OK, the Staff of the Magi. Disarm the traps without getting spotted, then regroup to kill the enemies.
Among this bunch, the humans are dangerous. The orcs have non-magical axes, so they're just fodder.
After a bit of that, it's on to the mage.
All right, that's fire protection. Dispel her. Also, that's a nice "save or lose" chain contingency (Symbol: Fear, Symbol: Stun, Sphere of Chaos). We completely ignore it; we're immune to the stun and guaranteed to save against the sphere, while we're extremely likely to save against the fear and have effectively unlimited castings of Remove Fear.
Two hits later, it's over.
The next section brings packs of orcs and orogs. We get back to the incineration here.
Burn the first room.
Then the second. No need for contingencies; normally cast clouds are plenty.
For the third, we draw the enemies back into our existing clouds.
There's one notable item in here - Fflar's scabbard. We'll be able to upgrade Foebane ... as soon as we find it, because we haven't yet.
Rather than heading up into the palace, we go down into the sewers. There aren't any unique items here, but there are plenty of monsters to kill. And in preparation for the first major threat, I cast some Protection from Lightning spells. Add on a wish cycle (rest, Hardiness, Improved Haste) and engage.
Shortly after entering, they show up.
Devil Shades. Immune to fire, very fast, dangerous attackers with level drain. And extremely vulnerable to lightning. We fire off those two wands of lightning, instantly killing both of them plus five out of six shadow fiends they spawned with. Then the bolts bounce around injuring various other foes.
After that, gibberlings spawn in behind us. I have Isra fireball them for a change:
Since that's only a 6d6 fireball, one survives. Mutated gibberlings have 16 HP, which is pretty much guaranteed to keep them alive if they're lucky enough to save. It doesn't survive the next hit, of course.
While we're at it, Jaheira levels up. Druid level 17 for her, and Critical Strike.
After that, a mage comes next.
We used the dispel because he put up fire protection. And after that, I choose fire rather than weapons.
Splat. That also brings Cernd to level 28. He takes single-weapon style, not that he'll ever use it.
For the pit at the center, we bring some contingencies.
And ... no cutscene, no shadows. Our earlier lightning bolts disturbed them, driving a key enemy out of position. Oh well. I decide to force-spawn the shadows anyway - at least, the ones that spawn after the cutscene.
They chase us into the clouds and die, as does the elite orog that was supposed to trigger the cutscene.
Heading out brings another fire kill for Isra:
Then one for Cernd soon after.
We turn to the western edge, where our haste finally runs out. But we still have fire.
OK, only one kill from the spell, though Cernd also picks up one in melee.
Farther north, there's another mage. We go with the same "dispel and burn" combo as before:
The mage is lucky enough to only take 50 damage (out of 52 HP). Well, all right. How about the power of the sun?
That's good for the final blow.
After that, there are just a few remaining foes. Some soldiers:
And after that, the gibberlings at the exit respawn. This time, it's Aerys that casts the fireball.
The game crashes on me as I'm counting the kills, but fortunately the save was already in place. On to the next session, as we head up into Gromnir's domain.
Wish-rest, make new contingencies, and tweak some spell memorization. We warm up with the group on the ground floor:
This mage didn't put up any fire protection. That means we don't need any special actions ... but I add some dragon fire anyway.
And they all die before those spells can land. Four out of five die to the clouds, and Anomen takes out the last soldier in melee.
For the boss fight, we add more preparations. Wish-rest again, prepare contingencies, add more buffs, and go.
Then ... the cutscene breaks.
Nothing short of a force quit can help. And there's no autosave at those stairs. It's not the first time I've had that particular cutscene break, too. I really need to get into the habit of saving there.
All right, replay that floor. The second time around, all five enemies burn. Then I get even more thorough with buffing - three party members end up with 20 or more portrait icons each. Also, I quicksave before taking the stairs.
There's no need for that save. The cutscene works, and the fight is on.
Mage defense check ... Karun has Minor Globe, Spell Turning, Pro Fire/Acid/ME, and PfMW. The battle mage has Spell Trap, Minor Globe, Pro Fire, and PfMW. Neither of them has abjuration immunity, so a simple Remove Magic should the trick. We also throw out a wand Cloudkill for the disruption, not that it will matter.
Indeed, as soon as the clouds come down, the mages are toast. Along with the cat, a djinn, and the boosted wizard slayer Berena Elkan. And a hundred damage to Gromnir. One round later:
That was quick. We clean up the surviving soldiers immediately afterward, leaving only an efreet that goes to gaseous form to survive a bit longer.
We applied some Protection from Petrification spells because of the "Il-Khan Medusa" Ascension adds - her attack petrifies on a failed save vs death at -4. So Nalia memorized a few instances of PfP and helped out half the party. For the other half ... it's not a magic weapon. Aerys, Cernd, and Jaheira are immune because of that. So that's full immunity all around. Or the fact that it's a melee-range attack protects most of us, because only one or two party members will be up close with her. And unlike basilisk attacks, it has to succeed in an attack roll (THAC0 5, piercing).
Then, on top of all that, she never spawned at all. The Ascension reinforcements come two rounds after the fight begins, but only if Gromnir is still alive at that point. Oops.
This fight drops lots of stuff. Most of it goes directly to the bag, but there are a few items we have uses for. A rogue stone lets us upgrade the infinite arrow quiver, the lavender ioun stone is Nalia's new hat, and Ice Star is a situational option for Isra with its fire resistance.
Also, it's a nice chunk of experience. Aerys reaches level 28 and takes Spell Shield. It's a very useful spell, and I'll most likely take it earlier on any future sorcerers.
There's one last thing to do in Saradush before we leave - deal with Kiser Jhaeri. The investigation runs long enough for most of our buffs to expire, so we renew them in his house. And then we confront him.
Backstabbers? Bah. Invisibility won't protect them.
Some reinforcements join in ...
And die. Then it's the mage's turn. I poke at her, and invite her over.
Nothing too dangerous in that Time Stop. We just have too many defenses up.
She has fire protection up, so Aerys uses a Remove Magic. And then a Comet.
Done.
We loot the place, rescue Kiser, and speak to the countess. We are now done with Saradush, and ready to go on the offensive against Yaga-Shura's forces.
1476 total fire kills. Including Gromnir, the only Bhaalspawn boss we'll actually get to kill with fire. Yaga-Shura is immune, and the later members of the Five have "I have something to say to you" protection.
"The Alchemist's Guild is opposite the Gambler's Guild. Usually.
Sometimes it's above it, or below it, or falling in bits around it."
— Men at Arms
Comments
After resting at the Sea's Bounty, Jaheira returns. The Harpers want to see us again - Aerys specifically. We head right over for that.
Galvarey asks his questions:
... wait, what? The color of blood? Are you even listening?
Before long, it devolves into a fight. We open with a pair of sequencers, for a total of five fireballs.
All right. There were two reasons to wait this long before we went after the Cowled Wizards - making sure we had enough spell power to handle them, and securing the perfect place to set our ambush. Since we're using party-unfriendly fire spells, we need somewhere that civilians will stay away from. And the best place for that is the roof of the Harper Hold.
After those two spells and a third Sunfire a round later, only one enemy mage remains.
The swords get unsummoned, and we head back up. Absolute Immunity. Down. Improved Mantle. Down. Remove Magic. Dodge, right back up. Next cast ... disrupted.
I pick up Montaron's body for some experience, and head out. We're only really set up to fight one cowled group per day, so I'll intersperse that with Jaheira's quest and a few other minor things. First, we travel to Trademeet ... and get ambushed on the way.
After some healing spells, we complete our travel. Once in Trademeet, Jenia greets us - it's time for that quest. On the way over to her house, we get a cutscene:
Rasaad offers to join - not now. We'll take care of his quest later.
The investigation is rather easy, especially with a paladin in the party:
Back in town, we take care of a couple things in the graveyard (Wellyn's parents, Risa) and then head over to the docks for another round of mage-hunting.
Of course, there's still that original wizard. We go through a few rounds of door chicken ...
Still, recovery is simple. We pick up her stuff, head back down, and cast Resurrection. Head back up ...
Rather than stretch out the day with more stuff, we head for a rest. But first, a scribing session. By the end of this, Jaheira reaches 2 million XP and fighter level 12. She takes two-handed style, in preparation for her weapon choice at epic levels.
After that rest, it's late at night. Time for another vampire encounter:
Now, back up to the rooftop spot for another round of Cowled Enforcers.
The random drops here include a Spell Trigger scroll. It can be cast, but the spell can't be learned. An unfortunate interaction between the random scrolls component and the innate sequencers component of SCS.
We take off for a bit of aimless travel, and get an ambush:
After a rest, it's back to the docks - and the final shadow war encounter.
All right, time for round four with the wizards.
Then we get a complication ...
Then there are two more Harpers in this group ... but they're not on the roof.
Now, for some more questing. I pick up the illithium alloy and head over to the government district to deliver it, but Isra's quest interrupts us. There's some trouble with the Jysstevs, and Isra is interested in investigating the crime. Still, we're there - we show Sir Sarles the alloy, and he storms off. Oddly enough, Isra doesn't have anything to say about this.
I run around for that investigation, and also realize that Anomen's knighthood timer has expired ... OK, spawn in Sir Ryan Trawl. That gets him called, and we head over for that after we report to the temple of Helm. Anomen's trial brings him to cleric level 17, a key threshold. Why is that important? Because you need a five-level advantage for Turn Undead to have a chance of blowing up undead enemies, and the vampires in the chapter 3 version of Bodhi's lair are all level 12 or lower. Except for Tanova, of course.
But before we face the vampires, we have some fallen paladins to take care of.
After a rest, Isra finishes her investigation ... and comes to a troubling conclusion.
216 total fire kills. The Cowled Wizards burn well.
- Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries, Schlock Mercenary
And now, it's time to take on Bodhi's lair. We pass some spiders on the way in:
That brings us to the entrance, where Haz waits. He dies, but his golem successfully opens the door. The grimwarders are no trouble.
And now, the party falls back and we start our plan. Anomen has four instances of Sanctuary memorized, and uses them to fight alone.
The ten rounds of that first Sanctuary take out Gellal, a fledgling, and a Greater Ghoul. Then it's the second Sanctuary. A second fledgling, a second greater Ghoul, and Durst.
Anomen gets hit twice on the way out, before she switches to spells...
I wait for the fiends to unsummon, then head in. Tanova adds an Improved Invisibility contingency, further increasing the number of spells needed to break her defenses. We'll start with a Pierce Magic:
But ... I think that's a misleading shot. That incarnation of Tanova has 140 HP. There's no way we did enough damage to beat her - I think what happened is that Isra got her with Azuredge, and the attack roll for that was earlier in the log.
Also, some sloppy play is on display there; Tanova needs +3 to hit, and we had some party members using mere +2 weapons.
There's one more enemy on this level - a Clay Golem. I have enough magical blunt weapons for everybody, so it doesn't take long.
Then, just as I stake Gellal and Durst, the computer freezes. I haven't made any saves, so - back to the beginning of the level.
This time around, it takes all four Sanctuary spells for Anomen to clear out the vampires. When it's only a +5 level advantage, the chance of blowing up an undead target on any given round is pretty low, and that makes this unreliable. Still, this is what those spells are for. We can afford to spend them this way. Once again, Tanova wastes her fiends, we wait them out, and we engage.
On the other hand, her strategy against her is different. You see, she left off a key defense. Time to bring the fire:
Downstairs, we run into a couple greater ghouls before a big battle against several fledglings and grimwarders. Turn Undead handles the vampires easily.
Since I don't have any Sanctuary spells left, fighting Lassal is a bit trickier than the vampires we faced earlier. He summons some dire wolves and attempts a Domination. Then he gets turned, and there's not much more to it.
We stake him, and then meet Bodhi. At a distance.
That's a tweak SCS makes; while this version of her is upgraded to have all the tricks she does later and be a very scary fight, she also has a timer you just have to survive. And that means the best strategy is to completely avoid the fight.
We go to report success, and Isra hits level 15. She takes flail proficiency. We don't leave for Spellhold, though. We still have some very important things to do.
And now, it's time for round five of our Cowled Enforcer hunt. Aerys gets two enforcers with his Sunfire, but Nalia's contingency misses entirely.
Our next objective is the real illithium so we can upgrade the Mace of Disruption. Due to an Unfinished Business component, that means we need to go visit the Umar Hills and the shade temple. We run into an ettin on the way:
We buy a gem bag here, and mark the merchants for future thieving opportunities. It would take a whole lot of potions for Nalia to guarantee success, so we don't do anything with that right away. And now, for the minor quests in the area. We help out some delinquents, then go after a mimic:
For the Umber Hulks deeper in the cave, I get out some protection:
Then the hulks bash Isra down to less than half health. They hit hard in melee too.
Back with the wizard Jermien, the golem focuses on him (protected by Stoneskin), and that makes the fight very easy. Ilbratha is ours, not that we'll ever use it.
We run around a bit, talking to Madulf and picking up a beljuril. Then, off to the ranger cabin ... and we find an unexpected windfall.
We rest, and talk to "Fael" while the other merchants are inside. I wonder why Dermin isn't appearing ... ah, the area check explicitly rules out the Umar Hills. And also the temple exterior where we're going next.
The shadows here are, of course, trivial for Anomen to blow up.
Inside, we face more low-threat undead foes. And then, I see something odd in the log.
We free Mazzy, pick up a sun gem, and open up the first shadow barrier. That lets us free Gorje Hilldark, and we're done here for now.
Dermin appears when we get back to Athkatla, and we speak to the Hilldarks. Then it's time for one last trip to the Harper roof. After five rounds of the regular Enforcers, they're mad enough to send their highest members.
Then the contingencies go off. Nalia's contingency takes out one of the Cowled Wizards, leaving just two of them. Zallanora is one of those, of course; we still have to face that 9th level capability.
Then two party members get stunned, including the one with the necklace of missiles. We all get dispelled. There's really only one thing we can do now ...
The poison wears down Zallanora, and the other panics. That looks like a win for us.
224 fire kills. Very little fire this time, and for that reason I'm including a quote that isn't about fire.
- Durkon, The Order of the Stick
— Castellan Garran Crowe of the Grey Knights, Warhammer 40000
Over the last few updates, I've been running through Jaheira's romance and quest. A lot of this involves just waiting for talks to trigger, letting those 72 minutes of real time between each of them go by while I do things outside the game. This time around, we'll finish that.
But first, a diversion into a character quest. I recruit Jan for a little thievery - using his pickpocket skills to sell and steal back some wands. I'm limiting myself to one shoplift per item, so I can't gain infinite gold by looting fences repeatedly.
But of course, it's been a while since I last dealt with him, and that means his quest triggers. Solving this takes us to several places, including the sewers under the slums. And while I'm here, I take on the myconids.
One hit, though? No big deal. We have a ring of regeneration, and Nalia recovers by the time the quest turns to combat again. There are two githyanki in the Five Flagons, and I decide to have some fun with priestly magic:
We complete the quest, and do our business with the merchants. A few Jaheira talks later, we head over to that abandoned building on the Bridge.
The party may be rested, but we're coming up on a point in Jaheira's romance at which she'll need to rest outside. As such, we head over to the nearest outdoor area - the keep. This brings a waylay:
Then, at the keep, a spawn point that didn't trigger the first time around finally activates:
Dermin's second visit follows, and then we rest.
Of course, that also means we're headed back to Athkatla to tell Jaheira we'd rather be with her. Some mercenaries try to get in our way.
Upstairs, Jaheira rejoins. And that brings us back down, to a fresh group of mercenaries.
Still, we're lucky with the saves this time. Only Nalia is confused, and we continue the fight without any real disruption. The mage doesn't take long to hunt down after the warriors fall.
All right, back out to the keep. And because that particular route has an extremely high encounter chance, more goblins.
Once there, we wait. Some real time and a couple of rests later, Dermin returns.
Dermin is next to fall, as both sides of the conflict scatter.
Finally, we burn through Jeremon's combat defenses.
Incidentally, Jeremon is worth no XP. Looking him up, it appears to be a case of two fields getting transposed; he is listed as having 3000 XP and being worth none, rather than the other way around. Another level 12 mage in Jaheira's quest has the same pattern.
After some more waiting, the final step comes. Nalia drinks a pair of potions, and Terminsel returns.
And now that Aerys has his new level, it's time for a new major quest. Specifically, Aerys needs a stronghold.
We start by traveling to the Umar Hills, and check in on the cave there:
Then we head up to Valygar and recruit him. Anomen heads back to Athkatla on his own, so we can pick him back up once Valygar has opened the door. The ranger gets some irrelevant levels and normal ammunition; as he won't enter in combat at all, I see no reason to detail anything.
Once the door to the sphere is open, Anomen reclaims his place. There's no going back until we're done.
The very first fight is a Clay Golem.
The other side has a mephit - easily dealt with - and then we activate the sphere. Now there's really no way out until we're done.
Passing through the formerly locked door brings us to the knights, and then to the serious fights. Aerys projects an image for this, and the sahuagin get his very first incendiary cloud.
That same image follows up with the pack of halfling warriors at the other door.
That just leaves single spells for the second group:
The next encounter has a group of named halflings with considerable spellcasting power, and for them I want a fresh image. So then, we whack the current image, bring Aerys up to the party, and make a new one.
The cleric Mogadish at 14K XP is a new top kill for Aerys - not that it'll show up that way, since it was his clone that did the deed.
Once the clouds clear, the party moves forward. This clone gets one last shot in:
Now, we examine the loot from the halfling group. There's one special item here, the gauntlets of ogre strength. Those go to Isra.
Continuing to the north, it's time for a new image. And with more halfling spellcasters, we're casting from out of range again.
Before I take on the fire elementals in this room, I open the way to the golem pack beyond. They are a serious threat.
Indeed, for the fire elementals, I have the highly vulnerable Anomen wait in another room.
I take this opportunity to update my kill tracking - and leave the game running while I do it. By the time I'm done, Anomen is in the green and Isra is in the yellow, although the mages' Stoneskins cast before the pre-sphere rest expire.
All right now. Wake up the golem, and head out with it to take out the beholder.
The lower levels of the sphere await - but this update has already gone on long enough. Come back Monday for the conclusion of this adventure.
267 total fire kills. With the power of Project Image and Incendiary Cloud, we can take on entire high-level encounters with our fire.
— Commander, Mud And Blood
We have cleared the first floor. Lavok comes next. And against him, I just stay out of sight.
There are a couple of small rooms beyond, for which we can't bring along the image that dealt with Lavok. We use some fire anyway.
The spore colonies in the other room go down without summoning any myconids, and the loot is ours.
For the rune-locked door, Aerys just plays around with trial and error. He takes two fireballs before finding the correct order, for no damage.
That takes us down to Tolgerias. And since incendiary clouds from out of sight worked so well on Lavok, I go for the same strategy here.
The clone unsummons before we can take on the ice room, and Aerys is out of level 7 slots. All right, time for the real Aerys to step up and use his fire spells.
That earns us a very useful new item - a helm of defense. It will shuffle around between many wearers, but we're very unlikely to ever leave it completely off.
The fire room comes next, and we renew some fire protections.
But then - I make a mistake. I let Jaheira re-enter the fight a little too soon ...
We finish off the lesser foes, but the efreet goes gaseous:
Now, the engine room. We enter through the ice entrance, avoiding the golem spawn points to take out the lone clay golem:
On the other hand ... I didn't come here to avoid challenges. It's time to activate those golem packs. For the first pack, I have a dirty trick:
For the second golem pack, we don't have any more fire storms memorized. Anomen's two level 7 slots went to a Fire Storm and a Shield of the Archons, Cernd had one slot which went to a Fire Storm, and Jaheira doesn't have any level 7 slots yet. Still, we can pick of most of the pack at long range with an invisible blocker.
Then I move to retreat and reposition. We take out one of the golems on the way out, but Nalia is still added to the list of cursed party members.
We do that now, pop back in ...
I did have another option I really should have used for the clay golems - ooze form from the Cloak of the Sewers. Isra would have had 2 APR in that form, and the ranged crushing damage would have allowed us to take them down safely.
Most of my recent runs have featured Rasaad; attacking clay golems from stealth with those high-damage fist attacks makes things a lot easier. Without that option, we get cursed a lot.
Now, there's just one more area to handle - a section of the Abyss. And most of our party is under that no-healing curse. Also, everything down here is resistant to fire and many enemies are outright immune. Our own fire won't be of much use.
Before long, we come to the first demon:
Now ... I do have some healing that can work despite the curse. Specifically, potions of regeneration. At 2 HP/round for three turns, that's a lot of healing. Isra and Anomen each drink one, and then I cast Haste to double the regeneration.
The second demon comes next, and is much like the first.
Jaheira brings in a fire elemental, but Lea turns to Isra.
Still, our enemies are being worn down as well. Anomen snaps out of it, the last maurezhi falls, and Lea is on death's door. I go for some spell damage ...
With the battle over, Anomen raises Isra.
Activate the engine, get some XP. Return to Lavok, get more XP. And all the while, we're slowly regenerating.
282 total fire kills. We can even kill magic immune golems with fire now.
Villager: "More witches!"
— Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Now that night has fallen, we can take care of another matter in the area. Namely, talking to Travin.
With the ring retrieved, we memorize several instances of Remove Curse and rest. Upon waking, the party is restored and can heal properly.
Then it's time to visit the sphere and start the stronghold quest. First order of business: send the knights home. Ribald knows a guy ...
And now, a quest we've been ignoring since chapter 1: the circus tent.
We free Aerie, but don't invite her into the party - she can wait until we've cleared the area.
The fights in here are a mix of real shadows and illusionary werewolves. Lacking Detect Illusion, we just kill them all.
That brings us to Kalah. He opens with a double-Horror minor sequencer.
With that, the quest is over. The ring of human influence is ours, not that we have any real use for it. The quest also brings two oddities.
First, SCS turned Kalah into a necromancer - kind of the opposite of the illusionist he's supposed to be. But since the mod doesn't support mage scripts for illusionists, that's just something we have to live with.
Second, we got kill credit for some but not all of the illusionary werewolves. Their death script was only partially effective at blocking credit.
While I'm in the area, I head over to the Seven Vales, and the party upstairs.
The second cloud brings another kill:
The clouds get to Mencar next, leading to an unexpected event:
Finally, Smaeluv walks back into the fire, and it's over.
Looting the chests ... one is beyond us. 95 difficulty is too much for Nalia, even with the ring of lockpicks. We might come back later for it, once we have better tools.
And now, over to the Bridge District. We claim the horn with our improved trapfinding skills, and then take on the hostile party:
And then, the cloud doesn't happen. Nalia's Sunfire deals zero damage to Aerys, disrupting his image. Oops.
Still, the foes in front of us don't last.
While we're in the area, we clear another trap from Neb's former hideout. The bridge district is thoroughly pacified now.
Now, back to the Copper Coronet. Anomen takes a break, and it's Korgan's turn. Let's go find a book.
On the way down to the tomb, some spiders respawn:
But ... the book is gone. After a bit of a runaround, we find Korgan's old crew on the Copper Coronet roof.
The sun is still up, but it won't be for long. It's time for something more involved, with Hexxat. Two of our party members conflict with her, but one of those conflicts is easier to resolve than the other. Isra takes a break, and Hexxat joins.
Anomen objects immediately.
Seconds later ...
Since we have some time, we head out to loot some merchants with her. Arledrian, Roger the Fence, the Bridge District cutpurse. Night falls as we're leaving the Bridge District, and Cabrina shows up. To the tombs of Shou Lung, then.
For our first challenge, a friendly ghost monk warns of brain-eaters. All right, then, time for some Chaotic Commands. We only have enough spells to protect half the party; Nalia will have to make do with a spell save of 2, Jaheira with a potion of invulnerability, and Hexxat with her immunity to death from brain-sucking. Also, we use some stolen potions. Anomen and Jaheira each get 22 strength.
The mind flayers are nice enough to make themselves vulnerable by teleporting over to the party:
Now, on to Goxxa, the alhoon leader of this bunch.
During the fight, Cernd gets brain-sucked twice and has to retreat. Then Jaheira takes a hit and falls back as well. But we've done enough:
Nope. Before that can happen, one of the other monks speaks up. And he's not inclined to honor Keno's deal.
Keno snaps out of his confusion, and joins the fight on our side. Before long, the rebellious monks are dead, and Keno hands over the key.
The way forward leads to a chamber full of caskets. We search them for treasure, unleashing a pack of mummies. I go for a pair of wand fireballs...
The next big fight is avoidable, but when have we ever avoided fights?
Next, unleash the fireballs.
The mummy himself ...
Now, before we leave, let's clear out the ghost infestation. The first ghostly priest tries to follow us ... Turn Undead. Actually, that takes out all of the priests without bothering the monks. And while Hexxat is sometimes affected, I regain control of her immediately.
The ghostly monks have to be force-attacked, though.
Back in town, I loot a few more merchants, and pick up some arrows of dispelling. Buy one stack, sell it back to increase the fletcher's stock, steal more. Then sell some of those arrows to a fence to recoup our investment. Also, upgrade that horn to its final form.
In a strange glitch, Hexxat says "I hope you won't let it stop you. It certainly won't stay my hand" on every area transition during this segment. I have no idea what was up with that.
But soon enough, it's over. We have no further need for Hexxat until her next quest, and we let her go.
297 total fire kills. There weren't that many good opportunities for fire this time, but we made use of what we got.
— Urdnot Wrex, Mass Effect
It's a week until Hexxat's next adventure. What now? Well, there's another evil companion to work with: Dorn. Anomen has ... issues ... with him, so I let the cleric have some time off. And Isra's a paladin, so she stays away too. With those two out, we invite Dorn in for a party of five, and crash a wedding.
The guards fall easily enough, and it's merely a preview of the trouble to come. We interrupt this wedding with some inspired nonsense:
Dorn's quest also takes a week to trigger at this point. He'll stay in the party for that, and we'll spend the time with pointless travel.
Two days later, I check in at the planar sphere. Aerys has apprentices now:
Also, Ribald's friend has come through:
Four more days, and the apprentices are done with their first project. Aerys has a new wand. On to the second project:
One more travel cycle, and the timer is done. Dorn has a new mission.
Now we can head over to the camp. And Anomen joins for this, because he has no problem fighting followers of Helm.
I make one preliminary move before joining battle:
Then Nalia heads back to the party. Apply potion buffs and fire resistance, start the fight. Note that Nalia isn't quite immune here, so she'll have to stay back and avoid any incendiary clouds.
For take two, I leave out the Insect Plague and just stick with the fire. The cook still gets fire protection, of course.
Leaving the area brings another fight immediately - and our potion buffs are still active.
Insect Plague comes next, targeting a well-placed party member.
We get a victory reward of 24K XP - twice, for some reason - then pick up the loot and continue to Athkatla. Anomen reaches level 19, for substantially improved THAC0 and saves.
After a rest in the city, we head back out to Resurrection Gorge. On the way over to the action, we pass by a bunch of animals doing nothing ...
We beat up Treadsoft, and Yarrow sends us down. I wanted to kill her, but must not have picked the right dialogue options for that to come up.
Down below, we pass right by Winterbrook under the waterfall without talking to her.
After leaving, we talk to Winterbrook. That starts a fight, and she goes down for another potion of clairvoyance.
The annoying Fil comes next. Talk to him, kill some ankhegs:
Now, for Xachrimos.
In the tree, the Berserk Warrior is our sacrifice.
But ... glitch. The ritual is stuck.
With this correction, Azothet arrives.
... Uh, anyway. Ur-Gothoz hands over the Visage, and Dorn's quest is complete. That Azothet death is by script, so no XP or kill credit - that's not a fire kill.
We raise Vernus just for the heck of it, but he stands there with no interaction possible. You can't even tell Summerheigh about him.
We return to the "entrance" of the area to be transported back up ...
Since our bloodthirst was thwarted down in the gorge, we go around killing critters:
And that's it for Dorn. Next time, we'll get back to Hexxat's quest.
307 total fire kills. Dorn's quest is surprisingly full of ways to avoid combat.
- Alfred, The Dark Knight
With Hexxat's return, we start with a bit of shopping. Unfortunately, Mrs. Cragmoon is on her lunch break, so we can't loot her potion supply. We do buy something else in the area, though ...
Rest to advance time. Cabrina meets us, and we're off to Al-Qadim.
In the tomb, the first thing we do is pick a fight. Come on, those ghosts are right there...
The second time around, I avoid that fight. At least, at first. I'll come back to the ghosts later. But first ... even wandering close to them causes them to cast True Sight. Apparently, they have a problem with the purely cosmetic blur effect on Cernd.
First, clear some space to the south.
The corridor has two more of those bloated spiders. They get a Cloudkill from out of sight:
Disarm some traps, and reach the trapped corridor. Statues awaken, and I blast some with a wand fireball:
Next, I use that item I bought. One scroll of Stone to Flesh.
Now, protect the party from fire and cross the spike field.
But ... Hexxat is taking way too much damage from the spikes. The djinn adds more, and she goes down.
Well, that's more than one reason to reload. Back to the beginning, then.
This time around, I go for the ghosts right away again. With considerably more fire than my first try.
With our fire protections still up, killing the spiders is considerably less painful than the first time around.
Well, then. How about more scorchers?
And now, back to the statues. This time, we don't use a fireball on the first group.
On to the second group, and Cernd traveling ahead means that the mages have time to put up some defenses.
Then the Furious Djinni shows up, introducing itself with a fireball. We get three kills, while the djinn gets the other three.
Cernd doesn't make much progress fighting the djinn in melee, so he draws it back to the party. That works better.
Crossing the spikefield ... I just haste up the party. Getting it over with quickly is really the best I can do.
The next room brings a trio of mages. We could talk them into fighting each other ... but it's more fun to just fight all of them.
But ... there's a catch. They have a protection active that no other mages in the entire game use. Spell Immunity: Evocation. The clouds do nothing unless I break that defense - individually.
They start casting something - necklace fireball.
At the same time, Aerys goes for some Spell Thrust action. That lands just as the nearest enemy falls in melee:
I also hand Anomen a bunch of full plates. The DUHM expires ...
The next section brings a bloated spider and a web trap - we end up blundering into the trap after killing the spider. No harm done, though. It's just a delay when no enemies are present.
Finally, past some riddles that rely on reading the quest's flavor text, we find Raffiyah.
Claiming the shroud brings a substantial chunk of XP, and levels for multiple characters.
Hand over the goods to Cabrina, and Hexxat's business is concluded.
331 total fire kills. Not including the false starts at the beginning of this update. We're back in the groove of burning everything in our path.
— Nabeshin, Excel Saga
Before we let Isra back into the party, a brief diversion. I'd like to handle all the evil characters' quests before Spellhold, and that means it's time for Edwin. He joins, and we're off to the lower tombs again.
Most of the way is clear, but some mummies and ghasts have respawned.
That clears the way to Neveziah. Unlike most liches, he's not an epic mage. Instead, he's only level 14.
Edwin now has the Nether Scroll. It'll take a few days for him to interpret that, so we pick up Isra and get on with other things. First up, our adventures with Dorn cost us two points of reputation. 2500 gold undoes that, bringing us back up to 15.
Next, Aerys checks in on his apprentices. Sadly, they have failed in their latest project, and not produced a scroll of Horrid Wilting.
Now they want to try something even riskier? Hold on.
Before I head out on the next major quest, I do a bit of aimless travel to pass time. We get waylaid by goblins:
Back in Athkatla, Nalia prepares two instances of Limited Wish. After a rest and a potion of insight, she wishes for adventure and riches.
The apprentices graduate, and then we go to the bridge district to start our new quest.
Down in the sewers, we run into some respawned kobolds:
Roger is, of course, cooperative. We already solved his troll problem, so he just points us to the Druid Grove.
Before leaving Athkatla, I grab some low-hanging reputation points. There are a couple of quests that I didn't grab the reputation reward for before, and do now - up to 17. Then we hit the city gates. A thief is extorting a merchant ... scare him off, then plunder the merchant's wares ourselves.
Incidentally, the thief Hanz in this scene is one of the thieves you direct if you take over Mae'var's former guildhall for the Shadow Thieves.
Our real goal is inside the Crooked Crane, though. We brought a lamp (part of a UB quest regarding Kalah), and that gets the mysterious Jafir to take an interest.
We could go farther - but Edwin's quest still has a few steps left. Those last two points of reputation will wait.
Instead, we head out to the Windspear Hills. Trouble greets us immediately.
Not long after ...
Garren Windspear arrives, and reveals the truth. These were warriors of the Radiant Heart, and they were deceived just as much as us. He escorts us to his home, and promises to work on clearing our name.
While we wait there, bandits arrive.
With that over, we son head out. Clearly, this "Lord Firkraag" and his malicious plots must be stopped.
The hills are full of encounters, most easy. Like this band of orcs.
Soon after that little fight, I get out my stash of stolen potions. Anomen drinks a potion for 19 strength, and will renew that as many times as necessary. That puts all of our front line up to 18/00 or better.
Out here, we finally finish a quest from chapter 1:
The next little encounter is a pack of gibberlings.
We then turn west, for something less random. A bunch of fighters going up against gnolls ... burn them all.
The loot's pretty good too - those gnolls drop a bunch of level 6 scrolls.
And then, one last pack of foes.
We head back to the cabin to stash the junk we've picked up, before taking the ominous entrance. With all the humanoids, this area throws a whole lot of weapons and basic armor at you. We'll fill up that bag of holding quickly, and regular trips back to a stash spot are the best option unless we want to let that stuff rot.
And now, we go in. The entrance brings an immediate fight with a bunch of hobgoblins.
With that encounter dealt with, Aerys makes an image to burn the rest of the area. Cernd scouts, image casts spells.
The Rukh Transmuter comes next. As a rakshasa, he's immune to spells of level 7 and below.
That just leaves the rukh. He's resistant to fire with his ring, and smart enough to try to get out of the fire. Well, then, we can just add another. And draw him out with Cernd.
This image is out of incendiary clouds, so it settles for a normal fireball against the nearby orcs.
With that, the image expires. We're ready to enter the dungeon proper, and acquire even more fire resistance gear.
385 total fire kills. This section had lots of fodder to burn.
— Men at Arms
The first challenge inside the dungeon is a locked room with orc archers shooting at us. The doors to get at them are even hidden. Time to launch some fireball sequencers.
... Wait, what? You don't have a fireball sequencer memorized, Nalia? OK, sorry about that. Let's just step back out and do this when we're actually ready.
After an empty room, we reach a corridor with a pack of golems. Time to repeat a tactic that served us well back in the Planar Sphere.
After stashing some junk and renewing some buffs (stoneskins cast before the last rest, Anomen's strength potion), we move on. Two hapless orcs on once side die after revealing what little they know.
The other side brings a troll cook and a bunch of hobgoblins:
The spot those hobgoblins came from leads to an otyugh trapped in a room it can't escape. Scorch it.
Now that we've cleared out a bunch of riffraff, we face a more serious challenge. Vampires. My plan this time is to combine an image of Aerys casting fire spells with Anomen under Sanctuary using Turn Undead.
Also, there are some mummies and ghasts mixed in with the vampires. They're no threat. Aerys puts up a second cloud, but a vampire summons some dire wolves to push him into a corner:
For an overall breakdown ... Anomen blew up four vampires. Aerys burned the other two, the ghasts, and the mummies.
An oddity about these vampires: there are two kinds of "ancient vampire" that spawn in this group. One is worth 14500 XP, the other 10500. With SCS, they have the same HP, physical stats, class, and levels. What's the difference? One of them has a more powerful level drain attack and better saves. The one that's worth less XP.
In vanilla, the one that's worth more XP also has slightly worse stats all around; SCS actually equalized most of it. SCS also makes them a lot tougher, from 96 or 102 HP in vanilla to 156 with the mod. And they're just called "vampires" without the mod.
The image is still active, so I have it throw some fire at the room full of shades. And Anomen casts a second Sanctuary.
At some point during all this, Samia gets agitated and tries to open a door ... a fake door. She gets a Stinking Cloud for her trouble. By the time our party arrives, that cloud is gone.
With two permanently fire-immune characters, the guardians are a breeze. Aerys and Isra handle it on their own.
Now, there's one corridor we skipped past killing the guardians.
Kill the fire elemental ... and crash. It's that hard freeze I keep getting, which I'm pretty sure is related to overheating. Oh well, nothing to do but go back to the most recent save.
That save is at the beginning of the maze. Not too bad. It's mostly the same, though I go for a pair of Flame Strikes on the Director ... MR, MR. 20% each time. Oof.
All right, then, time for the counter-ambush. Before picking up the treasure, I have Aerys summon an image which casts some delayed blast fireballs ...
All right, then. Start casting incendiary clouds.
But of course, the main reward here was the treasure we found. Jaheira replaces the Shield of Harmony with the Dragon Scale shield, because we always want fire resistance.
Now that this side maze is clear, we move forward to a corridor with some greater wolfweres:
Some poorly equipped orogs follow...
Also, we raise Cernd. And since the only clay golem hit was the final blow, he's not cursed - the curse effect can't stick on a dead target.
The stone golem goes down first. Then some orogs. And finally, the juggernaut golem.
Now that those golems are dealt with, we can get out into the well.
An open cave lies beyond, and an argument.
Beyond them, we run into a few golems. These, we draw back to the well.
Then the last stone golem comes charging in, and promptly dies against the party's combined might.
Some wolfweres try to trap us. We don't buy it.
At this point, I go to reconcile XP counts, and come to an issue I can't figure out - Anomen's kill XP seems to have dropped by 11650 from the previous checkpoint, without changing the total kills.
Coming back much later, I think I have it figured out. A Fell Ghast (850 XP) that I thought was uncredited was actually properly credited to him, while an Elder Vampire (12500 XP) that he killed wasn't credited. Vampire credit issues at least make sense, with their death scripts frequently throwing things off.
Moving on, the orogs have already come down after us. That just leaves Tazok, DigDag, and their few minions.
Tazok is a level 18 fighter with 20/18/19 physical stats, 136+Con HP, a +2 two-handed sword, and +1 full plate. SCS makes two changes here. First, he becomes a berserker and uses Enrage right away. Second, his specialization in large swords is upgraded to grand mastery in two-handed swords and specialization in two-handed style. Before, 2.5 APR at THAC0 -3 for 1d10+12 damage. After, 3 APR at THAC0 -7 for 1d10+18 damage. None of the individual pieces looks big, but it adds up to more than twice the damage potential against typical front-liners.
DigDag didn't come out with the others. We heal, and then go in after him. After Tazok, he's nothing.
Down we go, into the dragon's den. Isra wants to fight Firkraag - but we came here for a rescue, and that comes first. Back up, then, to face the mage Conster.
Garren's daughter is rescued. And for once, she heads for the actual exit instead of the way further down.
Isra: Now can we fight the dragon?
Aerys: Yes. We're not leaving while that monster still lives. And just think of what a red dragon's scales can be made into!
437 total fire kills. The total is somewhat inflated by the swarms of rats the vampires sent after us, but that's still a very healthy total for a single floor of a dungeon.
— Kell Tainer, Wraith Squadron
Naturally, fighting a dragon requires preparation. Potions of strength for the warriors. Potions of power for the non-warriors. Fire immunity. Haste. Shield and Spell Turning for the mages. Abjuration immunity for Aerys. Protection from Evil. Draw upon Holy Might. And finally, a pair of fire elemental summons.
Firkraag is not idle, of course. He casts Lower Fire Resistance and follows with his breath weapon:
Meanwhile, Nalia has missed all five of her dispelling arrows. The dragon's AC is just too good. I give up on that plan and switch to arrows of piercing for the +4 to hit. I'll just have to live with that haste.
Well, all right, I cast Slow ... no reaction at all. Oops. I should have remembered; dragons are outright immune to that.
The battle drags on, and I try to blind him a couple times - nope.
And ... wow. That is a total badass move.
Firkraag has a few dispels, too:
And then it's Jaheira's turn.
But not too long. I come right back with only a few changes to my strategy. First, instead of using the spell trigger right away, I have Pierce Magic and Breach from my two mages.
Once the defense-breakers land - the Breach is successful this time - Firkraag has a contingency Stoneskin. Now I respond with that Spell Trigger.
The Insect Plague arrives, and I cast some debuffs - Greater Malison and Doom. This leads to something wonderful:
But Insect Plague only panics one round at a time. Firkraag manages a Remove Magic, hitting Anomen and Isra's buffs.
We do have a longer-lasting fear effect - Horror, which Nalia has in her minor sequencer. Cast that, and Firkraag is out of it for a full ten rounds. That's more than enough for us.
Looking back on the fight, the real issue for us was that Firkraag has -12 AC (including Dex bonus). This party is good at a lot of things, but hitting super-low AC isn't one of them. It's particularly a weakness for Cernd - base THAC0 12 from druid level 14, +4 to hit from strength, and I think his other gear only grants +1. He basically can't hit the dragon except on a critical.
So, then, I really needed those debuffs. And between dragon immunities and the suite of spells I had memorized, fear was the best option. It's definitely something to keep in mind for future dragon fights.
We return to Garren Windspear and his gratitude.
We're getting close to Spellhold, and also HLAs. I want Aerys at level 18 before I go, so I start making plans ... he needs about 200K XP, or 1200K combined for the party. I have the equivalent of 585K XP in my scroll cases. Outstanding quests I plan to do before the trip are worth a little more than 200K. Sister Garlena sells enough scrolls to cover the rest, but that would get really expensive ... we'll need a bit more easy XP.
All right, we have a plan. First, I finish up the gong quest with a visit to the druid grove.
Drush is much nicer, trading the gong for an 8-charge wand of frost without complaint.
Sergeant Natula showed up to deliver a message while we were in the grove, so our first destination is the planar sphere. I buff for fire immunity, then enter:
Aerys takes two hits from a wizard slayer - but nor before casting an incendiary cloud. Nalia adds one of her own, and the enemies start going down.
With the battle over, Aerys steps out into the other room. Wouldn't want Teos to come back early and get burned.
The clouds dissipate, and Teos delivers the final mission - imprison Ketlaar Argrim, who started this mess. Also, the Cowled Wizards kind of pointed him at Aerys ... but that'snot important! Just deal with this mage-hater, because he's definitely coming after you if you don't!
Ketlaar is at the Crooked Crane. I hand Aerys the rune of imprisonment to use with his improved casting time, while Anomen and Cernd cast fire storms to clear out the minions.
Let's do that again, shall we? And this time, Aerys gets (improved) haste so he can deliver the imprisonment faster.
Now, back to the Bridge District to hand in the gong for a nice chunk of XP. And then, some more character quests. I check in with Edwin ... nothing yet. All right, make that Minsc instead. Visit the docks, make the red dragon armor. Jaheira gets it for now, giving her a full set of snazzy dragon-themed gear and fire immunity.
Back at the Copper Coronet, I check in with Edwin ... still no action. Check the save ... ah, a glitch. The timer variable was never set. Correct that, then. Not long after:
It's another day to the next event, so I swap back to Minsc.
After a good deal of silliness, we find Eleanya. I go for the flattering answers to her ridiculous riddles, earning 20K XP. Minsc gets Boo back, as well as a strength increase and the ability to summon "Boolets". Also, we have an official license to practice magic in the city, rather than merely being too scary for the Cowled Wizards to fight.
Back with the regular party, I get in a bit of combat:
We go through some pointless travel running Edwin's ten-day timer down. One leg brings a pack of goblins:
Degardan shows up, and leaves peacefully. Two days later, he comes back - and we're ready for him.
We have no further use for evil companions in SoA. Therefore, we head off to Trademeet for the last two reputation points. There's another bunch of goblins on the way:
Once there, the Lurraxols offer a key to the sealed tomb, and we enter.
Logan gets the mantle, for 8000 XP and reputation 19. Jenia expresses her gratitude for earlier actions, and we have reputation 20. We celebrate by spending some gold:
With the new robe, Nalia leaves her old fire resistance robes and AC 5 bracers behind. Instead, she'll wear bracers of archery.
And now, off to Watcher's Keep. Aerys needs about 160K XP for level 18, and the scrolls in our cases won't cover all of that (unless we reduce party size, which we won't). So then, we head down to pick up the rest of the easy XP on the first level. We can remove the trap on the chest by the entrance now, and pick up the paladin bracers for Isra. Then the archivist, the priest, the ritual notes ... 32K XP each with no trouble at all.
Then I fight the golems, because I can.
Back on the roof, Nalia drinks a pair of potions and we start scribing. Our cases aren't quite enough, so I buy a few more cheap scrolls from Sister Garlena. Her prices are very low, and she has a lot of low-level scrolls for sale; her shop is the best place to spend gold in chapter 2 if you want scrolls for XP.
And that's enough. Isra reaches level 17, perfecting her saves. Anomen is just short of level 21. And Aerys reaches the all-important level 18. Summon Planetar. Chain Contingency. Wish.
Why Summon Planetar? Because planetars get three castings of Fire Storm. And with SCS at this difficulty, they cast instantly. They also get Raise Dead, so Anomen doesn't need to memorize that anymore.
Chain Contingency (1/day innate with SCS) is also crucial. From now on, Aerys' standard opening move for a dangerous foe is a 3x Incendiary Cloud chain contingency. Trigger condition "when you see an enemy".
We buy five scrolls of Freedom from Ribald to replace the stolen scrolls we scribed. And we're down to less than 5K gold, so no more big purchases. Waste a bit more time so that Morul can finish a batch of potions, prepare a chain contingency for the first time, and we're ready to go. Aerys leaves mainland Amn at dawn on day 71.
452 total fire kills. When the biggest fight of the episode is against a red dragon, there's not much opportunity for fire. Except for the dragon's fire, of course.
— Daenerys Targaryen, A Song of Ice and Fire
The ship takes us to Brynnlaw, and we prepare for a fight. Fire protection on the party, and on Sime too. No need for Stoneskin, because that's what we put in our contingency slot. Step off the ship itself, and ...
I reload, and this time I cast my NPP spells. Five rounds of immunity for everyone except Nalia. I can handle dodging one person out of the way of melee attackers.
But of course, it can't all go smoothly. This time, the contingencies are slow. Despite being set to activate when Aerys sees an enemy, a vampire reaches him and takes a swing before they go off.
Meanwhile, our melee attackers are quite effective, with Anomen wielding the mace of disruption. The fire does its job too, killing Del after another round.
With this fight, Anomen reaches cleric level 21. Still only two level 7 spell slots, though.
We head out to explore Brynnlaw - which is full of backstabbing pirates.
A couple more pirates try stabs. They don't get lucky, and die equally easy once they're visible. The path toward the asylum brings a more substantial foe - the mad cleric Greyhand.
The tavern comes next. Sanik drinks a healing potion and thus takes two arrow hits to die in his cutscene:
Now, this little encounter showcases some oddities of the system. According to his creature file, Sanik is a level 16 mage with 1/1 HP and neutral Con. The engine doesn't like this, and increases his maximum HP to the lowest value allowed - his level.
Normally, this wouldn't cause any issues. His current HP of 1 are unchanged. But SCS gives him random potions, and low HP convinces him to drink a healing potion if he has one. This is very likely to put him out of range of a single hit from the assassin. Oops.
This restriction on maximum HP is also why Polymorph Other effects set characters to "5/N" HP when their level is greater than 5. The effect doesn't change their level, so the maximum has to increase from the 5 forced by the spell to something larger. But the spell has already truncated their current HP down to 5, so that stays.
Back to the story, we need a new source. We help out Ginia and Ason, then enter Galvena's "festhall". Nalia's stealth lets us arrange for the guards to be knocked out without them suspecting anything:
Galvena and her mage aren't asleep, so they put up a fight. And with the mage putting up a Mantle, Isra gets out Carsomyr.
Why no fire spells? Because there's an innocent here we don't want to catch in the splash damage.
We know the ways into Spellhold now. For the first one, we need to go through a dangerous fight. Perth the Adept is a level 20 mage.
The Sphere of Chaos ... that's troublesome. Anomen fails a save and is polymorphed.
Wait for the fire and chaos to disperse so we can loot the place...
[spoler]
Wait, what? He just died? ... Oh. His DUHM ran out, and with it the increased Con bonus. Take away 28 HP from a character at 5, and he dies. We really should have healed him.
Looking back on the fight ... Sphere of Chaos is more dangerous than I've given it credit for, because I keep building for fantastic spell saves. Save versus spell each round (no bonus or penalty) or get one of several random effects. And one of those effects is disintegration. That permanently kills a character and destroys their items - completely unacceptable.
We have two ways to stop that: either boost spell saves to 1 or better, or keep Death Ward up. The former is quite difficult for Anomen - base save 7 even at epic levels, and we'll soon have him in enchanted armor so he can't wear a protection item. The latter ... well, Death Ward has a turn/level duration. And we have a lot of 4th level priest slots. We'll definitely want it up for high-level mage battles, at least.
All right, now to the recovery. Aerys calls up an image, which summons a planetar to cast Raise Dead and then Heal on Anomen. Then he starts wishing ... first wish, resurrect all. I guess I didn't need the planetar. Second wish, free wand (lightning). Kill the image and recover the wand. Second image - 25 stats, Hardiness. Third image - rest, random potion (cold resistance).
As for the book of infinite spells ... start rolling. Fireball isn't bad, but we can do better. Wyvern Call. Stinking Cloud. Fireball. Spell Turning.
And now, the entire party can have strong spell protections. At least, once Jaheira reaches druid level 14. Isra gets the book, and it will be part of her buff suite for the most dangerous fights.
Our turn/level buffs expire, but we can renew them after that wish-rest. Not that we need to; the party won't be in combat for a while.
And now, we enter the asylum. The best way in, of course, is to convince Desharik you're crazy with the truth. "I am the child of a god, and I will destroy you all!".
Inside, we have little to do but wait and talk to the inmates. And ... uh, don't talk to Aphril more than once with Aerys in sight. Those demons are hostile even though they can't act, and letting the chain contingency activate is a bad idea.
Eventually, the Coordinator arrives and the plot continues. We have unwittingly delivered ourselves straight into Irenicus' hands.
This soon brings Aerys to a strange dream version of Candlekeep. The door is guarded by a demon that demands a sacrifice:
Wis? No. Aerys is at 18, so that would leave him with considerably worse wish options.
Int? Maybe. Aerys is at 10, so that would only cost him ten points of lore.
Con? Now you're talking. Aerys is at 15+2, so losing a point of Con won't cost him anything at all. Clearly the best option.
With that, the demon leaves and the way inside is open. Now, to face the threat here - a representation of Bhaal, in the form of Sarevok.
But despite our success in there, Irenicus has what he wants. We are discarded as useless, and Bodhi throws us into a dungeon of tests for her amusement. The real Imoen is here as well, and both Isra and Jaheira pipe when we choose not to take her. Sorry, there's only room for one good female thief-mage dual class in this party, and Imoen is the inferior option.
We also picked up a bunch of experience in that dream. This brings Cernd to level 15, and his first HLA. Fire elemental form, of course. Now he can be immune to fire without spending any spells. And also hit things reliably, and deal fire damage with melee attacks.
The level also earns Cernd oodles of spell slots. He has three Fire Storms memorized now among his six level 7 slots.
Still, I don't switch to that form full-time right away. In fact, the very next battle sees him still in greater werewolf form.
That first round of fire only kills two enemies, but the cloud sticks around. Cernd takes out some of the regular snake-men, and then the second round finishes off another mage.
Oh, and that djinn is from the image wishing. It can be hurt by fire, but not killed.
Before I give up on the image, I have it summon a planetar for the clay golem on the other side.
The third exit from our starting room leads to a pack of gibberlings. I want to use another planetar fire storm...
One projected image, three encounters burned. Now, we take stock and collect the loot. This includes a scroll of Delayed Blast Fireball - a spell that Nalia doesn't have yet. Nice.
We answer some riddles, picking up more stuff. Nalia has an ioun stone now, and the party has a second ring of regeneration. And now, we apply some turn/level buffs. Protection from Fire for Nalia, Death Ward and Chaotic Commands for the melee half of our party.
With that in place, another image tackles the next room.
With the cloud still up, I turn to the portal.
The Pit Fiend is immune to the fire and to Jaheira's blade, but it doesn't last either. All it manages is an Unholy Word deafening Anomen and Isra.
And then, the second wish from the image is a free rest. We're back at full daily resources, including all those spell slots Cernd just picked up.
The battles here also bring a key milestone for Jaheira - 3 million total XP, for level 14 in both of her classes. She takes fire elemental form and Hardiness. We also take the opportunity to shuffle gear, giving Anomen the dragon armor and accessories. Only Nalia still needs spells for her fire immunity, and she's using mage Protection from Fire with its turn/level duration.
There's one last encounter in this area - another bunch of yuan-ti. The image joins a summoned planetar and Isra to take them down:
Now that the incendiary clouds have dispersed, the party heads back to use the last stone at the portal. We get a useless piece of armor for our trouble.
There's only one direction we can go now. After buffing the mages with the same Death Ward and Chaotic Commands as the rest of the party, we take the final exit from the room we started in.
474 total fire kills. Not too many this time, but that's mostly because it's a short update.
— Claptrap, Borderlands 3
The path we take immediately leads to a trapped room full of Umber Hulks, and the doors lock around us. We have Chaotic Commands on the whole party, and clouds of fire from an image.
Nalia reaches level 18 with this fight, taking long sword proficiency and a Summon Planetar of her own. She still only has two eighth level spell slots, though - no triple-cloud chain contingencies just yet.
That same projected image that just used its contingencies moves forward to the random undead in the corridor:
We turn left at the crossing ahead, and find some mist in the next room:
Up next, the book that summons monsters. The first few are trivial - a kobold captain, a sword spider, an umber hulk. Then comes a mind flayer:
And finally, a beholder.
But before the antimagic effect even ends, we open the door and burn some kobolds:
Still, we're not done with the kobolds. Some stronger kobolds show up around an altar:
And then, as I'm heading out toward the hardest encounter of this area...
In preparation for the lich, I go for a wish-rest ... and get it on the first try. That image spends its second wish on something far less relevant, and we have Anomen draw the minions out:
The first spell the lich casts after that? Time Stop. And then nothing for three rounds, because the party is out of sight range.
Soon, the minions arrive. A summoned skeleton, then the bone golems (immune to fire). The mummies and regular skeleton warriors follow.
Anyway, it doesn't take long to clear them out. That just leaves the lich.
I follow up with a Spell Thrust, and the planetar uses another Holy Word:
Jaheira did get breached during the fight, so I renew her buffs. We're keeping Death Ward and Chaotic Commands on the whole party all the time now, since we have wish-rests and a ton of spell slots.
As we head to Dace, the planetar unsummons. No problem.
But then ... he gets his revenge.
That takes us back to before the lich and minions. But that's not too bad; it just takes time to batter down the lich's defenses.
This time around, I go for better placement on the incendiary clouds. An invisible image runs forward...
We still have to bash the bone golems, though. Those are immune to fire.
Against the lich itself, I have both mages on scene this time. Spell Thrust ... ineffective. There must have been a Spell Shield too, even though it wasn't in the log. Ah, well. We still only need two more spells to clear the way for Holy Word and Breach.
Instead of a Breach, it went for a Remove Magic. That wiped away a whole lot more buffs, but we killed the lich before it could really take advantage.
Finally, Dace goes down to a vorpal planetar hit, but not before draining Jaheira by three levels. Anomen cures that, fatiguing him. We'll need a wish-rest soon.
After traveling to a new area, we call up a new image - and immediately ruin the day of some snake-men.
The image then uses its wishes, for a random wand and a random potion. Not what I wanted, but I won't complain too much. Since it still has some time left and another cloud ...
Also, that's a wand of spell striking. It comes with five charges Breach and no charges Pierce Magic. Not the best, but definitely nice. We can always sell it and buy/steal it back if we want the other ability.
On to the next room, and a bunch of minotaurs:
Then the corridor beyond has a troll:
Around this time, I noted just how much more effective fire elemental form was than greater werewolf form on the attack, due to the improved THAC0. I speculated on when I would switch back... the answer is never. Aside from regeneration out of combat, and the occasional need for lightning protection, Cernd has stuck with fire elemental form full-time.
The exit room is normally where we encounter Bodhi, but the "hunting" component I inadvertently installed has changed that. Instead, it's just a couple vampires. I initially send in Aerys alone under PfMW, but follow up with Anomen using Turn Undead when I realize this.
And now, a new image:
Paintings ... let's see, it's two fire damage traps and a Disintegrate. All of those are harmless to our fire-immune party with Death Ward active. Renew some lapsed protections, have Nalia summon a planetar, and start opening the doors.
The noble djinn is invisible.
The umber hulk isn't even worth a picture. Isra gets the kill, and we continue to the wolfweres.
That brings us to the trio of clay golems. They get an image and a self-targeted chain contingency.
And this image finally draws that rest I was looking for, after hasting the party. We pick up out boots - speed and the north - and head for the exit. Isra gets the speed boost, and Anomen gets the cold resistance for now.
Returning the horns grants a big chunk of XP, and we pick up some levels. Druid level 16 for Cernd, cleric level 22 for Anomen. Cernd takes spear proficiency, and both take Mass Raise Dead.
I go for all right answers in the riddles - though I have to reload after a misclick. Another massive chunk of XP when we're done brings Isra to level 18, for flail specialization and Hardiness. The Flail of Ages is her new primary weapon.
We also picked up some stuff in the riddle rooms. Anomen now wears the cloak of reflection, so he's immune to all of fire, cold, and lightning.
Now, we prepare for the big fight. I mess with the party's gear to defang clones - put the magic weapons and some of the fire resistance gear away, add fire resistance buffs to compensate. Then buff for a mage fight, and go through the door. Lonk first.
A cutscene follows, and the inmates are easy to rile up. We fight together against Irenicus!
Also, when Irenicus goes to clone us, our spell protections do funny things to that.
Also, the clones don't have the smartest AI. Enemy Anomen aims a Holy Smite at Isra, resulting in damage to Tiax and three instances of Irenicus. Oops.
Our clouds kill off all the clones. An ally puts out a Horrid Wilting to take care of the magical swords. And then our allies all die.
This battle, and the massive XP reward for driving off Irenicus, brings Aerys to level 19. His new spells are Dragon's Breath, Horrid Wilting, and Time Stop. And with his third level 9 slot, wish-resting gets more reliable.
Updating my kill counts, I note that the clones in the Irenicus fight do count toward your kill totals. They're not worth any XP, but they do show up in the numbers. So now my record shows Jon Irenicus killed three times.
Also, we have passed a milestone: a million XP from fire kills in BG2. With that, I end the session. Next time, we'll get off this island.
523 total fire kills. With so many images using incendiary clouds, a consistently large fraction of our kills come from fire.
— Willow, Don't Starve
With the battle behind us, we head out. Saemon greets us, and offers a way off the island - despite our misgivings about him, that does sound good. He teleports us outside, so of course the first thing we do is clear out the exterior. With fire.
With the exterior clear, we head inside for a bit more loot. There's a stone golem to beat up, but that's nothing.
Meeting with Saemon again, he tells us the details of his scheme. And we'll have to wait for night to pull that off. Time for some actual sleep.
On the first attempt, Aerys dreams. On waking moments later, he can assume the Slayer form. Since no time passed, we repeat for some actual rest.
Now that it's night, we reapply our long-lasting buffs. Add three potions of master thievery for Nalia. Then, swindle some gold from the local blacksmith by selling scrolls and stealing them back, sell and steal back the wand of spell striking so it has both kinds of charges, and loot the rest of his stuff. We make enough gold doing this that we can afford to shop at the temple of Umberlee. One fish (for Wilson), one wand of the heavens, and one belt of crushing AC. Sell/steal that wand, and all three of our priests have fully charged wands to flame strike enemies with.
All right, on to the action. At Cayia's place, we let the noncombatants leave before unleashing any fire.
There's one new encounter out on the streets of Brynnlaw - a large group of pirates. We prepare with a True Seeing:
The pirate mage throws out some ice, while Aerys adds a fireball on the second round.
Naturally, the image does some wishing after the battle. First, all stats 25 - Nalia uses the opportunity to learn a few new spells. Second, this:
The third wish is a random potion - clarity.
And just because I can, I head over to the asylum. The exterior spawn points are different at night, which means new monsters for us to kill.
Up near the entrance, we get shadows:
The wish sequence for this image ... rest, improved haste for the party, rest again. We're back to full strength, and more.
In fact, that haste is still going when we reach the boat:
No time later (despite what the flavor text says), the ship is invaded by githyanki.
By the power of cutscene, we are captured and brought before a sahuagin king. He wants an exiled prince dead, and we have little choice but to cooperate with his demands. First, as a test, we fight an ettin:
Back in the main city area, I realize that the Remove Magic the githyanki cast did do something - it dispelled Nalia's thieving potions. We'll have to spend a potion later if we want to get the most out of things here.
The priestess hands over an orb so we can at least talk to the rebel leaders, and we're off to find the key to get into their sector. I throw in a bit of fire against the spiders here:
The goods we find after solving the imps' riddle ... well, they're not worth much. The boots aren't very interesting, and we have no use for the sixth +2 protection item.
Then, it's a matter of talking our way into the beholder's chest. Wisdom 13 required, which is anyone in our party except Nalia. The tooth is ours.
The rest of the city brings constant ambushes by rebel forces, all of which are hostile to us. So much for negotiations.
We follow that group with a skirmish between loyalist and rebels - everyone is hostile here, so I just launch a cloud to kill them all.
The second round of that cloud clears out the rest of them:
For the next battle, I have the planetar bring the fire.
There's one spot we skirted around earlier. I call up another image, and enter the shark's mouth.
After cleaning out the last stragglers, it's off to the last place we haven't been.
This image doesn't get a rest out of its wishes - just a potion of clarity and a wand of spell striking. And now, we head down the stairs to the rebels' domain.
They're still hostile inside, and they're in the water where we can't reach them with melee.
We come to a platform next that lets the melee get involved:
Beyond the door, someone is finally willing to talk. The prince offers his own deal, but after seeing his followers' intransigence? No. And the king offers a better reward anyway.
But before we talk to the king, a bit of shopping. The Temple of Sekolah has great prices, both buying and selling. We use it to sell off a whole lot of ammo - largely, those bolts of biting all the sahuagin drop. It's cumulatively worth about 60K gold.
Then Nalia drinks a thieving potion and picks the king's pockets. The treasury key is ours. Loot the treasury, get the king's rewards, pickpocket some scrolls as he leaves.
With that, we descend into a new chapter. Two large XP rewards accompany the transition, and we gain two new levels. Cleric level 23 for Anomen, and Aura of Flaming Death. Mage level 20 for Nalia, and Comet. The Underdark awaits.
566 total fire kills. That sahuagin vulnerability was really working for us.
I would burn whole cities, boil oceans down to their bedrock."
— Judge Fire, Judge Dredd
Additional author's note: I have now finished gameplay for this run. Posting is scheduled to go until Friday, July 2. Now I just have to write the remaining parts (34 plus an epilogue with the final kill counts).
Now that I'm in the Underdark, there's something I realize I should have in my standard buff package: Protection from Magic Energy. High-level mages love casting Horrid Wilting or Skull Trap sequencers, and illithids toss around lots of their psionic Detonate spells. If I buff the party for immunity to magic damage, all that goes away as a problem.
Sadly, Aerys doesn't currently know that spell, and his next opportunity to learn a level 6 spell is at level 21. So instead, Nalia fills all three of her current level 6 spell slots with PfME.
The first thing I do down here is go after that trio of mind flayers. Make an image, have it memorize a chain contingency ...
Uh, right. Lesson learned. Don't use projected images against mind flayers, ever. Don't have images out while any are active. The original mage is considered helpless so attacks hit automatically, draining 5 Int. Unless you buffed for super-intelligence, you're dead within a round if they get to you. And they can teleport.
Actually, not having stoneskins up might save you; the image is dispelled after the first real damage, and you get both control and your AC back. That defeats the purpose of using the images, though.
OK, then, take two. No images this time. Instead, it's the real Nalia that prepares a chain contingency. Two Incendiary Clouds and a Greater Malison, targeted on herself.
We heal up and start wishing before going any further. We'll definitely need that PfME going before we take on the illithid city in the Eastern Tunnels.
One image suffices this time: improved haste on the party, random wand, rest. Summon a planetar, then have Nalia call up a simulacrum to help with the buffs ... oops. It seems that at some point, the way simulacrum level drain is calculated for dual-class characters was changed. Nalia's simulacrum is level 12, exactly like a mage of her level. We only get four PfME spells this rest cycle, and I'm not casting any more simulacra for a while.
Still, we have an image out with a load of fire spells. There's a drow group up north just waiting for a good burn.
Checking the log for defenses ... none of them put up Protection from Fire. The only resistance is the Armor of Faith on the priestesses.
Still silenced, we head off for the next fight.
That first elemental reaches the party by the time the fire spells arrive at its spawning point - but it still goes down to fire damage.
We still have that party-wide improved haste and a planetar, so we hit the fire elementals next.
Cernd reaches level 18 with this fight, taking Implosion as his new spell. Also, he gets +10% elemental resistances.
For the last elemental portal, Aerys brings out a new image:
Ah, well. He still has two clouds he can cast normally.
With Isra slightly injured, the image casts a few Sunfires to heal her. Standing in the clouds doesn't work due to the immunity provision, but Sunfire ignores that and just does damage.
The image spends its wishes - potion, potion, greater deathblow, unsummoned before I can whack it. So, nothing of value.
And now, we take a break from fighting to loot the duergar merchant. Worst prices in the game, both buying and selling. So, it's a good thing I'm just stealing instead. Two additional potions for Nalia, and I have all of their good stuff for free.
We visit the svirfneblin next. There are some myconids in the way, but we have Chaotic Commands up.
Talk, head back to free Bedlen from the soul cage, return to the merchant. And loot all his stuff, because Aerys is mean like that sometimes. While we're at it, we sell and steal back some wands Aerys' images have produced with wishes.
Now, for that Balor. Renew a bunch of lapsed buffs, then add even more as we get ready for the fight.
Trigger the demon's arrival ...
The Balor applies a new Stoneskin, so I breach it ...
This was a very dangerous fight that required special preparation when my non-casters faced it. This time around, the demon inflicted literally no damage. Really, negative damage; our melee all had Armor of Faith up for at least 115% fire resistance.
The quest reward brings Isra to one point short of her next level, and we pick a lock to clear that up. Isra is now level 19, and takes a Power Attack.
We have the light gem now, but it's not time to visit the dragon just yet. We have quite a few things left to do around here. First, the soul cage. Gont comes first, and we let him go.
Next, Raevilin Strathi.
Let's see, defenses. I don't care about the combat protections, but I need to deal with the invisibility and the Spell Turning. Isra uses Peridan to cast Detect Invisibility, Aerys' image hits him with a Pierce Magic, and then Anomen casts Heal.
Raevilin cast one spell during this - a Breach on Jaheira. We'll need a rest to renew her defenses, since our priests spent their Death Ward and Chaotic Commands spells earlier.
The image takes this opportunity to wish. Improved Haste on the party, heal everyone, rest. OK, Jaheira can have her buffs now.
The second madman can't be cured.
A githyanki is next.
And finally, the lich.
Vithal comes next. Nalia casts the Freedom she has memorized for lack of choice. We get back his book of rituals for a small payment, then get working.
Fire comes next, and the greater fire elemental uses a Sunfire. Hah.
The air elementals have a neat trick:
Vithal leaves, and we prepare. Call up an image, prepare a contingency, summon a planetar, wish.
What, you're saying that time control is a good option? No, it isn't. We're not in combat, so that would just run six rounds off the image's duration for nothing. Forget it.
The second wish brings a Greater Deathblow. And then Vithal comes back.
Vithal puts up Spell Turning, Spell Trap, and PfMW. But no fire protection, and only Stoneskin against the Insect Plague the planetar casts. I cast a Ruby Ray and a Pierce Shield ...
With this, Jaheira levels up to fighter 15. Her new spell is Mass Raise Dead, and I give her staff specialization.
Now, off to the eastern part of the map. First, the drow war party to the north.
Then we head south to the kuo-toa. The image readies to cast ... illusion dispelled. Right, they have True Sight. We'll just crush them conventionally, then.
On to the next group, and Anomen gets confused. Darn. I must have let Chaotic Commands lapse without noticing it.
Some incidental fire kills follow, and we kill the kuo-toa. Wait for Anomen to regain his senses, and the Underdark hub is clear.
Next time, we leave the hub to face some of the game's most unique challenges.
599 total fire kills. The drow in particular are excellent targets for our firepower.
— Garfield Lynns a.k.a. Firefly, Batman: Arkham Origins
Our first objective now is the illithid city in the eastern tunnels. As I noticed in the last part, using images in combat against mind flayers, like we've been doing against most threats, is suicide. We'll have to lean much heavier on wish-resting instead, and fight with the real Aerys.
We could just buff everybody with Chaotic Commands and fight with physical attacks ... but that just isn't the sort of party we are.
As such, we start by trying for a rest. The first image gets Improved Haste, Greater Deathblow, and 25 stats. That last one allows us to identify the drow items we've picked up and have Nalia learn a few new spells.
Using drow items? No. Only the armor is of interest, and we'd rather have saving throws than AC.
The second image gets Greater Deathblow, 25 stats, and a wand of lightning.
The third image gets a rest. Pause wishing to apply PfME to the other half of the party, then continue with another couple irrelevant wishes.
Now, we head in. The cutscene tries to knock us unconscious, which Chaotic Commands blocks, but we're still captured and thrown in an illithid cell. Now we wait.
The first break from boredom is a fight with some umber hulks.
That sends us back to the cell, and opens the door to some githyanki. They have a plan for escape, which we're just fine going along with. Wait some more, then ...
That frees us to bash the ogre jailor, and then the other prisoners. First kuo-toans.
To the east, we run into the first mind flayer down here. And in it's genius intelligence ...
Isra takes a melee hit in this fight, but only one. And at five rounds to recover from a brain-sucking, she'll be clear by the time we fight again. The serum is ours.
Now, to the south. Against this room, I go for the fire. Two self-targeted chain contingencies...
At least the two mind flayers died instantly from the MR-ignoring clouds. Three fire kills for Aerys' count, since the friendly-fire kill of Nalia is counted.
We wait until the clouds disperse, then raise Nalia. Also apply her buffs of Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Protection from Fire, and Stoneskin. PfME will have to wait until our next wish-rest.
I also take this opportunity to use a few potions. Mind focusing for Aerys, Anomen, and Jaheira so that two hits won't be enough to kill one of them. 24 strength for Isra and Anomen, so they deal more damage. Since illithids have essentially no dispel capabilities, potion buffs are excellent here.
We wake the slaves and make a set of control circlets. We'll be using those to open the doors.
Now, time for a wish-rest before we hit the large group in the next room. The first image gets it, on wish #3. Apply new contingencies, give Nalia her PfME, head for the next room.
Nothing's there. Backtrack, return ... ah, there they are. Must have missed the spawn trigger the first time somehow.
Anyway, we charge into the room. Aerys' clouds go off early, although they still manage to take out two flayers.
Then Nalia's contingency triggers.
One point of damage taken, a melee hit on Isra.
Anomen reaches cleric level 24 in this battle, and grand mastery in clubs. His new spell is Implosion. Cernd hits level 19 for his final save boost, and Globe of Blades.
Then I blunder. Go for a wish-rest - time stop, strength 18, Greater Deathblow. Realize that I used the real Aerys for that instead of an image. Reload.
That takes me back to a save from a couple encounters back, before we used the potions. And I skip the mind focusing potions this time. Since we're destroying mind flayers with so little need for melee, that extra layer of protection is unnecessary.
Anyway, take two on the group of six illithids and a hulk.
This time around, Aerys' clouds are too far back to matter, and Nalia cleans up. Two flayers on the first round, then the survivors on the second.
All right, let's try that wish-rest again. Properly.
Three images later, the party has all of its spells back and improved haste to boot. We head west to the second big flayer group...
All of our contingent clouds are wasted by going off too early, but we have another source of MR-ignoring fire.
Isra did get brain-sucked twice, but she's in the half of the party that can survive that.
Clearing this room opens the way south, to this dungeon's real prize.
This is a key milestone for the party. For the first time, everyone is undispellably immune to fire. And we will strive to maintain that in all combat situations the rest of the way.
Anyway, there are two side rooms to hit up north. Wish-rest again, on the first try. Apply the usual chain contingencies, and head over.
On to the next room, after another rest and renewing our Chaotic Commands.
A second control circlet opens the final door, and we prepare for the Master Brain. Actually cast those chain contingencies this time ...
Also, the strength potions expire. Anomen and Isra use DUHM instead.
And now, the fight.
Then the clouds trigger.
We get a big chunk of XP, and Aerys reaches level 20. Two more level 9 spell slots, Comet, and Spellstrike. Also, he has reached the milestone of a million fire kill XP over both games combined.
We head out, earning the gratitude of the rescued slaves. But not the githyanki.
The southern tunnels come next - the beholder lair. We enter fully buffed including global Chaotic Commands and Death Ward, so it's safe enough.
In retrospect ... Death Ward doesn't protect against petrification. And with his spell save of 7, Anomen has a significant vulnerability to the Flesh to Stone ray. Nalia really should have added a PfP spell for him. It didn't come back to bite us, and his spell saves will eventually be good enough to ignore that problem, but it's something to keep in mind for future runs.
With the room clear, we regroup for the next part. Now, time to have some mage-flavored cheese.
One drow survives.
The image and planetar continue forward to face the Hive Mother. As the only beholder that can see through invisibility, she's a serious threat to the strategy in general. And because of that advantage, I stay at long range.
Aerys' image adds a Dragon Breath on round two:
Move forward into the room, and the planetar takes care of another beholder:
The room is clear, but where's the Hive Mother?
Unfortunately, this took us dangerously close to the mind flayer/gauth encounter. The planetar tries to attack, but gets stunned by a mind blast. Then the flayers teleport over to the party:
During this, the image unsummons. Also, the planetar passively finishes off two gauths with its globe of blades; I haven't gotten the experience, so I send Isra over to cast Remove Paralysis. That does the trick, and the planetar responds by renewing Isra's invisibility.
With that taken care of, Aerys summons a new image. First up, a pair of Death Tyrants.
The elder orb and its companions come next. Since most beholders have no MR, I go with "nearest enemy" targeting on the chain contingency.
Six kills in, I get bored. Time for some more loophole abuse.
Sadly, that's it for the image. Its duration runs out before I can clear any more of the area. We take the opportunity to bring the party forward and pick up some loot. The amulet of spell warding goes to Anomen (he really needs the help), and the resulting shuffle retires the amulet of metaspell influence. Nalia no longer has any bonus spell slots form equipment, and she never will.
And now, back to the killing.
Moving to the north, one stray gauth actually manages to cause a bit of damage:
The image continues, and applies some Sunfire to a group of gauths.
Despite the clouds making the image visible, that beholder never tried any rays. The SCS script has a specific answer to summons - a variant of their death ray with no save. That only applies to the "summoned" gender, which clones aren't - they're "illusionary" instead. Beholders are also willing to use Cause Wounds, Flesh to Stone, and Death rays on any enemies in sight.
If the script were a bit smarter, it could use an antimagic ray - among its many effects, that instantly destroys illusionary creatures. But no, antimagic rays are only ever targeted at actual party members. As such, a clone with the cloak of mirroring can completely humiliate beholders, leaving them nothing but melee attacks to work with.
Incidentally, using images as we did has caused Aerys' clones to outstrip the official kill XP of every party member - including their creator. They won't stay that way forever, but it's definitely interesting. And not the sort of thing you'd catch without logging kills.
We're now up to 657 total fire kills. A whole lot of them this time, and they're high-value kills too. The fortresses of the worst monsters the Underdark has to offer have been reduced to smoldering ruins.
- Tywin Lannister, Game of Thrones
We could visit Adalon, but I feel like hitting the kuo-toa first. So then, we're off to the west. The first room here holds a pair of gauth and a beholder, so we send an image at them.
All right, then. Time to get aggressive. Call up a planetar, whack the image, and move out.
First up, there's another of these side rooms with kuo-toa in it.
The next group gets more of the same.
Back with the combat, we chase after the retreating priest ... straight into another group of enemies.
A few enemies come in from the sides; they're easy enough to mop up.
Then the prince comes out. We haven't weakened him with the tadpoles, so he regenerates extremely rapidly and has very high magic resistance. It doesn't help.
This area has two rooms we haven't visited yet - the exit with its drow guards, and the demon knights' shrine. We'll leave the former alone, but the latter is fair game.
On the way over, there's an undetectable trap that deals fire damage. We just ignore that and pass right through.
For the battle itself, demon knights are immune to fire and massively magic resistant. They also drain levels with their melee attacks. So, then, I make some special preparations.
Send in a summon to die on the altar, and fight.
So that just leaves a conventional fight - for which we still have party-wide improved haste and a planetar. More Remove Magic spells come and we lose more buffs. Then a Symbol:Fear:
We take some level drain before the end, but still win through easily enough:
And now, we face the most dangerous challenge of the Underdark - the polymorph crash bug. I'll have to be very careful in order to use my druids' shapeshifting abilities while under the influence of Adalon's illusion.
However, I know more than the last time I faced the area with shapeshifters in the party. The crash requires both a two-handed weapon (such as a shapeshift token) and something in the off hand. As long as I keep Cernd and Jaheira's off hands clear - and avoid handling shields while they're shapeshifted, because the item comparison triggers crashes too - I should be good. Cernd has already been using two-handers when not shifted, and Jaheira can easily pick up a staff as well. Put her shield away, and head over to meet Adalon.
Inside the city, we talk to Solaufein, then get to buffs and wishes. Three images later, we have fresh 20-turn Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, and PfME on the whole party, plus fresh spellbooks.
Back at the entrance, I go "shopping". Four potions for Nalia, and she can loot all the merchants with impunity. Two cases completely full of stolen scrolls. So many potions that I have to stash most of them. Firetooth +3 for Aerys. Spear of Withering +4 for Cernd's humanoid mode. Harbinger for Isra when I'm feeling silly.
We get our orders, and head back out into the hub area. The party here has an ogre ... gore off, because I don't want to lose his nice item to Harbinger petrification.
Before we meet Solaufein, we have another shop to loot - the duergar's new inventory. It's mostly just new scrolls, although we take all the +1 weapons too.
Over in the east, indiscriminate fire is not an option. So instead, I go for a couple of regular contingencies.
We beat down the umber hulks quickly, but the mind flayers all started invisible.
The icon over Phaere's head? She's immune to charm and stun in this scene, but not to the cosmetic effects.
Back in the city, an aboleth takes notice and diverts us to a side quest. Eliminate Qilue and bring her brain. OK, we'll do it, because we're always up for killing drow.
Isra gets a fire protection buff this time, so she can make good use of Harbinger. Well, as long as she isn't attacking enemies with protection spells up.
The fireball does nothing, because of the Minor Globe. The Comet does nothing, because ... oh, magic resistance. Clearly, not as good as I thought. It's faster than Dragon's Breath, but a weaker spell overall because it's subject to MR.
The planetar's fire storms, though ...
Anomen reaches level 25 here, and takes Summon Deva. The level doesn't grant any new spell slots directly, but the holy symbol he earns for it does.
Cernd got breached, so I renew his buffs and wish for a rest. First try.
After returning to the aboleth, we meet with Phaere in the tavern. She has no immediate mission for us, so we're free to branch out and see what Ust Natha has to offer - next time.
687 fire kills. Just another normal update. And while we had a bit of fun with Harbinger, its time is done. We don't have a problem with random fireballs, but Isra can just plain do better than a +3 two-handed sword.
— Megumin, KonoSuba
Now that we have some breathing room, let's enjoy some dueling. First, observe Lasaonar slaughter some weaklings. Then, challenge him. Aerys will take this duel.
Immediately afterward, we answer Chalinthra's challenge.
Then the first mage:
The second:
And the third:
We did get lucky, taking them all out in one round each. Though in the mages' case, that was pretty much guaranteed. Chalinthra had a Protection from Fire memorized; if the timing had been a little different, Aerys would have needed a Remove Magic there.
I let Nalia handle the beast fights. Let's try that same Incendiary Cloud tactic ...
Then it wanders out of the cloud, and Nalia finishes with a stealthy stab.
On to round two.
Round three ...
All right, then, something more reliable. Nalia hides behind the pillar, and comes out with a Sunfire:
Finally, the beholder. I bring out Aerys for this one, with his considerably larger collection of damage spells. And start by casting an incendiary cloud from beyond visual range.
In retrospect, I could have done better with that beholder fight. I know more ways to utterly humiliate beholders now than I did then. And there's not even any restriction against sending in multiple party members to these fights. It still worked, and that's good enough for me.
After the duels, we swap some tales. One tale, by Merinid, offends another patron. We thought it was funny, so we give him Barkskin and Improved Haste ...
There isn't much left to do at this point, so we rest. After scribing and erasing a whole bunch of scrolls, just to clear up some room. Cernd reaches level 21, for Storm of Vengeance and a boost to his elemental resistances.
After the rest, Phaere is ready to continue working with us. Up next, we have a beholder to deal with. Before the fight, I give Solaufein a Death Ward - I'd rather not risk him dying on a bad roll and blowing this whole operation.
The next few steps are pure talking. Fake an attack on the gnomes, get Solaufein's cloak as a trophy, meet the Matron Mother. And rather than handing over the goods immediately, we go after the side quests that just opened up.
We buy a rope, then get sent after some ooze-worshippers:
The mage Relonar goes on to breach Anomen and follow up with a Chaos/Greater Malison spll trigger to confuse him. Meanwhile, our Remove Magic fails to make him vulnerable despite a four-level advantage. OK, do it again.
Post-battle, Aerys reaches level 21, taking Improved Alacrity. He won't use it much, but that's no reason not to have it. More importantly, he adds Protection from Magical Energy to his known spells. As for Anomen, Isra gives him a whack with Carsomyr to snap out of it.
The image I made for this fight spends its wishes, including a rest. We fix up some buffs and report back - no gratitude, but at least we haven't made any extra enemies.
Now, on to Deirex. I go in cold the first time, and get dragged off to meet Jarlaxle. The second time, we bring the fire. And more importantly, spell-breaking attacks. At level 28, we definitely can't just dispel him. Rather than the usual chain contingencies, we go with IC+IC+Pierce Shield and IC+IC+Ruby Ray, targeted at the nearest enemy. While Deirex may have been a drow in life, he doesn't have any magic resistance now. We apply spell protections all around, plus abjuration immunity for the mages.
Now that the preparations are done, the fight.
All right, next plan. Secret Word into Breach.
Before that can finish, it's a Time Stop into Cloudkill and Teleport Field. Anomen loses his spell.
Summon a planetar for healing ... nope. Spell Turning and Shield of the Archons block the Heal spell. I end up getting healing from a wish instead, alone with a rest.
Jarlaxle gets his gems back, and we're off to House Jae'llat:
The second time around, Aerys calls up an image to apply PfME to the party. This image makes some wishes, one of which is party-wide Hardiness. Nice.
Our druids go after Rilloa, and she falls:
Ist'tar comes after our mages, only to die in the cloud:
House Jae'llat can be a brutal fight. Not this time, with the power of fire and wishes. We take about 20 damage total, and clear the whole thing fast enough that the initial incendiary clouds are still going.
Anomen picks up level 26 with this fight, and Globe of Blades.
One minor note: I changed some names in this fight. Specifically, I swapped names between the "Jae'llat Priestess" and "Jae'llat Mage", so that the female fighter/cleric was called a "priestess" and the male fighter/mage was called a "mage", correcting a mistake in SCS.
After that, we free some slaves and then head in to hand over the ritual ingredients. There's nothing left for us here except the plot.
That, of course, is good for a whole bunch of XP. Isra reaches level 21, taking hammer proficiency and Whirlwind Attack.
Next up, the eggs. Open the door, provoking the guards:
Then again, if they actually had the toughness of mid-level fighters, the quest would be a lot harder. If you can't kill them in a round and a half, they alert the whole city and you fail.
Inside the chamber, we go for some fire storms on the golems:
Phaere gets the other fake eggs, and we're off to the ritual. Cutscene fire brings down the two ambitious drow:
718 total fire kills. Another thirty or so, as drow resistance doesn't even slow us down.
"We got another letter from Osaki. He says: 'I burned my house down. What should I do now?' How should I know, fool?"
— DJ Professor K, Jet Set Radio
This update will consist entirely of one extended battle. The longest battle in the game, and the hardest given when it comes and the resources available to the party. Over 150 enemies at Insane difficulty, worth over 1 million XP. It was not designed with the intent of being beatable, and many parties simply don't have a chance. I speak, of course, of the SCS version of Ust Natha's defenders.
A comparison with some horde battles from ToB:
- Watcher's Keep orcs: Enemies spawn as fast as you kill them for ten rounds. No more than ten foes at a time.
- Yaga-Shura's army: 63 enemies, or they stop spawning in if you push to him. No more than 12 active at any one time, and the regular soldiers don't even have magic weapons.
- Sendai's slaves: Four enemies every 2 rounds, until you push to the slavemaster. No upper limit, but also no high-level enemies or spellcasters.
- Ust Natha: One wave of up to 15 enemies (18 for the last) every 4-5 rounds, for a total of 156 foes. A new wave can spawn if there are less than fifteen enemies out, for nearly thirty enemies active at a time. The warriors are well-equipped, spellcasters are included, and later waves have high-level leaders.
So, against all that, what do we have? We have fire. Lots of fire.
I choose the tavern as my battlefield, setting up on the stairs to the bartender. Renew some buffs, then start the battle.
To start with, Baragh and Nym Khalazza run, while Ilmryn and Szordrin attack and die. The image fills the area at the foot of the stairs with incendiary clouds, and they soon claim a victim:
Cernd gains enough XP for level 22, and I move to take that now in the middle of the battle. It's a THAC0 boost when he's in human form, after all. This involves casting Remove Curse on him so he can keep both the Claw of Kazgaroth and his personal cloak.
And then, before I can finish with that, a wish comes up Time Stop/Improved Alacrity. Well, then. Unleash all the fire.
The image is spent now, but I'll keep it out as long as the incendiary clouds are up. To bridge the gap, a planetar gets into the action with some fire storms.
Before long, the clouds expire. OK, time to whack the image and make a new one.
I'm doing my best to keep the party back and draw enemies into the killing field, but it's a constant struggle; they love to charge forward and attack. Then again, with their current haste, they usually do pretty well at that.
The current incendiary clouds mostly belong to Nalia, and she starts picking up kills:
We keep casting clouds, but no enemies are dying. We must be between waves right now. Until we aren't.
Meanwhile, the image has moved on from casting clouds to wishing. Nothing too exciting yet, but Nalia tries out her new Dragon's Breath:
We pick up that "improved haste for everyone" wish. With as fast as the drow are dying already, hasting them won't make a bit of difference. On the flip side, our buffs are starting to fade. An enemy wizard casts Chaos, and I notice the issue:
Then a double Acid Arrow minor sequencer lands on Nalia. That's the first damage we've taken in the battle, at least six waves in.
The clouds are starting to thin out, and the drow are crowding in. Time for some heavier fire from the image:
Finally, the clouds fully expire. Time to whack the image and get a new one.
And that's a magical sword that has made its way up the stairs. Aerys has Death Fog rather than Death Spell, and Nalia doesn't have Death Spell memorized - so planetar vorpal attacks are our best way of killing swords. It's really quite inconvenient having one this far back.
Still, I can at least do something about the drow. The new image calls up a planetar, then starts working on the fire.
The clouds continue their work, now dense enough to get kills even through MR:
Oh, yeah, that's the planetar engaging the magical sword up on the stairs. Keeps it out of the way of the party.
Another wave arrives, and several of them die immediately:
The planetar is mixing in fire storms as well, and the enemies are dying fast.
Wishes ... party-wide improved haste, though that doesn't erase the existing Slow effects. And then, I finally get lucky.
The clouds disperse, but they - and the fire storms - have done their job. There are no drow in sight.
But not for long. Another wave appears. I'm pretty sure this is wave 10. We have some fire storms out, but it's definitely time to whack the image and get a new one.
The new image hasn't even gotten around to putting up any incendiary clouds yet when the next wave arrives. Wave 11, complete with demons.
The planetar takes down the matron mother, but she's actually not the most troublesome enemy in this wave.
The incendiary clouds that the image cast stay up, but now they're dealing anonymous damage. We won't get credit or experience for any of their kills, though I'll still track them. I try to add some more fire to the field with Anomen, but a sword goes after him and he loses his spell to the disruption. The damage also drops him into the red.
The planetar makes that dispel attempt:
But not for long. Soon, she heads farther out in her confused rampage, and we just can't support her enough to keep her alive.
I keep trying to tell Nalia to cast spells ... oh. She's silenced. That's why she isn't casting anything.
And then, the glabrezu finally goes down.
Then golems start showing up. We've reached wave 13.
Then I roll a really nice wish. Party-wide Greater Deathblow. You've seen what that does to groups of drow before ...
Still, the rest of the package is working. Another golem burns, and we pull the party back to draw enemies in. Then the archmage comes into view.
The archmage follows up with a Time Stop, using it to summon a sword and aim some lightning at the real Aerys (who again ran down into harm's way). Mostly harmless. What isn't ... the physical attacks. Aerys' stoneskins run out, and he takes damage from a drow bolt. The image will be dismissed momentarily.
The archmage aims a Clenched Fist at Aerys; he responds with a stoneskin, only taking damage for the initial round. Then a new image for some more action:
Follow up that Spell Thrust with a Remove Magic. Not good enough; the fire protection is still up, presumably because we failed the level check.
But before I can do any more about that mage ...
That was the planetar trying to dispel the archmage, by the way. A waste of time, given what I know now. Go do something productive instead, like attacking a balor.
Jaheira gets hit with an Implosion. Remove Paralysis that...
This leads to a choice between a rest and party-wide Hardiness; at this stage of the fight, I want the immediate advantage more. Hardiness it is. Then the archmage reminds me that he's still around ...
On the bright side, Cernd took out the other nabassu. Only one demon remains.
Nalia's down there in the wilted area; the zero damage also disrupts here attempt to cast an Incendiary Cloud.
With the enemies starting to get thin, I draw a really helpful wish: heal everybody.
That just leaves the matron mother. Lower her resistance with Nalia's Pierce/Pierce/Breach spell trigger, apply fire.
Wait, no damage? Oh. She actually cast Protection from Fire, and had Shield of the Archons up to eat the Breach. Well, she's not immune to physical attacks.
My final count, including the drow that started in the bar: 165 kills for nearly a million XP, including some summons. Most of them were 4000 XP drow warriors. About a quarter of my kills each went to Aerys' images and to planetars. Enemy friendly fire - that archmage's incendiary cloud and balor fire storms - took out nine enemies worth 59K XP. We had six uncredited kills for 34K XP, from clouds cast by the image that the glabrezu popped. I was able to fully account for all but two kills, a summoned skeleton and a fighter/cleric. ("Handmaiden of Lolth" in my naming scheme)
If I hadn't gone through and assigned distinctive names, there's just no way I would have been able to keep the kills straight. This battle is the main reason for my drow renaming tweak.
As for fire kills? Counting only those kills that we actually got credit/XP for, the party killed exactly 100 enemies with fire over the course of the battle. That brings the total to 818 fire kills for all of BG2.
With as many updates as this story has, I've sometimes had trouble finding enough appropriately themed quotes to fill them. Even so, I held some back for the right occasion. Like this one. From the start, I knew where this quote would go.
- Ripley, Aliens
We've cleared out the organized resistance in Ust Natha, but there are still plenty of drow around, and they're all hostile now. But before we get to that, we take a break to restore our buffs. I include an image of Aerys in this, which wishes after it's done casting PfME ... Hardiness and Improved Haste. Well, that's a serious boost to the party's combat effectiveness.
I also shuffle some equipment; Anomen switches from the dragon helm and shield to the helm of defense and his personal shield, leaving the dragon helm free for Isra. She couples it with the Gorgon Plate, allowing her to put something more broadly useful in her off hand - Belm. As long as that Improved Haste is up, she has 9 APR in dual-wield mode. She can also switch to two-handed mode at a moment's notice, without waiting for a fire resistance buff. This is all a temporary measure, of course; Isra will have a better option for her fire immunity before long.
I also shuffle some belts; since Anomen has his holy symbol now, he doesn't need the 19 strength belt. Nalia gets it instead and switches to throwing daggers as her primary weapon.
Anyway, we head upstairs with the party-wide buffs running.
Outside the tavern, there's a well-armed party:
I drop a Dragon Breath on them. Despite making his save, the wizard dies instantly. The warriors don't all die immediately, but they're easy to mop up.
The platform at the city entrance comes next.
It's not all going our way, though. Cernd gets breached, so he's a bit more vulnerable to that wizard.
In the end, we get through it all with no real trouble. We merely have to re-buff Cernd.
The upper levels come next.
There are a few foes in the spider pit, and then it's on to the Temple of Lolth for the last pocket of resistance. I summon a planetar for this part.
Or ... the planetar could just attack her.
The path to the former egg chamber brings a few more guards:
Now, we return to Adalon. I buff up in preparation for a fight, and wish-rest ... then just give her the eggs. The fight comes after.
We are teleported to the exit, where the drow party is still in place. Adalon moves to attack some of them, but before she can ...
The biggest threat here is the drow archmage. He has fire protection and abjuration immunity up, but only an Improved Mantle as a combat defense. Isra can dispel the elemental protections, then.
Then some bad luck comes up. A Chaotic Commands wears off at the exact wrong time, and ...
Still, the kills continue even without our direct input. A Slow hits our party, affecting Isra, and so the archmage isn't dispelled quite fast enough:
Then the time stop ends. The dispelling hit lands, and it's over for that mage.
With the battle over, we pick up a couple levels. Aerys reaches level 22, for an extra level 6 spell slot, Skull Trap, and Mordenkainen's Sword. Cernd reaches level 23, and takes Elemental Summoning.
Since Adalon gets triple health from SCS, there was no real way to kill her there. We just can't burn through 750 HP in the very short time before she's gone. On the other hand, antagonizing her does allow us to claim all ten kills for the exit party.
I go for a wish sequence before heading up, and the log informs me that there are kuo-toa present. They respawned? OK, I'll kill them too before heading up.
There's another group on the other side:
Isra also picks up level 22 here, and a second Hardiness.
And now, we head out the door.
For the second part of the area, we have elf allies. No fire spells, then. And I have a number here, but no picture. Oops.
We pick up some fire kills from melee attacks anyway.
And after we're done ... we head back down to sell off all of the drow gear we've accumulated. Once that's done and we've picked up everything we stashed, it's back up to the surface and Elhan. He hands over stakes and holy water, and we're off to Athkatla.
On the way there, we meet Drizzt. This could be awkward...
Note that picking a fight is a very bad idea here; it mortally offends Jaheira, and she goes hostile if you do that.
We stop off at the city gates, and use the top floor of the Crooked Crane to buff. Trouble is coming. And on the way to our stash spot inside the Copper Coronet, it arrives.
Instead, Aerys opens with a Chaos. Kruin is confused before he can cast any offensive spells. The only real trouble we run into comes from the anti-paladin:
Still, it doesn't take long to clear out the mooks. After that's done, the party just gangs up on Kruin until his defenses run out.
After stashing our stuff and picking up a new batch of potions, it's over to Ribald. His new stock contains some things we want: eight scrolls of new spells for Nalia, and the Helm of Brilliance for Isra. After the shuffle is complete, Anomen has the dragon set of helm, armor, and shield, while Isra has the Helm of Brilliance and ring of fire resistance with normal full plate.
Finally, we can get back to questing. We picked up a key the last time we were in mainland Amn, and it's time to use it. Prepare contingencies, and enter the illithid lair:
The breath lands, bringing down a mage and a fighter. After that, the rest is trivial.
All right, time for a fresh start on the next room. Image wishes: 25 stats, rest. Kill it, make the new contingencies. Also, Nalia learns her new spells.
The second room has one umber hulk and a bunch of illithids.
Finally, it's on to the last room. We go for a rest again, and get it on the first try.
I aim a Remove Magic at the alhoon, but it doesn't matter. The creature didn't put up fire protection, and it runs right into the cloud.
Anomen reaches level 28 in that last battle. He takes Energy Blades as his new spell, picks up a fifth level 7 spell slot, and takes his third dot in slings. We also claim the hammer of thunderbolts - there's only one piece we still need for Crom Faeyr.
We finish the day with a trip to the docks to assemble the Gesen bow and get some real rest. Our business in Athkatla is done for the moment.
871 total fire kills. Still a lot, but all the battles in this update don't add up to as much as the one last time.
— Taylor, Planet of the Apes
We have one more target to hit before dealing with the vampires: the ruined temple near the Umar Hills. I don't want to trudge through an undead-infested ruin to restore Jaheira after she gets turned, after all.
On the way over, we run into some trouble:
That's one incendiary cloud and one dragon's breath, by the way.
At the temple itself, there are plenty of shadows and shade wolves out in the grounds. Anomen obliterates them with turning, and we enter the ruin. With Cernd fatigued (the rest at Cromwell's shop comes at the beginning of the day), it's time for a wish-rest. But first, let's clear out the bridge.
Now we prepare contingencies, wish-rest, and buff. During this process, I send Isra to wake up the enemy. The lich has abjuration immunity and the usual damage type protections, but no other spell defenses yet.
Once buffed properly, I send in the image along with Nalia. Nalia sets off her Chain Contingency, while the image hits the lich with a Spell Thrust:
All other protection removers work on liches, and on spellcasting demiliches. Rakshasas are also immune to Pierce Magic, Ruby Ray, and Warding Whip.
No matter. I have time. The image lands a Spellstrike the next round, before being zapped by a True Sight.
We have at least wiped out all of the minions except the fire-immune bone golems. I bring up the party for that.
Wait for the clouds to disperse, disarm the traps. Speaking with the ghosts brings different dialogue than usual; we have to backtrack a bit for the bones.
There's another lich ahead, and I'll have Aerys bring the fire this time.
It's not quite fast enough ...
The lich gets in one nasty move before the end - a triple Skull Trap sequencer.
All right. Now it's time to cross the puzzle floor. Step only on the tiles to spell out -
We help a shadow cross the trap, but it just can't leave well enough alone.
All that remains up here is to perform the rituals and unlock the final door. We prepare for battle beyond ...
We took one hit each on Anomen and Isra, which was all the damage we suffered. And it's here that I realize Chaotic Commands doesn't protect against fear. We'll need to add Remove Fear to the buffing routine.
Against the Shade Lord? I don't bother with drain protection. Instead, I just establish new chain contingencies.
One aggressive animal later, we're back in Imnesvale. The reward there isn't impressive. The new item we forge in Athkatla is.
At least, that's what I'd say if the weapon didn't also grant strength 25 when equipped. With that as well, it's just the most powerful weapon in the game. Any party that can use it should.
Yes, you're giving up good items for this. It's worth it. In our case, we weren't using the gauntlets anyway, so Isra just trades 21 strength from a belt for 25 from a weapon.
Isra isn't specialized in hammers yet, so it's an off-hand weapon for now. Belm goes into storage, because our party with a dual-wielding warrior and two druids has no use for it.
It's currently hour 3, and entering the graveyard advances time to midnight. Besides, Cernd is fatigued. We rest first, then head over to the graveyard. We haven't recruited any aid. We don't need any.
Travel to the graveyard, exchange taunts with Bodhi ... and Jaheira doesn't get turned. That's nice. Now, we buff up and take the fight to them. Standard buffs, plus a wish sequence for the image I used ...
All right, then. On to the lair. The deathblows run out, but we're still hasted. For the first group, Aerys heads forward invisibly and triggers his contingency:
Or try, anyway. Isra gets the first two kills:
The other named vampire from this group, though ...
On to the blood pool room, and Nalia handles this one.
Then comes a Dragon's Breath.
While all that was going on, Aerys called up an image to wish for a rest. Our mages are recharged and ready for the next enemies. And for the central room, Aerys provides an image.
On the other hand ... no fire protection. Tanova approaches the party, and we just drop a Comet on her.
The Guard to the east is a bit trickier; he isn't hostile until after a conversation and goes invisible immediately after that, so we it's hard to use fire.
The spike room and its vampiric mists are handled by Cernd. Between iron skins and normal weapon immunity, we don't have any trouble there. The gauntlets go to Jaheira.
Now, one last thing up here. Looking at the map, there's another vampire spawning trigger - out in the entrance hall that we used in the other version of this map. We're not the sort to skip fights, so let's set that off.
The kill count finds four uncredited vampires. I can account for three of them, but one remains a mystery.
Now, we head down. Contingencies are in place, a planetar has been summoned, and we've buffed the party with cold resistance on top of the usual.
Then the clouds trigger.
The mages make their presence known. Hazarmaveth sneak-attacks Jaheira to drink blood, before burning in the clouds. Manasseh follows, without managing an attack:
Bodhi drops to near death, and speaks up - but at this difficulty, she gets a second wind. That doesn't last long.
Also, that's not the same level drain as before on Jaheira. That's a new five levels of drain. Well, the planetar can cast Restoration up to three times. Just do it again.
Reconciling the kills again ... the vampire death scripts strike again. Cernd is denied credit for killing Bodhi, the single highest XP value of any kill in the game. On the whole ... no help, no holy water, no problem.
Staking Bodhi brings a bunch of levels. Aerys makes it to level 23, taking an extra level 7 spell slot, Spirit Armor, and Simulacrum. Isra reaches level 23, taking Smite. Anomen reaches level 29, taking Elemental Summoning - his last HLA. Cernd reaches level 24 for club proficiency, Greater Elemental Summoning, and a 10% boost to elemental resistances. He's fire immune in werewolf form now, though he'll still use fire elemental form most of the time.
Before we leave, there are some minor encounters out in the open area to the south.
That Dragon's Breath gets two out of three, by the way.
Second, some spiders.
And with that, I end the session. We could move on to chapter 7 now, but there's still a good deal of content out there.
Total fire kills: 953. The rats some of those vampires summoned really run up the numbers.
- Dan McNinja, The Adventures of Dr. McNinja
After wiping out the vampires, we stay in Athkatla for our next quest. The cult of the Unseeing Eye has been left alone for a while, and it's time for that to end. Re-applying our buffs, the image used wishes up a rest, so we're at full strength again. Plus improved haste, so we're moving fast.
Keldorn heads back to the Radiant Heart, and we go down. The first major room starts empty, but calls up some hell hounds as an ambush:
Past the open chamber and another corridor, we have the gas trap room.
One mist does escape the room, unfortunately:
Of course, then we just kill it. And call up a deva to ... devas don't get restoration. I guess she'll just have to wait for a planetar.
Now we talk to Gaal and get the key that allows us to progress. The defectors help us out with some more exposition, and then it's time to burn some shadows:
Down below, we kill a few spiders before setting up for the summoning trap. Lots of incendiary clouds.
Wishing after the cloud, we get five good ones. Two potions, Improved Haste, Hardiness, and a rest.
The path ahead brings some random monsters. One fireball for the gibberlings:
There are also some spectral undead to the north. Isra breaks invisibility to attack the shadow fiends, while Aerys burns the rest.
That brings us to the last encounter down here. With Aerys' Bhaalspawn healing unavailable, we turn to an equally quick option:
With that, the avatar returns and gives us half of the rift device. We have a plan. Some talking, and then we're off to the undead village. It can be a nasty spot for an underprepared party - you can't back out - but we're certainly not underprepared for anything.
Against the random undead out here, I call up an image to have some fun:
Now that the enemies are all dealt with, the image makes some wishes. We pick up a free rest, but don't finish all five wishes. The image unsummons, leaving behind a confused djinn.
That brings us to the hut.
Before engaging, we step outside to prepare incendiary contingencies. One set self-targeted, one aimed at the nearest enemy. Also, apply abjuration immunity and improved invisibility.
Engage.
The other half of the plan works properly, though.
And now, with that cleaned up, it's on to the beholder tunnels. We did get dispelled and breached, so I re-establish those buffs before moving on. And wish-rest, so my beholder-killing images can work at full strength.
That image follows up with some sunfire against the next couple enemies:
The image comes out of invisibility for the next gauth:
On to a new image. The lair has been pretty empty ... we missed a spawn trigger the first time through.
The only negative effect we take in that fight is a Silence on Cernd.
Now, on to one last fight in here. We grab the second piece of the Rift Device and call up the Unseeing Eye.
Immediately after that shot, the buffs activate. Improved Mantle, Spell Deflection, and summon a pair of Death Tyrants. I go to tap the Eye with Carsomyr ...
The enemies in that fight used two rays. Cause Wounds on Nalia (immune to the damage) and Flesh to Stone on Anomen (saved). That ... our standard buffs don't protect from petrification, and Anomen's spell save isn't good enough either. There was a real risk of stoning him.
So, options. I could add PfP to the buff routine when the party faces beholders, but that's not a spell on Aerys' list. Nalia would have to spend her level 1 slots on that. Or, I could boost his saves. In particular, Aerys knows Spirit Armor, and it has a two-hour duration - we should have that up all the time. And from now on, we will. Maybe not the full party, but most of them. Certainly always Anomen (for the saves) and the two mages (for the AC).
Now, for the anticlimax. We still have some cult remnants to clear up.
The remaining cultists all try to run. They don't all succeed.
With that, the cult has been routed. All that remains is to report to the Temple of Helm ... but we have something else to do down here first.
1044 total fire kills. This cult was truly cleansed with fire.
- Priest, Warcraft III
We skipped past the lich's tomb while working on the quest. Let's rectify that now.
Reporting to High Watcher Oisig, Anomen reaches level 30 and we get a useless mace.
After that, we're off for more lich-hunting. First, the Crooked Crane.
That's two liches down. The Bridge district comes next, where we face the Elemental Lich.
And finally, Kangaxx. That Improved Haste is still active when we reach him. Add spell protections for everybody, DUHM for Anomen and Isra, and swap those two to more effective weapons (Mace of Disruption, Daystar).
This gives Kangaxx some time. A Remove Magic sequencer wipes out our front line's buffs, so Isra recasts a Remove Fear. A round later...
And here's a complete log of the fight, from his transformation to the end.
Incidentally, the "spellcasting demiliches" component of SCS weakens their spell defenses so that level 6-9 spells can get through. Some of them, anyway. There are still a number of specific immunities, including Incendiary Cloud and Fire Storm. Dragon's Breath will work, though.
Aerys gets the Ring of Gaxx, and the Reaching Ring goes into storage. We have no more use for extra spell slot jewelry. Since I'm already in the docks, I visit Cromwell and forge a bunch of items that I'm not going to use.
And now, back to the quests. It's Rasaad's turn to join the party, with Anomen taking a break. And while I'm at it, I buy the scarlet ninja-to for Rasaad to use, main-hand. At level 13, it's the same 3 APR as his fists, slightly less damage, and slightly better THAC0 and AC.
We visit the city gates with him, and then it's off to the quest.
Over at the amphitheater, my buffing image rolls a wish-rest. That lets Cernd double up on his buffs and protect the whole party instead of just half. Nice. All right, now that we're buffed, we move out.
The first threat we face is Geld and his wolves. They get fireballs.
I've given Rasaad a wand of the heavens. He gets to use it against some aggressive wildlife.
I prepare contingencies, and move forward to the Vagrant Blades ... oops. There's a hostile wolf in the way, so the mages back off and let the melee handle it. Our contingencies are still intact when we arrive.
There are many options here, but I choose to offend them all. Bring on the fight!
Then, after the battle is over, as we're headed north to confront the monks ...
Before the big fight, we wish-rest and set up new contingencies. It's overkill, of course, but I really don't care.
Pick up the map and the potions the monks drop, go through a few images for another wish-rest, and leave. Some monks show up for Rasaad, and we talk them down, getting a cloak we won't use and a minor XP reward. That gets Cernd to level 25 and his final HLA - Energy Blades. He also picks up a level 7 spell slot - his last. From here on out, he's not getting anything but HP and caster level.
Over at the temple, we warm up with some animals:
Just as we reach the bridge, the sun rises. Morning light reflects off the golden dome, for a beautiful sight. I really quite like this area's look.
After a bit of exploration, we help out a bear:
There's one more fight outside.
Inside the temple, we face the tests. Or, rather, Aerys faces them all alone. Pain comes first, and he regenerates while we loot the side rooms. Nalia has to use her troll form on some of the locks here.
The bright room brings some invisible stalkers, and Aerys uses a pair of incendiary clouds.
The last two challenges don't require combat. And with that, we're ready for the big fight. Summon an image to renew Spirit Armor and wish up some buffs, but no incendiary clouds due to friendly fire. We'll have to rely on other options here.
Aerys' chain contingency fires. 3x Simulacrum, which ... doesn't work as I would have liked.
In the wake of the battle, Rasaad feels doubt. We let him leave and join the Twofold Trust ...
Reconciling kill counts ... the invisible stalkers didn't get counted. Also, Rasaad picked up an extra kill for zero XP; as best as I can tell, it was an image of Aerys. Those kills have never been counted before, but this one was - and it won't be the last time.
That final battle also brings Jaheira to fighter level 18, for spear proficiency and a second Hardiness. And with that, we return to Athkatla.
1093 total fire kills. Not quite as many this time, but we got one very high-value kill that way. Dragon fire is not to be trifled with.
— Paarthurnax, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
We're starting to run low on remaining content, but there's still one stronghold quest left. It's time to help out Haer'Dalis.
Mekrath's lair is populated by some random monsters. First, mephits:
More seriously, there's a pack of yuan-ti. Aerys calls up an image for them:
We liberate the various minor loot, and the experience from traps and locks is enough for Isra to reach level 24. She takes hammer specialization and Greater Whirlwind, letting her switch Crom Faeyr to her main hand whenever it's convenient.
For Mekrath himself - let's make a deal.
Mekrath gets his mirror back, and leaves. That opens up his container too, so we still get the rod of resurrection. Haer'Dalis joins, and I send Anomen back to the Copper Coronet for a bit. The bard levels to 15, taking longsword proficiency and the free specialization - not that he'll ever use it. We pick up the portal gem, and we're off.
Back with the troupe, we help guard them against some random critters as the conduit opens.
This, of course, means that we bring Anomen right back into the party. We can spare a few minutes, right? By the time we come back, our Spirit Armor has worn off, so Aerys calls up an image to renew it. That image wishes up a rest, and we enter the portal at full strength.
"Full strength", in this case, includes chain contingencies.
Anyway, we finish that up. No more enemies die to fire. Then we reconcile the kill counts, taking advantage of the in-game numbers to figure out who killed each "bounty hunter".
And now, we head east. Thralls resist us, and we are forced to fight:
After that, we investigate one of the sphincter traps. Nalia prepares a chain contingency and heads down invisibly ...
Leaving the room activates the next group of enemies, and Aerys makes an image for this fight. It's mainly a pack of yuan-ti, which get incendiary clouds from us.
The killing doesn't stop there. The wyvern comes over, and dies immediately after introducing itself.
The thralls in the area haven't come over yet, so we fight them. This includes the female thrall with Kundane and a mage who casts a fireshield.
Then the mage goes invisible, twice. All right, just drop a Comet on her.
For the Master of Thralls, I just fight in melee. He's only a nabassu, after all.
We could move on to the battle with the warden now, but there are still enemies behind those sphincters. And breaking the mastery orb makes them inaccessible. So, then, time for some detours.
First, in the north, a room of wolfweres.
Second, efreeti. Jaheira takes on this room.
Meanwhile, we got close enough to the warden to provoke some enemies. Two efreeti, a panther, a greater yuan-ti.
That's the northern corridor clear. On to the west.
We have now depleted both mages' level 8 spells, so it's time for a wish-rest. After that, Nalia takes on the second room.
Nalia recasts invisibility for the escape - you can't really go back from this room to the entrance area, so you have to run through the warden's area. This activates the warden's long list of prebuffs and initial spells.
Now, we break the orb. Also, wait for that brief blindness to wear off. The freed thralls fight loyal monsters, and lose badly. Then we join in, facing the warden himself.
Anyway, we land that dispel. Beat him down to near death, and the clouds trigger.
The area is webbed up, but that's no reason not to stand there while we sort out the loot. It's not like we're at any real risk of failing saves here. The fighting is over, and before long we head over to talk to the troupe. 44K XP for everybody, though that isn't quite enough for any levels. Haer'Dalis sticks around in the Five Flagons, but he'll never be part of the party again.
1148 fire kills. A respectable total for this relatively short update.
— Cyanide and Happiness
There's one last major quest for us to tackle: Neera and her Red Wizard problems. We finally travel to the Wild Forest and meet her.
The first encounter here is Quaid. He's an illusion, so thief Detect Illusion pops him. Or you can just not talk to him. This party?
And now, on to the monsters. There are lots of little groups here, usually with a spellcaster or two mixed in to throw some wild surges around. Like these hobgoblins.
Except for our melee attacks, of course. We'll always pick up a few fire kills that way.
I usually leave the snake alone, but this time I pick a fight.
Back with the spellcasting foes, there's a group of kobolds with some trap protection:
Disarming the trap is worth more experience than all of the kobolds put together, and it brings Aerys to level 24. No new spells, so all he gets is a level 8 spell slot. More incendiary clouds are always welcome.
An ogre mage actually gets something useful out of a wild surge:
There are a few more critters scattered around, but nothing notable. That brings us to the bridge, where I have to use the gravel for once.
Over in the camp, Neera joins in Cernd's place, and we deal with the various foibles of the wild mages. Reginald attacks Aerys:
The next mini-quest can be tedious, but I just give Jaheira a set of boots of speed for double-haste. We take two trips, but no cat food refills are needed.
Kirik is next, and I make a different choice from my usual:
This choice has no other significant effect; only the item reward depends on whether you encourage or discourage his magic.
After that, we head out for errands all over the map. Along the way, we fill up Neera's spellbook. That's enough scrolls for about 80K experience each, and Anomen reaches level 31. One more level 7 spell slot for him.
Once all of them are done, we come back to Daxus.
The fight itself is very quick.
That brings us back to the Refuge, and the next stage of the plot. The mages we've just helped have been taken, and it's time for revenge. Back to Athkatla. Buff up, and that image wishes up all of Haste, Hardiness, and a rest. We're ready now.
Inside, Nalia drinks three potions and transforms into a troll - 185 skill, enough to loot the three merchants in complete safety before we kill them. Then buy a few things from Gul Dukeem (including archmage robes for Neera), give him a Protection from Fire spell, and start the trouble.
Our wish buffs have expired, but we still have the contingencies. They take a bit to go off, but when they do ...
The bar does pose something of a challenge - we can't reach Mironda to cast Protection from Fire on her. Instead, we'll have to be a lot more careful about placing those clouds.
Of course, since we'll be using fire, there's no point in getting the mercenaries drunk. Just start the battle.
Those clouds are still going strong when the battle ends; we're just overwhelmingly powerful here. Nalia burns herself and gets breached, but that's it. And despite a mess of different enemy types with the same name, it's pretty easy to figure out who killed what and reconcile the kill counts.
For the next battle, I free Ghallus and friends, then don't set up any fire contingencies. Also, I'd have to wish-rest for that. No, not interested.
Instead, we apply some party-friendly fire. Dragon's Breath.
The last room has a few fighters and a wizard. We fight more conventionally here:
We pick up the treasure, free the mages, and head out. Trademeet first:
Then we close it out with a trip back to the camp.
1171 fire kills so far. This is the least fiery update in a while, mostly because we couldn't afford to use fire spells in the wild magic zone.
- Jaime Lannister on Aerys Targaryen, Game of Thrones
We've cleared out all of the major quests in chapter 6. It's just small things left - some side areas, high-level battles, and character quests.
With the party reunited, our first target is the Twisted Rune.
We charge forward, get into position, and exchange some taunts.
The elder orb Vaxall somehow dodged the cloud of fire on the first round. Not so for the second.
The vampire Shyressa heads into the clouds, and we add a fireball:
OK, then. We aren't attacking that defense. Fire Storm. Dragon's Breath. Comet.
I did set up an attempted trap - a pair of Symbol:Fear spells from Anomen, meant for Vaxall. They weren't in the right place, and never triggered. Nalia reaches level 24, taking shield style and Improved Alacrity. She also passes the milestone of 1 million XP from fire kills, and gets a new top kill in Shangalar.
We then take a side trip to the Windspear Hills, to pick up a bunch of junk I stashed and take it to Trademeet to sell. There are a few orcs and goblins to blow up, but nothing of note.
After that, it's off to the side areas that opened up with chapter 6. We arrive in the North Forest at night, and face some vampires first.
The planetar cures her, and we move on to some random encounters. Like this group of mists.
There's one truly high-level encounter out here - a full party. We come in fully prepared with an incendiary cloud contingency.
Now, that spot with the vampires has another encounter during daytime. We rest to advance time and pick that one up too.
Some yuan-ti are nearby, so I have an invisible image blast them:
There's also a spawn point for trolls in the southeast - that one's really finicky about when it's active.
Small Teeth Pass comes next. We buff again there, and clear the whole area while hasted. There is absolutely nothing notable there.
That brings us to the forest of Tethir, and we buff again. The image prepares a chain contingency, and we head out to the action...
Then, before long, the image expires. After all, the buff routine takes around half of the spell's duration.
We continue west, killing some panthers and mists along the way. That brings us to a cabin, where Coran waits. Sure, we'll help him out. After dealing with that house, of course.
Then our clouds come in.
Down to the south, there's a wyvern cult. I sneak up on them with an image ...
Really, it feels like there should be a bit more to this encounter - a few lines of dialogue before they attack. It's a weird cult in the forest, ant they just fight you silently?
Combined with a few post-cult kills, Isra reaches level 25. She takes Summon Deva. Only Jaheira is still unable to summon a celestial, and she'll pick that up before too long.
And now, back to Coran and his wolfweres.
There are a number of other minor encounters on the map, but the only area of real note is the cave. I prepare two chain contingencies ...
With that, this forest area is clear and we have the Mana Bow. Which none of the party can even equip. I end the session there, with all of the areas on the world map explored.
Coming back for another session, I go for something quick. Specifically, the Guarded Compound. I could have done it much earlier, but there just wasn't that much incentive.
Before heading upstairs, we add some additional buffs. Most importantly, spell defenses and Mass Invisibility.
And ... we're not the only one with an Incendiary Cloud contingency.
We follow up by taking out Koshi and Maferan with physical damage, leaving only Sion and Ketta. Then the second round of cloud damage comes.
The loot holds lots of expensive junk and one really good item. Another Helm of Defense is always welcome.
1239 total fire kills for the party. We're using fire practically all the time now. And when that's not enough, we add more fire.
— Vaarsuvius, The Order of the Stick
And now, time for the last loose ends. To start with, there are a few character quests I haven't done yet. We'll begin with a mod quest: Wilson's quest, from the mod expanding him.
To do this quest, we have to wait through a lot of friendship dialogues. Once that's done with, Wilson's brother shows up and the quest is on. We have a beetle to find and kill. After getting a local ranger to help - Isra gives him some tips on love - we're off to the fight.
The second half of Wilson's quest is a bit trickier to activate; one of the talks requires that the protagonist be injured. That basically never happens for us in normal gameplay, so I just bash Aerys in melee for it.
After that and a bit more waiting, Wilson talks about corrupted ducklings. And with that, we're off. We need to find four groups of them, and there are four under Athkatla.
We continue on, killing two more groups. Also, some random enemies on the way.
For the last group of ducklings down below, we bring back the fire.
Wilson's final friendship dialogue goes off, we fireball a group of respawned gibberlings, and we're off to the next quest.
For this one, we bring back Haer'Dalis. He gets arrested, and we now have to solve the murder. Our investigation leads us to the art dealer Quataris:
With that confession, Haer'Dalis is free. But there's still a murderer to account for ... and we don't need to keep the bard in the party to deal with him.
Also, the battle ended so quickly that Nalia's chain contingency didn't activate. It's a bomb just waiting for the next battle ...
All right, next. Mazzy has her quest, so we head off to Trademeet. On the way, some githyanki ambush us:
Once Mazzy joins, I take her to the Copper Coronet. Advance to the right time of day, and Gorf shows up.
I prepare some powerful equipment, give her Improved Haste ... and then she drops all of that equipment and enters the arena with only a short sword and small shield.
Mazzy's next event is still several days away, so I spend that on some chores. Move some items to a stash point in Watcher's Keep, forge the last couple things with Cromwell. And then, the timer runs down.
A bit of investigation, and we confront the cleric Barl. He doesn't take it well.
That's all the quest content. There are just a few more encounters out there for us to trigger. First, SCS adds several random travel encounters to chapter 6 - but most of the paths don't trigger encounters, so we have to deliberately go down certain routes. We've already seen some of that, but not all of them.
Anyway, we travel a bit ...
And while we're here ...
After retrieving stuff from Mazzy, some trolls respawn at the keep:
A bit later, again on the Athkatla to de'Arnise transition, I get that next encounter I was looking for.
Well, all right, there's a second round.
This encounter seems to be bugged; there are dialogue lines for a maharajah, but no such creature actually appears.
Now that we've cleared everything out, we sell the generic magic items and plate armor we've been picking up all game. That 700K gold goes right back into buying useful items for us, and an additional 1500 scrolls of Freedom - thirty stacks of 50 each. That's the most efficient way to convert gold into experience, and so we get started on that.
Ten stacks later, Aerys has gone from level 24 to 26 (Energy Blades, Spell Trap), Anomen has gone from level 31 to level 35 (4th dot sling), Cernd has gone from level 25 to 27, Isra has gone from level 25 to 27 (GWW #2, Deathblow, bastard sword proficiency), Jaheira has gone from levels 18/14 to 20/15 (Implosion, Globe of Blades, Summon Deva), and Nalia has gone from level 24 to 26 (Energy Blades). We stop there; really, I just wanted Jaheira to hit that 6 million mark for poison immunity and a pile of spell slots.
Of course, that isn't the only experience-grinding trick we have. With Nalia in the party, we can use Limited Wish to summon 63K worth of vampires and kill them. Anomen's turning should do the trick.
On closer examination ... the wish doesn't summon those undead "right now". It first advances time to midnight, which will probably expire your party's buffs. Especially any with short duration. You're going to enter this fight flat-footed, and that makes it a real challenge.
Still, I'll do it at least once.
Also, that's the limited wish djinn just hanging out and getting burned. For some reason, it didn't feel like leaving.
While still in here, I go to wish for a rest. At some point, I choose a meteor storm as the least bad option ...
Jaheira gets the kill, for zero XP. Also, the planetar cast a fire storm at us, for zero damage the other way.
And now, there's just one more encounter in chapter 6 I'd like to get. That pack of drow at the underdark exit ... but they only show up at night, and no amount of resting will get us to the right time. Ah, well, we have another way of adjusting the time.
Anyway, we head back up ...
With that, chapter 6 comes to an end. There's nothing left to do but hand over the Lanthorn and enter Suldanesselar.
1304 fire kills. So many enemies to burn that sometimes we can't even use our contingencies.
— Batman, Batman: The Movie
Handing over the plot token to Elhan immediately earns us a pile of experience, and we are transported to the entrance of the elven city. Aerys reaches level 27 (no new spells) and Isra reaches level 28 (Greater Deathblow). After wishing up a rest, we head in.
On entry to the city I notice that I forgot to apply my standard buffs. Eh, that shouldn't matter yet. We'll fix that by the time it matters.
Our first encounter is a pack of golems, which we drop some fire on:
Then, before we can go anywhere...
After one more roving adamantite golem (encountered alone), we're on to some less sturdy foes.
Now that those first few battles are done with, we cure Isra's curse and heal her. That brings us to the first building we can enter - the priest's place. That's also a good place to apply our buffs, with no other creatures to be affected by our wishes.
The building also holds a new ninth level spell - Meteor Swarm. You know, the fire spell that Aerys hasn't taken. We'll never use it, since it just doesn't stand up to either Incendiary Cloud or Fire Storm.
Now that we've buffed, we also have a contingency ready. So when the next fight is skeletons and elvish allies, the mages stay back.
After that, it's the drow mage Raamilat's turn.
Incidentally, Raamilat lacks the usual drow magic resistance. Since he's up on the surface, this might be intentional; I've fixed other such cases, but left him alone. Not that it mattered here, since our clouds were self-targeted and ignored magic resistance.
The building he guards is home to the priestess Demin:
With the battle done, we get exposition. Also, a scroll - Absolute Immunity. That one might theoretically be useful, but we probably won't do anything with it.
Heading out, we run into some more golems:
That clears the way for us to pick up the stone harp. Next up, the dragon. We call up an image for a wish sequence, picking up haste and magic resistance along with the rest to re-establish our contingencies. That should be good enough. I also use some regular contingencies - Greater Malison and Horror.
Still, the dragon can hit back:
I tallied the damage dealt in this fight. Aerys did the most damage by far, 288 fire damage over eight IC hits. Nalia only dealt 142 fire damage over her six IC hits - Nizi saved against most of her hits. Jaheira did 30 fire and 88 physical damage, while Cernd did 25 fire and 48 physical. Neither Anomen nor Isra dealt any damage at all; Anomen's only hit came before we broke the Stoneskin, and Isra got stuck outside of attack range. Combined, that's 485 fire and 136 physical damage, out of 600 HP after the SCS boost.
Jaheira picks up a level here - druid level 16. She takes Storm of Vengeance.
Now that the cup is ours, we head out. The moonblade is ours without a fight - then we step off the platform and back to trigger the encounter here.
That brings us to the temple. We have contingencies up for this rakshasa pack.
Well, since we have a contingency active, we might as well use it. Into the temple, then.
I make a new contingency, and hit the last building ...
There's one last spot to deal with - the palace's platform. There's a Balor here:
And with that, there's nothing left to do but awaken the avatar.
And now, the final confrontation with Irenicus awaits us. We will enter the Tree of Life - next time.
1328 total fire kills. There aren't that many enemies in Suldanesselar, after all.
— Rin, Laid-Back Camp
As we reach the tree, our old buffs expire. I'll wait until the battle with Irenicus to renew them. Before that, it's just the parasites and their elemental guardians. Earth:
That brings us to the final battle, for which I buff thoroughly.
And then, before the actual fight, Ellesime teleports away. Okay, that step was unnecessary. We also get teleported into convenient positions around Irenicus, and the fight is on.
And with that, we're drawn down into hell. Time for some trials. Fear comes first, as the previous battle's buffs are still active.
Then the clouds arrive.
With that, we can pick up the loot on the other side - Isra can cast Remove Fear for the party. Though we'll have to wait for abjuration immunity to wear off before we can protect everyone. The tear is ours, and we move on. Nalia takes level 27, for a fourth level 9 spell slot.
The remaining challenges are far less involved. Pride is trivial.
For Selfishness, Nalia has a Maze spell prepared.
For Greed, I try to have it both ways.
Finally, Wrath.
One more fight remains. I buff fully, including giving my summoned fire elementals Chaotic Commands.
So, then, we ignore him and target the demons. Dispels come from both Irenicus and the balors, so Cernd and Jaheira lose their protections. And then ... Irenicus turns back.
Irenicus took 152 damage the moment the battle started, then transformed. Another 145 to the Slayer in the next round, plus 19 more from the planetar's fire storm. Finally, 77 damage in round three, from Aerys' clouds - he moved out of Nalia's. That's considerably more than his HP, but he does regenerate rapidly.
All of the damage to us is wiped away in victory, as we return to the elves' domain for one last cutscene.
Our top nine fire kills for this campaign:
Bodhi (91000, Cernd)
Kangaxx the Demilich (55000, Aerys)
Nizidramanii'yt (52000, Aerys)
Shangalar (50000, Nalia)
Thaxll'ssilyia (45000, Nalia)
Unseeing Eye (30000, Aerys)
Balor (26000, Cernd) (the one in Suldanesselar)
Deril (26000, Cernd)
Shade Lord (25000, Aerys)
Tenth place is that glabrezu from the final battle; I didn't record who killed it. As for the more detailed stats - I'm saving them for the very end.
— Spider-Man, Runaways
After that battle, we're thrown straight into ToB. The Ascension version of Illasera can be a serious fight, so I'm putting up some special preparations. All three priests get Physical Mirror, Isra switches to Crom Faeyr/Reflection Shield, and the mages buff for as much missile AC as possible. With Aerys at -22 plus improved invisibility, she'll need a good roll to hit him.
And now, we fight.
Then our incendiary clouds go off.
Then Nalia's spell lands.
Another round of fire, and the other melee Reaver dies.
Up in our new base, Sarevok gets restored but not invited to join. Cespenar upgrades some things, but nothing we're actually using. We restore Aerys' buffs and wish up a rest, then head off to the first challenge.
Wait, where's that guy ... oh, I ran past the trigger with double haste. Backtrack to activate it.
Since our clouds will expire around the beginning third wave, I summon a planetar to add some fire storms.
And then, the final wave.
Irenicus gets a Spell Thrust and an Insect Plague ... not enough to prevent the Time Stop.
All right, now that time has resumed - Spellstrike down his remaining protections, launch a Dragon's Breath, and Breach.
Coming back for another session, we exit the pocket plane into Saradush - where a woman Melissan immediately draws us into a fight.
Oh, and that "weapon ineffective" notice? Some of the soldiers here have +2 weapons, but others have nonmagical weapons. And that isn't good enough against a druid in elemental form. Jaheira reaches fighter level 21 with this fight, taking spear specialization and Power Attack.
Melissan gives some exposition after the fight before teleporting away ... and noting that nobody can escape Saradush. Except her. She's clearly trouble.
With that battle done, we're free to explore a bit. This includes an unambiguous good deed, as we resurrect a recently deceased man. And some more ambiguous deeds, as we hit some rude soldiers with a giant flaming rock:
Next, we help out Lazarus. And while we're at it, we free Viekang.
And now, back to the fights of Saradush. We pay a visit to the walls first:
Up next, after renewing some buffs, it's a mage.
All right ... we really do need that rest. Pop into the prison and spend some images on a systematic hunt for the wish-rest ... we pick up 25 stats at one point, allowing Nalia to complete her spellbook. And then we head back out, because there's another encounter I'd like to do up top.
Namely, the barracks. I've prepared contingencies ... wait, that's a peasant wandering around. Protect him from fire!
Looking it up, it's because they all died too fast to actually get the message out. Eh, I'll force it anyway.
We wish for a rest again ... quite an ordeal. We have to go all the way to the sixth image and twenty-seventh wish for it. Still, that brings us up to full strength. Next time, we'll venture below Saradush to find the way in to Gromnir's throne room.
1409 total fire kills. The hordes of ToB offer so many opportunities.
— Ignus, Planescape: Torment
Having cleared out the barracks, we now have the key to go down into the sewers. Still, I'd rather start with the jail. We don't go for fire spells right away, but we still do some fire damage.
Still, we do use some magic. A pair of vampires in a side room gets some Dragon's Breath:
Continuing on, we help out the spirit for the bronze ioun stone, and Anomen reaches level 37. And then, it's time for the last group of vampires. I prepare some contingencies for this, and get a philosophical banter while I'm waiting:
All right, back to the action.
This area also holds one door with a lockpick difficulty of 150. Nalia would need not only the ring of lockpicks but also two potions in order to open it. I opt to just go around and not come back.
That brings us to the next area, where I go with some stealth to start. Well, OK, the Staff of the Magi. Disarm the traps without getting spotted, then regroup to kill the enemies.
After a bit of that, it's on to the mage.
The next section brings packs of orcs and orogs. We get back to the incineration here.
There's one notable item in here - Fflar's scabbard. We'll be able to upgrade Foebane ... as soon as we find it, because we haven't yet.
Rather than heading up into the palace, we go down into the sewers. There aren't any unique items here, but there are plenty of monsters to kill. And in preparation for the first major threat, I cast some Protection from Lightning spells. Add on a wish cycle (rest, Hardiness, Improved Haste) and engage.
Shortly after entering, they show up.
After that, gibberlings spawn in behind us. I have Isra fireball them for a change:
While we're at it, Jaheira levels up. Druid level 17 for her, and Critical Strike.
After that, a mage comes next.
For the pit at the center, we bring some contingencies.
Heading out brings another fire kill for Isra:
We turn to the western edge, where our haste finally runs out. But we still have fire.
Farther north, there's another mage. We go with the same "dispel and burn" combo as before:
After that, there are just a few remaining foes. Some soldiers:
The game crashes on me as I'm counting the kills, but fortunately the save was already in place. On to the next session, as we head up into Gromnir's domain.
Wish-rest, make new contingencies, and tweak some spell memorization. We warm up with the group on the ground floor:
For the boss fight, we add more preparations. Wish-rest again, prepare contingencies, add more buffs, and go.
All right, replay that floor. The second time around, all five enemies burn. Then I get even more thorough with buffing - three party members end up with 20 or more portrait icons each. Also, I quicksave before taking the stairs.
There's no need for that save. The cutscene works, and the fight is on.
We applied some Protection from Petrification spells because of the "Il-Khan Medusa" Ascension adds - her attack petrifies on a failed save vs death at -4. So Nalia memorized a few instances of PfP and helped out half the party. For the other half ... it's not a magic weapon. Aerys, Cernd, and Jaheira are immune because of that. So that's full immunity all around. Or the fact that it's a melee-range attack protects most of us, because only one or two party members will be up close with her. And unlike basilisk attacks, it has to succeed in an attack roll (THAC0 5, piercing).
Then, on top of all that, she never spawned at all. The Ascension reinforcements come two rounds after the fight begins, but only if Gromnir is still alive at that point. Oops.
This fight drops lots of stuff. Most of it goes directly to the bag, but there are a few items we have uses for. A rogue stone lets us upgrade the infinite arrow quiver, the lavender ioun stone is Nalia's new hat, and Ice Star is a situational option for Isra with its fire resistance.
Also, it's a nice chunk of experience. Aerys reaches level 28 and takes Spell Shield. It's a very useful spell, and I'll most likely take it earlier on any future sorcerers.
There's one last thing to do in Saradush before we leave - deal with Kiser Jhaeri. The investigation runs long enough for most of our buffs to expire, so we renew them in his house. And then we confront him.
Some reinforcements join in ...
She has fire protection up, so Aerys uses a Remove Magic. And then a Comet.
We loot the place, rescue Kiser, and speak to the countess. We are now done with Saradush, and ready to go on the offensive against Yaga-Shura's forces.
1476 total fire kills. Including Gromnir, the only Bhaalspawn boss we'll actually get to kill with fire. Yaga-Shura is immune, and the later members of the Five have "I have something to say to you" protection.
Sometimes it's above it, or below it, or falling in bits around it."
— Men at Arms