A few hours of travel, and we arrive at the Helmite camp. I know there are no mages here, so we won't get dispelled - bring out the potions.
Summons as well. It's a big fight with a lot of dangerous physical attackers, and I want to be ready.
But then, we meet the sentry ...
It's another broken cutscene. And I think I've figured out why. There's a segment from player 1's perspective, which then includes commands for Dorn to do things via ActionOverride.
The game chokes on that; ActionOverride(current object, do something) isn't executed, and neither is anything that follows. Including the crucial EndCutSceneMode() command.
While I might be able to dodge this cutscene by backstabbing the sentry to initiate hostilities, I've looked ahead. The next area includes a cutscene that I can't dodge that will be broken in the same way. No, better to alter the cutscenes themselves to remove the problematic element. Nine of Dorn's cutscenes end up needing changes; OHDCUT01, OHDCUT04, OHDCUT05, OHDCUT06, ohdcut9c, ohdgrom, OHDPTREE, OHDSTREE, and ohdwra01.
For the convenience of anyone else who decides to try this "Dorn as protagonist" idea, I'm packaging those cutscene changes as a mod, attached to this post. They're not recommended for use when playing normally - some of these altered scenes attribute actions to player 1 that really should be Dorn's responsibility - but the changes are self-contained, so it should be safe to install and uninstall them even during a run as long as you don't install any mods after this. Or to do it by the "drop in override" method, as other mods are unlikely to edit these cutscenes.
With that out of the way, it's back to the action. I leave the summons behind this time, as the cutscene doesn't bring them along. And the scene works.
Some words are exchanged, and then the battle is on.
Hey! Don't waste your time with the cook! Kill the real threats first.
Edwin brings out the crowd control spells; Chaos and then Slow. They go a long way to making this fight more manageable, but there are still a lot of melee bruisers and our front line is fully engaged.
Where's Hexxat? Sneaking around trying to hide so she can get in backstabs. The sunlight really makes things harder on her.
The confusion does its job well, and the primary target falls to his companion's blow:
But of course, the battle continues. Both Dorn and Anomen take heavy damage, but we do manage to eliminate most of the fighters. Then one of the last few foes (a Helmite Sentry) lands a Hold Person ...
Fortunately, we kill him off before he can beat Anomen down. No serious resistance remains.
After dealing with a couple more foes, the post-battle talk triggers. We lose another point of reputation, down to 4.
But we're not quite done here ...
There's still the cook. He's an innocent, so killing him hits our reputation again ... by one point, down to 3. Really, that sort of thing is practically expected of us by now.
We pick up the loot - a lot of heavy armor, which sells well - and turn back to Athkatla. An ambush ensues immediately - after no time, so our potion buffs are still active.
We open with a pair of spells - Hold Person and Command. That deals with Wagner and Garfunkle.
Two paladins and a cleric remain. Another Command for Big Mordim, a conventional beatdown on Traggor, and the battle is nearly won.
There's no more trouble after that. Cutscenes ensue, with a strange conversation.
Dorn does seem to be fond of talking to himself. And threatening himself. Not the most stable man.
One thing to note about this fight - while they're generally fairly simple melee combatants, the Hammers (except the pure cleric Garfunkle) all get bonus APR. If you don't watch out, they hit hard.
We continue to Athkatla, where night has fallen. Hexxat can finally be more comfortable and take her cloak off. Report to Bodhi, and her final task is set.
That's level 15 for Anomen and Viconia, and level 17 for Hexxat. She takes another 25 points in Set Traps, for a total of 80.
Before we can reach Aran Linvail, we need to deal with Gaelan Bayle to acquire a key. And that means a trip to the slums. Where the forces of law await.
There are two possible ambushes here. A generic bunch of soldiers with Cowled Wizard support, as seen here, or a party of named characters from the Radiant Heart. The latter can't come too often, and they don't come at all unless player 1 is at least level 14. Dorn is still only level 13, although every other member of the party is at least level 14.
They silence Edwin, we silence them. Well, I wasn't planning on casting mage spells in this fight anyway.
Now we just need to break down those combat defenses ... wait, the enemy mages have Vocalize memorized? That wasn't much of a reprieve. Still, I focus on them and remove them from the picture.
But ... the mages aren't the real threat in this fight. The legionaries hit hard. That's not even the first healing potion for Korgan. And without the arcane crowd control spells, it's hard to put them down. Still, we have the fighting strength for it.
Anomen gets hit hard too, but we've got them down to one, and panicked from Dorn's Horror innate. He falls immediately.
I look things up. Full stats on this encounter (unmodded):
One Amnian Centurion. 7300 XP. Spear, helmet, full plate, one random treasure (level 4). Level 16 fighter, 137 HP, AC -3 with full plate modifiers, saves 3/5/4/4/6, THAC0 -1 (piercing), 1d6+10 damage, 5 APR.
Four Amnian Legionaries. 3200 XP. Spear, helmet, full plate, one random treasure (level 4). Level 11 fighter, 94 HP, AC -3 with full plate modifiers, saves 8/10/9/9/11, THAC0 5 (piercing), 1d6+6 damage, 4 APR.
Two Cowled Enforcers. 4000 XP. Two random treasures and 25 gold. Level 14 mage, 59 HP, saves 11/7/9/11/8. Exclusively a spellcaster, and weak to melee attacks if no combat defenses are up. Buffs with Stoneskin, Spell Deflection, and SI: Evocation as soon as the battle begins, plus has a Stoneskin contingency once the first runs out or is dispelled/breached.
The fighters are fairly standard - except for that bonus APR. They were built as if they didn't get the APR bonuses from fighter levels and weapon mastery, but they do. And that means they're doubling up, for more APR than a fighter with two-handed weapons can ever get without a haste spell. They also have THAC0 one point better than it should be.
Still, if you can beat them, it's very lucrative. 28100 XP, a bunch of high-end random treasure which is likely to include some excellent scrolls, and five sets of full plate. Which sell for 1800 gold each at a standard merchant.
It only takes 5550 gold to raise your reputation from 1 all the way to 10 at a temple. Even one of these fights more than pays for restoring your reputation to a neutral level. If you're playing an evil party, fighting the law definitely pays.
Anyway, on to the thieves.
With Gaelan badly outnumbered, he doesn't last. And after taking this picture, I just let the battle music run a bit - it's one of the rarer songs (used in Watcher's Keep), and I like it.
Upstairs, Arledrian uses an invisibility potion. Dorn uses Albruin.
No problem. If he can't hide, he's just dead.
We return to the Copper Coronet to scribe spells and rest. After laying some traps outside; three out of four succeed. Edwin learns six new spells, notably including Spell Shield.
And ... what?
Dorn didn't refuse her. In fact, I don't think that talk even happened. Something glitched here. It's not a romance-ender, but I'm reloading anyway to set things right.
On reload, choosing to rest at the inn triggers a talk.
Naturally, she still complains when we wake.
Excuses, excuses.
Then, we step outside ...
And the traps pay off. Only the Centurion remains. One hit from Korgan, and he's not a problem either. Five sets of Full Plate and one scroll of Pierce Shield claimed.
Now, we head to the guild hall. The thieves outside aren't too bad, though one manages to drink an invisibility potion and backstab Hexxat. We enter the second floor, which is now empty with refilled chests - loot them again. Oddly, one is unpickable - but we have the key, and it's just random treasure inside.
Down on the first floor, the real fights start.
And they're nice enough to have a closed door we can exploit. Since we can see through it, I'm aiming those area spells just past it to hurt the thieves piled up there.
That part doesn't go quite like I hoped; only Edwin has the right line to actually cast that way. But his Skull Trap does kill two enemies and severely injure the others. Korgan's elemental damage keeps the mage from doing anything dangerous, and we clean up the enemies on our side. Then we open the door.
That brings the enemies through one by one into our killing zone. By the time we actually pass through, only a lone mage remains. Korgan goes in front with his 4 APR of elemental damage, and she's no problem. Zero damage taken on this floor.
And now, we use the key.
It's an immediate fight, though with no spellcasters. Easy enough. Clear them up, then some random orcs, before dealing with the torturer. That opens their prison room so we can talk to Tizzak.
All right. We need to find a button and a key. There's no avoiding exploring this whole place.
The next threat is a group of enemies in the cloakroom. Hexxat deals with the mage.
Without their arcane support, the rest of them fall easily. Also, I note that Hexxat's backstabs are a bit sluggish; Namarra has speed 3. I need to find her a faster weapon.
Try to spot a trap ... oh, that one isn't flagged as detectable. Just trigger it, then.
Hexxat's immune anyway. A few backstabs later, only the archers in unreachable spots remain. We'll have to engage them at range, and that isn't Hexxat's job. Bring up the party.
The next room brings an ambush attempt.
A simple Command is nearly enough to take down Dedral, though he does wake before the end. The ring of lock picks is now ours, not that we have any use for it. The trapped corridor heading to the button is here as well, and Hexxat handles that easily enough.
Disarm a trap, spot some orcs ... Edwin, you have a fireball wand.
All right, they're some tough orcs. Have another fireball, then. The second fireball eliminates five out of six, and the last is panicked from failing a morale check.
After a bit more sneaking around, we're ready to face Haz.
He comes pre-stoneskinned, so no point in a backstab. He proceeds to waste his first spell with a PW: Stun on Dorn, and I just send in Korgan to keep him from casting anything more with elemental damage.
Incidentally, Haz had more buffs ... but he set them all up when he was created, and it took long enough to get here that all but the Stoneskin wore off.
And now, the way to Aran is clear. There are a few more monsters on that path, like an air elemental:
Dangerous, but still vulnerable to a backstab. Two of our party members did switch weapons for that, as Albruin and Ardulia's Fall only have +1 enchantment levels. And Korgan got lost so he couldn't participate in that skirmish at all.
We open the door, and then get in a first strike.
The mage is down. Well, one mage; Aran is one too. He speaks, and opens with a Spell Trigger of PFMW, PFNM, and Mislead. We duck out of sight to clear up some minions and let that four-round PFMW expire.
Also, to set up another backstab.
That's the priest taken care of. Aran responds with a Protection From Evil ... well, at least that'll improve his defenses against us slightly. Anomen casts True Sight, and we head in.
Aran casts Improved Invisibility - a waste, since he still has that Mislead going - and we just wait for TS to tick.
It's not in that shot, but Viconia also took this moment for a romance talk. With the Mislead clone in sight. Really?
Anyway, the fight is on.
And it's very easy. Mages are nothing without their support and spell-based defenses, and we've just spent several rounds stripping his away.
Viconia gets the Amulet of Power, Korgan gets the +2 ring, and the enchanted elven chain just goes to the bag.
There's also a ring I don't recognize in one of the containers - identify it immediately with a charge of the glasses. It's a ring of djinni summoning, not available if you side with the shadow thieves. Neat.
And so the Shadow Thieves have fallen. Bodhi's guild reigns supreme in Athkatla's underworld. Next time, we deal with more personal quests.
@Selerel : As you can see, the way it goes is "most of the cutscenes break and hang the game, unless I edit them to fix the repeated technical issue." Which is why I've gone to the trouble of packaging those edits as a mod.
As we head out to sell off some junk, the guards accost us again. They are persistent.
This time, we bring the spell power. A Slow from Edwin, a Greater Command from a cleric. One mage and most of the legionaries are neutralized this way, allowing us to focus on the centurion. He gets some hits in, but we get more.
Now, what about the Cowled Wizards? This should be our warning...
Wait, they're not coming? I look things up; once your reputation drops low enough that the army starts coming after you, the wizards don't care about you casting spells in the streets. And that's permanent; raising our reputation isn't going to make them think they can stop us again.
I suppose I'll just have to settle for slaughtering the legion and their wizard partners, instead of the Cowled Wizard hit squads.
I make my choice on where to go next, and as I set out Viconia speaks up. This time, she tells tales of her using sex as a transactional tool, clearly trying to drive Dorn away.
Why should he care? It's not like he's ever assumed this is an exclusive relationship. Whether true or not, those actions simply don't matter to what the two have now.
We reach the edge of the district and head out. To Resurrection Gorge.
"Death and madness are common companions to us", he says, speaking to himself. I do like that snarky response at the start.
Talking with Summerheigh is disappointing as always; she has absolutely no dialogue that depends on the results of the quest here. Raise her son, sacrifice him to summon a demon - it matters not.
The tree, however, inspires plenty of conversation.
Apparently, a giant tree is notable enough for basically everybody to speak up.
Before long, we reach Treadsoft. Whack him a few times, and Yarrow sends us down. In the lower reaches, I head for the waterfall cave first:
And get in a backstab. Because of course I do that. Hexxat always goes for stabs. The front two went with confusion immunity through rage and Lilarcor, so it was an easy fight. The first summoning crystal is ours, along with a pearl and a potion of clairvoyance.
On the way out, we kill Winterbrook, for another pearl and potion.
The "magnificent" Fil is next. And I find a path through his dialogue that ends in violence, because he's just too annoying to do anything else.
It's definitely quicker than going with his whims. Two summoning crystals now.
Kill the ankhegs anyway, because we can.
That's a lot of pain on Korgan. I should probably heal him - but I don't.
And now, Xachrimos is near. Use Albruin's Detect Invisibility ...
... and engage. The demon punishes me for not healing Korgan - Power Word Stun into melee attacks.
Well, now we'll have to heal the dwarf. With a resurrection spell. Xachrimos tries to surrender, but we're having none of it.
The free heal is annoying, though. With that advantage, the demon gets some more hits in before it's through.
And so Dorn claims a new sword. The Abyssal Blade is quite good, really. Though I prefer one-handed weapons most of the time.
We raise Korgan, apply some buffs, and enter the tree.
Here, another component of my mod comes into play. Due to an oversight in the resurrection spell update for patch 2.6, the mechanism for raising Vernus broke. I repaired it, allowing for this:
I didn't do anything about the rewards, though. Calling Azothet is still the only way to get the Visage.
And here's the actual sacrifice.
(In base 2.6, that "Unaffected by effects from Raise Dead" also blocks the variable-setting effect that the sacrifice relies on. Vernus is technically alive, after all.)
And now, we fight Azothet. Our preparations make it go pretty smoothly.
Azothet has lots of paralysis and stun effects, which we protected against. Take those away, and it's just melee attacks. Which hit hard, but we can manage that.
All of our helmet-wearers can use the mask. I give it to Anomen, as he has the worst spell saves and doesn't get any of the immunities as kit bonuses.
Back up top, we could just leave. But we kill Treadsoft and Yarrow anyway.
It's the penalty for being annoying. Also, kill off all the guard animals. Then we leave. Summerheigh doesn't even try to stop us.
Back in Athkatla, personal quests advance.
Deciphering the Nether Scroll is a +20 lore bonus for Edwin. Also, that's Terl walking toward the party. Anomen has been called back to his family estate.
I detour through another area to reach the entrance I expected to come in by ...
... and the traps we set for the law pay off. Threat eliminated, zero damage taken. Now we can head to the Government District.
And there, Anomen makes a fateful choice.
The conversation leading up to that had one interjection - Viconia advocated revenge. Of course, I didn't need that to make the decision here. This was planned from the beginning.
On the way out, we get a little scene:
Viconia takes control here, covering for the beggar without any chance for player input. An interesting insight into her character, that shows she's more than just her Evil alignment.
We face some bandits on the way to the bridge. A Greater Command and a Chaos take care of them. Then it's the big house, which has guards.
They're no match for us. But we have to watch out - the butler and cook are innocents.
Which is why I've turned off the party AI. No auto-attacking the innocents. Anomen isn't that far gone, and this is his show.
After a few more guards, including some upstairs, we reach Saerk. And here Anomen truly falls.
He murders Saerk's daughter, right in front of him. With as low as we are, it's a worse reputation penalty than even killing an innocent; -2, down to 1. If we hadn't made that tweak to the happiness tables, Anomen would leave permanently due to his own cutscene actions.
The fight is on. Saerk has considerable cleric casting ability, and puts up a Blade Barrier - so we finish him off at range.
That just leaves Yusef. He's immortal, but we still have to beat him down before he leaves.
Spoiler alert: Yusef never comes back. Not even in Anomen's epilogue.
There's one downside to all that - I spent too long in there, largely on looting the place.
And with the party already fatigued, it's a tough fight. Even plenty of spells don't make it easy, and multiple characters take heavy damage.
Still, we win. And nobody dies. Now, to raise our reputation a bit.
Well, after a detour.
Belmin Gergas, elf-hater. And if that's Viconia, he gets really mad.
What do you get if you kill him? Zero XP, and the nearby guard and shopkeep get mad. OK, reloading that because I don't want to offend everybody.
Instead, we just head over to the circus tent and talk to the guard there.
The deferred reward from dealing with Kalah brings reputation back up to 2. Now we can rest.
And if I hadn't made that happiness tweak, reordering recent events here would have kept Anomen in the party. Raise rep by 1 to 4, then face Saerk and drop it to 2. Safe, for a neutral character. Especially since there aren't any more reputation reductions in our near future, now that Dorn's quest is done.
This is as villainous as I've ever had from a BG2 party. We'll raise our reputation eventually, but there's no rush. Next time, we go hunting for some quality loot.
In the new session, I choose to start by getting Hexxat a better sword. Of course, I have to deal with the army first.
No traps to help me this time, so I'm throwing around some spells. Most of the foes are easily incapacitated, but the centurion just refuses to fail his saves. Still, we beat him down.
Not before taking a whole bunch of damage, though. Almost all of that was dealt by the centurion personally.
After another repeat of the bandit waylay, Hexxat makes Viconia an offer:
Rejected. Viconia just doesn't swing that way. Or maybe she just prefers the living. The only same-sex action this run comes from Dorn and Anomen.
Actually, looking at the dialogue files, they might be up for a fling - but only if neither of them is in a romance with the protagonist.
And now, the actual destination.
Hexxat tried for a stab on the glabrezu as it was teleporting in, but rolled a 1. She got a fireball for her trouble before she could escape. Then she tried again.
Success. Enemies that see through invisibility can still be backstabbed with a sufficient distraction.
Unfortunately for us, the demon retaliated with a Power Word Stun on Hexxat, and the enemy combatants abandoned their struggle to pick on her. With the inevitable result.
One of those mist blobs is Hexxat. The other is the efreet. I suppose we'll just have to wait for her to recover.
And then ... the wait is far shorter than I expected.
Being stunned messed with the script; she regenerated, and by the time she reached the casket the death condition no longer applied. So instead, as soon as the stun wore off, she came back.
I still spend a while downstairs, letting the regeneration work as I loot the place.
Now, for the upstairs. We go in with a Mass Invisibility:
Along with some other buffs. That gives us time to disarm the traps in our way, and to set up a first strike.
Which we use to eliminate the mage Sion.
While he's level 18, he doesn't actually have anything 8th or 9th level memorized. Just a chain contingency and a spell trigger, both defensive. Not that they matter when you kill him like this.
The thief Ketta is invisible, so I use Albruin to reveal him. Then he drinks an invisibility potion - all right, add a True Seeing.
While we're trying to pin down one slippery foe, we're beating on another. Koshi has been eliminated. I pick up and identify the sword for Hexxat, effective immediately.
The very first thing she does with Celestial Fury? Land a stunning hit on Stalman, dooming him. Then Ketta gets revealed, drinks another potion, lands a hit on Anomen, and is finally visible long enough for me to do something.
A stunning backstab. Now he won't get away. The remaining foes are just melee brutes, and go down very quickly.
Aside from Celestial Fury, the best loot here is the helm of defense. Resistances and saves are always nice to have, and now all four of our helmets boost their wearers' saves. The sets of +1 full plate and +3 leather? That's vendor trash.
Back at my stash spot, the guards show up again ...
... but I set traps this time. Only the centurion survives that initial barrage, and he goes down without inflicting any damage. The random treasure this time includes an arrow of detonation, which would be more impressive if we hadn't imported a stack of them.
Now, off to Watcher's Keep to pick up more loot on the first level. We're advanced enough to face it at full strength now, after all. Upon arrival ...
Edwin has figured out something from the Nether Scroll. While he's casting it ...
The conflict in the party comes to a head. This one must end with one of the two leaving; I choose to send Hexxat away. But it's not permanent - she just went back to her spot in the Copper Coronet.
Then Edwin's spell finishes.
Ah, Edwin as a woman. It has no effect on their combat ability, so we'll just play on like that. No need to run down the timers and rush to a cure.
As we're down a party member, I head right back to Athkatla to pick Hexxat back up. This, of course, results in another run-in with the law.
That Slow devastates them; only one legionary makes the save. We take some hits, but the pain is minimal.
And now we can go back in.
There will be no further intra-party conflict.
I step outside, and it's another visit from Cabrina.
That's on our to-do list. But first, we rest. And cash in some of the goods we've earned with our villainy - more than forty sets of full plate sold and stolen back, at 1800 gold each. We'll fence them later for just as much, but for now that means we have over 100K gold. Once we buy some reputation back, this party will go on a serious shopping spree.
While doing this, a banter drops.
The first two lines of this are fully voiced, and the actors were definitely getting into it.
When the actual rest comes, it's the romance's turn.
Dorn has exhausted all of Viconia's excuses. She finally gives in and commits.
Back outside ...
I had four traps this time. No fight at all. So of course, I set another four traps for the next time.
Finally, we return to Watcher's Keep, to take that first level on properly. The first piece of unique loot isn't guarded at all, but we have no use for a set of bracers usable only by a non-evil paladin. At least, no use right now.
A stone golem goes down without inflicting any damage, and it's a pack of trolls next.
Ouch. I should have used some spells on them. We loot their room and the next, then wait for the strength drain on Hexxat to expire before pushing into the main hall. A full hour (50 rounds), which means that we get a lot of regeneration in as well.
As soon as we open the door ...
Vampiric wraiths come through. We are in a good position against them, at least. Though I forgot to activate Korgan's rage. Anomen destroys both of them, leaving just the Poison Mist and Wandering Horror. Those two are insignificant.
Next up, it's some mustard jellies.
They're not much of a threat, so I use Dorn's MR-ignoring drain spell for some healing.
... Uh, I retract that "not much of a threat" statement. They land multiple hits on Dorn, plus two crits on Hexxat. Without the Absorb Health and a healing potion, Dorn would be dead outright.
Once that slow wears off, I open the next door.
This one's just a bunch of phase and sword spiders. Keep them off your squishy back line, and they're no problem.
One unique "spellhaunt", and the random monsters on this floor are gone. Just the plot encounters remain. First, the priest:
Sure, you could fight him. For a lot less XP. Dorn may be aggressive, but he's no fool.
Then, the golems.
We could ignore them - but again, XP. Korgan levels to 15, taking hammer specialization.
And now, for the boss fight. I buff with potions, summons, and spells.
And now, get in place and activate the altar.
Each priest gets a spider, a skeleton, and a party member in their face to keep them from casting anything dangerous. The warriors get the rest of our attention.
First down? The bastard sword user.
Dorn upgrades to Foebane immediately. Even in its +3 version, it's considerably better than Albruin. Or especially Dorn's off-hand sword Kondar.
That lets our party reorient and concentrate their forces. The remaining three foes fall quickly in a chain reaction.
That's the first phase done. No trouble from the priests. This gives you an option to delay the rest of the boss fight, but we don't. Complete the ritual.
In the second phase, we want to target the mage as soon as possible ... but that statue is slow to activate for some reason. We already have one foe down by the time it becomes targetable.
And the mage gets Breached immediately, with Dorn and Korgan turning their attention there. Before I can finish the mage off, a chain contingency activates. Improved Mantle is in place. But no other combat defenses.
I only have one weapon that can go over that right now. Anomen, it's your turn to beat on the mage.
And so the most dangerous enemy here falls. All that remains are some physical attackers, and our buffs are still going strong.
Well, all right, Korgan's rage expires before the battle is entirely over.
But it's won. There's only one enemy left, and that enemy is stunned.
This sequence is worth a lot of XP, and we're in the right place for levels on almost everyone. Level 14 for Dorn, level 16 for Anomen (fourth dot in maces), level 16 for Viconia (staff), level 18 for Hexxat (stealth), and level 15 for Edwin. Only Korgan doesn't advance.
Then the haste spell wears off, and fatigue sets in for all but Hexxat. We settle in for a rest outside, where it's safe.
A very apt opening line there. Note the time of day. Then again, this bunch would probably prefer to be nocturnal if they could choose.
Back in Athkatla, we immediately turn to the graveyard so as to tombwalk once more.
There's no reason to delay this any further.
We start in a corridor with no enemies - just a quartet of ghosts. Which we pick a fight with. After all, they chose to be annoying and use True Sight just because Hexxat was stealthed.
And in picking that fight, we stack the deck with several traps. With their numbers reduced, they can't do much of anything to us; Anomen takes one hit in the battle.
Their loot is largely potions, but superior healing potions are always welcome.
Once that's finished, the next corridor is full of traps and spiders.
Hexxat immediately runs back to the party, of course. These "Bloated Spiders" spawn several small spiders when they die, which move fast and hit hard despite their low health. That's something I'd like the whole party available to deal with. Repeat the process a few times, and the corridor is clear.
After that, it's the corridor of traps and statues. While one of the items from earlier can be used to disarm traps, that doesn't include the spike field - so I don't use it. Instead, I just face what's there.
We start with statues, which unpetrify because we brought the scimitar. They're fighters with decent stats and full plate ... but they come out at 1 HP, so they're easy prey.
That leaves the wizard statues. They don't unpetrify on their own, so I check my stash ... ah, there's a blue scroll of Stone to Flesh. I'm giving up 6K scribing XP to use it, but that's OK since we're getting loot and XP out of it.
Again, 1 HP each. They can try to put up defenses, but anything that gets through is lethal. Three of the four go down instantly, while the fourth manages a Mirror Image and we have to gang up on it. In retrospect, I should have used the Ring of Earth Control to soften them - I always forget it has activated abilities.
There's another group of statues past the spike field. They don't see us yet, so Edwin launches a fireball.
They have fire resistance. It doesn't matter, because they also have one hit point each.
Once the statues are all dead - and all fleshy when they died - the hidden container becomes active. Along with a really obnoxious ambient sound effect.
The main treasure here is a set of boots of elvenkind. They're useless to us, as the boots of stealth Hexxat already has are just better.
That just leaves the worst part of all of this - walking through that spike field.
That hurts. A lot. And then there's a 10d6 fireball at the end, because we're carrying the lamp to call the furious djinn.
It goes down before doing anything else, but that initial fireball was bad enough. I wait here to regenerate some before continuing.
Once we're back in decent health we continue to the next room - the library. Three mages stand there, and a single line is enough to get them mad.
What's not obvious at first glance is that they're not just mad at us. They're mad at each other too. With them wasting their spells not aiming at us, we don't need much to put them down. Though that won't stop us from casting Chaos and Greater Command.
Let's see ... two out of three are confused and silenced (because their silencing words bounced off Spell Turning). We gang up on the one that isn't as our first target.
The rest is trivial. We turn to our next target and continue the beatdown.
Once it's down to one mage left, he talks. I pick an option without paying much attention...
Oops. Not sorry. We were going to kill him anyway. Though he does land a Greater Malison on the party before going down, so that's another thing to wait out.
I do credit the foresight of the writers here with that option to misname the wizard because you're not paying attention. It only applies if Qais Ra'id is the survivor, though.
While I'm waiting, that sound effect from the chest is really bugging me, so I start looking into the scripts. Wait, there's no ambient sound in the area at all, let alone the one that chest-revealing script allegedly activates? Something's weird and probably broken here.
Still, I can have some quiet by keeping that area off screen. Find the key book, walk through the next trapped corridor, kill a bloated spider, answer some questions, and then enter the final room.
Just a priest and a bunch of spiders. Avoid hitting her with missile attacks, as that's a Physical Mirror. Too late for Viconia's first bullet, though.
Her next spell is Protection from Good 10'. That's useless against us. Then Hexxat goes for a backstab ... stunned, but no bonus damage. That sprite doesn't have any visual facing indicator, so she wasn't looking the direction I thought she was. Oh well. She's still dead.
You can actually talk Raffiyah into giving up the shroud without a fight, though I never have. Let's see ... don't provoke the ghosts, don't activate the statues, don't activate the djinn, back off and let the mages fight it out, then flatter the winner into letting you pass, talk Raffiyah into giving up the shroud ... only the five bloated spiders are a fight you can't finesse. Unless you just sneak past them, anyway.
You can dodge almost all of the conflict in Hexxat's first tombwalk excursion, too. Pickpocket the key from Keno, don't steal from the mummy tombs, pickpocket the next key - only Nan Kung Chi is an unavoidable fight on your path. Unless you sneak past him and just take the Claw.
All that remains is to take the shroud and leave. Viconia offers another romance talk, and then we're teleported to the Copper Coronet for a chat with Cabrina.
Hexxat has something to say as well.
That is a long-term project. Hopefully, Hexxat will be with us all the way.
And now, I step outside to hit my stash spot.
Dorn has passed the level 14 threshold for Radiant Heart retaliation. It's a party that actually outlevels us; three level 16 paladins, a level 16 cleric, a level 14/14 fighter/cleric, and a level 18 mage.
But we prepared the field. There are four traps under their feet.
And it's over.
Normally, when you get them down to one remaining, that one talks to you and flees, setting up the group's return after a day. But with a total party kill? They're never coming back. None of them survived to raise the others.
That battle is worth over 50K experience, plus a bunch of gear to sell. Including four sets of full plate, a set of +1 full plate, and a +2 large shield. It's a very profitable endeavor.
And now, after nine times fighting the law, it has gotten a bit tiresome. I'm done with having reputation 2. Time for a quest that will improve that, and to get out of Athkatla for a while.
On the way out, we get that repeating bandit ambush again.
Apply level 5 spells. No more problem.
And finally, the keep. The first stronghold event is ready.
I take a more threatening stance than usual, earning a discount on the payment to this merchant. Dorn is a fearsome blackguard, after all.
These choices cost money, but they also make the people happier - which allows for taxes to be raised more later, earning that money back. For now, Dorn doesn't need that extra cash.
The party rests, and I bring this part and session to a close. Next time, we continue on to Trademeet. It's shorter than most of my posts, but that's just how the natural breakpoints shook out.
And with the session's end, I dig around some more into that sound effect in the tomb. And figure it out. What's going on here? Once you clear away the cruft of that script activating a bunch of things that don't exist, and the chest having every flag for no good reason, there's a pair of audio/visual effects associated with the script that activates the chest. And they just keep playing repeatedly, because that script block does. There's no "already done this, no need to do it again" condition in there. Which is a serious bug, and would break anything added on to the end of the area script. That one's going in the Fixpack.
You know, it would be really nice if one of these days, the internet connection at my apartment was functional enough to post this at home instead of heading out to the library. But no. I got enough time clear to open this thread and upload the first picture, then nothing for 6+ hours until I headed out for this. And today was a good day by the standard of the last six months.
Act Two, Part 10: Trademeet's Troubles
We arrive in Trademeet to immediate battle.
Trivial for us, less so for the low-level soldiers guarding the town. One of those soldiers gets poisoned by the spider he was fighting.
Viconia has a poison cure memorized. But using it on an outsider? No way. He's not worth it.
That's not the only guard that dies. Another does at the northeast gate, in a way we probably couldn't have stopped. Beyond that gate, the thief Kich has wares unlike the regular merchants ... but they come at the ludicrously high markups that reputation 2 brings. Another time, perhaps.
We meet Rasaad, and leave him standing in the street. He wouldn't accept being in this party anyway.
I meet with Logan next; he's more suspicious than usual.
Still, it's a solid offer. We speak with Cernd as well, and send him off to the grove separately. If we need his help, he'll be available.
Outside, a halfling approaches:
The evil option for this quest. And his evil is very obvious when you let him speak. We hear him out, though we won't go through with it; the "good" path has far better rewards, and this party is looking to improve its reputation anyway.
Still, Korgan approves.
For that? Oh, all right. I'll at least demonstrate the evil option.
Before heading out, we talk to the djinni as well. Find and kill a rakshasa, right.
Over at the grove, we meet a druid:
A challenge? That sounds interesting. And a reason to pick up Cernd, if it comes to that. After all, we don't have any druids in the party normally.
Meanwhile, we face random monsters. One at a time. Like so many BG2EE spawn points, these are set to "encounter difficulty" 2, which means that the very first monster is enough to meet the threshold and spawn no more - even with the increased cap from my mod.
Farther south, we run into an actual group:
Trolls and ice trolls. Still not a real threat, though.
A group of spiders. A lone troll. A lone ettercap.
This is pathetic. BG1 spawns were stronger than this; we faced multiple ettercaps at a time back in the Cloakwood. I'm definitely going to experiment with increasing that encounter difficulty parameter.
Then we turn to the troll mound, guarded by a group of them. Since they have more advanced trolls mixed in, we apply some magic.
Trolls are hard to debuff, but Slow works on them at least.
And gets us through with minimal pain. Dorn switched to two-handed mode and Viconia to melee, greatly increasing our troll-executing power.
And just before going in ...
An empire? Perhaps. Perhaps even more. Dorn does not lack for ambition.
Anyway, we have more trolls to fight.
And they're down. Not too bad.
The mound has some nice loot, but nothing we have a use for. Our only ranged attackers can't use the bracers of archery, and we have no spear users at all.
Outside, we move forward to find a battle in progress. Druid lackeys and trolls. Edwin, apply some indiscriminate destruction.
One Cloudkill from a wand. The trolls die instantly, and the humans go hostile. I send the poison-immune Dorn and Hexxat forward to fight in the cloud, while everyone else stays back.
The mage does manage one offensive spell, but mostly the Cloudkill wins the fight on its own.
And so we just wait for the cloud to expire.
Next up, it's a group of druids. Have another Cloudkill.
Hexxat moves to backstab one ... dead instantly. All right, try another.
It doesn't take long to bring down all the minions and leave Kyland alone. Then Dorn finishes it.
A crit. Not that we were having any trouble; the Cloudkill wand won this encounter pretty much on its own.
Past the bridge, it's a group of trolls. Hexxat backstabs one, retreats to draw the others to the party, and then doubles back for an execution:
I had to zoom out to catch that properly.
We pick up Belm and put it away. It's not to the taste of our dual-wielders anyway.
And then, it's rakshasa time. This can be a tricky one ...
Or we can kill Ihtafeer with a critical backstab. That works, too.
Then the other two don't seem interested in casting spells at all.
Is that all? Wow. That was easy.
The path forward brings some spore colonies ...
... which just sit there and die. No myconids summoned. Maybe we killed them too fast, but I didn't even see the casting animation.
Passing by Cernd for now, we come to the entrance guards.
That's Dalok down, with the unique stuff. Hexxat backstabbed her target for a minimum 20 damage and got attacked back. Dorn is going for a LMD to disrupt a spell ... too late, but it's only a Bless. The remaining foes don't cause any further trouble.
The Burning Earth isn't very useful for our party - Hexxat refuses to use it, and nobody else has longsword proficiency. We'll keep it around anyway; it is +4.
I make a save, and head in. Let's see what the evil option is like.
Poisoning the Source is easy. Hexxat doesn't even have to come out of stealth.
After that, it's a general fight.
And not a hard one. Most of those enemies just leave once Faldorn dies. But also in that shot, there's a druid under a visual effect - that's Master Verthan popping in. With summons.
He has to be taken seriously, at least. Anomen takes heavy damage from the bears before we put him down.
And from there, if we returned to town, we would get a pathetically small (1000 gold and the Shield of Harmony) reward from Khellon and a -1 reputation penalty from Logan. No XP from either. Nope. Reload.
Instead, I head back a bit and invite Cernd to join. Edwin takes a break.
Cernd goes to level 13, taking Single-Weapon style and putting a helmet on. Apply spell buffs - Chaotic Commands, Remove Fear, Bless, Chant. He'll transform in the pit.
Or ... I forget to deactivate automatic spellcasting, and he charms Faldorn. Successfully. Huh. Well, no sense wasting the opportunity. I have Faldorn cast her offensive spells.
Nothing left but a Cure Light Wounds and two Heals. All right, the charm should wear off soon. Attack.
And it's over before she even reverts to hostile status. Definitely the weirdest iteration of that fight I've ever had.
Cernd leaves, Edwin returns. Now, back to Trademeet to be showered with rewards.
And to steal a summoning item. You never know when that'll come in handy. Talk to the genies, and they leave. Then continue to Logan and the guildmistress.
Reputation up to 3. Over 18K gold, a bunch of gems, and the shield. Though we'll have to wait for day to loot most of the merchants. For now, we just steal a scroll case, some potions, and some scrolls.
We visit some of the attractions outside the wall next. First, the fortune teller.
Dorn's stolen destiny overwhelms his original - good to know. Also, Korgan just is what he is, and nothing's going to change that. He doesn't need any special destiny to be awesome. There are fortunes for (in alphabetical order) Aerie, Anomen, Edwin, Hexxat, Jaheira, Keldorn, Mazzy, Minsc, Neera, Rasaad, Valygar, Viconia, and Wilson. Dorn actually has special dialogue too, but it's not a fortune; if he's not player 1, he turns Kveroslava down without you getting a choice.
Next, Wilfred.
That option is available for evil characters and thieves. No violence ensues; it just leads to him handing over some gold without the need for an ability check.
I also stumble across something I didn't know - the statues at the fountain have names.
They're technically creatures, so they can copy attributes like sprites and names from the party members. The info triggers are still just "<CHARNAME>, Hero of Trademeet" and "Follower of <CHARNAME>", though. Scripts can activate and deactivate triggers, but they can't edit the text.
Anyway, we continue on to handle Jenia's problem.
They're no threat. And we have a Restoration memorized.
Well, that's Raissa saved.
And a hint of things to come in Hexxat's comment. She views her vampiric sttus as a curse - and not one that a simple restoration spell can cure.
Reporting back earns us another point of reputation, up to 4. Then we rest.
And Dorn makes an important decision. With Viconia as exhausted as she is (she was the one to cast the restoration spell, after all), there's no need for sex. Just sleeping.
After that rest, we deal with the mantle. And hand it over to Logan, because we should act like heroes in this town at least.
Reputation up to 5. We're creeping back toward respectability.
And now, we follow that up with some skullduggery. The daytime merchants here aren't very watchful at all, and Hexxat can loot them without spending any potions. Many valuable items are claimed.
We also get some street theater.
Ah, yes. A point well made. No need to intervene in this philosophical argument.
I've been wondering why Anomen's romance hasn't moved in a while ... it's because I forgot something. He needs to go back to Cor to report his deeds. Next time, we return to Athkatla for that and other matters.
As indicated, the first thing we do back in Athkatla is talk to Anomen's father.
Now the romance can get moving again. And Dorn can offer some reassurance.
Well ... his idea of reassurance. It's all about convincing Anomen that he did the "right" thing.
Then, we report back to Bodhi. And the deal is definitely looking worse for Dorn.
Though Dorn has no idea why Bodhi is talking about some girl named Imoen. Who's that?
Bodhi wants Irenicus, and has worked with him in the past. Whatever she wants, it probably isn't compatible with Dorn's revenge. We'll definitely be on the lookout for her inevitable betrayal.
That also brings the party past 2 million XP each, and to several new levels. Korgan reaches level 16, Anomen reaches level 17, and Hexxat reaches level 19. The latter continues improving her Detect Illusion skill.
Back on the surface ...
There's no right answer to this one. Every option ends the romance.
All right, what happened? Remember the last love talk I showed, in the previous update? That was #62. If you choose right in it, as I did, the next talk is #64 on waking. Which skips the variable to 67, so the next one after that is #68. If you choose wrong in #62, the variable skips to 65, and the next talk is #66 shown here.
Instead, what happened is that the game glitched and didn't trigger talk #64 - that should have been in the same picture as #62, because it's immediate after waking. With that talk not triggering, the variable just moved on and incremented to 65, leading to talk #66 by the wrong path. Oops.
I go back to the autosave at the crypt entrance (my last quicksave is back in the druid grove) and set the variable to 67. Then go up to the surface...
That's better. The romance is back on track, with a warning - agents of Lolth seek Viconia.
That was the end of a session. Now we just have a bunch of little things to take care of before we get on the boat. In particular, I want to get Anomen's trial done with first.
The very first thing we do in the new session is improve our reputation. Anomen pays restitution for his crimes at the temple of Helm in the bridge district. Hide Viconia and pay 150 (7 to 8), then 100 (8 to 9). Then let Viconia return and pay another 150 (7 to 8).
Three points of reputation for 400 gold. We're at the sweet spot. And that puts us in range for shopping; hiding Viconia brings reputation to 10 for the best discount we'll get.
So now, the shopping spree.
From Ribald, we buy the Staff of Rhynn, the Fortress Shield +3, the Reflection Shield +1, the two scrolls of Protection from Magic, and the Ring of Air Control. From Diedre, we buy the Sensate Amulet, Vhailor's Helm, the Mercykiller Ring, and the Shield of Balduran. From Joluv, we buy the Sling of Everard. Some of these items are immediately equipped, while others go into reserve.
While we're doing this, Anomen speaks up:
An honest assessment is not appreciated here. We know he'll fail - but telling him that ends the romance.
Since that shopping spree spent 80% of my gold, I decide to make it up by selling a whole bunch of jewelry and some generic magical gear. Just a first sale; we'll fence it all later.
But before that, we have an encounter to take care of.
The agents of Lolth have found Viconia. And teleport in to attack - not a good move.
That's the yochlol down before it could do anything. Then there's the Handmaiden.
Squish. She tried to cast a spell, got interrupted, and died. The only successful move by the enemy was knocking Viconia unconscious, which is scripted and unavoidable.
This encounter brings two pieces of unique gear. The Dark Elven Chain +1 is basically just elven chain +1 usable by evil only (useless), while the Handmaiden's Mace is a +2 mace with an on-hit poison effect usable only by evil elven and half-elven clerics. Since Viconia is using the Flail of Ages, the mace doesn't measure up.
The yochlol in this encounter uses a generic demon sprite like nabassus and balors; I didn't get a look at it to say what color it is. That doesn't match the yochlols in ToB, which use drow sprites and cast spells like clerics.
There are some bandits on the way to the shop I choose to exploit. They just get a Skull Trap.
Then, after the first stage of my scheme, Anomen speaks up ... and reveals some serious misconceptions.
A sense of good? Dorn only has a sense of who not to offend. It was a personal grudge with Sarevok, and keeping the Dukes' favor was clearly the way to go there.
By the time I'm done selling things and stealing them back, we're back up to the 160K gold we started with before going shopping.
All right, I'd like to do at least a little fighting. After checking in at Dorn's keep and collecting the taxes, we head off to Watcher's Keep to take on level 2. Also, buy Firetooth, the Short Sword of Mask, and the gem bag. Disarming a few traps is enough to get Viconia over the threshold for level 17. Then fatigue catches up to Dorn, and the party rests.
Hexxat scouts the libraries and disarms the floor traps ... wait, no monsters?
Oh. They were just shy about spawning. Here they are.
Mutated spiders are squishy, but they can deal a lot of damage. 2.5 APR plus haste, 2d4+2 damage plus powerful poison, THAC0 4. But we have a lot of poison immunity, and we're in a good tactical position. Backstab one, lead the others back to a prepared battle line.
Just a little physical damage.
The air library is the next to spawn its monsters.
Of course, they're golems. No backstabs possible, so Hexxat just stabs from the front. Still a nice hit.
They charge. They get hasted. They meet our line.
We drink two healing potions. Only one clay golem remains. Hexxat delived a Blackblood sneak attack on it, then retreats. Then another, and it finds the party this time.
Anomen, Viconia, and Edwin go for the intercept. Anomen is the one to land the final blow.
Then come the fire giants - on my third visit to that room.
Hexxat goes for a stab, then tries to hide in the corridor ... bad idea.
She can't get away, and they beat her down. Actually, we have to attack them to distract them from her mist form so it can get away.
That takes care of one giant. Now we wait out the resurrection timer.
When Hexxat returns, she walks over to her dropped gear and picks it up without even breaking stealth. Time for some revenge.
Three backstabs and the giant drinks both of its potions. Admittedly, it landed a hit on Hexxat there. Might as well bring in the party now.
Finally, there's the ice library. It has mists, including vampiric wraiths.
And we have easy access to level drain immunity. Vampiric wraiths just aren't that scary. The only hiccup is the Death Fog the Wandering Horror casts just before going down. We'll have to wait for that to expire, so we just loot the other libraries while it's running.
Now, on to the labs. And there's no choice about the order, because of the chain of keys. First, we deal with some air elementals.
Their whirlwinds are good at spreading damage around, but anything that doesn't kill us is just a matter of time. No problem.
Second, the poison lab. The snake has a strong leash, which is rather annoying.
That's level 15 for Dorn, and halberd proficiency.
Third, ice. The ice golem is also on a leash, and it requires +3 to hit. Well, Korgan has a +3 throwing axe, so I don't need to get close to it.
The ice mists, though? One of them goes on an adventure.
It was trying to get back home, so it went out the door, around through the center, and to the locked door where it got stuck. And all while being attacked.
Anyway, back to the golem.
It's a script death, so the experience is the best indicator. That, and the loot pile.
Finally, the fire lab has a fire giant on a leash, after we deal with the elementals. Korgan abuses that one too.
No need for anyone else.
With the libraries clear and the Helm of the Rock claimed, I stop there. We don't have that many elemental damage options right now, so the Chromatic Demon would be a serious challenge. I'll come back for it later.
Also, one thing that bugs me - why does Korgan choose the Rifthome Axe's melee mode automatically when going back to "prefer melee"? Because in all possible worlds, Frostreaver does more damage. And it's supposed to pick the most damaging melee weapon.
As we leave the keep, Viconia speaks up.
Despite what it may look like, that's the option to preserve the romance. She'll hold off for the rest of SoA, but she'll stay with the party - and the romance will be back on for ToB.
Anomen talks as well.
We know he's going to fail. So why worry about it? Come to the dark side - we have fun. There's one more talk after this, and then the trial. We're nearly there, so it's time to head back to town. With a stop at the keep, because the second event should be ready.
Well, it's ready after a rest.
Dorn could be cruel and execute him, but that would just make people mad for no gain. And happiness can be converted into money, at a better rate than we paid for the medicine.
Back in Athkatla, I pick up a fifth gem bag and then just wander the streets while I wait for the timers to run down. Oh - here's a scene of interest:
Korgan decides to act on his own. All right, go for it.
Sure, killing the ogres is worth a better reward, but if the game is just going to hand me roleplay opportunities like that, I'm taking them.
Also, we watch a play and pick up a quest. That'll wait until after Spellhold, though. And since Anomen doesn't feel like talking yet, I head over to the Seven Vales to pick a fight.
To my mild surprise, Korgan picks the fight without any need for player input. Well, I was ready for that. Including that I set some traps. For our opening moves, Hexxat backstabs the mage Sorcerous Amon and two of the traps she set go off on the barbarian Smaeluv Orcslicer. The thief Brennan Risling tries to run, but we don't let him.
I had more traps by the door in case he got farther. Now it's just Pooky and a slowed Mencar. And before long, it's nobody at all.
The loot is mostly junk, but the Sandthief's Ring that Brennan had is nice.
And now, with the battle done, that Anomen talk fires. It's just an hour and a half in game until he's called to the trial. I take that opportunity for a few more light jobs. First, check out Valygar's place in the docks, and get directed to his cabin in the Umar Hills. Second, check out the pirate hideout in the Sea's Bounty.
They're not a serious threat. We cast a few spells because we have so many to spare, but it's over quickly.
And as I head back to my stash ...
It's time. We head over immediately.
Anomen is cast from the Order, as we knew would happen. He immediately becomes Chaotic Neutral, and fits in with this party considerably better.
That line in the conversation is a reputation check, by the way. At a higher reputation, the prelate would have brought up Saerk instead. We get a bit of experience, and we're out of here.
And now we get angry Anomen. Be careful - there are options that will make him leave the party and go hostile here.
After a few final preparations, we return to Bodhi. On the evening of day 29, with Dorn at 2.15 million XP and the rest of the party very close, we leave for Spellhold.
Next time, we explore an island full of pirates and treachery ... and thanks to a poorly thought out mod component of mine, considerably more pirates than usual.
We arrive in Brynnlaw safely, though not without some discomfort. Korgan does not have sea legs.
Also, Saemon has promised to show us around the isle, so we know where to go to meet the contact Sanik.
He just has no intention of following through with that promise. That would be work, and a risk. Instead, he just stands on his ship and narrates an imaginary tour.
It's a glitch, but it just fits his character so well I had to include it in the narrative.
Our alliance with Bodhi means that there's no vampire fight right after we get off the boat, but the rest of town is basically the same. People going about their business, random pirate thugs attacking.
My random encounter component actually worked this time, and spawned the full ten. I hit them with a Horror, and only four save. They die without any real trouble.
Then it's a crossbow-wielding group.
A bit more dangerous there, with their ranged attacks. And Anomen chooses this moment, with battle starting, to talk.
Working out his frustration with some violence, huh? Dorn understands.
Annoyingly, that canceled my order to use the wand of fear. Which turns out not to be very effective when I do get it off; most of them save, and some that didn't attack anyway. Oh well. They're just mooks.
All right, what's different about these spawn points? The "encounter difficulty" parameter is still only 2, but these pirates have their XP/power level stat set to zero. And I think I've figured out the formula: spawn until (#creatures)*(power level) is greater than (sum of party member levels)*(encounter difficulty)/100, or the spawn point's cap is reached. Approximately, anyway; that 100 is a guess. Creatures that don't have that power level stat set properly will always reach the cap.
For context, BGEE spawn points are almost all set at power level 200. And here are some creature power levels, all of creatures that can appear at BG1 spawn points:
Kobold 3
Bandit 6
Black Bear 12
Ankheg 25
Phase Spider 50
Greater Doppelganger 80
A similar system is used for the Monster Summoning spells; at least, they use that same "power level" stat to determine how many creatures are summoned.
BG2 took the system that was in place for BG1, and didn't bother to extend it properly. Creatures that were copied over or cloned from them kept their values, but creatures created from scratch usually ended up with a zero there. And some of them get used in spawn points, creating this problem. But it was all papered over by setting low caps on spawn numbers ... and I've just ripped that cover off.
What does this mean for my mod component? I have to alter both "encounter difficulty" and "power level" values if I want it to work properly. The former for the spawn points themselves, the latter for the creatures spawned. But not this run, since I'm not going to change my mod midstream. I'll just roll with whatever weirdness it throws at me.
Anyway, back to exploring the town. We watch a duel, with an odd end - one combatant fails a morale check, goes berserk, kills his opponent, and then attacks us. A fatal mistake there.
There's a third mob of pirates, but no pictures this time.
I buy a couple things at the temple - a belt for crushing AC and a wand of the heavens. Then sell off the pirates' junk at the blacksmith's shop, and enter the tavern.
Meeting Sanik does not go well.
"Fear not. I'm watching your back." Not the most reassuring thing to say right before stabbing a man in the back for massive damage.
All right, time for plan B. We need to get into Galvena's place and find Claire.
That's Chremy dealt with. The cryptically obscene medallion is ours. (Look closely at the icons, both in the inventory and the item description, and keep in mind what sort of establishment it represents. Once you recognize it, you can't unsee it.)
After some persuasion and some stealth...
We have a plan. Hexxat follows the courtesan under stealth, since being seen might throw things off.
Hey! No reading ahead in the script. You didn't see anybody except the courtesan who delivered your drink. Got it? Good. Now, you die.
And that brings us to Galvena. While we've killed some guards, there was no actual fighting involved.
Hey we give her a choice. It's on her if she doesn't take it.
She rejects the offer. The fight is on, starting with a stealth attack on the mage Vadek.
She couldn't get into position for a proper backstab, but Celestial Fury came through with the electric damage needed for a one-hit kill anyway. Galvena follows moments later, and Claire spills the beans. She even gets her freedom, as there's nobody left here to hold her.
Next, we pay a visit to the local Cowled Wizard.
In the most unfair way possible, of course. Perth survives the strike, but only barely. His defenses of Spell Trap and Stoneskin go up ...
... so Edwin just launches a fireball for that last bit of damage. No need to target him directly.
All right, what can I get out of the book this time? It starts on Fireball, as always. Turn the page ... Protection from Evil. Again ... Spell Turning. Now that's a good one. I stop there.
I head off to talk to Desharik and enter the asylum. On the way, Anomen gets romantic.
A kiss. "... but I have never known the favor of a woman." And he still hasn't.
Entering the asylum brings mage level 16 for Edwin. He'll be able to cast level 8 spells after his next rest. With four memorization slots, due to that amazing amulet of his.
There's time to kill inside, so I talk to some inmates.
An amusing bit there with Aphril. We don't talk to everybody, but there are still some worthwhile comments.
All right, that's enough.
Hexxat sets some traps, I shuffle some gear around so Dorn can have -17 slashing AC, and we wait. Sixty rounds from when we first talked to Lonk the Sane, which is six real minutes if you don't pause.
And with Irenicus' arrival, Bodhi's treachery is revealed. She had Saemon poison the party with a spell component in their food ... wait, how did that get Hexxat? Eh, whatever. We are captured, and cutscenes ensue featuring Irenicus, Saemon, Bodhi, and some girl Dorn has never met.
Dorn protests his strength, but caged as he is, such is merely empty bravado. Irenicus casts his spell, and Dorn finds himself in some strange dream realm.
This realm is a warped version of Candlekeep, clearly drawn from the wisp of poor Sod's essence Dorn drew into himself but somehow corrupted by a darker power - most likely the Bhaal essence that came with him. A mysterious voice speaks, but Dorn ignores it for now.
Instead, he finds a being to fight - an echo of Bhaal. This is what that AC was for; it needs a natural 20 to hit Dorn. So naturally, it does so on the first swing.
Afer that, Dorn beats it down to near death with no further hits taken, but it refuses to die. Perhaps he should listen to that voice's advice and enter the keep.
It comes at a cost, though. One point of wisdom, Dorn's least useful stat. He's down from 18 to 17.
The mysterious voice takes form as a young woman, and she proves useful.
And so Dorn wakes, having defeated this challenge. But Irenicus found what he wanted as well.
The godly power that Dorn stole from poor Sod has been stolen back from him. He no longer has the power to drain life and inspire fear ... unless he uses his blackguard powers for the former, anyway.
Then Bodhi comes to gloat over her evil plan's success.
And so we will run her maze - because it is the only way to leave. As she says, there is no choice.
The mysterious woman from the dream appears in reality as well, and speaks to us. She is named Imoen, and she has been a captive for some time, drained of her own Bhaalspawn essence.
Not that Dorn cares. He doesn't know her, after all. This is the first time they've ever met, aside from at a distance just now in Irenicus' experiment and in the dream he just had. Goodbye.
Despite that cruel dismissal, she'll still be back in Athkatla ready to be recruited. Which we won't do.
There are supposed to be dreams earlier in SoA that feature Imoen. For some reason, they haven't triggered this run. I don't entirely understand why that happened, but I'll run with it in-character. It makes sense, after all.
Next time, we face the asylum's challenges on our way to confront Irenicus properly.
All right. Taking stock of things, the experience we just earned brought Hexxat to level 20. She takes scimitar proficiency and invests in Pick Pockets (+20, to 170 before gear) and Detect Illusion (+5, to 55). That investment was so I don't need potions when I loot the Underdark merchants.
Now, on to the dungeon. The fights here vary widely in threat level. Gibberlings - hah. Yuan-ti ... I make a bit of a mistake, and the mages get their defenses up before I can get in any sneak attacks. Come back later.
Then comes the Clay Golem.
Start with a sneak attack, draw it into the prepared party, smash. It does get one good hit in, though.
That allows us to reach the Bag of Holding. Our storage capacity for general items is doubled.
Next comes a riddle.
It's really quite easy. Not only are the clues simple, the items are in order. Anomen levels up to 18, and Edwin takes the ioun stone.
Another batch of riddles earns us a second ring of regeneration, and level 17 for Korgan.
His saves are now as good as they're going to get - 0/0/4/4/1 base. And since I have him in some save-boosting gear on top of that, he'll practically never fail any saves.
Beyond that riddle spot, there's another group of yuan-ti; this bunch with only one mage. I can't reach a backstab spot on it, so I settle for one of the warriors.
And it's not an instant kill. Well, that was mainly just to draw them out. The warriors come, and we slaughter them. Then Hexxat goes back for the mage...
Stun it with a zero damage backstab, beat it down with the party.
Wait, why is there a dead snake-man over here? On closer examination, it went the wrong way and triggered the trap. Unlike most traps, those crushing walls trigger on anybody walking into them, not just the party. And they don't reset. So if you want to pass, you can just trigger them with a couple sacrificial summons.
Back with the action, there's one room on this side we haven't been to yet.
Minimum damage on that stab, but the stun gives us a chance to take it down quickly. Send in the party...
Not quite fast enough. It got off a cloud spell. Pain and kill-stealing ensue. Though that's only two mephits we don't get credit for. I exit the room to take on something else - the yuan-ti group, with its three mages.
Fighting the snakes is not clean. I use a wand Cloudkill, and they charge out. Two of the mages waste their spells with Secret Word targeting Edwin. Then the next round is a Chaos - put up defenses, fast.
Shield of Harmony for Anomen, Lilarcor for Dorn, rage for Korgan. And all four of our melee fighters save anyway.
The third mage didn't come out with the others, so we go in. Another wasted Secret Word...
And they're down. Plus Viconia hits level 18.
Returning to the rakshasa room now that the fog has cleared, I use the stones.
Opal for a Greater Wolfwere.
Thankfully, no need for silver weapons here.
Ruby for a Pit Fiend.
A crit and a backstab, and it's dead.
Sapphire for a gift. Not one we'll ever use, of course - +3 plate wasn't good enough to use even in BG1.
With the first area clear, I take the last exit from the starting room and enter an Umber Hulk enclosure. This calls for a bit of finesse; they hit fairly hard in melee. So, then, split them up and apply a Cloudkill. Also, unlock the gates before they drop on their own.
It goes well. Remember, standard umber hulks are only 6 HD - they're vulnerable to the instant death effect on Cloudkill.
Next come some mediocre undead - ghasts and mummies.
Backstabs, anti-undead weaponry, and overwhelming power in general. They don't stand a chance.
I turn left at the intersection. It's the safer path, and we need what's over there anyway before we can deal with everything on the other side. The first room brings a lone Mist Horror. The second room has a book that summons an escalating series of fights. A kobold captain. A sword spider. An umber hulk. A mind flayer.
With us crowded around it and getting in a backstab as the first hit, it dies before it can hurt us.
And finally, a beholder. I prepare a bit, with Death Ward on Dorn and Anomen, a skeleton as a distraction, and Edwin out of sight.
Rays used, all on Anomen: Paralyze (saved), Charm (saved, also immune from the Visage), Fear (saved, also immune from the Visage), Cause Serious Wounds (resistant from belt).
After that, the last activation brings the reward. Two scrolls of spells Edwin already knows, and a ring of free action.
Then, kobolds.
Against a party of this level, even souped-up kobolds are nothing.
Now, we have to face that last path. And the lich that awaits us there. Hexxat sneaks forward to trigger its initial buffs - PFMW, Spell Trap. I wait out the former before doing anything more.
Now, these random liches have a significant weakness in the vanilla game. Despite having high-level spells, they only count as level 11. And I have level 18 clerics. Anomen goes in alone, under Sanctuary.
That "Dispel Magic" is actually Remove Magic. Which succeeds despite the seven-level disadvantage and dispels Anomen's Sanctuary. So he takes a swing.
Splat. The skeletons have already been splatted by Anomen's turning, so that just leaves the Greater Mummies. Which have too many levels for that. We fight them conventionally, and the Mace of Disruption eliminates them all.
That clears the way to Dace.
He got a hit in. On Dorn, who is permanently immune to level drain. Vampires are really very little trouble for this party.
We have the stake, so we end him and take his hand. On to the next level. We havve some room for sneaking here...
Now that's how I like to start a fight. One dead mage, leaving a bunch of chumps for the party to shred.
The trolls on the other side put up more of a fight.
Still, not much of one. Except that point of strength drain on Anomen. I give him a potion to compensate and more.
After a few trivial minotaurs, I go after the paintings. With Anomen, buffed to just ignore the spells.
Death Ward to ignore the Disintegrate. Equipment and a Resist Fire and Cold to exceed 100% fire resistance and ignore the Fireball and Incendiary Cloud. No problem.
Using the paintings brings fights. One monster at a time.
Backstab the ulitharid, follow up with the party.
No pic for the spirit troll - we just ganged up on it.
And another backstab for the noble djinn, which comes as close to winning as possible without an actual kill. Stunned and panicked. We kill it quickly after that, of course.
Finally, an umber hulk. I expected a group, so I overprepared by hitting Korgan's rage. No, it's just one. And then wolfweres after the corridor turns.
The most dangerous fight around here is the group of clay golems guarding some treasure.
It's that haste that makes them so dangerous. Hexxat takes a hit. Edwin takes several hits, one more than his current stoneskin can cover. Still, we have enough power to win without any losses. The treasure is ours.
We now have 15 tokens, so while I'm over here I activate the machine. Boots of speed acquired. Dorn puts them on.
Moving on, we come to a corridor with a lone troll. Hexxat takes care of it.
One good whack, then the execution.
And the other troll is past the door. Weird placement on this pair of enemies.
For the next step, Dorn moves forward alone. Bodhi returns, but something in Dorn rises up ...
Charmed? Hah. The Slayer doesn't care.
The charm actually lasts longer than the transformation. Then it wears off properly, but Dorn is fatigued - the change does come with a cost. And clearly, Irenicus didn't get everything with his drain procedure. Perhaps he was only prepared to take one Bhaalspawn essence?
The next notable battle is a gauth. I put Korgan in front.
Gauth rays: Cause Wounds, Lightning Bolt, Paralyzation, Slow, Hold Person. Korgan is immune to the paralyzation and hold from rage (and also from saves), he's almost certain to save against the slow, and he has lightning resistance gear. In practice, he takes a Cause Wounds ray before we land the stun, and after that it's trivial. Just some minotaurs to clean up.
I loot the last few caches, head back to spend five more tokens on some resistance boots, and the dungeon is clear. Setting the horns in place brings 29500 XP, not quite enough for any levels.
The next sequence has a few minor fights, and a bunch of riddles. We answer them correctly, and pick up a few items. The Cloak of Reflection is nice (though dangerous to use in populated areas), the Bone Club is useless, and we'll never be able to use the Heart of the Mountain.
Finally, judgment.
That's level 16 for Dorn.
Also, despite the apparent sunlight, this isn't actually an outdoor area. Hexxat is doing just fine without her cloak.
Returning to the interior, we meet the ever-troublesome Saemon. Our party has a lot to say about his plan.
Sorry, Anomen and Edwin. Viconia is wiser than you. Release the loons!
On to the next area, and a meeting with Lonk. He doesn't take kindly to our plans ... but we prepared for him.
I set four traps. It only took two.
Beating down Irenicus is incredibly simple - he doesn't put up any real defenses. The inmates get in the way more than they help, as that Strength of One (lowering the strength of half the party) and Time Stop (delaying Irenicus' exit) show.
As soon as time flows again, it's over. Then the murderers arrive. Use Albruin to reveal them...
And then a True Seeing, because they're trickling in rather than all arriving at once. Before long, the battle is over and we can claim our new levels. Level 19 for Anomen and Viconia. Level 21 for Hexxat, boosting Detect Illusion to 80. The experience just pours in at this stage of the game.
And so we have faced Irenicus properly for the first time, and driven him away. Dorn will track him down no matter where he has run, and reclaim that stolen power.
Though that may have to wait. Next time, forces that have nothing to do with the mage and his vampire partner interfere with the chase.
After the battle, we make for the exit - and run into Saemon again. It seems that now he's willing to offer us a berth on his ship for free ... if we just take care of a few problems for him. As much as we distrust the man, it seems more sound than following our enemies through an unknown portal. For all we know, the portal could lead into a hostile fortress.
That teleports us outside, where the first thing we do is head back in for the last bit of loot. And then, kill a few random enemies in the outdoor area.
That's good for level 18 on Korgan; he takes his third dot in hammers.
Checking in with Saemon, he needs our help to recover his ship - but that must wait until night. As it's currently mid-afternoon, we'll rest before that. And before that rest, we visit the shop to loot it and sell our junk. Then, since Edwin is rather close to a level, we have a spell-scribing session. I save some of the high-level scrolls, but erase and re-scribe everything else.
As I go to rest ...
Dorn and Anomen sleep together for the first time. Too bad Viconia is separated from Dorn right now, or we could have a threesome. I suppose that'll have to wait for ToB.
And on waking, Dorn doesn't get the slayer transformation ability. Since it's a session break anyway, I check on the scripting ... the dream cutscene that grants the power is activated by PLAYER1D.BCS. The "D" there stands for "dream", as this script is responsible for all of the dream cutscenes earlier in SoA as well. And none of those happened either; that script just isn't working this run.
So it looks like I'm not getting that dream. What else can I do? Well, the dream actually just sets a variable GivePowerSlayer to 1, and then the main BALDUR.BCS script actually grants the ability. I edit the save to set that variable, and things should work when I start the next session. Apart from the dreams, but Dorn has no reason to be dreaming of Candlekeep and Imoen anyway.
The edit works as expected.
The power itself is ... situationally useful. It's a substantial APR increase, though setting his HP to 100 rather than incrementing it makes him rather fragile. The on-demand reputation-lowering is more useful.
It is also now after dark, and just before midnight. Plenty of time for some pirate intrigue. But first, we check out the asylum exterior again; the night brings different monster spawns.
We start with mists. Including the vampiric sort, so Korgan rages. And when I'm done killing them...
I have two characters standing on top of each other. Why couldn't 2.6 have fixed that pathing problem?
After that, it's shadows.
This is a relatively advanced group, including level-draining wraiths. Rather than bringing Korgan in, I just use the party members with drain immunity that doesn't expire. And backstab tactics.
Running a backstabber takes a lot of attention, but it really does keep up with normal warriors. Hexxat got three of the five kills in that little fight with her stabs, and she's fundamentally just an unkitted thief with nice stats. Dedicated backstab builds (usually fighter-thief dual classes) can be even more powerful.
For the remainder of our time on this island, Anomen switches back to Ardulia's Fall. It's no Flail of Ages, but the save-or-lose effect on every hit makes it a very solid weapon despite its low enchantment level. I've definitely underrated it in the past.
Next, we hit Cayia's place.
Stealth is not an option here. You will be spotted, and you will have pirates set on you. They just have short swords and darts, but it's an unavoidable fight. Korgan takes a bit of damage.
Down on the docks, Hexxat spots some likely trouble while scouting ahead, so she moves into position. Then the party moves in...
As we thought. Trouble. And no, we won't be helping them. Hexxat makes her move.
And the 5% chance of electric damage comes through, compensating for a mediocre damage roll. This mage (level 10/10 fighter/mage with 70 HP) won't be causing any trouble.
The remaining pirates are simple melee fighters. While Hexxat uses the convenient stairs to go for more stabs, it's mostly the warriors that handle things.
We'll be fine, with just a little regeneration time.
We give Saemon the horn, but his escape doesn't go as smoothly as he'd like. Desharik shows up, and he's not happy with anyone involved.
That's Cayia he's talking about. Who was cheating on him, though not with Saemon. This time.
A fight ensues, though Desharik doesn't get involved ... until Hexxat backstabs him. Then he gets mad.
This completely unnecessary kill is worth 11K XP. Of course, he's also a level 15 fighter that can dish out some real hurting.
That also breaks plan A on the scripting - normally, Desharik initiates the conversation that sends us off. With him dead, Saemon just stands there after Desharik's men fall. Until we talk to him.
And for once, the game's backup plan works smoothly. We're off.
Three days later by the narration or no time at all by the in-game clock, the ship is boarded by githyanki.
Despite the apparent sunlight, it's still night out there. This area just doesn't have the "day/night" flag set. Hexxat's fine without her cloak.
The fight is on. And the randomizer rolled a good one for the battle music here - the song originally used at the Vicross estate in Neera's ToB quest. One little tip - don't attack the githyanki captain, as he's immortal. The other githyanki are all fair game, though.
The invaders focus a lot of attention on Saemon, who handles it well like the high-level fighter/mage he is. Meanwhile, we're killing them. The more boarders come - sahuagin. With the ship sinking, Saemon teleports away to save himself.
Also, that's a haste spell from one of the githyanki. Edwin's countering it with a Remove Magic. We succeed in killing off most of the enemies, but nothing can protect us from the ship itself sinking. Down we go. And since Hexxat won't have to worry about sunlight for a good long while, I put the Cloak of Dragomir away in a bag.
We next come to captured by sahuagin. Thankfully, they don't kill us right away. It seems there is a prophecy in play, and we may be the tools needed to resolve their crisis. After a test of our prowess, anyway.
One lousy ettin? It's no match for us. We simply attack, and it doesn't land a single blow.
With that, the test is passed. We are allowed free movement with just a promise to eliminate the rebels. And passage to their base with a promise to talk to them. As we have no loyalty to either side, we'll treat those promises as the empty words they are. We might help the side that makes the better offer, or we might just betray all sides. Only time will tell.
The lesser priestess here runs a temple shop. Unlike most temples, you can sell things there - and it has excellent prices. It also sells a wide variety of low-level scrolls, but we don't buy anything. You can't steal from it, after all, and Edwin already knows those spells.
On to the action. Our first task is to retrieve a key item from the abandoned drow-built section of the city. The guards warn us:
Neat. I don't think I've ever seen that token key off Hexxat before. Though it would have called Viconia "surface elf" if she was the one spoken to, and that just feels wrong. That dialogue can't detect drow status.
While not inhabited by sahuagin, this section does have some monsters. First, a group of spiders and ettercaps.
I'm being careful, but we faced encounters this tough in the Cloakwood and breezed through. Killing them is a snap.
After that, it's a bone golem.
OK, that's a more serious fight. We smash and slash it, though not before it gets a hit in on Korgan.
Some imps pose a riddle, easily solved. The treasure is well worth it, bringing a +2 cloak to upgrade Korgan's protection. Then comes the Spectator guarding the chest. Forgoing any need for a Wisdom check, Edwin interjects:
Intelligence can do it as well, it seems. Edwin is one of three companions that solves this automatically; Cernd and Haer'Dalis are the other two. Without him, it's a wisdom check (13 or more) for the speaker to get the tooth without a fight.
And now, we venture into the contested parts of the city. The rebels attack us on sight. Of course. They couldn't be reasonable sorts.
That was a minimum-damage hit from Hexxat, by the way. These sharks are squishy.
And farther on, the loyalist forces are just as bad. When we encounter skirmishes, both sides are hostile to us. So we kill them all.
And then there's a special encounter, Pass through the sculpted shark's mouth ...
... and we claim the Cloak of Mirroring. It would be enough of a reason to come this way every time, even without the other rewards. I give Hexxat the cloak for now, though that's subject to change.
The next encounter is another skirmish we interrupt.
Hey, wait. Don't the sahuagin all use spears? As it turns out, while they all drop spears, the rebels prefer fighting with undroppable staves.
Both sides in this skirmish call up some summons. A skeleton warrior for the rebels, and something called an Anguiliian for the loyalists.
Or is that an Alguiliian? Dialogue and creature name don't agree. (Reporting this for the fixpack ... sources say "Anguiliian". The dialogue line is the one that needs to change.)
This one takes more time and pain than most of the battles in this area, but the enemies go down.
No special rewards, though. The loot is just the same as all the other sahuagin fights.
For the next group, I get the drop on them and send in Hexxat for a backstab.
But for all her skill, she still misses five percent of the time. Oops. She attempts to back off and hide again while the party engages, but only succeeds in drawing the attention of the next enemy group.
Two batches of rebels at once. Fortunately, they're pretty weak enemies. They don't cause any more trouble than one group would.
The next encounter is a pit full of undead. I send Anomen in alone.
In turning mode. He's alone because that's not very party-friendly. It takes some running around, but...
Splat. Anomen also borrowed the poison immunity amulet, so that Cloudkill does nothing.
Finally, we come to the stairs. There's a guard there with walkable terrain behind him, but no backstab is possible; that's all trigger. So we frontstab them instead.
Stunned, which leads to dead in short order.
Downstairs, we face rebels that can't be reached in melee. Well, at least I have been keeping up on the ranged options for this party.
Aside from Hexxat, anyway. She has arrows, but she doesn't have a bow equipped. The next encounter is kinder to her. With a mixed group both on the platform and in the water, she can engage properly.
And fail to get a backstab. How was that enemy not facing in the right direction? It would have been for over 90 damage, too.
We finish them off, and then head back. Why? Because I've been picking up all the loot, and our bags are full. 47 spears sold later, we have some room and are ready to pass the final door.
The rebels here, finally, don't attack on sight. And so, we have a choice to make. The king, or the prince? I let the item rewards decide for me; siding with the king offers much better stuff including the gauntlets of crushing you can't get otherwise. And you can get all the stuff from the rebels' side by picking the king's pockets.
So here's the haul from that. A key, some scrolls, some random treasure, and multiple copies of the rope. Because if he ever doesn't have it, the area script makes a new one.
And now, we meet the prince.
Korgan speaks for us all here. "You get to live" is not a sufficient offer. Besides, we've been fighting rebels the whole way. Why stop now?
Anomen goes for a Flame Strike to exploit the sahuagin fire vulnerability...
... but the prince dies before the spell can finish. That was quick. The remaining rebel forces don't last long at all after that.
All that remains is to sell off our accumulated junk and return to the king. The final count: 56 basic spears sold. That's how many dead sahuagin we caused, plus one for the prince and his magical spear. Returning the heart gets us a huge chunk of experience.
That's level 17 for Dorn, and the last improvement in his base saves (1/4/2/2/5). Level 20 for Anomen, and grand mastery in maces. Level 22 for Hexxat, and she takes the last 20 points in Detect Illusion for 100 without equipment; the remaining five points go to stealth.
What level of party where the sahuagin designed to fight, anyway? Looking up the stats ... there are two basic stat blocks that get used repeatedly. Weaker sahuagin with 19 HP, 9 strength, and the THAC0/saves of a level 2 fighter worth 175 XP. Stronger sahuagin with 81 HP, 21 strength, and the THAC0/saves of a level 10 fighter worth 3000 XP. They all have the same 5 AC, 2 APR, and level 2, though.
So ... the weaker rebel groups here are basically comparable to hobgoblins. And not the elite kind, either. The only extra challenge is their magic ammo, and they're limited to 1 APR with ranged attacks because they use crossbows.
Anyway, enough of that digression. We're done with the sharks. Next time, we enter the Underdark proper.
Going down the rope into the Underdark brings another burst of experience. And commentary from Viconia.
In addition to that reminiscence, she speaks of the main threats. Beholders, illithids, kuo-toa. And drow. Given the accuracy of her statements, she must be from somewhere fairly close to here.
We also get some commentary from the Beamdog companions.
Dorn was asking himself, Hexxat. Not you. Got it?
That experience boost brings level 20 for Viconia, who takes two-handed style.
Now, for the action. We turn to the north first...
Ten of them. Ouch.
What's going on here? This is another of those spawn points which my "Bigger random spawns" component affects. In the base game, it's set at the very low difficulty of 2, which would normally ensure that only one enemy shows up ... but mind flayers don't have an appropriate "power level" set and are instead at zero. So the encounter always fills to the cap. Three in the base game, ten after I blindly changed that.
When I get around to updating my mod, this component is definitely getting an overhaul. This encounter will result in about three flayers - less if you arrive with a small or underleveled party, more if you arrive with a full and overleveled party.
For now, though, I have to fight them. I've got the drop on them, so I open with a MR-ignoring Fire Storm.
What? They're immune to fire? Looking them up, the standard basic mind flayer - and only that particular CRE - is immune to all elements. I'm too used to SCS, which removes that inexplicable resistance. So much for that advantage.
Well, mind flayers are only level 8. How about a Death Spell? Meanwhile, I get the melee into the action. Hexxat backstabs one, Dorn and Korgan charge.
Hexxat got stunned there. But it's not as bad as you might think; she's immune to death by brain drain. Which makes her excellent bait; the mind flayers prefer attacking helpless targets, so they all go after her and slowly chip away at her HP while we whale on them.
Edwin does have a Death Spell memorized, so he casts it.
Oh. Blocked by MR. And standard flayers have 90%. Well, at least he got one of them. Meanwhile, Dorn and Korgan are tearing through the enemies. It doesn't take long to finish the job.
Hexxat took 22 damage from illithid melee attacks at 1d2 each. Or maybe more, because she regenerates. If not for her protection, her Int would be drained to something like -60 and she would be very, very dead.
Then, since the stun has a ten round duration and the brain drain has a five round duration, her Int is fully back by the time the stun wears off. Time to move on.
Next up, we have a shopping opportunity.
Well, a stealing opportunity. While these merchants will deal with surface folk, they'll do their best to fleece them with the worst shop prices in the game. We're not having any of that. Yoink.
After that, there are some elementals to kill.
Ten per portal, three portals. One elemental at a time, which makes it nice and easy when we gang up on them.
Midway through the first portal, Korgan gains a level.
That's level 19. No special benefits this time, but next level starts the high-level abilities.
I change up my tactics for the second portal - keep the party at a distance, and go for backstabs.
Hopefully, it'll be less damage. Fighting conventionally at the first party dropped Dorn and Korgan into the yellow.
Hexxat even gets a one-hit kill on one of them.
A critical hit, stun, and lightning. Brutal.
Make that two one-hit kills, adding another on the last earth elemental. And the plan does seem to be working.
At the fire portal, the backstab plan is complicated by the enemies' love of wandering. Still, it works. And we've been regenerating all this time...
We're fully recovered and ready for the next fight.
This one's a party of drow. Perhaps they're guarding something? Hexxat opens with a backstab on one of the ones that was trying to cast True Sight:
Not quite lethal, and that didn't stop the other instance of True Sight. Back off and wait out the spell before going in again.
I'm not afraid of retaliation here; this bunch are all spellcasters first, and Hexxat is wearing the Cloak of Mirroring. There's just not much they can do to her.
That second hit takes out one of the two mages. The priestesses go for Slay Living and Charm Person or Mammal - useless against Hexxat due to her undead nature.
Hexxat doesn't solo the whole group. The other mage puts up a Stoneskin, she misses some stabs, and eventually the priestesses come out for a general fight. But we've taken care of their best spells already.
Now it's time for the warriors to shine. Take out the clerics first, then turn to the mage.
OK, the mage had a solid damage spell left (Cone of Cold). But our front line has elemental resistances, so it's not too bad.
Then comes the sequencer when the mage is near death. Cheated in without regard for the aura timer, because rules like that are optional in AI scripts.
Stoneskin and Fireshield Red? That calls for a Breach. And stop attacking until it lands.
Once Edwin's spell hits, we finish off the mage in moments.
This fight has earned us some drow armor. It would improve our AC. Is that a good deal? In my opinion, not unless we're fighting against drow. In the Underdark, saving throws are the most important defense against most threats. I'd rather have protection items than raw AC.
Continuing to the west and north, there are some spore colonies.
We just bulldoze through them with overwhelming melee power.
Beyond that, we meet a svirfneblin settlement.
They don't particularly like that Viconia's a drow, but they won't pick a fight over it. Drow are too scary.
Once we get the pathing to cooperate, we enter the settlement and speak to the leader Goldander Blackenrock.
A neat moment there, with three party members interjecting and conversing with each other. Having a "standard" evil party really helps set up stuff like this.
That leads us to fight the creature - a Balor.
Since we don't have spike traps yet, we go for melee. That includes Edwin and Viconia; their +2 bullets can't hit it.
Well, Viconia goes to melee. While the party all resisted that Symbol: Stun, a follow-up paralysis ability caught Edwin.
Then Hexxat lands a stun on the demon, and it's over.
No damage taken. We use the stoneshape scroll and return to Goldander. Anomen claims the Skullcrusher mace to replace Ardulia's Fall as his primary weapon, with the MoD still in reserve against undead and level-drainers. We also get the light gem and a nice chunk of XP.
It's possible to steal the light gem, but that leads to all these friendly gnomes dying. Despite this party's evil, we don't want that. The merchant, especially, is worth keeping around.
As Edwin is rather close to reaching the 3 million XP mark, I choose to clear some of the side areas before speaking to Adalon. First up, the western path to the enclave of kuo-toa and assorted other monsters.
The first room brings a beholder and two gauths. I go for a simple approach here.
Dorn with the Shield of Balduran. He even gets to keep his strength up at 19 despite the shield's penalty, so he hits hard in melee as well as with reflected rays.
The battle does auto-pause itself at one point, though.
The beholder charmed itself, and then Dorn slashed it down to a badly wounded state. Auto-pause for an ally getting hurt. Not that it'll convince Dorn to stop attacking. One crit later, the beholder is down. The gauths take longer, because they paralyze themselves and stop being able to fire off rays.
The second room is full of kuo-toa.
As they're vulnerable to fire, I get out the wands. One fireball from Edwin, two flame strikes from the clerics.
And if Dorn ever bothered using his crossbow, I'd care more about those kuo-toa bolts. They're quite good, but this party is far too melee-focused for them.
One undetectable trap later (tripped by Hexxat, spell negated by the Cloak of Mirroring), we arrive at a room with a demonic altar.
And so we sacrifice an animal. The demon knights that this calls in, sadly, are hostile to us.
While we prepare for their level-draining attacks, I forget about the fireballs they like to start with.
Ouch. Those are just normal mage fireball spells, but somehow two in a row get through Viconia's 95% magic resistance. Edwin retreats, while the melee forces engage.
Two down. As we go after the next night, all three remaining foes target Anomen with Power Word: Kill. No harm done, since he has far more hit points than that spell's threshold.
Then Anomen takes a slash, and I have him drink a potion...
He gets targeted with Power Word: Stun, and resists that as well. Without the potion, he would have been stunned. Only two foes remain.
I get in a bit of backstab action here. While the demon knights see through invisibility, you can still get in a hit with a suitable distraction. And with melee thief Hexxat ... she's only getting one attack per round in anyway. I'm going to make that the best attack I can.
This encounter brings three unique and powerful items. The +3 full plate goes into storage; if I don't thing drow full plate is good enough, that certainly won't be. Korgan gets the 21 strength belt. And Dorn gets Soul Reaver; it's his main two-handed option for now.
Continuing on, we face more kuo-toa. For this room, Edwin uses a bigger spell.
Incendiary Cloud. With Hexxat keeping the enemies distracted and in the cloud, it clears the room in three rounds.
The cloud's still going. How about the next room's enemies?
And so I clear out two encounters with one spell. Hexxat does take a big chunk of damage there when one of the fish-men hits her with a ranged crit.
That clears the way to the prince, still in his side room.
Using the tadpoles weakens the prince - he loses the 90% magic resistance and 10 HP/second regeneration he starts with. Not that it makes much difference here, as we're hitting him hard enough to overwhelm that regeneration easily.
And with that, I leave. The last path in this area leads to the drow guarding the exit, and I don't want to face them yet.
Next time, we continue our Underdark explorations - and earn our first high-level abilities.
Now that we're done with the kuo-toa ruins - at least until we're ready to leave for the surface - we return to the Underdark hub. Our next target is the soul trap machine. And with this evil party...
... I choose some evil options. Letting Gont go is worth nothing. Killing him is worth 7000 XP. We pick the fight, and slaughter this poorly equipped thief.
The second facet is the gnome Bedlen. We've already spoken to Therndle, so we send him back home.
The third facet is a lich.
He has 90 hit points. We only need two hits.
The fourth facet is a githyanki, Riti. Hexxat's backstab on him lands for 73 damage and a stun; he doesn't get a chance to recover.
Fifth, Raevilin Strathi. He can give you Albruin if you cast Heal on him. We already have the sword, so ...
... we just kill him. Much safer that way. After all, he's a mage who will gladly cast Imprisonment on you if you give him the chance.
Finally, the last facet is the mad fighter Aganalo. Killing him gets you his sword "Jhor the Bleeder", a +2 bastard sword with an on-hit "bleeding" poison effect. Bastard swords are thin on the ground early on in BG2, but they really come into their own with the Underdark sequence.
We turn to the southeast next, clearing out some kuo-toa.
I used some Wand of the Heavens charges, but overall that was pretty trivial.
And to the north, a drow war party teleports in.
Yes, Hexxat. That was a very nice hit.
Once this party goes down, there's one more enemy - the drow lookout. He runs away if he can, but a stunning backstab prevents that this time.
And now, with the hub clear, what next? Edwin's about 90K experience short of his level, and I want to take that before entering the city. So I head south and enter the eastern tunnels. We have illithids to kill.
Also, it has been a long day. Edwin's first stoneskin has expired, so he casts a new one.
We enter, and are ambushed by mind flayers that incapacitate the party ... all but one of them.
The cutscene power they use on you is a Sleep effect, and Hexxat is immune to that. So she remains standing through the whole thing. It doesn't break anything, but it sure looks weird.
OK. Let's talk defenses. You don't fight illithids without protection from mind blasts and domination. I intend to protect the whole party, so I don't have to leave anyone behind.
Korgan's saves are good enough for immunity to both.
Dorn's saves are good enough for immunity to mind blasts, and I trade him the Visage for domination immunity as well.
Anomen, Viconia, and Edwin will get castings of Chaotic Commands.
Hexxat is immune to domination, and I won't add any protection against mind blasts. After all, she can't die to Int drain even if she fails a save and gets stunned.
Still, the spells can wait. For now, I just feed Anomen a strength potion. We have some fights to deal with before we face any illithids. First up, umber hulks.
Ouch. I underestimate them way too often, but umber hulks hit hard (3d4 base damage, 20 strength, base THAC0 11 and 3 APR despite only being level 6). Also, since I haven't put up the spell protections yet, Anomen got confused. At least, since he has a melee weapon equipped, he won't cause a game over by attacking the mind flayers.
With the battle won, it's back to our cell. And Anomen decides to make things worse.
I tried to knock him down with a Command when he started attacking, but he saved. A few hits on Korgan, one on Viconia ... I'm using some healing resources now. Viconia casts a Mass Cure, and everyone's back at least into the yellow.
On to the escape sequence, and a bit I don't understand flavor-wise.
Why are there kuo-toa here, alive? This was supposed to be a fight between the party and the githyanki - at least, that was the jailers' plan. Sure, you could say that Simyaz's band fought some kuo-toa before being pitted against us, but if that were true then the fish-men should be dead.
Oh, well. We'll just kill them now to correct that.
Incidentally, this dungeon does have some locked doors that must be picked or bashed to progress. The first is the exit from the pit, at difficulty 20. Now that the protagonist is guaranteed access to Slayer form and its 25 strength, the game is comfortable throwing locks in their path.
After that locked door, it's the ogre jailer. Lots of hit points, 50% physical resistance.
He takes a while to beat down, but nothing fancy.
And now, we cast our protection spells. And add some additional buffs - oils of speed for Korgan and Anomen, potions of heroism for all three warriors. Dorn switches to dual-wielding mode with Jhor and Foebane for higher damage output.
The first room with mind flayers poses no trouble. We can't do anything with the roob beyond yet, so we backtrack to the hub for this section of the map. Kill the kuo-toa and sahuagin, then take the middle door.
Exactly enough to kill on that backstab. We'll take some mysterious fluid, thanks. Free the slaves, claim the control circlets ... then don't use them.
Dorn lures a mind flayer over to the trigger, and the door opens without either controlling a flayer or transforming into the slayer. After all, that trigger doesn't check for allegiance.
As the door opens, Simyaz's band shows up again.
We're definitely killing those jerks if we get the chance.
That room had one of the flayers land a hit on Korgan. But one isn't a problem. We open up the door to the next enemies, and provoke them with a backstab...
It goes worse. When our forces join in the melee, Anomen takes two hits. And that's lethal for him. Oops. The ulitharids only barely hit him (THAC0 11, AC -3, so with the Sensate Amulet boost that was a natural 16 needed), but they hit. Dead.
Well, Viconia has a Raise Dead memorized. Cast it, add a Heal and a replacement Chaotic Commands. Anomen's back up for the next fight. Also, Hexxat dings level 23, taking five points in Open Locks, ten points in Pick Pockets, and the last ten points in stealth.
That next room still has some enemies in it, but we've reduced their numbers considerably. Hexxat continues the process with backstabs.
Two umber hulks, backstabbed down. The room is clear, and we move forward. Divert to the north for the brine room:
A good hit, though not lethal. Hexxat falls back to the party, and the mind flayers follow to their doom. Including another backstab. Then she goes back for the ulitharid.
Oh, no, a critical hit. That's a whole four damage.
Now, the west. Another of those doors with a special lock is here, and Hexxat maneuvers to get it open...
... but she gets herself trapped in the process, unable to dodge the enemies and escape. With the hard-hitting umber hulks in the mix, the result is inevitable.
That's her down to 1 HP, even as the rest of the party enters. As soon as her script acknowledges it, she'll go back to mist form.
As a side note, I had Anomen drink a potion of genius. A little more protection can't hurt.
The room is won. Now we wait. Well, we level up Anomen and Viconia to 21. And clear out one more room.
I've verified that Hexxat isn't getting XP right now, and we don't want that for the final fight. Plus I just want her to be involved as much as possible.
Hexxat returns, though many of our buffs have expired. That's all right. There's not much left to the area. First, some pods.
The ring of fire control is ours.
And then, the final challenge. The elder/master brain itself. Pick the difficulty 30 lock and head in.
While some of our buffs have expired, the Chaotic Commands are still active. The whole party can get in on this fight.
As a side note, that +2 damage is the Skullcrusher bonus. Illithids count as humanoid. They're vulnerable to spells like Hold Person and Charm Person, in theory. Though Charm Person would only work on a mind flayer 0.5% of the time if you didn't weaken its defenses first.
Back with the fight, the brain golems teleport in.
I switch the party to attacking the golems while the skeletons continue hitting the big brain. It doesn't last long.
But ... there's still one golem left. And it's fixated on Anomen, so he runs around to avoid getting hit while Hexxat tries for a stun.
Then I realize that we aren't dealing any damage to the brain golem. You need +2 to hit them, and crushing to damage them. That leaves us a bit short on options - shuffle weapons around.
Dorn gets Celestial Fury and Belm. No damage, lots of stun potential. Korgan gets the mace of disruption. Anomen sticks with Skullcrusher. Hexxat uses Blackblood. Viconia and Edwin go into melee.
It works. A stun lands, and that's the end for the golem.
With the fight over, we take stock. Killing the brain gave us a lot of experience, and two party members level up. Dorn reaches level 18 and takes Hardiness for his first HLA, plus halberd specialization. Edwin reaches level 18, taking Summon Dark Planetar and dart proficiency. 9th level spell slots and something worth putting in them.
Over at the entrance, the former slaves' thanks are good for another chunk of XP.
That's level 20 for Korgan, and he takes Hardiness as well. I always like that for a warrior's first HLA.
Back out in the Underdark hub, we have a loose end to take care of.
I didn't actually get rid of the blade. I just stashed it. But those are fighting words to githyanki, so ...
We fight. And it's a short fight.
After another visit to our stash spot near the svirfneblin village, we visit Adalon. It's time to progress the main plot.
And apparently, romance can't wait. Looking it up, the major events in Anomen's romance can't happen in chapters 4 and 5, but all the regular talks require is that you're not in a "dungeon" area. Which, here, is true for the first time since we entered the sahuagin city.
The illusion is set. Next time, we enter the drow city.
As Viconia is a true drow, she knows what to say better than any of the rest of the party. She takes the lead here, like in this conversation at the city entrance.
Once inside, after some "shopping", Viconia instructs Dorn on drow ways.
Well, half of that comes naturally to him. The obedience part, though? That's not so easy. In fact, he slips up soon after, speaking directly to Imrae instead of to Solaufein. Still, we have our task - to head back out and rescue Phaere.
The moment we leave the city ...
... the traps we set go off. The adventuring party that would have ambushed us is dead. Except for their thief, who avoided the traps.
Dorn handles him, with Albruin's ability and some hits from Soul Reaver.
The loot from this bunch is mostly vendor trash, but we do get a +4 halberd with elemental damage out of it. Dorn is the only one with the proficiencies for it, though, and it faces stiff competition.
For the rescue itself, I summon some help.
Also, I should have saved that Death Spell for this fight. These mind flayers not only have fewer hit points than the standard, they inexplicably lack the usual magic resistance.
But instead, I went in with only a little preparation - and didn't buff the party's defenses. Edwin gets stunned.
That's one hit he's taken already, and now he looks like a very tasty target. The remaining mind flayer charges him ...
... and goes down to a charge of Viconia's flame strike wand. Clear out the remaining hulks, and the battle is won.
There's a fairly long timer at this point, so I head over to the duergar merchants and check out their new stuff. Wait, I mean steal their new stuff. Then drop a bunch of loot at the stash before returning to the city and speaking to Solaufein.
We have some enforced downtime now, so we check out the tavern's entertainment. First, the beast fights that Szordrin runs.
Uh. Szordrin? There was supposed to be a monster here for Dorn to fight. It spawns in eventually; Dorn apparently just runs across the trigger region too quickly.
And an observation: Soul Reaver's THAC0 penalty doesn't show up in the +N numbers from the log. It's definitely effective, though. Standard umber hulks have base THAC0 11 against Dorn's AC of -4, so a modified 15 (12 before strength) would hit him. If not for the penalty, one of those blows would have hit.
The second beast is a nabassu. Which has a base THAC0 of 16, so it only takes two Soul Reaver hits before it needs a natural 20 to hit. It's a dangerous foe if you're vulnerable to paralysis, but Dorn's saves are just too good.
The third fight is considerably more dangerous. The sahuagin prince has a base THAC0 of 2 and attacks five times per round. So I switch up Dorn's gear, to the Celestial Fury/Belm duo. Three stunning attacks per round (the enemy needs 13 to save) even without proficiency, and it still hits on a 2.
So naturally, the enemy rolls 16, 16, and 18 on its saves. The fourth hit is the off hand, and the fifth hit is enough damage for the kill. Meanwhile, Dorn takes 40 points of damage. Plan failed, battle won anyway.
In hindsight, Dorn should have used a Command here. Like the city sahuagin, this one is inexplicably only level 2.
Finally, the fourth fight is a beholder.
Dorn gets out the Shield of Balduran for this one.
There's nothing more in that fighting pit, so we talk to the patrons. One patron gets offended by another's joke, and says not to interfere - well, we can still act indirectly.
For a good joke, Merinid gets Improved Haste. It probably won't be enough on its own. Both of these combatants are level 6 fighters with no stat bonuses or armor, specialized in their weapons - but Merinid has a dagger and 48 HP, and Tathlyn has a +1 two-handed sword and 60 HP. Improved Haste merely equalizes the rate at which they deal damage, and Tathlyn's hit point advantage tips the scales.
I add two healing spells during the fight to counter that ... but it's not enough.
Merinid panics, and he's not getting any more help now. He does evade long enough to come to his senses and deliver another hit, but then he goes down.
And now, to the dueling pit. After watching a fight, Dorn challenges Lasaonar.
Dorn hits a lot harder. And as the fight goes on, Lasaonar gets weaker.
Missing on an 18? This one's in the bag. Actually, it's already over; the last hit in that shot was enough damage to trigger the scripted end.
Lasaonar is a level 17 fighter with THAC0, saves, and hit points to match. Plus drow full plate and a +3 weapon. However, he has some weaknesses - his stats are all 9s, he only has specialization in his weapon, and he lacks the usual drow magic resistance. That makes him rather easy for a well-equipped player character to outduel.
Next up, Chalinthra. Dorn dual-wields the new Blade of Searing and Jhor the Bleeder for this one.
She's a fighter/cleric, and she chooses to spend all of her time casting spells instead of attacking. Which should make things trivial, since we're dealing non-physical damage with every hit to disrupt her. But ...
... she doesn't get disrupted. That's actually her second Sanctuary/Heal combo of the fight, while bleeding the whole time. And while the Sanctuary is a forced spell, the Heal is a normal spell that should be interruptible. Maybe it's something about her facing?
Chalinthra follows that by casting Harm. Which doesn't break Sanctuary. And neither does her going into attack mode; only the actual swing would end the protection, and I don't want to risk that. So Dorn evades her until Harm expires.
That's her last spell, though. Now it's a straight fight.
Which Dorn wins easily. Quite a duel.
We continue to the mage duels, which Edwin will take on. With the Cloak of Mirroring, so he doesn't have to cast many spells. Just a summon or two.
Summon a sword, attack. For the second fight, summon some mutated crawlers.
Those critters are a decent anti-mage summon, though the paralysis is subject to magic resistance.
The third fight has to wait a bit for a silencing word on Edwin to expire. Once it does ...
Three summons already in the pit makes for a very quick fight.
Upstairs, there are some captives from House DeVir. And Viconia has absolutely nothing to say about this. Disappointing.
That feels like enough for this adventuring day. Now, we rest. Edwin also scribes nine new spells in the level 6-9 range, plus relearns Enchant Weapon.
And with that rest, Anomen's final love talk. All that remains in his romance is the fallout of his earlier actions.
A new day comes, and Phaere is ready with new tasks. First, we fight a beholder. With some preparation for safety.
Letting Solaufein die would be bad. He has 74% magic resistance, but his saves of only 7 death/10 spell leave him vulnerable to several instant death rays. Until we apply that protection, anyway.
The actual battle is very short, of course.
Two rays used - charm and fear, targeted at Edwin. He saved against both. Before moving on, Hexxat sets her daily traps on this platform in preparation for future events.
We have some time to work with again ... and here's something to occupy that time.
Kill a drow? We don't need an excuse for that.
She isn't alone, of course. A number of servants are present, and they're mages that cast PFMW. Dorn and Korgan get out the normal weapons for them. After the first, anyway.
Qilue herself has some odd scripting, teleporting away and walking back more than once.
It doesn't make her any more dangerous, but it does keep her alive longer as more servants get into the fight. Hexxat eventually lands the killing blow.
It didn't make it into the log snippet there, but that was a backstab for 53 slashing and 20 electric damage. Qilue starts with 80 HP, and we had already taken some off.
The mages are dealing some damage here with fireballs; Dorn falls into the yellow. Still, we don't spend any actual resources; regeneration will handle things just fine.
Qilue herself drops a +4 dagger - which we'll probably never use. By the time we need +4 weapons for anything, we'll have better +4 weapons for everybody.
And now, with that side quest dealt with, we head out. This is a great time to hunt some beholders.
Before entering their lair, I prepare the party.
Dorn switches to sword/shield mode, with the Shield of Balduran. Immune to harmful rays.
Korgan puts on the Cloak of Mirroring; together with his saves, he's immune to harmful rays.
Viconia adds the Cloak of Balduran and Kaligun's Amulet to her natural 65% magic resistance for 100% MR and immunity to harmful rays.
The remaining three party members get some temporary protection with Death Ward. Plus Edwin adds Spell Shield and Protection from Petrification. That should be enough to handle the first room.
So, what's the point of that Spell Shield? It's protection against antimagic rays. Unmodded, that's absolute protection; the shield absorbs antimagic rays and sticks around to do it again, for the full duration. A mage, with assistance from a cleric, can buff for absolute protection from beholder eye rays that lasts a full hour.
In my opinion, this is too good. So I made a tweak for it. Two options - either Spell Shield trades with the first antimagic ray (like it does with spells like Breach and Secret word) or antimagic rays just ignore it completely. I've chosen to install the former.
So, with that tweak, Edwin is protected against the first antimagic ray dispelling him. But if a second comes along, he won't have the Spell Shield for that. We'll have to work fast, and win this battle before that comes up.
Dorn goes after the elder orb, while the rest of the party focuses on the regular beholder.
One down. Also, Edwin and Dorn have each taken Cause Wounds rays. In Dorn's case, that was through a double reflection; 2.6 changed things so that spells can only be reflected twice, so after the Shield of Balduran and a Minor Spell Turning, the ray hit its original target Dorn.
I adjust my strategy here and give Dorn the belt of inertial barrier for magic damage resistance. Though it shouldn't matter much. One Cause Wounds ray is enough to exhaust the MST, and only elder orbs cast that protection anyway.
As the elder orb put up a Spell Trap, I have Edwin break it with Pierce Shield. Not that it matters.
Normal attacks suffice.
If all we cared about was the eyestalk, we could leave now. But we'll go deeper and clear out the whole area. Also, note that Edwin's Spell Shield is gone - the elder orb did aim an antimagic ray at him. A good protection for a single fight, not enough for a whole lair.
Past that first room, it's a beholder and some hostile drow.
We look like drow? That doesn't change anything. These warriors are enemies no matter what. One drow gets petrified. We get all of the other kills. Then we use a Stone to Flesh scroll.
Make that all of the kills.
The next fight is a clump of three beholders and two gauths.
Not at all accurate to the lore - beholders are supposed to be largely solitary boss monsters. But that's what this game does. A group like that is a nightmare if you try to fight "fair", and trivial with the right preparation.
After that, we run into another fight - gauths against mind flayers.
Viconia is vulnerable to the psionic powers, so we have to watch out here. I supplement the three beholder-immune party members with some backstabs from Hexxat on the mind flayers ... but Viconia still gets stunned.
Fortunately, we win the encounter before that last flayer can attack in melee. We just have to wait the stun out now.
Hexxat continues with some stealth exploration while we wait...
My random spawn component did it again. Yowza. Normally, this is a spawn point with difficulty 2, maximum creatures 2, creature BEHOLD01. Since that creature has power level zero, it fills to the maximum. Which I increased to ten.
But then ... for all that it looks scary, we're prepared for any number of beholders. Though I'll speed things up with a bit of spell power.
Edwin casts an Incendiary Cloud, making sure not to be seen. The beholders get "attack Edwin" orders anyway, and split up due to the narrow corridors. Korgan takes the north, while Dorn and Viconia handle the south and keep most of the enemies in the kill box.
The cloud has three kills so far - two beholders and a gauth. Obviously, this fight has attracted some attention from farther on in the hive.
Before long, the cloud is clear.
Edwin gets credit for killing six beholders and two gauths. Over 100K experience from a single spell. Not bad.
The group reunites at the ongoing battle in the north; Dorn goes around, while Viconia just walks through the cloud. A few more foes go down...
And with the battle won, Hexxat dings level 24. More stealth, staff proficiency since she's out of one-handed melee proficiencies to take, and Use Any Item.
Up in the far north, there's another wonky spawn point.
Gauths this time. The normal cap for this spawn point is three. I don't bother with spell assistance, and just beat them down.
After all that, only one enemy remains.
The second elder orb. It wastes some time casting True Sight at the invisible Hexxat, allowing Dorn and Korgan to close without incident. While it starts with a Stoneskin, we're dealing elemental damage with every swing.
And indeed, no further spells are cast. The only damage it deals comes from a fireball in a Spell Trigger singeing Dorn.
The beholder lair is clear. Next time, we return to Ust Natha in our quest to betray as many parties as possible.
Back out in the hub area, I'm ready for my next quest - dealing with Vithal. And this time, I don't have to cast Freedom from a scroll.
He introduces himself, and wonders just what he did to insult the drow that imprisoned him.
It was probably saying his name. No, seriously. Viconia uses forms of "vith" as an expletive, so it probably means something obscene in the drow language. Imagine asking someone to introduce themself and getting a response of "$&%* you". You'd be pretty offended, wouldn't you?
Anyway, on to our task of recovering the book of rituals.
Looking like drow makes this easier. The innkeeper makes you pay some gold otherwise.
With that dealt with, we head back to Vithal for the action.
One elemental per portal, and they're simple melee brutes. Yawn.
The fire elemental gets stunned first thing and goes down like a chump.
Then to the air portal...
Oops. Those mind flayers respawned, and we're close enough to get their attention. Three come over, Korgan takes two brain-draining hits, and the party is slightly out of position when Vithal returns.
Naturally, we demand it all. And he tries to put up a fight.
But we have Breach, and his defenses don't include Spell Shield. I'm not sure why he still has mirror images up, but smashing through those is no problem.
Ah, the classic "when I die, protect me" contingency. It just wasn't fast enough to make a difference.
We've picked up enough experience between the elementals, mind flayers, and Vithal himself for some levels. Anomen and Viconia both reach level 22 and their first HLAs - Aura of Flaming Death for Anomen, Implosion for Viconia. It's also their final THAC0 improvement.
Since three mind flayers came over after me, I decide to dispose of the others as well.
Hexxat doesn't get stunned this time, but she's still a great tank against them. And she deals enough damage to matter, especially with a critical backstab first thing.
Now we return to Ust Natha. Our next task: intimidate the gnomes. Or fake it. I take the no-combat option like usual. This leads immediately into the next task.
That was a lie. We make a deal with Solaufein, and then return to Phaere.
Sure, Dorn could resist her. But why would he want to? Anomen doesn't care, and Viconia is amused.
Well, OK, Viconia wants to kill Phaere for the insult. We just aren't in a position to do that yet. Don't worry, we'll see her dead by the time this is through.
We also earned some experience, and it's enough for Korgan's 21st level. He takes his fourth dot in hammers, and a Whirlwind Attack. Phaere also introduces us to the Matron Mother, and more things in the city open up. Like this encounter.
A threat of violence gets us a rope. Hey, he's not playing straight with us - why should we pay to do their dirty work?
Then we run into a quest we can't turn down, and are commanded to kill some slime worshippers.
That was easy. Pre-set traps for the win. We head over to clean up the remnants anyway.
After all, missile and poison damage isn't nearly as effective against oozes. But they're no match for our melee attacks.
I also take this opportunity to give Hexxat a real helmet, and swap the green ioun stone over to Edwin. He has enough health to avoid Power Word: Kill now.
We visit Deirex's place, get sent away, and talk to Jarlaxle revealing that Visaj was his accomplice. OK, back for round two with the lich.
Deirex is actually level 18, and with our level 22 clerics we have no chance of controlling or destroying him with turning. So we hit him with a dispel instead.
Which doesn't break his PFMW. All right, cast another ...
Not fast enough. He gets off a Time Stop, which he uses to cast True Sight, Remove Magic, Death Spell, Symbol: Stun, and Symbol: Fear. Not a very wise choice of spells, as it turns out.
Anomen fails his save against the stun, and then gets dispelled out of it. That whole flurry of spells resulted in absolutely no net effect. But the three rounds of stopped time did run out the clock on that PFMW.
That's my Horrid Wilting, by the way. It did a nice chunk of damage. And Deirex tried a Symbol: Death, which had no chance of working against anyone in the party.
As we pick up the gems, we are immediately transported to Jarlaxle. And we pick a fight.
If we hadn't picked the fight, both Korgan and Viconia would have vowed revenge. But they wouldn't have gotten the chance to go through with it, so I like this option better.
We don't get the chance to loot him, as we're teleported back immediately after killing him, but he doesn't have anything special. Just drow junk and a +2 dagger. This option is worth less gold than not fighting him, but more experience. And it's not hard; while a creature file for a generic Bregan D'aerthe guard exists, none of them join in the fight.
On to House Jae'llat, and a more serious fight.
They have lots of melee guards, who hit hard with their +3 drow weapons. I use Hardiness for the first time. Also Aura of Despair, but that's subject to magic resistance. And then Edwin adds his own HLA with a dark planetar.
Rilloa is the first kill. With the planetar joining in, the guards go down quickly. Though they still get their hits in, and we spare some concern for healing.
Like that Absorb Health. Which isn't subject to MR. Or, once the immediate fight is done, a Heal from the planetar. We also use that lull to get Hexxat into position...
... and a critical backstab takes out her target in one hit. Only the priestess Hindra remains, and the planetar casts an Insect Plague to help neutralize her.
I actually targeted Hexxat with that; it's a lot safer to target your own characters with the spell, as you can avoid getting the spell canceled due to invisibility and you can control when the insects spread.
The bugs on her don't last, though.
Dispelled by a vorpal hit from the planetar's sword. She saved against the instant death, but the dispel still went through. And then we beat her down with melee attacks.
Another of my mod components is subtly at play here - celestial levels. In the base game, devas are pure clerics and planetars are pure mages - but both of them have both priest and mage spells. So when a planetar casts Dispel Magic or Insect Plague or any of its priest spells, that's at caster level 1. With my mod, they're cleric/mages and all those spells are cast at level 25.
The planetar weapon also has a vorpal chance, and its vorpal hits also dispel the target. In the base game, that dispel chance is first in the stack ... so it can remove defenses before the kill effect comes up, dispelling a Death Ward and killing the target in one hit. My mod improves the dispel effect to actually dispel at level 25, but also reorders the effects so the dispel comes last and a Death Ward will actually protect you from one such hit.
So here, the planetar cast a level 25 Insect Plague, and then dispelled it with a level 25 dispel.
With all resistance eliminated, I take level 19 for Dorn. He grabs a Whirlwind Attack, which should be fun in two-handed mode.
I head out of the city one last time to place a round of traps and stash some things, then come back for the endgame. Deliver the items to the matron mother, and Ust Natha is sealed. 50K more experience for each party member, and Edwin hits level 19. New spell Improved Alacrity.
Also, I try out an equipment swap. Hexxat gets the Armor of the Viper for better AC; it's not like I care about her death save anyway.
The egg scheme comes, and we take our two sets of fakes. We do have to kill some guards:
They need to be killed quickly, or they'll alert everybody. Fortunately, they have very low HP (10 and 5). I go with stealth attacks here; natural stealth for Hexxat, Sandthief's Ring for Korgan.
If you wanted to be absolutely sure of the kill, the best option would be a Holy Word. Death to evil creatures of level 4 and below with no save and no MR. And a casting time of 1. But that really isn't necessary.
The golems inside the egg chamber are a more substantial threat. And as soon as we plant Phaere's fakes, they activate.
Rod of smiting on one clay golem - saved. Edwin takes the rod from Hexxat to deliver a second hit on that one and gets the kill - though I think that was just the damage. Anomen and Viconia handle the other clay golem, while Dorn and Korgan slice up the stone golems. We get through it all without too much pain.
Phaere gets the second set of fakes, and it's on to the ritual.
Viconia can't resist a bit of gloating over her defeated enemy here.
Of course, that leaves the question of what to do with the real eggs...
We trade them for a halberd, Blackmist. The other options are having the demon go out and slaughter everything, or having the demon kill you.
Blackmist is ... underwhelming. It's a +4 halberd with three daily charges of blindness. In a small area of effect, but negated by saves and MR so lots of enemies resist. It doesn't even have any on-hit effects - and all three of the other +4 two-handers you pick up in the Underdark do.
Hexxat reaches level 25; I give her a Spike Trap and some more stealth. We could jusst leave at this point, but I'd rather just slaughter everybody. It's not like they'll put up any serious resistance.
Anomen levels up to 23 on the enemies in the temple, taking Mass Raise Dead. It's not a healing spell like it used to be (unless you use a component of my mod that I didn't install), but it's still resurrection at a combat-viable speed.
I saw teleport markers, and mages using Mislead; there are some reinforcements that spawn in. But I don't see them in the temple. And I don't see them when I go out, either. Slaughter everybody (except the aboleth), and those reinforcements still don't show. Huh. Something glitched. Go back into the temple? No. Oh well. We'll get our fights elsewhere.
Like now, returning to Adalon. She's rather upset that we traded her eggs to a demon, though not enough to go hostile before we initiate conversation.
I abort that first attempt; while she instantly drops to "Near Death" from the traps, our attacks just don't seem to be enough to finish it. On the second try, I cast a few more spells.
That's better. And it's the highest-value kill so far, at 54K. Korgan gets the credit.
It wasn't really our buffs that made the difference - just the slight timing variation of Adalon not getting her own buffs in.
Then Dorn and Hexxat chime in. A bit late for that, wouldn't you say?
The forces at the exit are a bit tougher than those in the city - but backstabbing the wizard helps with that.
Not quite lethal on the stab, but close enough that elemental damage finished the job before the Stoneskin ran out.
Then it's more drow in the passage up.
Make sure to get some elemental damage on the mage, and the rest is easy. A few more drow to fight with surface elves on our side, and the area is clear. I stop there for now, since I have a lot of drow junk to sell before I can head up to the surface.
Actually, selling that stuff is a mini-session on its own. I go from 195K gold to 360K, and fill up the bags of holding and the potion case plus some inventory slots.
Then I visit those spawn points again; they refill whenever you leave to a new "master area". Ten mind flayers, ten beholders, ten gauths. 320K XP for very little trouble, compensating for what we missed out on with our choices. We got on the boat to Spellhold with Dorn at 2.15 million XP, and we leave the Underdark with him at 3.5 million.
As a side note ... the achievement for using both sets of fake eggs to get Phaere and Ardulace killed is "Triple Cross". Since we betrayed Adalon as well by sacrificing the real eggs - that's where the title for this part comes from.
Next time, we return to the surface and the unpleasant glare of daylight.
We leave the Underdark, only to find ourselves in a war camp of surface elves. Up on the surface, Elhan is even more unpleasant than usual.
1057 - Elhan
You have to admit, a party including a vampire and a drow would look bad to this bunch. The conversation continues, and we come to what would normally be the end...
... but Elhan demands more. Hexxat is let go on her word alone, but a geas is demanded of Viconia.
With that, we can finally go. We are not truly free, but the geas only compels us to do what we were planning to anyway. Bodhi and Irenicus will fall.
Now, we must travel back to Athkatla. There is much to do there. But before we reach the city...
We come across Drizzt. This time, with his companions.
Korgan weighs in with his opinion. And Dorn is entirely inclined to go along with it. Time for a fight.
Last time was Dorn too. And while Drizzt isn't alone this time, Dorn and his companions are much stronger than they were back then. We won't need to plink away with ranged attacks and avoid retaliation this time.
While Drizzt has dialogue for "you killed me before", this isn't it. That path only comes up if you import a character with some of Drizzt's gear on them. Since we didn't start with an imported character, that simply doesn't apply.
I open with two Greater Commands, a Chaos, and a Defensive Harmony. Bruenor and the cat fall unconscious, while Wulfgar is confused.
Then Hexxat goes for a backstab... but fails. She wasn't actually invisible, despite her stealth mode being apparently active.
This ... I'd call it a bug. And I'm not sure there's an easy fix. When transitioning areas, if time passes, the temporary invisibility granted by stealth expires, but the modal stealth state remains. So you have a character under stealth but visible, at least until they get a chance to re-hide. And to make matters worse, I've given Hexxat the Claw of Kazgaroth with its Blur effect, so I can't see at a glance whether she's actually invisible.
So, due to this problem, Hexxat gets shot with some arrows instead of landing a backstab on Catti-Brie. The rest of the party fares better, as we focus on Drizzt.
Sure, we've taken a lot of damage. But everyone's alive, and we have regeneration. Regis goes for a backstab on Viconia ... missed. She's in melee mode, with full plate and a very big shield for exceptional AC even with her Dex bonus negated. Meanwhile, we have turned our attention to Catti-Brie, and drunk a couple of healing potions.
Catti-Brie's bow is an ... interesting ... item. It's a clone of Tansheron's bow, only it lacks the "launcher" ability that allows it to fire normal ammo, and its icon is a copy of a generic +1 shortbow. Rather unfinished-seeming, but it's droppable as you can see here.
The remaining foes fall quickly after that.
All right, there's still one enemy in that shot. But the cat is unconscious, so I'm fine with declaring victory here.
While this bunch drop a lot of good stuff, it's not really good enough to use. And the unique items can't be kept for too long anyway, as once Bodhi's dead the enforcer Malchor Harpell shows up to take them back. We'll have to sell them off first.
Then, before we can go anywhere, more trouble shows up.
A Red Wizard. Degardan. He's looking for Edwin, no doubt with hostile intentions. Fortunately, he doesn't know about Edwin's transformation. He leaves - for now.
We continue to Athkatla, and are greeted by more bad news on arrival.
Saerk was not guilty of Moira's murder. Anomen killed the wrong man, and his father has disowned him for it.
Regardless of your dialogue choice here, Anomen temporarily leaves the party to confront Lord Cor. We follow him to his family estate immediately.
There are dead guards on the way. Anomen isn't messing around.
And now, we have a choice. Talk Anomen down, or let him go through with it? Since we want to keep Anomen, we talk him down. The alternative is to lose him forever.
I go with the "He's not responsible for what you've done, and you know it" line. In this party, we don't allow self-delusion. Own your deeds, no matter how evil.
With an affirmation of love, Anomen returns to the party and leaves Cor behind forever.
Now, where were we? Oh yes. The slums. Where our item stash is. But before we can reach it ...
Kruin shows up. Like so many other githyanki, he wants the silver sword back. Fat chance.
This bunch like invisibility, so Dorn uses Albruin's ability and Viconia casts True Seeing. The former is enough for Kruin, at least.
He drops a hilt for the silver sword, and the beatdown continues. The Anti-Paladin is the only one that inflicts any damage, landing a slash on Hexxat after her two backstabs both roll low damage.
And the warlock is last, mostly because he doesn't get the warriors' attention until the very end. I don't think we did any physical damage to him.
Now, to sell the hot gear we picked up recently. Twice, so we get full value. Once to the merchant in the east, once to the Black Market Thief ... wait, the Black Market Thief in the slums isn't a fence? Very well, off to Jayes instead.
Now Jayes can deal with the trouble. Also, it looks like I forgot to steal back some scrolls I sold to Jayes earlier. I do that now.
Now, we could take on Bodhi alone, but we'd appreciate at least a little support. Will the paladins help?
You can say that again. A blackguard, a man rejected from the Order, and four more evil folk? This will be an alliance of convenience at best.
And in effect, Prelate Wessalen does say it again. We are not welcome - but the paladins will join us anyway, because coordinating our efforts is so obviously wise against this common enemy.
The other two potential sources of support against Bodhi, of course, are closed to us.
Before I actually go to the graveyard, though, I'd like to clear out some quests. First, that trouble in the Umar Hills. On the way out ...
We run into a leftover Shadow Thief, extorting a merchant. Sadly, there's no way to pick a fight with him in that dialogue.
Incidentally, if you do the thief stronghold, Hanj is one of the thieves you take charge of. Specializing in extortion, naturally. It would be neat if this encounter took that into consideration - say, one dialogue option if you killed the guild for Bodhi (Hanj is desperate and without backup), another if you're his boss (signal Hanj to back off because you have an idea for a better scheme.
For our reward, we get a look at this merchant's merchandise, and Hexxat can steal an inventory's worth of stuff.
And now, we travel. First, to Dorn's keep.
The word of Tempus? We're fine with that. And Anomen, you might consider listening to it now that you're so far from Helm's guidelines.
Also, we pick up some taxes. 500 from the regular coffers, plus a special assessment of 1000.
Next, to the Umar Hills. We arrive at night so "Fael" is alone, and make a deal.
We have both parts already. The Human Flesh armor is now under construction. Four days until we can pick it up.
Next, we speak to the mayor.
Demanding gold up front will lower your reputation, and you can't even squeeze much gold out of him. He simply doesn't have it. Better to just accept the deal as-is.
Then some delinquents.
What we didn't tell them? The swords and ale are stolen. Oh, they're in so much trouble...
After a little runaround to buy a gem that a chicken swallowed (even this bunch aren't going to extort it for free, and you can't pickpocket it), we visit the cave.
Edwin got glued, but everyone else saved. And the mimic's no threat in a straight fight.
... Wait, no, Hexxat didn't save. She got the glue overlay, but she didn't get stuck. This is one that the EE fixpack should handle, because it's overhauling a bunch of stuff around immunities anyway.
The exact issue here: Mimic glue applies paralysis, a grease overlay, lighting effects, and a "Held" portrait icon. Standard paralysis immunity (as seen on undead like Hexxat) blocks the paralysis and the icon, but not the overlay. Grease immunity (as seen on flying creatures) blocks the overlay but not the paralysis and portrait icons.
Deeper in the cave, there are also some umber hulks.
The first one gets a 73-point backstab. The second gets a stunning backstab. Korgan takes a hit, but it's nice and easy overall. After all, we're facing challenges intended for a party of considerably lower level.
Now, we visit the mage Jermien. Or return, because I think we talked to him earlier - it's not recorded in my log for certain. He hands over the magic sword, and activates the golem...
Oops. The golem goes berserk. But it's only a stone golem, not the juggernaut golem he was trying for. We can handle it easily.
This encounter also pushes Korgan past the level 22 threshold. He takes his first Greater Whirlwind. Talk to Madulf, head over to Merella's former cabin - and on the way, a "female Edwin" banter pops.
Dorn this time, with an interjection from Viconia.
Our investigation of the cabin reveals where we must go next - a ruined temple nearby. Oddly enough, the area is not unlocked by picking up the journal with the map in it.
This temple area is the one outdoor area in the game that Hexxat can safely stow her cloak. After all, the sun doesn't shine here. As for the fights ... we'll have Anomen take the lead.
Especially since the shadows come in giant swarms now. Turning doesn't care about the number of foes. Anomen clears the area solo, and then the rest of the party follows him to the temple entrance.
Inside, turning is equally effective.
Once per round, splat all nearby enemies. Because they're all undead, and Anomen is far ahead of their levels.
I do fight conventionally against the next batch of shadows - and pay the price, with both Dorn and Hexxat drained down to 18 strength. Oops.
Still, shadow drain doesn't last long. By the time we send Mazzy away and pick up the first sun gem, it's gone already.
Now, for a more serious threat.
A lich and minions. Anomen supplements his Turn Undead with a Sanctuary, and they go splat.
After dealing with some friendly ghosts, there's a second lich group. I use the same tactic on them.
Then, the one enemy in the whole area that isn't undead - a bone golem. It goes down quickly, though not before delivering a hit. On Edwin, who neglected his usual Stoneskin.
The other door here holds a shadow.
No deal. We already have the items it's pointing us at anyway.
Piece together the clues, and the way forward is clear. The dragon awaits.
We're killing it now. Hexxat only has one spike trap, but that should be enough. Dorn transforms into the Slayer, Korgan rages, and we start things up by talking to the dragon.
And the fight ends instantly. Thaxll'ssilyia only has 160 HP, and isn't resistant to poison. Five normal traps would have been enough damage for the kill even without that spike trap.
While only two of those poison hits had successful saves show up in the log, all four saves were successful. The trap instant death effect is a save with a +4 modifier, and the dragon's base death save is 3. The other two saves must have been rolls of 1 or 2 before the modifier; if a positive save modifier is actually needed, it doesn't show in the log due to a bug.
We pick up the loot, and head straight on to the next fight.
Wait, why did Dorn turn back to normal?
I really don't have an answer for that one. But I only transformed for the reputation penalty anyway, so it's all good. On to the battle.
It's not a long battle. One MoD whack for Patrick, a few hits for the boss. And it wastes a Spellstrike on Viconia who doesn't even have any protections up.
Time advances to morning, and the sun shines once more. With the sun - Degardan returns.
Since he doesn't go hostile instantly, I have Hexxat get into position for a backstab ... critical miss. Well, I suppose we'll just have to do this the hard way.
Not very hard, though. Breach, hit, hit, hit. Dead. And so the saga of Edwin's transformation ends.
Various levels ensue with the experience reward for defeating the Shade Lord. Level 26 for Hexxat, boosting Find Traps and Open Locks so she won't miss anything in the sunlight. Also, a second Spike Trap. Level 24 for Viconia, club proficiency, and Mass Raise Dead. Level 24 for Anomen, sling mastery, and Globe of Blades. Level 20 for Dorn, and Greater Whirlwind.
Our triumphant party returns to the village to collect the reward.
A very underwhelming reward. There's no chance any of our party will ever use that armor.
And now, we rest. Next time, we return to Athkatla with a body.
After setting a few traps around Fael, the party turns north, to the last unexplored corner of this map. Valygar should be somewhere around there.
But before we meet Valygar himself, we have to deal with his friends. I've never fought this bunch before.
They're not too dangerous, though Dorn does take a flame strike when I don't bring down the priest fast enough. And some arrows before that.
With that, Valygar's cabin is open to us. He talks, revealing that the Cowled Wizards had ulterior motives in all this ... but we're still not going to spare him.
I choose to have Dorn use the Abyssal Blade for this fight. Not that it makes much difference, six on one with a level advantage.
Hopefully, his body will be all we need to open the sphere, and no further interaction with the lying Cowled Wizards will be necessary.
Back in Athkatla, it's time for a bit of shopping. That is, buying things and not just shoplifting.
Hide Viconia for reputation 10, and go for it. I end up buying six scrolls that Edwin doesn't know yet, and the Helm of Brilliance. Total cost 83504 gold. We pass on the other scrolls and the various unique items that aren't good enough to use.
I head over to the docks to visit Cromwell ... wait, what?
Sir Ryan Trawl is just standing there, left over from earlier in Anomen's story. And on second thought, I retcon that meeting and don't talk to him; it might cause trouble by resetting variables.
Edwin scribes eleven new spells and a bunch of redundant scrolls, reaching level 20 (Dragon's Breath). Then we talk to Cromwell.
And the item made this time is the Shadow Dragon Scale armor. It's an upgrade for Hexxat, replacing her not-actually-cursed Armor of the Viper.
With the party now rested, we move on to the sphere. And the key is simple.
Valygar's body opens the door with its mere presence. There is no need to talk to the Cowled Wizards, and we can plunder this sphere with impunity.
Though we will have to deal with the monsters to do so. Starting with this mephit.
Steam mephits can be pretty nasty. Unless you get the drop on them like that.
The opposite door holds a clay golem, which is more troublesome.
In hindsight, I should have sneak-attacked with the rod of smiting. Well, there are a lot more golems in this area for me to do better on.
We use the lever, and the sphere moves. The viewing room shows some demonic realm, and the door to the outside is sealed anyway. The only option is to go forward, deeper into the sphere.
The first room holds some friendly knights, who warn us of some of the dangers ahead. And opening the door ...
Halflings. Another of those spawn points that got multiplied. These are level 7 with 44 HP each. What are my mass-damage options ... right, Edwin has a Skull Trap memorized.
Seven die, four survive at very low hit points. Our party rolls in and kills the survivors in one hit each. They don't manage any attacks.
The other exit to this room holds sahuagin - the one truly optional room in the main area. I give them a wand fireball.
That even kills two of them - the 19 HP/level 2 mooks. The remainder take significant damage due to their fire vulnerability. Then Hexxat adds another wand shot before the general melee begins.
Hexxat took a stunning bolt, but the rest of the party kept the enemy from inflicting further damage on her.
I return to the halflings, and find another group of ten warriors. I don't have any more Skull Traps, but this bunch is lined up in a very tempting way...
After two rounds killing only one of them, I add a second scorcher.
That does the trick. One warrior survives the fire, only to fall to ordinary weapon attacks. But there is more going on that the picture doesn't show - the spellcasters have gotten involved. One wasted a psionic Domination on Hexxat, but I'm more worried about the well-protected mage; I'd like to wait out their initial PFMW.
Then the mage Kayardi forces our hand with a Symbol Stun that catches Hexxat. We have no choice but to enter battle now. Psionicist Entu is first to fall, and then Dorn and Korgan switch to normal weapons for Kayardi.
That's a Maze on Dorn. A rather harmless choice of spell, given that we're already looking to wait out the stun on Hexxat. Korgan gets the kill with his next main-hand blow, and we wait for the incapacitating spells to expire.
The enemies did us a bit of a favor there, splitting the encounter into two. Now we face the cleric Mogadish and another ten warrior minions.
This time, I go for a Slow and a Holy Smite.
Remarkably enough, I target the Holy Smite well enough to hit ten enemies and no allies. Dorn was very close to the effect area's edge, but still outside it.
From there, it's trivial. No more spells are needed on our side, and no more cast by the enemy.
After squashing a few spiders, we continue to the last halflings. Two mages Necre and Taibela, supported by only two warriors.
Oh, come on? Minimum damage, when even a 2 on that d10 would have killed her? And a 2 on the attack roll to boot. 87.5% kill chance failed.
Still, she's low enough that Korgan can finish her off without even breaking her stoneskin. And Dorn handles Necre.
We do take a bit of damage from the warriors after they get hasted, but that's all.
This room also contains three furnaces, which we activate. The elementals are no trouble at all.
Fighting them one at a time, and striking first, makes short work of them. And we get in backstabs when possible.
After that, it's a more serious threat - golems. This time, I'm not going to fight fairly.
Sneak attacks with the Rod of Smiting, on a poison-immune character, against an adamantite golem stuck in a door. Before long, the 10% instant kill chance pays off.
The two stone golems go down in one hit each. Hexxat solos the room, without the enemies getting in a single attack roll.
The experience from that fight brings level 23 for Korgan, and a second Hardiness.
Now, we can wake the guardian golem. And we're not going to leave it to fight the beholder alone.
Sure, it's called an elder orb. It doesn't fight like one.
Unfortunately, we don't get credit for that kill. That was the whole point of joining in!
With this main area clear, we continue on to navigation - and Lavok.
Hexxat gets in a first strike. No backstab, because his back is to the wall. That means it's only 21 damage.
Lavok's defenses go up, and the Breach follows immediately. With our warriors entering melee as well. Moments later, it's over.
His only offensive spell was a Power Word: Stun on Hexxat. Since she's wearing the paladin's bracers, she has 95 HP and the spell had no effect.
There are two side rooms here, with some inexplicable unique items. No, it's not that they are unique that's inexplicable - it's that their flavor text references the Forgotten Realms. Come on - they should be low-powered items themed around other planes instead. This sphere has been to many places, but it only returned to Toril recently.
The last path requires that we solve a puzzle - these runes.
I don't have this one memorized, so I just equip fire immunity. The punishment for getting it wrong is a fireball, and if that doesn't hurt I can just try it again. No more than six failures needed.
And now, the engine area. Where Cowled Wizards are already waiting for us. I send Hexxat to backstab the unnamed one...
Oops. But that's a terrible choice of defense - Protection From Normal Weapons? She's doomed. Also, Tolgerias is wasting his time on a True Sight - he'll finish that spell before speaking and going hostile.
Once Tolgerias does go hostile? Breach. He only casts the True Sight and his automatic defenses, as we beat him down before he can get to anything else.
This hub leads to two rooms. First, ice.
OK, how many hit points does that snow troll have? That was Hexxat's second backstab, a 76-point crit, and it's still above 25%. Looking it up, it's 172 HP on nine HD. For comparison, a standard giant troll is 101 HP on eight HD and a generic (unused in BG2) snow troll is 66 HP on 6 HD. No extra XP, or better saves, or higher APR, or anything but the extra HP on this particular monster.
Still, mere high HP won't stop us from clearing the room.
Second, fire. This room is more dangerous in general, and particularly likely to inflict chip damage with area fire spells from the likes of mephits.
The most dangerous foe here is the noble efreet. It's considerably squishier than the troll, and Hexxat's backstab finishes it off. From there, things are routine.
The engine room itself is just a dead end for now, as we don't have a heart to feed it. I'll still clear the room out. First, a clay golem.
Two hits, both stealth attacks with the Rod of Smiting.
Next, we walk around to trigger the golem packs. And do something very unfair.
Hexxat is standing invisibly (under stealth) in the middle of the walkway. They can't get around her, so they just stand there impotently and use their abilities as we plink away with ranged attacks.
It's not perfect, though. The other pack spawns as well, and one stone golem flanks us.
That's a hit on Viconia, to go with the pain on Dorn from before I established this position.
As for Hexxat - while I passed her a Sandthief's Ring, she didn't need it. Her stealth just stayed up. Korgan gets the kill on the first adamantite golem, Hexxat repositions, and Edwin gets the kill on the second.
That's the last of the golems destroyed. And level 27 for Hexxat. Five more points in Pick Pockets, twenty to stealth. Also, Avoid Death.
Only one challenge remains in this quest - a small pocket of the Abyss. And the way the enemies are placed here makes it excellent backstab territory.
Imps, quasits, mephits, salamanders - all go down to stabs. The more powerful demons see through invisibility, though. But even that is a double-edged sword.
Hexxat can just draw them out, ignoring their useless Hold Person and paralysis and Vampiric Touch abilities. One demon alone against the party doesn't stand a chance.
Before I take on the other two nabassu, I swap some gear to Hexxat - the Helm of the Rock and the Ring of Fire Control, for 75% fire and acid resistance. The nabassu gaze attack deals fire and acid damage in BG2, after all.
The last of the three, Lea'liyl, is a messier fight. They summon maurezhi, which can see through invisibility and so don't get separated from their boss as easily.
No real threat, though. There's only a bit of cleanup after that.
And now, we can finally leave. The sphere returns to Athatla, and we take Lavok out to die in the sun.
Our clerics reach level 25 with this experience reward. Summon Fallen Deva, Summon Fallen Deva, and two holy symbols ... Shar and Talos. Hmm - that's a bit off. Fallen Anomen doesn't qualify for the standard Helm holy symbol (non-chaotic only), but he's still a follower of Helm.
I also take this opportunity to shuffle strength boosters around; all six members of the party now have 19 or more strength.
Finally, I end this part where it began - in the Umar Hills. The Human Flesh armor is ready.
Fael doesn't appreciate what we did to Rejiek. But his retaliation squad can't handle the traps.
Viconia takes the armor, worsening her AC but freeing up the Cloak of Balduran for Dorn. She still has 95% MR, and can improve that to 100% with the 10% MR amulet.
The party rests at the inn here. Next time, we continue further east to deal with another dragon.
Arriving in the Windspear Hills brings an immediate confrontation.
Hey, Dorn's not saying he's not evil...
After two Greater Commands to no effect, I throw in an Aura of Despair.
Though I probably would have been just fine without any spells. It's not a hard fight at all.
Garren Windspear arrives to provide exposition. Illusions were in play, making each side of the conflict appear as monsters to the other - and we have slain members of the Radiant Heart order. That could be inconvenient, so we accept Garren's help in clearing our name of this deed.
At Garren's house, time passes and trouble arrives.
The bandits aren't much trouble, especially with the leader going down in two hits.
Then Garren returns. We inquire about that name-clearing part...
I don't usually take this dialogue path, but it felt right for the evil party.
And before we leave...
That's the deed to the land Hexxat just stole. It'll come in handy later.
Outside, night has fallen. And ... wait, that spawn point generated a single wild dog?
Pathetic. BG2 spawn points are broken.
To the east, we help out a dryad - and then whack her.
That earns Dorn his next level. Killing the dryads is worth far less XP than helping them, but you do get a magic dagger and two obsolete plot tokens.
Most of the outdoor encounters are trivial, but there is a pack of werewolves.
They might have been trouble, if we came here at level 8.
And with nothing more of note outside, we enter the dungeon. A group of hobgoblins greet us immediately, along with a higher-ranking orog.
DigDag heads away from us immediately, and I send a spell after him ... no effect. He outruns the Finger of Death, and only the hobgoblins remain for us to kill. One of those tries to run to the outside, but we have an answer for it.
No, you don't get to run away.
As we return inside, vampiric mists get involved.
That's two melee hits they landed on Dorn. But of course, we're well protected against level drain. The pack continues to come in, and both Anomen and Korgan take hits before it's clear.
There are two mist spawn points in this area, with normal maximums 2 and 5. In this run, that's ten instead. Plus I might have spawned those points twice due to going in and out...
Anyway, we continue to some hobgoblins.
Two wand fireballs, one slash. No more hobgoblins.
Next, a more dangerous foe.
A stunning critical backstab takes care of that. It's not quite lethal on its own, but it means the kamikaze kobolds attack alone without support.
We shoot them down at range. Just as the last one falls, the ruhk wakes to say his line. And then Hexxat returns for another backstab to finish the job.
More sneaking follows for the orc pack, as Hexxat prevents the archers from getting even one arrow off.
And finally, the rest of the mists.
That's eleven on screen, and it's only about half of what's there. When it all shakes out, I think I killed thirty of them. Mostly with Anomen's Turn Undead.
That brings us to the dungeon proper. Starting with a rather nasty orc ambush protected by hidden locked doors.
I turn AI off for this, so nothing interrupts Hexxat's detection mode. Plink away with ranged attacks, then move in with melee once the doors are open. End result: no damage taken.
The next challenge is a group of golems.
That's Hexxat's job. The Rod of Smiting is a wonderful tool.
Including, this time, a one-hit kill on the adamantite golem. Who says you can't backstab golems?
After killing a couple cowardly orcs, we turn to the troll cook and his goons.
Immediately after I unpause, the cook dies. Enough damage had been done already. The goons aren't dangerous at all either.
Beyond those goons, there's an otyugh pit.
Ah. That's a spawn point, normally good for one of them. With ten ... I'd rather not go in there. Checking ... 10 HD. Cloudkill won't cut it. All right, Edwin, go big.
An incendiary cloud, targeted at the room's center. There's nowhere they can go. No survivors.
After a few more orcs, the next danger is a section full of undead. Anomen, this one's yours.
The combination of Sanctuary and Turn Undead eliminates them easily. And it's still going when we reach the chapel at the end.
Wait, the Greater Wraith got multiplied? That one's definitely supposed to be a single unique monster. No profusion of keys, though - that item is in the floor pile.
After accepting Samia's suspicious offer - with reservations - we start with the other path.
There are a few wolfweres to deal with here. And since we're not bothering with any spells, they do some damage.
With that group cleared out, I turn to the tomb. Korgan equips fire immunity and faces the guardians, with some backstab assistance from Hexxat.
That particular guardian got stunned by the backstab, and barely lasted long enough to come out of it.
The only troublesome fight in here is the Director, a beholder variant that uses damage spells.
I chose to use the party, so they took some damage. I could have just thrown Edwin and Viconia at it, but no.
We finish the mask, deal with the hidden elemental, and set some traps. Then pick up the loot ...
I only used four normal traps. Not enough to kill most of them, but close. One hit each ...
... and they're dead. The enemies didn't get in any attack rolls.
Now, we move on. Open a door, kill some orogs, disarm a trap. And then, it's the golems' turn.
The narrow corridors are very much to our advantage, as I go with the stealth attack plan. The stone golems manage to reach the party, landing a hit on Korgan. The adamantite golem gets stuck in the door, and Hexxat hits it repeatedly ... enough that it actually manages to hit back.
Ouch. But Hexxat regenerates, so I'm not worried. She takes another hit, and then fells the golem on the next blow after that.
More little events follow. An elemental-guarded treasure, a dispute we interrupt by killing all of the participants. And then, one more batch of golems.
Hexxat takes out all three of these, without much trouble.
The other path on this side is an attempt at an ambush. We turn it around on those wolfweres.
Yeah, that's not the last of them. The others don't do any better.
And now, only Tazok and DigDag remain.
Don't you just hate it when enemies don't stay dead?
On to the fight, then. Draw out DigDag, stab him in the back, slash him in the front.
That just leaves Tazok himself. And alone, he stands no chance against the party.
Oddly enough, Tazok isn't wearing a helmet. Despite the half-ogre animation coming with one. Regular half-ogres wear helmets, but Tazok doesn't in either game.
We meet Iltha, and hear her warning. Now, for something truly dastardly.
Phase 1: attack Conster. At range.
With the aid of a dispelling arrow, it doesn't take long at all.
Claim the key, free Iltha. A banter pops:
A swing and a miss for Edwin.
Then we come back down ... no. The dragon is hostile. This isn't the way to do it.
Right ... can't fight him, because that makes Firkraag mad. Can't pick his pocket for the key, because he's too close to Firkraag. What does that leave ... oh, right.
Charm him. Or dominate, in this case. It succeeds on the third try; I have plenty of daily abilities for that.
The charmed Conster walks over away from his boss, and I pick his pockets.
Key acquired. Now, we're on a pretty short timer here - that spell lasts eight rounds, and if he's still around when it expires, both Conster and Firkraag will go hostile. Head straight back up to free Iltha, then return to the dragon's lair.
And we make a deal. The dead, which we already have, for an item.
And a whole lot of experience. That's level 24 for Korgan, with hammer grand mastery and Power Attack. It's also level 28 for Hexxat, with two-handed style, +15 to Set Traps, the remaining points to stealth, and a third Spike Trap. Which I use right now.
There is no battle. 192 damage dealt beats his 184 hit points. The last spike trap isn't even needed.
Now, we return. Wait a moment...
Iltha? What are you doing standing there?
I think she failed to escape the area before the party left, and that interrupted her script. Oops.
The trip back to the cabin is uneventful, and Iltha is also there.
And so we deceive the dragon and claim the experience reward again. Three more party members gain levels with this; the clerics to 26 (Storm of Vengeance for Anomen, Aura of Flaming Death for Viconia) and Edwin to 21 (Energy Blades).
We have slain our third dragon, the last that can be eliminated without truly fighting. Next time, we return to Athkatla to face Bodhi.
After visiting Cromwell to forge the red dragon scale armor and resting in the process, we turn to the graveyard. It's just after noon when we go ... and then time advances to midnight. The game demands you face the vampires at night.
Bodhi is there on arrival to taunt us - and worse.
She's taking Anomen, and there's nothing we can do about it.
Well, there goes the easy option. We'll have to beat the vampires down instead of just exploding them with divine power. Also, a vampire is instantly on top of Dorn and lands a hit before I can act at all - good thing he's permanently immune to level drain.
Korgan gets the Mace of Disruption in his off hand, and Hexxat gets Anomen's holy symbol for now. The rest of Anomen's gear goes in storage. Actually, while I'm at it, I swap that holy symbol of Talos for one of Tempus.
More vampires await in the graveyard. Naturally, now that I have a bit of room, I get in some backstabs.
They're no big deal. Just fledglings, really.
As I head toward the entrance to Bodhi's lair, I pass by someone of note.
Oh hey, Stein. I guess we haven't come this way at night before. Stein is a vanilla encounter rendered mostly invisible by bad placement; my mod moves him out of the wall so he can be interacted with properly. We'll check in with him again when Anomen is back in the party.
And now, we enter. The paladins are here as well.
There aren't any vampires in sight, so Hexxat scouts ahead. She spots Valen, and lands a modest 39-damage stab. That triggers a spawn.
Now that fledgling is paladin bait. Eric gets the kill, and then Valen comes over.
Two more vampires join in; Del and a fledgling.
And that's enough for the paladins. All but Eric go home.
Incidentally, Eric got both fledgling kills so far. It seems he's quite effective when made into an Undead Hunter - one of my mod's components.
We continue on to another room, with the pool of blood that once held the Mace of Disruption.
Oof, a minimum-damage backstab. That attack draws Meredath and Salia out to the party, where they die. Then Hexxat goes back for another stab.
That's better. The last fledgling in the room gets the same 74 damage, and we're clear. Korgan applies the holy water to the pool, as Dorn and Hexxat want no part of it.
Now, for the main hall. And that's a lot of vampires.
You can see my solution - Edwin's going to thin them out with a big spell. The cloud deals 260 damage immediately, and sticks around as the vampires fail to find a path to Edwin.
And that's one vampire down. More follow; a total of seven kills with the cloud. One does make it through...
... and Edwin gets that kill too with a critical throw of his dagger.
Tanova wasn't in the cloud, and didn't act. She gets a backstab instead ... a stunning backstab. The party comes up and finishes her off before she can recover. That just leaves one vampire on this level, the mage Guard that doesn't start hostile.
So much for him.
Hexxat loots the gauntlets in the pool, and takes a couple spike hits drawing out the vampiric mists. Painful, but no big deal in the long run. Also, Dorn and Viconia are fatigued; the rest at Cromwell came at the beginning of the forging process, so it has been more than a full day including the time skip. We'll have to wrap things up quickly.
And now, the final confrontation. I apply one buff spell - Improved Haste on Korgan.
We have a lot to say, and so does she. But enough talk. Now we fight.
And in the initial moves ...
That's inconvenient. Very well, dispel him. It works, though not without side effects.
Improved Haste - gone. Stoneskin - gone. Oh, and vampire Anomen is down already.
But Edwin's back, and he casts a Horrid Wilting.
That clears out the last of the mooks. It's just Bodhi now. Before long ...
Eric Vanstraaten kills her. The single most valuable kill in the entire game, stolen from us.
Oh well. At least we get the XP for staking Bodhi and retrieving the Rhynn Lanthorn.
Over 100K each, and two levels. Dorn reaches level 22 and takes a second Hardiness, while Hexxat reaches level 29 and takes Evasion - plus five points in Set Traps and twenty to stealth.
Back in the upper level, there are a few more goodies to collect outside the vampires' domain. Plus some traps, spiders, and those weird red skeletons. Korgan levels up to 25 here, taking Critical Strike. Then we come back ...
There's also a vampire spawn trigger. That's the first one down to a critical backstab, after she came charging out for some reason. I try it again ...
... and a 98-point critical backstab isn't enough. These vampires are tough. Still, it's only a matter of time. Hexxat pulls back, hides, and backstabs again. Repeatedly, until they're all dead.
We visit Cromwell again for the rest, forging the useless Equalizer. And then, we head out to restore Anomen. It's not entirely uneventful.
Shapeshifters accost us, transforming into copies of the party. The evidence indicates these are rakshasas.
And Edwin takes care of the trouble in one spell. Korgan kills Hexxat, while Edwin kills Dorn, Edwin, Viconia, Edwin, and Korgan. They double up if your party's short members.
The rest of the journey is uneventful, including the walk through the temple ruins.
Anomen is restored. And after whacking some bears on the way out, we rest at Dorn's keep.
Taxes have come in, but the plot hasn't advanced. The next event involves a runner showing up, and those are particularly prone to trouble. I look into things, examining a save ... the variables say the runner should have spawned. In fact, I find a smoking gun - creature BDOFFSCR exists in the Windspear Hills, at the dungeon entrance. The spawn triggered when I exited the dungeon, but its block was only partially executed and the runner never actually spawned.
All right. Create the messenger.
And the keep's plot is back on track.
Now, we return to Athkatla. And we finally enter the sewers under the Temple District, where the quest Dorn inherited from Patsy awaits. But we're not dealing with the cult just yet. First, we need to clear out the hazards in the main area.
That's one. Also, Black Pits combat music for this area. The Kobold Witch Doctor does get off a fairly dangerous spell ...
... but Anomen's cloak catches it. Done in by his own spell.
Unfortunately, the lightning bolt doesn't end there.
Oops. Roger the Fence will be hostile now. And I really don't want that. Reload.
The second time around, I don't let that spell happen.
Also, Hexxat was less successful against the rakshasa; a whiff on her first swing, a nonlethal backstab on her second.
When the rest of those magic missiles land, the kobold is killed outright. The rest of the fight is easy.
On to the bandits in the north. Hexxat makes the first move.
That was overkill. A hundred points worth. Gaius has 59 HP and is unarmed, so Hexxat would have gotten a kill nearly 70% of the time. She actually got a high roll and a crit together, leaving him very dead.
The remaining bandits go hostile, and one follows Hexxat in her retreat.
And that's a minimum-damage stab. Though the Chant penalty does make it more likely. Our party follows up to eliminate the archer - and then Edwin does his thing.
They gathered together. Bad move. One of the priests is down, and now we engage in full.
I tried this fight a few times in aborted lines, back when Dorn first joined. It didn't go well. Having a full party and lots of levels makes it so much easier.
Next, the southwest. I set a few traps, then walk into a trigger...
A beholder and two gauths teleport in, and immediately die. This trigger is only active if you first visit it in chapter 6 - a rare occurrence, the way I usually play the game.
The remaining monsters are mostly trivial. A see troll, some kobolds, a carrion crawler, a pack of otyughs ... wait a moment.
Only six of them rather than ten. But that still calls for some heavy firepower. Viconia levels to 27, taking Storm of Vengeance.
The main sewer area is clear. Next time, we continue our exploration of what lies below Athkatla.
Before I continue on hunting the cult, I turn to the real reason I wanted to come here - the secret area unlocked by the key Tazok had. It's an illithid lair, though we start with some thralls. Hexxat backstabs the mage, and the remaining foes attack.
With the choke point working for us, the lone mind flayer in this bunch is unable to attack. Most of the damage we dealt to it was with ranged attacks.
Incidentally, this area gets Neera battle music.
The second room is all illithids, so I boost our defenses with Chaotic Commands on the priests. And then draw them out with a stab.
Two dead, one near death and panicked. Let's do that again.
That represents more than one trip, but that's just fine. They didn't charge after Hexxat, after all.
The final room holds an alhoon, the leader of this bunch. As always, we open with a backstab.
That draws them out - all but the alhoon and one umber hulk.
Great, We get to the beatdown ... but our defenses aren't perfect.
Edwin had a spell save of 2, and no Chaotic Commands. He rolled a 1 on one of the mind blasts, and that made him the preferred target. Two hits already taken...
... and no more. We just have to wait for the stun to wear off before proceeding.
Now, for the alhoon.
Well, that makes things easy.
The Hammer of Thunderbolts is ours. And we're improving it immediately.
That will be Korgan's primary weapon (with an off-hand axe) for the rest of SoA and a good chunk of ToB. And even some of the time after I get the upgraded Axe of the Unyielding. Crom Faeyr is, in my opinion, the most powerful weapon in the game; it deals enough damage to be endgame-worthy even without the 25 strength when equipped, and it's available far earlier than other endgame weapons.
Since that consumed Viconia's strength gauntlets, I trade the belt Edwin was wearing to her. We'll have to live with one low-strength party member for a while.
And now, we head back to the sewers, this time to continue farther down and actually do that investigation the temple of Talos wants from us. The monsters here are quite varied, but not terribly dangerous. Some shadows and ettercaps first, then a more elaborate trap.
Vampiric mists, locked doors, and Cloudkill. Hexxat is perfectly positioned to handle it; her only weakness is that she can't hide from the mists, so she retreats to the party to actually kill them.
Then we speak to the cult leader Gaal.
Viconia immediately knows what's going on, but that leaves the problem of actually rooting them out. We'll go along with Gaal's plan for now, until an opportunity presents itself.
That opportunity arrives in the form of Sassar, an exile from the cult who knows of a secret path to the beholder and an artifact that could be used against it. For now, we must continue down to the long-forgotten temple below.
There are random monsters. There's also a screaming statue that summons more monsters, five times. Of course we're going to trigger that and fight them. Even if the wandering horrors do cast the occasional inconvenient spell. It's kind of impressive that the Death Fog managed to get through Viconia's 95% magic resistance there.
With the cloud still up, we look forward for the moment...
Mummies and ghasts. Splat. Then the cloud disperses, so I trigger the statue a few more times.
After a riddle bridge, there's a group of beholders. This time around, I'm using saves and the Cloak of Mirroring for Dorn, the Shield of Balduran for Anomen, and magic resistance for Viconia. Korgan doesn't have outright immunity here, but he has unbeatable saves and enough resistance to energy damage that he won't go down quickly. Against a small group like this, that's good enough.
Hexxat and Edwin stay back, of course. And once I've got the equipment set up, there's no point in anything fancy. Just attack until they're dead.
We do run into one complication, though.
Shadows join in. But it's not as bad as it looks; the beholder gets petrified by a reflected ray, so only the gauths and the shadows remain. We can afford to divert our attention to crushing the shadows.
We disarm a threat, and then we face a unique enemy.
The Empathic Manifestation. It's not a very dangerous foe, attacking unarmed (1d2+6 nonlethal damage, effective THAC0 5, 2 APR), but you need healing to kill it - and a quick-casting spell like Bhaalspawn Cure Light Wounds or Neutralize Poison is best. Dorn was ready.
That frees the avatar, who gives us half of the artifact. Edwin is not impressed.
Ah well. We can still use the device this one time. And if it doesn't work as advertised, we're plenty good at killing beholders already.
Now, we head back. Through the cult's domain, and down into the pit where they dump the dead bodies. There are random ghasts and mummies, but I don't bother with turning here.
We just bash through with brute force instead.
For the lich group inside the hut, I initially avoid the trigger so I can set traps. Then only two of six traps connect, leaving us to plan B.
Turn them. And cast a Horrid Wilting, though that doesn't get any kills.
For the beholder lair, it's back to the specialized gear. Though this time, I'm giving Dorn the resistance setup and Korgan the Cloak of Mirroring. After Dorn takes a slowing ray (that one has a -4 save penalty), he switches back to the spell save amulet - but it'll still take time to wear off.
Too long for the biggest enemy group, in fact. Three beholders and three gauths.
Also, I'm not sure what that weird hoop animation is.
The other substantial fight in here is the group of "Blind Priests" in the center. Who are not actually blind.
They get a bit of spellcasting from us. Edwin's second wilting, and a Greater Command. It's more than enough to stop them from doing anything of note.
Finally, there's the Unseeing Eye itself.
The Rod works as advertised.
After returning the depleted rod and receiving a shield we have no use for, there's just one loose end left to clean up - Gaal and his followers.
Gaal tries to fight. But that's his elite guard all down in a single Greater Command, helpless until we kill them. Only an invisibility spell keeps Gaal going longer than that, and Dorn has the counter. In keeping with the ways of Talos, we kill off as many cultists as we can.
Are they resisting? No; they're trying to flee. Do they have anything worth taking? Also no. But they were foolish or unlucky enough to follow a false god, so their lives are forfeit.
With the cult dealt with, we turn to an unrelated matter.
Two spike traps kill a lich, and we claim some bones.
And then, back to the temple.
A pile of experience, Ardulia's Fall, and some gold. Wait, what?
If you complete the Unseeing Eye quest while already having a stronghold, you get the mace Ardulia's Fall. Or, in the case that you work with Helm, if you're not a cleric. The other two temples check for cleric status much earlier in the quest and just assume it here.
The tricky part is the reward for the Sarles quest. If you've started the cleric stronghold (any version), you get a choice among three items - the same three items from all three temples. If you haven't, you get an item that depends on which temple you're working with; a Helm of the Noble from the Helm temple, a Periapt of Life Protection from the Lathander temple, or Ardulia's Fall from the Talos temple.
So, then, a character that works with the Talos temple but doesn't do the cleric stronghold gets Ardulia's Fall twice. Even though it's really supposed to be a unique item. Oops.
Anyway, that pile of experience earns us some levels. Level 27 for Anomen (Energy Blades), level 30 for Hexxat (stealth, Time Trap), and level 22 for Edwin (Comet). The party's reputation also inches up to 9. And for our last act this session, I visit Cromwell to put together the Gesen bow.
Now, back to the action. Specifically, we continue what we started with the Shade Lich.
Which means entering this unmarked building in the docks and killing the minotaurs so we can talk to the being in the tomb below. And set some spike traps.
Then we head out for more lich hunting. First, the hidden room in the Crooked Crane.
I buff heavily, because I'm planning on a very short adventuring day.
And it's massive overkill. With that Mass Invisibility, we got into position and crushed the lich before it could even raise any defenses. Three hits.
In addition to the ring, wands, and useless Rod of Terror, we get Daystar. A very powerful weapon that Hexxat refuses to use - leave it to Dorn, then.
Before turning in, I take the time to upgrade a summoning item.
After selling and stealing back the gems, of course. We have to get appropriate value out of them first.
And then, it's right back to Cromwell.
I want to play with a vorpal weapon. So Dorn gets the Silver Sword, and will use it as his primary weapon for a bit.
Though ... not this fight. Or the next.
Traps are plenty, after all. Level 23 for Dorn, and his second Grater Whirlwind. It's also caster level 15 on his divine spells, so DUHM will bring him to strength 25 when used.
The golden skeleton is complete. And this is the first time I've taken on the demilich since I wrote my "Fifty Ways to Kill a Kangaxx". What are my plans? First, protections. Edwin has Spell Immunity: Abjuration. Anomen and Viconia have Shield of the Archons. Dorn has the Book of Infinite Spells for Spell Turning. Korgan has his rage. Hexxat has Avoid Death.
Second, offense. Daystar and a non-proficient off-hand for Dorn, Crom Faeyr and a non-proficient off-hand for Korgan, Mace of Disruption for Anomen, a non-proficient Dragon's Breath halberd for Hexxat, my very limited supply of +4 bullets for Viconia, Staff of Rhynn for Edwin.
No, wait, I haven't memorized SotA. Anomen and Viconia stay back and split the +4 bullets, then. At least in vanilla, Kangaxx chooses targets based primarily on proximity, so they should be safe.
The lich form takes 150 magic damage immediately, then another 146 weapon damage before its defenses go up. Out of 126 HP.
I do try to dispel the defenses, though. They could be trouble, especially if they persist through the transformation. And ... level check failed. Not surprising, as Kangaxx is level 27. Try a cleric dispel instead ... not fast enough.
I do have a backup plan - use the Ring of the Ram to push the demilich toward my third spike trap.
Which fails; I'm not in the right spot to push him like that. But the demilich doesn't inherit buffs from the lich (it's technically a new creature), so our melee forces take up the slack.
8 damage from Korgan, 28 from Dorn, 18 from Viconia. And Kangaxx didn't manage even one imprisonment attempt against us.
Anomen gets the ring, though I'll shuffle it around as needed for regeneration. Also, that's a new top kill for Dorn.
Our lich-hunting is done. Next time, we return to the sewers for a rescue mission.
Back in the sewers, it's time for the final side area - Mekrath's lair.
The area starts with a bunch of mephits. They're annoying, but they're trivial - and the terrain obstacles work against them. Only Korgan takes any damage this time.
Next, it's a group of yuan-ti. I send Edwin in to cast an Incendiary Cloud...
... but it fails. He gets hung up somewhere that can't see his target, permanently in the casting animation until I cancel out of it. The spell is lost. All right, plan B.
Plan B is a Dragon's Breath. Which isn't terribly impressive, since they resist fire. No kills, and now they're chasing him.
But ... the three mages all fire off their Spell Sequencers. Which include Haste. If we wait that out, the whole group will be fatigued.
So Hexxat stands in the door invisibly, blocking them. And then, since I don't feel like waiting with nothing happening, I have Edwin add a wand Cloudkill.
And that kills all three mages. Hexxat finishes off the last injured snake on her own.
Continuing past that spot, we find Haer'Dalis.
I see we'll have to deal with Mekrath first. This can be done peacefully ... but no. Not with this party.
He's one of those mages that come pre-Stoneskinned, so the backstab doesn't do much of anything. But then all he adds to that is protection from normal weapons? Doomed.
We overwhelm the Stoneskin and kill him before he can cast anything else. Korgan reaches level 26 in this battle, taking Smite.
Haer'Dalis joins the party, with Hexxat taking a break. I feed the bard some scrolls - enough for about 50K XP per party member. That gets Viconia to level 28, for single-weapon style and Elemental Summoning.
Also, my party AI tweak shows its hand.
Automatic singing only activates in combat normally. I've extended this to "always" for non-jester bards.
After a bit of talk back at the playhouse, we agree to help out with the planar conduit they're summoning.
It calls up a few random monsters. Trivial. And then, the other shoe drops.
Haer'Dalis is taken, along with the whole troupe. Time to retrieve Hexxat and go get them back.
Through the portal, I give Aawill a very Dorn line...
... only to find out that it's actually Korgan talking. He doesn't use swords. And the battle is on. First to go hostile, and thus first to fall, is Aawill.
Also, Dorn went after the mage, and disrupted her initial True Sight before she even went hostile. The Greater Command I cast, though? That only got Aawill; there are elves in this group.
I notice the invisible thief going after Edwin. Switch to melee, and move. Also, get Dorn on revealing that.
The thief is revealed, but the mage has proper defenses up - a PFMW. Korgan and Dorn switch to normal weapons in the main hand to continue the beatdown. And Edwin throws a PW: Stun at that 40 HP thief.
It's not fast enough to stop the mage from starting to cast something ...
... so I use the Ring of Energy. A bit of collateral damage there, but it's worth it. She does have a Finger of Death memorized, after all.
Korgan gets the third set of boots of speed. After some regeneration, we press forward.
And for some reason, these thralls don't fight back until their leader is already dead.
I pick up and lore-ID the collars ... what?
They stayed in inventories, except when dropped in a gem bag. Something funky is going on here, and I don't understand it. Does it have to do with having characters that can't equip them due to no-drop amulets handling the collars?
The next group of enemies is a yuan-ti pack. They get more effort - a Cloudkill to draw them out, then a rage and Holy Smite.
Then I charge to engage them ... and they're too close to the portal trap. Dorn and Korgan get sucked down.
Two warriors for the githyanki, while the rest of the party deals with the mages. The warriors work faster.
That's all of the githyanki down, before any of the mages. And that must have been a vorpal hit, too. Though, judging by the lack of an intact body, probably a vorpal on a hit that already dealt overkill damage. I do have a tweak that makes vorpal hits non-chunking active, after all.
Fortunately, up top, the mages have been wasting their time with spells like Secret Word on Edwin. Who doesn't have any spell defenses up. The only actually effective spell they get off is a Confusion that catches Hexxat; she gets sucked into the trap before she can attack anyone.
Once Hexxat returns to her senses, we poke forward some more and draw out another thrall.
Plus the wyvern. That female thrall drops two of the best items here - Kundane and the +1 THAC0 gauntlets.
While I wait for a Shadow Door to expire on a nearby mage, the Warden casts Spell Turning. Again. His initial casting must have worn off.
Anyway, on to that next little fight.
Zero damage dealt. Dead.
The Master of Thralls is not any more effective.
It only takes three hits. Then some for the elementals he summoned.
We now have the orb, and could destroy it to free the thralls. But there are some things I'd like to do first. Specifically, clearing out those trap rooms. First, the wolfweres.
Hexxat goes in for a stab, and they follow her out to meet the party.
Then, the efreeti. The entrance to this pit risks drawing the warden's attention, but the exit is farther back where it's safe.
That's one down to a critical backstab. And I notice that she's been wearing the Cloak of Dragomir this whole time. Take that off.
The other two follow Hexxat out and die to the unified party.
Then we head back around to the short path to the warden.
Four minotaurs and two "prison captains" here. Hexxat crit-misses her first backstab attempt, but gets a crit on the captain that follows her out for a one-hit kill. And another one-hit kill when she goes back in for that first captain again.
The next trap room is far enough to get the warden's attention. Which we ignore, just making sure he doesn't have time to target Hexxat with anything too dangerous.
A minimum roll on that stab, but the lightning damage comes through for the one-hit kill anyway. One mage down.
The exit drops you north of the entrance, and while it's sometimes possible to sneak back south through the trap, that's not reliable. Better to head east for the efreeti trap room. Like this.
That's the aftermath of a nonlethal Rod of Smiting stealth attack, by the way.
Back at the room we're trying to clear out, there's one more mage...
Eliminate the Mirror Image, then backstab. Another crit gets the one-hit kill.
For the priest, Hexxat just stays in there and fights conventionally.
Normal attacks, and one wand scorcher for the final blow.
Now, we can break the orb and face the warden.
No special prep needed. We've drained some of his best spells, and despite his appearance he's not much of a fighter. The Warden has stats, THAC0, saves, proficiencies, and spell memorization consistent with a level 18 specialist mage. Plus a 5-point spell save bonus. Then he's given the fighter/mage class (level 18/1) and slightly more HP than the pure mage would get, plus a unique long sword to wield that he's not even proficient in. 2 APR, 1d8+2 damage, final THAC0 15 (slashing). Greywolf is a better fighter than that.
Oh, and because of those levels? He doesn't even get a decent caster level on his mage spells. They're all at minimum effectiveness.
The warden tries to delay his death with a Mislead. Hexxat has 100% Detect Illusion.
It only takes a moment to redirect our forces after that. Anomen gets the killing blow, and only the yuan-ti remain.
Nothing fancy this time. Just overwhelming force and a little illusion-dispelling. After tracking down one stray snake, we free the prisoners.
Aww, Haer'Dalis wants to stay with us. I bring him in just long enough to level up to 16, then send him on his way.
Some housekeeping follows, with one last visit to Cromwell to forge Wave.
The last of the stronghold quests are done. Next time, we do some side questing.
We start our side questing with some limited wishes. The really limited, one-time ones. Edwin memorized a bunch of instances of the spell along with a Project Image before we put Wave together, so he can do them all at once. Incidentally, the PI clone lacks Edwin's personal amulet due to clone mechanics, and therefore merely has as many spell slots as a normal specialist. The spell isn't nearly as useful for him as it is for most mages.
We start with a bunch of wishes that create items. And then whack the clone so we can actually get them.
There's one more wish not represented in that pile - the wish for adventure. And one that doesn't just create items.
A wish for experience. We have some golems to fight. Hexxat goes for a sneak attack, but I misjudged things and she was visible - two hits taken. At least Korgan can execute the sand golem with his hammer.
And the juggernaut golem the same way. Then ... we retreat. The adamantite golem is hasted, and that's a brutal threat. Hexxat successfully hides outside, and the rest of the party follows her. So does the adamantine golem. Uh ... back inside, then.
At this point, I decide that it's worthwhile to spend a healing spell on Hexxat. Then she heads out for a sneak attack.
Which gets the instant kill. A tough fight, but we had the tools. Done.
Next, we're off to the bridge district.
For a very silly quest. Despite the grumblings of both Anomen and Edwin, we choose to do the job. Dorn is curious, and it might even come with a nice reward.
The next step brings more objections.
But hey - we have a lead. And we've cleared out the sewers anyway.
Roger ... doesn't have the gong. He just has another lead for us. Korgan just can't take it anymore - at this point, only Dorn and Hexxat haven't objected.
On the way to the druid grove, we check in at Dorn's keep.
Roenall? Dorn has an opinion already. Down with Malvolio.
In the end, Dorn chooses Jessup, pays for a full dowry, and recoups the money by collecting taxes.
Sure, you could just have Malvolio give you that much gold - but doing it this way earns you the XP and doesn't incur a (net) popularity cost.
And now, a detour. Before searching out Grae, we check on the three small areas that became available with chapter 6. First, the North Forest.
The genies are dangerous - note that Flesh to Stone on Dorn, which would be an instant game over if it connected. Thankfully, Dorn has unbeatable saves. We focus on that Dao djinn...
One down, one to go. The repeated invisibility, though, is very annoying. The Dao djinn only gets to go invisible once, but the efreet does three times ... whenever it becomes visible, uninterruptibly, with no regard for the aura timer.
Also, there's the mist form. Hexxat uses Detect Invisibility, I go for the attack to finish the efreet off, and it turns to mist. While panicked from a failed morale check. In fact, it's still panicked when it finishes regenerating and returns to solid form.
That finally lets us beat the monster down. Such an annoying enemy type.
Next up, Hexxat provokes some trolls. And Korgan puts them down.
Ah, Crom Faeyr. Such a wonderful weapon.
Add a greater wyvern to the kill tally, and then continue to the party. They're a dangerous bunch, with a level 15 mage and a level 14 priest.
Edwin uses his spell sequencer here - Confusion, Greater Malison, and a Slow that fails. OK, why? Is it a range issue? Slow is range 25, Confusion is range 35, Malison is range 50, and the sequencer activations are range 25. That shouldn't be a problem...
Anyway, the priest, mercenary, and duergar are confused, while the mage, archer, and auxiliaries are fine. I knock out the archer with a Greater Command, and gang up on the mage.
There shouldn't be any more serious resistance. Clean up the rest ... then realize that there was a thief too. Which I knocked out with the Greater Command while he was still invisible.
And now it's over. But there's no scroll of Time Stop...
Checking the scripts, I figure out what happened. The mage has the scroll of Time Stop in a quick slot, and a "potion use" script that assumes whatever is in that slot is a helpful potion. Blind AI stupidity used the item, but we killed the mage before the spell could finish casting.
Small Teeth Pass comes next. And it's the least interesting overworld area in either game. Next!
The Forest of Tethir actually has some interesting stuff in it. Plus some nice battle music, with the randomizer.
Random enemies vary widely, from mere goblins to dangerous mists. But not too dangerous, since we have so many levels and Anomen has the Mace of Disruption. I ignore Dorn and Viconia's fatigue to fight on, taking advantage of the night.
All right, that's more serious. A spawn point for Mist Horrors, which don't have a power level set so my component makes it ten of them. Retreat, send in Anomen.
Oops. Anomen's confused. Plan A has failed. Plan B is a simple beatdown.
It works.
Next up, we have a cameo.
We passed by him once, but never spoke. And he wants help rescuing someone else we never spoke to ... eh, all right. But first, we're checking out that cabin.
This is a party-required area. We can't just send in Anomen alone. But we have enough defenses, and enough melee power.
No fancy tricks needed. We just beat them down.
And with that fight, Anomen levels to 28. He takes his fourth dot in slings, and Implosion.
On to Coran's troubles, then.
So much for Safana. She deserves it for trying to take a bounty on Dorn. But Lanfear goes hostile anyway, so we have to deal with her and her pack.
It's not a hard fight. Cameo over.
In addition to the normal enemies, we do have one inexplicable oddity.
A wyvern cult. Just ... why? Hexxat rolls low on her stab, so the mage survives. PFMW goes up, so I put out a wand Cloudkill to disrupt...
It's not working. Symbol: Fear cast successfully. We counter that with a Remove Fear, and continue fighting. In the Cloudkill, because we have poison immunity for our melee front line.
In the end, after getting off a Sunfire as well, the mage goes down to normal weapons wearing down his Stoneskin.
That's it for the cult.
This area has one unique item, in a cave. It's a bow we'll never use. That cave also holds a pair of kuo-toa spawn points.
A bit of fire never hurts when you're fighting them. Well, unless you use indiscriminate fire that hits your party too. Which a lot of the options are, because fire is like that. ... All right, the point is that the fishes have negative fire resistance.
Then the second spawn point activates, as we've moved far enough away from it.
And so do the traps we set there, because I love playing unfair. Four our of six died to the first trap's instant kill effect. The Whip and Lieutenant took three traps each, dying to damage. I set four.
There's one more notable encounter as we head for the exit.
Snakes. And since we're going to rest immediately after we travel, we might as well use some big spells. Though that was pretty pathetic for a Horrid Wilting.
The party rests in Trademeet, and sells off a bunch of junk to the local merchants. Then we're off to the druid grove.
And ... oops. Korgan reaches Grae first, and slays her in one hit with Crom Faeyr. Which means she doesn't talk, and there's no way to get the gong. Reload.
This time, I remove all of my troll-killing weapons and the dialogue works. Hear about Drush, kill her anyway. Or actually, she just dies with no further input from us.
The area has not been repopulated at all. We face no trouble whatsoever reaching Drush at his tower.
We make the trade. Then we take back our wand.
The backstab was just a few points short of lethal on its own.
We have explored all of the outdoor areas we can. Next time, we take on an actual challenge as we return to Watcher's Keep.
In Watcher's Keep, we pick up where we left off back before the Underdark. We've cleared out the elemental level, except for the final boss. And now, with our expanded capabilities, we're ready to face the Chromatic Demon.
As usual, the plan for the demon is to focus on one element, and wait until it's in the right form to release massive burst damage of that element. But unlike previous runs, I'm going with acid and poison here. Naturally, this means that the demon cycles through all the forms I don't want. Repeatedly. For an unreasonably long time.
Finally, the air form comes up.
And my traps go off. Six normal traps, for more than 120 damage out of the demon's 140 HP. Edwin launches his 2x Melf's Acid Arrow minor sequencer...
And it's over.
Sure, I could have used spike traps; none of the forms are resistant to magic damage. But that's no fun. And a seventh normal trap would have required me to rest beforehand.
Hexxat reaches level 31, taking yet more stealth and a Greater Evasion. Also, that's her seventh instance of Set Snare. Viconia reaches level 29, taking Globe of Blades. She has all her HLA spells now. Edwin re-memorizes his sequencers, and we step outside to rest.
And here, I'll note something that bugs me. All the Watcher's Keep portals reset your zoom level. I like playing a bit more zoomed in, with bigger sprites - but every time I step through a portal, that goes away. It's not even an explicit effect in the cutscenes that I can edit; it seems to be inherent in the LeaveAreaLUA script action itself, which is the part that actually moves the party.
Now that we've opened up the next floor, we go there. And follow Yakman so that we can get some answers.
All right, have a Heal. Then, once he says his piece ...
We kill him, for sport. There's no loot whatsoever and he doesn't fight back, but it is another 6K experience. He left his weapon and armor in the stash over there, you see.
Now, we get into the teleport maze proper. Which means those darn zoom levels resetting every room. I'll start with the null-magic areas to the east, because getting those out of the way first lets us use more buffs later.
First up, it's a room with cornugons fighting a balor. But hey, at least this balor doesn't have defenses up. Dorn gets out the Abyssal Blade; this area is one of the few places where that bonus damage versus demons actually works like it's supposed to. Bonus damage versus the balor, but not the cornugons - so he'll switch back to two-weapon mode for them.
Hexxat also goes for a backstab on a cornugon ... immune. Unlike demons in other parts of the game, which generally just see through invisibility so you can't sneak up on them without a distraction. Still, we power through that.
The room is clear, though not without pain. The dead magic didn't stop a cornugon from casting a Lightning Bolt at Hexxat.
Then I check the pillar.
In hindsight, that was a bad idea. But Dorn would have done it anyway. Touching the pillar gets you Purifier if the toucher is lawful good, nothing if the toucher is neutral or non-lawful good, and a meteor swarm if the toucher is evil.
Korgan reaches level 27, mastering two-weapon style and taking a second Greater Whirlwind. Then, after letting the meteors die down, we continue east to the next room.
Dealing with demons? Sure, Dorn can do that. But we'll prepare for betrayal as well, and set traps.
Making the deal with Tahazzar requires that the nearest PC (the one that the demon speaks to, which should be whoever's taking point in the party's formation) be neither good nor lawful neutral, and also that player 1 not be a lawful good paladin or cleric. This party has no trouble whatsoever meeting those conditions.
The devils are less stringent in their requirements. Only a lawful good paladin protagonist or a speaker that's either lawful or neutral good locks you out from making the deal with Ka'rashur.
All right, moving on. Both exits from this room lead to dead magic areas, and we choose the one that we haven't been to before. It's full of devils.
It also has traps, which I forget about and run into. But that works out pretty well for us; two cornugons get slowed, while most of our front line is fine. Anomen retreats and switches to his sling.
The cornugons go down easily enough, but the electrified missile attacks of the velithuu cause some pain (they use a clone of the Gesen bow). And the pit fiend goes invisible...
Hexxat tries to detect illusions, but it's not fast enough. The pit fiend lands a stealth attack on her, then focuses on her as she runs. Shift focus, everybody...
And there goes the pit fiend. The most dangerous enemy in the room, and one of the most dangerous in the whole area because of the null magic. The remaining velithuu doesn't last long after that.
After a bit of regeneration time, I head east to the wild magic quasits. Because that's the sort of annoying I just want done with as soon as possible.
Many wild surges ensue, and they're mostly harmless. Of course, the quasits constantly go invisible to prolong their lives. Then there's one surge...
A no-save, no-MR slowing effect, #12 on the table. Ten rounds of slow with no secondary effects, and only outright immunity to the slow effect can protect you. There's also another Slow effect on the wild surge table at #64; that one's just like a normal Slow spell but not party-friendly, lasting 7.5 rounds.
There are also some nicer surges mixed in, like the double hit points on Korgan or the earlier globe on Dorn.
More surges follow. Hostile squirrels get summoned, and then one spell actually gets cast successfully.
A Charm Person. Which would be harmless, but it rolled the "no save" modifier. That's Edwin out of things for a few rounds.
And finally, it ends. We didn't get hit with any long-term harm, at least.
Dorn earns level 24 here, taking long sword specialization and Power Attack. I take the time to regenerate fully before moving on.
Our next target is to the south - the succubus and her minions.
No deal. She goes down almost immediately, though there are a lot of charm spells going around. I get the Shield of Harmony out for Anomen, while the rest of the party trust in their saving throws.
The alu-fiends aren't too bad; they're mostly just melee fighters, and we're more than a match for them. One does manage to escape with a Dimension Door.
The next room to the south holds Ka'rashur. Which means we're going to prepare for a big fight.
Lots of buffs here, including Haste for the party, DUHM for the divine casters, and even Physical Mirror.
Multiple strength-25 hasted warriors makes for some very fast killing. The first cornugon goes down practically instantly, and we're not doing much micromanagement at all.
All right, we still haven't killed the boss. But we've taken down a lot of minions, and we'll get there soon. Then an imp gets smart, and casts a Breach at Anomen. But that only takes out his defensive spells; the haste and DUHM remain so he's still an offensive juggernaut.
And there it is. Victory. Aside from an imp still hiding somewhere. Their infinite invisibility really isn't a fun mechanic. I can dispel it all I want, but it gets instantly reapplied every time; only letting them attack gives you a chance to strike back.
Also, when looking through that imp script - how did it choose to target Anomen with that Breach? A specific buff it wanted to get rid of? Nope. Nearest enemy.
Rather than letting our haste wear off and induce fatigue, I head back to a null magic zone to dispel it. We have to pass through one on the way to Tahazzar anyway. Edwin also takes his level, reaching 23 and picking up an extra level 6 spell slot.
Back with Tahazzar, we complete the deal.
And then, since they haven't escaped, we send them back to the Abyss the hard way.
Dorn critically misse that swing, but Hexxat's two spike traps connect. Tahazzar is dead. That just leaves the minions. And despite far less buffing, they go down quickly.
Those spiders were summoned by the yochlol, by the way. Theming. And while the quasits here constantly reapply invisibility, the fallen planetar can just see through it and hunt them down.
The planetar heals us up, and we move on.
Back where we defeated Ka'rashur, the next step is south to the glabrezu summoners.
One summon per round, until the summoner is dead or the cap of five summons is reached. And I'm used to the much more hectic SCS version which triples the number of summoners.
Also, those Incendiary Cloud/Horrid Wilting visuals? Pure visual effects, with no actual presence. But they linger, and stack, which makes for a very messy battlefield.
We killed five fire summons, four ice summons, and the two summoners.
Our next target is to the west - a party of tieflings in a wild magic room.
The mage goes down before she can do anything. But the warriors are threats too, using Whirlwind Attack. We use Hardiness in response.
We turn our attention to the warriors, and to the thief when she's visible. She causes quite a bit of pain, delivering multiple backstabs. At 6x, and she's specialized in both short swords and small swords.
Still, she's down. Only one warrior and the dog remain. The Hardiness paid off - that's all physical damage on Dorn and Korgan.
Then Korgan gets the last two kills.
And that's our first taste of enemy HLAs. It's only right to counter with our own. A Slow would probably have been better, but the wild magic stopped me.
Incidentally, this bunch also have inflated APR; the warriors have 4 base APR and the thief has 5/2. Which, for those dual-wielding fighters with grand mastery, means 5 final APR instead of 4. They also have both BG2-style proficiencies and BG1-style proficiencies; I'm not sure how those stack.
It's also an easy fight to avoid. The path forward is the north portal you came in through, so you can just keep going if you don't want to deal with them.
Next up, after a regeneration break, it's a cambion and demon knights.
Oh, come on. Repeatedly using potions? Grr.
It starts with three potions of invisibility. It drank all three of them. And I don't think it even hit us. Though it wouldn't have been much damage, because this level 20 thief wields a bastard sword and thus can't backstab. The chip damage on the party is from demon knight fireballs, which aren't very scary by now with all the resistance this party has.
Anomen reaches level 29 with this battle, taking Elemental Summoning. No more HLAs for him.
And now, the Demon Wraith. Edwin has a Spell Trigger ready for this.
What's in that Spell Trigger? Pierce Magic, Pierce Magic, Lower Resistance. Say goodbye to your magic resistance and spell defenses.
Then Viconia follows up with a Finger of Death.
It saved. Barely. Unfortunately, one of the slave wraiths got to Edwin with a level-draining hit. Level drain blocks any extra spell slots from equipment, so Edwin loses the benefit of his amulet. Ouch.
Well, he still has a few spells.
Horrid Wilting thins the enemies out; the slave wraiths only have 50% MR, so two of them take big damage. And the demon wraith is near death...
Absorb Health. Undead are immune to it, but not demons. And the enemies in this room are all demons, not undead. Also, there's 30 points of leeway; Absorb Health at level 24 deals up to 48 damage, but is limited by the enemy's actual HP.
The remaining slave wraiths dissipate, granting half as much XP as if we'd killed them in combat. But I'm fine with that.
In the interest of continuing without needing a rest just yet, I have Hexxat use a restoration scroll on Edwin.
Immunity to fatigue comes in handy sometimes.
On to Aesgareth, then.
We talk, and then I realize something. My party doesn't have any instances of Remove Curse memorized. I guess we're resting anyway.
After that, we're back. And we're going to shamelessly save-scum our way through all interactions with the Deck of Many Things.
First draw, Spectral Brand versus experience. Lose. Lose. Win on the third try.
Strife for Dorn, Triumph for Aesgareth. Dorn is cursed with Slow.
Also, that's a bunch of experience. Level 30 for Viconia. Level 32 for Hexxat, with two-weapon style, extra Pick Pockets and Open Locks, and a fourth Spike Trap. She now has 100 OL, 100 FT, and 180 PP even in daylight. While the Mercykiller ring and the gloves of pickpocketing still have their uses for looting merchants or setting traps in daylight, thieving potions are now basically obsolete.
Hexxat claims Spectral Brand, and will use it when Celestial Fury's stun isn't useful.
In the second draw (Wish against vitality), I win on the first try.
Strength for Dorn, Defiance for Aesgareth. This curse cripples Dorn's strength, so he can't even move in his armor.
In the third round, it's impossible to win. So I won't save-scum this one. Whichever curse Dorn gets, he'll take it.
And it's High Priestess, silencing him. The other option is Strife, repeating the slowing curse.
Aesgareth draws the Wheel, and wins. Dorn is a sore loser.
The fight is on.
I set some traps ... but they only hit the Fell Cat, for not very much damage. Anomen fails to cast his Remove Curse spell. And Hexxat fails to backstab the archer.
Now that just didn't make sense. This entire group is immune to backstabs for no good reason. Regular humanoids should not have that unless it's a class/kit feature.
Of course, that doesn't stop them from using backstabs. They have a thief trying to do just that.
So I get out the big spells.
Horrid Wilting. The thief is dead, and the rest are injured. But Dorn is near death ... Viconia's Remove Curse spell lands. And just in time for him to run.
More enemies fall, and I note the mage is pretty low in hit points ...
Excellent. The Ring of Energy does its job once more. We should win easily from here.
And we do. Well, OK, the fell cat is still alive. But it's stunned, so that isn't going to last.
For some reason, Aesgareth threw a whole bunch of spells at Dorn to break through spell defenses he didn't have. Looking it up ... it's a "HasImmunityEffects" check. Which is really just dumb scripting. That check is so broad that I don't think there's any good use for it.
Korgan reaches level 28 - he had the experience for it before the battle. actually - and takes a third Greater Whirlwind.
Now, to abuse the Deck ourselves. I know what I want on the second draw, which also determines the first. For the third draw, I'll leave it up to chance from among the permanent good choices.
First draw ... Gem. Flames. Flames. Ruin. Euryale, Flames. Ruin. Euryale. Euryale. Euryale. Flames. Donjon.
I swapped the cloak of displacement and periapt of life protection to Dorn. Save vs death -7 instead of his usual -3. Donjon is a -8 modifier. The boost was enough for absolute safety, and he needed it.
On to the second draw.
And I get it on the first try. 21 strength for Dorn.
The third draw.
Ten permanent hit points. Good enough for me.
I draw one more time.
So long to the Deck.
Another level of Watcher's Keep is complete. Next time, we continue delving into the dungeon.
Passing through the portal to the next level, the first thing we find is a madman.
After a brief chat, he gets bored and summons trouble.
Fortunately, we prepared in advance. Anomen has Chaotic Commands active, and the whole party is under Protection from Evil. They don't land anything on us.
A flawless victory. The way I've built the party's defenses, mind flayers are barely a threat at all.
We head toward the mind flayers' area on this level next - though there's some trouble on the way.
Devil Shades. Very nasty, unless you have as much level drain protection as this party does. The horde of shadow fiends with them are barely worth mentioning.
Sure, we took a few hits. But it's just damage. And we'll regenerate it pretty soon.
The first room in the new section is mostly full of umber hulks.
Which actually makes it pretty dangerous. Not from the confusion, but because umber hulks hit hard in melee. But then, so do we. It's wrapped up in a few rounds, and then we pause to regenerate and wait out Korgan's winded state.
The second room brings more hulks, and an ulitharid. I take this one with some tactics, drawing the enemies out into a prepared killing zone while also picking off the leader with backstabs.
There just isn't enough room for them to bunch up and cause real trouble. Also, that second backstab on the ulitharid panics it, completely nullifying any threat it may have posed.
Off to the side of this new room, we find the one encounter in here that's not a fight.
Carston's apprentice. Dorn's threats fall on deaf ears; the man just wants to die, and there's nothing you can do to threaten someone in that state.
But while he won't talk about how to free Carston, he did put it in writing. And here I thought illithids were supposed to be intelligent. Can they not read human languages? Are they so arrogant that they don't bother learning them?
(All living illithids in the game, aside from one cutscene chump, have 18 Int. Vampiric Illithids, including the Magical Item Merchant in Dennaton's arena, have 3 Int.)
That brings us to the southernmost room, with two more mind flayers and another ulitharid - this one holding a key item.
A backstab, a couple of hits from other party members, and then a second backstab. Minimum damage is just enough to finish it. No more ulitharid, and the mind flayers don't last long after that.
That level is Dorn's 25th; he chooses Critical Strike.
After clearing out a side room (umber hulks) for the other half of the key, we reach the final room.
A new variant. Vampiric illithids have slightly better THAC0 than regular illithids and do more damage with their bites, but don't drain intelligence. And we're not afraid of level drain. This pair die easily, and we lay claim to the first of the colored oils.
We now head straight over toward the githyanki encampment. They're all hostile as well, of course. And just to add insult to injury, Dorn gets out his silver sword to duel the first anti-paladin.
It's not much of a duel. He basically just stands there and takes it until he dies. Well, OK, he tries to cast a spell and fails.
The reward is a shiny new sword for evil paladins - a Beamdog addition, basically made for him. Dorn makes use of it right away.
There's another anti-paladin in the second room. This one doesn't have a legendary sword, but he's better prepared. Aura of Despair is a bit annoying. Also, all those warriors used their invisibility potions; Hexxat dispelled the illusion.
We wait for the aura to expire, and move on to the third room.
This one lets us get off a proper sneak attack. One warrior dead. Then Hexxat retreats, as the survivors waste their spells (Haste and Psionic Blast) targeting her. And she does it again to kill the second warrior. The gish throws a lightning bolt at her this time for a bit of damage, but at this point we just send in the party to finish things.
Also, a banter drops.
Despite its content, this conversation doesn't check Anomen's status. It feels like a "fallen Anomen" conversation, but it could happen to Sir Anomen just as well. And Korgan would probably enjoy it if they came to blows.
On to the final room. We open the door, and ...
... the gish immediately casts Haste targeting Dorn. Where it will do absolutely nothing.
Looking up the script, here's what's going on. The conditions for casting that spell are as follows:
(1) Local variable "prepspells" is zero.
(2) See an ally.
(3) Ally isn't hasted.
(4) See an enemy.
Then the gish casts the spell, targeting whoever was seen last. Which, by the script ordering, is always the enemy. Oops. If those conditions were re-ordered to put the ally parts after the enemy part, the spell would target the ally as is probably intended.
Anyway, I notice that the enemies here are bunched up. And that means ...
... they get a Skull Trap. It's a brutally powerful spell, killing four enemies and leaving only the two anti-paladins that saved alive.
Finally, there's the Captain.
He used Hardiness. It didn't help.
Dorn claims Angurvadal, switching back to dual-wielding mode. Because two flaming swords are better than one.
Our bags of holding are now full. It's time for a trip to the surface to sell some things ... after a couple of optional bosses, anyway.
First, the demilich. I prepare much like I did for Kangaxx, only this time the clerics have SotA. And everyone has protection from the howl, either through guaranteed saves or death magic protection.
Ah. That's a complication - Protection From Energy for 75% resistance to fire and magic damage. Dorn switches back to his new sword to dispel that, even if it does less damage than Daystar.
Korgan gets targeted for imprisonment, but he's immune. And then a dispel lands, so Dorn switches back to Daystar.
Offensive actions taken by the demilich:
- One Demilich Howl. No effect, as everyone was protected.
- One Trap the Soul. No effect, as it targeted a raging berserker.
- One melee attack. Ten damage on Korgan, and he saved against the secondary paralysis effect.
Also, see that hit from Anomen? The demilich didn't save, but this one has immunity to "Kill Target" so the Mace of Disruption can't instantly kill it.
Next, Saladrex. We add more buffs for this fight, and cast them before entering the room because the dragon's script considers quite a few spells to be hostile actions.
Edwin's the weak link here, with no fear protection and no fire protection. The abjuration immunity he still has up prevents us from adding any of that. I'll try to have him stay back, though I also have him prepare a Pierce/Lower/Breach spell trigger to tear down defenses.
After talking a bit, I perform one of those hostile actions to start things.
One spike trap. It deals 73 damage, and we add another 81 before his defenses go up; that's more than half of the dragon's hit points eliminated already.
And now the buffs are up. Dorn switches to his Unholy Reaver to try to dispel that haste, though the planetar has a decent shot as well with my mod's improved level 25 dispels on its weapon.
Saladrex tries to lower the planetar's fire resistance. Failed. A wing buffet pushes us away. And then the dragon gets smart, targeting Edwin with its breath. Run.
Spell Ineffective. Which, actually, applies to both the cosmetic half and the damage half. The cosmetic part of red dragon breath is of MAGICATTACK type, and Edwin has a Spell Shield up to block that. The damage part is of OFFENSIVEDAMAGE type, and Edwin has the Cloak of Mirroring for that. This one's changing in the fixpack; spell protections really shouldn't help against dragon breath. Dragon breath spells will be level zero and untyped, so only saves and elemental resistances help against them.
And then, it's over.
Korgan delivers the final blow. No party members dropped below the green. And Hexxat claims the Staff of the Ram for her backstabs; it's a minimum of 68 damage, after all.
Back in the central area of this floor, there are a lot of trivial monsters like yuan-ti and trolls. Plus a lot of chests, with a lot of nonmagical weapons and copies of that appendix to Elminster's Ecologies. Are you feeling the foreshadowing yet?
Ah, there they are. Magic golems.
They hit hard, and their attacks drain item charges. But they're very vulnerable in melee, and easy to beat down.
Then come the other rare monsters - mimics.
We didn't even get close before this bunch activated. And once again, Hexxat fails her save but is immune to the paralysis.
After a few more trivial monsters, we're ready for the torch puzzle.
The solution is literally painted on the ground in this area. Not something you need to memorize or look up. Anomen takes level 30, and we enter the final room.
The fight here is against Rock, Garock, and some mooks. Battle is joined, and Rock activates a Greater Whirlwind. I try a Slow - Rock saves, though Garock doesn't. Nothing left to do but run.
Rock and Garock are dangerous. They're effectively epic warriors, with HLAs. And they're immune to backstabs for no good reason, plus they start with undispellable haste. Still, we have a full party here. Lots of room to delay while picking off weaker targets.
And that's Garock down. Along with most of the salamanders. Anomen has been running from Rock for a while now, certainly long enough to expire the GWW - time to engage.
And so we win. Though not without more pain. Korgan even drank a healing potion there for safety. And the Axe of the Unyielding is his new off-hand weapon, with its passive AC and regeneration bonuses.
Now we loot the chest and return to the machine. It's finally time to deal with Carston.
He doesn't know anything? He dies.
Just before his defenses go up, Hexxat's blow lands and knocks him unconscious. We beat down the Mislead clone, then turn to the helpless mage. He manages to get up before we can put him down, but doesn't manage any offensive spells.
Killing Carston is worth less XP than letting him go, but this is an evil party. And now, with the machine freed up, Dorn can use it for himself. Well, OK, he'll hand Storm Star to Anomen. But all of the stat boosts go to Dorn.
The green on his Con score is from the girdle of fortitude; his base Con is now 16.
Finally, we enter the last combination for the portal down. This one adds a bunch of experience, bringing level 31 for Viconia and level 33 for Hexxat. She boosts Set Traps and stealth, while taking a fifth Spike Trap.
Next time, we take on the final seals in this dungeon prison.
The next level is small. Just a central hub area in bare stone, and a few side areas for challenges. But it's not empty. We open the door to the northwest, and find...
Spiders. They get a few hits in - two on Dorn, one on Anomen, one on Hexxat. Between poison immunity and excellent saves, all that does is a bit of physical damage. Even though mutated spider poison has a rather tough modifier; Dorn saved against the first bite with a modified -2.
Then we open more doors. The southern door has only a friendly ghost, while the northeast has golems.
An advanced group. Two ice golems, two iron golems, and a sand golem. Hexxat falls back to plan her sneak attack.
Which she borrows a weapon for. Crom Faeyr executes the sand golem in a single blow. And now she retreats, handing the weapon back to Korgan. That leaves four golems fighting the party ...
Dorn takes some heavy hits, and pops a Hardiness to last longer. But that's one ice golem down. Now, Dorn, back up a bit so you don't get targeted more. The fight turns rapidly in our favor.
Dorn drank a potion there so he could re-engage safely. And Korgan is the tank with Hardiness now. That last iron golem goes down quickly enough, earning level 24 for Edwin. He takes Extra Level 7 Spell and also gets a natural level 7 slot. No proficiencies are available, though. Also, Edwin now has over 100 lore; we'll never need the glasses of identification again.
With the random monsters out of the way, it's time for the challenges. First, the globe machine. I start with red.
Red brings monsters with some level of social organization. The initial hobgoblins are trivial, of course.
The second globe summons kuo-toa; sadly, Hexxat isn't in the right orientation to get a backstab on them.
The third globe brings trolls.
Easy enough, especially with Korgan wielding his instant-kill weapon in his main hand.
And fourth, greater wolfweres.
I've figured out the backstab spot. At least when four enemies get summoned. Not that I really need it against this level of threat; our warriors have more than enough power to slaughter them.
Next, I start on purple.
Purple is undead, starting with skeleton warriors. And Hexxat needed two hits on hers, since her backstab wasn't quite lethal.
The next two purple groups are level-drainers, so we'll skip them for now. Instead, we move on to green.
Green is for monsters of a more pure sort. Spiders first, then umber hulks with that second globe.
And earth elementals third. The fourth globe will require a bit more preparation.
So, then, I take on the last of the threats that I don't need to prepare for - blue.
Blue is mages; one each time. Hit first, hit hard, and don't let them act.
The backstab alone does it for the second mage. Korgan levels up to 29 here, taking a fourth GWW.
The third mage manages to survive the initial onslaught and get defenses up.
She still doesn't manage any offensive spells, mind you. Hexxat sends her skidding across he room first, and we break down her combat defenses before she can finish her necromancy spell.
And the fourth mage goes a step farther in her defenses, with an Improved Mantle.
Dorn tries for a dispel with his blackguard sword here, but it doesn't matter.
By the time we clear out her illusion defenses, her stoneskin is exhausted as well. And we had plenty of +4 and +5 weapons to just attack over the mantle anyway.
Now, back to the colors I put off. Korgan rages, Anomen switches to the Mace of Disruption, and I hit purple again.
This one's devil shades. Which summon additional shadow fiends, so it takes some time to clean up. Dorn gets hit a few times, and the damage is enough to drop him into the yellow.
Third in the purple series - vampires.
We take a few hits, but nothing too bad.
The last two fights aren't strictly required; we have all the special globes we need. But I'll still face them anyway. Hexxat places all seven of her normal snares, and activates green one last time. Also, quicksave in case this goes wrong.
The Elder Orb and Hive Mother die instantly, though it took all seven to do enough damage to Mom. Only the poison-immune Death Tyrant survives, and it's fundamentally just a beholder.
That death tyrant gets off two rays, both fear. No effect, as Anomen and Korgan saved easily.
For the last purple globe, Hexxat uses her spike traps. Two in one spot, two in another.
Done. Two dead liches.
We place the four inert globes in their receptacles, and receive the Mind Key. Now, to use it.
This one brings the Rilmani. They hit hard, especially the leader with his copy of the Staff of the Ram. And if you let him...
Time Stop. Over the course of that stopped time, he focuses on Korgan with three melee hits, a Symbol: Fear, and five point-blank Cones of Cold. The aura timer is apparently not a concern for these fiends.
Well, at least Korgan can be raised. And I'm doing that right now.
I used Mass Raise Dead, with its very quick casting time.
My mod has a component that allows resurrection spells to heal the living. Mass Raise Dead was bugged to apply its healing multiple times in 2.5; I didn't restore that behavior. I also didn't install the component, so that's no healing for any other party members. Not that they needed it.
All right. Now it's time for the Aurumach to die. Dorn uses GWW in two-handed mode to beat him down, switching from the Unholy Reaver to Soul Reaver once a dispelling hit lands. Meanwhile, Edwin casts PFMW to tank, as the enemy seems to be fixated on him specifically.
And there. Done. Well, OK, we still have a couple ferrumachs to kill. They only take a moment, though. The Club of Detonation is ours, not that this party has any use for it.
After some regeneration time, we move on to the next challenge - a horde of orcs.
I'm not going for a "how many can I kill" challenge, so I'll just focus on taking down the dangerous ones for an easy fight. This encounter is on a strict timer; you don't actually need to kill anything.
Oops. I thought that was a Horrid Wilting. We'll have to avoid that area now. Also, my target prioritization was underrating the melee warriors; they're level 11 pseudo-fighters with grand mastery and 18/10 strength. Which adds up, when you don't have normal weapon immunity to ignore them and killing them doesn't reduce their numbers.
Still, we get through this without any deaths.
Viconia got dangerously low and drank a potion at one point. Other than that, no healing resources were needed.
Based on the equipment they dropped (I counted 11 bows, 11 helmets, 32 leathers, 20 swords, and 4 maces), I killed about 35 or 36 orcs in the ten rounds of that challenge.
After clearing up some space in our very full bags, we're on to the green dragon that is the next challenge. All right, time for some breath protection ... Dorn puts Albruin in his off hand, Edwin relies on the Cloak of Mirroring, Anomen has the ring of Gaxx, Korgan gets out the poison immunity amulet, Hexxat is permanently immune, and Viconia turns into a mustard jelly. We now have no fear of that 24d6+12 (save for half) poison damage breath weapon.
Viconia also cast a Holy Power before transforming, so she'll have strength 19 in jelly form.
But this plan has a flaw. Anomen fails his save against dragon fear, neither Dorn nor Edwin have the relevant spell memorized, and Viconia can't cast right now. We can't snap him out of it, and just have to try to win fast enough.
Then, just to make things worse...
Insects. Though at least the dragon version doesn't inflict fear; we just have to worry about the damage and casting failure.
Also - Korgan, stop lollygagging around and get back in the fight. We're taking a lot of damage here, and we need everyone to contribute. More melee hits on Anomen and Dorn ...
... but the dragon is down. Now, can we save Anomen from the lingering insect damage?
No. But that's not too bad. All the XP came in already, and Viconia has a Raise Dead memorized.
That's level 34 for Hexxat; she takes more stealth and a sixth Spike Trap. She's got enough skill to hide in broad daylight reliably, but there aren't any other skills left to invest in. She also joins Edwin in the 100 lore club.
Dorn takes level 26, adding Smite to his repertoire.
Incidentally, the dragon never used its breath weapon. Not out of any sensible check for poison resistance, but just because we always had someone close in. It only attacks with breath when no enemies are nearby.
The next challenge is noncombat, so I take it on immediately.
Just a riddle and a game, from an easily solved family. Easy math.
That's level 32 for Viconia; she takes two-weapon style. There are no more proficiencies left for her.
Also, well after intentionally returning to natural form, Viconia has a forced de-transformation.
That will go away in the fixpack, as part of the general overhaul of shapeshifting. You should only be forced back into normal form after a limited-duration shift if you're still in the shifted form.
We now have the Heart Key, though I'll wait to use it. Instead, it's time for the spirit warrior.
I played it risky. But I succeeded on the first try. And the party got plenty of regeneration in.
That gives us the spirit key, which we will use next. I prepare for this fight by setting a spike trap and casting Protection from Magical Energy on Anomen. Also, turning the key grants enough experience for Korgan to reach level 30; he takes flail proficiency (because why not?) and a third Hardiness.
And here's my strategy. Anomen runs around immune to fire and magic damage, and uses Turn Undead to take out the skulls. One down already. Meanwhile, the party takes on Azamantes, who is tough enough to survive one spike trap.
Edwin's no help right now because of fear, but those protections on the lich don't include PFMW. Dorn has a sword for that.
And that's Azamantes down. Anomen just has one last skull to pop before we're done.
The Erinne Sling goes into immediate use; now both clerics have +4 slings.
For this floor's final fight, I use my remaining buffs; I haven't rested since the previous floor. And Dorn gets out the Shield of Balduran, to face-tank the Hive Mother. Plus Edwin sets a Skull Trap at the spot where the least magic-resistant enemy will spawn, and I get out some higher-grade cheese.
That's a simulacrum (Vhailor's helm) drinking a cloned potion of insight and using a cloned Wish scroll. Improved Haste for everybody is a nice boost.
There are some MR notices - that's the protection from basic haste being resisted. Something to fix, but not a big deal.
Also, on that simulacrum, note the buttons available. Yes to hiding and searching for traps, no to "thieving". Unmodded 2.6 has it the other way around for clones. That's a component of my mod, and will also be in the fixpack. Though I don't think the fixpack version will allow sequencers and contingencies on clones like I did.
All right, now I can hit the button.
The six demonic women. Well, mostly demonic; the hive mother is a beholder instead.
On arrival, the Skull Trap hits two of them. Nice; I was only planning on one.
Most of our party is on the right, so those enemies are the first targets. The Huntress is first to fall, followed by the drow/yochlol Ameralis. (She has the elf race, but also a demon immunity item.)
Meanwhile, Dorn is the focus of too much attention, so he's been evading.
The bulk of the party turns their attention to the last warrior Xei Win Toh, and a crit from Korgan finishes here. That just leaves the Hive Mother, the marilith Y'tossi, and the succubus Nalmissra. The latter two both have PFMW up. Edwin spends his lone Breach on the marilith, and I get out a wand of spell striking for the succubus.
As for the Hive Mother? Dorn is doing his best to keep its attention. Including smiting it to where it can't even see anyone else.
That makes things a lot simpler. Though it wasn't enough to stop a more conventional spell, which she started to cast before getting pushed.
Finger of Death. Which uses spell saves, so Anomen's vulnerable. Except that he has Shield of the Archons up, and I throw on the Cloak of Mirroring for good measure. Spell Ineffective.
Then the wand breach lands on Nalmissra.
Just one enemy left. I give Korgan the Cloak of Mirroring so he can join in the fun. And add some Whirlwind Attacks to make it go faster.
It's over.
This fight drops three items of note. The Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization are great; Dorn takes them and passes his old set of regular specialization gauntlets down to Hexxat. Taralash is a longbow - enough said. And then there's a scroll of Wish. We already had one, but a second is nice for scroll-casting shenanigans.
We took two deaths, well within our daily recovery capability. This is a rather tough area, after all. I don't expect more deaths for a while.
We have gone as far as we plan to in Watcher's Keep. Only the Imprisoned one itself remains, and that is something we'll come back to in ToB. Next time, we return to take on the remaining character quests and some bits and bobs.
Back in Athkatla, we have some more high-level content to deal with - the Twisted Rune. As they're definitely going to be the day's toughest fight, I apply considerable buffs.
Plus some traps; in addition to the spike traps where the party is standing, I add a couple of skull traps aimed at the beholder Vaxall's spawn point.
Then, when I activate the encounter, Dorn sets the spike traps off prematurely. Oops. At least he doesn't get hit by them. And the entrance spike traps do their job.
That's Shangalar taken care of. Vaxall is the next target, with Dorn and Korgan focusing on him while the others try to hide.
The hiding ... doesn't work. Edwin gets targeted by the rays. But they're all spell save rays, and they're reflected by his Spell Turning anyway.
Two down. Now the whole party can act. Hexxat has also contributed to the fight, whacking useless fighter Revanek across the room with a 103-point backstab. Shyressa is the next target.
Some conventional beatdown, and a backstab to finish her. There's just one real threat left. A high level mage. And what happens when you give a mage like that time to act without being attacked?
A Time Stop. Into Meteor Swarm and Gate. Rather underwhelming for three ninth-level spells, really; our party is all protected from evil, so Revanek is the only one the fiend can attack. And between magic resistance and fire resistance, the meteor swarm isn't very scary. Viconia casts a True Sight to deal with Layene's illusion defenses, and our melee engages. Plus Edwin casts evocation immunity so he can ignore the meteors and get into the action.
Layene, for her next spell, targets her own pit fiend with a Horrid Wilting. Well, at least she hit Korgan for some collateral damage. Then Dorn lands a dispelling hit on her, and it's all she wrote.
A non-backstab crit deals the final blow. The pit fiend follows soon after, and the battle is won. The Staff of the Magi is ours, usable by Edwin (in the conventional way) and Hexxat (for invisibility shenanigans and the on-hit dispel).
Oh, right, I didn't mention what happened to Revanek. For that matter, I didn't even write it down. He's a fighter with no equipment - does it even matter? Whatever his end was, he didn't cause any harm.
Two characters level in the fight; Anomen to level 32 (grand mastery in slings) and Edwin to level 25 (Extra Level 8 Spell, an additional level 8 spell slot).
Next up, we return to Dorn's keep. And there's some business to take care of.
Execute the scammers! Then put out a collection to pay off the debts, because I can't have my subjects owing anyone else.
The next step is a character quest. It's time to go visit Neera. And send Edwin away for the duration, because the two of them really don't get along.
Despite those comments, we're bringing her along. She is needed for most of this, after all. We just won't have her cast too many spells.
The first encounter ... well, there's no need to talk when you can just dispel the illusion.
The next encounter is an actual fight. A pack of hobgoblins, with a shaman to cast spells...
He surges into a fireball. I really should have set that wild surge up properly. But it's not too bad. We have plenty of resistance and toughness, and it's not a very big fireball.
Also of note, the area has been upgraded with Black Pits combat music. That randomizer is my favorite component for how it improves the overall experience.
More little fights ensure, along with disarming some traps. A spider, some gnolls - no problem. For a more notable encounter, we have events around a polymorph trap we just disarmed...
A bit weird, there. But very little threat. These are at least a little better than basic ogres; they're barbarians, and one gets a hit in on Hexxat.
More ogres follow...
The catch here is that these come with an invisible ogre mage.
It gets one spell in, blinding itself with a wild surge, before becoming visible and dying.
After some more wildlife - did that panther really need a 180-point critical backstab? - we come to a group of kobolds. First, sneak in to disarm the trap. Second, apply an invisibility potion and sneak attack the two spellcasters.
Those weren't backstabs. But kobolds are exceptionally squishy, so it didn't matter. The remaining kobolds fall trivially.
And now, something we haven't seen in this area ... an enemy that can survive a SotR backstab.
Well, she had a 50% chance of killing it on a normal hit. Or 83% at night; it has 83 HP. But she rolled the minimum, and it lived. Until the next hit, anyway.
The snake is easily ignored.
But we don't. Why pass up the chance to kill something?
Before long, we reach the bridge.
Neera's partly invisible there. It's polygon weirdness, but I don't mind too much; it makes in-world sense as an imperfect illusion.
There's also a visible seam in the area art. While pretty, this area could use a going-over.
Now, we're at the actual wild mage camp. We start with an introduction.
All right. Neera is officially more perceptive than Anomen. That's an alignment check, by the way.
On with the errands, then. After a rest, anyway - Viconia tires easily. Neera learns a few new spells, and the scroll XP pushes Hexxat to level 35. She now has 180/180 stealth even with the Cloak of Dragomir on, for a 90% chance to hide in broad daylight. And I didn't write down what her new HLA was ... eh, no big deal. Just assume she's got some of everything by now.
One of the mini-quests features Reginald.
He can swing. Untrained fists are no threat to a warrior in full plate. And Dorn has enough restraint to not retaliate with live steel. Korgan probably would swing back with his hammer and axe.
What's with the third person there, Dorn?
While I'm doing this, a three-way banter drops.
I'm with Viconia here. Dorn should really put more detail into his stories. Though I suppose that's a ready-made excuse if I ever decide to get lazy with the writing.
The last errand in the camp is to bring back Kirik. And I tell him to give up wild magic for now.
The shield is the reason. It's really very good, granting 1/day Spell Turning, 5% magic resistance for the user, and even 10% elemental resistance. Viconia equips it for the standing 100% MR, though she'll let others borrow it for the Spell Turning as necessary.
Finally, some errands require us to leave the camp. Beer from Trademeet, a hairband in Athkatla ... and finding a bear. That one requires us to take up Rasaad's quest. So after acquiring the beer, I send Neera away in favor of Rasaad. Then in Athkatla, I dump Korgan (without letting him get his leaving dialogue in) and pick up Edwin. All this running around leads to a random encounter...
So Rasaad shows his stuff. Kind of weird that Mirror Image absorbs that AoE spell. And since it's not party friendly, I had the others back off.
The bandits go down easily after that, of course. And then we reach the city gates.
It's on.
After a rest, we're off to the amphitheater. Hexxat disarms some traps, Rasaad drinks a strength potion (22), and we meet Geld Quickblade for the second time.
He drank an invisibility potion. It didn't help. And now, we have some wolves to kill.
Do you mind? This really isn't a good time. ... Oh, all right, we'll be there in a few days for whatever emergency this is.
Some angry animals attack:
Backstab. Backstab. Done.
We introduce ourselves to the monks, but there's something to take care of to the south first.
Arguing over treasure? Of course Dorn wants it all for himself. And his party. The fight is on.
Edwin goes for a Horrid Wilting first, though the shadowdancer Cless steps out of time and the priest Jaden throws a lightning bolt first.
That's one down. And the delay ended Hexxat's stealth, so she doesn't get a backstab in. But Jaden's bolt doubles reflecting off Anomen, and that finishes off the mage Aldun. Soon, only Jaden is left.
Death Ward is a nice spell. But it doesn't protect you from death by simple beatdown.
Back with the monks, we get to talking. And Viconia has a lot to say here.
Go through with this? You can't recognize when someone is just playing along, Viconia? We're just giving these fools enough rope to hang themselves.
Then the main event - Hammerhelm.
A long conversation. Which can be done peacefully, but I usually have it end in a fight, and this is no exception. Even though it isn't my usual dialogue choices.
Viconia's interactions with Rasaad's quests are a treat. There are limits to how much she'll tolerate, but before that point she's fantastic to have along.
As for the fight - it's not hard.
Most of the party vastly outlevels them, after all. The most dangerous foe here is probably the door guard, who has enough levels to use Quivering Palm. I hit him with a 90-point backstab - problem solved.
Viconia reaches level 33 with this fight, gaining absolutely nothing of interest.
And I'll end this part here, as combining the two character quests is a bit too much for one post. Next time, we finish up Rasaad and Neera's quests.
Act Two, Part 30: One Monk, Two Ring. Red Mage, Blue Elf.
Leaving the amphitheater, to approach the Twofold temple, brings trouble. Selunites have tracked down Rasaad, and bring ill news.
I've always resolved this peacefully before, but with the evil party I chose some more aggressive responses. This is the result; Sixscar attacks, though not with support. It's a charisma check, actually. If player 1 has 14 or less charisma with those dialogue choices, they all go hostile. At 15 to 17, Sahana joins Sixscar in her attack. At 18 or more, only Sixscar causes trouble.
The fight itself is trivial, and we are soon talking again.
No free cloak with this path. Instead, Sixscar drops the unique "Hawksight" scimitar. It's a +2 scimitar with an additional +1 dexterity. That would be a nice option for late BG1, but it's worthless here with all the epic gear we've accumulated.
We arrive at the temple just before dawn. An auspicious time. And after missing an encounter on the way in - the monk just isn't there - we cross the bridge. I note that Dorn's armor is glowing for some reason; on investigation, that's an equip effect of Angurvadal (both versions). A glow effect applied to the wrong part of the character model. Oops. More fixpack fodder, then.
On the other side, we find the bear we were looking for.
A few threats, and we have what we wanted. Wilson is free, so we'll be able to take him to Zaviak. But first, we have a cult to deal with.
On the east side of the temple, Lemzenn gets angry at our questioning.
Splat. Really, what was he thinking picking a fight with us?
And now, we talk our way in. Or rather, Rasaad parrots the heresy and we are granted entry.
Viconia doesn't appreciate it, though she seems more bemused than angry.
Inside, Collus finally shows up.
There are opportunities for more Viconia interjections, but I just went with what felt right. Particularly the last line. Watching Rasaad damn himself is just too good.
Now come the trials. Pain is endured, and I loot the side areas while Dorn regenerates. One nice touch: Collus' room has a copy of "History of the Sisters of Light and Darkness". Which is a vanilla book with no altered text, but it contains this passage: "Eventually this primordial essence coalesced into twin beautiful goddesses who were yin and yang to each other; they were so close they thought of themselves as one being." The book goes into the bitter conflict between Selune and Shar after that, but the Twofold would prefer to ignore that part. The Twofold position isn't just a plot hook; it's the sort of argument that feels plausible as a real heresy. And really, the only way to disprove it is for Selune and/or Shar to intervene directly.
Dorn continues the trials. Kill some invisible stalkers, then intimidate the "Truth".
What were our alternatives? Lie to it? Pick a fight? This was the best option.
Those gauntlets are nice enough, but Rasaad has better already. No real use right now. Of the items these trials provide, the Gem of Seeing is the most useful for us; only two party members can cast the spell naturally, and they have to take the full time.
One more trial, and then the Master of Combat returns.
Viconia has the right of it. We should leave. Now, before we have to fight the Sharrans. In fact, the conversation sets a ten-round timer; if we're not outside before that timer runs down, she leaves the party to go back to Athkatla.
Still, we put up a few buffs. We might not be quick enough to avoid trouble here.
Two rounds worth of buffing there, notably including Haste and Protection from Evil for the party.
There is only one door. We leave, and ...
Against all reason, Rasaad was right. It is Alorgoth, here with a Sharran strike force. And by coming from the temple, we have been branded as heretics as well. We have no choice but to fight alongside the Twofold.
Dorn uses the new gem of seeing right away. Two assassins are revealed immediately, and Hexxat takes on the duty of eliminating them. The first goes down to a backstab, and she turns to the second without re-entering stealth.
Meanwhile, Edwin failed to cast the Horridd Wilting I told him to for some reason. On to a Dragon's Breath instead.
That's better. The battle is won very quickly after that.
This isn't a high-level challenge, after all. It's a big and messy fight, but you can take on Rasaad's quest quite early. And we used an epic spell on it.
Then the end comes.
Rasaad leaves the party, to take over the Twofold sect. And rebuild it to worship Selune. Not what Viconia would have wanted, but there's a nice consolation prize.
As he leaves, Rasaad hands over all of his stuff. And clones any critical items he was carrying, giving us two copies of those. In this case, the Silver Sword and the Ring of Gaxx. This is, of course a bug. And the EE fixpack claims to have a fix for it.
For our last act in the area, we return to Wilson.
Sure, he can follow us around for a bit. We'll head over to Athkatla to swap Edwin for Korgan and drop off the stuff we've picked up.
Well, OK, I actually leave Wilson in the bar for a day, while the normal party returns to Dorn's keep.
It's expensive, but worth it. Not paying really craters your reputation with the keep's people. At 1000 gold per rep point, it's the same exchange rate as taxing them. Pay now, hold the option of recouping the monet later.
All right, now we can get back to Neera's quest. Reunite Wilson and his hippie. Provide Mironda her beer. Give Mereth her hairband.
Our fourth +2 protection item, there. Neera wears it for now.
All right, back to Athkatla for the blue elf Daxus.
He's hunted. But we set traps. The wizard and one of the mercenaries are out immediately. Neera takes some arrow damage in the fight with those that remain, but nothing too bad.
With this fight's experience, Dorn reaches level 27. He takes two-weapon mastery and his third Greater Whirlwind.
Upstairs, we just walk by Vittorio and the mercenaries. They'll get the gong back ... eventually.
Back at the refuge, it's a scene of devastation. Only Telana and the children are present to tell the story. Neera swears revenge.
Now that's a cause we can get behind. We're all on the same page here. And we know where to find the enemy. To the enclave! Well, after a rest, anyway.
The bouncer at the door is easy to handle.
Intimidate check successful.
Inside, Gul Dukeem sells some decent stuff. But it's expensive, Neera's the only one that would really benefit, and he can't be stolen from. Pass. The other merchants, though ... we take them for everything they've got.
On a side note, who's the Deep Space Nine fan at Beamdog? "Gul Dukeem" here is clearly a reference to recurring Cardassian villain "Dukat" from the show, who was usually referred to using his military rank of "Gul". And then there's the "tailor" merchant in the Black Pits, rakshasa Elan Garaq. He's a clear reference to Elim Garak, a Cardassian "tailor" who runs a shop on the station ... except when circumstances drag him back into the spy game.
Now that we've looted the "merchants", we can talk to Gul Dukeem again.
He's perfectly willing to help us eliminate Lanneth and her bunch. They're bad for business, after all.
Now, the fight. Four wizards and two fighter guards. But our party is in position, and we've set some traps.
That's three out of four mages down basically instantly. The critical backstab was serious overkill there; the toughest of the merchant mages has 60 HP and would always die instantly to even a non-critical backstab with that staff.
We, of course, follow up by ganging up on that last mage. This gives the fighters enough time to land one hit on Dorn before it's over.
Now, there's nothing to fight immediately. But tensions are high. Korgan makes his opinion known.
A brawl? That can be arranged. Just a bit more alcohol ...
Of course, we stacked the deck with some traps. Three wizards go down to my various traps, and a fourth to a backstab. Within moments, the bar is clear. Then another wizard tries to come in the door from the back, and my trap there does its thing.
Only one wizard and one fighter actually put up any sort of fight. The spoils include a robe of fire resistance ... sure, Neera, you can have that.
Now, for the more dangerous foes in the back.
We exchange some taunts, and the battle is on. This time, we don't have traps for the wizards - but we do have Ghallus and some soldiers.
Lanneth goes invisible and tries to run. The Gem of True Seeing objects. She puts up a PFMW, but one of the wands we just stole was a wand of spell striking.
Lanneth is down. But one of the other mages got Anomen with a Chaos ... I should have used a Chaotic Commands. He always needs it, doesn't he? Viconia could dispel that, but we'd lose some of our other buffs. And I don't really mind if Anomen hits our allies in his confusion.
Anomen did pick a fight with a confused legionary. And won. There aren't any actual enemies left here. Then Anomen kills another legionary after that shot for good measure; he's an absolute melee beast at this point, especially with that DUHM active.
There's just one more room worth of trouble. Two fighters and a mage.
Brute force does the job. Some of our buffs have expired, but we still have more than enough power for this. Open the cages, claim the loot.
There's just one last loose end to clean up.
Hayes is worth 7K experience to kill. For basically no effort. We return to the refuge after that.
Neera agreeing with Viconia. Looks like we really are bringing her around to our way of thinking.
Then we report the results of our confrontation with Hayes. Telana does not want his robe back. OK, throw that bloody scrap in a bin somewhere. And let Neera go. We'll see her in ToB.
Neera and Rasaad are done, and with them the last large quests of the open part of SoA. Next time, we finish up this chapter of the campaign with a few more small quests.
Back in Athkatla, Edwin returns to the party. And now, we finally clear up a quest that's been sitting just short of completion for a while.
The gong is returned. For a nice chunk of experience and a dagger that's no longer relevant. Only one of our party bothers with throwing daggers, after all.
Then, since we're evil...
... we attack them. Most of them get away, but we get some kills in. Two sets of full plate, claimed.
Next up, Jan's quest. It's on a timer from when he first joins the party ... which was way back at the beginning of the campaign. So we just pick him up, step outside ...
... and the quest is on.
As for why we would get involved in this? I'll leave that explanation to Korgan.
For the children. Korgan draws the line a hurting children.
This little quest consists mostly of running around talking to people. But we do get into a fight during that:
Some random thugs pop up in the docks. And the fast-moving half of the party takes care of them before the slower-moving half can even arrive. We take some minor damage, but a few rounds of regeneration clear that up. Truly, these enemies weren't even a speed bump.
And then, there's one actual fight in the quest.
Though Edwin is more interested in the mystery. It's not exactly a tough fight, after all.
With how overleveled we are, we just run in and crush them.
Now, there's a chest I'd like to loot. But a patron would notice me ... talk to him, while I'm waiting for him to wander off.
Neat. A companion line.
Finally, we return to the Hidden. And discover the answer Edwin was seeking.
Though it's Viconia who speaks up here. This illithid was probably a spy for the enclave hidden in the temple district sewers, that we destroyed earlier.
A talk with Jan resolves the quest, and we're done with him.
On to the next step ... the messenger for the next keep event hasn't shown up. And he should have. There's a BDOFFSCR at the north entrance to the Athkatla slums; it looks like that trigger failed when I came back to Athkatla after finishing with Neera. OK, force-spawn the messenger.
And now, we can deal with the final threat to Dorn's rule over his lands. We return to the keep to confront Lord Roenall.
Sharp eyes may spot the line of traps. Seven of them. It isn't even a fight. Actually, its over before the troops even go hostile, and so Lord Roenall is the only one to die.
That teleports us inside. The lord is worth 12K XP, and the quest completion is worth 50K.
A digression on creature stats: Lord Roenall is listed as a level 16 fighter, but he's not actually statted as one. He has the THAC0 and saves of a level 10 fighter instead. Then he only has 17 strength, and only has specialization with his weapon (a +1 bastard sword). He gets an extra 1/2 APR for free, but that only gets him to the same 3 total a level 16 fighter with grand mastery would have.
If it came down to a melee duel between him and Dorn...
THAC0 9 versus slashing AC -12 for Roenall's attacks. 3 APR, 20 needed to hit, average damage 1.35 per round.
THAC0 -10/-7 versus slashing AC -5 for Dorn's attacks. 4 APR, 2 needed to hit and 20 to crit, average damage 93.3 per round.
In all probability, it would be over early in the second round, before Lord Roenall could land a single blow. The only possible way for Roenall to win would be if Dorn just stood there not attacking (and tanking the few blows that landed with his regeneration) until the one-hour timer expired.
Next, I choose to revisit the North Forest for a few encounters that are sensitive to the time of day. Mists, a greater wyvern ... but no vampires. Those must have showed up in the early evening and misted the last time I was here; they inexplicably have their active hours start before the sun sets.
I do get a banter while I'm there, waiting for the sun to go down.
Hey! Why is Korgan talking to Viconia? I made that reply assuming it was Dorn speaking.
With that out of the way, I turn to Cernd.
Heh. I never did have him change back to human form. Cernd joins, and Hexxat goes back to Athkatla. With the Gauntlets of Crushing, his werewolf attacks are actually pretty decent.
And he doesn't need a talk button to do his quest.
Yeah, I'm just leaving him transformed. Why mess with what works?
Though I do take the option to tell him to shut up. Playing an evil party is all about indulging those impulses to be petty, rude, or just an asshole in general.
Fatigue catches up, and we rest. Cernd even memorizes some decent spells that he absolutely won't use. Now it's time to confront Deril.
We've buffed for this, though not to extremes. Time to pick a fight.
Option 2 here is interesting; Deril hands over the baby without a fight, but sets a timer that implies he comes back in a few days as a lich. But the scripts don't support that return, and the lich creature is just a placeholder with no spells or combat scripting. A bit of cut content there.
Anyway, this mage doesn't stand up to us. His only combat protection is a Stoneskin, and most of our attacks deal elemental damage.
The results are predictable.
Then the lich Lagole Gon hands over the baby, and it's over.
Cernd returns to the Druid Grove. We could recruit him again, but we won't. Or visit that area, for that matter.
I ended the session at this point, and didn't come back until much later. My play buffer is rather short at this point. But now, it's time for the last few loose ends of chapter 6.
First, we do a bit more shopping. We buy a couple of things from Joluv, and loot some merchants. This requires some traveling around, and ...
Bandits. We apply some overkill. Because I just want that over with.
When I visit the promenade ...
Wait, is that a kid on the roof?
Actually, it's a wall polygon (#281) which lacks the "cover animations" flag. But you can go to the right spot in the entranceway...
All this running around pushes us into the evening, and I head out to the graveyard for an encounter.
Stein. Now that we have the full party. Either Anomen or Keldorn will automatically pick the fight for you, if you have a high reaction score and choose the first option.
Stein and his thieves are no problem, of course.
And now, the last non-good companion with quest content. Jaheira.
Naturally, she is immediately called away. We go to rest at the Sea's Bounty to run out her timer.
And when she returns, Baron Ployer is there to greet her. With a curse.
Jaheira levels up to 10/12; her initial XP trigger didn't happen back in the starter dungeon, so it comes up now. I give her scimitar specialization, and Belm.
Now, we're off to confront Ployer.
In a trapped room. Ployer goes down instantly, and Jaheira gets the credit. Presumably because she inherited Hexxat's player number.
There aren't any traps left for the mages, but they don't do any better.
Two out of three fall before they can act at all, leaving only Terrece to actually put up a defense. Which we overwhelm before he can cast anything offensive.
Now, for that summons.
Galvarey asks a bunch of intrusive questions, then declares that Dorn is to be imprisoned. The fight is on. And we buffed for it. A strength potion for Jaheira, DUHM for the other divine casters, a few defenses...
And then Edwin casts a spell.
Horrid Wilting. Only two enemies survive at all, and they go down to our attacks moments later.
This fight drops one useful item. Edwin replaces his old Ring of Acuity with the new Reaching Ring.
As for the rest of Jaheira's quest? I would have to run around wasting a bunch of in-game time, and there's not much of a reward for this party. Nope. I'll just dump her somewhere. After clearing one thing up in here...
Montaron deserves a proper burial. We entomb him in the crypt that Stein had been looking to loot.
From here on, most of my time is taken up by housekeeping. There's no quest content left that I want to do, but I have a lot of junk to sell, and I still have a few merchants outside Athkatla to loot.
I do run into a conversation during this process, though.
Korgan wants to talk about his old crew. And how he killed them.
Stitch? Armor dissolved by ooze, and Korgan hit him to end his flailing. With lethal results, though that was a genuine accident.
Hogbelly? Legs crushed when a hill giant fell on him. He refused to accept peg legs, and was still in pain after the group's poor attempts at medicine. Korgan ended his suffering, and covered it up.
Cutter? Infected with plague, and then Korgan broke his neck.
Then, of course, there's the final moral.
Anyone who becomes useless deserves death. Well, that shouldn't be a problem in this party. With two epic clerics and an epic mage, we can fully recover from basically anything.
One of the stashes I have to retrieve is in the Underdark - mostly ammo. And while I'm there, I take the opportunity to slaughter the respawned beholders and gauths in their tunnels. 230K XP, no problem.
Then I rest at the entrance to trigger that night encounter with the drow.
Hexxat takes some hits, largely because she starts visible and stays visible to dispel illusions. Other than that, it's an easy victory.
With some loot that we can sell for a good chunk of gold. But that's all, really.
Housekeeping ensues. I sell most of he magical junk I've found over the course of the game, then steal it back and sell it again. By the time I'm done with it, I have about 1.77 million gold. Also, scribing excess scrolls brought Viconia to level 34, Dorn to level 28 (Deathblow), and Hexxat to level 36 (Assassination, shortbow proficiency, Open Locks).
Next time, we resume the main plot and enter the final chapter of the Shadows of Amn campaign.
Using the Lanthorn grants a bunch of experience, enough for several characters to level up. Korgan goes to level 32 and takes Greater Deathblow. Anomen goes to level 34 and Edwin goes to level 26; neither has any decisions to make. We're at about 6 million XP per party member.
Entering the city brings a brief video, and a comment from Dorn.
I have to agree. It really is pathetic that Irenicus and his followers just overwhelmed the city's resistance. I suppose we'll have to fight everything, because we can't expect the elves to be useful.
For our first fight, we run into a squad of golems.
The pair of stone golems are trivial, falling to Korgan's hammer. The adamantite golem requires the party's full attention.
OK, I try the instant-kill staff on it, but that's only a 10% chance. While I think that got the kill, I took down most of the HP first.
Fighting that golem head on had us take three hits. Two on Dorn, one on Hexxat. And with that, Hexxat levels to 3. She drops a few more points in stealth because she's only at 90% to hide in broad daylight with the Cloak of Dragomir on, and adds an exploding ttrap for her HLA.
Next up, we head toward the troll platform ... but run into more golems on the way.
This one's an iron golem instead of adamantite, which means it goes down a lot faster. And of course the stone golem only takes one hit. After that, the trolls are trivial.
Then, returning from that platform ...
There's another adamantite golem, because we only dealt with part of that golem pack.
That sneak attack deals three damage, fails the instant kill, and gets Hexxat hit with a retaliatory strike. Then the rest of the party arrives to beat the golem down. Two more hits taken, these on Korgan.
The high ground on this platform has a couple children:
Which we choose to be mean to. We're not here to save people, after all. If we find survivors, we'll tell them the way is clear and then move on. We have no responsibility for their safety beyond that.
After another stone golem - the last of that pack - we reach the priest's house. Find a couple of ninth level scrolls, solve a puzzle, get a key item for later.
Then, finally, a fight that Hexxat can contribute normally in.
Skeletons. One whack, one kill. Meanwhile, the rest of the party is slashing at the other skeletons with considerably less efficiency. They're not much challenge, though - certainly less than the golems.
And beyond the skeletons, another opportunity for her.
Raamilat is a level 20 mage. Very dangerous. But he only has 56 HP, so the backstab is a 95% kill chance. Only a critical miss would have saved him. He doesn't get the opportunity to act at all.
There's also a demon. A nabassu, which Hexxat just ignored on the way in, and which didn't warn the mage. We easily beat it down. Viconia reaches level 35 with this, another empty level.
Then, Raamilat was guarding Demin's house. Inside, she is being menaced by three rakshasa.
They may be spellcasters, but vanilla rakshasa aren't big on protecting themselves. And at these levels, we can easily get through their excellent AC.
Adsaan gets off his spell despite that 75-point stab. But it's just a Chain Lightning. Two of our party block it with MR, and the rest take no more than ten damage each.
Then he goes down, joining the other two rakshasa. He drops a belt for strength 20, which goes to Edwin since he's the only party member that doesn't have 19 or more strength.
And now, we speak to Demin. Time for exposition. We can't help but interject to point some things out ...
It really would have worked out better if the elves had just killed Irenicus the first time. But their pride got to them, and they lit him live to plot revenge.
We'd love to get our revenge now ...
... but Demin explains that the palace is sealed. We'll have to collect a bunch of key items and liberate the city just so we can get the door open. Oh, all right, I suppose we can save some elves along the way.
While I'm here, I've picked up this house's level 9 scroll (Absolute Immunity) and also used the 18 Con belt to boost Hexxat's hit points. She gets the biggest benefit from it in this party at +20 hit points when she uses it.
Moving on we soon ind more golems. This time, elves are fighting against them.
Though not well. The elves don't have any weapons that can even hurt the golems, so all they're good for is distractions. Still, the golems go down before these two losers die. They can head back to the city entrance now, once they snap out of their panic.
After one more house without a fight inside, we take the northwest path to the dragon. The party is nearly fully regenerated, and we add some buffs.
All but Edwin have at least some acid resistance. We've also added a few divine buffs, and Dorn called in a deva.
Then, on top of our melee attacks, we add in a spell combo. Lower Resistance into (cleric) Finger of Death.
Nizi saved. But that still did decent damage, and our melee attacks have added a lot more. Also, the black dragon script shares a property with several other dragons - it won't use its breath weapon if an enemy is too close. Which is always, the way we fight.
Dorn dispels the dragon's haste, and then delivers the final blow.
We took a wing buffet. It wasn't effective at driving the party away. And it was the only damage the party took. Melee attacks are just a really low priority for this particular dragon.
Back in the main map, we double back toward the center. The house we find there brings a cutscene, boots of elvenkind, and another plot token. But the platform it's on has nothing ... until we leave.
That is a seriously messed up cutscene. Once it ends, we're zoomed way out as well. I have no idea what went wrong there.
As for the encounter that just spawned in, it's a squad of disguise-happy rakshasa against elven battle mages. We join in the fight.
Uh, oops. Based on the experience given, that was a friendly fire kill. Anomen reflected a lightning bolt. That Cloak of Reflection is a menace ... but we're not going to stop using it.
We defeat the rakshasa, but one escapes us to run to the northeast...
Oh, this is too perfect. And somehow, we convince him to open the gate anyway. He's literally being attacked by an illusioned rakshasa right now, and he still believes us.
With that path open, I go after the weak balor near the temple (no fire immunity, no seeing through invisibility, no spells). But Hexxat crit-misses, so we have to bring up the party to kill it the old-fashioned way.
Then there's one last house we need to clear.
Three golems. All vulnerable to Korgan's one-hit kills. It's over in practically no time.
That brings us to the temple, guarded by a large group of rakshasa.
We opened with a backstab on a maharajah - not lethal. But a few normal hits after that finish the job. And while the enemies all try to cast offensive spells, we're beating down on them and disrupting most of those.
The entire group, over the course of the whole battle, combines for two successful spells cast. Both of those are instances of Chain Lightning, which barely hurts at all. Pitiful.
Entering the temple brings us to another high-level mage. He's eager to trash-talk us.
But he can't back it up. One more hit finishes him off.
Hexxat goes for a backstab on the rakshasa ... and fails because it walks toward the party. She doesn't even get an attack roll in before it's all over.
The only damage we took was a hit on Korgan by the golem.
That lets us activate Rillifane, and clears the way to the palace. It also brings in a merchant so we can do a bit of shopping.
One scroll of invisibility. Because I didn't save one before. We will now be able to upgrade the +2 cloak.
We also sell off some junk, though we keep the magical stuff. Better prices will be available in ToB.
And finally, we enter the palace. The stairs of no return await us, and the resolve of every member of the party will be tested.
Or not. The sequence breaks down at Dorn's reply. Repeatably.
OK, what's going on here? Clicking the stairs the first time forces dialogue with player 1. Using PLAYER1.DLG. Then, when it gets to Dorn's section, it expects a reply from DORNJ.DLG ... but Dorn's dialogue is currently PLAYER1. That failed reply link terminates the conversation, and we never hear from the rest of the party.
This is not the last we'll hear of this dialogue issue. You learn such interesting things when you break the game in new ways.
Also, this one's not Dorn-specific. Any of the standard recruitable NPCs, if made into player 1, will break both this dialogue and something bigger in the next part. Unless a very simple correction is made.
Next time, we face Irenicus for the final time and conclude the Shadows of Amn campaign.
On the tree, Irenicus stands in a bubble while parasites drain the tree's life. The parasites aren't very good at defending themselves, though.
Just two elementals each? That's nothing.
As for Irenicus himself? We know exactly where we'll face him, and we can go there beforehand because of the bubble. That means we can set traps.
Two spike traps should do it.
In addition, I cast Death Ward on the party. I won't need it against Irenicus, but it will be important later on.
The final confrontation requires no further input from us. Kill the last parasite, and just let it happen.
There's a bit more dialogue after that. Hexxat has a comment on us entering hell. And so do the rest of the team, but those lines are all cut off for the same reason that the dialogue entering the Tree broke.
Entering hell refreshes all of the party's spells and daily abilities. Not that we used many. We are at full strength for the challenges to come.
First, wrath.
Of course we give in to wrath. Though we don't actually become the Slayer. It wouldn't help anyway.
Wraith Sarevok does have over 500 hit points, and immunity to magic and all elements. Dorn switches to Soul Reaver, and still takes considerable damage before the beatdown finishes.
Ouch. We shift some regeneration gear over, as we move on to less combat-intensive tasks. In hindsight, I would have been better off reordering things and bringing Blackrazor to this fight.
Second, greed.
We're keeping the sword. Though it's not easy to kill the genie specifically with the sword; he protects himself with Improved Mantle.
Oh well. We can just switch weapons and attack over that. And try to land a dispelling hit.
Immediately after the dispelling hit, Hexxat's backstab lands. Dead.
Third, selfishness.
This one grabs player 2. Edwin in our case. And Dorn will sacrifice him.
But ... we prepared for it. The first two doors deal damage, as a warning. The third door applies a Kill effect, and chunks the victim if successful ... but that's what the Death Ward is for. That effect is negated, Edwin lives, and the third Tear is ours.
Edwin is still held, though, indefinitely. If you take the self-sacrifice path, the demon dispels the hold effect on the victim when you get through. If you're sacrificing the victim, then they're assumed to be dead and no dispel is applied. So, then, we handle that ourself.
One dispelling arrow, shot by Korgan using Taralash. Anomen heals Edwin, Edwin recasts his Stoneskin, and we continue.
The fourth trial is fear.
We take the cloak. And we stuff it in a bag, never to be used. After all, we have two party members permanently immune to fear, a third wearing a fear immunity item, and multiple instances of Remove Fear memorized to protect the whole party.
This trial then gives the option of two paths to reach the tear. To the right, there's a no-save fear trap that can't be disarmed, and a chest (lock difficulty 93) with the cloak as a key. To the left, there's a fight. We'll take both paths, because we don't shy away from fights. What sort of fight? An elder orb, two "elder orbs" which are really just beholders, and two gauths.
We prepare the beholder defenses, and send in the protected half of the party. It's a slaughter.
Dorn is now using Blackrazor, and he rolled the drain effect multiple times in this short battle. Dorn does lose his Death Ward to an antimagic ray, but nothing else harms us.
Then we cast a Remove Fear and take the other path, looting the chest. The fourth tear is ours.
And finally, pride.
Dorn takes all five of the evil choices. Not because the rewards are worth it - I actually prefer most of the good rewards - but because that's the way he rolls.
So now, we fight a dragon. "HDRAGRED.CRE", which is actually a black dragon similar to the one we recently fought in Suldanesselar.
I start with Dorn in dual-wielding mode, and he immediately lands a draining Blackrazor hit. With the haste in place, I switch to Soul Reaver ... and immediately pop a GWW to really lay on the debuffs. Then, two hits in, a wing buffet.
Which doesn't knock him back, and doesn't knock him unconscious for any length of time. He's still hitting.
Then again, this dragon only has 160 HP. It doesn't take long.
And so we win. Dorn was the target of the dragon's melee attacks, so he took considerable pain. We'll have to spend some time recovering before the final battle.
This dragon is only worth 22K XP, but it drops quite a bit of good stuff - two ninth level scrolls, a +2 ring of protection, a set of evil archmage robes, and some magic ammo. We gladly scoop that all up.
After some regeneration time, we return to the main chamber. The traps are set. The party is buffed. We're ready to kill Irenicus for good.
Dorn uses the tears, and gets the rewards. 24/18/18 physical stats. 192 HP (after taking that 29th level). -10 AC in his standard gear. The new level's HLA is Greater Deathblow - and the demons that Irenicus brings are vulnerable to deathblows as mere level 10 monsters.
Then, Irenicus comes.
Our trap placement wasn't quite what I wanted. One trap hit Irenicus, when I was aiming for the demons. Those demons haven't been summoned yet, as this is just the pre-fight trash talk phase.
But ... it stops there. The dialogue ends, and Irenicus just stands there. We beat him up, but nothing happens. And nothing ever will. By shortcutting the initial cutscene sequence, we've broken the fight and ended up with nothing but an immortal punching bag.
I know exactly how this one broke, too. The dialogue looked for a reply from DORNJ.DLG, but Dorn was set to PLAYER1.DLG. No reply available, dialogue ends. And so the next cutscene doesn't happen, and there's no fight.
How do I fix it? All I have to do is load the autosave (from when we exited the Pride trial). I don't have to edit anything, as the mere act of loading the save resets Dorn's dialogue file to the value specified in PDIALOG.2DA.
Now, let's do that again.
That's better.
I have Korgan activate Deathblow to take care of the demons, while the rest of the party focus on Irenicus. Except Viconia who has to defend herself from demon attacks.
My assault on the mage isn't the most efficient. He put up a Spell Shield so our first Breach is wasted, he casts Mislead twice ... but it can't last.
And I think that's the key blow there. The Slayer only has 217 HP, so he's definitely down to the minimum after that 196-point critical backstab. Irenicus is dead. He just doesn't know it yet.
And there it is. Victory. Irenicus is dead, and this campaign is complete. Dorn has embraced evil and his stolen divine power as never before, and triumphed.
As this was a short segment, I'll throw out a few stats. Here are the party's kill counts and top kills, as of the chapter 8 save:
Dorn: 751 kills for 3154100 XP. Top kill Kangaxx the Demilich (55000).
Korgan: 902 kills for 4290759 XP. Top kill Saladrex (64000).
Anomen: 426 kills for 1623487 XP. Top kill Ka'rashur (46000).
Viconia: 199 kills for 625083 XP. Top kill Giant Snake (22000).
Hexxat: 484 kills for 2144852 XP. Top kill Firkraag (64000).
Edwin: 208 kills for 832745 XP. Top kill Chromatic Demon (55000).
A single-class thief backstabber can't keep up with the single-class warriors in the kill count. But she can still do very well for herself, and outfight the half-warrior. The single-class casters Edwin and Viconia end up lowest in the kill count, because spells aren't usually for directly killing enemies and because I tend not to use the spells on anything but the hardest fights.
With the end of the campaign, cutscenes play. Much time is implied to have passed ... but when we resume, it is the morning of day 90. Edwin's Stoneskin is even still active. In truth, the elves of Suldanesselar tired of Dorn's presence in mere hours.
Still, Ellesime is not willing to leave Dorn completely without aid. She provides a powerful amulet for the party, and sends them to a sacred grove to consult with the spirits there.
The big giant head has spoken. And apparently, even the spirits can't keep things straight. Gorion's ward never even made it to level 2. That poor sod died months ago, merely the first stepping stone to Dorn's ascension.
The heads do provide at least some useful information. Danger approaches, and so we prepare with traps and buffs.
The traps do their job. Illasera is near death before she can even act. When she does, that action is to attempt retreat ... but a ranged attack catches up to her.
Edwin's thrown dagger brings her end. The Black Reavers scatter with her death, and we are only able to kill one before they escape.
Still, we got the best item out of this. A fourth set of boots of speed, which goes to Anomen. Everything else is vendor trash.
Shortly after the battle ends, something new happens. Dorn is transported elsewhere, and his party is brought with him. On arrival, a Solar is present to speak with him - a true messenger of the gods.
And by her pronouncement, it is official. The essence Dorn has stolen makes him a Bhaalspawn, as true as any who were born that way. For the fallen god's portfolio was murder, and what could be more proper than acquiring the power through such acts?
Then the solar leaves, and a spirit of a different sort emerges. Sarevok has returned, and not as an enemy this time.
Dorn is clearly feeling magnanimous this day. Sarevok gets to live. But he will not be joining this party now or later. He leaves this pocket plane, never to be seen by us again.
With that out of the way, we are free to move around. And so we speak to Cespenar, the imp butler. We have what we need for twelve of his recipes already, and so we perform them immediately. Viconia gets the most out of this immediately, upgrading both her melee and ranged weapons.
There is one upgrade we could have gotten but didn't. We don't get the Thieves' Hood working, because we weren't carrying any antidote potions. That will have to wait.
This lull also brings some party interactions. Romance is in the air.
And not to be ignored, Viconia joins Anomen.
Let the threesomes commence! Well, whenever this party gets around to sleeping, anyway. We have some fighting to do first.
And since there's nothing else to do, we take on the challenge.
Retribution, eh? Let them come. And die.
The enemies here are dependent on the protagonist's alignment. For the evil Dorn, it is the forces of good we face. Well, mostly good. We start with commoners.
Several different races, all armed and skilled with their weapons. But they are also all easy to hit, with low enough hit points that a single blow will usually do them in. They spawn in as fast as you kill them for a few rounds ... until the time comes for an upgrade.
Elven warriors come next; level 5 fighters with 45 HP and magical gear. And they drop their swords for us to sell, so we can get a count of them. We kill 26 of these warriors.
The third stage brings Knights of the Order - level 8 paladins with 75+24 HP and some very nice gear. AC -9, with free action and immunity to most mental debuffs, attacking three times each per round with clones of Purifier +4.
But despite all of that, our front line is tough enough to stand against them. Still, I bring in a few more resources. Hexxat has been staying out of the fight, but now she starts joining in with backstabs. Also, toward the end of the segment, I have Dorn pop a Deathblow to kill more of them.
This wave comes to an end, and now we get the final wave. Three bosses.
Duke Eltan (fighter), Ellesime (cleric), and Aran Linvail (mage/thief). Do watch out for the Reflection Shield that Eltan has.
We target Ellesime first, as she's relatively squishy and poorly defended.
That was quick. On to our next targets; we split between Eltan and Aran. Hexxat lands an 83-point backstab on Eltan ... but he has over 200 hit points to start with. It'll take more than that to bring him down. So instead, Aran is next to fall.
He repeatedly tries to use his wand of monster summoning, ignoring the aura limit. But that's OK, since he doesn't actually summon any monsters. And he never gets around to casting spells, because his "use item" script is a higher priority than his spellcasting script. Did this guy even get tested properly?
That just leaves the duke. And given his shield, we have everybody switch to melee.
He tries a Whirlwind, and lands a couple of hits. For far less damage than we're doing, since he only has 18/55 strength. Hexxat finishes things by returning with a second backstab.
With the challenge's end, we earn some more XP. Korgan levels to 33, taking flail specialization and his fifth Greater Whirlwind. Anomen level to 35. Hexxat levels to 38, taking Alchemy, stealth, and Open Locks. She's now at 200/200 stealth even while wearing the Cloak of Dragomir, so she can hide in brod daylight basically every time.
Also, Anomen has a bit more to say.
It's definitely time to end that dry spell.
I use that new Alchemy ability, hoping for an antidote potion. Result ... regeneration. Eh, at least it's a useful one. Though with so many party members already having regeneration, we don't really need it.
We can now leave the pocket plane. And when we do, we find ourselves in the middle of trouble.
Naturally, that jerk Melissan puts us in conflict with the local authorities immediately.
And in another inconvenience, that cutscene left us out of formation with Anomen and Korgan in the back, and expired Hexxat's stealth so she couldn't open with a backstab.
But ... well, these are just fighters.
We don't need to do anything special to crush them. The fight ends quickly.
After that fight, Melissan sticks around long enough to inform us what needs to be done here - Gromnir il-Khan is being unreasonable, and we need to confront him before we can get anywhere. Which will likely mean killing him, because of those unreasonable actions.
But first, there are some things to do around town. A boy's father just got killed ... bye. We're not getting involved in that sort of stuff. Sympathy is dangerous. No, we're going to the tavern.
Oh, hey, soldiers behaving badly.
It's a short fight. They do have some +3 weapons for us to sell, though. Also, this area has picked up the eternal battle music bug; I don't think let this session take much longer.
Elsewhere in the bar, Volo is hanging out. And he has stories about us. Let's hear them.
A full six stories. Plus a confused seventh story about Dorn before that.
Viekang ... you told us something useful. Here, have a Horror.
Bartender? I'll have some +4 bullets and boots of speed. And I'm not paying for any of it, since you're clearly not vigilant enough against epic pickpockets.
Next up, Lazarus. You have scrolls? We'll help you out. First, talk to Squip.
"You big bully". Yep. It gets results.
That leads us to Hectan, who wants a teleportation scroll. Lazarus is willing to deal, though he gives a warning ... which we don't pass on.
And so a fool kills himself. Always entertaining. That brings the party reputation down to 8.
As a side note, Dorn's personal reputation is actually a bit lower than the other party members. The evil tears each have a -0.1 reputation penalty, so Dorn is at 7.5. Which rounds to 8, and thus doesn't show up as a difference on the character sheet.
With this side quest complete, Lazarus opens his shop. We promptly relieve him of a sixth set of boots of speed, a few other goodies, and all the scrolls Edwin needs to complete his spellbook. We now have the ingredients to complete the last two Cespenar upgrades that only require SoA and Watcher's Keep resources; the +5 elven chain and the Thieves' Hood. I end the session with those.
In the new session, I continue my exploration of Saradush with a trip to the militia headquarters.
Someone is undermining the city's defense? We're stuck here too. All right, we'll help with the investigation.
When we talk to the countess...
Yes, a reward from her would be quite nice. And she gave us a lead - Kiser Jhaeri. But we can't just kill the man, as we need to find Ardic first. It's time for some subterfuge.
Incidentally, the damage on Edwin in that shot is from one of the random siege blasts. 5d10 fire damage, save or get knocked unconscious. It rolled high on the damage, and Edwin doesn't have any fire resistance.
Now, to meet Kiser.
This is an evil option. Good/neutral characters with good reputations can try it, but he won't believe them.
One oddity there - Anomen has dialogue conditioned on his alignment here ... but both branches are the same. An idea that wasn't followed through on?
As for what we plan to do? No, we're not going through with it. Betraying the town's defense is just stupid, at least without a proper exit strategy. And given that Bhaalspawn are the targets, the besiegers aren't going to let us get away cleanly. We're taking the evidence Kiser just gave us straight to Errard.
Ardic is in Kiser's basement. It's time to take care of business now.
Kiser is waiting for us in the basement.
But that won't be enough. Hexxat goes after a minion since Kiser is randomly immune to backstabs, while our warriors go after Kiser himself.
He didn't even try to go invisible. Easy prey. Meanwhile, Hexxat's backstab knocker her target unconscious and pushed him ... somewhere. Anomen pursues, but doesn't find him.
There's a mage in the back, too. Hexxat can't get behind her, so she settles for the next best option.
A non-backstab sneak attack, disrupting her divination. And now, send in the party. The mage puts up some decent defenses, but we overwhelm them easily enough.
Ardic is rescued, none the worse for wear. And that fighter Hexxat whacked is left stuck in a wall somewhere, never to be seen again. We return to the countess for our reward ... but it's nothing compared to the Starfall Ore that Kiser had in his basement.
Storm Star is complete. Anomen has his endgame weapon.
And that's enough for this part. Next time, we get on the business of finding Gromnir.
All of the doors that would lead to Gromnir are locked at the moment. Which means we need to get a key. To that end, we head for the barracks.
They want a fight? They've got one.
Against these mooks, I try out Hexxat's new Shakti Figurine.
Wield the Crimson Brotherhood sword off-hand, and she gets 4 combined APR. Plus she gets single-weapon bonuses instead of two-weapon penalties. Effective THAC0 1 main-hand, 2 off-hand. Plenty for some chumps in nonmagical chain mail.
Overall ... it's all right. For a pure rogue. But her backstab mode is almost as powerful, and that's something she can do all day.
The guards are supposed to call in reinforcements. But that only happens if they survive long enough. Nope.
One of the chests contains a key - to the sewer grates. We're still looking for the prison key. That's held by Farielle, but she won't just give it up to an evil character.
So instead, we talk to someone else.
Ah. Now we have some leverage.
Blackmail works. The key is ours.
The prison itself is full of vampires. It's also full of tight corners and easy concealment.
So, naturally, we take advantage and get the drop on them every chance we get. We've got plenty of drain immunity, so we shouldn't have a problem if some of the vampires get a few hits in.
Which they do, in the later sections. But Dorn regenerates fast, and those hits don't amount to anything significant.
Once the enemies are cleared out, we take care of business for the spirit. That earns us the bronze ioun stone, which immediately goes to making the Circlet of Netheril for Edwin. It also gives us some experience, pushing Dorn over the level 30 threshold. He takes scimitar proficiency and a third Hardiness.
The next area has some stealth mechanics. Which a high-level thief with the Staff of the Magi can utterly dominate.
The staff's invisibility lets her disarm the traps, then normal stealth has her set up backstabs. Which don't always work because the guards walk around. But she eventually lands a hit.
And immediately goes invisible again with her other staff. Still not detected. But the second hit, killing that guard, sets off the alarm.
Still, she hasn't been seen. On to the second guard.
Ah, now that's what I like. A critical hit, and the guard is down in a single blow. Next up, the mage.
She tried to cast a divination spell. She wasn't fast enough.
For the remaining fighters, I bring in the party. They have plenty of potions, but it isn't enough to hold off our forces. As for the prisoners ... ignore them. None of our business.
The next room holds some orcs and orogs, plus an upgrade token. Dorn takes the opportunity to improve Foebane immediately. Now both of his weapons drain life from his enemies. I go for Blackrazor main-hand so the haste triggers more often, but you could argue it either way. And I might switch it some of the time.
Two more rooms of those orcs and orogs, and then we turn back. I'd like to clear out the sewers too. After all, there are plenty of enemies to kill for good experience.
Like these Devil Shades.
Dorn swaps Foebane to his main hand for this one, and Korgan rages. A pack of devil shades is considerably nastier than one vampire at a time.
With this fight, Edwin earns level 27. Which is good for exactly one hit point and nothing else. But hey, at least levels 28 and 29 will add spell slots.
The shades are not the only threats down here. There are also sappers from Yaga-Shura's army, and supporting troops.
The sappers are quite dangerous, wielding clones of the Frag Grenade ammo with their non-droppable crossbows. +14 to hit, 1d12 fire and 7 physical damage in an area, 5 attacks per round. Sneak attacks are our best bet, closing into melee so they switch to their less dangerous hammers. But since they have 175 HP, that sneak attack will usually need follow-up.
The ranged attack's weakness is that it's only +1. A protagonist that took the good option in the Fear trial can just ignore it as long as they're the target. Not an option in this party, of course.
Of course, when encountered as part of a group, the sappers aren't always the first targets. The next encounter has both a sapper and a mage, and so Hexxat backstabs the mage for a one-hit kill. Then the party engages, taking some sapper damage.
Then we reach the central pit. The cutscene here denies us the element of surprise, so I send in the party.
At least these sappers are weaker than the standard, and prefer attacking the shadows. One of them doesn't even have ranged attacks.
The fight is chaotic, but we have plenty of power. Before long, it's just a stream of shadows and shadow fiends to mop up. And we don't take significant damage.
With that clear, Hexxat goes out on her own for some backstabbing.
A critical miss. Ugh. Well, I suppose it won't hurt too much to just send in everyone.
Let's try that again for the next encounter...
Much better. Our party closes on the dwarf and takes him out before he can recover. Meanwhile, Hexxat remains visible and switches to two-weapon mode for the archer and orog. She takes them out, but suffers a couple of melee hits for her trouble. I don't think I'll do that again down here.
Farther to the north, there's an archer and a mage. Backstab the archer for 113 ... panicked, ran toward us. And wait out the mage's True Sight. Then head back in.
Absolutely the best way to deal with enemy mages, if you get the chance.
The last corner of the area just holds an archer, an orog, and an umber hulk. Backstab to panic the archer, mop up with the party.
As we leave the area, slaughtering some gibberlings on the way out, the party is at full health. And the only daily resource we used was one of Korgan's many instances of Enrage.
That, however, will change. We're heading up into Gromnir's palace now, and that calls for some spells.
Against a full party of high-level enemies, we could do nothing less. The Greater Command spells take two enemies down. The Horrid Wilting ... doesn't happen. Then I move Edwin forward to try casting it again ... or not.
After all, that's a bit of a waste if there's only one enemy left. Hexxat detects illusions to try to break that invisibility ...
... but doesn't do so fast enough. Time Stop. Into Symbol: Stun (we save, no effect), Symbol: Fear (we save or resist, no effect), and a third spell ... still in progress when time resumes, disrupted by Edwin's thrown dagger. Well, at least his chain contingency works.
The defenses don't last.
After all, his stoneskin was already down and didn't get renewed. Attacking over the Improved Mantle, it only took two good hits. That contingency at the end was a waste, as Improved Mantle blocks Protection from Magical Weapons as long as it's active.
After a quick save - insurance against cutscene problems - I continue to the climax of the Saradush sequence. And Dorn has something to say.
Dorn and Gromnir are both half-orcs, outcast from the same orcish tribe. But Gromnir was different, taking too easily to slaughter even for Dorn's standards. He was ... disgusting, much like a rabid animal.
This conversation is followed by one between Gromnir and Melissan.
Gromnir has 9 Int and 10 Wis, lowest among the Bhaalspawn bosses of ToB. Yet somehow he's the most perceptive, seeing through Melissan's plot. Too bad he's in the way.
Dorn, at least, has no issues with killing him. The fight is on.
For this fight, we bring out the spells again.
The Greater Commands and the Horrid Wilting are aimed at the two mages. Dorn will charge Gromnir, while Korgan and Hexxat will go after the minions by the stairs.
Both mages and Gromnir save against the Commands. The Wilting is more effective.
Both mages die instantly. The surviving Mislead clone can be ignored. And it looks like Dorn is doing well in his duel, so I turn the three spellcasters toward the minions.
The biggest threat I note there is the invisible thief. Hexxat puts on the Thieves' Hood to hopefully absorb a backstab, because I doubt her detection will work fast enough.
Exactly as planned. 7 damage taken instead of 23.
Actually, regarding Eler Had's stats ... class Thief, level 15, Berserker kit, 125+Con HP, exceptional strength, 19 Con, THAC0 5, no thief skills, fighter saves. Clearly an overly hasty respec.
Over on the other side of the battle, Dorn wins his duel easily.
And ... Eler Had is invisible again. OK, put the hood back on. And use a True Sight this time.
That's another minimum-damage backstab blocked. Taking into account the 5 HP lost for switching away from the Helm of Balduran, Hexxat prevented 27 damage in those two hits.
Also, this is the last round. The enemy thief doesn't manage to go invisible again.
With the battle over, Melissan returns. She informs us that we have to go out and kill Yaga-Shura, because otherwise he'd kill us. Or to protect Saradush, but why would we care about that? Also, he's invincible right now and we'll need to counter that before we can kill him.
And then, Dorn reflects.
There are four choices you can make for your reason. The one Dorn agrees with most is "I need their strength to accomplish my goals", but right now I see him feeling good about the duel he just won. And in that mood, I went with a different response. He didn't need their help - he killed Gromnir on his own.
We get some upgrades with this battle. Anomen reaches level 36, taking hammer specialization with his final proficiency. And more importantly, we use Roranach's Horn to upgrade the Staff of the Ram. Hexxat now has the ultimate backstabbing weapon.
Next time, we leave Saradush to begin our quest to bring down a giant.
Comments
A few hours of travel, and we arrive at the Helmite camp. I know there are no mages here, so we won't get dispelled - bring out the potions.
But then, we meet the sentry ...
The game chokes on that; ActionOverride(current object, do something) isn't executed, and neither is anything that follows. Including the crucial EndCutSceneMode() command.
While I might be able to dodge this cutscene by backstabbing the sentry to initiate hostilities, I've looked ahead. The next area includes a cutscene that I can't dodge that will be broken in the same way. No, better to alter the cutscenes themselves to remove the problematic element. Nine of Dorn's cutscenes end up needing changes; OHDCUT01, OHDCUT04, OHDCUT05, OHDCUT06, ohdcut9c, ohdgrom, OHDPTREE, OHDSTREE, and ohdwra01.
For the convenience of anyone else who decides to try this "Dorn as protagonist" idea, I'm packaging those cutscene changes as a mod, attached to this post. They're not recommended for use when playing normally - some of these altered scenes attribute actions to player 1 that really should be Dorn's responsibility - but the changes are self-contained, so it should be safe to install and uninstall them even during a run as long as you don't install any mods after this. Or to do it by the "drop in override" method, as other mods are unlikely to edit these cutscenes.
With that out of the way, it's back to the action. I leave the summons behind this time, as the cutscene doesn't bring them along. And the scene works.
Edwin brings out the crowd control spells; Chaos and then Slow. They go a long way to making this fight more manageable, but there are still a lot of melee bruisers and our front line is fully engaged.
The confusion does its job well, and the primary target falls to his companion's blow:
After dealing with a couple more foes, the post-battle talk triggers. We lose another point of reputation, down to 4.
But we're not quite done here ...
We pick up the loot - a lot of heavy armor, which sells well - and turn back to Athkatla. An ambush ensues immediately - after no time, so our potion buffs are still active.
One thing to note about this fight - while they're generally fairly simple melee combatants, the Hammers (except the pure cleric Garfunkle) all get bonus APR. If you don't watch out, they hit hard.
We continue to Athkatla, where night has fallen. Hexxat can finally be more comfortable and take her cloak off. Report to Bodhi, and her final task is set.
Before we can reach Aran Linvail, we need to deal with Gaelan Bayle to acquire a key. And that means a trip to the slums. Where the forces of law await.
They silence Edwin, we silence them. Well, I wasn't planning on casting mage spells in this fight anyway.
I look things up. Full stats on this encounter (unmodded):
One Amnian Centurion. 7300 XP. Spear, helmet, full plate, one random treasure (level 4). Level 16 fighter, 137 HP, AC -3 with full plate modifiers, saves 3/5/4/4/6, THAC0 -1 (piercing), 1d6+10 damage, 5 APR.
Four Amnian Legionaries. 3200 XP. Spear, helmet, full plate, one random treasure (level 4). Level 11 fighter, 94 HP, AC -3 with full plate modifiers, saves 8/10/9/9/11, THAC0 5 (piercing), 1d6+6 damage, 4 APR.
Two Cowled Enforcers. 4000 XP. Two random treasures and 25 gold. Level 14 mage, 59 HP, saves 11/7/9/11/8. Exclusively a spellcaster, and weak to melee attacks if no combat defenses are up. Buffs with Stoneskin, Spell Deflection, and SI: Evocation as soon as the battle begins, plus has a Stoneskin contingency once the first runs out or is dispelled/breached.
The fighters are fairly standard - except for that bonus APR. They were built as if they didn't get the APR bonuses from fighter levels and weapon mastery, but they do. And that means they're doubling up, for more APR than a fighter with two-handed weapons can ever get without a haste spell. They also have THAC0 one point better than it should be.
Still, if you can beat them, it's very lucrative. 28100 XP, a bunch of high-end random treasure which is likely to include some excellent scrolls, and five sets of full plate. Which sell for 1800 gold each at a standard merchant.
It only takes 5550 gold to raise your reputation from 1 all the way to 10 at a temple. Even one of these fights more than pays for restoring your reputation to a neutral level. If you're playing an evil party, fighting the law definitely pays.
Anyway, on to the thieves.
Upstairs, Arledrian uses an invisibility potion. Dorn uses Albruin.
We return to the Copper Coronet to scribe spells and rest. After laying some traps outside; three out of four succeed. Edwin learns six new spells, notably including Spell Shield.
And ... what?
On reload, choosing to rest at the inn triggers a talk.
Then, we step outside ...
Now, we head to the guild hall. The thieves outside aren't too bad, though one manages to drink an invisibility potion and backstab Hexxat. We enter the second floor, which is now empty with refilled chests - loot them again. Oddly, one is unpickable - but we have the key, and it's just random treasure inside.
Down on the first floor, the real fights start.
That part doesn't go quite like I hoped; only Edwin has the right line to actually cast that way. But his Skull Trap does kill two enemies and severely injure the others. Korgan's elemental damage keeps the mage from doing anything dangerous, and we clean up the enemies on our side. Then we open the door.
And now, we use the key.
The next threat is a group of enemies in the cloakroom. Hexxat deals with the mage.
Try to spot a trap ... oh, that one isn't flagged as detectable. Just trigger it, then.
The next room brings an ambush attempt.
Disarm a trap, spot some orcs ... Edwin, you have a fireball wand.
After a bit more sneaking around, we're ready to face Haz.
And now, the way to Aran is clear. There are a few more monsters on that path, like an air elemental:
We open the door, and then get in a first strike.
Also, to set up another backstab.
Aran casts Improved Invisibility - a waste, since he still has that Mislead going - and we just wait for TS to tick.
Anyway, the fight is on.
Viconia gets the Amulet of Power, Korgan gets the +2 ring, and the enchanted elven chain just goes to the bag.
There's also a ring I don't recognize in one of the containers - identify it immediately with a charge of the glasses. It's a ring of djinni summoning, not available if you side with the shadow thieves. Neat.
And so the Shadow Thieves have fallen. Bodhi's guild reigns supreme in Athkatla's underworld. Next time, we deal with more personal quests.
@Selerel : As you can see, the way it goes is "most of the cutscenes break and hang the game, unless I edit them to fix the repeated technical issue." Which is why I've gone to the trouble of packaging those edits as a mod.
As we head out to sell off some junk, the guards accost us again. They are persistent.
Wait, they're not coming? I look things up; once your reputation drops low enough that the army starts coming after you, the wizards don't care about you casting spells in the streets. And that's permanent; raising our reputation isn't going to make them think they can stop us again.
I suppose I'll just have to settle for slaughtering the legion and their wizard partners, instead of the Cowled Wizard hit squads.
I make my choice on where to go next, and as I set out Viconia speaks up. This time, she tells tales of her using sex as a transactional tool, clearly trying to drive Dorn away.
We reach the edge of the district and head out. To Resurrection Gorge.
Talking with Summerheigh is disappointing as always; she has absolutely no dialogue that depends on the results of the quest here. Raise her son, sacrifice him to summon a demon - it matters not.
The tree, however, inspires plenty of conversation.
Before long, we reach Treadsoft. Whack him a few times, and Yarrow sends us down. In the lower reaches, I head for the waterfall cave first:
On the way out, we kill Winterbrook, for another pearl and potion.
The "magnificent" Fil is next. And I find a path through his dialogue that ends in violence, because he's just too annoying to do anything else.
Kill the ankhegs anyway, because we can.
And now, Xachrimos is near. Use Albruin's Detect Invisibility ...
We raise Korgan, apply some buffs, and enter the tree.
(In base 2.6, that "Unaffected by effects from Raise Dead" also blocks the variable-setting effect that the sacrifice relies on. Vernus is technically alive, after all.)
And now, we fight Azothet. Our preparations make it go pretty smoothly.
All of our helmet-wearers can use the mask. I give it to Anomen, as he has the worst spell saves and doesn't get any of the immunities as kit bonuses.
Back up top, we could just leave. But we kill Treadsoft and Yarrow anyway.
Back in Athkatla, personal quests advance.
I detour through another area to reach the entrance I expected to come in by ...
And there, Anomen makes a fateful choice.
On the way out, we get a little scene:
We face some bandits on the way to the bridge. A Greater Command and a Chaos take care of them. Then it's the big house, which has guards.
After a few more guards, including some upstairs, we reach Saerk. And here Anomen truly falls.
The fight is on. Saerk has considerable cleric casting ability, and puts up a Blade Barrier - so we finish him off at range.
There's one downside to all that - I spent too long in there, largely on looting the place.
Well, after a detour.
What do you get if you kill him? Zero XP, and the nearby guard and shopkeep get mad. OK, reloading that because I don't want to offend everybody.
Instead, we just head over to the circus tent and talk to the guard there.
And if I hadn't made that happiness tweak, reordering recent events here would have kept Anomen in the party. Raise rep by 1 to 4, then face Saerk and drop it to 2. Safe, for a neutral character. Especially since there aren't any more reputation reductions in our near future, now that Dorn's quest is done.
This is as villainous as I've ever had from a BG2 party. We'll raise our reputation eventually, but there's no rush. Next time, we go hunting for some quality loot.
In the new session, I choose to start by getting Hexxat a better sword. Of course, I have to deal with the army first.
After another repeat of the bandit waylay, Hexxat makes Viconia an offer:
Actually, looking at the dialogue files, they might be up for a fling - but only if neither of them is in a romance with the protagonist.
And now, the actual destination.
Unfortunately for us, the demon retaliated with a Power Word Stun on Hexxat, and the enemy combatants abandoned their struggle to pick on her. With the inevitable result.
And then ... the wait is far shorter than I expected.
I still spend a while downstairs, letting the regeneration work as I loot the place.
Now, for the upstairs. We go in with a Mass Invisibility:
While he's level 18, he doesn't actually have anything 8th or 9th level memorized. Just a chain contingency and a spell trigger, both defensive. Not that they matter when you kill him like this.
The thief Ketta is invisible, so I use Albruin to reveal him. Then he drinks an invisibility potion - all right, add a True Seeing.
The very first thing she does with Celestial Fury? Land a stunning hit on Stalman, dooming him. Then Ketta gets revealed, drinks another potion, lands a hit on Anomen, and is finally visible long enough for me to do something.
Back at my stash spot, the guards show up again ...
Now, off to Watcher's Keep to pick up more loot on the first level. We're advanced enough to face it at full strength now, after all. Upon arrival ...
Then Edwin's spell finishes.
As we're down a party member, I head right back to Athkatla to pick Hexxat back up. This, of course, results in another run-in with the law.
I step outside, and it's another visit from Cabrina.
While doing this, a banter drops.
When the actual rest comes, it's the romance's turn.
Back outside ...
Finally, we return to Watcher's Keep, to take that first level on properly. The first piece of unique loot isn't guarded at all, but we have no use for a set of bracers usable only by a non-evil paladin. At least, no use right now.
A stone golem goes down without inflicting any damage, and it's a pack of trolls next.
As soon as we open the door ...
Next up, it's some mustard jellies.
Once that slow wears off, I open the next door.
One unique "spellhaunt", and the random monsters on this floor are gone. Just the plot encounters remain. First, the priest:
Then, the golems.
And now, for the boss fight. I buff with potions, summons, and spells.
First down? The bastard sword user.
That lets our party reorient and concentrate their forces. The remaining three foes fall quickly in a chain reaction.
In the second phase, we want to target the mage as soon as possible ... but that statue is slow to activate for some reason. We already have one foe down by the time it becomes targetable.
I only have one weapon that can go over that right now. Anomen, it's your turn to beat on the mage.
Well, all right, Korgan's rage expires before the battle is entirely over.
This sequence is worth a lot of XP, and we're in the right place for levels on almost everyone. Level 14 for Dorn, level 16 for Anomen (fourth dot in maces), level 16 for Viconia (staff), level 18 for Hexxat (stealth), and level 15 for Edwin. Only Korgan doesn't advance.
Then the haste spell wears off, and fatigue sets in for all but Hexxat. We settle in for a rest outside, where it's safe.
Next time, we travel far to rob a dead baby.
Back in Athkatla, we immediately turn to the graveyard so as to tombwalk once more.
We start in a corridor with no enemies - just a quartet of ghosts. Which we pick a fight with. After all, they chose to be annoying and use True Sight just because Hexxat was stealthed.
Their loot is largely potions, but superior healing potions are always welcome.
Once that's finished, the next corridor is full of traps and spiders.
After that, it's the corridor of traps and statues. While one of the items from earlier can be used to disarm traps, that doesn't include the spike field - so I don't use it. Instead, I just face what's there.
That leaves the wizard statues. They don't unpetrify on their own, so I check my stash ... ah, there's a blue scroll of Stone to Flesh. I'm giving up 6K scribing XP to use it, but that's OK since we're getting loot and XP out of it.
There's another group of statues past the spike field. They don't see us yet, so Edwin launches a fireball.
Once the statues are all dead - and all fleshy when they died - the hidden container becomes active. Along with a really obnoxious ambient sound effect.
The main treasure here is a set of boots of elvenkind. They're useless to us, as the boots of stealth Hexxat already has are just better.
That just leaves the worst part of all of this - walking through that spike field.
Once we're back in decent health we continue to the next room - the library. Three mages stand there, and a single line is enough to get them mad.
Once it's down to one mage left, he talks. I pick an option without paying much attention...
I do credit the foresight of the writers here with that option to misname the wizard because you're not paying attention. It only applies if Qais Ra'id is the survivor, though.
While I'm waiting, that sound effect from the chest is really bugging me, so I start looking into the scripts. Wait, there's no ambient sound in the area at all, let alone the one that chest-revealing script allegedly activates? Something's weird and probably broken here.
Still, I can have some quiet by keeping that area off screen. Find the key book, walk through the next trapped corridor, kill a bloated spider, answer some questions, and then enter the final room.
Her next spell is Protection from Good 10'. That's useless against us. Then Hexxat goes for a backstab ... stunned, but no bonus damage. That sprite doesn't have any visual facing indicator, so she wasn't looking the direction I thought she was. Oh well. She's still dead.
You can dodge almost all of the conflict in Hexxat's first tombwalk excursion, too. Pickpocket the key from Keno, don't steal from the mummy tombs, pickpocket the next key - only Nan Kung Chi is an unavoidable fight on your path. Unless you sneak past him and just take the Claw.
All that remains is to take the shroud and leave. Viconia offers another romance talk, and then we're teleported to the Copper Coronet for a chat with Cabrina.
And now, I step outside to hit my stash spot.
But we prepared the field. There are four traps under their feet.
Normally, when you get them down to one remaining, that one talks to you and flees, setting up the group's return after a day. But with a total party kill? They're never coming back. None of them survived to raise the others.
That battle is worth over 50K experience, plus a bunch of gear to sell. Including four sets of full plate, a set of +1 full plate, and a +2 large shield. It's a very profitable endeavor.
And now, after nine times fighting the law, it has gotten a bit tiresome. I'm done with having reputation 2. Time for a quest that will improve that, and to get out of Athkatla for a while.
On the way out, we get that repeating bandit ambush again.
And finally, the keep. The first stronghold event is ready.
These choices cost money, but they also make the people happier - which allows for taxes to be raised more later, earning that money back. For now, Dorn doesn't need that extra cash.
The party rests, and I bring this part and session to a close. Next time, we continue on to Trademeet. It's shorter than most of my posts, but that's just how the natural breakpoints shook out.
And with the session's end, I dig around some more into that sound effect in the tomb. And figure it out. What's going on here? Once you clear away the cruft of that script activating a bunch of things that don't exist, and the chest having every flag for no good reason, there's a pair of audio/visual effects associated with the script that activates the chest. And they just keep playing repeatedly, because that script block does. There's no "already done this, no need to do it again" condition in there. Which is a serious bug, and would break anything added on to the end of the area script. That one's going in the Fixpack.
We arrive in Trademeet to immediate battle.
That's not the only guard that dies. Another does at the northeast gate, in a way we probably couldn't have stopped. Beyond that gate, the thief Kich has wares unlike the regular merchants ... but they come at the ludicrously high markups that reputation 2 brings. Another time, perhaps.
We meet Rasaad, and leave him standing in the street. He wouldn't accept being in this party anyway.
I meet with Logan next; he's more suspicious than usual.
Outside, a halfling approaches:
Still, Korgan approves.
Before heading out, we talk to the djinni as well. Find and kill a rakshasa, right.
Over at the grove, we meet a druid:
Meanwhile, we face random monsters. One at a time. Like so many BG2EE spawn points, these are set to "encounter difficulty" 2, which means that the very first monster is enough to meet the threshold and spawn no more - even with the increased cap from my mod.
Farther south, we run into an actual group:
A group of spiders. A lone troll. A lone ettercap.
Then we turn to the troll mound, guarded by a group of them. Since they have more advanced trolls mixed in, we apply some magic.
And just before going in ...
Anyway, we have more trolls to fight.
The mound has some nice loot, but nothing we have a use for. Our only ranged attackers can't use the bracers of archery, and we have no spear users at all.
Outside, we move forward to find a battle in progress. Druid lackeys and trolls. Edwin, apply some indiscriminate destruction.
The mage does manage one offensive spell, but mostly the Cloudkill wins the fight on its own.
Next up, it's a group of druids. Have another Cloudkill.
Past the bridge, it's a group of trolls. Hexxat backstabs one, retreats to draw the others to the party, and then doubles back for an execution:
We pick up Belm and put it away. It's not to the taste of our dual-wielders anyway.
And then, it's rakshasa time. This can be a tricky one ...
Then the other two don't seem interested in casting spells at all.
The path forward brings some spore colonies ...
Passing by Cernd for now, we come to the entrance guards.
The Burning Earth isn't very useful for our party - Hexxat refuses to use it, and nobody else has longsword proficiency. We'll keep it around anyway; it is +4.
I make a save, and head in. Let's see what the evil option is like.
After that, it's a general fight.
And from there, if we returned to town, we would get a pathetically small (1000 gold and the Shield of Harmony) reward from Khellon and a -1 reputation penalty from Logan. No XP from either. Nope. Reload.
Instead, I head back a bit and invite Cernd to join. Edwin takes a break.
Cernd goes to level 13, taking Single-Weapon style and putting a helmet on. Apply spell buffs - Chaotic Commands, Remove Fear, Bless, Chant. He'll transform in the pit.
Cernd leaves, Edwin returns. Now, back to Trademeet to be showered with rewards.
We visit some of the attractions outside the wall next. First, the fortune teller.
Next, Wilfred.
I also stumble across something I didn't know - the statues at the fountain have names.
Anyway, we continue on to handle Jenia's problem.
Reporting back earns us another point of reputation, up to 4. Then we rest.
After that rest, we deal with the mantle. And hand it over to Logan, because we should act like heroes in this town at least.
And now, we follow that up with some skullduggery. The daytime merchants here aren't very watchful at all, and Hexxat can loot them without spending any potions. Many valuable items are claimed.
We also get some street theater.
I've been wondering why Anomen's romance hasn't moved in a while ... it's because I forgot something. He needs to go back to Cor to report his deeds. Next time, we return to Athkatla for that and other matters.
As indicated, the first thing we do back in Athkatla is talk to Anomen's father.
Then, we report back to Bodhi. And the deal is definitely looking worse for Dorn.
Bodhi wants Irenicus, and has worked with him in the past. Whatever she wants, it probably isn't compatible with Dorn's revenge. We'll definitely be on the lookout for her inevitable betrayal.
That also brings the party past 2 million XP each, and to several new levels. Korgan reaches level 16, Anomen reaches level 17, and Hexxat reaches level 19. The latter continues improving her Detect Illusion skill.
Back on the surface ...
All right, what happened? Remember the last love talk I showed, in the previous update? That was #62. If you choose right in it, as I did, the next talk is #64 on waking. Which skips the variable to 67, so the next one after that is #68. If you choose wrong in #62, the variable skips to 65, and the next talk is #66 shown here.
Instead, what happened is that the game glitched and didn't trigger talk #64 - that should have been in the same picture as #62, because it's immediate after waking. With that talk not triggering, the variable just moved on and incremented to 65, leading to talk #66 by the wrong path. Oops.
I go back to the autosave at the crypt entrance (my last quicksave is back in the druid grove) and set the variable to 67. Then go up to the surface...
That was the end of a session. Now we just have a bunch of little things to take care of before we get on the boat. In particular, I want to get Anomen's trial done with first.
The very first thing we do in the new session is improve our reputation. Anomen pays restitution for his crimes at the temple of Helm in the bridge district. Hide Viconia and pay 150 (7 to 8), then 100 (8 to 9). Then let Viconia return and pay another 150 (7 to 8).
So now, the shopping spree.
From Ribald, we buy the Staff of Rhynn, the Fortress Shield +3, the Reflection Shield +1, the two scrolls of Protection from Magic, and the Ring of Air Control. From Diedre, we buy the Sensate Amulet, Vhailor's Helm, the Mercykiller Ring, and the Shield of Balduran. From Joluv, we buy the Sling of Everard. Some of these items are immediately equipped, while others go into reserve.
While we're doing this, Anomen speaks up:
Since that shopping spree spent 80% of my gold, I decide to make it up by selling a whole bunch of jewelry and some generic magical gear. Just a first sale; we'll fence it all later.
But before that, we have an encounter to take care of.
This encounter brings two pieces of unique gear. The Dark Elven Chain +1 is basically just elven chain +1 usable by evil only (useless), while the Handmaiden's Mace is a +2 mace with an on-hit poison effect usable only by evil elven and half-elven clerics. Since Viconia is using the Flail of Ages, the mace doesn't measure up.
The yochlol in this encounter uses a generic demon sprite like nabassus and balors; I didn't get a look at it to say what color it is. That doesn't match the yochlols in ToB, which use drow sprites and cast spells like clerics.
There are some bandits on the way to the shop I choose to exploit. They just get a Skull Trap.
Then, after the first stage of my scheme, Anomen speaks up ... and reveals some serious misconceptions.
By the time I'm done selling things and stealing them back, we're back up to the 160K gold we started with before going shopping.
All right, I'd like to do at least a little fighting. After checking in at Dorn's keep and collecting the taxes, we head off to Watcher's Keep to take on level 2. Also, buy Firetooth, the Short Sword of Mask, and the gem bag. Disarming a few traps is enough to get Viconia over the threshold for level 17. Then fatigue catches up to Dorn, and the party rests.
Hexxat scouts the libraries and disarms the floor traps ... wait, no monsters?
Oh. They were just shy about spawning. Here they are.
The air library is the next to spawn its monsters.
They charge. They get hasted. They meet our line.
Then come the fire giants - on my third visit to that room.
When Hexxat returns, she walks over to her dropped gear and picks it up without even breaking stealth. Time for some revenge.
Finally, there's the ice library. It has mists, including vampiric wraiths.
Now, on to the labs. And there's no choice about the order, because of the chain of keys. First, we deal with some air elementals.
Second, the poison lab. The snake has a strong leash, which is rather annoying.
Third, ice. The ice golem is also on a leash, and it requires +3 to hit. Well, Korgan has a +3 throwing axe, so I don't need to get close to it.
The ice mists, though? One of them goes on an adventure.
Anyway, back to the golem.
Finally, the fire lab has a fire giant on a leash, after we deal with the elementals. Korgan abuses that one too.
With the libraries clear and the Helm of the Rock claimed, I stop there. We don't have that many elemental damage options right now, so the Chromatic Demon would be a serious challenge. I'll come back for it later.
Also, one thing that bugs me - why does Korgan choose the Rifthome Axe's melee mode automatically when going back to "prefer melee"? Because in all possible worlds, Frostreaver does more damage. And it's supposed to pick the most damaging melee weapon.
As we leave the keep, Viconia speaks up.
Anomen talks as well.
Well, it's ready after a rest.
Back in Athkatla, I pick up a fifth gem bag and then just wander the streets while I wait for the timers to run down. Oh - here's a scene of interest:
Also, we watch a play and pick up a quest. That'll wait until after Spellhold, though. And since Anomen doesn't feel like talking yet, I head over to the Seven Vales to pick a fight.
And now, with the battle done, that Anomen talk fires. It's just an hour and a half in game until he's called to the trial. I take that opportunity for a few more light jobs. First, check out Valygar's place in the docks, and get directed to his cabin in the Umar Hills. Second, check out the pirate hideout in the Sea's Bounty.
And as I head back to my stash ...
That line in the conversation is a reputation check, by the way. At a higher reputation, the prelate would have brought up Saerk instead. We get a bit of experience, and we're out of here.
After a few final preparations, we return to Bodhi. On the evening of day 29, with Dorn at 2.15 million XP and the rest of the party very close, we leave for Spellhold.
Next time, we explore an island full of pirates and treachery ... and thanks to a poorly thought out mod component of mine, considerably more pirates than usual.
We arrive in Brynnlaw safely, though not without some discomfort. Korgan does not have sea legs.
It's a glitch, but it just fits his character so well I had to include it in the narrative.
Our alliance with Bodhi means that there's no vampire fight right after we get off the boat, but the rest of town is basically the same. People going about their business, random pirate thugs attacking.
Then it's a crossbow-wielding group.
Annoyingly, that canceled my order to use the wand of fear. Which turns out not to be very effective when I do get it off; most of them save, and some that didn't attack anyway. Oh well. They're just mooks.
All right, what's different about these spawn points? The "encounter difficulty" parameter is still only 2, but these pirates have their XP/power level stat set to zero. And I think I've figured out the formula: spawn until (#creatures)*(power level) is greater than (sum of party member levels)*(encounter difficulty)/100, or the spawn point's cap is reached. Approximately, anyway; that 100 is a guess. Creatures that don't have that power level stat set properly will always reach the cap.
For context, BGEE spawn points are almost all set at power level 200. And here are some creature power levels, all of creatures that can appear at BG1 spawn points:
Kobold 3
Bandit 6
Black Bear 12
Ankheg 25
Phase Spider 50
Greater Doppelganger 80
A similar system is used for the Monster Summoning spells; at least, they use that same "power level" stat to determine how many creatures are summoned.
BG2 took the system that was in place for BG1, and didn't bother to extend it properly. Creatures that were copied over or cloned from them kept their values, but creatures created from scratch usually ended up with a zero there. And some of them get used in spawn points, creating this problem. But it was all papered over by setting low caps on spawn numbers ... and I've just ripped that cover off.
What does this mean for my mod component? I have to alter both "encounter difficulty" and "power level" values if I want it to work properly. The former for the spawn points themselves, the latter for the creatures spawned. But not this run, since I'm not going to change my mod midstream. I'll just roll with whatever weirdness it throws at me.
Anyway, back to exploring the town. We watch a duel, with an odd end - one combatant fails a morale check, goes berserk, kills his opponent, and then attacks us. A fatal mistake there.
There's a third mob of pirates, but no pictures this time.
I buy a couple things at the temple - a belt for crushing AC and a wand of the heavens. Then sell off the pirates' junk at the blacksmith's shop, and enter the tavern.
Meeting Sanik does not go well.
All right, time for plan B. We need to get into Galvena's place and find Claire.
After some persuasion and some stealth...
And that brings us to Galvena. While we've killed some guards, there was no actual fighting involved.
She rejects the offer. The fight is on, starting with a stealth attack on the mage Vadek.
Next, we pay a visit to the local Cowled Wizard.
All right, what can I get out of the book this time? It starts on Fireball, as always. Turn the page ... Protection from Evil. Again ... Spell Turning. Now that's a good one. I stop there.
I head off to talk to Desharik and enter the asylum. On the way, Anomen gets romantic.
Entering the asylum brings mage level 16 for Edwin. He'll be able to cast level 8 spells after his next rest. With four memorization slots, due to that amazing amulet of his.
There's time to kill inside, so I talk to some inmates.
Hexxat sets some traps, I shuffle some gear around so Dorn can have -17 slashing AC, and we wait. Sixty rounds from when we first talked to Lonk the Sane, which is six real minutes if you don't pause.
And with Irenicus' arrival, Bodhi's treachery is revealed. She had Saemon poison the party with a spell component in their food ... wait, how did that get Hexxat? Eh, whatever. We are captured, and cutscenes ensue featuring Irenicus, Saemon, Bodhi, and some girl Dorn has never met.
This realm is a warped version of Candlekeep, clearly drawn from the wisp of poor Sod's essence Dorn drew into himself but somehow corrupted by a darker power - most likely the Bhaal essence that came with him. A mysterious voice speaks, but Dorn ignores it for now.
Afer that, Dorn beats it down to near death with no further hits taken, but it refuses to die. Perhaps he should listen to that voice's advice and enter the keep.
The mysterious voice takes form as a young woman, and she proves useful.
Then Bodhi comes to gloat over her evil plan's success.
The mysterious woman from the dream appears in reality as well, and speaks to us. She is named Imoen, and she has been a captive for some time, drained of her own Bhaalspawn essence.
Despite that cruel dismissal, she'll still be back in Athkatla ready to be recruited. Which we won't do.
There are supposed to be dreams earlier in SoA that feature Imoen. For some reason, they haven't triggered this run. I don't entirely understand why that happened, but I'll run with it in-character. It makes sense, after all.
Next time, we face the asylum's challenges on our way to confront Irenicus properly.
All right. Taking stock of things, the experience we just earned brought Hexxat to level 20. She takes scimitar proficiency and invests in Pick Pockets (+20, to 170 before gear) and Detect Illusion (+5, to 55). That investment was so I don't need potions when I loot the Underdark merchants.
Now, on to the dungeon. The fights here vary widely in threat level. Gibberlings - hah. Yuan-ti ... I make a bit of a mistake, and the mages get their defenses up before I can get in any sneak attacks. Come back later.
Then comes the Clay Golem.
That allows us to reach the Bag of Holding. Our storage capacity for general items is doubled.
Next comes a riddle.
Another batch of riddles earns us a second ring of regeneration, and level 17 for Korgan.
Beyond that riddle spot, there's another group of yuan-ti; this bunch with only one mage. I can't reach a backstab spot on it, so I settle for one of the warriors.
Wait, why is there a dead snake-man over here? On closer examination, it went the wrong way and triggered the trap. Unlike most traps, those crushing walls trigger on anybody walking into them, not just the party. And they don't reset. So if you want to pass, you can just trigger them with a couple sacrificial summons.
Back with the action, there's one room on this side we haven't been to yet.
Fighting the snakes is not clean. I use a wand Cloudkill, and they charge out. Two of the mages waste their spells with Secret Word targeting Edwin. Then the next round is a Chaos - put up defenses, fast.
The third mage didn't come out with the others, so we go in. Another wasted Secret Word...
Returning to the rakshasa room now that the fog has cleared, I use the stones.
Opal for a Greater Wolfwere.
Ruby for a Pit Fiend.
Sapphire for a gift. Not one we'll ever use, of course - +3 plate wasn't good enough to use even in BG1.
With the first area clear, I take the last exit from the starting room and enter an Umber Hulk enclosure. This calls for a bit of finesse; they hit fairly hard in melee. So, then, split them up and apply a Cloudkill. Also, unlock the gates before they drop on their own.
Next come some mediocre undead - ghasts and mummies.
I turn left at the intersection. It's the safer path, and we need what's over there anyway before we can deal with everything on the other side. The first room brings a lone Mist Horror. The second room has a book that summons an escalating series of fights. A kobold captain. A sword spider. An umber hulk. A mind flayer.
And finally, a beholder. I prepare a bit, with Death Ward on Dorn and Anomen, a skeleton as a distraction, and Edwin out of sight.
After that, the last activation brings the reward. Two scrolls of spells Edwin already knows, and a ring of free action.
Then, kobolds.
Now, we have to face that last path. And the lich that awaits us there. Hexxat sneaks forward to trigger its initial buffs - PFMW, Spell Trap. I wait out the former before doing anything more.
Now, these random liches have a significant weakness in the vanilla game. Despite having high-level spells, they only count as level 11. And I have level 18 clerics. Anomen goes in alone, under Sanctuary.
That clears the way to Dace.
We have the stake, so we end him and take his hand. On to the next level. We havve some room for sneaking here...
The trolls on the other side put up more of a fight.
After a few trivial minotaurs, I go after the paintings. With Anomen, buffed to just ignore the spells.
Using the paintings brings fights. One monster at a time.
No pic for the spirit troll - we just ganged up on it.
Finally, an umber hulk. I expected a group, so I overprepared by hitting Korgan's rage. No, it's just one. And then wolfweres after the corridor turns.
The most dangerous fight around here is the group of clay golems guarding some treasure.
We now have 15 tokens, so while I'm over here I activate the machine. Boots of speed acquired. Dorn puts them on.
Moving on, we come to a corridor with a lone troll. Hexxat takes care of it.
And the other troll is past the door. Weird placement on this pair of enemies.
For the next step, Dorn moves forward alone. Bodhi returns, but something in Dorn rises up ...
The charm actually lasts longer than the transformation. Then it wears off properly, but Dorn is fatigued - the change does come with a cost. And clearly, Irenicus didn't get everything with his drain procedure. Perhaps he was only prepared to take one Bhaalspawn essence?
The next notable battle is a gauth. I put Korgan in front.
I loot the last few caches, head back to spend five more tokens on some resistance boots, and the dungeon is clear. Setting the horns in place brings 29500 XP, not quite enough for any levels.
The next sequence has a few minor fights, and a bunch of riddles. We answer them correctly, and pick up a few items. The Cloak of Reflection is nice (though dangerous to use in populated areas), the Bone Club is useless, and we'll never be able to use the Heart of the Mountain.
Finally, judgment.
Also, despite the apparent sunlight, this isn't actually an outdoor area. Hexxat is doing just fine without her cloak.
Returning to the interior, we meet the ever-troublesome Saemon. Our party has a lot to say about his plan.
On to the next area, and a meeting with Lonk. He doesn't take kindly to our plans ... but we prepared for him.
Beating down Irenicus is incredibly simple - he doesn't put up any real defenses. The inmates get in the way more than they help, as that Strength of One (lowering the strength of half the party) and Time Stop (delaying Irenicus' exit) show.
And so we have faced Irenicus properly for the first time, and driven him away. Dorn will track him down no matter where he has run, and reclaim that stolen power.
Though that may have to wait. Next time, forces that have nothing to do with the mage and his vampire partner interfere with the chase.
After the battle, we make for the exit - and run into Saemon again. It seems that now he's willing to offer us a berth on his ship for free ... if we just take care of a few problems for him. As much as we distrust the man, it seems more sound than following our enemies through an unknown portal. For all we know, the portal could lead into a hostile fortress.
That teleports us outside, where the first thing we do is head back in for the last bit of loot. And then, kill a few random enemies in the outdoor area.
Checking in with Saemon, he needs our help to recover his ship - but that must wait until night. As it's currently mid-afternoon, we'll rest before that. And before that rest, we visit the shop to loot it and sell our junk. Then, since Edwin is rather close to a level, we have a spell-scribing session. I save some of the high-level scrolls, but erase and re-scribe everything else.
As I go to rest ...
And on waking, Dorn doesn't get the slayer transformation ability. Since it's a session break anyway, I check on the scripting ... the dream cutscene that grants the power is activated by PLAYER1D.BCS. The "D" there stands for "dream", as this script is responsible for all of the dream cutscenes earlier in SoA as well. And none of those happened either; that script just isn't working this run.
So it looks like I'm not getting that dream. What else can I do? Well, the dream actually just sets a variable GivePowerSlayer to 1, and then the main BALDUR.BCS script actually grants the ability. I edit the save to set that variable, and things should work when I start the next session. Apart from the dreams, but Dorn has no reason to be dreaming of Candlekeep and Imoen anyway.
The edit works as expected.
It is also now after dark, and just before midnight. Plenty of time for some pirate intrigue. But first, we check out the asylum exterior again; the night brings different monster spawns.
After that, it's shadows.
For the remainder of our time on this island, Anomen switches back to Ardulia's Fall. It's no Flail of Ages, but the save-or-lose effect on every hit makes it a very solid weapon despite its low enchantment level. I've definitely underrated it in the past.
Next, we hit Cayia's place.
Down on the docks, Hexxat spots some likely trouble while scouting ahead, so she moves into position. Then the party moves in...
The remaining pirates are simple melee fighters. While Hexxat uses the convenient stairs to go for more stabs, it's mostly the warriors that handle things.
We give Saemon the horn, but his escape doesn't go as smoothly as he'd like. Desharik shows up, and he's not happy with anyone involved.
A fight ensues, though Desharik doesn't get involved ... until Hexxat backstabs him. Then he gets mad.
That also breaks plan A on the scripting - normally, Desharik initiates the conversation that sends us off. With him dead, Saemon just stands there after Desharik's men fall. Until we talk to him.
Three days later by the narration or no time at all by the in-game clock, the ship is boarded by githyanki.
The fight is on. And the randomizer rolled a good one for the battle music here - the song originally used at the Vicross estate in Neera's ToB quest. One little tip - don't attack the githyanki captain, as he's immortal. The other githyanki are all fair game, though.
The invaders focus a lot of attention on Saemon, who handles it well like the high-level fighter/mage he is. Meanwhile, we're killing them. The more boarders come - sahuagin. With the ship sinking, Saemon teleports away to save himself.
We next come to captured by sahuagin. Thankfully, they don't kill us right away. It seems there is a prophecy in play, and we may be the tools needed to resolve their crisis. After a test of our prowess, anyway.
With that, the test is passed. We are allowed free movement with just a promise to eliminate the rebels. And passage to their base with a promise to talk to them. As we have no loyalty to either side, we'll treat those promises as the empty words they are. We might help the side that makes the better offer, or we might just betray all sides. Only time will tell.
The lesser priestess here runs a temple shop. Unlike most temples, you can sell things there - and it has excellent prices. It also sells a wide variety of low-level scrolls, but we don't buy anything. You can't steal from it, after all, and Edwin already knows those spells.
On to the action. Our first task is to retrieve a key item from the abandoned drow-built section of the city. The guards warn us:
While not inhabited by sahuagin, this section does have some monsters. First, a group of spiders and ettercaps.
After that, it's a bone golem.
Some imps pose a riddle, easily solved. The treasure is well worth it, bringing a +2 cloak to upgrade Korgan's protection. Then comes the Spectator guarding the chest. Forgoing any need for a Wisdom check, Edwin interjects:
And now, we venture into the contested parts of the city. The rebels attack us on sight. Of course. They couldn't be reasonable sorts.
And farther on, the loyalist forces are just as bad. When we encounter skirmishes, both sides are hostile to us. So we kill them all.
And then there's a special encounter, Pass through the sculpted shark's mouth ...
The next encounter is another skirmish we interrupt.
Both sides in this skirmish call up some summons. A skeleton warrior for the rebels, and something called an Anguiliian for the loyalists.
This one takes more time and pain than most of the battles in this area, but the enemies go down.
For the next group, I get the drop on them and send in Hexxat for a backstab.
The next encounter is a pit full of undead. I send Anomen in alone.
Finally, we come to the stairs. There's a guard there with walkable terrain behind him, but no backstab is possible; that's all trigger. So we frontstab them instead.
Downstairs, we face rebels that can't be reached in melee. Well, at least I have been keeping up on the ranged options for this party.
We finish them off, and then head back. Why? Because I've been picking up all the loot, and our bags are full. 47 spears sold later, we have some room and are ready to pass the final door.
The rebels here, finally, don't attack on sight. And so, we have a choice to make. The king, or the prince? I let the item rewards decide for me; siding with the king offers much better stuff including the gauntlets of crushing you can't get otherwise. And you can get all the stuff from the rebels' side by picking the king's pockets.
And now, we meet the prince.
Anomen goes for a Flame Strike to exploit the sahuagin fire vulnerability...
What level of party where the sahuagin designed to fight, anyway? Looking up the stats ... there are two basic stat blocks that get used repeatedly. Weaker sahuagin with 19 HP, 9 strength, and the THAC0/saves of a level 2 fighter worth 175 XP. Stronger sahuagin with 81 HP, 21 strength, and the THAC0/saves of a level 10 fighter worth 3000 XP. They all have the same 5 AC, 2 APR, and level 2, though.
So ... the weaker rebel groups here are basically comparable to hobgoblins. And not the elite kind, either. The only extra challenge is their magic ammo, and they're limited to 1 APR with ranged attacks because they use crossbows.
Anyway, enough of that digression. We're done with the sharks. Next time, we enter the Underdark proper.
Going down the rope into the Underdark brings another burst of experience. And commentary from Viconia.
We also get some commentary from the Beamdog companions.
That experience boost brings level 20 for Viconia, who takes two-handed style.
Now, for the action. We turn to the north first...
What's going on here? This is another of those spawn points which my "Bigger random spawns" component affects. In the base game, it's set at the very low difficulty of 2, which would normally ensure that only one enemy shows up ... but mind flayers don't have an appropriate "power level" set and are instead at zero. So the encounter always fills to the cap. Three in the base game, ten after I blindly changed that.
When I get around to updating my mod, this component is definitely getting an overhaul. This encounter will result in about three flayers - less if you arrive with a small or underleveled party, more if you arrive with a full and overleveled party.
For now, though, I have to fight them. I've got the drop on them, so I open with a MR-ignoring Fire Storm.
Well, mind flayers are only level 8. How about a Death Spell? Meanwhile, I get the melee into the action. Hexxat backstabs one, Dorn and Korgan charge.
Edwin does have a Death Spell memorized, so he casts it.
Then, since the stun has a ten round duration and the brain drain has a five round duration, her Int is fully back by the time the stun wears off. Time to move on.
Next up, we have a shopping opportunity.
After that, there are some elementals to kill.
Midway through the first portal, Korgan gains a level.
I change up my tactics for the second portal - keep the party at a distance, and go for backstabs.
Hexxat even gets a one-hit kill on one of them.
Make that two one-hit kills, adding another on the last earth elemental. And the plan does seem to be working.
At the fire portal, the backstab plan is complicated by the enemies' love of wandering. Still, it works. And we've been regenerating all this time...
This one's a party of drow. Perhaps they're guarding something? Hexxat opens with a backstab on one of the ones that was trying to cast True Sight:
That second hit takes out one of the two mages. The priestesses go for Slay Living and Charm Person or Mammal - useless against Hexxat due to her undead nature.
Hexxat doesn't solo the whole group. The other mage puts up a Stoneskin, she misses some stabs, and eventually the priestesses come out for a general fight. But we've taken care of their best spells already.
Then comes the sequencer when the mage is near death. Cheated in without regard for the aura timer, because rules like that are optional in AI scripts.
Once Edwin's spell hits, we finish off the mage in moments.
This fight has earned us some drow armor. It would improve our AC. Is that a good deal? In my opinion, not unless we're fighting against drow. In the Underdark, saving throws are the most important defense against most threats. I'd rather have protection items than raw AC.
Continuing to the west and north, there are some spore colonies.
Beyond that, we meet a svirfneblin settlement.
Once we get the pathing to cooperate, we enter the settlement and speak to the leader Goldander Blackenrock.
That leads us to fight the creature - a Balor.
Well, Viconia goes to melee. While the party all resisted that Symbol: Stun, a follow-up paralysis ability caught Edwin.
Then Hexxat lands a stun on the demon, and it's over.
It's possible to steal the light gem, but that leads to all these friendly gnomes dying. Despite this party's evil, we don't want that. The merchant, especially, is worth keeping around.
As Edwin is rather close to reaching the 3 million XP mark, I choose to clear some of the side areas before speaking to Adalon. First up, the western path to the enclave of kuo-toa and assorted other monsters.
The first room brings a beholder and two gauths. I go for a simple approach here.
The battle does auto-pause itself at one point, though.
The second room is full of kuo-toa.
One undetectable trap later (tripped by Hexxat, spell negated by the Cloak of Mirroring), we arrive at a room with a demonic altar.
While we prepare for their level-draining attacks, I forget about the fireballs they like to start with.
Then Anomen takes a slash, and I have him drink a potion...
This encounter brings three unique and powerful items. The +3 full plate goes into storage; if I don't thing drow full plate is good enough, that certainly won't be. Korgan gets the 21 strength belt. And Dorn gets Soul Reaver; it's his main two-handed option for now.
Continuing on, we face more kuo-toa. For this room, Edwin uses a bigger spell.
That clears the way to the prince, still in his side room.
And with that, I leave. The last path in this area leads to the drow guarding the exit, and I don't want to face them yet.
Next time, we continue our Underdark explorations - and earn our first high-level abilities.
Now that we're done with the kuo-toa ruins - at least until we're ready to leave for the surface - we return to the Underdark hub. Our next target is the soul trap machine. And with this evil party...
The second facet is the gnome Bedlen. We've already spoken to Therndle, so we send him back home.
The third facet is a lich.
The fourth facet is a githyanki, Riti. Hexxat's backstab on him lands for 73 damage and a stun; he doesn't get a chance to recover.
Fifth, Raevilin Strathi. He can give you Albruin if you cast Heal on him. We already have the sword, so ...
Finally, the last facet is the mad fighter Aganalo. Killing him gets you his sword "Jhor the Bleeder", a +2 bastard sword with an on-hit "bleeding" poison effect. Bastard swords are thin on the ground early on in BG2, but they really come into their own with the Underdark sequence.
We turn to the southeast next, clearing out some kuo-toa.
And to the north, a drow war party teleports in.
Once this party goes down, there's one more enemy - the drow lookout. He runs away if he can, but a stunning backstab prevents that this time.
And now, with the hub clear, what next? Edwin's about 90K experience short of his level, and I want to take that before entering the city. So I head south and enter the eastern tunnels. We have illithids to kill.
Also, it has been a long day. Edwin's first stoneskin has expired, so he casts a new one.
We enter, and are ambushed by mind flayers that incapacitate the party ... all but one of them.
OK. Let's talk defenses. You don't fight illithids without protection from mind blasts and domination. I intend to protect the whole party, so I don't have to leave anyone behind.
Korgan's saves are good enough for immunity to both.
Dorn's saves are good enough for immunity to mind blasts, and I trade him the Visage for domination immunity as well.
Anomen, Viconia, and Edwin will get castings of Chaotic Commands.
Hexxat is immune to domination, and I won't add any protection against mind blasts. After all, she can't die to Int drain even if she fails a save and gets stunned.
Still, the spells can wait. For now, I just feed Anomen a strength potion. We have some fights to deal with before we face any illithids. First up, umber hulks.
On to the escape sequence, and a bit I don't understand flavor-wise.
Oh, well. We'll just kill them now to correct that.
Incidentally, this dungeon does have some locked doors that must be picked or bashed to progress. The first is the exit from the pit, at difficulty 20. Now that the protagonist is guaranteed access to Slayer form and its 25 strength, the game is comfortable throwing locks in their path.
After that locked door, it's the ogre jailer. Lots of hit points, 50% physical resistance.
And now, we cast our protection spells. And add some additional buffs - oils of speed for Korgan and Anomen, potions of heroism for all three warriors. Dorn switches to dual-wielding mode with Jhor and Foebane for higher damage output.
As the door opens, Simyaz's band shows up again.
That room had one of the flayers land a hit on Korgan. But one isn't a problem. We open up the door to the next enemies, and provoke them with a backstab...
Well, Viconia has a Raise Dead memorized. Cast it, add a Heal and a replacement Chaotic Commands. Anomen's back up for the next fight. Also, Hexxat dings level 23, taking five points in Open Locks, ten points in Pick Pockets, and the last ten points in stealth.
That next room still has some enemies in it, but we've reduced their numbers considerably. Hexxat continues the process with backstabs.
Now, the west. Another of those doors with a special lock is here, and Hexxat maneuvers to get it open...
As a side note, I had Anomen drink a potion of genius. A little more protection can't hurt.
Hexxat returns, though many of our buffs have expired. That's all right. There's not much left to the area. First, some pods.
And then, the final challenge. The elder/master brain itself. Pick the difficulty 30 lock and head in.
Back with the fight, the brain golems teleport in.
Then I realize that we aren't dealing any damage to the brain golem. You need +2 to hit them, and crushing to damage them. That leaves us a bit short on options - shuffle weapons around.
It works. A stun lands, and that's the end for the golem.
With the fight over, we take stock. Killing the brain gave us a lot of experience, and two party members level up. Dorn reaches level 18 and takes Hardiness for his first HLA, plus halberd specialization. Edwin reaches level 18, taking Summon Dark Planetar and dart proficiency. 9th level spell slots and something worth putting in them.
Over at the entrance, the former slaves' thanks are good for another chunk of XP.
Back out in the Underdark hub, we have a loose end to take care of.
After another visit to our stash spot near the svirfneblin village, we visit Adalon. It's time to progress the main plot.
The illusion is set. Next time, we enter the drow city.
As Viconia is a true drow, she knows what to say better than any of the rest of the party. She takes the lead here, like in this conversation at the city entrance.
The moment we leave the city ...
The loot from this bunch is mostly vendor trash, but we do get a +4 halberd with elemental damage out of it. Dorn is the only one with the proficiencies for it, though, and it faces stiff competition.
For the rescue itself, I summon some help.
But instead, I went in with only a little preparation - and didn't buff the party's defenses. Edwin gets stunned.
There's a fairly long timer at this point, so I head over to the duergar merchants and check out their new stuff. Wait, I mean steal their new stuff. Then drop a bunch of loot at the stash before returning to the city and speaking to Solaufein.
We have some enforced downtime now, so we check out the tavern's entertainment. First, the beast fights that Szordrin runs.
The second beast is a nabassu. Which has a base THAC0 of 16, so it only takes two Soul Reaver hits before it needs a natural 20 to hit. It's a dangerous foe if you're vulnerable to paralysis, but Dorn's saves are just too good.
The third fight is considerably more dangerous. The sahuagin prince has a base THAC0 of 2 and attacks five times per round. So I switch up Dorn's gear, to the Celestial Fury/Belm duo. Three stunning attacks per round (the enemy needs 13 to save) even without proficiency, and it still hits on a 2.
In hindsight, Dorn should have used a Command here. Like the city sahuagin, this one is inexplicably only level 2.
Finally, the fourth fight is a beholder.
There's nothing more in that fighting pit, so we talk to the patrons. One patron gets offended by another's joke, and says not to interfere - well, we can still act indirectly.
I add two healing spells during the fight to counter that ... but it's not enough.
And now, to the dueling pit. After watching a fight, Dorn challenges Lasaonar.
Lasaonar is a level 17 fighter with THAC0, saves, and hit points to match. Plus drow full plate and a +3 weapon. However, he has some weaknesses - his stats are all 9s, he only has specialization in his weapon, and he lacks the usual drow magic resistance. That makes him rather easy for a well-equipped player character to outduel.
Next up, Chalinthra. Dorn dual-wields the new Blade of Searing and Jhor the Bleeder for this one.
Chalinthra follows that by casting Harm. Which doesn't break Sanctuary. And neither does her going into attack mode; only the actual swing would end the protection, and I don't want to risk that. So Dorn evades her until Harm expires.
That's her last spell, though. Now it's a straight fight.
We continue to the mage duels, which Edwin will take on. With the Cloak of Mirroring, so he doesn't have to cast many spells. Just a summon or two.
The third fight has to wait a bit for a silencing word on Edwin to expire. Once it does ...
Upstairs, there are some captives from House DeVir. And Viconia has absolutely nothing to say about this. Disappointing.
That feels like enough for this adventuring day. Now, we rest. Edwin also scribes nine new spells in the level 6-9 range, plus relearns Enchant Weapon.
A new day comes, and Phaere is ready with new tasks. First, we fight a beholder. With some preparation for safety.
The actual battle is very short, of course.
We have some time to work with again ... and here's something to occupy that time.
Qilue herself has some odd scripting, teleporting away and walking back more than once.
The mages are dealing some damage here with fireballs; Dorn falls into the yellow. Still, we don't spend any actual resources; regeneration will handle things just fine.
Qilue herself drops a +4 dagger - which we'll probably never use. By the time we need +4 weapons for anything, we'll have better +4 weapons for everybody.
And now, with that side quest dealt with, we head out. This is a great time to hunt some beholders.
Before entering their lair, I prepare the party.
Dorn switches to sword/shield mode, with the Shield of Balduran. Immune to harmful rays.
Korgan puts on the Cloak of Mirroring; together with his saves, he's immune to harmful rays.
Viconia adds the Cloak of Balduran and Kaligun's Amulet to her natural 65% magic resistance for 100% MR and immunity to harmful rays.
The remaining three party members get some temporary protection with Death Ward. Plus Edwin adds Spell Shield and Protection from Petrification. That should be enough to handle the first room.
In my opinion, this is too good. So I made a tweak for it. Two options - either Spell Shield trades with the first antimagic ray (like it does with spells like Breach and Secret word) or antimagic rays just ignore it completely. I've chosen to install the former.
So, with that tweak, Edwin is protected against the first antimagic ray dispelling him. But if a second comes along, he won't have the Spell Shield for that. We'll have to work fast, and win this battle before that comes up.
Dorn goes after the elder orb, while the rest of the party focuses on the regular beholder.
I adjust my strategy here and give Dorn the belt of inertial barrier for magic damage resistance. Though it shouldn't matter much. One Cause Wounds ray is enough to exhaust the MST, and only elder orbs cast that protection anyway.
As the elder orb put up a Spell Trap, I have Edwin break it with Pierce Shield. Not that it matters.
If all we cared about was the eyestalk, we could leave now. But we'll go deeper and clear out the whole area. Also, note that Edwin's Spell Shield is gone - the elder orb did aim an antimagic ray at him. A good protection for a single fight, not enough for a whole lair.
Past that first room, it's a beholder and some hostile drow.
The next fight is a clump of three beholders and two gauths.
After that, we run into another fight - gauths against mind flayers.
Hexxat continues with some stealth exploration while we wait...
But then ... for all that it looks scary, we're prepared for any number of beholders. Though I'll speed things up with a bit of spell power.
Before long, the cloud is clear.
The group reunites at the ongoing battle in the north; Dorn goes around, while Viconia just walks through the cloud. A few more foes go down...
Up in the far north, there's another wonky spawn point.
After all that, only one enemy remains.
The beholder lair is clear. Next time, we return to Ust Natha in our quest to betray as many parties as possible.
Back out in the hub area, I'm ready for my next quest - dealing with Vithal. And this time, I don't have to cast Freedom from a scroll.
Anyway, on to our task of recovering the book of rituals.
With that dealt with, we head back to Vithal for the action.
The fire elemental gets stunned first thing and goes down like a chump.
Then to the air portal...
Naturally, we demand it all. And he tries to put up a fight.
We've picked up enough experience between the elementals, mind flayers, and Vithal himself for some levels. Anomen and Viconia both reach level 22 and their first HLAs - Aura of Flaming Death for Anomen, Implosion for Viconia. It's also their final THAC0 improvement.
Since three mind flayers came over after me, I decide to dispose of the others as well.
Now we return to Ust Natha. Our next task: intimidate the gnomes. Or fake it. I take the no-combat option like usual. This leads immediately into the next task.
We also earned some experience, and it's enough for Korgan's 21st level. He takes his fourth dot in hammers, and a Whirlwind Attack. Phaere also introduces us to the Matron Mother, and more things in the city open up. Like this encounter.
Then we run into a quest we can't turn down, and are commanded to kill some slime worshippers.
I also take this opportunity to give Hexxat a real helmet, and swap the green ioun stone over to Edwin. He has enough health to avoid Power Word: Kill now.
We visit Deirex's place, get sent away, and talk to Jarlaxle revealing that Visaj was his accomplice. OK, back for round two with the lich.
Deirex is actually level 18, and with our level 22 clerics we have no chance of controlling or destroying him with turning. So we hit him with a dispel instead.
As we pick up the gems, we are immediately transported to Jarlaxle. And we pick a fight.
On to House Jae'llat, and a more serious fight.
The bugs on her don't last, though.
Another of my mod components is subtly at play here - celestial levels. In the base game, devas are pure clerics and planetars are pure mages - but both of them have both priest and mage spells. So when a planetar casts Dispel Magic or Insect Plague or any of its priest spells, that's at caster level 1. With my mod, they're cleric/mages and all those spells are cast at level 25.
The planetar weapon also has a vorpal chance, and its vorpal hits also dispel the target. In the base game, that dispel chance is first in the stack ... so it can remove defenses before the kill effect comes up, dispelling a Death Ward and killing the target in one hit. My mod improves the dispel effect to actually dispel at level 25, but also reorders the effects so the dispel comes last and a Death Ward will actually protect you from one such hit.
So here, the planetar cast a level 25 Insect Plague, and then dispelled it with a level 25 dispel.
With all resistance eliminated, I take level 19 for Dorn. He grabs a Whirlwind Attack, which should be fun in two-handed mode.
I head out of the city one last time to place a round of traps and stash some things, then come back for the endgame. Deliver the items to the matron mother, and Ust Natha is sealed. 50K more experience for each party member, and Edwin hits level 19. New spell Improved Alacrity.
Also, I try out an equipment swap. Hexxat gets the Armor of the Viper for better AC; it's not like I care about her death save anyway.
The egg scheme comes, and we take our two sets of fakes. We do have to kill some guards:
If you wanted to be absolutely sure of the kill, the best option would be a Holy Word. Death to evil creatures of level 4 and below with no save and no MR. And a casting time of 1. But that really isn't necessary.
The golems inside the egg chamber are a more substantial threat. And as soon as we plant Phaere's fakes, they activate.
Phaere gets the second set of fakes, and it's on to the ritual.
Of course, that leaves the question of what to do with the real eggs...
Blackmist is ... underwhelming. It's a +4 halberd with three daily charges of blindness. In a small area of effect, but negated by saves and MR so lots of enemies resist. It doesn't even have any on-hit effects - and all three of the other +4 two-handers you pick up in the Underdark do.
Hexxat reaches level 25; I give her a Spike Trap and some more stealth. We could jusst leave at this point, but I'd rather just slaughter everybody. It's not like they'll put up any serious resistance.
I saw teleport markers, and mages using Mislead; there are some reinforcements that spawn in. But I don't see them in the temple. And I don't see them when I go out, either. Slaughter everybody (except the aboleth), and those reinforcements still don't show. Huh. Something glitched. Go back into the temple? No. Oh well. We'll get our fights elsewhere.
Like now, returning to Adalon. She's rather upset that we traded her eggs to a demon, though not enough to go hostile before we initiate conversation.
It wasn't really our buffs that made the difference - just the slight timing variation of Adalon not getting her own buffs in.
The forces at the exit are a bit tougher than those in the city - but backstabbing the wizard helps with that.
Then it's more drow in the passage up.
Actually, selling that stuff is a mini-session on its own. I go from 195K gold to 360K, and fill up the bags of holding and the potion case plus some inventory slots.
Then I visit those spawn points again; they refill whenever you leave to a new "master area". Ten mind flayers, ten beholders, ten gauths. 320K XP for very little trouble, compensating for what we missed out on with our choices. We got on the boat to Spellhold with Dorn at 2.15 million XP, and we leave the Underdark with him at 3.5 million.
As a side note ... the achievement for using both sets of fake eggs to get Phaere and Ardulace killed is "Triple Cross". Since we betrayed Adalon as well by sacrificing the real eggs - that's where the title for this part comes from.
Next time, we return to the surface and the unpleasant glare of daylight.
We leave the Underdark, only to find ourselves in a war camp of surface elves. Up on the surface, Elhan is even more unpleasant than usual.
Now, we must travel back to Athkatla. There is much to do there. But before we reach the city...
While Drizzt has dialogue for "you killed me before", this isn't it. That path only comes up if you import a character with some of Drizzt's gear on them. Since we didn't start with an imported character, that simply doesn't apply.
I open with two Greater Commands, a Chaos, and a Defensive Harmony. Bruenor and the cat fall unconscious, while Wulfgar is confused.
Then Hexxat goes for a backstab... but fails. She wasn't actually invisible, despite her stealth mode being apparently active.
This ... I'd call it a bug. And I'm not sure there's an easy fix. When transitioning areas, if time passes, the temporary invisibility granted by stealth expires, but the modal stealth state remains. So you have a character under stealth but visible, at least until they get a chance to re-hide. And to make matters worse, I've given Hexxat the Claw of Kazgaroth with its Blur effect, so I can't see at a glance whether she's actually invisible.
So, due to this problem, Hexxat gets shot with some arrows instead of landing a backstab on Catti-Brie. The rest of the party fares better, as we focus on Drizzt.
The remaining foes fall quickly after that.
While this bunch drop a lot of good stuff, it's not really good enough to use. And the unique items can't be kept for too long anyway, as once Bodhi's dead the enforcer Malchor Harpell shows up to take them back. We'll have to sell them off first.
Then, before we can go anywhere, more trouble shows up.
We continue to Athkatla, and are greeted by more bad news on arrival.
Regardless of your dialogue choice here, Anomen temporarily leaves the party to confront Lord Cor. We follow him to his family estate immediately.
With an affirmation of love, Anomen returns to the party and leaves Cor behind forever.
Now, where were we? Oh yes. The slums. Where our item stash is. But before we can reach it ...
This bunch like invisibility, so Dorn uses Albruin's ability and Viconia casts True Seeing. The former is enough for Kruin, at least.
Now, to sell the hot gear we picked up recently. Twice, so we get full value. Once to the merchant in the east, once to the Black Market Thief ... wait, the Black Market Thief in the slums isn't a fence? Very well, off to Jayes instead.
Now, we could take on Bodhi alone, but we'd appreciate at least a little support. Will the paladins help?
The other two potential sources of support against Bodhi, of course, are closed to us.
Before I actually go to the graveyard, though, I'd like to clear out some quests. First, that trouble in the Umar Hills. On the way out ...
Incidentally, if you do the thief stronghold, Hanj is one of the thieves you take charge of. Specializing in extortion, naturally. It would be neat if this encounter took that into consideration - say, one dialogue option if you killed the guild for Bodhi (Hanj is desperate and without backup), another if you're his boss (signal Hanj to back off because you have an idea for a better scheme.
For our reward, we get a look at this merchant's merchandise, and Hexxat can steal an inventory's worth of stuff.
And now, we travel. First, to Dorn's keep.
Also, we pick up some taxes. 500 from the regular coffers, plus a special assessment of 1000.
Next, to the Umar Hills. We arrive at night so "Fael" is alone, and make a deal.
Next, we speak to the mayor.
Then some delinquents.
After a little runaround to buy a gem that a chicken swallowed (even this bunch aren't going to extort it for free, and you can't pickpocket it), we visit the cave.
... Wait, no, Hexxat didn't save. She got the glue overlay, but she didn't get stuck. This is one that the EE fixpack should handle, because it's overhauling a bunch of stuff around immunities anyway.
The exact issue here: Mimic glue applies paralysis, a grease overlay, lighting effects, and a "Held" portrait icon. Standard paralysis immunity (as seen on undead like Hexxat) blocks the paralysis and the icon, but not the overlay. Grease immunity (as seen on flying creatures) blocks the overlay but not the paralysis and portrait icons.
Deeper in the cave, there are also some umber hulks.
Now, we visit the mage Jermien. Or return, because I think we talked to him earlier - it's not recorded in my log for certain. He hands over the magic sword, and activates the golem...
This encounter also pushes Korgan past the level 22 threshold. He takes his first Greater Whirlwind. Talk to Madulf, head over to Merella's former cabin - and on the way, a "female Edwin" banter pops.
Our investigation of the cabin reveals where we must go next - a ruined temple nearby. Oddly enough, the area is not unlocked by picking up the journal with the map in it.
This temple area is the one outdoor area in the game that Hexxat can safely stow her cloak. After all, the sun doesn't shine here. As for the fights ... we'll have Anomen take the lead.
Inside, turning is equally effective.
I do fight conventionally against the next batch of shadows - and pay the price, with both Dorn and Hexxat drained down to 18 strength. Oops.
Still, shadow drain doesn't last long. By the time we send Mazzy away and pick up the first sun gem, it's gone already.
Now, for a more serious threat.
After dealing with some friendly ghosts, there's a second lich group. I use the same tactic on them.
Then, the one enemy in the whole area that isn't undead - a bone golem. It goes down quickly, though not before delivering a hit. On Edwin, who neglected his usual Stoneskin.
The other door here holds a shadow.
Piece together the clues, and the way forward is clear. The dragon awaits.
While only two of those poison hits had successful saves show up in the log, all four saves were successful. The trap instant death effect is a save with a +4 modifier, and the dragon's base death save is 3. The other two saves must have been rolls of 1 or 2 before the modifier; if a positive save modifier is actually needed, it doesn't show in the log due to a bug.
We pick up the loot, and head straight on to the next fight.
I really don't have an answer for that one. But I only transformed for the reputation penalty anyway, so it's all good. On to the battle.
Time advances to morning, and the sun shines once more. With the sun - Degardan returns.
Various levels ensue with the experience reward for defeating the Shade Lord. Level 26 for Hexxat, boosting Find Traps and Open Locks so she won't miss anything in the sunlight. Also, a second Spike Trap. Level 24 for Viconia, club proficiency, and Mass Raise Dead. Level 24 for Anomen, sling mastery, and Globe of Blades. Level 20 for Dorn, and Greater Whirlwind.
Our triumphant party returns to the village to collect the reward.
And now, we rest. Next time, we return to Athkatla with a body.
After setting a few traps around Fael, the party turns north, to the last unexplored corner of this map. Valygar should be somewhere around there.
With that, Valygar's cabin is open to us. He talks, revealing that the Cowled Wizards had ulterior motives in all this ... but we're still not going to spare him.
Back in Athkatla, it's time for a bit of shopping. That is, buying things and not just shoplifting.
I head over to the docks to visit Cromwell ... wait, what?
Edwin scribes eleven new spells and a bunch of redundant scrolls, reaching level 20 (Dragon's Breath). Then we talk to Cromwell.
With the party now rested, we move on to the sphere. And the key is simple.
Though we will have to deal with the monsters to do so. Starting with this mephit.
The opposite door holds a clay golem, which is more troublesome.
We use the lever, and the sphere moves. The viewing room shows some demonic realm, and the door to the outside is sealed anyway. The only option is to go forward, deeper into the sphere.
The first room holds some friendly knights, who warn us of some of the dangers ahead. And opening the door ...
The other exit to this room holds sahuagin - the one truly optional room in the main area. I give them a wand fireball.
I return to the halflings, and find another group of ten warriors. I don't have any more Skull Traps, but this bunch is lined up in a very tempting way...
Then the mage Kayardi forces our hand with a Symbol Stun that catches Hexxat. We have no choice but to enter battle now. Psionicist Entu is first to fall, and then Dorn and Korgan switch to normal weapons for Kayardi.
The enemies did us a bit of a favor there, splitting the encounter into two. Now we face the cleric Mogadish and another ten warrior minions.
From there, it's trivial. No more spells are needed on our side, and no more cast by the enemy.
After squashing a few spiders, we continue to the last halflings. Two mages Necre and Taibela, supported by only two warriors.
Still, she's low enough that Korgan can finish her off without even breaking her stoneskin. And Dorn handles Necre.
This room also contains three furnaces, which we activate. The elementals are no trouble at all.
After that, it's a more serious threat - golems. This time, I'm not going to fight fairly.
The experience from that fight brings level 23 for Korgan, and a second Hardiness.
Now, we can wake the guardian golem. And we're not going to leave it to fight the beholder alone.
Unfortunately, we don't get credit for that kill. That was the whole point of joining in!
With this main area clear, we continue on to navigation - and Lavok.
Lavok's defenses go up, and the Breach follows immediately. With our warriors entering melee as well. Moments later, it's over.
There are two side rooms here, with some inexplicable unique items. No, it's not that they are unique that's inexplicable - it's that their flavor text references the Forgotten Realms. Come on - they should be low-powered items themed around other planes instead. This sphere has been to many places, but it only returned to Toril recently.
The last path requires that we solve a puzzle - these runes.
And now, the engine area. Where Cowled Wizards are already waiting for us. I send Hexxat to backstab the unnamed one...
This hub leads to two rooms. First, ice.
Still, mere high HP won't stop us from clearing the room.
Second, fire. This room is more dangerous in general, and particularly likely to inflict chip damage with area fire spells from the likes of mephits.
The engine room itself is just a dead end for now, as we don't have a heart to feed it. I'll still clear the room out. First, a clay golem.
Next, we walk around to trigger the golem packs. And do something very unfair.
It's not perfect, though. The other pack spawns as well, and one stone golem flanks us.
As for Hexxat - while I passed her a Sandthief's Ring, she didn't need it. Her stealth just stayed up. Korgan gets the kill on the first adamantite golem, Hexxat repositions, and Edwin gets the kill on the second.
Only one challenge remains in this quest - a small pocket of the Abyss. And the way the enemies are placed here makes it excellent backstab territory.
Before I take on the other two nabassu, I swap some gear to Hexxat - the Helm of the Rock and the Ring of Fire Control, for 75% fire and acid resistance. The nabassu gaze attack deals fire and acid damage in BG2, after all.
The last of the three, Lea'liyl, is a messier fight. They summon maurezhi, which can see through invisibility and so don't get separated from their boss as easily.
And now, we can finally leave. The sphere returns to Athatla, and we take Lavok out to die in the sun.
I also take this opportunity to shuffle strength boosters around; all six members of the party now have 19 or more strength.
Finally, I end this part where it began - in the Umar Hills. The Human Flesh armor is ready.
Viconia takes the armor, worsening her AC but freeing up the Cloak of Balduran for Dorn. She still has 95% MR, and can improve that to 100% with the 10% MR amulet.
The party rests at the inn here. Next time, we continue further east to deal with another dragon.
Arriving in the Windspear Hills brings an immediate confrontation.
After two Greater Commands to no effect, I throw in an Aura of Despair.
Garren Windspear arrives to provide exposition. Illusions were in play, making each side of the conflict appear as monsters to the other - and we have slain members of the Radiant Heart order. That could be inconvenient, so we accept Garren's help in clearing our name of this deed.
At Garren's house, time passes and trouble arrives.
Then Garren returns. We inquire about that name-clearing part...
And before we leave...
Outside, night has fallen. And ... wait, that spawn point generated a single wild dog?
To the east, we help out a dryad - and then whack her.
Most of the outdoor encounters are trivial, but there is a pack of werewolves.
And with nothing more of note outside, we enter the dungeon. A group of hobgoblins greet us immediately, along with a higher-ranking orog.
As we return inside, vampiric mists get involved.
There are two mist spawn points in this area, with normal maximums 2 and 5. In this run, that's ten instead. Plus I might have spawned those points twice due to going in and out...
Anyway, we continue to some hobgoblins.
Next, a more dangerous foe.
More sneaking follows for the orc pack, as Hexxat prevents the archers from getting even one arrow off.
And finally, the rest of the mists.
That brings us to the dungeon proper. Starting with a rather nasty orc ambush protected by hidden locked doors.
The next challenge is a group of golems.
After killing a couple cowardly orcs, we turn to the troll cook and his goons.
Beyond those goons, there's an otyugh pit.
After a few more orcs, the next danger is a section full of undead. Anomen, this one's yours.
After accepting Samia's suspicious offer - with reservations - we start with the other path.
With that group cleared out, I turn to the tomb. Korgan equips fire immunity and faces the guardians, with some backstab assistance from Hexxat.
The only troublesome fight in here is the Director, a beholder variant that uses damage spells.
We finish the mask, deal with the hidden elemental, and set some traps. Then pick up the loot ...
Now, we move on. Open a door, kill some orogs, disarm a trap. And then, it's the golems' turn.
More little events follow. An elemental-guarded treasure, a dispute we interrupt by killing all of the participants. And then, one more batch of golems.
The other path on this side is an attempt at an ambush. We turn it around on those wolfweres.
And now, only Tazok and DigDag remain.
On to the fight, then. Draw out DigDag, stab him in the back, slash him in the front.
We meet Iltha, and hear her warning. Now, for something truly dastardly.
Phase 1: attack Conster. At range.
Then we come back down ... no. The dragon is hostile. This isn't the way to do it.
Right ... can't fight him, because that makes Firkraag mad. Can't pick his pocket for the key, because he's too close to Firkraag. What does that leave ... oh, right.
The charmed Conster walks over away from his boss, and I pick his pockets.
Now, we return. Wait a moment...
I think she failed to escape the area before the party left, and that interrupted her script. Oops.
The trip back to the cabin is uneventful, and Iltha is also there.
We have slain our third dragon, the last that can be eliminated without truly fighting. Next time, we return to Athkatla to face Bodhi.
After visiting Cromwell to forge the red dragon scale armor and resting in the process, we turn to the graveyard. It's just after noon when we go ... and then time advances to midnight. The game demands you face the vampires at night.
Bodhi is there on arrival to taunt us - and worse.
Korgan gets the Mace of Disruption in his off hand, and Hexxat gets Anomen's holy symbol for now. The rest of Anomen's gear goes in storage. Actually, while I'm at it, I swap that holy symbol of Talos for one of Tempus.
More vampires await in the graveyard. Naturally, now that I have a bit of room, I get in some backstabs.
As I head toward the entrance to Bodhi's lair, I pass by someone of note.
And now, we enter. The paladins are here as well.
Incidentally, Eric got both fledgling kills so far. It seems he's quite effective when made into an Undead Hunter - one of my mod's components.
We continue on to another room, with the pool of blood that once held the Mace of Disruption.
Now, for the main hall. And that's a lot of vampires.
Tanova wasn't in the cloud, and didn't act. She gets a backstab instead ... a stunning backstab. The party comes up and finishes her off before she can recover. That just leaves one vampire on this level, the mage Guard that doesn't start hostile.
Hexxat loots the gauntlets in the pool, and takes a couple spike hits drawing out the vampiric mists. Painful, but no big deal in the long run. Also, Dorn and Viconia are fatigued; the rest at Cromwell came at the beginning of the forging process, so it has been more than a full day including the time skip. We'll have to wrap things up quickly.
And now, the final confrontation. I apply one buff spell - Improved Haste on Korgan.
And in the initial moves ...
But Edwin's back, and he casts a Horrid Wilting.
Oh well. At least we get the XP for staking Bodhi and retrieving the Rhynn Lanthorn.
Back in the upper level, there are a few more goodies to collect outside the vampires' domain. Plus some traps, spiders, and those weird red skeletons. Korgan levels up to 25 here, taking Critical Strike. Then we come back ...
We visit Cromwell again for the rest, forging the useless Equalizer. And then, we head out to restore Anomen. It's not entirely uneventful.
The rest of the journey is uneventful, including the walk through the temple ruins.
Taxes have come in, but the plot hasn't advanced. The next event involves a runner showing up, and those are particularly prone to trouble. I look into things, examining a save ... the variables say the runner should have spawned. In fact, I find a smoking gun - creature BDOFFSCR exists in the Windspear Hills, at the dungeon entrance. The spawn triggered when I exited the dungeon, but its block was only partially executed and the runner never actually spawned.
All right. Create the messenger.
Now, we return to Athkatla. And we finally enter the sewers under the Temple District, where the quest Dorn inherited from Patsy awaits. But we're not dealing with the cult just yet. First, we need to clear out the hazards in the main area.
Unfortunately, the lightning bolt doesn't end there.
The second time around, I don't let that spell happen.
When the rest of those magic missiles land, the kobold is killed outright. The rest of the fight is easy.
On to the bandits in the north. Hexxat makes the first move.
The remaining bandits go hostile, and one follows Hexxat in her retreat.
Next, the southwest. I set a few traps, then walk into a trigger...
The remaining monsters are mostly trivial. A see troll, some kobolds, a carrion crawler, a pack of otyughs ... wait a moment.
The main sewer area is clear. Next time, we continue our exploration of what lies below Athkatla.
Before I continue on hunting the cult, I turn to the real reason I wanted to come here - the secret area unlocked by the key Tazok had. It's an illithid lair, though we start with some thralls. Hexxat backstabs the mage, and the remaining foes attack.
Incidentally, this area gets Neera battle music.
The second room is all illithids, so I boost our defenses with Chaotic Commands on the priests. And then draw them out with a stab.
The final room holds an alhoon, the leader of this bunch. As always, we open with a backstab.
Now, for the alhoon.
The Hammer of Thunderbolts is ours. And we're improving it immediately.
Since that consumed Viconia's strength gauntlets, I trade the belt Edwin was wearing to her. We'll have to live with one low-strength party member for a while.
And now, we head back to the sewers, this time to continue farther down and actually do that investigation the temple of Talos wants from us. The monsters here are quite varied, but not terribly dangerous. Some shadows and ettercaps first, then a more elaborate trap.
Then we speak to the cult leader Gaal.
That opportunity arrives in the form of Sassar, an exile from the cult who knows of a secret path to the beholder and an artifact that could be used against it. For now, we must continue down to the long-forgotten temple below.
With the cloud still up, we look forward for the moment...
After a riddle bridge, there's a group of beholders. This time around, I'm using saves and the Cloak of Mirroring for Dorn, the Shield of Balduran for Anomen, and magic resistance for Viconia. Korgan doesn't have outright immunity here, but he has unbeatable saves and enough resistance to energy damage that he won't go down quickly. Against a small group like this, that's good enough.
We do run into one complication, though.
We disarm a threat, and then we face a unique enemy.
That frees the avatar, who gives us half of the artifact. Edwin is not impressed.
Now, we head back. Through the cult's domain, and down into the pit where they dump the dead bodies. There are random ghasts and mummies, but I don't bother with turning here.
For the lich group inside the hut, I initially avoid the trigger so I can set traps. Then only two of six traps connect, leaving us to plan B.
For the beholder lair, it's back to the specialized gear. Though this time, I'm giving Dorn the resistance setup and Korgan the Cloak of Mirroring. After Dorn takes a slowing ray (that one has a -4 save penalty), he switches back to the spell save amulet - but it'll still take time to wear off.
Also, I'm not sure what that weird hoop animation is.
The other substantial fight in here is the group of "Blind Priests" in the center. Who are not actually blind.
Finally, there's the Unseeing Eye itself.
After returning the depleted rod and receiving a shield we have no use for, there's just one loose end left to clean up - Gaal and his followers.
With the cult dealt with, we turn to an unrelated matter.
And then, back to the temple.
If you complete the Unseeing Eye quest while already having a stronghold, you get the mace Ardulia's Fall. Or, in the case that you work with Helm, if you're not a cleric. The other two temples check for cleric status much earlier in the quest and just assume it here.
The tricky part is the reward for the Sarles quest. If you've started the cleric stronghold (any version), you get a choice among three items - the same three items from all three temples. If you haven't, you get an item that depends on which temple you're working with; a Helm of the Noble from the Helm temple, a Periapt of Life Protection from the Lathander temple, or Ardulia's Fall from the Talos temple.
So, then, a character that works with the Talos temple but doesn't do the cleric stronghold gets Ardulia's Fall twice. Even though it's really supposed to be a unique item. Oops.
Anyway, that pile of experience earns us some levels. Level 27 for Anomen (Energy Blades), level 30 for Hexxat (stealth, Time Trap), and level 22 for Edwin (Comet). The party's reputation also inches up to 9. And for our last act this session, I visit Cromwell to put together the Gesen bow.
Now, back to the action. Specifically, we continue what we started with the Shade Lich.
Then we head out for more lich hunting. First, the hidden room in the Crooked Crane.
In addition to the ring, wands, and useless Rod of Terror, we get Daystar. A very powerful weapon that Hexxat refuses to use - leave it to Dorn, then.
Before turning in, I take the time to upgrade a summoning item.
And then, it's right back to Cromwell.
Though ... not this fight. Or the next.
The golden skeleton is complete. And this is the first time I've taken on the demilich since I wrote my "Fifty Ways to Kill a Kangaxx". What are my plans? First, protections. Edwin has Spell Immunity: Abjuration. Anomen and Viconia have Shield of the Archons. Dorn has the Book of Infinite Spells for Spell Turning. Korgan has his rage. Hexxat has Avoid Death.
Second, offense. Daystar and a non-proficient off-hand for Dorn, Crom Faeyr and a non-proficient off-hand for Korgan, Mace of Disruption for Anomen, a non-proficient Dragon's Breath halberd for Hexxat, my very limited supply of +4 bullets for Viconia, Staff of Rhynn for Edwin.
No, wait, I haven't memorized SotA. Anomen and Viconia stay back and split the +4 bullets, then. At least in vanilla, Kangaxx chooses targets based primarily on proximity, so they should be safe.
I do try to dispel the defenses, though. They could be trouble, especially if they persist through the transformation. And ... level check failed. Not surprising, as Kangaxx is level 27. Try a cleric dispel instead ... not fast enough.
Which fails; I'm not in the right spot to push him like that. But the demilich doesn't inherit buffs from the lich (it's technically a new creature), so our melee forces take up the slack.
Anomen gets the ring, though I'll shuffle it around as needed for regeneration. Also, that's a new top kill for Dorn.
Our lich-hunting is done. Next time, we return to the sewers for a rescue mission.
Back in the sewers, it's time for the final side area - Mekrath's lair.
Next, it's a group of yuan-ti. I send Edwin in to cast an Incendiary Cloud...
But ... the three mages all fire off their Spell Sequencers. Which include Haste. If we wait that out, the whole group will be fatigued.
Continuing past that spot, we find Haer'Dalis.
Haer'Dalis joins the party, with Hexxat taking a break. I feed the bard some scrolls - enough for about 50K XP per party member. That gets Viconia to level 28, for single-weapon style and Elemental Summoning.
Also, my party AI tweak shows its hand.
After a bit of talk back at the playhouse, we agree to help out with the planar conduit they're summoning.
Through the portal, I give Aawill a very Dorn line...
I notice the invisible thief going after Edwin. Switch to melee, and move. Also, get Dorn on revealing that.
It's not fast enough to stop the mage from starting to cast something ...
Korgan gets the third set of boots of speed. After some regeneration, we press forward.
I pick up and lore-ID the collars ... what?
The next group of enemies is a yuan-ti pack. They get more effort - a Cloudkill to draw them out, then a rage and Holy Smite.
Fortunately, up top, the mages have been wasting their time with spells like Secret Word on Edwin. Who doesn't have any spell defenses up. The only actually effective spell they get off is a Confusion that catches Hexxat; she gets sucked into the trap before she can attack anyone.
Once Hexxat returns to her senses, we poke forward some more and draw out another thrall.
While I wait for a Shadow Door to expire on a nearby mage, the Warden casts Spell Turning. Again. His initial casting must have worn off.
Anyway, on to that next little fight.
The Master of Thralls is not any more effective.
We now have the orb, and could destroy it to free the thralls. But there are some things I'd like to do first. Specifically, clearing out those trap rooms. First, the wolfweres.
Then, the efreeti. The entrance to this pit risks drawing the warden's attention, but the exit is farther back where it's safe.
The other two follow Hexxat out and die to the unified party.
Then we head back around to the short path to the warden.
The next trap room is far enough to get the warden's attention. Which we ignore, just making sure he doesn't have time to target Hexxat with anything too dangerous.
The exit drops you north of the entrance, and while it's sometimes possible to sneak back south through the trap, that's not reliable. Better to head east for the efreeti trap room. Like this.
Back at the room we're trying to clear out, there's one more mage...
For the priest, Hexxat just stays in there and fights conventionally.
Now, we can break the orb and face the warden.
Oh, and because of those levels? He doesn't even get a decent caster level on his mage spells. They're all at minimum effectiveness.
The warden tries to delay his death with a Mislead. Hexxat has 100% Detect Illusion.
Some housekeeping follows, with one last visit to Cromwell to forge Wave.
The last of the stronghold quests are done. Next time, we do some side questing.
We start our side questing with some limited wishes. The really limited, one-time ones. Edwin memorized a bunch of instances of the spell along with a Project Image before we put Wave together, so he can do them all at once. Incidentally, the PI clone lacks Edwin's personal amulet due to clone mechanics, and therefore merely has as many spell slots as a normal specialist. The spell isn't nearly as useful for him as it is for most mages.
We start with a bunch of wishes that create items. And then whack the clone so we can actually get them.
Next, we're off to the bridge district.
The next step brings more objections.
On the way to the druid grove, we check in at Dorn's keep.
In the end, Dorn chooses Jessup, pays for a full dowry, and recoups the money by collecting taxes.
And now, a detour. Before searching out Grae, we check on the three small areas that became available with chapter 6. First, the North Forest.
Also, there's the mist form. Hexxat uses Detect Invisibility, I go for the attack to finish the efreet off, and it turns to mist. While panicked from a failed morale check. In fact, it's still panicked when it finishes regenerating and returns to solid form.
Next up, Hexxat provokes some trolls. And Korgan puts them down.
Add a greater wyvern to the kill tally, and then continue to the party. They're a dangerous bunch, with a level 15 mage and a level 14 priest.
Anyway, the priest, mercenary, and duergar are confused, while the mage, archer, and auxiliaries are fine. I knock out the archer with a Greater Command, and gang up on the mage.
Checking the scripts, I figure out what happened. The mage has the scroll of Time Stop in a quick slot, and a "potion use" script that assumes whatever is in that slot is a helpful potion. Blind AI stupidity used the item, but we killed the mage before the spell could finish casting.
Small Teeth Pass comes next. And it's the least interesting overworld area in either game. Next!
The Forest of Tethir actually has some interesting stuff in it. Plus some nice battle music, with the randomizer.
Next up, we have a cameo.
And with that fight, Anomen levels to 28. He takes his fourth dot in slings, and Implosion.
On to Coran's troubles, then.
In addition to the normal enemies, we do have one inexplicable oddity.
In the end, after getting off a Sunfire as well, the mage goes down to normal weapons wearing down his Stoneskin.
This area has one unique item, in a cave. It's a bow we'll never use. That cave also holds a pair of kuo-toa spawn points.
There's one more notable encounter as we head for the exit.
The party rests in Trademeet, and sells off a bunch of junk to the local merchants. Then we're off to the druid grove.
And ... oops. Korgan reaches Grae first, and slays her in one hit with Crom Faeyr. Which means she doesn't talk, and there's no way to get the gong. Reload.
The area has not been repopulated at all. We face no trouble whatsoever reaching Drush at his tower.
We have explored all of the outdoor areas we can. Next time, we take on an actual challenge as we return to Watcher's Keep.
In Watcher's Keep, we pick up where we left off back before the Underdark. We've cleared out the elemental level, except for the final boss. And now, with our expanded capabilities, we're ready to face the Chromatic Demon.
As usual, the plan for the demon is to focus on one element, and wait until it's in the right form to release massive burst damage of that element. But unlike previous runs, I'm going with acid and poison here. Naturally, this means that the demon cycles through all the forms I don't want. Repeatedly. For an unreasonably long time.
Finally, the air form comes up.
Sure, I could have used spike traps; none of the forms are resistant to magic damage. But that's no fun. And a seventh normal trap would have required me to rest beforehand.
Hexxat reaches level 31, taking yet more stealth and a Greater Evasion. Also, that's her seventh instance of Set Snare. Viconia reaches level 29, taking Globe of Blades. She has all her HLA spells now. Edwin re-memorizes his sequencers, and we step outside to rest.
And here, I'll note something that bugs me. All the Watcher's Keep portals reset your zoom level. I like playing a bit more zoomed in, with bigger sprites - but every time I step through a portal, that goes away. It's not even an explicit effect in the cutscenes that I can edit; it seems to be inherent in the LeaveAreaLUA script action itself, which is the part that actually moves the party.
Now that we've opened up the next floor, we go there. And follow Yakman so that we can get some answers.
Now, we get into the teleport maze proper. Which means those darn zoom levels resetting every room. I'll start with the null-magic areas to the east, because getting those out of the way first lets us use more buffs later.
Hexxat also goes for a backstab on a cornugon ... immune. Unlike demons in other parts of the game, which generally just see through invisibility so you can't sneak up on them without a distraction. Still, we power through that.
Then I check the pillar.
Korgan reaches level 27, mastering two-weapon style and taking a second Greater Whirlwind. Then, after letting the meteors die down, we continue east to the next room.
Making the deal with Tahazzar requires that the nearest PC (the one that the demon speaks to, which should be whoever's taking point in the party's formation) be neither good nor lawful neutral, and also that player 1 not be a lawful good paladin or cleric. This party has no trouble whatsoever meeting those conditions.
The devils are less stringent in their requirements. Only a lawful good paladin protagonist or a speaker that's either lawful or neutral good locks you out from making the deal with Ka'rashur.
All right, moving on. Both exits from this room lead to dead magic areas, and we choose the one that we haven't been to before. It's full of devils.
The cornugons go down easily enough, but the electrified missile attacks of the velithuu cause some pain (they use a clone of the Gesen bow). And the pit fiend goes invisible...
After a bit of regeneration time, I head east to the wild magic quasits. Because that's the sort of annoying I just want done with as soon as possible.
There are also some nicer surges mixed in, like the double hit points on Korgan or the earlier globe on Dorn.
More surges follow. Hostile squirrels get summoned, and then one spell actually gets cast successfully.
And finally, it ends. We didn't get hit with any long-term harm, at least.
Dorn earns level 24 here, taking long sword specialization and Power Attack. I take the time to regenerate fully before moving on.
Our next target is to the south - the succubus and her minions.
The next room to the south holds Ka'rashur. Which means we're going to prepare for a big fight.
Also, when looking through that imp script - how did it choose to target Anomen with that Breach? A specific buff it wanted to get rid of? Nope. Nearest enemy.
Rather than letting our haste wear off and induce fatigue, I head back to a null magic zone to dispel it. We have to pass through one on the way to Tahazzar anyway. Edwin also takes his level, reaching 23 and picking up an extra level 6 spell slot.
Back with Tahazzar, we complete the deal.
Back where we defeated Ka'rashur, the next step is south to the glabrezu summoners.
Also, those Incendiary Cloud/Horrid Wilting visuals? Pure visual effects, with no actual presence. But they linger, and stack, which makes for a very messy battlefield.
Our next target is to the west - a party of tieflings in a wild magic room.
We turn our attention to the warriors, and to the thief when she's visible. She causes quite a bit of pain, delivering multiple backstabs. At 6x, and she's specialized in both short swords and small swords.
Then Korgan gets the last two kills.
Incidentally, this bunch also have inflated APR; the warriors have 4 base APR and the thief has 5/2. Which, for those dual-wielding fighters with grand mastery, means 5 final APR instead of 4. They also have both BG2-style proficiencies and BG1-style proficiencies; I'm not sure how those stack.
It's also an easy fight to avoid. The path forward is the north portal you came in through, so you can just keep going if you don't want to deal with them.
Next up, after a regeneration break, it's a cambion and demon knights.
Anomen reaches level 29 with this battle, taking Elemental Summoning. No more HLAs for him.
And now, the Demon Wraith. Edwin has a Spell Trigger ready for this.
Then Viconia follows up with a Finger of Death.
Well, he still has a few spells.
The remaining slave wraiths dissipate, granting half as much XP as if we'd killed them in combat. But I'm fine with that.
In the interest of continuing without needing a rest just yet, I have Hexxat use a restoration scroll on Edwin.
On to Aesgareth, then.
After that, we're back. And we're going to shamelessly save-scum our way through all interactions with the Deck of Many Things.
First draw, Spectral Brand versus experience. Lose. Lose. Win on the third try.
Also, that's a bunch of experience. Level 30 for Viconia. Level 32 for Hexxat, with two-weapon style, extra Pick Pockets and Open Locks, and a fourth Spike Trap. She now has 100 OL, 100 FT, and 180 PP even in daylight. While the Mercykiller ring and the gloves of pickpocketing still have their uses for looting merchants or setting traps in daylight, thieving potions are now basically obsolete.
Hexxat claims Spectral Brand, and will use it when Celestial Fury's stun isn't useful.
In the second draw (Wish against vitality), I win on the first try.
In the third round, it's impossible to win. So I won't save-scum this one. Whichever curse Dorn gets, he'll take it.
Aesgareth draws the Wheel, and wins. Dorn is a sore loser.
I set some traps ... but they only hit the Fell Cat, for not very much damage. Anomen fails to cast his Remove Curse spell. And Hexxat fails to backstab the archer.
Of course, that doesn't stop them from using backstabs. They have a thief trying to do just that.
So I get out the big spells.
For some reason, Aesgareth threw a whole bunch of spells at Dorn to break through spell defenses he didn't have. Looking it up ... it's a "HasImmunityEffects" check. Which is really just dumb scripting. That check is so broad that I don't think there's any good use for it.
Korgan reaches level 28 - he had the experience for it before the battle. actually - and takes a third Greater Whirlwind.
Now, to abuse the Deck ourselves. I know what I want on the second draw, which also determines the first. For the third draw, I'll leave it up to chance from among the permanent good choices.
First draw ... Gem. Flames. Flames. Ruin. Euryale, Flames. Ruin. Euryale. Euryale. Euryale. Flames. Donjon.
On to the second draw.
The third draw.
I draw one more time.
Another level of Watcher's Keep is complete. Next time, we continue delving into the dungeon.
Passing through the portal to the next level, the first thing we find is a madman.
We head toward the mind flayers' area on this level next - though there's some trouble on the way.
The first room in the new section is mostly full of umber hulks.
The second room brings more hulks, and an ulitharid. I take this one with some tactics, drawing the enemies out into a prepared killing zone while also picking off the leader with backstabs.
Off to the side of this new room, we find the one encounter in here that's not a fight.
But while he won't talk about how to free Carston, he did put it in writing. And here I thought illithids were supposed to be intelligent. Can they not read human languages? Are they so arrogant that they don't bother learning them?
(All living illithids in the game, aside from one cutscene chump, have 18 Int. Vampiric Illithids, including the Magical Item Merchant in Dennaton's arena, have 3 Int.)
That brings us to the southernmost room, with two more mind flayers and another ulitharid - this one holding a key item.
That level is Dorn's 25th; he chooses Critical Strike.
After clearing out a side room (umber hulks) for the other half of the key, we reach the final room.
We now head straight over toward the githyanki encampment. They're all hostile as well, of course. And just to add insult to injury, Dorn gets out his silver sword to duel the first anti-paladin.
The reward is a shiny new sword for evil paladins - a Beamdog addition, basically made for him. Dorn makes use of it right away.
We wait for the aura to expire, and move on to the third room.
Also, a banter drops.
On to the final room. We open the door, and ...
Looking up the script, here's what's going on. The conditions for casting that spell are as follows:
(1) Local variable "prepspells" is zero.
(2) See an ally.
(3) Ally isn't hasted.
(4) See an enemy.
Then the gish casts the spell, targeting whoever was seen last. Which, by the script ordering, is always the enemy. Oops. If those conditions were re-ordered to put the ally parts after the enemy part, the spell would target the ally as is probably intended.
Anyway, I notice that the enemies here are bunched up. And that means ...
Finally, there's the Captain.
Dorn claims Angurvadal, switching back to dual-wielding mode. Because two flaming swords are better than one.
Our bags of holding are now full. It's time for a trip to the surface to sell some things ... after a couple of optional bosses, anyway.
First, the demilich. I prepare much like I did for Kangaxx, only this time the clerics have SotA. And everyone has protection from the howl, either through guaranteed saves or death magic protection.
Korgan gets targeted for imprisonment, but he's immune. And then a dispel lands, so Dorn switches back to Daystar.
- One Demilich Howl. No effect, as everyone was protected.
- One Trap the Soul. No effect, as it targeted a raging berserker.
- One melee attack. Ten damage on Korgan, and he saved against the secondary paralysis effect.
Also, see that hit from Anomen? The demilich didn't save, but this one has immunity to "Kill Target" so the Mace of Disruption can't instantly kill it.
Next, Saladrex. We add more buffs for this fight, and cast them before entering the room because the dragon's script considers quite a few spells to be hostile actions.
After talking a bit, I perform one of those hostile actions to start things.
Saladrex tries to lower the planetar's fire resistance. Failed. A wing buffet pushes us away. And then the dragon gets smart, targeting Edwin with its breath. Run.
And then, it's over.
Back in the central area of this floor, there are a lot of trivial monsters like yuan-ti and trolls. Plus a lot of chests, with a lot of nonmagical weapons and copies of that appendix to Elminster's Ecologies. Are you feeling the foreshadowing yet?
Ah, there they are. Magic golems.
Then come the other rare monsters - mimics.
After a few more trivial monsters, we're ready for the torch puzzle.
The fight here is against Rock, Garock, and some mooks. Battle is joined, and Rock activates a Greater Whirlwind. I try a Slow - Rock saves, though Garock doesn't. Nothing left to do but run.
Now we loot the chest and return to the machine. It's finally time to deal with Carston.
Killing Carston is worth less XP than letting him go, but this is an evil party. And now, with the machine freed up, Dorn can use it for himself. Well, OK, he'll hand Storm Star to Anomen. But all of the stat boosts go to Dorn.
Finally, we enter the last combination for the portal down. This one adds a bunch of experience, bringing level 31 for Viconia and level 33 for Hexxat. She boosts Set Traps and stealth, while taking a fifth Spike Trap.
Next time, we take on the final seals in this dungeon prison.
The next level is small. Just a central hub area in bare stone, and a few side areas for challenges. But it's not empty. We open the door to the northwest, and find...
Then we open more doors. The southern door has only a friendly ghost, while the northeast has golems.
With the random monsters out of the way, it's time for the challenges. First, the globe machine. I start with red.
The second globe summons kuo-toa; sadly, Hexxat isn't in the right orientation to get a backstab on them.
The third globe brings trolls.
And fourth, greater wolfweres.
Next, I start on purple.
The next two purple groups are level-drainers, so we'll skip them for now. Instead, we move on to green.
So, then, I take on the last of the threats that I don't need to prepare for - blue.
The third mage manages to survive the initial onslaught and get defenses up.
And the fourth mage goes a step farther in her defenses, with an Improved Mantle.
Now, back to the colors I put off. Korgan rages, Anomen switches to the Mace of Disruption, and I hit purple again.
Third in the purple series - vampires.
The last two fights aren't strictly required; we have all the special globes we need. But I'll still face them anyway. Hexxat places all seven of her normal snares, and activates green one last time. Also, quicksave in case this goes wrong.
That death tyrant gets off two rays, both fear. No effect, as Anomen and Korgan saved easily.
For the last purple globe, Hexxat uses her spike traps. Two in one spot, two in another.
We place the four inert globes in their receptacles, and receive the Mind Key. Now, to use it.
My mod has a component that allows resurrection spells to heal the living. Mass Raise Dead was bugged to apply its healing multiple times in 2.5; I didn't restore that behavior. I also didn't install the component, so that's no healing for any other party members. Not that they needed it.
All right. Now it's time for the Aurumach to die. Dorn uses GWW in two-handed mode to beat him down, switching from the Unholy Reaver to Soul Reaver once a dispelling hit lands. Meanwhile, Edwin casts PFMW to tank, as the enemy seems to be fixated on him specifically.
After some regeneration time, we move on to the next challenge - a horde of orcs.
Still, we get through this without any deaths.
Based on the equipment they dropped (I counted 11 bows, 11 helmets, 32 leathers, 20 swords, and 4 maces), I killed about 35 or 36 orcs in the ten rounds of that challenge.
After clearing up some space in our very full bags, we're on to the green dragon that is the next challenge. All right, time for some breath protection ... Dorn puts Albruin in his off hand, Edwin relies on the Cloak of Mirroring, Anomen has the ring of Gaxx, Korgan gets out the poison immunity amulet, Hexxat is permanently immune, and Viconia turns into a mustard jelly. We now have no fear of that 24d6+12 (save for half) poison damage breath weapon.
But this plan has a flaw. Anomen fails his save against dragon fear, neither Dorn nor Edwin have the relevant spell memorized, and Viconia can't cast right now. We can't snap him out of it, and just have to try to win fast enough.
Then, just to make things worse...
Also - Korgan, stop lollygagging around and get back in the fight. We're taking a lot of damage here, and we need everyone to contribute. More melee hits on Anomen and Dorn ...
That's level 34 for Hexxat; she takes more stealth and a sixth Spike Trap. She's got enough skill to hide in broad daylight reliably, but there aren't any other skills left to invest in. She also joins Edwin in the 100 lore club.
Dorn takes level 26, adding Smite to his repertoire.
Incidentally, the dragon never used its breath weapon. Not out of any sensible check for poison resistance, but just because we always had someone close in. It only attacks with breath when no enemies are nearby.
The next challenge is noncombat, so I take it on immediately.
That's level 32 for Viconia; she takes two-weapon style. There are no more proficiencies left for her.
Also, well after intentionally returning to natural form, Viconia has a forced de-transformation.
We now have the Heart Key, though I'll wait to use it. Instead, it's time for the spirit warrior.
That gives us the spirit key, which we will use next. I prepare for this fight by setting a spike trap and casting Protection from Magical Energy on Anomen. Also, turning the key grants enough experience for Korgan to reach level 30; he takes flail proficiency (because why not?) and a third Hardiness.
Edwin's no help right now because of fear, but those protections on the lich don't include PFMW. Dorn has a sword for that.
The Erinne Sling goes into immediate use; now both clerics have +4 slings.
For this floor's final fight, I use my remaining buffs; I haven't rested since the previous floor. And Dorn gets out the Shield of Balduran, to face-tank the Hive Mother. Plus Edwin sets a Skull Trap at the spot where the least magic-resistant enemy will spawn, and I get out some higher-grade cheese.
There are some MR notices - that's the protection from basic haste being resisted. Something to fix, but not a big deal.
Also, on that simulacrum, note the buttons available. Yes to hiding and searching for traps, no to "thieving". Unmodded 2.6 has it the other way around for clones. That's a component of my mod, and will also be in the fixpack. Though I don't think the fixpack version will allow sequencers and contingencies on clones like I did.
All right, now I can hit the button.
On arrival, the Skull Trap hits two of them. Nice; I was only planning on one.
Most of our party is on the right, so those enemies are the first targets. The Huntress is first to fall, followed by the drow/yochlol Ameralis. (She has the elf race, but also a demon immunity item.)
The bulk of the party turns their attention to the last warrior Xei Win Toh, and a crit from Korgan finishes here. That just leaves the Hive Mother, the marilith Y'tossi, and the succubus Nalmissra. The latter two both have PFMW up. Edwin spends his lone Breach on the marilith, and I get out a wand of spell striking for the succubus.
As for the Hive Mother? Dorn is doing his best to keep its attention. Including smiting it to where it can't even see anyone else.
Then the wand breach lands on Nalmissra.
This fight drops three items of note. The Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization are great; Dorn takes them and passes his old set of regular specialization gauntlets down to Hexxat. Taralash is a longbow - enough said. And then there's a scroll of Wish. We already had one, but a second is nice for scroll-casting shenanigans.
We took two deaths, well within our daily recovery capability. This is a rather tough area, after all. I don't expect more deaths for a while.
We have gone as far as we plan to in Watcher's Keep. Only the Imprisoned one itself remains, and that is something we'll come back to in ToB. Next time, we return to take on the remaining character quests and some bits and bobs.
Back in Athkatla, we have some more high-level content to deal with - the Twisted Rune. As they're definitely going to be the day's toughest fight, I apply considerable buffs.
Then, when I activate the encounter, Dorn sets the spike traps off prematurely. Oops. At least he doesn't get hit by them. And the entrance spike traps do their job.
The hiding ... doesn't work. Edwin gets targeted by the rays. But they're all spell save rays, and they're reflected by his Spell Turning anyway.
Layene, for her next spell, targets her own pit fiend with a Horrid Wilting. Well, at least she hit Korgan for some collateral damage. Then Dorn lands a dispelling hit on her, and it's all she wrote.
Oh, right, I didn't mention what happened to Revanek. For that matter, I didn't even write it down. He's a fighter with no equipment - does it even matter? Whatever his end was, he didn't cause any harm.
Two characters level in the fight; Anomen to level 32 (grand mastery in slings) and Edwin to level 25 (Extra Level 8 Spell, an additional level 8 spell slot).
Next up, we return to Dorn's keep. And there's some business to take care of.
The next step is a character quest. It's time to go visit Neera. And send Edwin away for the duration, because the two of them really don't get along.
The first encounter ... well, there's no need to talk when you can just dispel the illusion.
Also of note, the area has been upgraded with Black Pits combat music. That randomizer is my favorite component for how it improves the overall experience.
More little fights ensure, along with disarming some traps. A spider, some gnolls - no problem. For a more notable encounter, we have events around a polymorph trap we just disarmed...
More ogres follow...
After some more wildlife - did that panther really need a 180-point critical backstab? - we come to a group of kobolds. First, sneak in to disarm the trap. Second, apply an invisibility potion and sneak attack the two spellcasters.
And now, something we haven't seen in this area ... an enemy that can survive a SotR backstab.
The snake is easily ignored.
Before long, we reach the bridge.
There's also a visible seam in the area art. While pretty, this area could use a going-over.
Now, we're at the actual wild mage camp. We start with an introduction.
On with the errands, then. After a rest, anyway - Viconia tires easily. Neera learns a few new spells, and the scroll XP pushes Hexxat to level 35. She now has 180/180 stealth even with the Cloak of Dragomir on, for a 90% chance to hide in broad daylight. And I didn't write down what her new HLA was ... eh, no big deal. Just assume she's got some of everything by now.
One of the mini-quests features Reginald.
While I'm doing this, a three-way banter drops.
The last errand in the camp is to bring back Kirik. And I tell him to give up wild magic for now.
Finally, some errands require us to leave the camp. Beer from Trademeet, a hairband in Athkatla ... and finding a bear. That one requires us to take up Rasaad's quest. So after acquiring the beer, I send Neera away in favor of Rasaad. Then in Athkatla, I dump Korgan (without letting him get his leaving dialogue in) and pick up Edwin. All this running around leads to a random encounter...
The bandits go down easily after that, of course. And then we reach the city gates.
After a rest, we're off to the amphitheater. Hexxat disarms some traps, Rasaad drinks a strength potion (22), and we meet Geld Quickblade for the second time.
Some angry animals attack:
We introduce ourselves to the monks, but there's something to take care of to the south first.
Edwin goes for a Horrid Wilting first, though the shadowdancer Cless steps out of time and the priest Jaden throws a lightning bolt first.
Back with the monks, we get to talking. And Viconia has a lot to say here.
Then the main event - Hammerhelm.
Viconia's interactions with Rasaad's quests are a treat. There are limits to how much she'll tolerate, but before that point she's fantastic to have along.
As for the fight - it's not hard.
Viconia reaches level 33 with this fight, gaining absolutely nothing of interest.
And I'll end this part here, as combining the two character quests is a bit too much for one post. Next time, we finish up Rasaad and Neera's quests.
Leaving the amphitheater, to approach the Twofold temple, brings trouble. Selunites have tracked down Rasaad, and bring ill news.
The fight itself is trivial, and we are soon talking again.
We arrive at the temple just before dawn. An auspicious time. And after missing an encounter on the way in - the monk just isn't there - we cross the bridge. I note that Dorn's armor is glowing for some reason; on investigation, that's an equip effect of Angurvadal (both versions). A glow effect applied to the wrong part of the character model. Oops. More fixpack fodder, then.
On the other side, we find the bear we were looking for.
On the east side of the temple, Lemzenn gets angry at our questioning.
And now, we talk our way in. Or rather, Rasaad parrots the heresy and we are granted entry.
Inside, Collus finally shows up.
Now come the trials. Pain is endured, and I loot the side areas while Dorn regenerates. One nice touch: Collus' room has a copy of "History of the Sisters of Light and Darkness". Which is a vanilla book with no altered text, but it contains this passage: "Eventually this primordial essence coalesced into twin beautiful goddesses who were yin and yang to each other; they were so close they thought of themselves as one being." The book goes into the bitter conflict between Selune and Shar after that, but the Twofold would prefer to ignore that part. The Twofold position isn't just a plot hook; it's the sort of argument that feels plausible as a real heresy. And really, the only way to disprove it is for Selune and/or Shar to intervene directly.
Dorn continues the trials. Kill some invisible stalkers, then intimidate the "Truth".
Those gauntlets are nice enough, but Rasaad has better already. No real use right now. Of the items these trials provide, the Gem of Seeing is the most useful for us; only two party members can cast the spell naturally, and they have to take the full time.
One more trial, and then the Master of Combat returns.
Still, we put up a few buffs. We might not be quick enough to avoid trouble here.
There is only one door. We leave, and ...
Meanwhile, Edwin failed to cast the Horridd Wilting I told him to for some reason. On to a Dragon's Breath instead.
Then the end comes.
As he leaves, Rasaad hands over all of his stuff. And clones any critical items he was carrying, giving us two copies of those. In this case, the Silver Sword and the Ring of Gaxx. This is, of course a bug. And the EE fixpack claims to have a fix for it.
For our last act in the area, we return to Wilson.
Well, OK, I actually leave Wilson in the bar for a day, while the normal party returns to Dorn's keep.
All right, now we can get back to Neera's quest. Reunite Wilson and his hippie. Provide Mironda her beer. Give Mereth her hairband.
All right, back to Athkatla for the blue elf Daxus.
With this fight's experience, Dorn reaches level 27. He takes two-weapon mastery and his third Greater Whirlwind.
Upstairs, we just walk by Vittorio and the mercenaries. They'll get the gong back ... eventually.
Back at the refuge, it's a scene of devastation. Only Telana and the children are present to tell the story. Neera swears revenge.
The bouncer at the door is easy to handle.
Inside, Gul Dukeem sells some decent stuff. But it's expensive, Neera's the only one that would really benefit, and he can't be stolen from. Pass. The other merchants, though ... we take them for everything they've got.
On a side note, who's the Deep Space Nine fan at Beamdog? "Gul Dukeem" here is clearly a reference to recurring Cardassian villain "Dukat" from the show, who was usually referred to using his military rank of "Gul". And then there's the "tailor" merchant in the Black Pits, rakshasa Elan Garaq. He's a clear reference to Elim Garak, a Cardassian "tailor" who runs a shop on the station ... except when circumstances drag him back into the spy game.
Now that we've looted the "merchants", we can talk to Gul Dukeem again.
Now, the fight. Four wizards and two fighter guards. But our party is in position, and we've set some traps.
We, of course, follow up by ganging up on that last mage. This gives the fighters enough time to land one hit on Dorn before it's over.
Now, there's nothing to fight immediately. But tensions are high. Korgan makes his opinion known.
Now, for the more dangerous foes in the back.
Lanneth goes invisible and tries to run. The Gem of True Seeing objects. She puts up a PFMW, but one of the wands we just stole was a wand of spell striking.
There's just one more room worth of trouble. Two fighters and a mage.
There's just one last loose end to clean up.
Then we report the results of our confrontation with Hayes. Telana does not want his robe back. OK, throw that bloody scrap in a bin somewhere. And let Neera go. We'll see her in ToB.
Neera and Rasaad are done, and with them the last large quests of the open part of SoA. Next time, we finish up this chapter of the campaign with a few more small quests.
Back in Athkatla, Edwin returns to the party. And now, we finally clear up a quest that's been sitting just short of completion for a while.
Then, since we're evil...
Next up, Jan's quest. It's on a timer from when he first joins the party ... which was way back at the beginning of the campaign. So we just pick him up, step outside ...
As for why we would get involved in this? I'll leave that explanation to Korgan.
This little quest consists mostly of running around talking to people. But we do get into a fight during that:
And then, there's one actual fight in the quest.
Now, there's a chest I'd like to loot. But a patron would notice me ... talk to him, while I'm waiting for him to wander off.
Finally, we return to the Hidden. And discover the answer Edwin was seeking.
A talk with Jan resolves the quest, and we're done with him.
On to the next step ... the messenger for the next keep event hasn't shown up. And he should have. There's a BDOFFSCR at the north entrance to the Athkatla slums; it looks like that trigger failed when I came back to Athkatla after finishing with Neera. OK, force-spawn the messenger.
A digression on creature stats: Lord Roenall is listed as a level 16 fighter, but he's not actually statted as one. He has the THAC0 and saves of a level 10 fighter instead. Then he only has 17 strength, and only has specialization with his weapon (a +1 bastard sword). He gets an extra 1/2 APR for free, but that only gets him to the same 3 total a level 16 fighter with grand mastery would have.
If it came down to a melee duel between him and Dorn...
THAC0 9 versus slashing AC -12 for Roenall's attacks. 3 APR, 20 needed to hit, average damage 1.35 per round.
THAC0 -10/-7 versus slashing AC -5 for Dorn's attacks. 4 APR, 2 needed to hit and 20 to crit, average damage 93.3 per round.
In all probability, it would be over early in the second round, before Lord Roenall could land a single blow. The only possible way for Roenall to win would be if Dorn just stood there not attacking (and tanking the few blows that landed with his regeneration) until the one-hour timer expired.
Next, I choose to revisit the North Forest for a few encounters that are sensitive to the time of day. Mists, a greater wyvern ... but no vampires. Those must have showed up in the early evening and misted the last time I was here; they inexplicably have their active hours start before the sun sets.
I do get a banter while I'm there, waiting for the sun to go down.
With that out of the way, I turn to Cernd.
And he doesn't need a talk button to do his quest.
Fatigue catches up, and we rest. Cernd even memorizes some decent spells that he absolutely won't use. Now it's time to confront Deril.
Anyway, this mage doesn't stand up to us. His only combat protection is a Stoneskin, and most of our attacks deal elemental damage.
Then the lich Lagole Gon hands over the baby, and it's over.
I ended the session at this point, and didn't come back until much later. My play buffer is rather short at this point. But now, it's time for the last few loose ends of chapter 6.
First, we do a bit more shopping. We buy a couple of things from Joluv, and loot some merchants. This requires some traveling around, and ...
When I visit the promenade ...
Actually, it's a wall polygon (#281) which lacks the "cover animations" flag. But you can go to the right spot in the entranceway...
All this running around pushes us into the evening, and I head out to the graveyard for an encounter.
And now, the last non-good companion with quest content. Jaheira.
Jaheira levels up to 10/12; her initial XP trigger didn't happen back in the starter dungeon, so it comes up now. I give her scimitar specialization, and Belm.
Now, we're off to confront Ployer.
Now, for that summons.
And then Edwin casts a spell.
This fight drops one useful item. Edwin replaces his old Ring of Acuity with the new Reaching Ring.
As for the rest of Jaheira's quest? I would have to run around wasting a bunch of in-game time, and there's not much of a reward for this party. Nope. I'll just dump her somewhere. After clearing one thing up in here...
From here on, most of my time is taken up by housekeeping. There's no quest content left that I want to do, but I have a lot of junk to sell, and I still have a few merchants outside Athkatla to loot.
I do run into a conversation during this process, though.
Stitch? Armor dissolved by ooze, and Korgan hit him to end his flailing. With lethal results, though that was a genuine accident.
Hogbelly? Legs crushed when a hill giant fell on him. He refused to accept peg legs, and was still in pain after the group's poor attempts at medicine. Korgan ended his suffering, and covered it up.
Cutter? Infected with plague, and then Korgan broke his neck.
Then, of course, there's the final moral.
One of the stashes I have to retrieve is in the Underdark - mostly ammo. And while I'm there, I take the opportunity to slaughter the respawned beholders and gauths in their tunnels. 230K XP, no problem.
Then I rest at the entrance to trigger that night encounter with the drow.
Housekeeping ensues. I sell most of he magical junk I've found over the course of the game, then steal it back and sell it again. By the time I'm done with it, I have about 1.77 million gold. Also, scribing excess scrolls brought Viconia to level 34, Dorn to level 28 (Deathblow), and Hexxat to level 36 (Assassination, shortbow proficiency, Open Locks).
Next time, we resume the main plot and enter the final chapter of the Shadows of Amn campaign.
In the evening of day 89, we return to Elhan.
Entering the city brings a brief video, and a comment from Dorn.
For our first fight, we run into a squad of golems.
Fighting that golem head on had us take three hits. Two on Dorn, one on Hexxat. And with that, Hexxat levels to 3. She drops a few more points in stealth because she's only at 90% to hide in broad daylight with the Cloak of Dragomir on, and adds an exploding ttrap for her HLA.
Next up, we head toward the troll platform ... but run into more golems on the way.
Then, returning from that platform ...
That sneak attack deals three damage, fails the instant kill, and gets Hexxat hit with a retaliatory strike. Then the rest of the party arrives to beat the golem down. Two more hits taken, these on Korgan.
The high ground on this platform has a couple children:
After another stone golem - the last of that pack - we reach the priest's house. Find a couple of ninth level scrolls, solve a puzzle, get a key item for later.
Then, finally, a fight that Hexxat can contribute normally in.
And beyond the skeletons, another opportunity for her.
There's also a demon. A nabassu, which Hexxat just ignored on the way in, and which didn't warn the mage. We easily beat it down. Viconia reaches level 35 with this, another empty level.
Then, Raamilat was guarding Demin's house. Inside, she is being menaced by three rakshasa.
Adsaan gets off his spell despite that 75-point stab. But it's just a Chain Lightning. Two of our party block it with MR, and the rest take no more than ten damage each.
And now, we speak to Demin. Time for exposition. We can't help but interject to point some things out ...
We'd love to get our revenge now ...
While I'm here, I've picked up this house's level 9 scroll (Absolute Immunity) and also used the 18 Con belt to boost Hexxat's hit points. She gets the biggest benefit from it in this party at +20 hit points when she uses it.
Moving on we soon ind more golems. This time, elves are fighting against them.
After one more house without a fight inside, we take the northwest path to the dragon. The party is nearly fully regenerated, and we add some buffs.
Then, on top of our melee attacks, we add in a spell combo. Lower Resistance into (cleric) Finger of Death.
Dorn dispels the dragon's haste, and then delivers the final blow.
Back in the main map, we double back toward the center. The house we find there brings a cutscene, boots of elvenkind, and another plot token. But the platform it's on has nothing ... until we leave.
As for the encounter that just spawned in, it's a squad of disguise-happy rakshasa against elven battle mages. We join in the fight.
We defeat the rakshasa, but one escapes us to run to the northeast...
With that path open, I go after the weak balor near the temple (no fire immunity, no seeing through invisibility, no spells). But Hexxat crit-misses, so we have to bring up the party to kill it the old-fashioned way.
Then there's one last house we need to clear.
That brings us to the temple, guarded by a large group of rakshasa.
Entering the temple brings us to another high-level mage. He's eager to trash-talk us.
Hexxat goes for a backstab on the rakshasa ... and fails because it walks toward the party. She doesn't even get an attack roll in before it's all over.
That lets us activate Rillifane, and clears the way to the palace. It also brings in a merchant so we can do a bit of shopping.
We also sell off some junk, though we keep the magical stuff. Better prices will be available in ToB.
And finally, we enter the palace. The stairs of no return await us, and the resolve of every member of the party will be tested.
OK, what's going on here? Clicking the stairs the first time forces dialogue with player 1. Using PLAYER1.DLG. Then, when it gets to Dorn's section, it expects a reply from DORNJ.DLG ... but Dorn's dialogue is currently PLAYER1. That failed reply link terminates the conversation, and we never hear from the rest of the party.
This is not the last we'll hear of this dialogue issue. You learn such interesting things when you break the game in new ways.
Also, this one's not Dorn-specific. Any of the standard recruitable NPCs, if made into player 1, will break both this dialogue and something bigger in the next part. Unless a very simple correction is made.
Next time, we face Irenicus for the final time and conclude the Shadows of Amn campaign.
On the tree, Irenicus stands in a bubble while parasites drain the tree's life. The parasites aren't very good at defending themselves, though.
As for Irenicus himself? We know exactly where we'll face him, and we can go there beforehand because of the bubble. That means we can set traps.
In addition, I cast Death Ward on the party. I won't need it against Irenicus, but it will be important later on.
The final confrontation requires no further input from us. Kill the last parasite, and just let it happen.
Entering hell refreshes all of the party's spells and daily abilities. Not that we used many. We are at full strength for the challenges to come.
First, wrath.
Wraith Sarevok does have over 500 hit points, and immunity to magic and all elements. Dorn switches to Soul Reaver, and still takes considerable damage before the beatdown finishes.
Second, greed.
Third, selfishness.
Edwin is still held, though, indefinitely. If you take the self-sacrifice path, the demon dispels the hold effect on the victim when you get through. If you're sacrificing the victim, then they're assumed to be dead and no dispel is applied. So, then, we handle that ourself.
The fourth trial is fear.
This trial then gives the option of two paths to reach the tear. To the right, there's a no-save fear trap that can't be disarmed, and a chest (lock difficulty 93) with the cloak as a key. To the left, there's a fight. We'll take both paths, because we don't shy away from fights. What sort of fight? An elder orb, two "elder orbs" which are really just beholders, and two gauths.
Then we cast a Remove Fear and take the other path, looting the chest. The fourth tear is ours.
And finally, pride.
So now, we fight a dragon. "HDRAGRED.CRE", which is actually a black dragon similar to the one we recently fought in Suldanesselar.
I start with Dorn in dual-wielding mode, and he immediately lands a draining Blackrazor hit. With the haste in place, I switch to Soul Reaver ... and immediately pop a GWW to really lay on the debuffs. Then, two hits in, a wing buffet.
Then again, this dragon only has 160 HP. It doesn't take long.
This dragon is only worth 22K XP, but it drops quite a bit of good stuff - two ninth level scrolls, a +2 ring of protection, a set of evil archmage robes, and some magic ammo. We gladly scoop that all up.
After some regeneration time, we return to the main chamber. The traps are set. The party is buffed. We're ready to kill Irenicus for good.
Then, Irenicus comes.
I know exactly how this one broke, too. The dialogue looked for a reply from DORNJ.DLG, but Dorn was set to PLAYER1.DLG. No reply available, dialogue ends. And so the next cutscene doesn't happen, and there's no fight.
How do I fix it? All I have to do is load the autosave (from when we exited the Pride trial). I don't have to edit anything, as the mere act of loading the save resets Dorn's dialogue file to the value specified in PDIALOG.2DA.
Now, let's do that again.
I have Korgan activate Deathblow to take care of the demons, while the rest of the party focus on Irenicus. Except Viconia who has to defend herself from demon attacks.
My assault on the mage isn't the most efficient. He put up a Spell Shield so our first Breach is wasted, he casts Mislead twice ... but it can't last.
As this was a short segment, I'll throw out a few stats. Here are the party's kill counts and top kills, as of the chapter 8 save:
Dorn: 751 kills for 3154100 XP. Top kill Kangaxx the Demilich (55000).
Korgan: 902 kills for 4290759 XP. Top kill Saladrex (64000).
Anomen: 426 kills for 1623487 XP. Top kill Ka'rashur (46000).
Viconia: 199 kills for 625083 XP. Top kill Giant Snake (22000).
Hexxat: 484 kills for 2144852 XP. Top kill Firkraag (64000).
Edwin: 208 kills for 832745 XP. Top kill Chromatic Demon (55000).
A single-class thief backstabber can't keep up with the single-class warriors in the kill count. But she can still do very well for herself, and outfight the half-warrior. The single-class casters Edwin and Viconia end up lowest in the kill count, because spells aren't usually for directly killing enemies and because I tend not to use the spells on anything but the hardest fights.
We will continue into ToB next time.
With the end of the campaign, cutscenes play. Much time is implied to have passed ... but when we resume, it is the morning of day 90. Edwin's Stoneskin is even still active. In truth, the elves of Suldanesselar tired of Dorn's presence in mere hours.
Still, Ellesime is not willing to leave Dorn completely without aid. She provides a powerful amulet for the party, and sends them to a sacred grove to consult with the spirits there.
The heads do provide at least some useful information. Danger approaches, and so we prepare with traps and buffs.
Still, we got the best item out of this. A fourth set of boots of speed, which goes to Anomen. Everything else is vendor trash.
Shortly after the battle ends, something new happens. Dorn is transported elsewhere, and his party is brought with him. On arrival, a Solar is present to speak with him - a true messenger of the gods.
Then the solar leaves, and a spirit of a different sort emerges. Sarevok has returned, and not as an enemy this time.
With that out of the way, we are free to move around. And so we speak to Cespenar, the imp butler. We have what we need for twelve of his recipes already, and so we perform them immediately. Viconia gets the most out of this immediately, upgrading both her melee and ranged weapons.
There is one upgrade we could have gotten but didn't. We don't get the Thieves' Hood working, because we weren't carrying any antidote potions. That will have to wait.
This lull also brings some party interactions. Romance is in the air.
And since there's nothing else to do, we take on the challenge.
The enemies here are dependent on the protagonist's alignment. For the evil Dorn, it is the forces of good we face. Well, mostly good. We start with commoners.
The third stage brings Knights of the Order - level 8 paladins with 75+24 HP and some very nice gear. AC -9, with free action and immunity to most mental debuffs, attacking three times each per round with clones of Purifier +4.
This wave comes to an end, and now we get the final wave. Three bosses.
We target Ellesime first, as she's relatively squishy and poorly defended.
That just leaves the duke. And given his shield, we have everybody switch to melee.
With the challenge's end, we earn some more XP. Korgan levels to 33, taking flail specialization and his fifth Greater Whirlwind. Anomen level to 35. Hexxat levels to 38, taking Alchemy, stealth, and Open Locks. She's now at 200/200 stealth even while wearing the Cloak of Dragomir, so she can hide in brod daylight basically every time.
Also, Anomen has a bit more to say.
I use that new Alchemy ability, hoping for an antidote potion. Result ... regeneration. Eh, at least it's a useful one. Though with so many party members already having regeneration, we don't really need it.
We can now leave the pocket plane. And when we do, we find ourselves in the middle of trouble.
And in another inconvenience, that cutscene left us out of formation with Anomen and Korgan in the back, and expired Hexxat's stealth so she couldn't open with a backstab.
But ... well, these are just fighters.
After that fight, Melissan sticks around long enough to inform us what needs to be done here - Gromnir il-Khan is being unreasonable, and we need to confront him before we can get anywhere. Which will likely mean killing him, because of those unreasonable actions.
But first, there are some things to do around town. A boy's father just got killed ... bye. We're not getting involved in that sort of stuff. Sympathy is dangerous. No, we're going to the tavern.
Oh, hey, soldiers behaving badly.
Elsewhere in the bar, Volo is hanging out. And he has stories about us. Let's hear them.
Viekang ... you told us something useful. Here, have a Horror.
Bartender? I'll have some +4 bullets and boots of speed. And I'm not paying for any of it, since you're clearly not vigilant enough against epic pickpockets.
Next up, Lazarus. You have scrolls? We'll help you out. First, talk to Squip.
That leads us to Hectan, who wants a teleportation scroll. Lazarus is willing to deal, though he gives a warning ... which we don't pass on.
As a side note, Dorn's personal reputation is actually a bit lower than the other party members. The evil tears each have a -0.1 reputation penalty, so Dorn is at 7.5. Which rounds to 8, and thus doesn't show up as a difference on the character sheet.
With this side quest complete, Lazarus opens his shop. We promptly relieve him of a sixth set of boots of speed, a few other goodies, and all the scrolls Edwin needs to complete his spellbook. We now have the ingredients to complete the last two Cespenar upgrades that only require SoA and Watcher's Keep resources; the +5 elven chain and the Thieves' Hood. I end the session with those.
In the new session, I continue my exploration of Saradush with a trip to the militia headquarters.
When we talk to the countess...
Incidentally, the damage on Edwin in that shot is from one of the random siege blasts. 5d10 fire damage, save or get knocked unconscious. It rolled high on the damage, and Edwin doesn't have any fire resistance.
Now, to meet Kiser.
As for what we plan to do? No, we're not going through with it. Betraying the town's defense is just stupid, at least without a proper exit strategy. And given that Bhaalspawn are the targets, the besiegers aren't going to let us get away cleanly. We're taking the evidence Kiser just gave us straight to Errard.
Kiser is waiting for us in the basement.
There's a mage in the back, too. Hexxat can't get behind her, so she settles for the next best option.
Ardic is rescued, none the worse for wear. And that fighter Hexxat whacked is left stuck in a wall somewhere, never to be seen again. We return to the countess for our reward ... but it's nothing compared to the Starfall Ore that Kiser had in his basement.
And that's enough for this part. Next time, we get on the business of finding Gromnir.
All of the doors that would lead to Gromnir are locked at the moment. Which means we need to get a key. To that end, we head for the barracks.
Against these mooks, I try out Hexxat's new Shakti Figurine.
Overall ... it's all right. For a pure rogue. But her backstab mode is almost as powerful, and that's something she can do all day.
The guards are supposed to call in reinforcements. But that only happens if they survive long enough. Nope.
One of the chests contains a key - to the sewer grates. We're still looking for the prison key. That's held by Farielle, but she won't just give it up to an evil character.
So instead, we talk to someone else.
The prison itself is full of vampires. It's also full of tight corners and easy concealment.
Once the enemies are cleared out, we take care of business for the spirit. That earns us the bronze ioun stone, which immediately goes to making the Circlet of Netheril for Edwin. It also gives us some experience, pushing Dorn over the level 30 threshold. He takes scimitar proficiency and a third Hardiness.
The next area has some stealth mechanics. Which a high-level thief with the Staff of the Magi can utterly dominate.
Still, she hasn't been seen. On to the second guard.
For the remaining fighters, I bring in the party. They have plenty of potions, but it isn't enough to hold off our forces. As for the prisoners ... ignore them. None of our business.
The next room holds some orcs and orogs, plus an upgrade token. Dorn takes the opportunity to improve Foebane immediately. Now both of his weapons drain life from his enemies. I go for Blackrazor main-hand so the haste triggers more often, but you could argue it either way. And I might switch it some of the time.
Two more rooms of those orcs and orogs, and then we turn back. I'd like to clear out the sewers too. After all, there are plenty of enemies to kill for good experience.
Like these Devil Shades.
With this fight, Edwin earns level 27. Which is good for exactly one hit point and nothing else. But hey, at least levels 28 and 29 will add spell slots.
The shades are not the only threats down here. There are also sappers from Yaga-Shura's army, and supporting troops.
The ranged attack's weakness is that it's only +1. A protagonist that took the good option in the Fear trial can just ignore it as long as they're the target. Not an option in this party, of course.
Of course, when encountered as part of a group, the sappers aren't always the first targets. The next encounter has both a sapper and a mage, and so Hexxat backstabs the mage for a one-hit kill. Then the party engages, taking some sapper damage.
Then we reach the central pit. The cutscene here denies us the element of surprise, so I send in the party.
The fight is chaotic, but we have plenty of power. Before long, it's just a stream of shadows and shadow fiends to mop up. And we don't take significant damage.
With that clear, Hexxat goes out on her own for some backstabbing.
Let's try that again for the next encounter...
Farther to the north, there's an archer and a mage. Backstab the archer for 113 ... panicked, ran toward us. And wait out the mage's True Sight. Then head back in.
The last corner of the area just holds an archer, an orog, and an umber hulk. Backstab to panic the archer, mop up with the party.
As we leave the area, slaughtering some gibberlings on the way out, the party is at full health. And the only daily resource we used was one of Korgan's many instances of Enrage.
That, however, will change. We're heading up into Gromnir's palace now, and that calls for some spells.
After a quick save - insurance against cutscene problems - I continue to the climax of the Saradush sequence. And Dorn has something to say.
This conversation is followed by one between Gromnir and Melissan.
For this fight, we bring out the spells again.
Both mages and Gromnir save against the Commands. The Wilting is more effective.
The biggest threat I note there is the invisible thief. Hexxat puts on the Thieves' Hood to hopefully absorb a backstab, because I doubt her detection will work fast enough.
Actually, regarding Eler Had's stats ... class Thief, level 15, Berserker kit, 125+Con HP, exceptional strength, 19 Con, THAC0 5, no thief skills, fighter saves. Clearly an overly hasty respec.
Over on the other side of the battle, Dorn wins his duel easily.
Also, this is the last round. The enemy thief doesn't manage to go invisible again.
With the battle over, Melissan returns. She informs us that we have to go out and kill Yaga-Shura, because otherwise he'd kill us. Or to protect Saradush, but why would we care about that? Also, he's invincible right now and we'll need to counter that before we can kill him.
And then, Dorn reflects.
We get some upgrades with this battle. Anomen reaches level 36, taking hammer specialization with his final proficiency. And more importantly, we use Roranach's Horn to upgrade the Staff of the Ram. Hexxat now has the ultimate backstabbing weapon.
Next time, we leave Saradush to begin our quest to bring down a giant.