Psyche and Diomedes
atcDave
Member Posts: 2,338
I need to start this with a little introduction. Diomedes and Psyche are the two oldest characters I still have sheets for. I first played them over 45 years ago. They’ve been a part of my entire adult life. And earlier, I started running them in High School. They don’t go back to my very first gaming experience, but they are from the first game I ever played that I knew would be a long-term on going sort of thing. They were special to me from the start. We were playing AD&D 1st Edition, which was brand new at the time. Both characters were capable, but not extraordinary. This was not uncommon since every character back then was randomly rolled (well, maybe not Psyche! But she did come with a significant downside in her scores you’ll see below). But the game world they lived in (original to the DM, not a published world) lasted over a decade and the characters grew and changed enormously during that time.
At the start, Diomedes was a single class fighter (I’ll SWAG his scores at 13/17/15/13/15/11). I remember talking with the DM a few weeks in and we both agreed he clearly should have been a Paladin (the way I was playing him). Obviously he lacked the scores (Charisma) for it, but this became a theme for some quests over the next few months. Eventually his Charisma was 17, and then came a big combat mission that made him a Paladin. He was 4th or 5th level.
We all initially met Psyche as a friendly NPC. Although at first, because of a Demon’s curse, she was a painting… something about a Demon deciding she was too beautiful to be real so she was transformed to canvas. We had a few missions to remove this curse. I think it just involved a combination of Remove Curse and Dispel Magic but we were all low level and couldn’t cast or afford such a thing without some help! This was accomplished a while before Diomedes became a Paladin; as a character she was a single class mage (another SWAG 4/18/18/18/12/20). Immediately after Diomedes made Paladin it was decided Diomedes and Psyche were a permanent team/couple and I inherited her character sheet.
This is all just the first few months playing, and we went for many, many years. Diomedes and Psyche are the only characters I ever ran that exceeded 20th level. That wasn’t really expected to ever happen in AD&D. Their scores rose dramatically, especially in later adventures that got to be a lot of “playing with the Gods” sort of stuff. Their final scores, on their sheets now, would be Diomedes at 19/18/18/15/18/18 and Psyche at 13/18/18/20/14/20. We also transitioned from 1E, to 1.5E, to 2E rules. Late in their careers both become multi-class (under the DM’s house rules) with Diomedes adding Cleric and Psyche adding Paladin.
Story-wise, Diomedes and Psyche had their own Kingdom for the last 5 or so years we played. A lot of adventures started with someone coming to see the King and Queen with a problem, and then I “decided” (the DM told me) what levels were appropriate for this adventure and that determined who we sent out. Diomedes and Psyche’s oldest son got into the mid teens of levels this way, and several other kids/friends/followers/hirelings gained significant experience and treasure from these adventures.
We had a lot of fun. But that’s all just introduction to explain what these characters mean to me. They’ve been a part of my life forever. No shock, I’ve also run them and many other characters from their folder in computer games back to Ultima and Wizardry (does anyone else remember Telengard?). Any time I decide to run Diomedes and/or Psyche in a game it’s a little personal to me. And no doubt, being able to prompt my own AI art for the characters and the playthrough has been electrifying to me. I started playing with them almost as soon as I started playing with my first prompts on Bing Co-Pilot (blame Zeno_42 and discussions we got into at the Beamdog forums). Some of the AI art in this post will go back to my earliest efforts at that too!
For this playthrough, well we all know Gorion’s Ward is meant to be very young. So I’ll be working up 1st level versions of these characters. But I won’t use anything quite like their actual 1st level incarnations. I’ve lived with them as immensely powerful for too long and they’ve gained way too much from their decades of PnP adventuring for me to set them back that far. Their scores will be assigned somewhere in between the 1st and 25th level versions of themselves. But as 1st level characters.
I’ll have another note at the end of the initial write-up about how/why I built them the way I did, and the key descriptors I’m using for the AI art. So let’s meet a new team…
*****
Psyche grew up in Candlekeep, as the adopted daughter of the great mage Gorion. Psyche has always seen the world around her as an adventure, and dreamed of great journey’s and great deeds. She hung on every word as Gorion spun his tales of his wild youth. But by the time she was ten the Keep was starting to feel confining. There’s only so many times the same stretch of wall or the same view of the ocean can be amazing. This led to a couple years of mild rebellion. No doubt, Psyche loved her father and her home and never wished ill on anyone. But she *needed* some sort of adventure. Often, this meant she and her friend Imoen would pull pranks on the Monks or sneak into places they weren’t supposed to be. For much of this Psyche took the lead, being a year or so older. She had a major fail, got caught red handed once stealing some jewelry that wasn’t hers.
Gorion punished Psyche. She was humiliated and ashamed. But the worst of it was a few weeks later. Late one night, Psyche was wandering around the great library when she was supposed to be sleeping, when she thought she heard Gorion speak her name? She poked around a little, and found her father on his knees praying for her. He’d never been much of a man of faith, this was a first? Was he crying? He seemed desperate for her to get past this wickedness?! Well that seemed a bit extreme. It wasn’t even a very nice necklace. But it shook her to her core. She loved Gorion, how could she upset him like this? She resolved to be better, to make him proud of her actions.
A chance encounter late one night gave young Psyche a lot to think about.
At the advanced age of 13 Psyche turned over a new page. She would do right by everyone at the Keep, and she would explore her world through the vast library available to her. A few years later she had found the joy of learning magic. She could be just like her father! Through her mid-teens reading, learning and magic became the great passions of her life.
Psyche and Imoen loved to spar in the Watcher’s training ground. Neither of them would ever be a great warrior! But both knew the basics of handling weapons.
It was probably inevitable that another distraction would arise. This time she was wiser about not letting a distraction lead her to actions she couldn’t defend. But a new Watcher, or apprentice Watcher, or whatever they call themselves came to Candlekeep. He was about her age, he seemed to notice her about the same time she noticed him, and he made her weak in the knees. She found herself giggling more than she ever remembered. And talking for hours. Diomedes had quickly seized a huge role in her life and Psyche was completely happy about it. The 18 year old Psyche was wise enough to know she’d fallen hard.
For the next two years this was her life. It was a happy time for her, with just a hint of building tension as she knew her future would be built around Diomedes more than Gorion. Things grew serious enough that Psyche informed Diomedes he would need to be asking her father an important question. She also started laying the groundwork with Gorion. He was always a bit over-protective, and the idea of her ever leaving Candlekeep seemed to upset him.
Until the day Gorion told her they had to leave. Now. This came so fast she hardly knew what to do. In a rush of getting things together she told Diomedes and Imoen they would need to follow, they would all sort things out when they knew what was going on. Did Gorion have some old enemies he’d been hiding from? That might explain a lot of things.
Psyche is a LG Female Human. She was a thief as a child (2nd Level) but is now a newly trained Mage. (1st Level)
7 – 18 – 18 – 18 – 13 – 20
Diomedes grew up along the Sword Coast. His father was a Guardsman and his mother a minor priestess of Tyr. They worked in and around a few of the little towns of the region. They were never wealthy, but got by with little drama. In his mid-teens he was sent to the Temple for training, because of his mom’s long service he could get training from them at no cost if he qualified. And he did, fairly easily. He qualified for Paladin training which was one of the highest level curricula offered. That was exciting! And it suited him he thought.
At 18, Diomedes had finished his formal training as a Paladin/Cavalier of Tyr. The Temple then placed him nearby for two or three years of apprenticeship. Which is how young Diomedes found himself at Candlekeep one summer afternoon. He had some mixed feelings about this assignment, it was considered prestigious and no doubt this was a beautiful fortress and location. But he’d heard it could be slow, not much ever happened at Candlekeep. Most of the permanent residents were Monks! It was known as “The Great Library”. And there weren’t even a lot of area patrols for the Keep’s “Watchers”. Residents didn’t come and go often so there was no outlying community. At least, as a Watcher, occasional maneuvers and hunts would take him outside the walls. But this could be dull, fortunately he did like reading…
Then the most unexpected thing happened. He’d barely checked in with the Watcher’s Commander and was just looking for the Barracks to find his new home; when he saw the most beautiful girl, well woman he reckoned, that he’d ever seen. But he knew he was staring, and his jaw dropped open. This might be a better assignment than he thought it was going to be!
He went out of his way to meet the young woman he’d seen, and the meeting was auspicious since she was coming his way specifically to meet him. They became close immediately. She was a friend, partner and more; like a missing piece of himself. They shared a sense of humor and a strong desire to fight evil, and make Faerun safe for people to live the lives they wanted to. The next couple years actually sped by for Diomedes.
Diomedes was a friendly and outgoing sort, and he made many other friends around Candlekeep. Including Psyche’s best friend, more like a sister, Imoen. Fortunately they all got along! Befriending Gorion seemed a little trickier. At first he treated Diomedes like some sort of threat. But after several months he started to warm to him. Maybe convinced that Diomedes might actually be good for his daughter? Both men worked hard to find common ground, they were so different it wasn’t easy. The big break seemed to come as the story of Psyche’s thieving childhood came out. Both men were laughing hard and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Psyche was blushing bright red in embarrassment, and trying not to giggle because Diomedes and Gorion sharing a laugh together made her happy to her inmost being.
The day things changed. Gorion became much more supportive of Diomedes and Psyche as a couple after this one moment.
Things seemed to get better and easier after that day. The three of them even occasionally enjoying a not completely awkward sort of family time. And the young couple were together at every time they possibly could be. They’d even started talking about what a life together would look like. Psyche informed Diomedes he needed to ask Gorion something. The statement itself made him happy, he’d been thinking along the same lines. But now the very real problem of what to say? How to do this? Should he make a big thing of it or keep it casual?
The planning was interrupted when Psyche told Diomedes and Imoen they were leaving the Keep that afternoon. She didn’t know what had happened, but had come to fear Gorion had enemies who’d found him. So her friends, her family, her life would need to follow and they would sort out the details when they could.
Diomedes is a LG Male Human. A 1st Level Paladin/Cavalier with 400 experience points he’s gained from 2 years of training and guard duty at Candlekeep. He has Plate Mail armor as a Watcher.
18/53 – 18 – 17 – 13 – 16 – 17
*****
The characters and classes are mostly self-explanatory. Obviously their scores are very good, they are designed characters. This isn’t quite what the PnP characters were at 1st level, but its not what they are at 25th level either. They are strong characters who will grow into mighty heroes during the saga.
Psyche does have the one quirk of thieving in her youth, making her a Lawful-Good thief. The PnP character’s background was as a slave, who stole as a child. It wasn’t actually represented as a class, but a “special ability” that she had the skills of a 6th level thief (some old notes of mine say 3rd level, it may have changed. But under 1E rules thief skill points weren’t assigned, they were on a standard table and all thieves were same based on level). For our purposes here, it will never be about the thief skills (in PnP she NEVER used them!). It will however give her 16 hit points at 1st level. And it will give the weapon proficiencies Short Sword and Sword and Shield (buckler) Style. Psyche often used a short sword as a mage. She developed a 6th Level Spell “Psyche’s Sword” that gave her Short Sword Specialization and a Warrior’s Thaco with the sword. The PnP version of Psyche was a great mage, that I played like a Paladin. Well, she was married to one and became a Paladin when she was well over 100 years old. I’ll use EEKeeper to change her alignment and avatar after I first create her as a thief.
Which leads to a few notes about how I describe them for the numerous AI images you’ll see in this post.
For Psyche, a defining thing early was that she was very short! The translation of her 4 Strength was that she was 4’10” as an adult. Later, through various magical means she gained some strength; we translated that as her growing to 5’2”. She was never tall! But she was beautiful, so I often describe her to Co-Pilot as “20 year old Human woman, Russian, beautiful, long brown hair”. In PnP, in a different setting with different faiths and culture, her signature look was red robes. That would carry some baggage in the Forgotten Realms! So here I describe her as wearing “Purple wizard robes with Gold trim”. I like this look enough its becoming cemented in my mind for her now. I would further describe her as energetic and funny, gregarious and good-natured. Sensitive maybe, but not extremely so. Over the course of this run through we’ll have the opportunity to see her in a range of emotions.
Diomedes is clearly a warrior. Average height, fit and muscular looking but more like an active athlete than a body builder. Although he’s 20 years old like Psyche, I’ll describe him older due to his physical hardness. So we’ll start with “25 year old Human man, English, Muscular (changing to ‘fit’ when I want to downplay his size), short brown hair, clean shaven”. His gear is unique; the setting he’s from used the Classical Greek mythos and I was on a big Greek Mythology kick at the time. He was a worshipper of Athena, who used an Owl as one of her holy symbols. Even if his faith is different in the Forgotten Realms we can say the owl is a part of his family legacy. So the description further goes “bronze Hoplite armor with embossed owl motif on the breastplate”. Sometimes adding “red helmet crest” or “red cloak”. Or sometimes blue, hey people can change their clothes! If he’s not dressed for fighting I go with “dark red tunic”. He usually fought with two weapons, usually rendered as two long swords. But he will use a shield more at lower levels.
For further consideration I’ll say he was funny; not sure why but I always seemed to play him more as Indiana Jones than Lancelot (although he goes back before Indiana Jones!). He’s also more of a defender than a crusader.
The AI struggles far more with Diomedes than Psyche! For one, it seems uncertain about what Hoplite armor is. It often translates this as some sort of plate, or maybe more like Lorica Segmentata. Which is fine really. It gives it sort of an old timey look but maybe not hopelessly obsolete. The owl thing is amusing too, apart from mentioning I’ve junked a few images purely because the owl design looked really stupid, but it often adds multiple owls throughout the image. Including giant owl allies and enemies. And occasionally it all comes perfectly together and looks awesome.
My idea for this run, undoubtedly inspired by having spent *so many* hours playing these characters, is that they care very much about what they’re doing and trying to do right. But also these two love each other and love to laugh. Especially laugh with each other. I want to include Imoen in that “love of life” mood. But three characters in one portrait often exceeds what I can figure how to do, and my primary focus will be on Diomedes and Psyche.
I did a rebuild of the whole Baldur’s Gate saga, although the total changes were small. I changed the Enemy Randomizer to only do Spawn Points and Sleep encounters, not any set encounters. And I’m adding a few more features from CDTweaks back into the mix, mostly ease of use things. But I’d stripped it way back last in an abundance of caution due to the huge Deities of Faerun mod. All the Quest/Content type stuff will stay the same.
Update 1
I was actually able to launch into this fast after finishing the “Victoria and Second Chances” run through of Icewind Dale so I have this update to share as fast as I’m posting.
The first night out of Candlekeep hit Psyche and company hard. Gorion told her to run, and she did, right back to where Diomedes and Imoen were. By the time they found their way back to Gorion’s encounter he’d been cut down, and the area was abandoned. Psyche was devastated and they all mourned her loss. As her thoughts finally cleared she mentioned “these guys weren’t after Gorion, they were after me!” Diomedes felt his blood turn cold, “we will need to be careful and stick together. I’ve trained with enough guys who were much better warriors than I am, and I know none of us are really ready for a crew that took down a great mage like your father. Getting to the Friendly Arms Inn and finding these friends of Gorion’s sounds like the wise course of action.”
Which is what was done. With a few minor encounters along the way, Psyche and her friends are a tight group that will stick together. But they still have so much to learn.
Everyone remembers their first real combat! This wasn’t very hard for the three of them. Some artistic license, Psyche can’t currently use the short sword she carries (not until she unlocks thief skills at 3rd level).
At the Inn they met up with old friends of Gorion’s. They were younger than Psyche had hoped! Not much more proficient than herself. But Jaheira and her husband Khalid were willing to help.
The full write up plus more AI Art is available as "Psyche and Diomedes" at davesgaming.blog
At the start, Diomedes was a single class fighter (I’ll SWAG his scores at 13/17/15/13/15/11). I remember talking with the DM a few weeks in and we both agreed he clearly should have been a Paladin (the way I was playing him). Obviously he lacked the scores (Charisma) for it, but this became a theme for some quests over the next few months. Eventually his Charisma was 17, and then came a big combat mission that made him a Paladin. He was 4th or 5th level.
We all initially met Psyche as a friendly NPC. Although at first, because of a Demon’s curse, she was a painting… something about a Demon deciding she was too beautiful to be real so she was transformed to canvas. We had a few missions to remove this curse. I think it just involved a combination of Remove Curse and Dispel Magic but we were all low level and couldn’t cast or afford such a thing without some help! This was accomplished a while before Diomedes became a Paladin; as a character she was a single class mage (another SWAG 4/18/18/18/12/20). Immediately after Diomedes made Paladin it was decided Diomedes and Psyche were a permanent team/couple and I inherited her character sheet.
This is all just the first few months playing, and we went for many, many years. Diomedes and Psyche are the only characters I ever ran that exceeded 20th level. That wasn’t really expected to ever happen in AD&D. Their scores rose dramatically, especially in later adventures that got to be a lot of “playing with the Gods” sort of stuff. Their final scores, on their sheets now, would be Diomedes at 19/18/18/15/18/18 and Psyche at 13/18/18/20/14/20. We also transitioned from 1E, to 1.5E, to 2E rules. Late in their careers both become multi-class (under the DM’s house rules) with Diomedes adding Cleric and Psyche adding Paladin.
Story-wise, Diomedes and Psyche had their own Kingdom for the last 5 or so years we played. A lot of adventures started with someone coming to see the King and Queen with a problem, and then I “decided” (the DM told me) what levels were appropriate for this adventure and that determined who we sent out. Diomedes and Psyche’s oldest son got into the mid teens of levels this way, and several other kids/friends/followers/hirelings gained significant experience and treasure from these adventures.
We had a lot of fun. But that’s all just introduction to explain what these characters mean to me. They’ve been a part of my life forever. No shock, I’ve also run them and many other characters from their folder in computer games back to Ultima and Wizardry (does anyone else remember Telengard?). Any time I decide to run Diomedes and/or Psyche in a game it’s a little personal to me. And no doubt, being able to prompt my own AI art for the characters and the playthrough has been electrifying to me. I started playing with them almost as soon as I started playing with my first prompts on Bing Co-Pilot (blame Zeno_42 and discussions we got into at the Beamdog forums). Some of the AI art in this post will go back to my earliest efforts at that too!
For this playthrough, well we all know Gorion’s Ward is meant to be very young. So I’ll be working up 1st level versions of these characters. But I won’t use anything quite like their actual 1st level incarnations. I’ve lived with them as immensely powerful for too long and they’ve gained way too much from their decades of PnP adventuring for me to set them back that far. Their scores will be assigned somewhere in between the 1st and 25th level versions of themselves. But as 1st level characters.
I’ll have another note at the end of the initial write-up about how/why I built them the way I did, and the key descriptors I’m using for the AI art. So let’s meet a new team…
*****
Psyche grew up in Candlekeep, as the adopted daughter of the great mage Gorion. Psyche has always seen the world around her as an adventure, and dreamed of great journey’s and great deeds. She hung on every word as Gorion spun his tales of his wild youth. But by the time she was ten the Keep was starting to feel confining. There’s only so many times the same stretch of wall or the same view of the ocean can be amazing. This led to a couple years of mild rebellion. No doubt, Psyche loved her father and her home and never wished ill on anyone. But she *needed* some sort of adventure. Often, this meant she and her friend Imoen would pull pranks on the Monks or sneak into places they weren’t supposed to be. For much of this Psyche took the lead, being a year or so older. She had a major fail, got caught red handed once stealing some jewelry that wasn’t hers.
Gorion punished Psyche. She was humiliated and ashamed. But the worst of it was a few weeks later. Late one night, Psyche was wandering around the great library when she was supposed to be sleeping, when she thought she heard Gorion speak her name? She poked around a little, and found her father on his knees praying for her. He’d never been much of a man of faith, this was a first? Was he crying? He seemed desperate for her to get past this wickedness?! Well that seemed a bit extreme. It wasn’t even a very nice necklace. But it shook her to her core. She loved Gorion, how could she upset him like this? She resolved to be better, to make him proud of her actions.
A chance encounter late one night gave young Psyche a lot to think about.
At the advanced age of 13 Psyche turned over a new page. She would do right by everyone at the Keep, and she would explore her world through the vast library available to her. A few years later she had found the joy of learning magic. She could be just like her father! Through her mid-teens reading, learning and magic became the great passions of her life.
Psyche and Imoen loved to spar in the Watcher’s training ground. Neither of them would ever be a great warrior! But both knew the basics of handling weapons.
It was probably inevitable that another distraction would arise. This time she was wiser about not letting a distraction lead her to actions she couldn’t defend. But a new Watcher, or apprentice Watcher, or whatever they call themselves came to Candlekeep. He was about her age, he seemed to notice her about the same time she noticed him, and he made her weak in the knees. She found herself giggling more than she ever remembered. And talking for hours. Diomedes had quickly seized a huge role in her life and Psyche was completely happy about it. The 18 year old Psyche was wise enough to know she’d fallen hard.
For the next two years this was her life. It was a happy time for her, with just a hint of building tension as she knew her future would be built around Diomedes more than Gorion. Things grew serious enough that Psyche informed Diomedes he would need to be asking her father an important question. She also started laying the groundwork with Gorion. He was always a bit over-protective, and the idea of her ever leaving Candlekeep seemed to upset him.
Until the day Gorion told her they had to leave. Now. This came so fast she hardly knew what to do. In a rush of getting things together she told Diomedes and Imoen they would need to follow, they would all sort things out when they knew what was going on. Did Gorion have some old enemies he’d been hiding from? That might explain a lot of things.
Psyche is a LG Female Human. She was a thief as a child (2nd Level) but is now a newly trained Mage. (1st Level)
7 – 18 – 18 – 18 – 13 – 20
Diomedes grew up along the Sword Coast. His father was a Guardsman and his mother a minor priestess of Tyr. They worked in and around a few of the little towns of the region. They were never wealthy, but got by with little drama. In his mid-teens he was sent to the Temple for training, because of his mom’s long service he could get training from them at no cost if he qualified. And he did, fairly easily. He qualified for Paladin training which was one of the highest level curricula offered. That was exciting! And it suited him he thought.
At 18, Diomedes had finished his formal training as a Paladin/Cavalier of Tyr. The Temple then placed him nearby for two or three years of apprenticeship. Which is how young Diomedes found himself at Candlekeep one summer afternoon. He had some mixed feelings about this assignment, it was considered prestigious and no doubt this was a beautiful fortress and location. But he’d heard it could be slow, not much ever happened at Candlekeep. Most of the permanent residents were Monks! It was known as “The Great Library”. And there weren’t even a lot of area patrols for the Keep’s “Watchers”. Residents didn’t come and go often so there was no outlying community. At least, as a Watcher, occasional maneuvers and hunts would take him outside the walls. But this could be dull, fortunately he did like reading…
Then the most unexpected thing happened. He’d barely checked in with the Watcher’s Commander and was just looking for the Barracks to find his new home; when he saw the most beautiful girl, well woman he reckoned, that he’d ever seen. But he knew he was staring, and his jaw dropped open. This might be a better assignment than he thought it was going to be!
He went out of his way to meet the young woman he’d seen, and the meeting was auspicious since she was coming his way specifically to meet him. They became close immediately. She was a friend, partner and more; like a missing piece of himself. They shared a sense of humor and a strong desire to fight evil, and make Faerun safe for people to live the lives they wanted to. The next couple years actually sped by for Diomedes.
Diomedes was a friendly and outgoing sort, and he made many other friends around Candlekeep. Including Psyche’s best friend, more like a sister, Imoen. Fortunately they all got along! Befriending Gorion seemed a little trickier. At first he treated Diomedes like some sort of threat. But after several months he started to warm to him. Maybe convinced that Diomedes might actually be good for his daughter? Both men worked hard to find common ground, they were so different it wasn’t easy. The big break seemed to come as the story of Psyche’s thieving childhood came out. Both men were laughing hard and thoroughly enjoying themselves. Psyche was blushing bright red in embarrassment, and trying not to giggle because Diomedes and Gorion sharing a laugh together made her happy to her inmost being.
The day things changed. Gorion became much more supportive of Diomedes and Psyche as a couple after this one moment.
Things seemed to get better and easier after that day. The three of them even occasionally enjoying a not completely awkward sort of family time. And the young couple were together at every time they possibly could be. They’d even started talking about what a life together would look like. Psyche informed Diomedes he needed to ask Gorion something. The statement itself made him happy, he’d been thinking along the same lines. But now the very real problem of what to say? How to do this? Should he make a big thing of it or keep it casual?
The planning was interrupted when Psyche told Diomedes and Imoen they were leaving the Keep that afternoon. She didn’t know what had happened, but had come to fear Gorion had enemies who’d found him. So her friends, her family, her life would need to follow and they would sort out the details when they could.
Diomedes is a LG Male Human. A 1st Level Paladin/Cavalier with 400 experience points he’s gained from 2 years of training and guard duty at Candlekeep. He has Plate Mail armor as a Watcher.
18/53 – 18 – 17 – 13 – 16 – 17
*****
The characters and classes are mostly self-explanatory. Obviously their scores are very good, they are designed characters. This isn’t quite what the PnP characters were at 1st level, but its not what they are at 25th level either. They are strong characters who will grow into mighty heroes during the saga.
Psyche does have the one quirk of thieving in her youth, making her a Lawful-Good thief. The PnP character’s background was as a slave, who stole as a child. It wasn’t actually represented as a class, but a “special ability” that she had the skills of a 6th level thief (some old notes of mine say 3rd level, it may have changed. But under 1E rules thief skill points weren’t assigned, they were on a standard table and all thieves were same based on level). For our purposes here, it will never be about the thief skills (in PnP she NEVER used them!). It will however give her 16 hit points at 1st level. And it will give the weapon proficiencies Short Sword and Sword and Shield (buckler) Style. Psyche often used a short sword as a mage. She developed a 6th Level Spell “Psyche’s Sword” that gave her Short Sword Specialization and a Warrior’s Thaco with the sword. The PnP version of Psyche was a great mage, that I played like a Paladin. Well, she was married to one and became a Paladin when she was well over 100 years old. I’ll use EEKeeper to change her alignment and avatar after I first create her as a thief.
Which leads to a few notes about how I describe them for the numerous AI images you’ll see in this post.
For Psyche, a defining thing early was that she was very short! The translation of her 4 Strength was that she was 4’10” as an adult. Later, through various magical means she gained some strength; we translated that as her growing to 5’2”. She was never tall! But she was beautiful, so I often describe her to Co-Pilot as “20 year old Human woman, Russian, beautiful, long brown hair”. In PnP, in a different setting with different faiths and culture, her signature look was red robes. That would carry some baggage in the Forgotten Realms! So here I describe her as wearing “Purple wizard robes with Gold trim”. I like this look enough its becoming cemented in my mind for her now. I would further describe her as energetic and funny, gregarious and good-natured. Sensitive maybe, but not extremely so. Over the course of this run through we’ll have the opportunity to see her in a range of emotions.
Diomedes is clearly a warrior. Average height, fit and muscular looking but more like an active athlete than a body builder. Although he’s 20 years old like Psyche, I’ll describe him older due to his physical hardness. So we’ll start with “25 year old Human man, English, Muscular (changing to ‘fit’ when I want to downplay his size), short brown hair, clean shaven”. His gear is unique; the setting he’s from used the Classical Greek mythos and I was on a big Greek Mythology kick at the time. He was a worshipper of Athena, who used an Owl as one of her holy symbols. Even if his faith is different in the Forgotten Realms we can say the owl is a part of his family legacy. So the description further goes “bronze Hoplite armor with embossed owl motif on the breastplate”. Sometimes adding “red helmet crest” or “red cloak”. Or sometimes blue, hey people can change their clothes! If he’s not dressed for fighting I go with “dark red tunic”. He usually fought with two weapons, usually rendered as two long swords. But he will use a shield more at lower levels.
For further consideration I’ll say he was funny; not sure why but I always seemed to play him more as Indiana Jones than Lancelot (although he goes back before Indiana Jones!). He’s also more of a defender than a crusader.
The AI struggles far more with Diomedes than Psyche! For one, it seems uncertain about what Hoplite armor is. It often translates this as some sort of plate, or maybe more like Lorica Segmentata. Which is fine really. It gives it sort of an old timey look but maybe not hopelessly obsolete. The owl thing is amusing too, apart from mentioning I’ve junked a few images purely because the owl design looked really stupid, but it often adds multiple owls throughout the image. Including giant owl allies and enemies. And occasionally it all comes perfectly together and looks awesome.
My idea for this run, undoubtedly inspired by having spent *so many* hours playing these characters, is that they care very much about what they’re doing and trying to do right. But also these two love each other and love to laugh. Especially laugh with each other. I want to include Imoen in that “love of life” mood. But three characters in one portrait often exceeds what I can figure how to do, and my primary focus will be on Diomedes and Psyche.
I did a rebuild of the whole Baldur’s Gate saga, although the total changes were small. I changed the Enemy Randomizer to only do Spawn Points and Sleep encounters, not any set encounters. And I’m adding a few more features from CDTweaks back into the mix, mostly ease of use things. But I’d stripped it way back last in an abundance of caution due to the huge Deities of Faerun mod. All the Quest/Content type stuff will stay the same.
Update 1
I was actually able to launch into this fast after finishing the “Victoria and Second Chances” run through of Icewind Dale so I have this update to share as fast as I’m posting.
The first night out of Candlekeep hit Psyche and company hard. Gorion told her to run, and she did, right back to where Diomedes and Imoen were. By the time they found their way back to Gorion’s encounter he’d been cut down, and the area was abandoned. Psyche was devastated and they all mourned her loss. As her thoughts finally cleared she mentioned “these guys weren’t after Gorion, they were after me!” Diomedes felt his blood turn cold, “we will need to be careful and stick together. I’ve trained with enough guys who were much better warriors than I am, and I know none of us are really ready for a crew that took down a great mage like your father. Getting to the Friendly Arms Inn and finding these friends of Gorion’s sounds like the wise course of action.”
Which is what was done. With a few minor encounters along the way, Psyche and her friends are a tight group that will stick together. But they still have so much to learn.
Everyone remembers their first real combat! This wasn’t very hard for the three of them. Some artistic license, Psyche can’t currently use the short sword she carries (not until she unlocks thief skills at 3rd level).
At the Inn they met up with old friends of Gorion’s. They were younger than Psyche had hoped! Not much more proficient than herself. But Jaheira and her husband Khalid were willing to help.
The full write up plus more AI Art is available as "Psyche and Diomedes" at davesgaming.blog
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We worked our way down from the Friendly Arm Inn to Beregost. We did indeed find the Ogre "with a belt fetish" that Unshey warned us about. Diomedes, Khalid and Jaheira all closed to melee with it while Imoen used her bow and I fired a Magic Missile then threw sling bullets. The fight went fairly fast. It was a little unnerving watching my new husband (!) charge the beast, fearing how easily one ill-timed swing would smash him to the ground. But all three warriors went in and they did their work. This seemed like our first bigger sort of fight, everything else we've faced seemed pretty inconsequential, like Diomedes really didn't need our help at all. This time felt more all in, like our margin of error was very small. At this rate I expect to have an ulcer in no time.
We reached Beregost and explored around town some. We had some interesting encounters, including another of these annoying assassins who are looking for me. Perhaps most interesting we met a young woman (half-elf!) named Neera who is a Wild Mage. I've not met one before, the way they practice magic is pretty antithetical to how magic is taught at Candlekeep! She's tagging along with us for now, she's being hunted too and I think she's more eager for company than she lets on. She seems pretty amoral, like she doesn't consider consequence of anything. I wonder if that just comes with the wild magic? Still, it doesn't seem right to let her come to harm if we can prevent it.
We also took some time to clear spiders out of Landrin's house. She had asked us to look into it when we met her at the Friendly Arms Inn. Another fight that could have been more dangerous, I believe those things are poisonous! But it went quickly enough.
To see all the images associated with this update check out "Psyche and Diomedes" at davesgaming.blog
Continuing on the road to Nashkel, we fought quite a few beasts, some Ghouls and hobgoblins. Its funny how quickly these sorts of things start to feel routine. I talked with Diomedes and Jaheira about what and who we need to maximize our ability to fight and survive this range of threats. The most obvious thing we're lacking is another healer, maybe someone more specifically dedicated that art than Jaheira herself. With that in mind, we enter Nashkel.
After exploring around town some we enter the Inn for some sleep and are ambushed by another assassin. Again in a public place! What is it with these morons? Don't they care who all could be hurt? Maybe its safe to say the assassin/bounty hunter line of work doesn't draw in the best sorts.
We spend the night there after our little excitement, and wake in the morning to discover Neera has left us. I think she was overwhelmed by going from being hunted to joining up with someone even more hunted. Tactically I have to admit she's not a huge loss, she argued with Diomedes the other day about his insistence she hold back and use her sling. Actually, that she learn how to use said sling. Like she was going to fight with the warriors with her stick of wood? Oof. But personally I liked her. I just hope she's okay on her own.
We were preparing to head out of town when we came across a somewhat confused Ranger who seemed to discussing something with his hamster. He asked for our help in rescuing his witch (?) who had been taken somewhere west of town by a group of Gnolls. That sounds ominous! Of course we'll help.
We tracked for a couple days west of town, all the way to the coast and an ancient adobe fortress that was overrun by the Gnolls. We scouted the perimeter and determined there were no more than 20 Gnolls present and Diomedes felt we could take them with a direct assault.
We did find rescue Minsc's "Witch" Dynaheir.
This did lead to an unexpected problem. Dynaheir was hurt, weak, exhausted, starved, beaten. Seriously not good. Diomedes was sure we needed to "secure our rear" and make sure no one was able to come after us. So it was decided Minsc, Khalid and Jaheira would escort the wounded woman back to the Friendly Arms Inn. Diomedes, Imoen and I would scour the area and make sure all was safe before we followed after.
As it happened, we caught up en route and we got back to the Inn together. We needed to get back on the road but it was clear Dynaheir was in no shape to join us. I'd also observed Khalid was frankly, too nervous and unsteady for this line of work (not that I'd ever tell his wife that! His life is hard enough...) and was able to convince all concerned that the best course of action was to have Khalid establish a permanent base camp for us here at the Friendly Arms Inn where the whole staff was available to help nurse Dynaheir; while Diomedes Imoen and I would be joined by Jaheira and Minsc on our way back to investigate the iron crisis further.
We did get back to Nashkel with no drama. First step was to reconnoiter the area around the town down to the iron mines. In doing so we also spent time at the local carnival. It was fun! Um, not that we were there for that. In our time there I was intrigued by a remarkably lifelike statue of a warrior woman. A nearby huckster was selling a scroll to "awaken the lady from the stone!" Yeah, I was immediately suspicious this was some unfortunate real woman. Refusing to play the scammer's game we ran back to town and got a "Stone to Flesh" spell from the local Temple. Sure enough, we awoke Branwen, a Priestess of Tempus. I believe that's a sect of fierce warrior types?!
But she seemed pleasant enough (and Diomedes assured me she wasn't evil). She seemed happy to join us on our investigations.
*****
I had to fuss to get the party I wanted! And once again, the six character limit is annoying to me. But I think this is a team I'll take all the way through. I've been eager to use Branwen since I installed the "Deities of Faerun" mod, it is a fascinating class/kit. Virtually a fighter/cleric in a single class. Adequate low level healing spells and quite a few combat spells; plus d10 hit dice and the ability to specialize in melee weapons. My plan is Diomedes and Branwen as the front rank, with Minsc and Jaheira right behind. A melee heavy party, but I like it that way. And I like Psyche carrying all the load as mage.
To see all the images associated with this update check out "Psyche and Diomedes" at davesgaming.blog
We explored the country from Nashkel to the mines. There were more Kobolds than we would expect. We also encountered a beautiful Winter Wolf. So white! I swear though, I'd read back in Candlekeep that wolves were usually afraid of people? Huh. Hasn't been my experience so far.
We also met an obsessed sculptor who carved a rather stunning likeness of some elven queen in a cliffside. It was like we came in on the last chapter of some epic tragedy. He asked for some peace to finish to his work when a fairly aggressive bounty hunter showed up. We tried to figure out what the issue was when the guy decided to start a fight. With the six of us! It didn't end well for him. He called himself Greywolf... another wolf who should have known better!
Then it was time to enter the mines themselves and see what we could learn. It didn't take long to realize the upper levels had been over-run with Kobolds.
The third level down got really dicey, lots of Kobolds, a ghoul, giant spiders. Kind of a mess. I've also learned that Branwen is a very aggressive fighter. Take it from me, I'm married to a Cavalier. That woman is kind of nuts.
Another level down we found the boss man, a half-orc named Mulahey wasn't interested in a friendly chat. He called in a mixed force of Kobolds and skeletons. It all made for one of the bigger fights we've seen, but I've gained some confidence in this crew. So while Jaheira, Branwen and Minsc went after his troops, Diomedes, Imoen and I took down Mulahey. He had a fair amount of documentation that provided some enlightenment. We've stumbled onto an operation meant to destabilize the area with tainted/crumbling iron. No surprise, Mulahey was but peon. We need to track down a mage named Tranzig, a name already known to us as the villain who turned Branwen to stone. He is apparently at Feldpost's Inn in Beregost.
On our return to Nashkel we were met by another assassin, on the main street with people out and about doing their business. Idiot. His name was Nimbul, which sounds strangely apt.
High Noon in Nashkel.
The mayor was indeed pleased with our success. He sent us up to Beregost with a sample of the Ore contaminant we recovered for examination by the master smith in town. Beregost was also our destination for Tranzig. Branwen was about as happy as I've seen her to take him down. We've learned there is a bandit camp north of here we'll need to check out. But for now we seem to have bought some time. The mines in Nashkel are safe for the workers and are turning out acceptable quality product again. And we've taken out the local thugs behind this. We've heard stories of some smaller dramas in the area that may need some attention. And the chance to work together more and improve our teamwork sounds appealing. But for tonight there's some time to relax!
We've spent the last few days exploring the area southwest of Beregost. Everyone is getting along well and we're improving tactically. I'm in awe of how dominant my husband is in melee, but everyone does their part. It seems natural with Imoen and I holding back and observing where we can help the most. Branwen is indeed a capable warrior, especially for a cleric. Minsc is the strongest of us by a bit, but he sure isn't a finesse sort of fighter! Jaheira is shockingly capable with a club... what a crew, I love them all!
*****
I like this part of the game. This is just building the team for a bit before we get back to the main story. Currently Diomedes leads the team on the scoreboard by quite a bit, over 40% of total party kills. The remaining characters are pretty much all around 10%, no one else stands out as very strong or very weak. My current team build is four equipped primarily for melee. Only Psyche and Imoen routinely hold back to provide missiles and magic. A couple of times, when someone got into our backfield, I switched Psyche to melee so Imoen (with her more effective bow) could continue in missile fire. My tentative plan is that things will look very different in BG2.
As before, the full version of this post and art is at "Psyche and Diomedes" at davesgaming.blog
The last few days we finished up exploring the immediate area of the Sword Coast, we’ll spend a night in Beregost before looking at the east areas, from Nashkel in the south up past Beregost to the woods east of the Friendly Arms Inn. That last is where we expect to find more bandit activity. We encountered less bandit and assassin activity on the west side. Expect we’ll see more bandits to the east, no idea about assassins.
Most of what we’ve done so far has gone well enough. This team has become good together. But we had an encounter almost right on the coast that scared the daylights out of me. It was a group of ogres, eight of them of different sorts. That was a big fight for us, but I’ve come to expect us to do well. Diomedes was alone against one that seemed to be a leader, obviously a dangerous sort, I saw the beast’s club swing down and Diomedes shift away. Casually, smoothly, like I’ve seen him do before. But the club just made contact with his breastplate and there was a horrible metallic thud/squeek, the unmistakable sound of metal giving way. I saw Diomedes fall to the ground and I might have screamed. Or maybe I didn’t, it was all so fast. I saw Diomedes’ sword had sliced through the ogre from sternum through the belly and he had bounced back to his feet and was closing on another ogre.
After, we all saw his breastplate was completely split apart. He was wearing his suit of plate mail as a Watcher of Candlekeep. It was a product of the iron crisis and made of badly corrupted metal. It was time to head for Beregost anyway. The smith there should be working with better iron by now, hopefully. Diomedes joked with finding new armor from the ogres, I was so happy to see him whole and unhurt I laughed harder than his antics deserved. I can’t wait to get to an inn, clean up, and sleep in an actual bed…
“oh yes dear, that armor is totally you…” “that’s what I thought! What’s that smell?”
*****
Everyone is around 5th level now.
I have the component from CDTweaks installed that makes armor, shields and helmets all susceptible to the iron crisis. That is, they all can fail you. Except of course magic is immune. So it actually makes that Helm that gives you Infravision useful! But it does add another layer of concern to the story, I usually carry spare armor until everyone is in magic stuff. So Diomedes was able to put on Scale Mail right after the battle. And we have plenty of money now so buying better armor in town is not a problem.
It was a long slog up along the east side of the main road. There were indeed more bandits, and a few parties of assassins, they're getting tougher! Also some basilisks and a group of Red Wizards to be taken care of. We made it up through woods and found the main bandit camp too. We scouted it out a bit and there were quite a few men, hobgoblins and gnolls present. Diomedes was confident about a frontal assault, so that's what we did! These last few weeks have turned us all into a pretty good machine. Apart from noting it was a fairly long fight, nothing seemed too challenging about it. One big guy came at Diomedes and Branwen with a war hammer, my flaming arrow got their attention! He went down quickly afterwards and that was the only moment that really got my heart rate up.
All told we fought quite a few bandits, but I don't think there was any brain trust present. We found the headman's tent and freed a prisoner who reported they'd been getting orders from a "Davaeorn" who has a mining operation in the Cloakwood Forest. Is that what this is all about? Forced scarcity for iron ore? A pretty extravagant and bloody operation for something so common. We'll have to head there next and get to the bottom of this.
We returned back to Officer Vai of the Flaming Fist who's offering a bounty on bandits. I knew Branwen was collecting scalps for proof, but I almost choked when she presented 60 of them! It makes me sad how many people have fallen into such an unproductive, and short sort of life.
The Friendly Arms Inn is the last stopover before entering the Cloakwood Forest, it was good to be reunited with friends for a night! For Jaheira especially, she and Khalid didn't spend much time with us as we celebrated in the Inn's Great Room.
Imoen and Branwen get a close look at the bandit camp. Their report emboldened us to just take them by storm. I suspect Branwen would have suggested the storm if there'd been another 100 men, but I trust Imoen's judgement.
Its good to see Dynaheir looking so much better! Hopefully soon she'll be fit to join us. Minsc isn't so much of the party type, is Boo asleep too?
All told we spent a couple weeks getting through the Cloakwood Forest. There could be quite a story to tell, everything from many giant spiders, to shadow druids ( a very personal battle for Jaheira), to wyverns. The climax came when we found a functioning mine deep in the woods, worked mostly by slaves captured from the greater area. I can't imagine what all the logistical issues for such a thing could have been! Its not like we found a well traveled road to the site.
But the bottom line seems to have been about the masters of the mine producing the only usable iron at a time when other sources in the area could only yield corrupted product. Of course, we'd already helped re-open the Nashkel Mines. And now we freed a lot of slaves and sent them home. A satisfying and exhausting couple of weeks.
"Um Jaheira, is that wyvern carrying a whole cow?" "I would say yes."
This mine is closed! Diomedes and I were the last ones out.
As before, the full long version of this post is "Psyche and Diomedes" at davesgaming.blog
A couple days later we went north from Friendly Arms Inn towards Baldur's Gate. As usual we explored the environs, and wound up with a surprising series of events in the little fishing town of Ulgoth's Beard. An older mage named Shandalar asked us to recover his cloak, I'm thinking "sure, we'll put it on the list..." when poof, we were gated off to some windswept icy island. Obviously an individual of immense power. A single cave led to an extensive underground maze of sorts. Many mages were there, apparently this was some sort of mage trap that pulled in those who were passing by? I'm not sure how that worked, but it was presumably fearsome enough to explain why the arch-mage would rather send us than make the trip himself. Everyone we met seemed to be demented, maybe driven mad by the hopeless trap they'd fallen into? I shudder to think what our fate could have been, but we set to our task of finding the missing cloak. Thankfully, when we'd found it we were teleported back to Ulgoth's Beard and Shandalar. Very odd experience, but again, there are forces in this world beyond our young team's understanding.
We also chatted with a Dwarf named Hurgan Stoneblade who asked us to find a powerful magic dagger known as the Soultaker that had been lost by his grandfather many years ago at Durlag's Tower. We passed that ancient ruin south of here a couple weeks back, we promised to investigate if we got back that way. And then a scholar named Mendas was excited to tell us about a recent sighting of Baduran's old shipwreck (yes that Balduran! The founder of Baldur's Gate) on a distant island and asked our help in finding the current navigation charts when we are in Baldur's Gate. So wow, we've got a lot going on!
Which led us to finally enter the city. It is huge! Well, I've read about it and knew its hardly the biggest city there is. But it is a large free city, prosperous, and certainly the biggest place I've ever been! We met our mysterious man in red again at the city gates, he is friendly and refuses to give straight answers to anything. But for all his evasiveness there can be no doubt its Elminster himself. I mean, how many wizards can their be who would boldly wear red while not being associated with Thay in any way?
We also met with Scar, one of the leaders of the Flaming Fist, Baldur's Gate's flamboyantly named military/security force. He first asked us about our investigations of the iron and bandit crisis, apparently we're well known in some quarters! He also asked us to do some investigating of the Seven Suns trading coster, which has made some strange moves lately.
This wasn't the only request or event of our visit! Things got quite busy for us. A lot going on, I'm not sure if the big city is always this wild? After a couple days of exploring the town and helping a variety of people in need we were relaxing at a carnival in town, when a man named Lothander informed us we'd been poisoned! And there was more running around to find our cure...
When passing a shrine to Oghma we learned of a threat to the City's entire written history! Seems like a strange thing, but as a daughter of Candlekeep there's no way I'd let that go unanswered.
The Priests of Oghma felt the threat was coming from the City's sewers. At first we just encountered Were-rats, but it turned into a very big thing.
A few other encounters around town followed from a dozen other challenges. It was different adventuring in an urban setting!
I didn't expect I'd do so much fighting in mansions.
*****
I really like the new adventure mod "Loretakers" a very well designed two level dungeon for the sewers under Baldur's Gate. It also made me strangely happy that it starts with the were-rats, a ubiquitous enemy that had previously been absent from all the IE games.
And again, the full version of this update can be found as "Psyche and Diomedes" at davesgaming.blog
We found a doppleganger infestation at the Seven Suns Trade Coster and cleaned it out. And then another one at the nearby Merchants League. Maybe we'll put up a sign, "Dopple Exterminators!" Just happy to help.
Scar was actually happy we'd helped, not so happy to hear about dopplegangers. He then asked us to look into some disappearances over near Elfsong Tavern and Sorcerous Sundries. It didn't take long to realize something else was in the sewers.
An Ogre Mage and his pack of carrion crawlers had been robbing and, well, eating people. That won't happen again.
Next Scar asked us to investigate the Iron Throne building in town. Finally. We will be as subtle as any team with Minsc on it could ever be. Yeah, we were expecting trouble. Actually the place was mostly in chaos. Many were in a rush just to escape the place. On the top floor we found another hit team looking for me. Imoen heard them from the floor below so we charged up the stairs ready for trouble. It was sort of anti-climactic, the ogre mage put up a better fight. Diomedes did have to buff a pretty nasty scrape out of his armor after, and we all agreed it was time for a good supper.
Most importantly we learned the Iron Throne leadership was back at our old home, Candlekeep. So Scar and Duke Eltan sent us off, back home it is.
Homecoming was mixed. It was really good to see home after three months away. So many good, dear friends. Really family. But a lot of grief too. It brought back what had been lost. I think it was easier for Imoen, but then she was raised by Winthrop and had a happy reunion.
I was truly happy to see Imoen's reunion with Winthrop!
After a couple hours of catching up it was time to find out what was going on with the Iron Throne leaders. We had a less than friendly visit with them, that answered nothing. We were in the library at this point, I then encountered the monk Piato who suggested we stop by Gorion's old room and get some things he'd left behind. This included a letter that was unsettling. Gorion revealed my parentage and it was nothing I would have guessed. How could I be a Bhaalspawn? He also mentioned that Sarevok, the man who slew him, was my (half) brother. It does lead me to think back on how concerned he always was with my "moral education". I remember how worried he was about my stealing as a child. But I'm pretty sure that was just boredom. I've never felt much anger or hatred towards anyone. At least until the night when my father was murdered. I showed the letter to all my friends, and was pleased to get so much support. Well I don't think Minsc really understood; but everyone else did, my husband did. And I felt all their love. I hadn't realized the fear that briefly clenched my heart until Diomedes put his arm around me, and I felt peace return to my core.
From here things got ugly. We were arrested for murdering the Iron Throne leaders. But we just left them? That didn't help our case.
We spent a few hours in jail at the main barracks. Imoen mentioned a few times how many times she'd picked those locks. And they hadn't removed our gear. But I did not want to fight our way out of here, through all our friends.
We were next visited by Ulraunt, the head librarian. He had never been a friend to me. I know he'd argued with Gorion that I did not belong at the library. He now proceeded to dump a lot of vitriol on me. He was sure it was me and my friends who'd killed those "businessmen" visiting the library. I kept a hand on Diomedes the whole time, it was my turn to keep him calm. Ulraunt clearly had no idea how much restraint we had to exercise, and what a non-barrier those bars were between us and him, to avoid proving he was always right about me...
Not long after that, Tethtoril, the head of the whole facility stopped by to visit. He was always much friendlier to me. And he proved his faithfulness now. After some discussion he teleported us out of the jail down to the catacombs beneath the library. This was a way out for us, but we discovered they'd been over-run by dopplegangers. This could not be a coincidence! They tried to confuse things with appearing as Elminster and Gorion. Do they think me some dizzy girl they can confuse by appearing as my dead father? Arrogance and stupidity go hand in hand.
I promise monster, you will never wear that face, or any other, ever again.
Dopple Exterminators still in business! And more assassins waiting for us at the exit. Followed by giant spiders and basilisks. A pretty exhausting run for the exit.
*****
A funny thing on this run. It really struck me what a natural part of Candlekeep Psyche was. It seems like the perfect upbringing to make her the character I've always known. And it made this part of the game poignant to me. This has been a very satisfying run, and still a lot to go!
Going from 8th to 9th level during the period of this update Psyche has become a capable mage.
We are apparently now wanted criminals in Baldur's Gate for crimes we did not commit. While recuperating at Friendly Arms Inn we discussed a plan of action. Ultimately we will need to return to the City and sort things out. But this seems like an excellent time to go missing for a while. Remembering a quest for a misplaced dagger at the ruin of Durlag's Tower, we decided to go investigate. What a monster! And I mean that in several senses. What you see above ground, a ruined keep tower is like the tip of an iceberg. It goes several levels underground and that's where it gets bigger and more dangerous. The whole thing is loaded with traps and over-run by undead, in addition to mazes and odd riddles to solve. We spent several days working our way through. In addition to talking with the ghost of Durlag himself, we found a demon knight and the missing dagger in lowest depths.
Does that ghoul behind me think he's being sneaky? Let's see if he enjoys a game of catch.
We returned to Ulgoth's Beard and discovered cultists had started some sort of demon summoning ritual involving the dagger we'd just recovered. This proved to be a big thing, and destroying this particular demon proved to be one of the biggest challenges we've faced yet. After fighting through a large number of cultists we found another large group and demon itself. Imoen and I dumped fireballs into the crowd while the warriors went after the demon itself. This ultimately proved effective.
After resting up for a day we decided it was time to check back in with the scholar Mendas, and his unidentifiable foreign accent. We had the sea charts he wanted. He asked us to lead the mission off to the island, thinking a few weeks away from Baldur's Gate might still be a good idea we set out.
I'd spent my life watching boats from the walls of Candlekeep. But this was my first time asea! Very fun, very romantic.
We encountered a serious storm as we neared the island and wound being castaway much like much like Balduran must have been so many years before. We first found a small coastal village. Branwen observed they all all exhibited an odd pack-like mentality which led to Diomedes checking for evil. It wasn't overwhelming, but he did report more evil present in this village than he would expect in such a place. They all seemed to live in fear of beasts that had over-run the far side of the island, and the area around Balduran's old shipwreck. We wondered if that explained the sense of evil around here? Or if there remained a puzzle to be solved?
Setting out we got some answers pretty quickly. The beasts in question were lycanthropes of some variety.
Werewolves are clever hunters who like to attack from ambush. Once they got in our rear and Imoen and I had to charge our own warriors to put a wall of steel between us and the bad doggies.
We found the shipwreck on the far side of the island. It sounds like a kennel in there, expect we'll keep using magic and the silver weapons...
It took a good 15 minutes of solid fighting to clear the wreck. Had to put down a lot of dogs. The pack leader had even abducted a child from the village, so this seemed like a pretty righteous fight.
We've formed a pretty good idea of what's going on back with the villagers too, likely a rival pack. Their veneer of civilization is curious, but I fear we have more bloodshed ahead.
What we found was as expected, with a minor twist. The village pack was not as wholly corrupt as the wild one. Some of the villagers, especially those who'd been friendliest to us before we left, were happy to let us be. The young mother we returned the little boy to was overjoyed and presented no threat to us at all. The village headwoman made one the most self-defeating boasts I've ever heard however; she gloated that we'd all been infected by lycanthropy from our time on the island. Jaheira muttered to me that such curses could be lifted by killing the pack leader. I think the bad dog realized her mistake in an instant and she attempted to flee.
We chased her through tunnels under the village to a hidden cay where a small cog was hidden. We caught her in time end her villainy and secure our ride home.
But Jaheira said she still sensed the curse. It occurred to me that our friend Mendas had a very similar accent to these folks. If he's not the true pack leader he may at least know who is.
Indeed, Mendas was the missing pack leader and we were freed from the lycanthropy. Now we've been away from Baldur's Gate for 6 weeks. We've heard rumbles that there have been assassinations and Sarevok is poised to become a new Duke. It is due time for us to head back. Per Imoen's suggestion, we've secured a number of invisibility potions and will use them to get to someone friendly to us, maybe Scar or Duke Eltan?
*****
It is amazing to me how many of the things we encounter in this saga inspire me to try new renders. I've come up with a lot more fun stuff than ever thought I would. Some things I could NOT figure out how to do! The AI renders are trickier than they look sometimes. I also still find the filters annoying, for the scenes on the island I wanted a shipwrecked and sweltering under a tropical sun sort of vibe. And I mostly got it. Apart from a number of non-renders tripping the censor, the AI got a lot racier than I wanted it to be a few times. Beefcake and cheesecake. And at least one of Psyche in Daisey Dukes. Very funny.
I feel like I'm rediscovering Psyche in way too. So often in PnP she existed in her husband's shadow. But we established way back when that she was a little spunky, that she enjoyed making things "right" in the world. She was fearless, even before her husband became a Cavalier and radiated a constant "Protection from Fear" aura. And she was both a magical and engineering problem solver; designing new spells, building castles, improving siege weapons. I feel like I'm watching her grow into the fearsome and fearless mage she became 40 years ago.
As before, see the full post of "Psyche and Diomedes" with more renders at davesgaming.blog
Our return to Baldur's Gate was interesting. Mainly because being invisible meant we couldn't see each other! We decided to hold hands to keep together, which got interesting navigating crowds. There was plenty of drama in the air, which we mostly avoided by being invisible. We talked with a woman named Tomoko, who was a part of Saravok's crew, and struck me as a tragic sort. She is in love with the monster, and helped us bring him down to save him. There can be no good ending there, and there wasn't.
We also found that Duke Eltan had been poisoned, and was being "cared for" by a villain. So we managed a rescue and got him delivered to friends. We then returned to the Iron Throne headquarters still hoping to find better evidence of his intentions before he was announced as a new Duke. This time we had some success, and learned of a new assassination plot against city leaders.
Then a whirlwind of activity to kill a pair of assassins and get to the Ducal palace to intercept Saravok. This all went well enough, we had numerous documents showing Saravok was up to no good; but Saravok's plans now seem to involve killing everyone and we wound up in a melee in the palace against a horde of dopplegangers.
"I can clearly show that Saravok Anchev is behind the Iron Crisis and the assassinations that have recently struck this city."
Then we chased Saravok to an old Bhaal Temple in the city's catacombs. He had a few dangerous enough allies with him, enough I was briefly worried. But he charged at us ahead of his support! A powerful and foolish man. Diomedes, Branwen and Minsc engaged him closely while Jaheira, Imoen and I took out his support. The heart left our opponents pretty quickly when Saravok fell.
We were given rooms in the palace to recuperate afterwards. Imoen expressed interest in mage training and one of the Dukes, Liia Janath took her on as a pupil. So it looks like we may be here a while...
Psyche will have a new portrait from here. She is more poised and confident than the young woman of five months ago. [pay no attention to the Lantern of Continual Light behind her...]
A few days in, we were asked to join the hunt for a small group of Saravok's followers who were held up in an old crypt. It was a small little chore, apart from fighting some undead, the group of thugs and mercenaries decided to surrender after a short fight. What a nice change! The one oddity was no Imoen. I considered doing the scouting work myself, we do have a number of "Potions of Mastery Thievery" that we never needed when Imoen was present (!), I think it would make up our skill gap. But the Flaming Fist made a local thief, Safana, available to us. It seemed foolish not to accept the help. Dang that woman made me furious! Constantly flirting with my husband. Actually sort of funny, he refused to acknowledge it. I noticed she wasn't a team player with coins and gems she found either. We don't need allies with weak character. I think in the future, we will reject the help of thieves apart from Imoen.
A few weeks of leisure passed. Khalid and Dynaheir met up with us! That was fun. But our team drifted away with other tasks. Jaheira and Khalid said something about a romantic get away, Dynaheir needed to resume her travels and Minsc went with her. And Branwen went off with barely a goodbye. The city was getting crowded at this time with refugees coming in to escape "The Crusade" occurring up north, which we were about to learn a lot more about.
One night, Imoen came into Diomedes and my room saying she thought she heard voices in the palace. Indeed, we were assaulted by thugs or assassins. They succeeded in poisoning Imoen, before we completely thwarted the attack. They had entered the palace in two groups, and each had a portrait of me! And they bore the mark of Caelar Argent's Crusade. It was on.
Imoen would need several days to recover from the poisoning. And she shouldn't interrupt her training anyway. So for the moment my team was me and my husband. A Flaming Fist Captain suggested the Rashami (Minsc and Dynaheir) were still at Three Kegs Inn and Tavern in town. So we set off for our old friends and they immediately joined with us. Diomedes and I had discussed our need for a good cleric. With all the refugee traffic in town we figured asking around the Inn made sense. We met a woman, a Dawnbringer of Lathander who was interested in thwarting a crusade that had already caused her family some grief.
She introduced herself as Moya of Clan Durban and spoke with a thick brogue. She looked at our crew, the four of us, and said "I have to warn you though, if you expect help with Infravision I'm as human as the rest of you". "You'll fit in fine Moya. I suspect your family tree is as interesting as mine!"
Moya Durbin is a NG Human, 7th Level Cleric of Lathander
9 - 16 - 15 - 11 - 18 - 16
We all took care of some final business and outfitting before departure with a group of troops the City was sending to join a coalition camp preparing to battle this Crusade. They'd sent an escort with us all day, the extra body did some good with all the crowds and chaos of the city just now. And she seems a capable and reliable warrior, a Captain in the Flaming Fist named Schael Corwin. So we also asked her to join with us on our "special operations". We now have a team of six that should be ready for whatever lies ahead. And I'm the thief...
*****
Yeah, I think it will be interesting having a second level thief, retired since she was 13 (!) doing the job. We really do have plenty of potions for her, over 50. Imoen never needed them.
Moya is another original character, just for SoD. I had fun coming up with something as exotic as I could who was actually normal. The AI prompt was "Chinese half-elf". So naturally I decided she would be an Irish Human.
I don't have as much to write up today's events, but we've made it to a first basecamp just short of the Coastway Crossing Bridge. We went out to reconnoiter the area, and came across Skie Silvershield battling some spies. She is a character, we made her acquaintance back in Baldur's Gate before this mission even came up. She is the spoiled daughter of one of the dukes, and first impression is that she's bored and self centered. But funny thing, when all this business with the Crusade came up, she went and joined the army under an assumed name. A cynical part of me thinks she's doing it for attention. But then why anonymous? Is there actually a bit of character hiding beneath that vapid exterior? She conducted herself well in that little fight too. Apparently she was paying attention to her basic training. She's an interesting part of this army.
Skie Silvershield
Then we killed a vampire. And found an old mine on the other side of our camp that was swarmed over by undead. We defeated a Lich! I guess that should be a milestone. But a dwarven cleric at the site had given us a pretty nifty anti-mage device once we realized what we were up against. Made it pretty easy to keep him down while we dumped his phylactery back in the elemental portal it was made from. And the group of Dwarves me met will join with our army.
Tomorrow we march for the Bridge.
*****
A few thoughts at this point in the game. Psyche's 7 Strength can be a bit of handicap! She really can't use much gear, had to drop her boots recently because they were too heavy. That is a problem with her using a sword too, its a much heavier weapon than the sling! I'd also say the 2nd level thief is a little tricky. The Potions of Power do make her effective for finding and disarming traps, but they're a fairly short duration potion. So you have to know there will be traps in the area to take it. Its tempting to dump Dynaheir for Safana, I know two mages won't be very useful at the climax. But for role playing reasons I'm not going to do it, Psyche has made her feelings known...
The party balance has already shifted some, with three melee types and three support characters. Although Corwin is wicked with a bow! So far, this is a pretty tough team.
We headed out to find the old temple Jaheira told us about. It was underground through a cave on a hilltop, so finding it took a while. We battled Hill Giants, wolves and Wyverns. A fair amount of excitement just getting there!
We found ourselves in several little skirmishes with aggressive packs of wolves.
We found a trail up a hillside that was infested with giant spiders. Spiders! I was thinking I’d rather face a dragon. So guess what was in the cave? This was the first adult dragon we’d fought. Fortunately we heard it before we saw and were able to prepare and deploy well. The fight wasn’t hard, except my husband and his melee team may disagree! All of them were brushed back across the cave at one time or another! But apart from being knocked around some we came through with minor scrapes and bruises.
Dyna and I like to play the fire and ice game, especially when facing new types of foes.
We then fought through a series of caves inhabited by Bugbears before finally getting to the ruined Temple of Bhaal. It has apparently been taken over by followers of the mad god Cyric. First thing was a row of cages, with three prisoners locked up. Crusaders. This was a pretty heinous incarceration, we quickly released them and gave them water. Made me chuckle a little, I know our old friend Branwen would have been horrified by our actions. But I’ll face these guys in battle if it comes to it, but I’ll not take advantage of this naked evil.
There was however another prisoner that was problematic, an old, blinded priestess of Bhaal was here. We gathered from her raving that she’d been tortured by the new owners for over a decade. Some of what she spouted could have been my own backstory, I wonder if this was where Gorion found me 20 years ago? Seeing where we are, I feel so deeply thankful for the good man who rescued me, raised me, and gave his life for me. There was no good solution for this mad-woman. We let her be, knowing any action we chose would be wrong in some sense of the word.
We battled a number of Cyric Cultists, both priests and warriors. The only real challenge was a dragon-born warrior named Ziatar who seemed to be in charge of this part of the temple.
From here things got a little trickier. We entered the more unholy part of the temple, which had a bit of a battle going on already. We defeated a high priestess and what seemed to an attempted illithid takeover. Then happily, escaped back to some fresh air!
Then it was time to get to Boereskyr Bridge itself. The wardstone that let us teleport into the Bridgefort was among our treasures from the temple. The fort was indeed under siege at this time, and being on our army’s approach side we would need to break the siege to get across. It was great to see Khalid here too! After helping calm some of the internal drama at the fort, we coordinated a break out for when we returned with the army.
Which we did. This may have been the largest general combat any of us had seen so far, and the Crusaders were under the command of wily old veteran known as Barghest. He had a few mages and clerics in addition to a number of troops. We lost some of our own, but succeeded in owning the day. It was our pleasure to reunite Khalid and Jaheira.
Crossing the Bridge may have been important to me. I’m not clear on what happened. It is the location where Bhaal was murdered by Cyric. My team was leading the army, fortunately by a little ways. Towards the far side I felt a force descend on me, scorching heat and bitter cold at the same time that threatened to spill out from me and engulf the area. I held it all in for what seemed an eternity, and then it stopped. My friends were all rushing to my side, my husband was already there holding me. It had obviously not actually taken long. It was apparently some sort of echo of what happened here? I felt somehow reordered? Thankfully I still felt like I was all me. I knew I loved my husband, my friends were all dear to me, and I would defeat this evil whatever it was.
Something tried to take me on Boereskyr Bridge. I think I beat it? Or I absorbed it? Or it was just an echo from the past?
From there we marched out for the encampment at Dragonspear Castle. This took several days. Jaheira and Khalid are not *officially* a part of my team, but they camped with us along the way. I have never enjoyed the company of friends and loved ones so much. It was a huge relief to know all was well with them. Corwin seems a little more aloof, and the rest of the soldiers give me sideways looks. But my loved ones remain true.
The full write-up, with more images is available as "Psyche and Diomedes" at davesgaming.blog
When we arrived at the Camp, the Coalition Camp for those forces besieging the Crusaders at Dragonspear Castle, we found it in a state of significant chaos. I imagine this is normal for such an impromptu alliance? We did some talking to soldiers and support persons; a lot of the troops are very green, a minor epidemic of unknown disease is starting, and the thief Safana was sure she had evidence of a spy in camp. A few things we might be able to help with.
The big thing is, we are wanted by the coalition leaders for a meeting. Since the events at Boareskyr Bridge there’s all sort of fun stories about me spreading; they aren’t all lies, I am a Bhaalspawn. I think its a mistake for me to spend too much time with the greater assembly of troops, and leadership agreed with this. The only catch being Caelar literally wants my blood. Might be a good time for me to visit Maztica? But no, the gathering of “generals” thinks I should scout out the environs of the Castle. In particular, investigate rumors of underground access that the Crusaders are using to circumvent our Siege. And while we’re at it, learn as much as we can about the Crusades plans and capabilities. Gee, nothing could possibly go wrong with this plan.
But fair enough, my team is experienced and capable, so we decide to head out. On the way, we learn Skie Silvershield has run off on her own, last seen heading towards the Castle. Does anyone here not know her true identity? Regardless, we need to start our recon tracking down a Duke’s wayward daughter.
She wasn’t hard to find, she was cornered by a Crusader patrol at the base of Dragonspear Castle’s outer wall. And wow, the Crusade is recruiting some pretty nasty pieces of work, their whole interest seemed to be that they’d caught a cute girl out of sight of their main force. We took them down fast. Skie reports she’s been doing recon, and pointed out a section of wall that was being hurriedly repaired from the inside.
“Right Here!” Skie excitedly hissed, “its all broken down on the other side!“
“Good job Skie. Now we need you to take this report back to camp. Be sure our leaders know this, okay? We’re reconnoitering the greater area now. We’ll find you back at camp when we’re done. And please wait for us, we’ll talk plans for the assault when we get there.”
Schael Corwin was impressed. “Wow, she’s heading back to camp and seems likely to stay put. I didn’t think that would happen”.
From there we were eager to get a little farther from the enemy’s walls and resume our mission. There was quite a bit of movement in the area, the sort of stuff that large army movements bring about.
Orcs and Goblins were numerous. We eliminated those groups too foolish to flee. We found a small fortified compound some distance from the castle in a rocky, forested area. After talking with a couple of druids we were sure we were on the right path, this has access via an underground river to the Castle.
Not too long after we heard a group of ogres engaged in a very loud discussion. No doubt, I’d recognize the sounds of politics anywhere. They were discussing changes in their leadership since the Crusade had evicted them from their underground home. This seems like an opportunity.
The meeting with Caelar didn’t yield much of interest. Several of the generals were willing to hand me over if it would stop the fight. I actually understand the sentiment. I tried, and mostly failed, to convince them of just how dark and evil Caelar’s cause truly was. But thankfully, I got agreement that how much Caelar wanted ME personally should serve as a warning they should NOT want this to happen. As we all were heading back to camp we heard the sound of signal trumpets, and now open combat was on us. the generals would see to the main battle, while my team was sent to see to the camp’s security.
There were several sizable breakthroughs to deal with, four good size skirmishes for my team of six and a handful of troops left with us. In the end, Caelar’s army was crushed and the remnants retreated to Dragonspear Castle. This led to a full out assault the next day. Diomedes, Minsc and Moya were right on point for that; with me, Dyna and Corwin right with them in close support.
Diomedes led the troops through the breach...
This led to chasing Caelar, Haephernan and other hold outs into the Castle dungeon. Sure enough, the gate to the Abyss was opened and we had to continue the chase. This ultimately led to a minor, broken demon known as Belhifet. I’d read an old history of how he’d almost broken through to the Prime a century ago up in Icewind Dale. He was presumably at a shadow of his peak power. And what a shock, Haephernan was now revealed to us as a minor demonette, or substitute whatever epithet he would least appreciate…
This all highlighted a Crusade of utter waste and stupidity. But here we were. Caelar alone faced the demon, her armies and forces shattered, dead from the coalition camp, to the walls of Dragonspear Castle, and along a trek across the Abyss. And Caelar stands alone facing a demon.
Whatever I personally think of her, I was pretty sure she never meant for a demon to be unleashed on the land. It wasn’t hard when the demon took notice of my team to convince Caelar to fight with us against the monster.
Belhifet and Haphernan made for a moderately challenging fight. We’d all become a pretty good team fighting together, even Moya and Corwin had come to team with us quite well in just a few weeks. The fight didn’t last long. I’m not so strong on the metaphysical stuff, but I *think* we destroyed Belhifet once and for all? One can always hope.
Returning home was not what was expected. Caelar had apparently been motivated by a loved uncle who was imprisoned in the Abyss. We were able to free the man, and were pleased on return to the gate to find other Crusade survivors there, not knowing quite what to do and understandably terrified by where they were. As we prepared to exit, Caelar’s Uncle Aun said the only way to seal the gate was with blood on the Abyss side. Which Caelar herself volunteered to provide. Not an end I’d wish on anyone, but given what awaited her if she returned home, her fate was likely the same either way.
Once home, the War against the Crusade was truly and completely over. Our army was in the mood for celebration. My team not so much.
I have neglected to mention, since we first started our “relaxation” at the Ducal Palace weeks ago, I’ve had recurring visitation in my dreams from some sort of hooded man. He mostly spouts double speak nonsense. But some of it is plainly threatening. He wants me to fight some sort of beast. I had another of these visions that night. When I awoke, I was next to the dead body of our friend Skie with a bloody dagger. Actually, that bloody Soultaker dagger we had found at Durlag’s Tower a month or so back.
I had no good answer for what had happened. I was arrested on the spot for her murder.
I’d have to say the hearing was fair. I know I did nothing wrong, but a Duke’s daughter was dead. And I understand I’ve been well framed.
After our return to Baldur’s Gate and a reasonable attempt at a fair hearing I found myself in jail again. With just my husband this time. The Hooded Man showed up in another vision (or was he really there?) and I saw clearly that he had killed Skie. This was more evil than the demon we just fought! Skie could be annoying, but she was sweet and harmless. And he killed her just to get me in jail? That’s evil incarnate.
Fortunately, not too long after this horrifying encounter, we were freed from incarceration. In the dead of night. Obviously we had made powerful enemies in this city. But we had good friends too and we would be allowed a clean escape. Along with our good friends.
*****
Just a quick note. This playthrough has become massive. With 18 Updates and art for all of them its by far the longest thing I’ve done. So I will start a new main post for BG2. Updates there will start with 19! That should be up late tonight or tomorrow.
As before, the full version of this with more AI art, is up as "Psyche and Diomedes" at davesgaming.blog