Victorians on Ice

Zeno_42

I'm starting a new run, this time through IWDEE. This one will bring a different party of mine to Icewind Dale - Victor's Victorians.

https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd-victorians-on-ice/

The party consists of:

Victor Lebeda - Human Paladin of Waukeen (Inquisitor)



Victor is essentially an idealized Victorian merchant explorer. He believes in fair deals, fair trades, and bringing the benefits of civilization to the hinterlands. I picked Inquisitor for him because True Seeing, Immunity to Charm, and Dispel Magic all seemed very appropriate for a Paladin dedicated to Truth, Honesty, and Fair Dealing.


Big Jim Macintyre - Half-Orc Brawler (Monk)



Big Jim is a big brawler rescued from the streets by Victor who serves as a bodyguard, manservant, manual laborer, and friend. All of his "Monk" powers are instead attributed to half-orc blood (disease and poison resistance),stubborn-ness (magic resistance), and fists the size of hams from a man who tosses boulders for exercise (Stunning Blow, Quivering Palm).


"Bloody" Angus MacBride - Dwarf Military Engineer (Wizard Slayer/Thief)



A dwarven military engineer/traps and explosives expert. Through a combination of dwarven physiology, long exposure to alchemical subtances, and a quirk of birth he is a natural magical interference generator. Most magic items don't work for him and spells tend to fail in his presence. He's not a "Wizard Slayer" by training. His mere presence simply plays havoc with Arcane spellcasting.


Basil Gwiddeon - Half-Elf Occult Investigator (Jester Bard)



Essentially an Occult version of Dirk Gently. He's not the least bit "hilarious". He doesn't know old stories, he takes psychic readings of magic items. His "Jester song" is essentially broadcasting psychic interference. His spellcasting is more like that of a shai'ir - requesting spirits from the beyond cast spells for him. This makes him less affected by Angus, but also limits him to Divination, Illusion, Enchantment, and Necromanct.


Maura Malone - Halfling Priest of Chanutea (Cleric/Ranger)



Maura is a feisty, opinionated, down-to-earth rural counter-point to Victor's progressive city-aristocrat ways. She keeps the poor, the farmers, and rural society in mind when his plans get too grandiose. As a follower of Chauntea she will be forbidden fire spells despite access to Druid magic. But she will also have a burning hatred for Auril and Talona, which will fit well with IWD.


Rosalie deVeaux - Human Wizard (Wild Mage)



Rosalie is the arcane version of a Victorian scientist. She is not the least bit chaotically inclined. She is ordered and rational to a fault. She is also not prone to experimenting with rogue magic. She is a "Wild Mage" to represent the difficulty of consistently working magic in the presence of Angus.

Yigor

Motley squad! 😸

Yigor

Your "Inquisitor of Waukeen" should make thoroughful inquiry into prices used by IWD merchants and severely punish "infidels"! 😸

Zeno_42

I imagine Victor will indeed have quite a lot to say about "price gouging" when he hits the Dales!

Zeno_42

I have an index set up tracking the adventure as it progresses:
https://zenosziggurat.com/rpg-playthrough-victorians-on-ice/

They've made it through Easthaven:

Victor drove a hard bargain with Pomab:


Maura and Everard had a pleasant theological discussion about Sacrifice:


Basil attempted to get a psychic reading to learn more about the encroaching goblins, but re-discovered the old adage "Dead Fish Tell no Tales":


Angus was hard at work gathering Intel:


When they traced the missing caravan to the caves Rose attempted to disable the orcs with magic... but thanks to Angus ended up with more of a cross between "Grease" and "Summon Roses" than the intended "Sleep":


And Big Jim took exception to an Ogre Berserker knocking off his cap. Don't mess with the Cap!:


In the end they recovered the goods, and are now prepping to travel with Hrothgar through Kuldahar Pass.

Zeno_42

https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-kuldahar-pass/

Had to dig their way out after tragedy struck on the way through the pass...



But they finally made their way to Kuldahar.



Now its off the explore the Vale of Shadows.

Zeno_42

Working our way through the Vale of Shadows, and having our first real "issue". I went with rolled stats and didn't aim particularly high, to give a properly PnP feel. Have XP for traps and scrolls turned off, so a little behind there. Also using SCS and mods to push things even more PnP. Been swimming along pretty well, but now having issues with Big Jim. With good strength he hits pretty hard, but with 13 Dex as a low level Monk his defenses are pathetic. When those SCS mobs come flying in from all over he can go down quick despite one-shotting most skeletons and such.

He does have a +4 vs Crushing Belt, and now that Rose can hit him with Cat's Grace and Angus and Victor with Strength the worst of those deficiencies are at least shorn up. Too bad the 2E "Armor" spell is caster only.... Hmm... Barkskin from Maura can help, but that doesn't last very long.

A more serious issue is that Jim won't be able to punch things requiring magic weapons until L9 - including things like wights, mummies, and shadows... (oh my). His custom knuckle-dusters must have gotten lost in the avalanche. I had forgotten how poorly matched some of the Monk progression is to IWD. So now he's carrying a +1 club as a backup for those (can't really see him picking up scimitars and the like. Maybe a knife). He's just got the one pip in club and the one pip in Single Weapon Style, so he's not great with it. But his strength still makes up for a lot.

Zeno_42

They've now completed their exploration of the Vale of Shadows:
https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-vale-of-shadows/

Jim had a tough time with Shadows:


Until Rose and Maura cooked up a present for him:


Yetis, on the other hand, were more his speed:


Maura confronted Lysan the Aurilite:


And Victor bargained with Kresselack - who unforunately did *not* live up to his end of the deal:


So now its back to Kuldahar for more leads...

Zeno_42

They're partway through Dragon's Eye at this point, getting ready to enter the Yuan Ti area. Jim was *very* glad for the magic club during that horde of Cold Wights. I've been tweaking their "looks" and such as they've settled into their roles. Damage and such is actually pretty evenly divided other than Jim, who tends to hit hard and fast anything that is susceptible to fists. This is how they've settled out now:

Victor- Mace and/or Flail and Shield. Crossbow. He's got a small collection of maces and flails that he rotates depending on the situations. Started out as a back line gunner, has ended up one of the melee stalwarts at this point. And he's point man for undoing holds and dismissing magical protections against casters.


Big Jim - Fists, Club, Dagger. Primarily fists when they're an option, and he's a beast then. Switches to his blessed Club when magic is needed and has a trollkiller dagger just for finishing them off. AC is still mediocre at 4, but he's got massive HP (thanks to Artisan's Brawler kit). Takes a licking and just..keeps...ticking.


Angus - Axe,Hammer,Shield,Traps. Primarily switches between Axe and hammer depending on the opponent. Obviously the first one to charge in on priests, mages, etc as between MR, Dwarf saves, and Wizard Slayer spell failure he's by far the most effective at soaking up spells. And if one does get through Victor just dispells it. I've been making full use of his traps as well. When the situation allows and we can stack up traps and triggered spells they can really obliterate even the larger SCS gangs that come roaring in.


Maura - Staff, Sling, Spells, Stealth, Healing. Basically my utility infielder at this point. She does decently well at everything from scouting, tossing AOE with Rose, sling sniping, or just bashing with her staff.


Basil - Bow, Sword, Spells, Locks, "song". Another "whatever is needed" sort of role. His "psychic assault" jester song saw a lot of use with the Giants in the Lost Temple and with the Lizard Men, but he's been relegated to melee with a sword and buckler with all the undead. Decent with the bow as well. Since spells are limited to Divination,Illusion,Enchantment,and Necromancy, and scrolls have been limited, he's mostly been using his spells for self defence. Just got Skull Trap from Presio's lab, so he start pitching in with the traps and AOE as well now. With the Yuan Ti he'll be able to use his song again, as well as busting out all the Confusion and Charm spells his got banked.


Rose - Darts and Spells. Started out having little to do, but has really come into her own lately. For a while she mostly buffed the others with long-lasting stuff like Strength and Cat's Grace. But now with spells up to L4 she's got a lot to hit back with herself, and with bracers and robes and such she's well enough defended not to need babysitting. Wild Magic hasn't hurt too much. Never lost all gold or any of the terrible ones. Occasionally a spell fizzles. Occasionally a spell puts out far more juice than expected. She absolutely obliterated Presio with a surged Mordenkainen's Force Missiles spell. I was hoping to see a Cow drop on him. Wonder if I can get the AI to render *that*....

Zeno_42

They've just completed the Dragon's Eye
https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-dragons-eye/

Negotiated with the Lizard King:


Dealt with false pacifist priests:


And parlayed with everyone's favorite serpentine Demoness:


They also finally found an appropriate accessory for Jim, who no longer has to rely upon a holy club for magical opponents:

Yigor

Yxunomei is impressive! 🐉

Zeno_42

Victor and company have now completed exploring the mysteries of the Severed Hand:
https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-the-severed-hand/





They had to fight off an invasion of Kuldahar:


Witness the death of Arundel:


Repair an Ancient Arcane Astrolabe:


And commune with an undead Elf Wizard:


In order to learn their next destination, Dorn's Deep!

Zeno_42

Pics when I finish Dorn's Deep, but Angus just had an epic moment. We were getting our butts kicked - repeatedly - by the SCS-enhanced version of the Lich in Dorn's Deep. Just could not get him down before his magic took out multiple party members - particularly when he keeps coming back. In this mod configuration he even reflects spells back at the caster!!@! So we changed tactics. The tweaked Wizard Slayer kit Angus runs has two big changes - 1) MR is 10% + 2%/level - so its stacking up nicely by L8 now. And 2) He can use magic items that add MR.

So instead of continuing to beat my head on the current approach, we stacked Angus with the Faithkiller Axe and every piece of MR gear he could take. Getting him up to ~50% MR with Dwarf-with-high-CON saves to boot. Then he just ran in and soloed the Lich. Couldn't take him down fast, but just shrugged off everything the Lich threw at him. And didn't take too long before the constantly building Wizard Slayer spell failure built up to the point the Lich was reduced to beating on him bare-handed. At which point Angus (who is also a traps specialist) just sauntered over to the tomb with the Phylactery, ignoring the Lich entirely, grabbed it, then wandered over to the tomb with the Vortex. And then popped the Lich in the nose when he followed Angus in. Poof. No more Lich.

Zeno_42

Angus no-selling a Lich:

atcDave

That is awesome! Great tactic, and awesome render, I love it!

Zeno_42

I've completed my entry on the exploration of Upper Dorn's Deep:
https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-dorns-deep/



Charging the Drow:


Smashing Skeletons:



And, of course, Angus' heroics above.

Zeno_42

And now they're through Wyrm's Tooth Glacier:
https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-wyrms-tooth/




Where they fixed bridges:


Negotiated with Frost Giants:


Made deals with Salamanders:


And freed slaves and escorted them back to Kuldahar:

Zeno_42

Still working our way through Lower Dorn's Deep, but one episode deserved special attention. The Fate of Nym. There are few NPCs in the game which are more blatant violations of everything Victor holds dear as a Paladin of Honesty and Fair Trade to the betterment of all.

https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-the-fate-of-nym/



Maura has to hold Victor back from being too rash and betraying his oaths:


But Nym does end up receiving a fate he richly deserves:

Zeno_42

Nearing the end of their quest to save Kuldahar, they have now completed Lower Dorn's Deep:
https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-lower-dorns-deep/



Where they saved gnomes:


Battled wizards:


Comforted Concubines:


And laid would-be lords low:


Destroyed an idol of corruption:


And finally confronted Poquelin himself:

Zeno_42

Left out my favorite:

Big Jim meeting the little gnome girl - Fengla:


And then tracking down the soldiers who cut out her tongue:

Zeno_42

And Victor and his band reach the endgame of IWD1 back in Easthaven:
https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-back-to-easthaven/

They catch up with old friends:


See an old priest finally grab his destiny:


Take on the biggest of big bads:


And make a mad dash to escape:


Now a brief respite before they sail on to Lonelywood!

Zeno_42

And now they're off to Lonelywood for the next chapter of their adventures:
https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-on-to-lonelywood/

Where they meet the locals:


Make new friends:


Get some fresh air:


And get in touch with the local culture:


Before being set on the trail of the Gloomfrost Shaman

Zeno_42

And Victor and company have now explored the eerie Gloomfrost:
https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-the-gloomfrost/




They met some fascinating new wildlife:



And conferred with local artisans:



Before seeking wisdom from local elders:

Zeno_42

Not quite sure they're going to make it to the end of Heart of Winter. Got to the Field of Bones... and every enemy on the map is a copy of Xactile the Sauhagin priest. But with only the real one responding to dialog. Not sure which mod/mod conflict brought that in... its been pretty smooth sailing up to now. Shall see what happens when I move on....

Its going to be entertaining coming up with a way to weave *that* into the story.

Zeno_42

Thankfully they were able to complete their quest with no further mod-derived complications. Will post the Heart of Winter endgame soon, and then the Epilogue for "Victorians on Ice".

Zeno_42

So Victor and his crew have completed the Heart of Winter:
https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-the-final-challenge/

They unmasked an abomination:


Brawled with Barbarians:


Sailed the Icy Seas:


And fought the final Dragon:

Zeno_42

And the Epilogue:
https://zenosziggurat.com/victorians-on-ice-epilogue/

As Basil opens an occult detective agency, specializing in finding the lost and putting spirits to rest:



Angus settles in as a tradesman:



Rose copies the tomes from Severed Hand and Dorn's Deep to form her own arcane library:



Jim buys Easthaven tavern:


And adopts Fengla:



Maura takes over for Arundel in Kuldahar:



And Victor takes over for Hrothgar defending Easthaven, leading it to a properous new future, and encouraging the next generation of young adventurers: