IWD2: Winter's Warriors

Zeno_42

For my next playthrough I'm giving the new IWD2 "Special Edition" mod a try. This is different from the also new "IWD2:Enhanced Edition" mod. It sticks closer to PnP (IMO) than the IWD2EE Mod and focuses more on graphical enhancements (I *love* the upsampled backgrounds), bug fixed, and that sort of thing.

https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors/

The characters:

Name: Lady Katarina de Winter
Build: Human Paladin 2/Fighter X
Combat: Sword and Shield
Skills: Diplomacy

A young woman born to a minor noble family who renounced her claim to the family succession so that she could follow in her black sheep grandfather's footsteps as an adventurer.


Name: Percival Took,”Percy” :
Build: Halfling Fighter X/Rogue 4
Combat: Small Blades, Dual Wield, Throwing
Skills: Bluff, Stealth

Katrina's friend/protector since childhood. Essentially the essence of an old western action hero packed into a 3'8" halfling frame.


Name: Garin TrapSpringer
Build: Hill Dwarf Ranger X
Combat: Axe and shield, Crossbows
Skills: Animal Empathy, Search, Traps, Wild Lore

A dwarf raised in a clan specializing in traps and mechanical devices who grew up hating the end results of his craft - and so he would sneak out to free animals and disable the same traps his clan was building and selling. In the end he had to leave his clan and go his own way, and he met with Elana below to show him a new path.


Name: Elara of Mielikki
Build: Wild Elf Druid of Mielikki
Combat: Bow, Staff
Skills: Concentration, Wild Lore



Elana grew up in a reclusive, vegetarian wild elf clan worshipping Silvanus and deeply hidden away from civilization. But she was drawn instead to Mielikki, and longed to see the rest of the world and meet other peoples who loved it as she did. She eventually left her clan to explore. She found much she did not like and could not understand in the outside world, but she eventually found a kindred spirit in Garin and has been his companion ever since.


Name: Kordaal Vanagas:
Build: Human Barbarian X/Rogue 4
Combat: Combat: Polearm Specialist
Skills: Intimidate,Locks,Pickpocket


Kordaal was raised in a Gur (Faerun Romani) clan, and is a flamboyant, showy spear fighter who loves nothing better than acrobatic finishing moves and fancy spins and dodges. He is extremely devoted to and protective of his half-sister, Solstice, and followed her when she was banished from their clan.

Note: Barbarian isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when looking at him, but if you ignore the flavor and look at the crunch – he’s a fast adrenaline junky who favors lighter armor with a wild, energetic fighting style that can leave him worn out in long engagements. Sound familiar??


Name: Solstice Vanagas
Build: Half-Elf Bard 1 / Sorceress X
Skills: Concentration, Spellcraft, Knowledge (Arcane)


Solstice is Kordaal's half-sister. They share the same mother - who died giving birth to Solstice. But while Kordaal's father was a respected member of the clan Solstice's father is unknown. She had an uneasy place in the clan being raised as a Gur seer by her grandmother, but when her grandmother died and her more explicit sorcerous powers began manifesting she was banished - and her brother followed.

Note: I know Bard 1/Sorcerer X does little but make her a weaker Sorcerer... but it just fits. And if she has a harder time of it than someone who knew what they were from the start, that fits too.

Zeno_42

So they've finished their first chapter of IWD2

Trouble in Targos:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-trouble-in-targos/


Including cheering up the local widow:



An old-west showdown with a traitor mage:



Rallying the Troops:



Disciplining the Dogs:



Dancing with Ruffians:



And taking out a troublesome shaman:

atcDave

Really nice action scenes! And you got an excellent looking archer, that often seems to cause problems.

Zeno_42

The hard part with the sniping scene was actually her stance. It kept having her sitting on rocks, walls, or roof edges like she was relaxing for lunch while shooting the bow from an awkward position with her upper body. It has some odd ideas sometimes about what knife-throwing looks like as well.

Hardest is anything with Percy and a woman in the scene, as it just does *not* like having a short male next to a tall female. I have to sprinkle his tags with "very short", "halfling", "hobbit", "3.8", and exaggerate the height of the woman to get anything suitable.

Solstice putting goblins to sleep (on the website) took a little work as well. It kept making it look like she was a teacher putting kids to bed for a nap. Not quite the intended effect...

Most fun was Kordaal. Got all kinds of great pics of him spinning, kicking, slashing, and flying about. And unlike with half-orc Kord I don't have to worry about it confusing him with the folks he's fighting. Worst issue I ever have with him is it occasionally deciding to give the goblins bright blue bandannas.

atcDave

The things that cause fits can be amusing. I’ve noticed the taller woman, shorter man problem a few times. Doing some groundwork on my next IWD run I’ve been try to do a human woman next to a Dwarf and same thing as you were saying. Finally got a couple good ones with “tall human woman” and “very short dwarven man”. Except it gave the woman elf ears…

I feel like there have been some improvements just in the time I’ve been playing with the AI. But maybe no major changes in the code? I do look forward to a next gen.

Zeno_42

@actDave Yep. Had the same issue pairing Angus with Rose. (Or Maura with anyone). Usually got it working through my usual technique. Sometimes adding extra qualifiers like explicit heights and such in the initial setup.

(tall woman) walks with (short dwarf):1)(tall woman,blah,blah);2)(short dwarf,blah,blah);

With Maura it actually helped. Victor+ Maura it would easily buy him being much taller, so all I had to fight was making her child-size without looking like a child. Percy.... is another matter. AI just really doesn't get "pint sized John Wayne" as a concept.

I have noticed... something has changed with the AI recently. GUI is different, certainly, but the way its reacting to my prompts feels different as well. Can't quite put my finger on it. But its so wild and woolly anyway its hard to be sure. I can have a set of characters like Keira and Kord that it easily mixes together with a minimum of fuss, and then another set like Victor and Jim that doesn't seem like it should be harder but it fights me tooth and nail on it. The joys of AI.

atcDave

On the other hand… Maybe it’s just that we’re trying more complex and interesting things? Certainly I tell it to do things now I wouldn’t have dreamed of a couple months ago.

Zeno_42

@actDave Actually, it turned out to be something I changed a while back without realizing it. I started putting all my style tags first instead of last - which made the style more consistent but made it worse at sticking to my up-front baseline descriptions. Putting the order back the way it was when I did Keira and Kord has it behaving more like I was used to.

Zeno_42

And Winter's Warriors have completed reclaiming the Shaengarne:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-chapter-1/

Where they freed captive villagers:


Elara out-beasted the BeastLords:


And Percy gave Xuki - the mage at the bridge - a fond introduction:

Zeno_42

And now they've completed the Goblin Horde Fortress:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-fortress-festivities/

Where:

Solstice engaged in some serious backpedalling:


To which Kordaal provided a defiant rebuttal:


Katarina gave a pointed rejoinder to a Barghest:


Garin led a revolution:




And the girls kept a Bugbear General entertained:

Zeno_42

So they've made it to the foot of the Ice Temple:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-aerial-adventures/

Which meant flying the friendly skies:


Putting down a group of werewolves masquerading as traders:


Taking on giant polar worms:


And taking down General Sherincal the half-dragon:


Next step, the Ice Temple itself.

Zeno_42

They've now completed the Ice Temple itself as well:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-temple-turmoil/

They had to banish a winter spirit of Auril:


Have a nature-priest to nature-priest heart to heart with the head of the Temple:


Survive her breaking a Staff of Power when she began to lose:


And finally sneak a member into the Ethereal Plane to finish her off for good:

Zeno_42

And they've made their way through the Fell Wood:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-forest-fracas/

Where they had to:

Track down a child-stealing Witch:


Return the children to the village:



Battle the Witch Lights:


Take out the Dark Treants:


And finally meet the true architects of all the chaos - the Cambion twins leading the Legion of the Chimera:

Zeno_42

Meta-commentary. Was having some trouble with all the "no equipment" combat trials in the Black Raven Monastery given the difficulty and such I usually run. Was beating my head on the wall using Percy or Kordaal, then it occurred to me... Elara is a Druid. She can simply turn into a Polar Bear or something and be fully combat capable. To say nothing of healing or protecting herself from fire/lightning. Switched over and it suddenly became easy mode. Who needs Kung-Fu when you have Bear-Fu?

atcDave

That is awesome! I love it.

Zeno_42

They've made it through the Black Raven Monastery:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-monastic-madness/

Where Kordaal got to take a crack at his first Dragon:


Percy showed Ninjas how its *really* done:


And, as noted above, Elara took the monastic "no armor or weapons" combat trials to a place they didn't quite anticipate:

Zeno_42

And through the Underdark:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-subterranean-strangeness/

Where they made accomodations with Drow renegades:


Met mad mages:


Were recruited for mutagentic pest control:


Tried not to get caught by Cthulu's cousins:


And wrapped things up by taking on a brain in a box:

Zeno_42

And they're on to Kuldahar, where things don't look nearly so rosy as they did when Victor and company wrapped up there:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-karma-in-kuldahar/



They learned some terrible truths:


Lived Night of the Living Dead:


Took out their frustrations on a servant of Bane:


And now prepare to take a portal to far off Chult to finish off the Yuan-Ti:

Zeno_42

And they've completed battling the Yuan-Ti through the portal to Chult:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-jungle-jamboree/

Where they had to ambush acolytes:


Talk their way into the temple in disguise:


Saw dark ritual in the temple interior:


Fought their way out:


Summoned and confronted the portal guardian:


And then dashed back to the portal before it collapsed:

Zeno_42

And they are through the Dragon's Eye:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-draconic-disturbances/

There they ran the Indy (Jones) 500:


Walloped giant Wyverns:


And ultimately defeated the Sinister Six to reclaim the Cera Sumat Holy Avenger:

Zeno_42

And they've finally made their way to the threshold of the Severed Hand:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-fire-and-ice/

They had to ride a lake of fire:


Go back in time to stop a sorceress before she created a temporal loop:


Dance with Demons:


And Tango with Thayan Wizards:

Zeno_42

And they are have finished their initial assault on the Severed Hand, and are now preparing to take on Isair and Medae themselves:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-final-fortress/

They were met with Chimeras and troops:


They had to challenge a God:


Destroy an Orb of Power making demons invincible:


And take out said demons, now vulnerable, to free slaves:

Zeno_42

And they've completed their final showdown with the Cambion Twins:
https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-endgame/

Where they had a vigorous discussion:


Emphasized their point:


Closed the deal:


And escaped before it all went up in smoke:

Zeno_42

And the Epilogue, as Katarina and her companions attempt to fill the obvious need that the Legion of the Chimera was tapping:

https://zenosziggurat.com/iwd2-winters-warriors-epilogue/


Katarina becomes a political leader after all, despite her lifetime misgivings:



Percy is her partner in crime as the head of the guard:



Solstice makes half-breeds and outcasts feel welcome with shared trauma and music:



Kordaal runs a commando group dedicated to freeing slaves in the name of Llira:



Garin rescues and maintains a preserve for magical and misfit beasts so they don't end up co-opted into the schemes of cults and conquerers:



And Elara, when not accompanying Garin, is Katarina's eyes in the sky: