Gerald and Louisa
atcDave
Member Posts: 2,634
Its like adventuring with Mom!
Almost exactly 20 years ago, the great mage Gorion moved back to his sometimes home Candlekeep. He settled in for a more permanent residence, and he brought along a foundling. A baby boy Gorion called Gerold. Within a matter of weeks it was obvious the great mage was in way over his head. Neither a veteran adventuring mage, nor all the monks and bookish types that called Candlekeep home had any idea what to do with an energetic baby boy. Gorion was trying to lay low, to keep this child completely hidden from the rest of Faerun. But the situation was hopeless.
So Gorion sent out a notice, to be distributed via his friends and Harpers, as low key as possible, “Help Wanted. A nanny looking for a full time residency in the secured fortress of Candlekeep.” There was no interest at first. But after a week, a woman named Louisa, presented herself to a facilitator in Berogost. Soon she was brought into Candlekeep for an interview with a very harried and exhausted mage. Louisa was a half-elf, and older than her apparent 40 years. She had already helped raise two human children to young adulthood. She was a trained Cleric of Lathander, but had apparently never worked in that field, beyond minor healing and cures sometimes needed for a growing child.
Gorion was pleased with Louisa, and possibly desperate to the point it hardly mattered. The half-elf was hired. She would take point on all of Gerold’s daily needs. Giving Gorion some freedom to return to the studies and research he loved.
This made for a happy childhood for Gerold. Louisa had a knack for keeping the growing boy pampered, well loved and well fed. He was always active, and never neglected. He not only grew up well cared for, but Gorion was able to provide Parental attention and love too. This was probably an ideal situation for the arch-mage. He was freed of the tedious, and messy parts of parenting. And Louisa was well paid and well treated for her efforts. All told, a successful and happy upbringing for young Gerold.
As Gerold grew into a young man it was obvious he would be large. Not in the most negative sense that word, well not completely. But mostly he was a large and powerful young man. He had big dreams of being a hero, of helping everyone and making a difference in the world. Under Louisa’s tutelage, with Gorion’s teaching and direction, Gerold found the path of a Paladin would suit him well. His first thought was to be a Cavalier. A mighty hero and champion.
But uh, Gerold was a good guy, just not quite that fearless and mighty. He quickly chose Undead Hunter as his preferred path, and Louisa convinced him it was all his idea. Louisa considered undead bad enough, but she did not like the idea of her Gerold becoming fearless and not knowing when to back down! So Undead Hunter it was…
Gerold’s portrait for the saga.
Bhaalspawn Gerold. LG Human male. Paladin/Undead Hunter. Big and well fed boy
(20 year old human male, French, shoulder length blonde hair, clean shaven, large and muscular, content smile, silver plate armor, blue cape, long sword, blue shield with golden sunburst). 18/33 – 15 – 17 – 10 – 14 – 18
Louisa herself had been raised mostly by her human mother. Her father, an Elf, had died being a hero in some forgotten war 70 years ago. Her mother worked hard in various domestic jobs to ensure Louisa would get an education and have a better life. But when Louisa was training as a Cleric, her mother’s frail human constitution finally gave out. Louisa finished the training her Mom had toiled and exhausted herself for, partly paid for with her own numerous baby-sitting gigs. By the end of her training she had two strong life lessons. One, she did not want to adventure or cloister herself on permanent temple business. And Two, she liked working with children and people would pay good money for a trained healer to do the job.
So child-care became her career path. Louisa did have a taste for stability and security, so when a long-term nanny job presented itself she jumped at it. This fulfilled her completely. Enough that when the girl had grown to young adulthood, she got another such job. Then, years later, she was looking for another family to serve when she heard about the job at Candlekeep.
Helping Gerold become a fine young man was hugely satisfying for her. He was always high energy, and quickly she knew he would be *big*. But he was also sweet and kind, surprisingly so for a boy in this crazy world. She knew the time she was needed as a nanny had really come to an end. Gorion was generous to continue paying her for now. But really, the time had come to find another family in need of her services.
Louisa’s portrait for the saga.
Louisa. LG Half-Elf female. Cleric of Lathander. Dotes on Gerald
(50 year old half-elf woman, Scottish, long braided red hair streaked with grey, green eyes, freckles, slim, fit, indulgent smile, sleeveless blue tunic with long skirt).
13 – 17 – 15 – 12 – 16 – 14
Training came with hard knocks, of the sort hard on both Gerold and Louisa… “Louisa, I’m fine, really. I don’t need any healing. At least not in front of the guys…”
Then the day came when Gorion seemed to be in a panic. He informed Louisa her services were no longer required, and handed her several hundred gold. A year’s wages! But he needed to take Gerold from Candlekeep this evening. She could help him buy some weapons and gear for a trip, but then they were off. She would need to find her own way to Friendly Arm Inn, Beregost or Baldur’s Gate.
Louisa went to find Gerold’s friend Imoen and be sure she knew what was happening. The two of them would follow. At least as far as the Inn to be sure all was well of course.
*****
This Baldur’s Gate build is much the same as what I ran previously, the biggest change being the Romances for BG2 will be turned back ON with Tweaks. I think Gerold will be falling in love with a certain Avarial girl. And that means I’ll get to try out all content in the “Wings” mod.
Also new to me and well, just plain new, is the latest from Acifer “Throne of the Mad God”. I have no knowledge of what’s ahead with this, beyond the observation Acifer does outstanding quality work.
A few out-takes of the AI art are included with the full write-up of "Gerold and Louisa" at DavesGaming.
Almost exactly 20 years ago, the great mage Gorion moved back to his sometimes home Candlekeep. He settled in for a more permanent residence, and he brought along a foundling. A baby boy Gorion called Gerold. Within a matter of weeks it was obvious the great mage was in way over his head. Neither a veteran adventuring mage, nor all the monks and bookish types that called Candlekeep home had any idea what to do with an energetic baby boy. Gorion was trying to lay low, to keep this child completely hidden from the rest of Faerun. But the situation was hopeless.
So Gorion sent out a notice, to be distributed via his friends and Harpers, as low key as possible, “Help Wanted. A nanny looking for a full time residency in the secured fortress of Candlekeep.” There was no interest at first. But after a week, a woman named Louisa, presented herself to a facilitator in Berogost. Soon she was brought into Candlekeep for an interview with a very harried and exhausted mage. Louisa was a half-elf, and older than her apparent 40 years. She had already helped raise two human children to young adulthood. She was a trained Cleric of Lathander, but had apparently never worked in that field, beyond minor healing and cures sometimes needed for a growing child.
Gorion was pleased with Louisa, and possibly desperate to the point it hardly mattered. The half-elf was hired. She would take point on all of Gerold’s daily needs. Giving Gorion some freedom to return to the studies and research he loved.
This made for a happy childhood for Gerold. Louisa had a knack for keeping the growing boy pampered, well loved and well fed. He was always active, and never neglected. He not only grew up well cared for, but Gorion was able to provide Parental attention and love too. This was probably an ideal situation for the arch-mage. He was freed of the tedious, and messy parts of parenting. And Louisa was well paid and well treated for her efforts. All told, a successful and happy upbringing for young Gerold.
As Gerold grew into a young man it was obvious he would be large. Not in the most negative sense that word, well not completely. But mostly he was a large and powerful young man. He had big dreams of being a hero, of helping everyone and making a difference in the world. Under Louisa’s tutelage, with Gorion’s teaching and direction, Gerold found the path of a Paladin would suit him well. His first thought was to be a Cavalier. A mighty hero and champion.
But uh, Gerold was a good guy, just not quite that fearless and mighty. He quickly chose Undead Hunter as his preferred path, and Louisa convinced him it was all his idea. Louisa considered undead bad enough, but she did not like the idea of her Gerold becoming fearless and not knowing when to back down! So Undead Hunter it was…
Gerold’s portrait for the saga.
Bhaalspawn Gerold. LG Human male. Paladin/Undead Hunter. Big and well fed boy
(20 year old human male, French, shoulder length blonde hair, clean shaven, large and muscular, content smile, silver plate armor, blue cape, long sword, blue shield with golden sunburst). 18/33 – 15 – 17 – 10 – 14 – 18
Louisa herself had been raised mostly by her human mother. Her father, an Elf, had died being a hero in some forgotten war 70 years ago. Her mother worked hard in various domestic jobs to ensure Louisa would get an education and have a better life. But when Louisa was training as a Cleric, her mother’s frail human constitution finally gave out. Louisa finished the training her Mom had toiled and exhausted herself for, partly paid for with her own numerous baby-sitting gigs. By the end of her training she had two strong life lessons. One, she did not want to adventure or cloister herself on permanent temple business. And Two, she liked working with children and people would pay good money for a trained healer to do the job.
So child-care became her career path. Louisa did have a taste for stability and security, so when a long-term nanny job presented itself she jumped at it. This fulfilled her completely. Enough that when the girl had grown to young adulthood, she got another such job. Then, years later, she was looking for another family to serve when she heard about the job at Candlekeep.
Helping Gerold become a fine young man was hugely satisfying for her. He was always high energy, and quickly she knew he would be *big*. But he was also sweet and kind, surprisingly so for a boy in this crazy world. She knew the time she was needed as a nanny had really come to an end. Gorion was generous to continue paying her for now. But really, the time had come to find another family in need of her services.
Louisa’s portrait for the saga.
Louisa. LG Half-Elf female. Cleric of Lathander. Dotes on Gerald
(50 year old half-elf woman, Scottish, long braided red hair streaked with grey, green eyes, freckles, slim, fit, indulgent smile, sleeveless blue tunic with long skirt).
13 – 17 – 15 – 12 – 16 – 14
Training came with hard knocks, of the sort hard on both Gerold and Louisa… “Louisa, I’m fine, really. I don’t need any healing. At least not in front of the guys…”
Then the day came when Gorion seemed to be in a panic. He informed Louisa her services were no longer required, and handed her several hundred gold. A year’s wages! But he needed to take Gerold from Candlekeep this evening. She could help him buy some weapons and gear for a trip, but then they were off. She would need to find her own way to Friendly Arm Inn, Beregost or Baldur’s Gate.
Louisa went to find Gerold’s friend Imoen and be sure she knew what was happening. The two of them would follow. At least as far as the Inn to be sure all was well of course.
*****
This Baldur’s Gate build is much the same as what I ran previously, the biggest change being the Romances for BG2 will be turned back ON with Tweaks. I think Gerold will be falling in love with a certain Avarial girl. And that means I’ll get to try out all content in the “Wings” mod.
Also new to me and well, just plain new, is the latest from Acifer “Throne of the Mad God”. I have no knowledge of what’s ahead with this, beyond the observation Acifer does outstanding quality work.
A few out-takes of the AI art are included with the full write-up of "Gerold and Louisa" at DavesGaming.
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I think I’m already settled in with a team. Imoen, Jaheira, Minsc and Dynaheir will be joining Gerold and Louisa.
I’d have to admit, the variations on role playing as I go through this saga are pretty subtle. I like to play good guys and heroes. So most any character(s) I run will be trying to do the right thing. And I tend to favor the same NPCs, varying only based on party needs. In that context, the thing that’s already jumping out at me here is the role of Louisa as a motherly figure. Possibly a bit of a helicopter parent, overly involved and too worried.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see Louisa as stupid about it. But no doubt, she will make every effort to heal Gerold any time he gets hurt. That makes me laugh a little. Any time Gerold is hit for four or more damage, Louisa is throwing a healing spell.
Like I said though, Louisa is not stupid. In an early fight, Hobgoblins got into the party’s rear while the front was heavily engaged. She knew, it was her job to protect Imoen and a *very* soft Neera even when Gerold was hit. Of course, as soon as the fight was over she was casting Cure Light Wounds on Gerold.
Speaking of Neera, she was with us until we rescued Dyna. We got as far as the first flirt between Neera and Gerold.
I think Gerold, as a young man, is very interested in noticing a cute girl.
Louisa was biting her tongue hard, thinking “no boy, this would not be a good choice…”
For those who have used NPC Project, you’ll recognize Jaheira also takes a more aggressive maternal role. Remember the “Black Lotus” tent near the Nashkell carnival? Jaheira gets very protective of [charname] on the topic of mind altering flora.
I think this made Louisa very happy.
And it makes me laugh to have two mother hens converging on Gerold.
Gerold just got his first magic weapon! Varscona will of course, remain his weapon until the tail end of SoD. Long Sword users really do get a nice treat very early in the game.
The team is developing nicely, still exploring the game map. They’re out along the Sword Coast now, Imoen and Louisa are 5th level.
I wanted to look at all the team members I’ve used so far in this run.
This is Gerold’s game. He’s a 4th level Paladin at this point.
Louisa is/was Gerold’s nanny. She never wanted to be an adventurer. But she is a trained Cleric of Lathander. She may have a soft heart and love of children, but she’s as tough and fearless as she needs to be. She is in this for the long haul. Louisa just made 5th level cleric, Holy Smiting will be called down a lot!
Imoen is Gerold’s lifelong best friend. She will also be steady and faithful to her friend(s). Imoen will be the team’s archer and scout throughout the first game.
Jaheira is an old friend of Gorion’s. She will stand by Gerold as long as he needs her. She plays the curmudgeon, but she does care about doing right at every opportunity. Jaheira is currently 3rd level both as a Fighter and a Druid.
Jaheira’s husband Khalid will also help as needed. Although truly, his heart’s really not in this…
Neera, a wild mage, joined the team after getting their help against Red Wizards in Beregost.
Minsc joined the team to rescue his witch Dynaheir. But he will stay and help his new friends as long as they need him. Minsc is currently a 4th level Ranger.
Dynaheir is Minsc’s witch, currently exploring this part of Faerun. She is a capable mage and a huge help. She is 4th level.
Minsc joining led to Khalid and Jaheira going a separate way for a while. The team promptly rescued Dynaheir. Then resuming the mission to the Nashkel Mines, Neera left and Jaheira rejoined.
I’ve explored the whole southern map now, and cleared the bandit camp. Just getting started on the Cloakwood Forest. Everyone is around 6th level.
“Easy now girl, I’ve got you.”
Readers will recognize one familiar glitch, the AI seriously thinks Minsc should have a beard!
By far the hardest one here was Louisa healing Jaheira. Anything with a wounded character will be a low percentage render, it just is. Most results will fail to pass the second filter. But surprising this time, the AI did not want to do pointed ears! That’s a first. It will often put them on the wrong character, or on everyone. So I thought two half-elven women would work fine. No such luck. I had five or six results that I thought looked promising until I blew them up, and no pointed ears!
And I had to include the one line of dialogue. In my mind, anyone calling Jaheira “girl” does so at their own peril. But Louisa will, and I think she’ll get away with it.
I had previously not mentioned, I turned up the difficulty on SCS for this run, to “Improved”. Tentatively, I may bump it up to Tactical for a later run, but probably no further. The higher levels often irk me, when enemy spellcasters too often have even short duration defenses up for every fight. It feels too “meta” to me. And certainly no new powers or abilities, then its not AD&D anymore…
Eh, that’s my bias. But anyway, this is the first point in the game where I’ve noticed some increased difficulty. The Shadow Druids are not a difficult fight on Core, not even a little. They were a little more challenging here, and didn’t feel like a cheat.
Shadow Druids in the Cloakwood Forest. This was a very personal fight for Jaheira.
Found a functioning mine deep in the Forest. A team of hunters greeted us at the entrance. They were no more trouble than other group of thugs.
The boss at the base of the mines, Dave somebody, was a more accomplished sort of spellcaster. Seriously, the melee team all worked a good sweat chasing after him and Dyna broke a nail. Louisa hit him with a Dispel Magic and he went down pretty quickly after that.
We were sent to a sort of ice prison on some frozen rock of an island. Imoen spent *A LOT* of time disarming traps.
The fights here were mostly mage fights, and most of them took a round or so longer than I’m used to. This seems about right to me. As a long time DM, it seems to me, one or two spellcasters of *about* the same level as a capable team of six adventurers, *should* die pretty quickly. The added difficulty I’m seeing in fights so far seems about right, the mages are fighting/casting smarter and better. But they don’t seem crazy powerful, or worse, omniscient with all of their defenses always up. So this has been a fun upgrade for me.
“Uh Gerold, Boo had a question…”
We all love the easily confused ogre Larze at the Blushing Mermaid, right? It makes me laugh how with NPC Project installed, Minsc will screw the little scam up completely.
As a child of Candlekeep, Gerold was horrified when the Priest of Oghma showed him their destroyed books.
The Loretakers mod adds a very well designed two-level dungeon to the City of Baldur’s Gate.
And it has Were-Rats. AD&D should always have Were-Rats.
…And an assortment of more dangerous opponents the party is just barely capable of facing.
I really like this part of the game. The City of Baldur’s Gate is fittingly my favorite part of this game. I like the urban busyness, and I love this power level of the game. A well equipped party in the middle levels is ready for some more serious challenges!
The team did some investigations for Scar, one led to an Ogre Mage in the sewers of the City.
Eventually, they looked into the Iron Throne and found their leadership was back at Gerold’s old home, Candlekeep.
This led to Gerold making a horrifying personal discovery, when he read a letter to him from his late father. Well, adoptive father. His friends, his team stood by him, and offered support as friends and family ought to.
The party stopped at the Friendly Arms Inn after they were forced to flee Candlekeep. Dynaheir has been teaching Imoen the basics of magic.
The team decided it would be a good time to stay away from Baldur’s Gate. So they set off to find a dagger at Durlag’s Tower.
“I fear we’ll be spending a few days in a dank haunted fortress!”
It did take a couple days before they reached the bottom and slew a Demon Knight.
Next the team sailed off in search of Balduran’s wrecked ship. They wound up on an island with two rival packs of lycanthropes, and a lot of fighting.
Gerold was smitten with Delainey, a friendly town historian. Sadly, Delainey knew she couldn’t travel to the outside world.
*****
The team has come a long way. They are quite capable and dangerous now.
A few stray thoughts, I don’t think I’ve used Dynaheir so much with NPC Project installed before? Certainly I’m seeing a lot of interjections and input from her. Its been fun, of course that also makes for an extra level of tragedy coming up.
I also like the idea of Imoen getting some her basic magic training from Dyna. I like Dynaheir.
The grief Gerold is causing Louisa makers me laugh. She’s an older, wiser woman, watching her boy fall for every cute face that comes along. I can *loudly* imagine her groan as he starts flirting with a cute werewolf. Even if she doesn’t detect as evil…
Apart from his sister, he hasn’t been around many women his age. So he’s maybe a bit over-eager. Of course we all know who the “right” woman will be for him, and I have no doubt Louisa will approve!
I also imagine Louisa feeling personal grief at Gerold’s bit of self discovery back at Candlekeep.
I’ve played this game a lot of times. Even with SCS running (admittedly, only at the “Improved” level) the fights with the Demon Knight and Aec’Letec went fast and easy. Easier than fighting Diseased Gibberlings at the start.
I’ve finished the original game, and am now a ways into Siege of Dragonspear. At some point, this team seems to have grown much more powerful. Through the mid-point of BG1 I felt like they were struggling a bit for their level/place in the game. But from Durlag’s Tower through the BG1 endgame it seemed to get very easy. Maybe I just got lucky on initiative and some saving throws? But Gerold and Company became a sort of steamroller.
Now into SoD, of course that means a minor rebuild. No more Imoen, so we need a new thief.
I think Gerold and Safana can only get along *awkwardly*. He will not know how to deal with her teasing and inuendo. But apart from noticing she’s a pretty woman, I think he is profoundly “not interested”!
This is where I often just create a new character. But this time, I thought it might be fun to have a bit of a troublemaker along.
Of course we also lose Jaheira and Khalid. For a bit. You can get either of them back easily enough, eventually. But here I thought I would go with a new team-mate for this stretch.
Captain Corwin is a very useful character, for her brief appearance. And no doubt she wants to get to the bottom of this threat to her city!
I do think Corwin could only be a “friendship path” sort of character for Gerold. And of course, ultimately she’s not even a very good friend. Someone he wouldn’t feel a need to see again, any more than Safana. I do wish they didn’t make her out to be such a lousy friend in the end.
One thing strikes me as funny is the ranks in SoD. Capt Corwin was apparently in charge of the trip up north, her number 2 is “Corporal Duncan”. Huh. It seems questionable to me that a Captain would be in charge of such a large expedition, its a fairly low officer rank for such a big thing. A Colonel seems more fitting. And a Corporal? That’s not even an officer! Its an NCO below Sergeant!
I have to keep reminding myself, ranks actually change A LOT with both time and geography. Even to say police forces often use very different ranks from their own national military. It seems completely backwards, but there are places where a Lieutenant would outrank a Captain. So I keep telling myself, this isn’t the US military…
So many big fights in the outdoors, Dyna will throw a lot of Fireballs!
Defeating a first Dragon seems like a big thing. The Temple of the Mad God was another thing where this party seemed ready to rock. Cleared the whole thing, from the dragon down, without a rest. I think that’s a first for me?
Minsc needed Boo’s help understanding the issues we were investigating for the besieged River Fort. He just wanted to do some butt kicking.
This led to our first really sprawling sort of battle. Louisa, along with other clerics and a certain Druid with the expedition, exhausted herself healing up the army after the battle.
I expect I’ll finish up SoD this weekend. I know I’m pretty busy next week, but I expect I’ll at least start BG2 pretty soon.
I plowed through Siege of Dragonspear with little trouble. This is still at the “Improved” difficulty on SCS.
Corwin is a fearsome addition to the team. I suppose any Ranger/Archer would be, I honestly don’t recall if I’ve ever created one for BG. I’ve used one a few times in IWD.
Safana is a very capable thief. It is funny both of the new characters added for this part of the adventure strike me as unlikable.
“Skie is beyond help, but I care not what you say, Gerold DID NOT do this!”
The Challenge
The team has moved into BG2. I’m trying a minor challenge to myself here, mainly out of curiosity. But Irenicus clearly has access to several vampires. So I’m thinking, Bohdi takes it upon herself to level drain the team back to first level. And I’m thinking of an old school PnP type level drain, I reduced everyone down to 500 experience and dialed back their skills and abilities to first level. This will NOT be getting “Restored”, they have to gain experience from here. Well, except Imoen, Bohdi didn’t want to damage Imoen prior to the next step in her brother’s plan. So she’ll be fine, except for no spellbook. Nothing. Every scroll is precious…
I don’t expect this to have much long term impact. By the time we leave Irenicus’ dungeon we’ll only be a couple levels behind normal? And experience is seriously not in short supply for this game, especially with Imoen having to rescribe everything.
This is about getting started, the jailbreak. And having now played level one of the dungeon, I’d say the difference was pretty small. I was most concerned about the ogre mage as the second fight, but everyone was already second level and it wasn’t a hard fight.
Level progression has come quickly through the first level of the dungeon. At the end, everyone was about 5th level. Maybe one more level by the end? That really let’s us loose in Athkatla not too much below average. Aerie should join at her normal minimum level.
“Gerold what’s wrong? You look sick, you never get sick!”
It may have taken some creativity for Bohdi to figure how to level drain an Undead Hunter. But for argument’s sake we’ll say she did, and the experience was massively disorienting for young Gerold.
As expected, the challenge related to erasing all my experience had exhausted itself by the time we escaped from Irenicus’ dungeon. Louisa was 7th level, Gerold and Minsc were 6th and leveled up shortly. So really, from that point they were not significantly weaker than any other party. The team was rattled by the deaths of Khalid and Dynaheir. Its funny, both are characters I don’t normally use much. But having kept Dynaheir all the way through the first game, including SoD, left *me* feeling the loss more than I usually do.
Followed by Imoen’s arrest, Gerold is an angry paladin.
Gerold is ready for the numerous vampires he’ll face in this part of his adventure.
Louisa is still the party’s healer, a single class cleric of Lathander.
Imoen, as the only character not drained of levels, played a large role in their escape from the opening dungeon. Always Gerold’s sister and buddy, her unexpected abduction put a serious damper on the team’s mood.
Minsc is crazy as ever, and a powerful warrior. A valuable member of the team through the opening part of the story.
Jaheira is Gerold’s *other* maternal figure. Having lost her husband, she will struggle some with appropriate boundaries for a while. But Gerold and Louisa will want her on the team for the long haul.
Yoshimo is a capable rogue. He helped with the team's escape from Irenicus’ Dungeon. But parted ways shortly after, he has stayed in touch and may rejoin later.
Gerold and his team were still grieving when they rescued Aerie from a circus gone berserk. As both a mage and cleric her spell casting is powerful and versatile, she will be an important part of the party for the long term. And Gerold took an immediate liking to her gentle sweetness.
Gerold needed to raise money to facilitate Imoen’s release. And Nalia needed adventurers to free her family home from trolls and Yuan-ti. Sadly the castle was thoroughly vandalized.
I won’t rehash all the BG2 story here, I’ve done that a few times already! To summarize, they rescued Aerie, and made contact with the Shadow Thieves. Then bumped into Nem who was able to get started into researching the Soultaker Dagger and how to secure Skie’s release.
Gerold is happy to work with the Shadow Thieves for now, he does not trust any authorities in Athkatla. And regards the Cowled Wizards as an oppressive terrorist organization.
They made contact with Nalia and recruited her. After several tries (!) they made it out of the city and removed the trolls from her home/castle. She then gave the Castle to Gerold, under odd Amnish Law she could not rule herself. But Gerold was clear he needed her help to run the place, so Nalia would stick around. Surviving guardsmen and staff were paid extra for leading the Castle’s clean-up.
Gerold then led the team to Trademeet, a small town nearby with a couple of problems. After killing a Rakshasa and routing out a group of Shadow Druids, they were considered local heroes. Its good to be on good terms with the neighbors! Well some of them.
There will be a few more staffing changes ahead, but going to war with vampires seems to be next on the agenda…
I’ve made some good progress these last few days. On return to the Castle, we detached Minsc and Neera to help train a new militia and administrate the holdings. Neera has a strong attachment to this land, and even if she won’t “rule”, she has a passion for running things and dealing with details. Minsc, for all his eccentricities, will be good at conditioning and training the new recruits.
Gerold and Aerie are getting along nicely, they are good for each other. And Louisa approves.
They returned to Athkatla and met up with Nem, who guided them through an ordeal that freed Skie’s soul from her imprisonment in the Soultaker Dagger. This should, free her to enjoy the afterlife… or even return her to life if she receives a Raise Dead. Her body is back in Baldur’s Gate, but Louisa and Jaheira agree she’s likely already been raised.
The team met and recruited a Paladin of Torm, named Keldorn into their ranks. Gerold took and immediate liking to the man. Louisa thinks it will be good for him to see how a more mature paladin deals with life and struggles.
They also brought Yoshimo back aboard for his thieving skills.
The biggest thing in town, now that they had ample money, was contacting the Shadow Thieves to get their help in finding Imoen.
This involved rousting out a coven of vampires under Athkatla. A good time was had by all.
Finally they set sail for Spellhold, a magical asylum of sorts where the Cowled Wizards sent their “outlaws”.
The ship captain turned them over to a group of waiting Vampires. This team is really built for battling such things, a powerful cleric of Lathander and an Undead Hunter… supported by a balanced team.
They needed information to get into the Asylum and found themselves fighting a vicious brothel owner to rescue one of her girls.
Finally, they were able to enter the Asylum. But it turned out Irenicus had overpowered the staff and was now running things. He had a diabolical plan.
That resulted in Gerold being happily reunited with his sister.
Of course, now they had a madman to stop.
And that meant escaping from an Asylum designed as a prison for mages.
Imoen has become quite capable and dangerous!
They escaped, and soon found themselves at sea in pursuit of Irenicus.
But one thing led to another, and they found themselves under the sea and in the Underdark.
Aerie is very disturbed by this, its specifically the stuff of nightmares for her. Not that any of them are thrilled to be in the Underdark.
I’ve arrived at the time when I do the team as Drow. That’s a sort of tradition for me now. I’m not sure why I “must”, but it does make for some fun alt/renders of the whole crew.
Gerold leads his team of faux-Drow. Even if he is just a male.
Louisa finds the situation oddly amusing. As a half-elf she initially found this horrifying, and then she couldn’t stop giggling.
Jaheira is less amused. Its just part of the job that must be done.
Keldorn is positively cantankerous. At least he got to keep his beard.
Aerie has been nervous in the Underdark. When Gerold held up the team’s only looking glass for Aerie he “accidently” pointed it at himself first and he reacted with a comical shudder. That did wonders for Aerie’s frame of mind.
Imoen has been quiet and thoughtful since her rescue. Being Drow has not changed that.
The team tore through the Underdark quickly. On their return to the surface they were faced with a load of incomplete chores to take on. From Planar Sphere to Umar Hills they’re getting things done!
They put down a Shadow Dragon, and took care of some business back at the castle.
Gerold is particularly happy that Louisa seems to approve enthusiastically of Aerie. He was a little worried a few months back when it seemed like she was unhappy with every woman he wanted to chat with. Aerie has a good and beautiful heart, it seems Louisa agrees.
I’ve covered a lot of ground in the last few days. The team finished business in the Windspear Hills, investigated a Planar Sphere, freed friends from a Planar Prison, investigated a Beholder cult…
They’ve been busy adventurers.
Throne of the Mad God
The longest single thing done was the epic new mod from Acifer. This is one of the bigger adventure mods I’ve seen. It gives us a new dungeon, deliberately on par with Durlag’s Tower. It is vast, and the maps are all new. Some new monsters and new monster animations too. There are traps and puzzles, new treasures, and a whole lot of combat! It has some dynamic scaling so it can match your party to some extent once they’re past 9th level.
It starts, at the “Den of the Seven Vales”. Your party hears a bard tell the tale of the Amnian Captain Bryam Lancameth, who led a party of adventurers off to a lost Dwarven Fortress, known as the “Wailing Dwarf”. Located in the Troll Mountains, it promises plenty Trolls, Goblins, and some unknown horrors.
We talked with Captain Lancameth’s widow in the graveyard of Athkatla. She was helpful, and hopeful for any information about what happened to her husband.
We met plenty of Goblins and Orcs. There was a lot of pure combat.
Plus a lot of trolls. Someone is breeding all new sorts of trolls.
With the help of a new magic item, Louisa became the team Dwarf expert.
Imoen and Aerie unleashed a lot of fire… artillery never looked so good!
Among other things, we faced Dwarves of a type we’d not seen before (yes! This mod has Derro!).
*****
Does anyone remember a bizarre sort of demonic undead thing called a Vargouille? Its been around since 1E, predates the Forgotten Realms (as a published setting, I’m sure Ed Greenwood was already running the setting!). But I don’t recall seeing it in a computer game before!
My attempt at a render of a Vargouille. I think this matches the description, but it falls short in terms of horror and gore.
I enlisted zeno_42’s help. He came up with a few tweaks that made something a little more horrific!
But attempts at making a scene of it failed me badly.
This is a seriously fun mod. Epic in the best sense of the word. It is NOT massively overloaded with treasure or experience, so it should not be massively unbalancing. But it will provide a fun challenge for many hours. The documentation claims about seven hours of gameplay. I’d call that right. Its about as long as Durlag’s Tower or Watchers Keep. It is independent of the rest of the game, but it is based on Realm’s lore. Acifer continues to provide us with outstanding, professional quality work that will keep BG2 fresh for many playthroughs ahead. Read the author’s presentation of it here.
Another update with quite a bit of ground traveled. After finishing “Throne of the Mad God” mod, we tore through “Bloodied Stings of Barovia” and “Call of the Lost Goddess”. Then off to Watcher’s Keep, that was done in record time. Again, I did not battle Mr. D at the end. I think this is a party that could have dealt with him easily, but I think for a *very* good-aligned party its better role-playing to just seal him up.
A few curiosities on this run. The timing on Jaheira’s Harper quest-line has seemed very delayed. It didn’t even start, Jaheira getting summoned to the Harper hide-out, until well after we returned from the Underdark. And once again, I got the attempted abduction of Jaheira (which definitely is a part of her romance story) quite late in the game. I was clearly deep into Aerie’s romance at the time. I wonder if one of the mods tampered with some of this? I like it, except that the final Harper battle won’t be occurring on this run. I’m off to rescue the Elven City already, and that encounter never dropped.
To be fair, I’ve set a fast pace. Just over 100 days to the end? That may have messed with some timers.
I also got to see most (all?) of the Aerie centered “Wings” mod. It added a little content to the romance, a few friendship conversations, and I think best of all, some Aerie/Imoen friendship conversations. I love Imoen pranking Aerie, and Aerie trying to figure out how to respond, some funny stuff there. I *wish* there was some acknowledgement by Imoen of her brother having a new significant other, but unless this is yet coming that is missing.
There’s also some extended slaver story-line and a story with an Avarial con-man. I think content will continue into ToB.
De’Arnise Keep Quest played out entirely this run. It often doesn’t play out right, I know its a notoriously buggy timer. But it surprised me by working this time, I had given up on it because there seemed to be a very long gap before the first of the Roenall encounters. I was visiting Cromwell when I saw a “Keep Messenger” stuck in Cromwell’s doorway. I tried to go back out and find him, he was nowhere to be seen. I ran to the Keep, and the next chapter of the story was waiting for me, awesome!
*****
Imoen and Aerie becoming friends is a favorite part of the “Wings” mod. This is one I’ll likely use on all future playthroughs.
Gerold faced Lord Roenall who lay claim to the De’Arnise holdings. After being thrown out on his rear end, Lord Roenall returned with an army. It was a pitiful little force that was easily defeated. Lord Roenall will not annoy anyone again, and Gerold now holds the title on this land.
These last months have been brutally hard on Jaheira, after her husband’s death she was ejected from the Harpers. The team has made it clear she’s still one of them, they’re honored to call her family. But it may not be enough for Jaheira.
Keldorn has commented a few times that Carsomyr is the finest sword he’s ever held. He’s of two minds just now; he is honor bound to help, and feels this is the greatest adventure he’s ever been on. But he is eager to hang it all up, and return home to his wife and kids. Gerold is determined to protect Keldorn and get him home as soon as he can.
Louisa is happy that Gerold is doing well, that they’ve rescued Imoen, and that Gerold has met Aerie. For all the drama and tragedy, things seem to be working out well!
Of course she knows there’s a lot of hardship ahead. But she feels confident about this team.
Continuing the game at a pretty good pace. This time sees the end of Irenicus, through the defeat of the first three members of the “The Five.” I continue to enjoy the game at the “Improved” level of difficulty on SCS. I may leave it here, it offers some more interesting challenges without a lot of immersion wrecking pre-buffs. Very fun game-play!
*****
Challenges in the Elven city include a number of large golems.
And a number of trolls. The whole team can call on fire when needed, the trolls are not a significant problem.
Gerold and Aerie are in that enthusiastic “new” stage of things. Everyone is amused at the moments they try to find together.
Okay, not always amused. Get back to work you two!
Somehow we’d recognize Irenicus anywhere. Interesting, he seemed less of a danger in Hell than any previous fight.
New challenges faced. In the besieged city of Saradush a despotic warlord allowed his troops to threaten the citizenry. This sort of abuse of power *does not* amuse Keldorn.
Vampires under the city. Gerold’s team are highly proficient vampire slayers.
In the hall of the giant king… Imoen found a number of dangerous traps.
Then we faced Sendai, a Drow with a significant army. This may be one of the bloodiest prolonged stretches of the game.
*****
I expect I’ll finish up this weekend, I’ll be back with a proper epilogue for Gerold and his crew.
Another run through the BG saga comes to an end. In the end this was a very strong team, although its fair to mention a paladin and cleric is sort of my most typical sort of characters. I have two more runs planned for the near future that will both be a little less “typical” for me.
Let’s take a quick look at how things wrapped up.
*****
We went to Abazigal’s lair first. It was guarded by his son Draconis, which proved to be the most exciting fight of that section.
Then back to Amkethran, we had to face the monks and their leader. After a lot of what we’d faced, this did not seem to be a big challenge.
Jaheira had become a fearsome and mighty warrior! And I don’t remember where this was, but she looks great.
We finished up with a series of fights against what’s-her-name for the Throne of Bhaal. These do represent a drain of resources since you have seven fights back to back with no resting. (SCS seems to make a difference on the difficulty here, more than most other battles). Naturally Gerold declined godhood, he wanted to be a husband and father!
Epilogue
The team trekked home to their new castle. Gerold and Aerie would make this their home.
Keldorn had his own home and family to get back to. He was ready to retire and be there for his wife and daughters. And he was not far away, we saw him many times over the years.
Jaheira simply gave a brusk “goodbye, friends” as we approached the castle. She walked off into the nearby woods with no long farewells. She had lost the most of any of us. Aerie tried a few times to reach out to her, but she never responded. We did see her again, just a few times. And she was always all business.
Imoen seemed oddly very happy to be back at the castle. Then she ran off, something about business with one of the militia captains? Apparently Gerold and Aerie had been too busy with their own concerns to notice Imoen’s new interest. Suffice to say, Imoen spent a lot of time at the castle.
Gerold and Aerie made a very happy home together. They did answer the call when troubles emerged, and they traveled some. Eventually finding Aerie’s lost home and family. And in time, they had a daughter to raise with their growing son.
Louisa never even considered moving elsewhere. And she never wore her armor again. She set up a small chapel to Lathander at the castle, and personally looked after all the kids of the staff. And considered Gerold and Aerie’s little ones to be her own grandkids. No one ever disputed that.