Our second session starts with our usual "what were we doing next" question. After a bit of discussion we decided it was time to deal with sirines. Alky loaded up on Stinking Cloud and this was enough to see us safely through. Siyhmun decided not to venture into the flesh golem cave, although Alky thought some sorcerous Minute Meteors would have been up to the job. Maybe.
A quick reputation boost is needed so we get Melicamp restored, help out at the dig, return Brage to the temple and confirm to Oublek that we are not Greywolf. This is us at the dig deciding we have what it takes to take the doomsayer.
Nashkel Mine is relatively painless, due to us casting Sleep a lot. The Amazons are caught napping and blindsided, then we cause more nightmarish sleeping at the Bandit camp. Ettercaps in Cloakwood get missile and meteor treatment and then we are at Cloakwood Mine. Drasus has assembled a small party to prevent us entering but we decide to see what happens if we cross our streams.
Our use of spells in Cloakwood Mine sees us risk the odd nap or two, making sure we have enough Sleep and Aganazzars Scorchers in reserve to see off any ambushers. Only one of two Battle Horrors is blinded and a retreat is called for. Alky doesn't like this and hastes us so Siyhmun casts up more meteors and we head back down to finish the Battle Horrors while being somewhat worse for wear.
With our number of spells reduced, we each glug a potion to give 5 rounds of protection from low level spells and make our way to Davaeorn. He manages to get away and Alky is caught by his own web (hey multiplayer, that's a level 5 or less spell?)
Siyhmun continues the attack on Davaeorn, Alky breaking free and joining in. Davaeorn is toast.
After flooding the mine we head outside and stare across a huge bridge towards the distant city of Baldur's Gate.
Unfortunately I got to the old Amaunator Temple too late - I had to deal with powerful spawns - 3 bone golems, 4 skeleton warriors and 2 greater mummies. When I was fighting these batches of undead, Corerage IV was literally drinking extra healing potions as fast as he could (where was GWW when he needed it). But he did prevail.
Dragon left alone for now. Will deal with it when we have some HLAs.
At this point, didn't have automatic saves vs. FoD so used my protection from undead scroll to deal with the Shade Lord.
* Trademeet problems solved. Genies weren't too hard to kill, and Druid grove was pretty straightfoward to go through. Being a strong warrior certainly helped here.
* D'Arnise Keep cleared of enemies - Corerage IV became its new master. Trolls are easy for Corerage IV to deal with.
* Reijek exposed as the skinner murderer. His rune assassins, ghasts and bone golem weren't a match for Corerage IV
It's been a long time since I sided with Bodhi. I thought I better do that, so I can try to remember what it's like and what loot differences there are. The main differences are the djinn ring and the +3 axe throwing axe an evil character can use. I had to deal with many mages - if it weren't for the fact I was a sturdy high level dwarf, no doubt would have succumbed. Lilacor was worth it's weight in gold, as the mages tried a great many dominations, chaoses, and confusions, all thwarted by Lilacor. In any case, Linvail was killed and I succeeded and lived. Didn't report to Bodhi yet.
* I thought I might as well do Planar Prison - I need more money before I go to the Underdark. Also, while here forgot there were melee gauntlets - these are much more relevant than the bracers of archery, since Corerage IV is rarely at range (usually only if the enemies are running). Once again, his sturdy dwarven saves and Lilacor kept him from trouble and gave him victory.
Soon, and since I am using two-hand weapons all the way and thus no shield of balduran, will do the Unseeing Eye Quest the short way - this loses out on experience, but won't need shield of balduran this way. Intend to use potion of magic shielding, just in case Unseeing Eye has things like greater malison.
EDIT: Unseeing Eye defeated. I decided to let Keldorn join briefly, as he could trip the web trap for me since he has free action. Also, his dispel magic was very helpful and allowed Corerage IV to kill the Unseeing Eye quickly. Keldorn nearly died, but since he helped so much Corerage IV used RoR charge to keep Keldorn alive. Corerage IV then escorted Keldorn to safety out of the sewers.
I realized one drawback of this method of doing the Unseeing Eye quest is that you don't get the key to the lower level which also means you can fight the Lich there, which in turn means I can't do the Gaxx quest. Hmm, oh well. As a dwarf, my saves are quite good, so it's not quite as vital as a race with poorer saves like an elf, half-orc or human.
28 Kythorn 1369: Silas, a servant & Lorekeeper of Ογημα, to posterity, presents greetings.
My travels took me to a charted island, but one unmolested by travelers from Toril for at least 300 years. I’d met a mage looking chap, Mendas, in Ulgoth’s Beard who offered me employment that entailed first going into Baldur’s Gate to the Merchant League to acquire the necessary sea charts to undertake a voyage to yet another island. This gave me a chance to see where I stand there after my absence. I am wanted. Angelo has the FF looking everywhere for me & has had Scar killed & apparently placed Duke Eltan in confinement also. I was able to get away from the FFs that tried to apprehend me, twice having to use Command to disable them so I could allude.
The Merchants league started out as quite a tussle. I had to have Imoen Pick Locks to get in & was immediately attacked once inside by seven guards that were tougher than your standard, everyday fodder. Having slain all of them, I went to the 2nd floor & was again attacked by a Sea Captain. Once he was at room temperature, finding the charts on him was easy. The crewmates that were w/him did not attack & I left them alone. On the return trip, Kivan's past almost came back to bite him when a female elven warrior accosted him accompanied by her pack of pet wolves.
DEALING WITH KIVAN'S BAGGAGE
Returning to Mendas, he was excited & immediately made ready the ship, which sailed smoothly at first but then became a bit disconcerting as the sailors started getting nervous and rumbling against the entire idea of the trip. Then a storm came up. I suddenly had a crisis of faith, remembering that this was υμβερλεες realm & I prayed that Ογμηα would protect me. The ship capsized in a storm & though I don’t remember anything, somehow, we all ended up on the correct island, covered in mud w/sand in our mouths. Whatever happened to get me there, I was still alive & I suddenly felt a bit ashamed by my momentary lack of faith.
The Isle of Balduran is also called Werewolf Island & Lycanthrope Island, although I hadn’t recalled that from my studies @ Candlekeep until I got here. It is distinctly divided into two parts, not so much by geography but by the inhabitants who live there. Werewolf Island South is a small farming and fishing village apparently inhabited by humans – but who later turned out to be werewolves. Werewolf Island North is far more savage, and home to the rotting remains of the Wandering Eye, the ship of the legendary explorer Balduran that wrecked here w/a crew cursed w/Lycanthrope. The ‘northerners’ here are Wolfweres.
I landed initially in the south, & after a friendly enough reception & a brief rest, I was duped into going north to rid the villagers of the ‘creatures’ that lived there on the pretense that this would help us to get back. Simple enough. Kivan quickly scouted the northern half of the island, & found the Wandering Eye, rotting where it came ashore. Skirting as many enemies as I could, I made my way around to the ship although Dire Wolves were everywhere, in large packs, & I was twice ambushed by Wolfweres. The ship itself was full of Wolfweres, Vampiric Wolves & Dread Wolves. These were easily coaxed into ambushes of their own as Kivan could get in unseen (& un-smelled), get off a couple of arrows & draw them after him where the rest of us waited w/summoned creatures & a distinct battle plan each time.
KEY EVENT: (Greater Wolfwere) Karoug was the leader of the Wolfweres & was on the deck just below the top deck with his mate & a couple of other Wolfweres. He was a different story entirely. It took a while to anger him enough to draw him out into the daylight & once there he was a whole different ball of wax. He had relentless rejuvenating powers & was immune to just about everything. He was raking everything & everyone w/his massive, quick claws. I pulled back & returned to the village to heal & strategize. We had acquired The Sword of Balduran & Werebane +1, both distinctly for use on lycanthrope. Karoug had shown a weakness to Magic Missiles Neera noted also. I decided to go back & hopefully catch him alone again (I’d already killed his mate & inner circle), & he cooperated. The plan was for me, Faldorn & Neera to cast Bless, Protection from Evil 15’, Defensive Harmony & Haste on everyone. I gave The Sword of Balduran to Kivan & Werebane +1 to Branwen & had Neera keep her Wand of Paralyzation ready to strike Karoug as soon as he showed himself. I then cast Animate Dead, Neera cast Monster Summoning II & Faldorn cast Call Woodland Beings. The summoned creatures were set in a killsack just outside the gaping, damaged hull location where I entered & exited. Kivan went in with his bow & fired off arrows that were ineffective except that they enraged Karoug. Even w/a masterful plan this dude was a BEAST worthy of respect. Neera nailed him w/the Wand of Paralyzation while the summoned creatures, Kivan & Branwen moved in close. I cast Doom & it took. Kivan & Branwen started landing blows but it was a race as he rejuvenated quickly. Neera kept blasting him w/Magic Missiles after leading off w/her Minor Sequencer of Acid Arrow & Magic Missile. I cast everything I had @ him, Poison, Mental Domination, Holy Smite, Hold Person, Command but I don’t think anything fazed him. Faldorn did the same. FINALLY, Kivan ended his existence with the Sword of Balduran. My knees were shaking, my head was spinning & my heart was racing when it was over. I’d started to fear even this assault would come up short. Since coming to the northern end of the island, I’d had to use Raise Dead Scrolls on Faldorn, Neera & Kivan (in earlier skirmishes w/wolfweres) & I was out. As powerful as he was, if he’d gotten loose, I don’t know what I would have been able to do – Neera still had four charges in the Wand of Paralyzation & I could have reset, hopefully w/everyone alive. I’m glad I didn’t have to.
ONE BAD WOLFMAN!
I’m too tired to go into it, but my heroes return to the south side of the island wasn’t to be. Kaisha Gan & the rest of the farmers & fishermen there were the weaker cousins of Wolfweres, Werewolves. I ended up slaughtering most of them & escaping through tunnels that led out of the room I’d been staying in. I’d saved a mage who’d been boarded up on the north end of the island, Dradeel, & he told me where to find them – although, Imoen had already discovered the secret door. The tunnels were also full of Werewolves, but they were easily dispatched once Kivan located them using stealth & returned so I could set up our assaults. The tunnels opened onto sand, where Kaisha Gan was already on the ship to freedom & attacked me in Loup Garou form. I killed her easily & we were able to get the ship back to Ulgoth’s Beard using the sea charts without incident. By now, I knew what to expect from Mendas, who was also a Loup Garou as was his servant Baresh. Mendas’ real name was Selaad Gan & he was Kaisha’s husband. He is now dead too.
WEREWOLF SLAUGHTER
LEAVING WEREWOLF ISLAND
LOUP GAROU KAISHAS
DONE WITH WEREWOLVES FOR AWHILE
“Spread truth and knowledge so that all folk know more. Σιλας
Stating what mods are being used is a good practice. Countless times I've read awesome quests here and didn't know where did they come from because the mods loaded where nowhere to be found.
No pause + no-reload = no chance? Brass, dwarf berserker (update 1)
I've been thinking for a little while of trying another no-pause run. The last time I did that with a solo berserker I found it rather easier than I had before, so I decided I'd change things this time by making it a party run. I expected that to be difficult, so generated a powerful party to balance the odds and also decided to make this an unmodded run (the solo ones were in an SCS installation).
Early on I had a taste of the problems when being caught stealing in Candlekeep, but I did eventually manage to shake off the guard there and make tracks for Beregost. Mercury knew protection from petrification, so the basilisks seemed an obvious target to get a level or two. When trying to rest to memorize that spell though a flind ambushed them - and I really struggled to deal with that. The instinct to pause the game is so strong with me, that controlling that used up virtually all my mental capacity - and the flind killed 2 of the party before I finally managed to deal with it .
Part of the problem with the flind was the general lack of armor worn by the party and, after a visit to the temple, they went to find some Flaming Fist soldiers that could help with that - everyone just managing to survive there.
Then it was back to the basilisks. They went well until the last of the lesser basilisks - which immediately charged Brass. In retrospect I think I did pretty well there to get him out of combat before he died (he's the PC), switch to a melee weapon, re-engage (distracting the basilisk from another victim) and enrage to finish it off.
Moments later the greater basilisk became the last of the monsters to be shot down and Mutamin then couldn't handle the pressure from multiple attackers.
I'd wanted to wait to level up until everyone could gain at least 1 level in each class and Mercury wasn't quite there yet - blinding and shooting down Silke back in Beregost did the trick though.
HPs gained from those level-ups were extremely good, with both Brass and Diamond picking up maximums for their 2 additional levels.
Rules on pausing:
1) Autopause of any sort not allowed.
2) Pausing using the space bar / clockwork button is not allowed at any time (game ending offence).
3) Pausing to look at inventory / record screen / options is allowed outside combat, but not if any enemies are active (including outside visual range).
4) Pausing for dialogue is allowed, but only for normal conversation.
5) Pausing for map screen is allowed outside combat, but not if any enemies are active (exception: travel can be initiated when running away from enemies, but once map screen is open then travel is required rather than going back to the same area).
In addition AI is disabled to prevent auto-targeting using that.
Brass picked up some better armor in Nashkel before the party headed back north - providing an ogre with a nice sleep on their way. In the ankheg area the nest was cleared with none of the ankhegs managing more than a single hit. I was wary of the possibility of multiple ankhegs appearing on random spawn sites, but Copper did a quick scout using sanctuary to confirm the party were still low enough level that only single ones appeared. Selling all but one of those more than funded the purchase of another suit of ankheg armor - meaning everyone now has plate available.
All the ankhegs meant everyone qualified for another level, but I again decided to wait until all classes could level up at once. The XP for that was gained by a trip through the Cloudpeaks - blindness being used there a fair amount to set encounters up (guided in through scouting with sanctuary if necessary). Reacting to any form of surprise is still difficult - Tin was nearly killed at one point by a gnoll switching targets during a battle, but I generally felt progress was fairly comfortable. The death of a polar bear wasn't immediately reported to a merchant as nobody yet has an encounter score sufficient to get a pair of boots from him - but it was enough for everyone to be able to do another general level up. HPs were pretty decent, if not up the standard of the first lot.
Continuing to work on reputation, Greywolf failed to land a blow and Samuel was safely delivered to the FAI. Little chores for Firebead & Mr Colquetle then meant that only 1 more reputation point was needed to hit 20 and the party went to see if Melicamp would survive. I wanted to get the XP for the golems there before talking to Firebead though, so readied everyone with magic weapons. Diamond was about to go inside to pull a golem out when a wandering ghoul appeared. I thought that would be killed pretty quickly, but a number of the magic weapons were non-proficient and the ghoul attacked Mercury - who was attacking using +1 arrows and the melee bonus against that meant the ghoul lasted just long enough to claim a victim.
After another temple visit they tried again. Diamond used his defensive stance for the first time and successfully occupied the golems. Melicamp died anyway, but there were still plenty of alternatives for extra reputation - such as killing some half-ogres for Bjornin. Also in that area blindness worked its magic spell on Teyngan's party before Copper used sanctuary to activate a gnoll to attack Drizzt. However, I quickly decided that I both did want Drizzt's XP, but didn't currently want to trash reputation - so ran away to reset the combat.
Mercury successfully learned friends at High Hedge and used that to minimize prices for some other spells there and at Ulgoth's Beard
Next I decided it was time to seek a few weapon upgrades. Diamond paid for a +1 axe, but Silver got his two-handed sword upgrade the more traditional dwarvish way by inheriting it from Arghain. That left just Brass with no proficient melee weapon, so he led the way to Durlag's Tower with a view to claiming the +2 scimitar on the roof. An invisible blocker allowed the first two battle horrors to be chopped down at leisure. The third was then drawn along the wall for easy disposal. However, at that point I guess I relaxed a bit while thinking about what to do next. I normally pause pretty constantly with my left hand, so had been trying to keep that well out of the way - but without me paying any attention it had crept back into its standard position and given the keyboard a little tap .
Avoiding that happening during the length of time required for a full run strikes me as possibly a bit too challenging, but I imagine I'll give it at least one more go ...
We run around the city of Baldur's Gate doing the odd quests, until we reach Ramazith's tower. With some buffs up Siyhmun thinks he is safe to fight the mustard jellies. One is defeated but Alky suggests Siyhmun retreats so the second focuses on the Transmuter instead. Siyhmun does as he is told but on his return the jelly continues to attack him and despite a cure light wounds being cast he falls to the ground. Alky sighs and scratches off attempt 175.
23 Flamerule 1369: Silas, a servant & Lorekeeper of Ογημα, to posterity, presents greetings.
I have been to Durlag’s Tower & there is more to do there yet. I had to return here to Beregost to have Kelddath perform Raise Dead on Kivan. He was killed by a trap whilst I was battling a Succubus on the 4th level up. I really would pay to find more Raise Dead scrolls, and I am sure I can find them in BG – but do I want to go there? I purchased three last time I was there, from either the Lady’s House of Τυμορα or the Temple of Ηελμ but I don’t know if it’s worth the risk to try & slip in. I have already come to Beregost three times since I first entered the infamous tower. I could return to Gullykin when necessary, but I prefer access to the Thalantyr, Thunderhammer & Feldepost as well a Kelddath if I must make a return trip anyway.
Durlag’s Tower sits on a rough patch of volcanic hard rock south of the Wood of Sharp Teeth in the heartlands of western Faerun, a couple of miles from Gullykin. While called a tower, it is really a massive keep protected by a deep moat carved out by dwarves Durlag hired. The volcanic rock taken from the ditch served to build the motte on which the keep sits protected by an inner curtain wall and battlements that encircle a courtyard/bailey. The keep is built on a difficult to climb terrain and there is an outer gatehouse that allows passage over the moat and an inner gatehouse protected by what is a very well-designed barbican. The entire structure is built out of volcanic rock. All things considered, if I had to choose between this keep & the Gnoll Stronghold, this one is much more defensible. The only problem being that it would probably be easier to sustain a garrison in the latter during siege.
KEY EVENT: (New Enemies) So far, the battles have seemed few or even irritating but the casualty rate is high, nonetheless. Neera was killed by Gnolls the first time we made camp & Kivan by Ghasts on the 2nd level up. I’ve cleared the black as high up in the keep as I can, and part of one level town. Imoen found a secret door in the latter that leads to an area that Kivan says appears to be a great hall, although I’ve not yet explored beyond just inside the door. I’ve figured out how to defeat Battle Horrors & as a result, Neera is learning extra Magic Missiles, Kivan & Imoen have Acid Arrows in their quiver & Faldorn, Darts of Acid at the ready. I had three Greater & one Lesser Basilisk put down outside on the upper & lower roof of the keep also. Two new enemies, a Ghost & a Succubus, on the 3rd & 4th levels up respectively, kept me guessing & probing for weaknesses until I finally brought them down. I’m heading back in the morning, ready to probe beyond that door on the lower level.
NOW I'VE SEEN A GHOST - AND KILLED IT AGAIN.
“Never deliver a message falsely or incompletely.” Σιλας
After the squishy pairing last time, the random selection gave us rather more robust characters to see if we could go a bit deeper in this run. Of course robustness partly depends on equipment and the fact that Wedimus wasn't wearing any armor partly explained why his initial assault on the evil duo of Xzar and Montaron ended with him running away with a couple of HPs left.
It wasn't long though until more HPs were gained thanks to shooting down Shoal before moving on to Beregost. Grame spotted Wedimus up to his old tricks there as he sprayed detect evils around like confetti before challenging Kagain to a duel.
Grame decided to join in the fun when he silenced Silke and attacked - causing Wedimus to hastily abandon shopping and come to his aid.
After making their way down to Nashkel without alarms, Wedimus got dressed in some decent armor and the duo decided to press on into the Cloud Peaks. That was cleared fairly easily, though Zal did resist several spell attempts and get a whack in on Grame.
The polar bear threatening a merchant didn't resist any of the 3 commands thrown at it - but still managed to get up after each of them before finally going down for good.
Back in Beregost Wedimus took advantage of his poison immunity to confront some spiders. The equipment picked up there was taken to Landrin at the FAI. Tarnesh was laying in wait there with a well-thought out plan. First he sent his enemies running with horror - or at least he would have done if a pesky cavalier hadn't already used remove fear. Not to worry thought the mage - my mirror images will keep them at bay. Apparently he hadn't realized that priests of Helm get true sight and he didn't get the chance to use magic missiles .
The final action was invading the ankheg nest. The first of those died quickly, but the second lasted rather longer thanks to darting underground just as it was commanded to sleep. The third required Wedimus to take a healing potion and I thought it would be only sensible to retreat after killing the fourth to get access to the treasure - so of course we killed all the other ankhegs down there as well .
I haven't had time to do regular updates - trying to keep up with RL and reading on these forums... But my character is still alive, and now at level 6. I start to play more cautiously as I level up, as the stakes feel higher every step closer to the end. That said, I almost pooched it on the map east of the Nashkel mines.
I went back to clear out the undead caves (I'm an undead hunter, after all). Good exp. points on that map, and I usually don't have too much trouble at high level. The mage is the biggest threat, but usually he drops with simultaneous attacks from the wand of frost and the wand of the heavens. Not this time, though. Basically, because I wanted the 4000 combined exp. points from the jellies, I almost blew my run.
I felt in complete control because I picked Improved Invisibility 10' as my first level three sorcerer spell. I though I was protected. I thought I was playing safe.
I approached with my paladin and spoke to the mage, triggering the jellies, and allowing my c/t and sorcerer to sneak attack with the wands. But the mage didn't drop, and my paladin got nailed with two or three jelly strikes in a row, failing the save against slow on at least one of them. Then the mage put my paladin to sleep and it looked like it was over. In desperation I summoned a skelly, hoping it would occupy the mage, which it did, but my paladin was still helpless against the jellies.
In desperation I used my c/t to try and lure the jellies away from my paladin. During which time, some wild dogs showed up. Always great timing. But: it was working, the jellies chased my c/t, and luck was on her side. The jellies were missing. My sorcerer put the dogs to sleep.
We ran from the jellies once they were safely away from my snoozing paladin and did an end around them to find the mage who was still fighting my skeleton. A blast from the wand of frost and the mage was dead. My paladin woke up and found her way back to the rest of the party, avoiding the jellies. We then took refuge in one of the caves.
The next morning we went out and mopped up the jellies. Whew. That's about as close as you can come to pooching your run without actually pooching it. The adrenaline is running high. Hopefully I won't find myself in a situation like that again - but then I always do. I must say it's been a lot of fun.
And even if I don't make it to the end, I at least crossed off an important item on my bucket list:
Corerage IV the duo (for now) dwarven berserker - Update 7
Traveling with:
Imoen - thief/mage
So Corerage IV reported to Bodhi and was well on his way to Brynnlaw. Not much was done here, mostly helping Ginia and dealing with Perth once and for all. Then headed to Spellhold where Corerage IV got captured by Irenicus once again. In a dream he had to defeat Bhaal - simply Arbane haste was more than enough force Bhaal to give it up.
Corerage IV was once again re-united with his friend Imoen. He intends to duo until Imoen's soul is restored, then Corerage IV will be solo once again.
For the 1st area, not much of note happened here. Enraging was more than enough to see off the pit fiend that got summoned from the portal. I have been using the Troll form of the cloak of the sewers quite a bit now that I can't heal myself - I don't have a huge potion stock but easily can go through a bunch if fighting harder enemies, so makes sense to me to conserve potions when I can.
For the 2nd area, I figured I could defeat the Illithid and Beholder if I enraged and gulped a couple of genius potions - yes that saw them off successfully. Thus now have the free action ring and some high levels spells for Imoen. For the powerful group of undead nearby (there was a lich!), used a protection from Undead scroll to guarantee victory. Went ahead and defeated Dace while that was active.
Finally we can leave the 1st level of Spellhold - saved my session here.
Speaking on the "multi-runner, same-party" no-reload run we've discussed in the Lounge, I'd like to keep the floor open to more votes. It would be nice if we could choose from a small pool of characters, or vote on the ones we find most interesting, before we jumped into it. I say this mostly because I wouldn't really find it interesting to do RP stuff like taking the barbarian alcoholic to taverns to get wasted every now and then.
For my second attempt at this things went smoothly up to the acquisition of armor. Rather than go to the basilisks next though I decided to have a go at Drizzt before having done any reputation tasks. When he had taken 80 damage from a gnoll I decided it was time to attack and try to get some hits in while he was concentrating on the gnolls. The advantage of attempting that while Drizzt is distracted is normally balanced by the chance a gnoll would get a fatal hit in, but in fact the difficulty of targeting Drizzt when he's moving meant I failed to even get an attack in before he'd finished the gnolls. I then tried to set up a situation where he would chase one character in a circle round the others. That's easy to do when pausing, but not without - particularly when not every movement click is actually registered by the game. I managed it for a couple of circuits and got at least one critical hit in, but then the lead character got too far in advance of Drizzt and he attacked one of the others in the centre. At 60 fps it only took him a second or so to kill each character, which meant that anyone I tried to select died before I could actually get them moving again ...
This time I once more managed to stock up on armor without quite needing to rely on the extra HPs from berserking.
However, I reverted to the idea of killing the basilisks early on. They all died easily enough, but Mutamin did manage a horror before he fell - fortunately neither of the 2 affected ran into anything more dangerous than a gnoll.
That left everyone close to a full level in all their classes and temporarily giving Zhurlong back his boots in Beregost tipped them over. Everyone got decent HPs there - except Brass himself, which is a bit of a pain as he's the main tank (and it's difficult to swap tanks round during combat without pausing).
They made their way north to the ankheg area and cleared the nest there.
HPs were relatively low, so after Brass' rage wore off, Diamond took the lead for the remainder of the ankhegs - he was only hit once in the rest of the nest and once more while clearing the exterior area.
Still needing a fair amount of XP for another full level-up, the party headed for the Cloud Peaks. Just after killing Caldo & Krumm they got a pleasant surprise when a gnoll dropped an invisibility scroll for Mercury to learn. They vacuumed the Gnoll Stronghold, which meant they only needed a few more victims in the next area before levelling up again. That allowed an early use of invisible blockers to get a bit more easy XP.
Arriving at the xvart village I remembered just in time that Borda could be very dangerous. The sort of enclosure and movement tactic I normally use to avoid his spells wasn't practical with no pausing, but a standard use of sanctuary to guide an initial attack in proved sufficient to deal with him.
The remainder of the village was then cleared without trouble.
At Durlag's Tower, invisibility sorted out the battle horrors, while the doom guard was successfully mobbed.
Inside, the first confrontation with ghasts saw Silver paralysed and nearly killed. Brass himself was then paralysed, but not in any real danger against a single ghast already targeted by the others.
The remaining ghasts were dealt with easily, while there was a nice XP injection from the basilisks on the roof. With a bit more XP from Riggilo that got them close to another level and that came by ending Greywolf's career.
I felt a bit more secure this time in keeping away from the pause button, though any fight requiring more than minimal intervention once it commences is still likely to be a problem. I suppose I could reduce the game speed from 60 fps for that type of situation, but I doubt whether I'll bother with that .
Enhanced Edition, no mods
Solo Jase, half-orc shadowdancer
S19 D18 C19 I9 Wx CH18
I played this game when it came out originally and was never very good at it. Spent a lot more time in SoA and ToB. Was looking to get back into it and, while researching potential builds, read Grond0's sun soul monk thread. Seemed like a lot of fun, plus I have terrible restartitis, so here's my attempts so far. Also, a shout out to semiticgod's shadowdancer thread, as it's been a lot of help. I'll try to include pictures in future reports.
Attempt 1. Daggers for throwing daggers and Quarter Staff. Almost died to a wolf on the approach to Shoal. Had to drink 2 healing potions. Killed Shoal and leveled to 4. Went to the Friendly Arm Inn, grabbing the Ring of Princes and Evermemory. Calmed Marl, retrieved Firebead's book, Mirianne's letter, and the Colquetle Family Amulet. Picked up and equipped the Worn Whispers. Went to High Hedge. The gnolls drobbed a Protection from Petrification scroll, but instead of drawing the flesh golems out, I got sandwiched between them and died.
Attempt 2. Took Slings. Did essentially the above. Watched Drizzt die but didn't attempt to get the kill, just sold his stuff. Killed Algernon for his cloak. Used the cloak to charm and kill the sirines at the Temple. Used stealth and Korax to clear the basilisks. Went to the Lighthouse, used the Potion of Clarity from Candlekeep, and died to the sirines feeblemind.
Attempt 3. Rolled a 95. Headed to Shoal. One-shotted by wolf.
Attempt 4. Go to the FAI for RoP and Evermemory, stealth inside to sell and buy Buckley's Buckler. Head to Beregost for Marl and Firebead, achieving level 2. Killed Shoal, and, more importantly, the wolf, for level 4. Went to watch Drizzt die. Accidentally triggered his speech and abandoned the run.
Attempt 5. Starting with Daggers again. I like the 2 APR of throwing daggers with the STR bonus. Plus I can get the Dagger of Venom. Once again died to the wolf on the way to Shoal.
Attempt 6. A solid start. Shoal, RoP, Elve's Bane, FAI, Buckley's Buckler. Picked up arrows for the flesh golems. Arrow of Biting are ineffective. Ran out of arrows and had to stealth in with my +1 dagger. Went and bought more arrows for the second golem. Level 5. Let Drizzt die to sell his equipment. Went to Nashkell for CLW and Chapter 2. Sold Drizzt's stuff and purchased the Dagger of Venom. Killed Algernon for his cloak. Charmed and killed the sirines at the Temple. Level 6 and heading to the basilisks, which were no problem with Korax's help. Level 7. Headed to Lighthouse. Used stealth plus find traps to be able to backstab constantly (from Grond0, which I'll hencefort refer to as shadow dancing), killing all the sirines without issue. Went into the flesh golem cave and failed my save against the charm trap. Had a PoC and everything but didn't know what the trap was.
Attempt 7. After Candlekeep, unlock High Hedge, but retrieve Belt of Antipode and diamond, unlock Coast Way but travel to High Hedge. Unlock Shipwreck's Coast but head to Beregost. Calm Marl for level 2. Sell the diamond and buy the +1 sling (non-proficient) and 40 +1 bullets, unlocking Temple and South Beregost Road. Kill Shoal with throwing daggers, then retrieve the Worn Whispers. Head back to High Hedge and kill the flesh golems with the sling, only using 9 bullets instead of 20 - 40 arrows. Cleared the basilisks with the help of Korax, but things got a little dicey with the adventurers party. Went to Durlag's Tower and killed the 2 battle horrors with backstabs. Went to firewine and killed Meilum for his bracers. Snuck in to the Gnoll Stronghoold for the charisma manual. Went back to Durlag's and killed the basilisks. Level 8. Refused to help Kirinhale, and she charmed me. I reload to try some different tactics against her and explore a bit of Durlag's Tower for future knowledge. I found the best way to defeat Kirinhale was to agree to help her and then backstab her to death using shadow dancing. If I had beaten her the first time, I would have been charmed retrieving the wisdom tome.
Attempt 8. Shoal. FAI for Evermemory (no buckler). Girdle. Marl. Firebead. Purchased sling and 20 +1 bullets. Worn Whispers on way to Nashkel for Ankheg Plate and CLW. Watched Drizzt die and sold his items. Killed the flesh golems. Purchased mirrored eye potions. Purchased Dagger of Venom. Tried shadow dancing around basilisks without Korax. It worked. Used Korax for Mutamin and the Adventurers. Sold all their stuff. Purchased the Shadow Armor. Killed Algernon for his cloak. Raised rep to 8 at Temple and killed the Sirines there. Went to Ulgoth's Beard and purchased the Greenstone Amulet and acquired Edventar's Gift from Dushai. Went to Durlag's Tower. Was shadow dancing the basilisks. Last basilisk turned around immediately and petrified me. Timing is finicky. On reload tests I failed several hides and was petrified that way. Always wear protection.
Attempt 9. Went to Ulgoth's Beard to purchase the staff, amulet, and cloak. Hit level 8 at Durlag's. Went to the Lighthouse. Drank the Potion of Clarity from Candlekeep and killed all the sirines. Forgot to get Algernon's Cloak, but it worked out. 45 traps was enough to disarm the flesh golem cave. Went to the Gnoll Stronghold for the Charisma Tome. Purchased the Shadow Armor and killed Algernon for his cloak. Killed Basilius and rescued Melicamp, who unfortunately died. Killed the sirines in the temple and the vampire wolves nearby to reach level 9 and the 3x backstab. A personal best! Back to Ulgoth's Beard for Dushai's ring. Did the mines. Killed the revenant and Amazons and Nimble. Back to Beregost. Tranzig was easy pickings. Dropped rep to 9. On to the Bandit Camp. Bandit Camp was no issue. Rested for first Horror. Side with merchants in first Cloakwood. Hit level 10 in Cloakwood 2. Killed Davaeorn. Rested for second horror. Flooded the mines. Time to quest up some reputation. Shopping spree. Buying scrolls and potions and the Sandthief's Ring. I missed and hide and was horrored to the last surviving mage on top of Sorceror's Sundries. Had several options but failed to use any of them.
Side note. After this one died, I ran through Baldur's Gate so that I wouldn't be coming into it blind in the future. I also wanted to test the coronation ceremony. I think I have a pretty good tactic for it. Charm 5 of the nobles, one of each to the far side of the stairs and to a corner in each room to block vision. I only did 4 of them in the pictures, but did a 5th in another run and put him on the stairs near Sarevok.
Go rest 16 hours so that they're no longer charmed. Come back and start the coronation. As long as they don't see you, they won't move from where you left them, and you can kill them one at a time. The Flaming Fist guards will attack them and die, but the Greater Dopplegangers didn't move during any of my tests. Another option would be to charm half of them, move them into a corner room, rest 8 hours, then start the coronation. Only 3 would be active, but you'd have to wait around 23 minutes for the other 3 to no longer be charmed, at which point they become dopplegangers.
Attempt 10. Took shortbows and quarter staves. Daggers and slings are nice early for the strength bonus but quickly fall off to the utility of magic arrows. Grab the belt and diamond, head to High Hedge, unlock west exit, then head to Beregost. Stop by the inn for Marl and Firebead and Algernon's Cloak. Buy 40 +1 arrows for flesh golems. Mansion for invisibility potion and wand to sell. Head south to get Miriam's letter, Worn Walkers, and Colquetle necklace. Donate at the Temple to get back to 8 reputation. Kill Shoal, but almost die to the wolf. To the flesh golems. 21 arrows later, level 5. I now have backstab damage x2 and a Shadow Step. To the FAI, stopping to get the RoP and girdle. Backstab Tarnesh. Sell Evermemory. Head to Ulgoth's for Dushai's ring. Raise reputation to 11 at the FAI temple. Turn in the ring. Turn in the amulet. Backstab Karlat to death. Charm Silke to kill the spiders. Had an unlucky hide and almost got trapped outside of the house. Shadow Stepped and went back in. Spiders attacked Silke and I didn't get the death blow. Backstabbed the rest of the spiders in the street. Poor Melicamp didn't survive. Backstabbed Basilius to death. Did Bjornin's half-ogres. Was too late to save Drizzt. Not comfortable enough trying to last hit him or patient enough. Or even sure how you just get one gnoll to engage. Turned in Brage and got the +1 rep from Oublek and hit level 6. Rested for CLW. Headed to Dryad Falls for the rep there. Did some other rep stuff. Lighthouse, Farm Brun. Got rep to 20. Now with max discounts and 40k gold, time to arm up. Greenstone Amulet, Aule's Staff, Cloak of Displacement, and Sandthief's Ring for 19,095. Shortbow +1 and Shadow Armor for 8,040. With a few random items I picked up from the Ankheg Nest and whatnot, still have over 20,000 left. No more normal arrows for me! Plus gonna go buy some potions and scrolls. Hurrah. Do the sirines at the Temple. The wolf pack nearby brought me up to level 7. Went to kill basilisks. I won't be buying the Cloak of Displacement again. The game reported I was in stealth, but as soon as I walked into range a basilisk petrified me. I need the visual confirmation of the character looking like its in stealth, which the cloak hides. Was a bit disappointed, as I thought this was gonna be a good run.
Attempt 11. Start with Daggers for throwing daggers and Quarter Staves. Grab RoP, and sell Evermemory, buy Buckley's Buckler. Down to Beregost for Marl and Firebead. Steal the bastard sword from the smithy and purchase a sling (non-proficient) with +1 bullets. Get the wand and invisibility potion at the mansion. Head to kill Shoal. Almost die to wolf again. Kill Shoal. Take Two Handed Weapon Style. Kill flesh golems (9 bullets) for level 5. Head south of Beregost. Get the Worn Walkers for 100/100 HiS/MS. Get the letter and necklace for Beregost. Head to Nashkel to trigger Chapter 2 and get CLW and ankheg plate for sale. Triggered Drizzt's dialogue on accident, and he killed all the gnolls. I guess I could hav attempted talking to him constantly, but whatever. Buy mirrored eye potions. Retrieve Algernon's Cloak. Donate back to 8 reputation. Kill Karlat, spiders, and Silke. Kill Sirines. Level 6. Go kill basilisks and adventurers, hit level 7. Go to Ulgoth's Beard for the Greenstone Amulet and Dushai's ring. Head to Temple and raise rep. Did some rep quests. Melicamp died again. Did the Lighthouse and retrieved the constitution tome. Level 8 and Short Bow. Maxed rep on side quests and grabbed the charisma tome. Time to gear up again. Aule's Staff, Sandthief's Ring, Shadow Armor, and assorted potions/scrolls/arrows. Get Neera's gem bag by accepting her into my party and kicking her out. This is the only companion I pick up, as I don't like killing them. To Durlag's Tower. Kill battle horrors. Agree to help Kirinhale but then backstab her to death. Grab the wisdom tome. Kill basilisks while under protection from petrification. Level 9 and 3x backstab! The Staff Spear from Kirinhale is 1d8 + 3 compared to the 1d6 + 3 of Aule's Staff, although it is piercing instead of crushing, but it's also +2 THAC0 instead of +3 THAC0.
Time to solve the iron crisis. Mulahey died to a backstab. Backstab Tranzig. Backstab everyone in Tazok's tent. Cloakwood is a stroll with the Ring of Free Action. Backstab Drasus and his whole crew. Speed through the mines. Use Potions of Perception to detect and disarm the traps. Dispel Davaeorn's illusion and land a lucky crit to backstab him in one hit. Get the Dex Tome and stock up on potions/scrolls/arrows. Got the Helm of Balduran, Nymph's Cloak, and Int Tome. Got the Wis Tome and Geas Scroll. Level 10. Got my antidote. Stole the documents. Went to Candlekeep. Accused of murder. Time to bust out. Drink 4 Potions of Perception to detect the traps and get lockpicking high enough. Maybe could have gotten away with 3 which would have brought find traps up to 75, but I don't know the reqs here and didn't want to risk it. I also don't know how deadly these traps are. I may have just been able to walk through them. First tome retrieved. Killed the phase spiders, almost triggering a trap. It's probably just web. Second tome retrieved. Sneak out of the catacombs. Sneak out of the caves, only stopping to kill Diarmid. A quick stop in High Hedge, then off to Baldur's Gate. Cythandria dies to two backstabs. Drink two Potions of Mastery Thievery and pickpocket Quenash for the Cloak of Balduran. Use an Arrow of Dispelling on Slythe, then backstab him to death. Krystin doesn't appear, so I draw her out with the One Gift Lost, wait for her globe to drop, biting arrow her, then backstab her to death. Charm the nobles at the coronation and move them into separate rooms and on the stairs. Wait 16 hours for the charm to wear off, then go trigger the coronation. My coronation plan went off without a hitch. Now through the maze and to the Temple of Bhaal. Still had magic resistance from the maze, used the Greenstone Amulet. Killed Semaj without any issues. Went to backstab Sarevok, partly forgetting there were two other invisible enemies. Failed my hide. Shadow step didn't activate before they killed me. Almost my first BG:EE run.
A little disappointing that last one, but overall I've been having a blast. I've been thinking of modding in a Bag of Holding at Sorcerous Sundries but haven't done so yet. I also don't know if it's worth getting an experience cap remover, not to level above the BG:EE limit, but to not lose out on experience for SoD. Attempt 9, where I finished the game, with reloads, while doing a lot more quests and killing a lot more enemies, only started me around 188k. I thought it was supposed to keep counting even if it wasn't displayed.
Also, what do you guys do about the wolf on the way to Shoal? The one that spawns between the single tree and copse of trees right by the entrace. It ended 2 of my runs and was close to ending 3 other ones.
@jessejmc: I play with SCS, so that wolf doesn't start out hostile in my installs; it only goes red if I approach it. In an unmodded install, I think you have to sneak around it and stay well to the west of the wolf as you kite Shoal, to make sure you never enter its field of vision.
@jessejmc said...
Also, what do you guys do about the wolf on the way to Shoal?
You mean if you are level one? Avoid it. In the Trio runs, we immediately go south a bit after arriving in the area, then go under a line of trees while traveling west to Shoal. This avoids the wolf.
She starts in a an open area. Just kite her as much as possible in that area, and if needed go south-east (from her starting position) and run her around under that line of trees too as there are no spawns there.
Anyway, first off, we need to deal with the drakes. The Cloak of Mirroring can block their obnoxious breath weapons, but they're still sturdy critters with haste and regeneration. In fact, killing them takes so long that eventually I resort to the Wand of Wonder to avoid having to deal with their HP.
I end up burning 23 charges and they still won't go down--a bad sign, since I was hoping to use those Wand of Wonder charges against Tamah. Eventually, I have to switch to tanking again, but fortunately, we have the AC to stay safe against enemies without deeply, deeply subzero AC.
Still, it's a tiresome process and eventually I burn another one or two charges from the Wand of Wonder, successfully petrifying the last drake. I proceed to Tamah, who always spawns early in my installs. Roranach's Horn and Shadow Form give us immunity to crushing damage, so we don't have to worry about her hard-hitting breath weapon.
I can't use Shadow Form forever, though, so sometimes I have to soak up the damage with just Roranach's Horn and the Defender of Easthaven, if I can react in time when her sprite spends a few telltale frames standing in place before using her breath weapon.
Once again, we can cripple the dragon using the Soul Reaver and follow up with the Firetooth dagger once she can't hit Frisky Bits without rolling a 20.
Now we have to kite Abazigal. He has extremely high missile resistance, which makes the process incredibly slow and actually forces us to wait until his Hardiness wears off before we can deal any damage at all. I don't really like this stage because there's not a clear cutoff point when he finally transforms into a dragon, and the lengthy kiting process drains the durations of our buffs--which means we can't time our buffs so we're at peak strength whenever he does transform.
I try tanking him, but he hits far harder than even Tamah, and due to his crazy speed factor (he's basically a Kensai dragon), he can land multiple hits with his own sword before we can try penalizing his THAC0 with Soul Reaver--which itself requires us to land a few hits with the Answerer just to get past his AC.
Eventually Abazigal transforms, catching us by surprise (it isn't when he hits Near Death; it's much earlier than that), and two Tamah clones appear on the map. Now, I don't know whether Tamah is supposed to appear before or after Abazigal transforms, which is why I was willing to fight the pre-transformation Tamah, but fighting three copies of Tamah is definitely a bug.
Normally I roll with bugs, but fighting two extra dragons in a fight that already has two dragons crosses a line. That's not just more difficult; that's just a huge pain. I go ahead and remove one of the Tamah clones, opting to fight the intended one Tamah alongside Abazigal.
I'm basically void of my normal buffs, so I need to spend a few rounds running in circles to make sure I don't get stomped with Abazigal's shockwaves or anything like that. I burn all but one of the charges from our Wand of Wonder, but Tamah remains very much alive, avoiding every 12% chance of petrification.
Once we're in a better position, I rearrange Frisky Bits' inventory, create a Shadow Twin, and smack Tamah with the Answerer a few times to pave the way for some hits from Soul Reaver (a great combo for any thief who needs to tank a hard-hitting critter in ToB). Once Tamah is crippled, we can switch to the Firetooth dagger to deal damage faster. Notice a dead ATweaks frost salamander dealing damage to us from beyond the grave.
I switch targets so we can get started on chopping up Abazigal. Then the unthinkable happens.
Maze takes 4 seconds to trigger, but fortunately, our aura is clear. There's only one thing that can let us escape a game over: a Protection from Magic scroll.
Unlike Psionic Maze, which is nonmagical and instantaneous, the Maze spell is dispellable before it finally hits, so any form of Dispel Magic can cure it during that 4-second window. However, our clone did not have any Arrows of Dispelling on hand, nor did we have any Potions of Magic Blocking. We have to burn one of our only two Protection from Magic scrolls just to survive this--which means we can only use a single one at the Throne of Bhaal, on Abazigal; we can't use a second one on Sendai.
In SCS, Spellstrike can take down a Protection from Magic scroll, but all Abazigal can do is throw useless Ruby Ray of Reversal and Khelben's Warding Whip spells at us. We cripple him with the Answerer and the Soul Reaver, but now that I'm looking at his .cre file in Near Infinity, it seems his APR is erroneously coded as -1... which presumably means zero. That's probably the real reason we never had to run away to drink potions to recover from his attacks.
Meh. It just means we don't need to worry about recharging Rods of Resurrection. Even a typical level 40 thief with vanilla THAC0 should be capable of tanking Abazigal given enough healing options, the Answerer, and the Soul Reaver, even if Abazigal's 30 HP regeneration per round were working properly.
Not that I'm willing to fix Abazigal's bugs and try a rematch. He already had one extra dragon fighting on his side, if not two.
Besides, I've had enough of dragons. I've already fought nine of them in ToB, from Draconis to Anadramatis to Olinissimous to Zirimanat'ryl to Ithy'nassendra to Carnifex to Tamah to Tamah again to Abazigal, and I've only used three strategies for all of them: kiting with the Sling of Everard, petrifying them with the Wand of Wonder, or crippling them with the Answerer and the Soul Reaver.
As a Chaotic Good character with 20 reputation and high Charisma and Wisdom once we drink a Potion of Insight, we can easily convince Balthazar to join us (as always, we just kill the Guard Captain for the key and sneak past the other enemies). The Chosen of Cyric are helpless against us thanks to the Staff of the Magi and Detect Illusions.
Now for the Ravager. My original plan was to use Improved Haste, Shadow Form, and the Flail of Ages +4 to slow down his regeneration and then deal damage using the Answerer. Now, we can't hit him with the normal Flail of Ages +3, and adding the poison flail erroneously makes poison-immune critters immune to all on-hit effects from the flail, including the slow effect (a bug which I wasn't willing to solve via Near Infinity), but I have a mod that lets me upgraded it to +4 with just the electrical flail head from Abazigal, allowing us to break through the Ravager's immunity to +3 weapons and below.
But the Ravager's Dispel Magic effect on hit is enough to remove our Improved Haste effect, since my mods only let item-based spell effects scale if you have actual spellcaster levels. Our level 50 Shadowdancer is working with dispellable effects at level 10. Also, the Ravager can knock us unconscious and toss us back a short distance on a failed save.
Fortunately that unconsciousness effect doesn't last very long. I try hitting the Ravager a few times with the Soul Reaver to decrease the chance of the Ravager dispelling our buffs with his on-hit effects...
...but since the Ravager does not in fact have the 30 HP regeneration per round its .cre file displays...
...I realize that it's going to be a lot faster and more convenient to just kite the Ravager with the Sling of Everard and Reflection Shield and let the damage build up until the Ravager dies.
I guess this saves us the trouble of relying on Improved Haste and/or PFMW scrolls and clones to maintain the damage output that would otherwise be necessary to overcome the Ravager's regeneration, but it does feel decidedly less cool that a more complex, high-intensity strategy is actually less efficient than kiting tactics that are only a viable solution due to a bug. But then, this regeneration has probably been missing in almost all Ascension no-reload runs since it's easy to overlook in most games, so whatever. It's normal.
A bug prevents us from getting the intended 25% physical damage resistance from this trial (the bug is unpredictable; sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't), so I EEKeeper it in. We now can hit 95% damage resistance with Shadow Form and the Defender of Easthaven, just in case we ever have to survive a Time Stop from Melissan without Focus or a PFMW scroll.
I still feel bad about installing a THAC0 buff, but Shadowdancers are mediocre enough in ToB as it is. Besides, the whole reason I picked a Shadowdancer in the first place was because I wanted an easier run.
Speaking on the "multi-runner, same-party" no-reload run we've discussed in the Lounge, I'd like to keep the floor open to more votes. It would be nice if we could choose from a small pool of characters, or vote on the ones we find most interesting, before we jumped into it. I say this mostly because I wouldn't really find it interesting to do RP stuff like taking the barbarian alcoholic to taverns to get wasted every now and then.
I don't mind that character drinking, but I do wish he was a monk in the drunken monkey style .
We're off to a rocky start at the first phase of the final battle. Apparently the Fallen Solars don't just have dispelling arrows--which I can easily block using the Reflection Shield--they can also cast Remove Magic, and I have not buffed with SI: Abjuration since the scrolls only last for 9 rounds.
Worse yet, we have a Creeping Doom spell already afflicting us. Fortunately, we have Time Stop scrolls that we can cast without any chance of spell failure, and then we can cast Imprisonment on the Fallen Solars via scroll!
Then I realize I've loaded the incorrect save--Frisky Bits does not have the 25% physical damage resistance they were supposed to get from the Ravager fight. I reload the correct save and start over.
This time, though, I don't run away to the northeast to cast Time Stop. Instead, I stay in our starting position at the south--and this time, for one reason or another, Irenicus opens with Time Stop instead of whatever he did before.
In fact, he casts two Time Stop spells in succession, and the Creeping Doom damage builds up on Frisky Bits. However, Balthazar manages to activate Lunar Stance in between the two Time Stops, and therefore is able to pummel Bodhi while Irenicus spends his valuable time casting defensive spells we don't care about.
In this install, Balthazar actually appears to be functional--he doesn't automatically cancel every order after a couple seconds. He can't quite kill Bodhi, so he splatters one of Irenicus' clones.
Finally, we get our own Time Stop off the ground, and we use Imprisonment scrolls on both Fallen Solars while Balthazar kills Irenicus' second clone.
Unfortunately, as I failed to realize, the Fallen Solars are immune to Imprisonment.
We can't remove them from the fight and then free them after Bodhi and Irenicus are gone, as I had hoped. We have to fight them conventionally--and now we have one fewer Time Stop scroll on hand.
Frisky Bits lobs rocks at the Fallen Solars using the Sling of Everard while canceling Irenicus' spells by switching to the Staff of the Magi, relying on our rock-solid saves and the Cloak of Mirroring to keep us safe from the Fallen Solars' spells and outrunning Bodhi to avoid her deadly CON drain. Unfortunately, our offensive power is pretty mediocre considering I don't feel safe enough to use Frisky Bits' aura to summon a clone or cast Improved Haste. We deal damage very slowly, and the Fallen Solars can easily undo our progress with a 1-frame Heal spell.
After restoring our Oil of Speed after we lost it to another Remove Magic, I go ahead and cast Time Stop, which gives us a few free hits with the Answerer, then summon a Shadow Twin to capitalize on the Fallen Solar's penalized AC.
We get a scary message when Bodhi drains 5 levels from Balthazar (!), so we bring him over to help us against the Fallen Solar. In the process, though, we have to bring Frisky Bits further north so Bodhi doesn't nail us with CON drain instead. Things are looking bad, though--Balthazar is in poor condition, and our clone's Assassination is proving useless against the Fallen Solar.
Balthazar teleports away, then uses Second Wind to heal himself. Both of these things are strictly due to his own AI; we can't order him to use either of those spells. Our clone, however, has no such options, and succumbs to CON drain from Bodhi. By this point, the Fallen Solars have already cast Heal on themselves twice more, but they only have so many castings before they run out.
Bodhi is entirely too dangerous. I use our last Time Stop scroll to help put her down, and since Balthazar has Lunar Stance active, he can also use the opportunity to punch the Fallen Solars.
It's not quite enough for a kill, but the Fallen Solar can't bounce back with a Heal spell. Once we summon another clone, we can finally put it down.
Looking at the Fallen Solars' scripts in Near Infinity, it actually looks like the Fallen Solars don't have a limit on how many times they can cast Heal--they just have a 5-round timer for the spell. Theoretically, they could be immortal if you couldn't finish them off in 5 rounds.
The other Fallen Solar vanishes, so we turn to Irenicus, and find his defenses lacking. We hurry up and splatter him before addressing the Fallen Solar. It teleports away, but its allies are all gone, and it's not strong enough to stand up on its own.
For the demons at the pools, we use a Limited Wish scroll to cast Shapechange, allowing our clones to shapeshift into Mind Flayer form and use Draw Upon Holy Might to improve their THAC0. This lets us land some early kills on some of the demons who aren't immune to +2 weapons and below (like the Balors and the Mariliths with their PFMW spells).
We get a scare when a Balor hits us with Implosion, but the enemy doesn't capitalize on it, and we switch to the Ring of Free Action for future safety. Otherwise, Frisky Bits and their clone can chomp most everything in mind flayer form, even when the Balor gates in a bunch of new demons.
The marilith survives a lot longer by spamming PFMW spells, to the extent that our Shapechange spell wears off. We have a spare Shapechange scroll to restore it, though, and we can use another Limited Wish scroll to get our last possible Time Stop to chomp up some of the demons at the next pool. Balthazar adds a lot to the fight.
For the final pool fight, we use Breach scrolls to help take down the marilith early. Finally, all the pools are clear.
I played this game when it came out originally and was never very good at it. Spent a lot more time in SoA and ToB. Was looking to get back into it and, while researching potential builds, read Grond0's sun soul monk thread. Seemed like a lot of fun, plus I have terrible restartitis, so here's my attempts so far. Also, a shout out to semiticgod's shadowdancer thread, as it's been a lot of help. I'll try to include pictures in future reports.
Attempt 1 ... Attempt 11.
@jessejmc glad you're having fun. Your list of attempts sounded eerily familiar to me. I've often had the following sort of pattern:
Attempt 1- come across something new and die.
Attempt 2 - go back to check if that encounter really is fatal. It is.
Attempt 3 - think of a way to deal with it. Congratulate myself on doing that successfully and immediately die to something else when not concentrating.
Attempt 4 - deal with it with no problems and go much further in the run before falling asleep / getting interrupted by family / forgetting to pause while game is minimized or finding one of the other multitude of ways to die.
Attempt 5 - forget all about it and die.
When I was reading through your post I thought perhaps I should say something about the wolf . As others have pointed out you can just avoid going into sight of it, but it's also possible to kite it. That was difficult in vanilla BG1 as wolves had a faster movement than you, but in BGEE it's not particularly difficult - though I don't generally find the XP reward is worth it, given that you get 40 times the XP for Shoal with no more effort.
You mentioned being petrified while stealthing. Just to note that the stealth button being lit doesn't necessarily mean you are in stealth - it means you are currently trying to hide. Depending on the sequence of orders you make it's possible to have up to a round's delay before the game actually checks whether your stealth attempt has been successful.
If you start the game using the SoD engine (as opposed to the solely BGEE one), then SoD will automatically start when you kill Sarevok and the game should then give you the extra XP earned in BGEE. If you're playing solo it's not particularly difficult to go into SoD with XP at the cap there of 500k. Presumably you in fact benefited from that process when you started SoD with 188k (as that's above the 161k limit for BGEE).
At the start of this session I aimed to get an XP bonanza by killing an Old Man. Tin laboriously laid 7 traps nearby, but the problem was how to lead Elminster into them before attacking. I tested one of the other characters walking towards Copper and decided he should just have time to cast sanctuary before Elminster arrived - but in fact he didn't quite manage that and I was unable to target Elminster as he wandered off.
Only slightly deterred, the next destination was High Hedge where a couple of golems were mobbed.
I didn't coordinate the attack as well as I might have done, but it still went reasonably well, so I decided it should be possible to take on the Lighthouse enemies. The sirines there stood little chance against an enraged berserker and were quickly disposed of.
However, when trying to rest to get rage back for the golems a couple of sirines sprang an ambush - and both used their charms successfully, which led to a close shave for Mercury.
The golems in the cave only managed a single hit between them after everyone had healed up. Mercury, as the only member of the party not already with 19 constitution, took the tome.
Next I decided to try and get some revenge on Drizzt. I let several gnolls attack sequentially (taking advantage of the fact that moving around in the area tends to partially activate Drizzt and make him kill just his current attacker) to persuade Drizzt to use his cure spell. I wasn't intending to do any retreating to ensure a gnoll broke its weapon, but I got lucky anyway when one did so when Drizzt was down to 14 HPs - I had been planning a general attack when he got below 10.
That allowed Copper to finish Drizzt off, though I was too busy running away from the gnolls afterwards to get a screenshot of the actual moment of death.
The scimitars make a nice dual weapon combination for Brass, while the armor was claimed by Tin due to the ability to use thieving skills while dressed in it.
In the process of cleaning up a few areas they went to the Valley of the Tombs and decided to take on Narcillicus and his mustard jellies. Brass enraged there before going into talk, while the others aimed to shoot up the mage before switching to melee weapons for the jellies. However, Narcillicus disappeared before anyone could target him meaning the others all ran in among the jellies - fortunately though they stayed focused on attacking the well-defended Brass. Narcillicus reappeared and hurt Mercury with a lightning bolt, but was shot down before he could try anything else.
While wandering round that area the party also stumbled on some amazons. They hadn't done any preparation, but quickly getting into melee proved a good enough tactic.
By this time everyone had qualified for a level-up, but were still some way from being able to level up in all their classes at once, so the wandering continued. More significant encounters included Arghain (Silver grabbing the 2-handed sword to leave only Diamond without a proficient magic melee weapon),
Meilum (Brass was boosting his AC with the bracers of dexterity, so gave Meilum's gauntlets to Diamond),
Beregost sirines (no need to wear them down with a whole party attacking), Beregost wolf pack
and Dushai. Her death reduced reputation down to 3, which meant a possibility of bounty hunters spawning. To ensure I didn't get caught out unexpectedly at the start of the next session when I would have forgotten about the potential danger, I went to pick up reputation points from Farmer Brun and Ardrouine before saving the game.
When I was reading through your post I thought perhaps I should say something about the wolf . As others have pointed out you can just avoid going into sight of it, but it's also possible to kite it. That was difficult in vanilla BG1 as wolves had a faster movement than you, but in BGEE it's not particularly difficult - though I don't generally find the XP reward is worth it, given that you get 40 times the XP for Shoal with no more effort.
I was able to kite it a few times, but I rarely had time to turn around and attack it, and once it's on you, it's very hard to gain enough distance. It just seemed like too much luck was involved for me, and I've noticed that relying on luck with no-reload is essentially a death sentence
You mentioned being petrified while stealthing. Just to note that the stealth button being lit doesn't necessarily mean you are in stealth - it means you are currently trying to hide. Depending on the sequence of orders you make it's possible to have up to a round's delay before the game actually checks whether your stealth attempt has been successful.
Good to know. I have noticed that if I wait for stealth to become avaiable before a backstab, then constantly pause/unpause until the hit roll displays, I can stealth again before the npc realizes I'm there and attacks me.
If you start the game using the SoD engine (as opposed to the solely BGEE one), then SoD will automatically start when you kill Sarevok and the game should then give you the extra XP earned in BGEE. If you're playing solo it's not particularly difficult to go into SoD with XP at the cap there of 500k. Presumably you in fact benefited from that process when you started SoD with 188k (as that's above the 161k limit for BGEE).
I'm pretty sure I started with the SoD engine, as the intro screen changed after I purchased it. I was re-reading attempt 11 and realized I didn't write down when I hit level 10, but I feel like I hit the experience cap fairly early and had skipped a lot of things, like killing the spiders in Cloakwood and doing a lot of side quests in Baldur's Gate. It's possible that stuff just wasn't worth as much experience as I thought it was.
I find it interesting that once you establish yourself, the critical path is actually pretty quick. I'm trying to integrate doing portions of the critical path earlier, as the Nashkel Mines aren't all that difficult.
To you and anyone else that wants to answer, do you find the Horror power really worth futzing with reputation? What situations do you use it? Maybe hide in plain sight has me spoiled, but it just doesn't seem that useful. I tested it a few times during the coronation, and the greater dopplegangers saved against it every time.
Comments
Siyhmun (Sorcerer, Gate70); Alky (Transmuter, Grond0)
Our second session starts with our usual "what were we doing next" question. After a bit of discussion we decided it was time to deal with sirines. Alky loaded up on Stinking Cloud and this was enough to see us safely through. Siyhmun decided not to venture into the flesh golem cave, although Alky thought some sorcerous Minute Meteors would have been up to the job. Maybe.
A quick reputation boost is needed so we get Melicamp restored, help out at the dig, return Brage to the temple and confirm to Oublek that we are not Greywolf. This is us at the dig deciding we have what it takes to take the doomsayer.
Siyhmun continues the attack on Davaeorn, Alky breaking free and joining in. Davaeorn is toast.
Unfortunately I got to the old Amaunator Temple too late - I had to deal with powerful spawns - 3 bone golems, 4 skeleton warriors and 2 greater mummies. When I was fighting these batches of undead, Corerage IV was literally drinking extra healing potions as fast as he could (where was GWW when he needed it). But he did prevail.
Dragon left alone for now. Will deal with it when we have some HLAs.
At this point, didn't have automatic saves vs. FoD so used my protection from undead scroll to deal with the Shade Lord.
* Trademeet problems solved. Genies weren't too hard to kill, and Druid grove was pretty straightfoward to go through. Being a strong warrior certainly helped here.
* D'Arnise Keep cleared of enemies - Corerage IV became its new master. Trolls are easy for Corerage IV to deal with.
* Reijek exposed as the skinner murderer. His rune assassins, ghasts and bone golem weren't a match for Corerage IV
It's been a long time since I sided with Bodhi. I thought I better do that, so I can try to remember what it's like and what loot differences there are. The main differences are the djinn ring and the +3 axe throwing axe an evil character can use. I had to deal with many mages - if it weren't for the fact I was a sturdy high level dwarf, no doubt would have succumbed. Lilacor was worth it's weight in gold, as the mages tried a great many dominations, chaoses, and confusions, all thwarted by Lilacor. In any case, Linvail was killed and I succeeded and lived. Didn't report to Bodhi yet.
* I thought I might as well do Planar Prison - I need more money before I go to the Underdark. Also, while here forgot there were melee gauntlets - these are much more relevant than the bracers of archery, since Corerage IV is rarely at range (usually only if the enemies are running). Once again, his sturdy dwarven saves and Lilacor kept him from trouble and gave him victory.
Soon, and since I am using two-hand weapons all the way and thus no shield of balduran, will do the Unseeing Eye Quest the short way - this loses out on experience, but won't need shield of balduran this way. Intend to use potion of magic shielding, just in case Unseeing Eye has things like greater malison.
EDIT: Unseeing Eye defeated. I decided to let Keldorn join briefly, as he could trip the web trap for me since he has free action. Also, his dispel magic was very helpful and allowed Corerage IV to kill the Unseeing Eye quickly. Keldorn nearly died, but since he helped so much Corerage IV used RoR charge to keep Keldorn alive. Corerage IV then escorted Keldorn to safety out of the sewers.
I realized one drawback of this method of doing the Unseeing Eye quest is that you don't get the key to the lower level which also means you can fight the Lich there, which in turn means I can't do the Gaxx quest. Hmm, oh well. As a dwarf, my saves are quite good, so it's not quite as vital as a race with poorer saves like an elf, half-orc or human.
My travels took me to a charted island, but one unmolested by travelers from Toril for at least 300 years. I’d met a mage looking chap, Mendas, in Ulgoth’s Beard who offered me employment that entailed first going into Baldur’s Gate to the Merchant League to acquire the necessary sea charts to undertake a voyage to yet another island. This gave me a chance to see where I stand there after my absence. I am wanted. Angelo has the FF looking everywhere for me & has had Scar killed & apparently placed Duke Eltan in confinement also. I was able to get away from the FFs that tried to apprehend me, twice having to use Command to disable them so I could allude.
The Merchants league started out as quite a tussle. I had to have Imoen Pick Locks to get in & was immediately attacked once inside by seven guards that were tougher than your standard, everyday fodder. Having slain all of them, I went to the 2nd floor & was again attacked by a Sea Captain. Once he was at room temperature, finding the charts on him was easy. The crewmates that were w/him did not attack & I left them alone. On the return trip, Kivan's past almost came back to bite him when a female elven warrior accosted him accompanied by her pack of pet wolves.
DEALING WITH KIVAN'S BAGGAGE
Returning to Mendas, he was excited & immediately made ready the ship, which sailed smoothly at first but then became a bit disconcerting as the sailors started getting nervous and rumbling against the entire idea of the trip. Then a storm came up. I suddenly had a crisis of faith, remembering that this was υμβερλεες realm & I prayed that Ογμηα would protect me. The ship capsized in a storm & though I don’t remember anything, somehow, we all ended up on the correct island, covered in mud w/sand in our mouths. Whatever happened to get me there, I was still alive & I suddenly felt a bit ashamed by my momentary lack of faith.
The Isle of Balduran is also called Werewolf Island & Lycanthrope Island, although I hadn’t recalled that from my studies @ Candlekeep until I got here. It is distinctly divided into two parts, not so much by geography but by the inhabitants who live there. Werewolf Island South is a small farming and fishing village apparently inhabited by humans – but who later turned out to be werewolves. Werewolf Island North is far more savage, and home to the rotting remains of the Wandering Eye, the ship of the legendary explorer Balduran that wrecked here w/a crew cursed w/Lycanthrope. The ‘northerners’ here are Wolfweres.
I landed initially in the south, & after a friendly enough reception & a brief rest, I was duped into going north to rid the villagers of the ‘creatures’ that lived there on the pretense that this would help us to get back. Simple enough. Kivan quickly scouted the northern half of the island, & found the Wandering Eye, rotting where it came ashore. Skirting as many enemies as I could, I made my way around to the ship although Dire Wolves were everywhere, in large packs, & I was twice ambushed by Wolfweres. The ship itself was full of Wolfweres, Vampiric Wolves & Dread Wolves. These were easily coaxed into ambushes of their own as Kivan could get in unseen (& un-smelled), get off a couple of arrows & draw them after him where the rest of us waited w/summoned creatures & a distinct battle plan each time.
KEY EVENT: (Greater Wolfwere) Karoug was the leader of the Wolfweres & was on the deck just below the top deck with his mate & a couple of other Wolfweres. He was a different story entirely. It took a while to anger him enough to draw him out into the daylight & once there he was a whole different ball of wax. He had relentless rejuvenating powers & was immune to just about everything. He was raking everything & everyone w/his massive, quick claws. I pulled back & returned to the village to heal & strategize. We had acquired The Sword of Balduran & Werebane +1, both distinctly for use on lycanthrope. Karoug had shown a weakness to Magic Missiles Neera noted also. I decided to go back & hopefully catch him alone again (I’d already killed his mate & inner circle), & he cooperated. The plan was for me, Faldorn & Neera to cast Bless, Protection from Evil 15’, Defensive Harmony & Haste on everyone. I gave The Sword of Balduran to Kivan & Werebane +1 to Branwen & had Neera keep her Wand of Paralyzation ready to strike Karoug as soon as he showed himself. I then cast Animate Dead, Neera cast Monster Summoning II & Faldorn cast Call Woodland Beings. The summoned creatures were set in a killsack just outside the gaping, damaged hull location where I entered & exited. Kivan went in with his bow & fired off arrows that were ineffective except that they enraged Karoug. Even w/a masterful plan this dude was a BEAST worthy of respect. Neera nailed him w/the Wand of Paralyzation while the summoned creatures, Kivan & Branwen moved in close. I cast Doom & it took. Kivan & Branwen started landing blows but it was a race as he rejuvenated quickly. Neera kept blasting him w/Magic Missiles after leading off w/her Minor Sequencer of Acid Arrow & Magic Missile. I cast everything I had @ him, Poison, Mental Domination, Holy Smite, Hold Person, Command but I don’t think anything fazed him. Faldorn did the same. FINALLY, Kivan ended his existence with the Sword of Balduran. My knees were shaking, my head was spinning & my heart was racing when it was over. I’d started to fear even this assault would come up short. Since coming to the northern end of the island, I’d had to use Raise Dead Scrolls on Faldorn, Neera & Kivan (in earlier skirmishes w/wolfweres) & I was out. As powerful as he was, if he’d gotten loose, I don’t know what I would have been able to do – Neera still had four charges in the Wand of Paralyzation & I could have reset, hopefully w/everyone alive. I’m glad I didn’t have to.
ONE BAD WOLFMAN!
I’m too tired to go into it, but my heroes return to the south side of the island wasn’t to be. Kaisha Gan & the rest of the farmers & fishermen there were the weaker cousins of Wolfweres, Werewolves. I ended up slaughtering most of them & escaping through tunnels that led out of the room I’d been staying in. I’d saved a mage who’d been boarded up on the north end of the island, Dradeel, & he told me where to find them – although, Imoen had already discovered the secret door. The tunnels were also full of Werewolves, but they were easily dispatched once Kivan located them using stealth & returned so I could set up our assaults. The tunnels opened onto sand, where Kaisha Gan was already on the ship to freedom & attacked me in Loup Garou form. I killed her easily & we were able to get the ship back to Ulgoth’s Beard using the sea charts without incident. By now, I knew what to expect from Mendas, who was also a Loup Garou as was his servant Baresh. Mendas’ real name was Selaad Gan & he was Kaisha’s husband. He is now dead too.
WEREWOLF SLAUGHTER
LEAVING WEREWOLF ISLAND
LOUP GAROU KAISHAS
DONE WITH WEREWOLVES FOR AWHILE
“Spread truth and knowledge so that all folk know more. Σιλας
Best Kill Competition:
1. Kivan (Karoug) 8000 exp
2. Imoen, Greater Basilisk, 7000 exp
3. Faldorn (Shoal the Nereid), 5000 exp
4. Branwen, Tellan, 2001 exp
5. Neera, Vampiric Wolf, 2000 exp
ORDER OF MARCH: Kivan (Recon) Imoen (traps – ship & tunnels), Branwen (shock), Silas, Neera, Faldorn (rear guard)
MONSTERS DEFEATED:
Baldur’s Gate/Wyrm’s Crossing: Elf (Imanel Silversword, Ftr/8), Captain Tollar Kieres, Merchant League Counting House Guards (7)
Balduran North: Karoug (Greater Wolfwere), Daese (Wolfwere), Vampiric Wolves (6), Meym (Wolfwere), Jondal (Wolfwere), Palin (Wolfwere), Wolfwere (14), Dread Wolves (5), Dire Wolves (16), Wolves (4)
Balduran South: Kaishas Gan (Loup Garou), Werewolves (13)
Balduran Tunnels: Werewolves (10)
Ulgoth’s Beard: Mendas (Loup Garou), Baresh (Loup Garou)
CASUALTIES: Faldorn, Neera & Kivan (Wolfweres)
NOTEWORTHY TREASURE: (Purse = 7,145gp)
Armor & weapons: Werebane +1/+4 vs Lycanthrope; L/Sword +1 (+2+3/+4 Flame Tongue),
Jewelry:
Scrolls:
Potions: Storm Giant Strength, Cloud Giant Strength
Wands & Artifacts: Wand of Lightning (2), Wand of Paralyzation, Wand of Frost, Wand of fear (2)
CURRENT DISPOSITION: Resting, recovering, resupplying in the Ulgoth’s Beard Inn
NEXT STEPS: Durlag’s Tower
LEVEL UP: Neera, Mage (Wild Mage)/8; Faldorn, Druid/9; Silas, Cleric (Priest of Oghma)/8; Imoen, Thief (Adventurer)/9
PARTY MAKEUP: (Reputation: 8)
Silas Cl/8 (Lorekeeper of Oghma) (HP40) S/mail +1, Boots/Grounding, Girdle of Piercing, w/Gauntlets of Dexterity & Rings, Free Action & Human Influence w/Mace +2* (Flail*, SWS*, TWS*), Spells: D/Harmony, Prot/Evil 15’, M/Domination, Poison, A/Dead, C/Disease, H/Smite, Z/S Air, Chant, Holy Might, H/Person, Silence 15’, S/Poison, A/Faith, Bless, Cmd, Doom, Doom, Sanctuary; S/ability: Divine Wrath, Heal Touch (2), Affliction, Friends; (Andris) (AI none)
Imoen Th/9 (Adventurer)(HP52) Shadow Armor +3 w/Eagle Bow +2* (w/Bracers of Archery) & S/sword +1*; Skills: OL 90, FT 100, PP 50, MS 75, HS 90, DI 30, ST 35; (Greater Basilisk) (Thf Rgd Atk)(2)
Faldorn Dr/9 (HP44) S/Leather +1 w/Club +1*, Dart +1* (Q/Staff*, Spear*) & Gauntlets of Ogre Power; Spells: Animal Rage, Smashing Wave, Call Woodland Beings, Hold Person, Summon Insects, CMWs, Barkskin, B/Claw, Ch/Person/Mammal, S/Poison, Flame Blade, Ar/Faith, Bless, Entangle, CLWs, Shillelagh, (Shoal the Nereid) (Cl agg)(3)
Neera Mg/8 (Wild Mage) (HP22) Traveler’s Robe w/Bracers of Def AC6 & Cloak/Prot +2, Q/Staff +1* & Wand of Fire, Spells: Minor Sequencer (2), MG/Inv, Melf’s Minute Meteors, Fireball, D/magic, Haste, C/Shield, Web, Blur, Invisibility, MM, P/Evil, Blindness, ID, Ch/Person, Chr/Orb, B/Hands, P/Petrification, Nahal’s RD, Sleep; (Vampiric Wolf) ( AI: Mage Def)(4)
Branwen, Cl/7 (Battleguard of Tempus), (HP55), S/Mail, Shield +1 & RoP +2, w/Warhammer +1** (S&SS*) & Gauntlet’s of Weapons Skill; Spells: M/Domination, D/Magic, H/Smite, R/Thinking, DUHM, F/Blade, H/Person, Silence 15’, Spirit/Hammer, Armor/Faith, Cmd, Doom, P/Evil, Shillelagh; S/Ability: Enrage, Prayer (5), (Tellan) (AI: Cl Agg)
Kivan, Rgr (Archer)/7 (HP50) S/Leather +1 w/Boots of Stealth, L/bow****, Spear +1*, L/Sword (+1 (Flame Tongue) * (THWS**); Skills: MS 74, HS 74; (Karoug) (AI: Ftr Rgd Atk)(6)
MOD USED: BG NPC v23.3, BG NPC Music v6, Plane Touched Races _v0,0, Indira v12, Isra v2.3, Finch v4.0, Gavin v14, Drake, Sirene v2.5, Verr’sza v5.2, BG UB v16, Tweaks Anthology Beta 4, Song & Silence v9, Deities of Faerun, Rogue Rebalancing v491, Level 1 NPCs, SCS v31, aTweaks, Item Randomizer v7
Brass, dwarf berserker (update 1)
I've been thinking for a little while of trying another no-pause run. The last time I did that with a solo berserker I found it rather easier than I had before, so I decided I'd change things this time by making it a party run. I expected that to be difficult, so generated a powerful party to balance the odds and also decided to make this an unmodded run (the solo ones were in an SCS installation).
Early on I had a taste of the problems when being caught stealing in Candlekeep, but I did eventually manage to shake off the guard there and make tracks for Beregost. Mercury knew protection from petrification, so the basilisks seemed an obvious target to get a level or two. When trying to rest to memorize that spell though a flind ambushed them - and I really struggled to deal with that. The instinct to pause the game is so strong with me, that controlling that used up virtually all my mental capacity - and the flind killed 2 of the party before I finally managed to deal with it
Part of the problem with the flind was the general lack of armor worn by the party and, after a visit to the temple, they went to find some Flaming Fist soldiers that could help with that - everyone just managing to survive there.
I'd wanted to wait to level up until everyone could gain at least 1 level in each class and Mercury wasn't quite there yet - blinding and shooting down Silke back in Beregost did the trick though.
Brass, berserker L3, 45 HPs, 8 kills
Diamond, dwarven defender, L3, 51 HPs, 3 kills, 0 deaths
Silver, wizard slayer, L3, 42 HPs, 3 kills, 1 death
Tin, fighter/thief, L2/3, 27 HPs, 3 kills, 0 deaths
Copper, fighter/cleric, L2/2, 27 HPs, 9 kills, 0 deaths
Mercury, fighter/illusionist, L2/2, 19 HPs, 13 kills, 1 death
Character records:
Rules on pausing:
1) Autopause of any sort not allowed.
2) Pausing using the space bar / clockwork button is not allowed at any time (game ending offence).
3) Pausing to look at inventory / record screen / options is allowed outside combat, but not if any enemies are active (including outside visual range).
4) Pausing for dialogue is allowed, but only for normal conversation.
5) Pausing for map screen is allowed outside combat, but not if any enemies are active (exception: travel can be initiated when running away from enemies, but once map screen is open then travel is required rather than going back to the same area).
In addition AI is disabled to prevent auto-targeting using that.
Brass, dwarf berserker (2nd and final update)
Previous updates
Brass picked up some better armor in Nashkel before the party headed back north - providing an ogre with a nice sleep on their way. In the ankheg area the nest was cleared with none of the ankhegs managing more than a single hit. I was wary of the possibility of multiple ankhegs appearing on random spawn sites, but Copper did a quick scout using sanctuary to confirm the party were still low enough level that only single ones appeared. Selling all but one of those more than funded the purchase of another suit of ankheg armor - meaning everyone now has plate available.
All the ankhegs meant everyone qualified for another level, but I again decided to wait until all classes could level up at once. The XP for that was gained by a trip through the Cloudpeaks - blindness being used there a fair amount to set encounters up (guided in through scouting with sanctuary if necessary). Reacting to any form of surprise is still difficult - Tin was nearly killed at one point by a gnoll switching targets during a battle, but I generally felt progress was fairly comfortable. The death of a polar bear wasn't immediately reported to a merchant as nobody yet has an encounter score sufficient to get a pair of boots from him - but it was enough for everyone to be able to do another general level up. HPs were pretty decent, if not up the standard of the first lot.
Continuing to work on reputation, Greywolf failed to land a blow and Samuel was safely delivered to the FAI. Little chores for Firebead & Mr Colquetle then meant that only 1 more reputation point was needed to hit 20 and the party went to see if Melicamp would survive. I wanted to get the XP for the golems there before talking to Firebead though, so readied everyone with magic weapons. Diamond was about to go inside to pull a golem out when a wandering ghoul appeared. I thought that would be killed pretty quickly, but a number of the magic weapons were non-proficient and the ghoul attacked Mercury - who was attacking using +1 arrows and the melee bonus against that meant the ghoul lasted just long enough to claim a victim.
After another temple visit they tried again. Diamond used his defensive stance for the first time and successfully occupied the golems. Melicamp died anyway, but there were still plenty of alternatives for extra reputation - such as killing some half-ogres for Bjornin. Also in that area blindness worked its magic spell on Teyngan's party before Copper used sanctuary to activate a gnoll to attack Drizzt. However, I quickly decided that I both did want Drizzt's XP, but didn't currently want to trash reputation - so ran away to reset the combat.
Mercury successfully learned friends at High Hedge and used that to minimize prices for some other spells there and at Ulgoth's Beard
Next I decided it was time to seek a few weapon upgrades. Diamond paid for a +1 axe, but Silver got his two-handed sword upgrade the more traditional dwarvish way by inheriting it from Arghain. That left just Brass with no proficient melee weapon, so he led the way to Durlag's Tower with a view to claiming the +2 scimitar on the roof. An invisible blocker allowed the first two battle horrors to be chopped down at leisure. The third was then drawn along the wall for easy disposal. However, at that point I guess I relaxed a bit while thinking about what to do next. I normally pause pretty constantly with my left hand, so had been trying to keep that well out of the way - but without me paying any attention it had crept back into its standard position and given the keyboard a little tap
Siyhmun (Sorcerer, Gate70); Alky (Transmuter, Grond0)
We run around the city of Baldur's Gate doing the odd quests, until we reach Ramazith's tower. With some buffs up Siyhmun thinks he is safe to fight the mustard jellies. One is defeated but Alky suggests Siyhmun retreats so the second focuses on the Transmuter instead. Siyhmun does as he is told but on his return the jelly continues to attack him and despite a cure light wounds being cast he falls to the ground. Alky sighs and scratches off attempt 175.
I have been to Durlag’s Tower & there is more to do there yet. I had to return here to Beregost to have Kelddath perform Raise Dead on Kivan. He was killed by a trap whilst I was battling a Succubus on the 4th level up. I really would pay to find more Raise Dead scrolls, and I am sure I can find them in BG – but do I want to go there? I purchased three last time I was there, from either the Lady’s House of Τυμορα or the Temple of Ηελμ but I don’t know if it’s worth the risk to try & slip in. I have already come to Beregost three times since I first entered the infamous tower. I could return to Gullykin when necessary, but I prefer access to the Thalantyr, Thunderhammer & Feldepost as well a Kelddath if I must make a return trip anyway.
Durlag’s Tower sits on a rough patch of volcanic hard rock south of the Wood of Sharp Teeth in the heartlands of western Faerun, a couple of miles from Gullykin. While called a tower, it is really a massive keep protected by a deep moat carved out by dwarves Durlag hired. The volcanic rock taken from the ditch served to build the motte on which the keep sits protected by an inner curtain wall and battlements that encircle a courtyard/bailey. The keep is built on a difficult to climb terrain and there is an outer gatehouse that allows passage over the moat and an inner gatehouse protected by what is a very well-designed barbican. The entire structure is built out of volcanic rock. All things considered, if I had to choose between this keep & the Gnoll Stronghold, this one is much more defensible. The only problem being that it would probably be easier to sustain a garrison in the latter during siege.
KEY EVENT: (New Enemies) So far, the battles have seemed few or even irritating but the casualty rate is high, nonetheless. Neera was killed by Gnolls the first time we made camp & Kivan by Ghasts on the 2nd level up. I’ve cleared the black as high up in the keep as I can, and part of one level town. Imoen found a secret door in the latter that leads to an area that Kivan says appears to be a great hall, although I’ve not yet explored beyond just inside the door. I’ve figured out how to defeat Battle Horrors & as a result, Neera is learning extra Magic Missiles, Kivan & Imoen have Acid Arrows in their quiver & Faldorn, Darts of Acid at the ready. I had three Greater & one Lesser Basilisk put down outside on the upper & lower roof of the keep also. Two new enemies, a Ghost & a Succubus, on the 3rd & 4th levels up respectively, kept me guessing & probing for weaknesses until I finally brought them down. I’m heading back in the morning, ready to probe beyond that door on the lower level.
NOW I'VE SEEN A GHOST - AND KILLED IT AGAIN.
“Never deliver a message falsely or incompletely.” Σιλας
Best Kill Competition:
1. Kivan, Karoug, 8000 exp
2. Imoen, Greater Basilisk, 7000 exp
3. Faldorn, Shoal the Nereid, 5000 exp
4. Branwen, Battle Horror, 4000 exp
5. Neera, Vampiric Wolf, 2000 exp
ORDER OF MARCH: Kivan (Recon) & Imoen (traps), Branwen (shock), Silas, Neera, Faldorn (rear guard)
MONSTERS DEFEATED:
Castle Exterior, Ground Floor, Lower Level: Battle Horrors (2), Ghasts (5), Doppelgangers (2), Gnolls (18)
First Floor & exterior ramparts: Greater Basilisks (3), Ghost, Lesser Basilisk, Ghasts (~8)
2nd Floor: Ghasts (6)
3rd Floor: Ghost
4th Floor: Succubus (Kirinhale)
CASUALTIES: Neera (Gnolls), Kivan (Kirinhale, Ghasts)
NOTEWORTHY TREASURE: (Purse = 12,520gp)
Armor & weapons: Sling +3, Staff Spear +2, Chain Mail +1, Cloak of Protection +1, Mage Robe (Fire
resistance)
Jewelry: Laeral’s Tear Necklace (2), Star Sapphire, Pearl Necklace, Moonbar Gem
Scrolls:
Potions:
Wands & Artifacts:
CURRENT DISPOSITION: Resting, recovering, resupplying & Raising Dead in Beregost
NEXT STEPS: Durlag’s Tower, labyrinth levels
LEVEL UP: None
PARTY MAKEUP: (Reputation: 8)
Silas Cl/8 (Lorekeeper of Oghma) (HP40) S/mail +1, Boots/Grounding, Girdle of Piercing, w/Gauntlets of Dexterity & Rings, Free Action & Human Influence w/Mace +2* (Flail*, SWS*, TWS*), Spells: D/Harmony, Prot/Evil 15’, M/Domination, Poison, A/Dead, C/Disease, H/Smite, Z/S Air, Chant, Holy Might, H/Person, Silence 15’, S/Poison, A/Faith, Bless, Cmd, Doom, Doom, Sanctuary; S/ability: Divine Wrath, Heal Touch (2), Affliction, Friends; (Andris) (AI none)
Imoen Th/9 (Adventurer)(HP52) Shadow Armor +3 w/Eagle Bow +2* (w/Bracers of Archery) & S/sword +1*; Skills: OL 90, FT 100, PP 50, MS 75, HS 90, DI 30, ST 35; (Greater Basilisk) (Thf Rgd Atk)(2)
Faldorn Dr/9 (HP44) S/Leather +1 w/Club +1*, Dart +1* (Q/Staff*, Spear*) & Gauntlets of Ogre Power;
Spells: Animal Rage, Smashing Wave, Call Woodland Beings, Hold Person, Summon Insects, CMWs, Barkskin,
B/Claw, Ch/Person/Mammal, S/Poison, Flame Blade, Ar/Faith, Bless, Entangle, CLWs, Shillelagh, (Shoal the Nereid) (Cl agg)(3)
Neera Mg/8 (Wild Mage) (HP22) Traveler’s Robe w/Bracers of Def AC6 & Cloak/Prot +2, Sling +3*, Staff Spear +2*, & Wand of Fire, Spells: Minor Sequencer (2), MG/Inv, Melf’s Minute Meteors, Fireball, D/magic, Haste, C/Shield, Web, Blur, Invisibility, MM, P/Evil, Blindness, ID, Ch/Person, Chr/Orb, B/Hands, P/Petrification, Nahal’s RD, Sleep; (Vampiric Wolf) ( AI: Mage Def)(4)
Branwen, Cl/7 (Battleguard of Tempus), (HP55), S/Mail, Shield +1 & RoP +2, w/Warhammer +1** (S&SS*) & Gauntlet’s of Weapons Skill; Spells: M/Domination, D/Magic, H/Smite, R/Thinking, DUHM, F/Blade, H/Person, Silence 15’, Spirit/Hammer, Armor/Faith, Cmd, Doom, P/Evil, Shillelagh; S/Ability: Enrage, Prayer (5), (Tellan) (AI: Cl Agg)
Kivan, Rgr (Archer)/7 (HP50) S/Leather +1 w/Boots of Stealth, L/bow****, Spear +1*, L/Sword (+1 (Flame Tongue) * (THWS**); Skills: MS 74, HS 74; (Karoug) (AI: Ftr Rgd Atk)(6)
MOD USED: BG NPC v23.3, BG NPC Music v6, Plane Touched Races _v0.0, Indira v12, Isra v2.3, Finch v4.0, Gavin v14, Drake, Sirene v2.5, Verr’sza v5.2, BG UB v16, Tweaks Anthology Beta 4, Song & Silence v9, Deities of Faerun, Rogue Rebalancing v491, Level 1 NPCs, SCS v31, aTweaks, Item Randomizer v7
Grame (male elf priest of Helm, Grond0); Wedimus (male human cavalier, Gate70)
Previous run
After the squishy pairing last time, the random selection gave us rather more robust characters to see if we could go a bit deeper in this run. Of course robustness partly depends on equipment and the fact that Wedimus wasn't wearing any armor partly explained why his initial assault on the evil duo of Xzar and Montaron ended with him running away with a couple of HPs left.
It wasn't long though until more HPs were gained thanks to shooting down Shoal before moving on to Beregost. Grame spotted Wedimus up to his old tricks there as he sprayed detect evils around like confetti before challenging Kagain to a duel.
After making their way down to Nashkel without alarms, Wedimus got dressed in some decent armor and the duo decided to press on into the Cloud Peaks. That was cleared fairly easily, though Zal did resist several spell attempts and get a whack in on Grame.
Back in Beregost Wedimus took advantage of his poison immunity to confront some spiders. The equipment picked up there was taken to Landrin at the FAI. Tarnesh was laying in wait there with a well-thought out plan. First he sent his enemies running with horror - or at least he would have done if a pesky cavalier hadn't already used remove fear. Not to worry thought the mage - my mirror images will keep them at bay. Apparently he hadn't realized that priests of Helm get true sight and he didn't get the chance to use magic missiles
The final action was invading the ankheg nest. The first of those died quickly, but the second lasted rather longer thanks to darting underground just as it was commanded to sleep. The third required Wedimus to take a healing potion and I thought it would be only sensible to retreat after killing the fourth to get access to the treasure - so of course we killed all the other ankhegs down there as well
Grame, priest of Helm L5, 40 HPs, 26 kills
Wedimus, cavalier 4, 36 HPs, 45 kills, 0 deaths
I haven't had time to do regular updates - trying to keep up with RL and reading on these forums... But my character is still alive, and now at level 6. I start to play more cautiously as I level up, as the stakes feel higher every step closer to the end. That said, I almost pooched it on the map east of the Nashkel mines.
I went back to clear out the undead caves (I'm an undead hunter, after all). Good exp. points on that map, and I usually don't have too much trouble at high level. The mage is the biggest threat, but usually he drops with simultaneous attacks from the wand of frost and the wand of the heavens. Not this time, though. Basically, because I wanted the 4000 combined exp. points from the jellies, I almost blew my run.
I felt in complete control because I picked Improved Invisibility 10' as my first level three sorcerer spell. I though I was protected. I thought I was playing safe.
I approached with my paladin and spoke to the mage, triggering the jellies, and allowing my c/t and sorcerer to sneak attack with the wands. But the mage didn't drop, and my paladin got nailed with two or three jelly strikes in a row, failing the save against slow on at least one of them. Then the mage put my paladin to sleep and it looked like it was over. In desperation I summoned a skelly, hoping it would occupy the mage, which it did, but my paladin was still helpless against the jellies.
In desperation I used my c/t to try and lure the jellies away from my paladin. During which time, some wild dogs showed up. Always great timing. But: it was working, the jellies chased my c/t, and luck was on her side. The jellies were missing. My sorcerer put the dogs to sleep.
We ran from the jellies once they were safely away from my snoozing paladin and did an end around them to find the mage who was still fighting my skeleton. A blast from the wand of frost and the mage was dead. My paladin woke up and found her way back to the rest of the party, avoiding the jellies. We then took refuge in one of the caves.
The next morning we went out and mopped up the jellies. Whew. That's about as close as you can come to pooching your run without actually pooching it. The adrenaline is running high. Hopefully I won't find myself in a situation like that again - but then I always do. I must say it's been a lot of fun.
And even if I don't make it to the end, I at least crossed off an important item on my bucket list:
Traveling with:
Imoen - thief/mage
So Corerage IV reported to Bodhi and was well on his way to Brynnlaw. Not much was done here, mostly helping Ginia and dealing with Perth once and for all. Then headed to Spellhold where Corerage IV got captured by Irenicus once again. In a dream he had to defeat Bhaal - simply Arbane haste was more than enough force Bhaal to give it up.
Corerage IV was once again re-united with his friend Imoen. He intends to duo until Imoen's soul is restored, then Corerage IV will be solo once again.
For the 1st area, not much of note happened here. Enraging was more than enough to see off the pit fiend that got summoned from the portal. I have been using the Troll form of the cloak of the sewers quite a bit now that I can't heal myself - I don't have a huge potion stock but easily can go through a bunch if fighting harder enemies, so makes sense to me to conserve potions when I can.
For the 2nd area, I figured I could defeat the Illithid and Beholder if I enraged and gulped a couple of genius potions - yes that saw them off successfully. Thus now have the free action ring and some high levels spells for Imoen. For the powerful group of undead nearby (there was a lich!), used a protection from Undead scroll to guarantee victory. Went ahead and defeated Dace while that was active.
Finally we can leave the 1st level of Spellhold - saved my session here.
Brass, dwarf berserker {3} (update 1)
Previous run
For my second attempt at this things went smoothly up to the acquisition of armor. Rather than go to the basilisks next though I decided to have a go at Drizzt before having done any reputation tasks. When he had taken 80 damage from a gnoll I decided it was time to attack and try to get some hits in while he was concentrating on the gnolls. The advantage of attempting that while Drizzt is distracted is normally balanced by the chance a gnoll would get a fatal hit in, but in fact the difficulty of targeting Drizzt when he's moving meant I failed to even get an attack in before he'd finished the gnolls. I then tried to set up a situation where he would chase one character in a circle round the others. That's easy to do when pausing, but not without - particularly when not every movement click is actually registered by the game. I managed it for a couple of circuits and got at least one critical hit in, but then the lead character got too far in advance of Drizzt and he attacked one of the others in the centre. At 60 fps it only took him a second or so to kill each character, which meant that anyone I tried to select died before I could actually get them moving again ...
This time I once more managed to stock up on armor without quite needing to rely on the extra HPs from berserking.
They made their way north to the ankheg area and cleared the nest there.
Still needing a fair amount of XP for another full level-up, the party headed for the Cloud Peaks. Just after killing Caldo & Krumm they got a pleasant surprise when a gnoll dropped an invisibility scroll for Mercury to learn. They vacuumed the Gnoll Stronghold, which meant they only needed a few more victims in the next area before levelling up again. That allowed an early use of invisible blockers to get a bit more easy XP.
Arriving at the xvart village I remembered just in time that Borda could be very dangerous. The sort of enclosure and movement tactic I normally use to avoid his spells wasn't practical with no pausing, but a standard use of sanctuary to guide an initial attack in proved sufficient to deal with him.
At Durlag's Tower, invisibility sorted out the battle horrors, while the doom guard was successfully mobbed.
I felt a bit more secure this time in keeping away from the pause button, though any fight requiring more than minimal intervention once it commences is still likely to be a problem. I suppose I could reduce the game speed from 60 fps for that type of situation, but I doubt whether I'll bother with that
Brass, berserker L5, 58 HPs, 79 kills
Diamond, dwarven defender, L5, 71 HPs, 42 kills, 0 deaths
Silver, wizard slayer, L5, 67 HPs, 49 kills, 0 deaths
Tin, fighter/thief, L4/5, 52 HPs, 46 kills, 0 deaths
Copper, fighter/cleric, L4/4, 48 HPs, 62 kills, 0 deaths
Mercury, fighter/illusionist, L4/4, 40 HPs, 70 kills, 0 deaths
Solo
Jase, half-orc shadowdancer
S19 D18 C19 I9 Wx CH18
I played this game when it came out originally and was never very good at it. Spent a lot more time in SoA and ToB. Was looking to get back into it and, while researching potential builds, read Grond0's sun soul monk thread. Seemed like a lot of fun, plus I have terrible restartitis, so here's my attempts so far. Also, a shout out to semiticgod's shadowdancer thread, as it's been a lot of help. I'll try to include pictures in future reports.
Attempt 1. Daggers for throwing daggers and Quarter Staff. Almost died to a wolf on the approach to Shoal. Had to drink 2 healing potions. Killed Shoal and leveled to 4. Went to the Friendly Arm Inn, grabbing the Ring of Princes and Evermemory. Calmed Marl, retrieved Firebead's book, Mirianne's letter, and the Colquetle Family Amulet. Picked up and equipped the Worn Whispers. Went to High Hedge. The gnolls drobbed a Protection from Petrification scroll, but instead of drawing the flesh golems out, I got sandwiched between them and died.
Attempt 2. Took Slings. Did essentially the above. Watched Drizzt die but didn't attempt to get the kill, just sold his stuff. Killed Algernon for his cloak. Used the cloak to charm and kill the sirines at the Temple. Used stealth and Korax to clear the basilisks. Went to the Lighthouse, used the Potion of Clarity from Candlekeep, and died to the sirines feeblemind.
Attempt 3. Rolled a 95. Headed to Shoal. One-shotted by wolf.
Attempt 4. Go to the FAI for RoP and Evermemory, stealth inside to sell and buy Buckley's Buckler. Head to Beregost for Marl and Firebead, achieving level 2. Killed Shoal, and, more importantly, the wolf, for level 4. Went to watch Drizzt die. Accidentally triggered his speech and abandoned the run.
Attempt 5. Starting with Daggers again. I like the 2 APR of throwing daggers with the STR bonus. Plus I can get the Dagger of Venom. Once again died to the wolf on the way to Shoal.
Attempt 6. A solid start. Shoal, RoP, Elve's Bane, FAI, Buckley's Buckler. Picked up arrows for the flesh golems. Arrow of Biting are ineffective. Ran out of arrows and had to stealth in with my +1 dagger. Went and bought more arrows for the second golem. Level 5. Let Drizzt die to sell his equipment. Went to Nashkell for CLW and Chapter 2. Sold Drizzt's stuff and purchased the Dagger of Venom. Killed Algernon for his cloak. Charmed and killed the sirines at the Temple. Level 6 and heading to the basilisks, which were no problem with Korax's help. Level 7. Headed to Lighthouse. Used stealth plus find traps to be able to backstab constantly (from Grond0, which I'll hencefort refer to as shadow dancing), killing all the sirines without issue. Went into the flesh golem cave and failed my save against the charm trap. Had a PoC and everything but didn't know what the trap was.
Attempt 7. After Candlekeep, unlock High Hedge, but retrieve Belt of Antipode and diamond, unlock Coast Way but travel to High Hedge. Unlock Shipwreck's Coast but head to Beregost. Calm Marl for level 2. Sell the diamond and buy the +1 sling (non-proficient) and 40 +1 bullets, unlocking Temple and South Beregost Road. Kill Shoal with throwing daggers, then retrieve the Worn Whispers. Head back to High Hedge and kill the flesh golems with the sling, only using 9 bullets instead of 20 - 40 arrows. Cleared the basilisks with the help of Korax, but things got a little dicey with the adventurers party. Went to Durlag's Tower and killed the 2 battle horrors with backstabs. Went to firewine and killed Meilum for his bracers. Snuck in to the Gnoll Stronghoold for the charisma manual. Went back to Durlag's and killed the basilisks. Level 8. Refused to help Kirinhale, and she charmed me. I reload to try some different tactics against her and explore a bit of Durlag's Tower for future knowledge. I found the best way to defeat Kirinhale was to agree to help her and then backstab her to death using shadow dancing. If I had beaten her the first time, I would have been charmed retrieving the wisdom tome.
Attempt 8. Shoal. FAI for Evermemory (no buckler). Girdle. Marl. Firebead. Purchased sling and 20 +1 bullets. Worn Whispers on way to Nashkel for Ankheg Plate and CLW. Watched Drizzt die and sold his items. Killed the flesh golems. Purchased mirrored eye potions. Purchased Dagger of Venom. Tried shadow dancing around basilisks without Korax. It worked. Used Korax for Mutamin and the Adventurers. Sold all their stuff. Purchased the Shadow Armor. Killed Algernon for his cloak. Raised rep to 8 at Temple and killed the Sirines there. Went to Ulgoth's Beard and purchased the Greenstone Amulet and acquired Edventar's Gift from Dushai. Went to Durlag's Tower. Was shadow dancing the basilisks. Last basilisk turned around immediately and petrified me. Timing is finicky. On reload tests I failed several hides and was petrified that way. Always wear protection.
Attempt 9. Went to Ulgoth's Beard to purchase the staff, amulet, and cloak. Hit level 8 at Durlag's. Went to the Lighthouse. Drank the Potion of Clarity from Candlekeep and killed all the sirines. Forgot to get Algernon's Cloak, but it worked out. 45 traps was enough to disarm the flesh golem cave. Went to the Gnoll Stronghold for the Charisma Tome. Purchased the Shadow Armor and killed Algernon for his cloak. Killed Basilius and rescued Melicamp, who unfortunately died. Killed the sirines in the temple and the vampire wolves nearby to reach level 9 and the 3x backstab. A personal best! Back to Ulgoth's Beard for Dushai's ring. Did the mines. Killed the revenant and Amazons and Nimble. Back to Beregost. Tranzig was easy pickings. Dropped rep to 9. On to the Bandit Camp. Bandit Camp was no issue. Rested for first Horror. Side with merchants in first Cloakwood. Hit level 10 in Cloakwood 2. Killed Davaeorn. Rested for second horror. Flooded the mines. Time to quest up some reputation. Shopping spree. Buying scrolls and potions and the Sandthief's Ring. I missed and hide and was horrored to the last surviving mage on top of Sorceror's Sundries. Had several options but failed to use any of them.
Side note. After this one died, I ran through Baldur's Gate so that I wouldn't be coming into it blind in the future. I also wanted to test the coronation ceremony. I think I have a pretty good tactic for it. Charm 5 of the nobles, one of each to the far side of the stairs and to a corner in each room to block vision. I only did 4 of them in the pictures, but did a 5th in another run and put him on the stairs near Sarevok.
Go rest 16 hours so that they're no longer charmed. Come back and start the coronation. As long as they don't see you, they won't move from where you left them, and you can kill them one at a time. The Flaming Fist guards will attack them and die, but the Greater Dopplegangers didn't move during any of my tests. Another option would be to charm half of them, move them into a corner room, rest 8 hours, then start the coronation. Only 3 would be active, but you'd have to wait around 23 minutes for the other 3 to no longer be charmed, at which point they become dopplegangers.
Attempt 10. Took shortbows and quarter staves. Daggers and slings are nice early for the strength bonus but quickly fall off to the utility of magic arrows. Grab the belt and diamond, head to High Hedge, unlock west exit, then head to Beregost. Stop by the inn for Marl and Firebead and Algernon's Cloak. Buy 40 +1 arrows for flesh golems. Mansion for invisibility potion and wand to sell. Head south to get Miriam's letter, Worn Walkers, and Colquetle necklace. Donate at the Temple to get back to 8 reputation. Kill Shoal, but almost die to the wolf. To the flesh golems. 21 arrows later, level 5. I now have backstab damage x2 and a Shadow Step. To the FAI, stopping to get the RoP and girdle. Backstab Tarnesh. Sell Evermemory. Head to Ulgoth's for Dushai's ring. Raise reputation to 11 at the FAI temple. Turn in the ring. Turn in the amulet. Backstab Karlat to death. Charm Silke to kill the spiders. Had an unlucky hide and almost got trapped outside of the house. Shadow Stepped and went back in. Spiders attacked Silke and I didn't get the death blow. Backstabbed the rest of the spiders in the street. Poor Melicamp didn't survive. Backstabbed Basilius to death. Did Bjornin's half-ogres. Was too late to save Drizzt. Not comfortable enough trying to last hit him or patient enough. Or even sure how you just get one gnoll to engage. Turned in Brage and got the +1 rep from Oublek and hit level 6. Rested for CLW. Headed to Dryad Falls for the rep there. Did some other rep stuff. Lighthouse, Farm Brun. Got rep to 20. Now with max discounts and 40k gold, time to arm up. Greenstone Amulet, Aule's Staff, Cloak of Displacement, and Sandthief's Ring for 19,095. Shortbow +1 and Shadow Armor for 8,040. With a few random items I picked up from the Ankheg Nest and whatnot, still have over 20,000 left. No more normal arrows for me! Plus gonna go buy some potions and scrolls. Hurrah. Do the sirines at the Temple. The wolf pack nearby brought me up to level 7. Went to kill basilisks. I won't be buying the Cloak of Displacement again. The game reported I was in stealth, but as soon as I walked into range a basilisk petrified me. I need the visual confirmation of the character looking like its in stealth, which the cloak hides. Was a bit disappointed, as I thought this was gonna be a good run.
Attempt 11. Start with Daggers for throwing daggers and Quarter Staves. Grab RoP, and sell Evermemory, buy Buckley's Buckler. Down to Beregost for Marl and Firebead. Steal the bastard sword from the smithy and purchase a sling (non-proficient) with +1 bullets. Get the wand and invisibility potion at the mansion. Head to kill Shoal. Almost die to wolf again. Kill Shoal. Take Two Handed Weapon Style. Kill flesh golems (9 bullets) for level 5. Head south of Beregost. Get the Worn Walkers for 100/100 HiS/MS. Get the letter and necklace for Beregost. Head to Nashkel to trigger Chapter 2 and get CLW and ankheg plate for sale. Triggered Drizzt's dialogue on accident, and he killed all the gnolls. I guess I could hav attempted talking to him constantly, but whatever. Buy mirrored eye potions. Retrieve Algernon's Cloak. Donate back to 8 reputation. Kill Karlat, spiders, and Silke. Kill Sirines. Level 6. Go kill basilisks and adventurers, hit level 7. Go to Ulgoth's Beard for the Greenstone Amulet and Dushai's ring. Head to Temple and raise rep. Did some rep quests. Melicamp died again. Did the Lighthouse and retrieved the constitution tome. Level 8 and Short Bow. Maxed rep on side quests and grabbed the charisma tome. Time to gear up again. Aule's Staff, Sandthief's Ring, Shadow Armor, and assorted potions/scrolls/arrows. Get Neera's gem bag by accepting her into my party and kicking her out. This is the only companion I pick up, as I don't like killing them. To Durlag's Tower. Kill battle horrors. Agree to help Kirinhale but then backstab her to death. Grab the wisdom tome. Kill basilisks while under protection from petrification. Level 9 and 3x backstab! The Staff Spear from Kirinhale is 1d8 + 3 compared to the 1d6 + 3 of Aule's Staff, although it is piercing instead of crushing, but it's also +2 THAC0 instead of +3 THAC0.
Time to solve the iron crisis. Mulahey died to a backstab. Backstab Tranzig. Backstab everyone in Tazok's tent. Cloakwood is a stroll with the Ring of Free Action. Backstab Drasus and his whole crew. Speed through the mines. Use Potions of Perception to detect and disarm the traps. Dispel Davaeorn's illusion and land a lucky crit to backstab him in one hit. Get the Dex Tome and stock up on potions/scrolls/arrows. Got the Helm of Balduran, Nymph's Cloak, and Int Tome. Got the Wis Tome and Geas Scroll. Level 10. Got my antidote. Stole the documents. Went to Candlekeep. Accused of murder. Time to bust out. Drink 4 Potions of Perception to detect the traps and get lockpicking high enough. Maybe could have gotten away with 3 which would have brought find traps up to 75, but I don't know the reqs here and didn't want to risk it. I also don't know how deadly these traps are. I may have just been able to walk through them. First tome retrieved. Killed the phase spiders, almost triggering a trap. It's probably just web. Second tome retrieved. Sneak out of the catacombs. Sneak out of the caves, only stopping to kill Diarmid. A quick stop in High Hedge, then off to Baldur's Gate. Cythandria dies to two backstabs. Drink two Potions of Mastery Thievery and pickpocket Quenash for the Cloak of Balduran. Use an Arrow of Dispelling on Slythe, then backstab him to death. Krystin doesn't appear, so I draw her out with the One Gift Lost, wait for her globe to drop, biting arrow her, then backstab her to death. Charm the nobles at the coronation and move them into separate rooms and on the stairs. Wait 16 hours for the charm to wear off, then go trigger the coronation. My coronation plan went off without a hitch. Now through the maze and to the Temple of Bhaal. Still had magic resistance from the maze, used the Greenstone Amulet. Killed Semaj without any issues. Went to backstab Sarevok, partly forgetting there were two other invisible enemies. Failed my hide. Shadow step didn't activate before they killed me. Almost my first BG:EE run.
A little disappointing that last one, but overall I've been having a blast. I've been thinking of modding in a Bag of Holding at Sorcerous Sundries but haven't done so yet. I also don't know if it's worth getting an experience cap remover, not to level above the BG:EE limit, but to not lose out on experience for SoD. Attempt 9, where I finished the game, with reloads, while doing a lot more quests and killing a lot more enemies, only started me around 188k. I thought it was supposed to keep counting even if it wasn't displayed.
Also, what do you guys do about the wolf on the way to Shoal? The one that spawns between the single tree and copse of trees right by the entrace. It ended 2 of my runs and was close to ending 3 other ones.
You mean if you are level one? Avoid it. In the Trio runs, we immediately go south a bit after arriving in the area, then go under a line of trees while traveling west to Shoal. This avoids the wolf.
Part 18: Throne of Bhaal
Okay.
Abazigal.
Right.
Anyway, first off, we need to deal with the drakes. The Cloak of Mirroring can block their obnoxious breath weapons, but they're still sturdy critters with haste and regeneration. In fact, killing them takes so long that eventually I resort to the Wand of Wonder to avoid having to deal with their HP.
Once again, we can cripple the dragon using the Soul Reaver and follow up with the Firetooth dagger once she can't hit Frisky Bits without rolling a 20.
Normally I roll with bugs, but fighting two extra dragons in a fight that already has two dragons crosses a line. That's not just more difficult; that's just a huge pain. I go ahead and remove one of the Tamah clones, opting to fight the intended one Tamah alongside Abazigal.
In SCS, Spellstrike can take down a Protection from Magic scroll, but all Abazigal can do is throw useless Ruby Ray of Reversal and Khelben's Warding Whip spells at us. We cripple him with the Answerer and the Soul Reaver, but now that I'm looking at his .cre file in Near Infinity, it seems his APR is erroneously coded as -1... which presumably means zero. That's probably the real reason we never had to run away to drink potions to recover from his attacks.
Not that I'm willing to fix Abazigal's bugs and try a rematch. He already had one extra dragon fighting on his side, if not two.
Besides, I've had enough of dragons. I've already fought nine of them in ToB, from Draconis to Anadramatis to Olinissimous to Zirimanat'ryl to Ithy'nassendra to Carnifex to Tamah to Tamah again to Abazigal, and I've only used three strategies for all of them: kiting with the Sling of Everard, petrifying them with the Wand of Wonder, or crippling them with the Answerer and the Soul Reaver.
Part 19: Throne of Bhaal
As a Chaotic Good character with 20 reputation and high Charisma and Wisdom once we drink a Potion of Insight, we can easily convince Balthazar to join us (as always, we just kill the Guard Captain for the key and sneak past the other enemies). The Chosen of Cyric are helpless against us thanks to the Staff of the Magi and Detect Illusions.
Now for the Ravager. My original plan was to use Improved Haste, Shadow Form, and the Flail of Ages +4 to slow down his regeneration and then deal damage using the Answerer. Now, we can't hit him with the normal Flail of Ages +3, and adding the poison flail erroneously makes poison-immune critters immune to all on-hit effects from the flail, including the slow effect (a bug which I wasn't willing to solve via Near Infinity), but I have a mod that lets me upgraded it to +4 with just the electrical flail head from Abazigal, allowing us to break through the Ravager's immunity to +3 weapons and below.
But the Ravager's Dispel Magic effect on hit is enough to remove our Improved Haste effect, since my mods only let item-based spell effects scale if you have actual spellcaster levels. Our level 50 Shadowdancer is working with dispellable effects at level 10. Also, the Ravager can knock us unconscious and toss us back a short distance on a failed save.
A bug prevents us from getting the intended 25% physical damage resistance from this trial (the bug is unpredictable; sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't), so I EEKeeper it in. We now can hit 95% damage resistance with Shadow Form and the Defender of Easthaven, just in case we ever have to survive a Time Stop from Melissan without Focus or a PFMW scroll.
I still feel bad about installing a THAC0 buff, but Shadowdancers are mediocre enough in ToB as it is. Besides, the whole reason I picked a Shadowdancer in the first place was because I wanted an easier run.
I don't mind that character drinking, but I do wish he was a monk in the drunken monkey style
Part 20: Throne of Bhaal
We're off to a rocky start at the first phase of the final battle. Apparently the Fallen Solars don't just have dispelling arrows--which I can easily block using the Reflection Shield--they can also cast Remove Magic, and I have not buffed with SI: Abjuration since the scrolls only last for 9 rounds.
This time, though, I don't run away to the northeast to cast Time Stop. Instead, I stay in our starting position at the south--and this time, for one reason or another, Irenicus opens with Time Stop instead of whatever he did before.
In fact, he casts two Time Stop spells in succession, and the Creeping Doom damage builds up on Frisky Bits. However, Balthazar manages to activate Lunar Stance in between the two Time Stops, and therefore is able to pummel Bodhi while Irenicus spends his valuable time casting defensive spells we don't care about.
Finally, we get our own Time Stop off the ground, and we use Imprisonment scrolls on both Fallen Solars while Balthazar kills Irenicus' second clone.
Frisky Bits lobs rocks at the Fallen Solars using the Sling of Everard while canceling Irenicus' spells by switching to the Staff of the Magi, relying on our rock-solid saves and the Cloak of Mirroring to keep us safe from the Fallen Solars' spells and outrunning Bodhi to avoid her deadly CON drain. Unfortunately, our offensive power is pretty mediocre considering I don't feel safe enough to use Frisky Bits' aura to summon a clone or cast Improved Haste. We deal damage very slowly, and the Fallen Solars can easily undo our progress with a 1-frame Heal spell.
The other Fallen Solar vanishes, so we turn to Irenicus, and find his defenses lacking. We hurry up and splatter him before addressing the Fallen Solar. It teleports away, but its allies are all gone, and it's not strong enough to stand up on its own.
There's only one fight left. Melissan awaits.
@jessejmc glad you're having fun. Your list of attempts sounded eerily familiar to me. I've often had the following sort of pattern:
Attempt 1- come across something new and die.
Attempt 2 - go back to check if that encounter really is fatal. It is.
Attempt 3 - think of a way to deal with it. Congratulate myself on doing that successfully and immediately die to something else when not concentrating.
Attempt 4 - deal with it with no problems and go much further in the run before falling asleep / getting interrupted by family / forgetting to pause while game is minimized or finding one of the other multitude of ways to die.
Attempt 5 - forget all about it and die.
When I was reading through your post I thought perhaps I should say something about the wolf
You mentioned being petrified while stealthing. Just to note that the stealth button being lit doesn't necessarily mean you are in stealth - it means you are currently trying to hide. Depending on the sequence of orders you make it's possible to have up to a round's delay before the game actually checks whether your stealth attempt has been successful.
If you start the game using the SoD engine (as opposed to the solely BGEE one), then SoD will automatically start when you kill Sarevok and the game should then give you the extra XP earned in BGEE. If you're playing solo it's not particularly difficult to go into SoD with XP at the cap there of 500k. Presumably you in fact benefited from that process when you started SoD with 188k (as that's above the 161k limit for BGEE).
Brass, dwarf berserker {3} (update 2)
Previous updates:
At the start of this session I aimed to get an XP bonanza by killing an Old Man. Tin laboriously laid 7 traps nearby, but the problem was how to lead Elminster into them before attacking. I tested one of the other characters walking towards Copper and decided he should just have time to cast sanctuary before Elminster arrived - but in fact he didn't quite manage that and I was unable to target Elminster as he wandered off.
Only slightly deterred, the next destination was High Hedge where a couple of golems were mobbed.
Next I decided to try and get some revenge on Drizzt. I let several gnolls attack sequentially (taking advantage of the fact that moving around in the area tends to partially activate Drizzt and make him kill just his current attacker) to persuade Drizzt to use his cure spell. I wasn't intending to do any retreating to ensure a gnoll broke its weapon, but I got lucky anyway when one did so when Drizzt was down to 14 HPs - I had been planning a general attack when he got below 10.
In the process of cleaning up a few areas they went to the Valley of the Tombs and decided to take on Narcillicus and his mustard jellies. Brass enraged there before going into talk, while the others aimed to shoot up the mage before switching to melee weapons for the jellies. However, Narcillicus disappeared before anyone could target him meaning the others all ran in among the jellies - fortunately though they stayed focused on attacking the well-defended Brass. Narcillicus reappeared and hurt Mercury with a lightning bolt, but was shot down before he could try anything else.
By this time everyone had qualified for a level-up, but were still some way from being able to level up in all their classes at once, so the wandering continued. More significant encounters included Arghain (Silver grabbing the 2-handed sword to leave only Diamond without a proficient magic melee weapon),
Brass, berserker L5, 58 HPs, 211 kills
Diamond, dwarven defender, L5, 71 HPs, 86 kills, 0 deaths
Silver, wizard slayer, L5, 67 HPs, 100 kills, 0 deaths
Tin, fighter/thief, L4/5, 52 HPs, 98 kills, 0 deaths
Copper, fighter/cleric, L4/4, 48 HPs, 102 kills, 0 deaths
Mercury, fighter/illusionist, L4/4, 40 HPs, 138 kills, 0 deaths
I was able to kite it a few times, but I rarely had time to turn around and attack it, and once it's on you, it's very hard to gain enough distance. It just seemed like too much luck was involved for me, and I've noticed that relying on luck with no-reload is essentially a death sentence
Good to know. I have noticed that if I wait for stealth to become avaiable before a backstab, then constantly pause/unpause until the hit roll displays, I can stealth again before the npc realizes I'm there and attacks me.
I'm pretty sure I started with the SoD engine, as the intro screen changed after I purchased it. I was re-reading attempt 11 and realized I didn't write down when I hit level 10, but I feel like I hit the experience cap fairly early and had skipped a lot of things, like killing the spiders in Cloakwood and doing a lot of side quests in Baldur's Gate. It's possible that stuff just wasn't worth as much experience as I thought it was.
I find it interesting that once you establish yourself, the critical path is actually pretty quick. I'm trying to integrate doing portions of the critical path earlier, as the Nashkel Mines aren't all that difficult.
To you and anyone else that wants to answer, do you find the Horror power really worth futzing with reputation? What situations do you use it? Maybe hide in plain sight has me spoiled, but it just doesn't seem that useful. I tested it a few times during the coronation, and the greater dopplegangers saved against it every time.