Just another short update: Fought my way through De'Arnise keep. The trolls hit hard, but rotating my frontline fighters and healing them up from time to time allowed me to get through the place with only resting once. For the yuan-ti mage, I used Keldorn's inquisitor dispel magic to get rid of his buffs:
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Glaicus was dealt with via dire charm:
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I took down the golems except for the iron one (having zero +3 weapons available):
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After robbing the statues, Beringia simply used her invisibility spell to avoid the golem. Downstairs, we cleared one last troll group with haste and rested - Minsc used invisibility + stealth to feed the umber hulks, and I summoned forest beings and skeletons for Tor'Gal. Our transmuter slow affected all three opponents:
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With that and our full buffs (bless, chant, strength on Jaheira, PfE, holy power/DUHM, ghost armor on Beringia), the battle was rather easy:
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Even for the final type of ambush, Anomen's holy smite still instantly dealt with the enemy mage:
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Upon my return, I sold some stuff, bought a magic license, helped Keldorn with his family issue and freed Hendak. Next time, more slavers - and propably the druid grove? Not sure.
In the event I did manage another quick session today (unfortunately). That saw exploration in the City including:
- a first use of darts of stunning to acquire a necklace of missiles.
- dragging inhabitants of Ramazith's tower outside where spirits could easily gobble them.
- sorting out a basilisk using horror followed by nymph hold monster.
- using Spirit Fire on Jalantha before nymphs sorted out Lothander and Marek.
- killing Ragefast to get a cloak to boost charisma to 20 (prompting a spending spree).
- new acquisitions included the dagger of venom, that turned the dopplegangers at the Seven Suns green with envy.
- most of the Iron Throne party were lured downstairs into ambush, before the last couple died to area damage.
- picked up the Helm of Balduran before lightning did the main damage against Degrodel's guards on the way to getting the Cloak of Balduran.
I remembered to pick up the violet potion before reporting for duty back at Candlekeep. Lightning protection made looting the tombs there easier than usual. Prat failed to see me running past him, allowing me to recruit an army of nymphs to deal with his party. I attempted to deal with the basilisks using horror and stunning darts, but Bhaal horror only lasts 4 rounds and I failed to stun the second one in time - and had to resort to using a potion before it could focus its gaze.
After resting for a second DUHM I bought up some expensive arrows and commenced the final encounters. Slythe was drawn away from his partner, shot with a dispelling arrow and held. At the palace one doppleganger was panicked by horror, while others were confused and both dukes survived. After working through the maze, I bypassed the Undercity party to get into the temple. Sarevok was activated with a dispelling arrow then evaded behind a pillar, leaving Semaj to teleport out on his own. He killed a single nymph before dying in a bunch of Fogs. Sarevok was then pulled out and doomed, but still survived a number of hold attempts from the remaining pair of nymphs available. I started running round shooting him, but didn't check the status of my lightning protection ...
No trouble dealing with the slavers - access to insect plague, chaos and transmuter slow takes down pretty much any humanoid party at this level:
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A similiar approach was taken for the major druid grove battles:
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I did have to rest once before dealing with the triple rakshasa group, because I had to use my combat buffs for the troll mound and would need them again for this encounter. After that, it was smooth sailing to Faldorn:
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Back in Trademeet, I cleared out the tomb and bought Blackblood for Jaheira and the belt + cloak for various party defenses - this cost me all of my money, and since Minsc kept complaining about Imnesvale, I travelled there for a bit. Jaheira finally got access to her first fire elemental, which would make the temple ruins rather easy.
Instead of entering the temple ruins, I decided to do the Imnesvale sidequests and travel back to Athkatla in order to get the Harper plot and Nalia's kidnapping started. I got a bit distracted by sidequests, completed the Ployer curse and ended up doing most of the non stronghold-related sidequests and encounters in the city. For easier battles, this just involved PfE 10' radius and slow to turn any odds in my favor, for serious opponents I added chaos, insect plague, holy smite, a bunch of magic missles and combat buffs (mostly chant, bless, the holy power + DUHM + righteous magic + righteous magic, sometimes ghost armor, mirror image and blur) - also true sight if needed, though I don't use inquisitor dispel all that much, mostly because it takes down my own buffs. Forest beings and skeletons, sometimes fire elementals, were also helpful - Mencar stood no chance:
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Nor did the rune assassins:
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Or the bridge party:
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Playing without SCS, the difference of power in insect plague and magic missles is quite extreme.
The only time my party got into low hitpoints was when getting Kitthix - everyone was already exhausted, I had basically no buffs left, and Nalia used her fireball to kill the spiders which dealt huge damage to my own crew as well - still, this was just friendly fire and a calculated risk:
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Finally, I got to what I actually wanted to do: Get the harper plot started and kill Galavery:
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With Athkatla sidequests dealt with, I returned to Imnesvale. Temple ruins will be my next stop.
I'm at 600k experience right now, which is right where I was when I imported my party from my previous run from SoD - so, the difference is actually pretty big - this is after 2 stronghold quests and all minor Athkatla sidequests plus some additional encounters. I thought I would be mostly caught up after a single stronghold quest.
Temple ruins were rather straightforward, with fire elementals doing most of the work until the shade lord died to a quick assault:
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After all that, I entered Watcher's Keep level 1 in order to obtain a few utility items and Foebane for later - no magic-using statues present due to my low level, so no trouble at all:
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A quick visit to Windspear Hills to return the acorns resulted in Anomen complaining about us not saving Garren's son, so I decided to skip my plans in Athkatla and go to Firkraag's dungeon instead. No iron golem spawns due to low levels, but there's still a huge group of vampires - I dealt with them by casting invisibility on Keldorn (who is wielding Daystar and also had the AoP and CC up), distracting the undead with my summons and casting a massive sunray:
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The other dangerous foe here, an adamantite golem, was killed at range with Tansheron's and Sling of Arvoreen:
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I used true sight + insect plague + breach for Conster:
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And finally, with some fire elementals and protection from fire spells, I also dealt with Sambia's guardians and, finally, her party:
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Next up, propably - thief stronghold? We still have that one, mage stronghold, bard stronghold and cleric stronghold left, plus Aran's quests.
Rayic Gethras was breached and killed, Mae'var dealt with and another quest finished:
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I dealt with Mook and the traitors, equipped Keldorn with the AoP and CC and let him deal with most vampires:
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Tanova was killed by sending in two summons and having true sight active (Nishruu and later on a skeleton warrior). With a fully buffed group charging Bodhi, she stood little chance:
I wasn't buffed when facing the halfling spellcasters, as they approached me from rather far away. As they had spell protections and combat protections up and I wouldn't have the time to breach both of them before they would unleash their spells upon my unprotected party, I decided to cast a death fog in their direction, which did wonders in interrupting their spellcasting:
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With better preparation, I tricked Tolgerias by approaching with a single invisible character, forcing him to cast true sight, and then charging him while he had zero protections:
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Jaheira did most of the tanking when dealing with enemy golems, and Lavok fell to a single skeleton warrior from off screen. Time to get a demon heart:
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Over the course of the next few quests, I would also complete the mage stronghold in its entirety. Meanwhile, it was time to enter the sewers, where I encountered another hostile party - insect plague and first a Ring of the Ram hit to interrupt the mage, slow to deal with the others:
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I killed the rakshasa and dealt with Mekrath, which allowed me to enter the astral prison - with full buffs, I overwhelmed the first few groups of opponents including the Master of Thralls:
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After that, the party regrouped, I activated my second round of buffs and shattered the orb - charging the Warden right aways as he was still busy getting rid of slaves - his protections only fire up once he's done with that:
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Also, we got some progression in terms of NPC quests: We finally dealt with the death of Anomen's sister and also had Jaheira leave for a while before returning to Harper Hold and getting her back into our party.
Next up, and our final piece of content in chapter 3: The Unseeing Eye
Unga-Bunga rest in Hobart shack, gather things, enter castle. Unga-Bunga use key from Maluradek, open door to dungeons, go down stair to first level dungeon. Unga-Bunga see gate, two levers. Unga-Bunga peek through slots in gate, see many prison cells. Unga-Bunga hear grunting, piercing cries, think monsters in cells:
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Unga-Bunga pull levers, see gate open, prison cells open. Unga-Bunga watch Wyverns, Unber Hulks, Trolls, Minotaurs, Neo-Orog Marauders, and Red Myconids battle. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, watch battle, cheer for death to all:
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After long battle only Wyverns, Minotaurs left. Unga-Bunga summon elemental, sneak up on Wyverns, Minotaurs battling elemental, blind foes with nature magics:
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Unga-Bunga, elementals battle minotaurs, wyverns down. Unga-Bunga gather treasures, find stairway to second level dungeon. Unga-Bunga walk narrow passageway leading to large chamber. Unga-Bunga see four prison cells in chamber, not see lever. Unga-Bunga summon elemental, approach gate, gate break down, Beholder charge Unga-Bunga:
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Unga-Bunga run around corner of chamber, hide from Beholder rays:
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Unga-Bunga slay Beholders in all four cells, blind with nature magics, Static Charge beholders, let elementals pummel Beholders:
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Unga-Bunga see west, east passageways from chamber, see door to north. Unga-Bunga approach door:
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Door tell Unga-Bunga need two heads with no eyes, two mouths but no voice to open door. Unga-Bunga get angry, count ten again:
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Unga-Bunga search east passage from chamber, battle many Spectral Guards:
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Unga-Bunga find dead body behind gate. Unga-Bunga take skull from body, think skull head but no eyes, mouth but no voice.
Unga-Bunga dust off skull, put in bag:
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Unga-Bunga search west passage from chamber, battle wyverns, many Spectral Undead. Unga-Bunga like blinding things with nature magics:
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Unga-Bunga find corpse behind gate again, take skull, bring skulls to Door. Door say Unga-Bunga pass Door now:
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Unga-Bunga sleepy, want rest in Hobart shack, go back to first level dungeon. Unga-Bunga find all hells break loose:
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Unga-Bunga notice many empty cells in second level dungeon, wonder how monsters got to first level dungeon. Unga-Bunga shrug, clean up first level dungeon:
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Unga-Bunga rest in Hobart shack, return castle, take stair to third level dungeon. Unga-Bunga see gate, lever, toss Pixie Dust, move lever. Unga-Bunga see gate open, Luremaster Bard in chamber. Unga-Bunga approach Luremaster Bard, not see Olive Slime hoard until talk Luremaster. Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga Luremaster died in chamber:
Luremaster point at gate behind Unga-Bunga, seal gate:
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Unga-Bunga see Luremaster port away, left in chamber with olive slimes. Olive Slimes not see Unga-Bunga under Pixie Dust.
Unga-Bunga see three doors in chamber: west, north, and east:
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Unga-Bunga try north door, door locked. Unga-Bunga bash door, knock off Pixie Dust, olive slimes attack Unga-Bunga but olive slimes slow. Unga-Bunga break down door, go inside room, cast Static Charge. Static Charge not hurt slimes:
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Unga-Bunga watch slimes try attack Unga-Bunga but slimes not fit doorway. Unga-Bunga throw axe, not hurt slimes. Unga-Bunga remember axe kill Maladurek, take axe from Holding Bag, poke at slimes with axe:
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Unga-Bunga slowly battle down slimes over hours. Once slimes dead, Unga-Bunga try east door, find more slimes, Slime Zombie. Unga-Bunga run back north room, cast elemental magics on slimes:
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Unga-Bunga run out elemental magics, hack slimes with axe. Unga-Bunga tired, not remember Slime Zombie hurt by axe, look up, see Slime Zombie attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga run further into room, spy secret door on east wall, battle zombie down:
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Unga-Bunga finally battle zombies, slimes down. Unga-Bunga try west door, door locked, not able break door. Unga-Bunga go to south gate, see lever behind gate. Unga-Bunga not able pull lever, know Unga-Bunga trapped in dungeon:
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Unga-Bunga hope way out dungeon further in dungeon, toss Pixie Dust, find passage to fourth level dungeon. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, rest third level dungeon, gather things, take passage to fourth level dungeon...
Starting out at the beginning of ToB we made decent progress for a while, but unfortunately that didn't last quite long enough to see out the session.
- Illasera lasted only a few moments and her Black Reavers made a run for it as soon as she went down.
- There were no problems with the first Pocket Plane Challenge, with Bodhi being destroyed by the iMoD while her cronies struggled briefly with a planetar.
- A few tasks in Saradush were completed before Mist attempted to hook up with a female courtesan. She was rebuffed, but a nearby male was more willing to try and suck her dry on the way into Gromnir's palace.
- Despite inquisitor dispel, both of Gromnir's mages lasted long enough to cast timestops, but failed to do anything with them and died in a wilting.
- In the Forest of Myr, Trile was chased round for a bit by vampiric wraiths until Mist could take them down. The Master Wraith was another destroyed undead.
- The lower floor of the Fire Giant Temple went pretty smoothly. Mist was buffed with fire protection, so that fire damage healed her and she could quickly recover damage by standing in lava. There was though a warning sign upstairs when she was tempted to attack in melee an elite fire giant which went berserk at near death. Two quick hits on her left her dangerously low on HPs and she withdrew.
- Yaga-Shura was already close to dying from a GWW when Trile finished him off with a wilting. That provided Mist with a level and she stupidly took a level in mace to be able to use the iMoD more effectively - just as Trile handed the superior Runehammer to her .
- The Oasis was quickly cleared with the help of another planetar.
- At Amkethran an unintended dialogue chose meant the monks in the cave left without fighting. The merchant also disappeared, but Mist was able to purchase the Gargoyle Boots before he went.
- Moving on the Sendai's Enclave, Mist initially intended just to kill the Woodcutter before going invisible and heading for the enclave proper. That meant she didn't bother with any defenses, like hardiness. Those weren't needed for the Woodcutter, as he collapsed under a GWW. However, Mist then changed her mind and decided to stick around to fight the other local drow. They're decent fighters though and she soon took severe damage. She'd decided to withdraw and was in the act of turning to run, when a drow assassin tagged her with a backstab ...
Unga-Bunga follow north passage, spy traps in passage, not able disarm traps. Unga-Bunga cast protection magics, take deep breath, step on traps:
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Traps make loud noises. Unga-Bunga see Jackal Shaman come round corner, Jackal Shaman not see Unga-Bunga through Pixie Dust. Unga-Bunga rush past Jackal Shaman, set off traps before Jackal Shaman see Unga-Bunga:
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Unga-Bunga summon elementals, battle Jackal Shaman, Greater Jackals, Jackal Warriors. Jackals make elementals sleep with gaze, Unga-Bunga cast protection magics, protect from sleep:
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Unga-Bunga, elementals battle jackals down. Unga-Bunga see cave opening in cavern wall, enter cave, see spider horde. Unga-Bunga summon beetles, battle spiders. Unga-Bunga see Stone Nuisances come round corner, cast missiles Unga-Bunga. Stone Nuisances resist Unga-Bunga magics, make Unga-Bunga angry:
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Unga-Bunga, beetles, elementals slowly battle spiders, Stone Nuisances down. Unga-Bunga find emerald gem in chest, Earth altar in cave:
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Unga-Bunga put emerald gem in bag, leave cave, explore main cavern. Unga-Bunga find another cave, enter cave, see Minotaur. Minotaur beg Unga-Bunga not kill Minotaur, run off into cave:
Unga-Bunga command elementals hold off Minotaurs, cast nature magics, blind Minotaurs. Stone Nuisances resist Unga-Bunga magic. Unga-Bunga think Stone Nuisances more than nuisance:
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Unga-Bunga leave some elementals behind Unga-Bunga, protect from ambush. Unga-Bunga hear elementals battle Minotaurs, blind ambushing Minotaurs:
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Unga-Bunga find Heaven altar, runed chest. Runes say Seasons Change All That We Know:
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Unga-Bunga have hunch, take gems find on altars from bag, put gems in runed chest. Gems sparkle, disappear:
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Unga-Bunga return altars where find gems, find better gems:
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Unga-Bunga not sure if gems help Unga-Bunga escape dungeon. Unga-Bunga shrug, put gems in bag, return main cavern, toss Pixie Dust, head south. Unga-Bunga feel power in air, pulsing underground. Unga-Bunga see ring of standing stones surrounded by Jackal Shamans, Jackal Warriors, hordes of bats, two Summoner Mages.
Unga-Bunga watch, plan battle, see Summoner Mages cast summoning magics, summon Glabrezu. Glabrezu see Unga-Bunga under Pixie Dust, attack Unga-Bunga!
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Unga-Bunga summon elementals, beetles, summon Plague Swarms, Spike Stones. Unga-Bunga try kill Summoner Mages before summon more Glabrezu:
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Beetles not hold off Glabrezu, force Unga-Bunga retreat. Unga-Bunga chased by Greater Jackals, Glabrezu:
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Glabrezu strong, resist most Unga-Bunga magics. Unga-Bunga summon more beetles, finally blind Glabrezu with nature magics. Unga-Bunga summon spirits, finally beat down Glabrezu, Jackals, return standing stones. Unga-Bunga, spirits slay remaining Glabrezu, Greater Jackals:
Unga-Bunga read parchment, parchment say Master take gems from portal, scratch gems, hide gems in dungeon. Parchment say need restore gems, bring gems to portal, escape Master. Unga-Bunga think Luremaster Master, think gems part of Luremaster game. Unga-Bunga still not sure why spirits have Unga-Bunga battle Luremaster for vision quest but Unga-Bunga not argue spirits.
Unga-Bunga put parchment in bag, search southern end of cavern, find cave. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, enter cave, see Jackals, Greater Jackals, Jackal Shaman, Stone Nuisances guarding altar, chest:
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Unga-Bunga summon elementals, cast nature magics, blind all but Stone Nuisances:
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Unga-Bunga summon Spike Growth, spirits, slay all Jackals, Stone Nuisances. Stone Nuisances hard kill, think should call Stone Nightmares:
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Unga-Bunga find Flawed Agate Gem in chest, bring gem Changing Chest, find Flawless Sunstone Gem in altar:
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Unga-Bunga search southern chamber, go back north, take east passage. Unga-Bunga ambushed by many Shamblers, blind Shamblers with nature magics, kill Shamblers with throwing axe. Unga-Bunga's arm feel like noodle:
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Unga-Bunga about return third level dungeon to rest, see Greater Jackal camping in nook in wall. Greater Jackal see Unga-Bunga, not attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga talk Greater Jackal. Greater Jackal say Greater Jackal name Rikasha:
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Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga Rikasha retired Jackal warrior, ask Unga-Bunga about playing Luremaster game, say Unga-Bunga brought by Halfling Hobart:
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Unga-Bunga tell Rikasha Unga-Bunga brought by Hobart. Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga Hobart lackey of Luremaster, say not trust Hobart. Unga-Bunga ask Rikasha about Luremaster. Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga Luremaster absolute ruler of Castle Maluradek, dungeons, say everyone else prisoners, slaves, servants:
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Unga-Bunga ask Rikasha which one Rikasha. Rikasha say Rikasha each one at one point. Unga-Bunga think Rikasha smart, like Rikasha, especially since Rikasha not attack Unga-Bunga:
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Unga-Bunga ask Rikasha if know way out caverns. Rikasha say Jackals once lived above ground, great earthquake swallowed city, buried Jackals beneath surface. Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga Jackals build portal to surface, take many, many years. Rikasha say while portal built, humans settle on old Jackal city site, drive Jackals back underground when finally use portal:
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Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga Luremaster take portal gems, scratch gems, hide gems around caverns. Unga-Bunga show Rikasha parchment found near standing stones, Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga parchment written by Jackal Shaman, say Unga-Bunga trust parchment. Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga portal at Jackal Temple on lake to east:
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Unga-Bunga very weary but smile, think Unga-Bunga close to escaping Anauroch desert, close to freedom from Luremaster, Hobart. Rikasha say Rikasha watch Unga-Bunga rest, keep Unga-Bunga safe. Unga-Bunga thank Rikasha, rest with one eye open just in case.
Unga-Bunga wake, gather things, wave to Rikasha, follow passage south. Unga-Bunga approach southern cavern wall, find Jackal camp cut in half by underground stream:
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Unga-Bunga summon elemental across stream, lure all Jackals across stone crossing. Unga-Bunga summon elemental on stone crossing, command elemental guard crossing, summon Spike Stones on all:
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Unga-Bunga find cave opening, toss Pixie Dust, enter cave, see many harpies. Unga-Bunga afraid, remember Harpy wail stun Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga cast all protection magics:
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Unga-Bunga think more Harpies down western passage in cave, summon elementals, wait see if more Harpies come. Unga-Bunga right, massive horde of Harpies, Fiendish Harpies, Infernal Harpies come. Infernal Harpies cast evil magics, make Unga-Bunga afraid:
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Cave chamber fill to bursting with Harpies. Unga-Bunga know elementals not kill Harpies, shake off Pixie Dust, try blind Harpies with nature magics:
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Unga-Bunga not able reach all harpies with magics, some harpies attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga cast Iron Skins, try blind more Harpies, hope Harpies not stun Unga-Bunga with wailing:
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Unga-Bunga move away from blinded Harpies, cast Static Chrage, Spike Stones, summon spirits, take vengeance on dreaded Harpies:
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Unga-Bunga, spirits finally slay harpies. Unga-Bunga search further into cavern, battle Stone Nuisances, take gem from altar:
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Unga-Bunga return Rikasha, take rest, go back to Jackal camp, take eastern passage. Passage turn north, Unga-Bunga see Jackal Temple on lake, see many, many Jackal Warriors, Greater Jackals, Jackal Shaman, and Summoner mage. Unga-Bunga sneak near temple, know need slay Summoner mage quick, summon elemental near Summoner mage. Unga-Bunga hide near Jackal Shaman, not want Shaman dispel Unga-Bunga magics:
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Unga-Bunga try blind Jackals, overwhelmed by Jackals. Unga-Bunga blind some Jackals, retreat from temple, chased by many Jackals:
Unga-Bunga beat chest many minutes, return Rikasha, take rest. After rest, Unga-Bunga gather things, return temple, take north passage battle down spiders, find cave opening:
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Unga-Bunga enter cave, battle down large sleuth of Dire Bears:
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Unga-Bunga go further into cave, see Stone Nuisances guarding altar. Unga-Bunga claim last portal gem, summon elementals, battle down Stone Nuisances:
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Unga-Bunga take gems from bag, count five Flawless Gems, remember five-pointed rune on wall in Castle Maluradek. Unga-Bunga return Rikasha, take rest...
Next day, Unga-Bunga gather things, tell Rikasha Unga-Bunga try activate Jackal Portal, ask if Rikasha want join Unga-Bunga. Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga Rikasha too old journey, wish Unga-Bunga well. Unga-Bunga thank Rikasha, return Jackal Temple:
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Unga-Bunga study runes near slots in temple floor, place gems according to runes:
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Unga-Bunga place last gem, feel temple stone tremble, see temple symbol illuminate, see portal open:
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Unga-Bunga take step back, prepare enter portal, confront Luremaster for last time...
We made our way to the eyeless and used Balduran's Shield against any beholders we met. Still low levels, so no lich spawn and rather small beholder groups, making these areas rather easy to progress through - didn't even meet any yuan-ti mages. I buffed for the blind priest battle:
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The rod got rid of the Unseeing Eye's protections, a single hit by a summon finished the job:
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Slow helped with the elite guards, and we looted the entire place:
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Turning in the quest got us to mage level 14 - level 7 spells available now, so we wished for a +2 full plate and some other things, though I forgot to do the limited wish quest at this point. I also bought a few spell scrolls I was missing - greater malison and MMM's to be precise.
Finally, since quite a bit of time had passed, I decided to try and rest outside in order to trigger the final encounter of the harper plot - we got there, using greater malison, chaos and slow to turn the tides:
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I made my way to Brynnlaw to finish the session, where Keldorn and Anomen took down the vampires:
We started off in the Cloudpeaks and worked through those to pick up the charisma tome from the Gnoll Stronghold. Corefighter was keen to boost his defenses, so we stopped off at the Lake area on the way back to Beregost and sorted out some half-ogres - a grateful Bjornin rewarding us with a magic shield.
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Corefighter than decided he was up to fighting ankhegs. That proved indeed to be the case, as only the last of them in the nest managed to hit him - and then only because he didn't get close enough to it to inflict the penalty for using a missile weapon in melee combat.
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Compensating Farmer Brun for his losses boosted reputation to 20 and we indulged in some shopping. Purchases included the Greenstone Amulet and Cloak of Displacement from Ulgoth's Beard and some full plate and longbow +1 from Beregost.
Then it was off to the coast to find some sirines. Flydian looked in his case for a potion of clarity, but couldn't find it and, looking up found that Corefighter had already quaffed it and was standing in the middle of the first group - who didn't last long. The second group proved more troublesome when they charmed Flydian (Corefighter asking a bit plaintively why he couldn't have stayed out of melee) and then Burdock, but that was only a temporary hiccup.
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There was somewhat more danger in the pirate cave when Corefighter somehow managed to walk over the charm trap, which then triggered to incapacitate Flydian. Burdock had no magic weapon at that point, which meant Corefighter was on his own. That gave the final golem a bit of extra time to retaliate and it had a potential chance to kill Corefighter, but failed to hit him in time.
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A bit more work to raise money included collecting a bounty on Bassilus and successfully reviving Melicamp - and we could then afford the Dagger of Venom for Burdock to ensure future flesh golems could not play the invincibility card on him. Then we went in search of more sirines. A group of ogres tried to stop us, but a local surgeon kept us in good condition during that fight.
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Corefighter then made use of the Greenstone Amulet on the sirines - Flydian and Burdock this time contenting themselves with a support role .
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Burdock's petrification in the basilisk area last time meant that most of the basilisks were still in place. The 4 potions of mirror eyes from Ulgoth's Beard were sufficient to deal with those though. Rather than use a Greenstone charge, Burdock sneaked in on Mutamin and poisoned him with the Dagger of Venom.
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The most dangerous moment of the session was against Kirian's party. Burdock blinded Baerin and then again sneaked in to open proceedings with a stab on Kirian before running for it. Flydian then got too close when shooting Baerin and was held by Peter while in sight of Lindin. Realizing he wasn't going to last long, he choked out a call for help to the others who rushed back to melee Lindin and persuade him to change targets. Just as he did that Peter threw in another hold person. If that had held both Burdock and Corefighter it would have been game over. Even holding one of them could easily have been a problem - but both saved.
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Slightly belatedly we bought Buckley's Buckler from the FAI. Corefighter used that, while Flydian read the constitution tome - meaning Burdock was now the only wimp in the party unable to naturally regenerate himself. We also returned (for once) the Girdle of Piercing to Unshey as Flydian is unable to wear magical girdles.
Turning to the Nashkel Mine we breezed through there to find Mulahey, who was blinded before calling in his reinforcements.
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Outside the mine the amazons were handicapped when Zeela was another blind victim and didn't put up much resistance.
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There was no need to blind Nimbul - a critical stab being more than enough for him.
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Tranzig also suffered from the vicious Dagger of Venom to open up access to the Bandit Camp. The bandits there made little impression on plate-wearing adversaries and Taurgosz was unable to help them out after being blinded.
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Burdock slipped in and out of Tazok's tent drawing enemies out after him - Venkt coming out already pretty much helpless under the influence of poison.
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With a few minutes left in the session we headed for Durlag's Tower and cleared the exterior of that - Corefighter swapping girdles with Burdock to ensure battle horrors could only hit him with a critical. There should be more quick XP inside at the start of the next session.
Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, cast all protection magics, step through portal. Unga-Bunga ported to castle throne room, confronted by Luremaster. Luremaster say Unga-Bunga strongest of all who've tried escape castle:
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Luremaster ask Unga-Bunga best Luremaster, Spectres in great battle, free Unga-Bunga through victory:
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Luremaster shout battle cry, port Spectral Heroes into throne room, port away:
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Spectral Heroes rush Unga-Bunga, not attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga think Spectral Heroes not see Unga-Bunga under Pixie Dust, summon elemental:
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Unga-Bunga watch Spectral Heroes rush elemental. Luremaster port more Spectral Heroes into hall. Unga-Bunga recognize Wizard Criek of Bane, Criek's henchmen:
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Unga-Bunga know Criek of Bane want dispel foes, make plan. Unga-Bunga move away from elemental, let Criek of Bane dispel elemental, other Spectral Heroes attack elemental:
Unga-Bunga summon elemental, command elemental attack Luremaster. Luremaster port away, cast Feeblemind, make elemental useless, cast Lightning Bolt at other elemental:
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Luremaster port away. Unga-Bunga summon spirits, battle down Blind Criek of Bane, begin battle other Spectral Heroes:
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Unga-Bunga approach other Spectral Heroes. Cleric Spectres cast great magics: Firestorm, Dispel Magic, Cloud of Pestilence:
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Unga-Bunga think battle long battle, want save magics. Unga-Bunga dance, summon more spirits, slowly battle Spectral Heroes down:
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Unga-Bunga look around, not see Luremaster. Unga-Bunga summon elemental, toss Pixie Dust elemental, Unga-Bunga:
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Unga-Bunga search throne room for Luremaster, see hidden compartment in throne. Unga-Bunga afraid trap, keep searching for Luremaster:
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Unga-Bunga, elemental approach southeast corner of throne room. Luremaster port in, cast Magic Missile elemental, port away when elemental attack Luremaster:
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Unga-Bunga get angry, not know how kill Luremaster, try make plan. Unga-Bunga try rush Luremaster when Luremaster attack elemental, cast nature magics, try blind Luremaster. Unga-Bunga try but Luremaster port away too fast:
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Unga-Bunga, elemental search for Luremaster, Unga-Bunga try blind Luremaster again, Luremaster too fast, port away:
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Luremaster keep avoiding Unga-Bunga, cast magics at elemental, Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga get very angry, count ten many times:
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Unga-Bunga near run out blinding magics, rush Luremaster, cast blinding magics, finally blind Luremaster!:
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Unga-Bunga command elemental attack Luremaster. Luremaster cast magics at elemental. Unga-Bunga think elemental get too close Luremaster:
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After Luremaster port away, Unga-Bunga command elemental not attack Luremaster. Unga-Bunga creep near Blind Luremaster, command elements, cast elemental magics at Luremaster:
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Unga-Bunga summon six Spike Growth magics, maybe four Spike Stone magics. Luremaster not fall:
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Unga-Bunga count at least 800 damage on Luremaster easily, feel like Apollo Creed fighting Rocky Balboa, not believe Luremaster not go down. Unga-Bunga out of combat magics, hurl throwing axe at Luremaster, let Static Charge hit Luremaster:
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Unga-Bunga count another 700 damage, wonder if Luremaster part troll. Unga-Bunga look for fire dagger in bag, approach Luremaster. Luremaster admit Luremaster defeated. Unga-Bunga think Luremaster wanted Unga-Bunga approach Luremaster before Luremaster give up ghost:
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Luremaster praise Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga not mind praise, think Unga-Bunga axe hit Luremaster so hard Luremaster see double, keep calling Unga-Bunga "Heroes":
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Unga-Bunga watch Luremaster go silent, fade away. Unga-Bunga search throne room, find ring in throne compartment:
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Unga-Bunga take ring, leave castle, return Hobart shack, Hobart not in shack. Unga-Bunga look at ring, think ring look like ring Hobart use to port Unga-Bunga Castle Maluradek:
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Unga-Bunga put on ring, use ring power, port from Anauroch desert back to Lonelywood Village Inn:
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Unga-Bunga holler, beat chest, celebrate part completion of Vision Quest. But Unga-Bunga know Vision Quest not yet done, decide rest inn, travel barbarian camp next day, sail Sea of Moving Ice for Island of Great Wyrm Tribe. Unga-Bunga hunt Icasaracht, Matriarch of all Wyrms of the North...
Not many screenshots here, but I made my way through Spellhold today - Perth failed to deal with a mass invisibility opener:
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No trouble in the asylum, we have the summons and buffs we need - still low level enough not to get a lich spawn here. None of the fights were all that interesting or close - eventually, we buffed up and charged Jon, got him to near death, waited for him to finish his opening spell and triggered his dialogue:
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We helped Saemon get the horn and just entered the City of Caverns.
Swords for everyone! The Amarande Story VI: Long Journey Home Previous
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Picking up from last time, the party starts by selling off tremendous amounts of junk to the local Priestess. Following this, and Chaotic Commands for everyone (negating the risk of stun by bolts) we set out into the City of Caverns.
We clear another Priestess with no issue, though there's no lovely Cloak of Reflection to be had; SCS moves it elsewhere. The remainder of the City goes smoothly as well, the most noteworthy occurences being several random drops of genuinely useful scrolls: Spell Deflection, Death Spell, Pierce Magic. Nice.
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We side with the Prince and have at King Ixilthetocal... who actually pops a Whirlwind Attack. That could've been bad news for Minsc, but thankfully the King drops almost immediately.
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We finish by killing the Prince (gaining little but the Wave Blade and a low-value gem...) as well as the handful of Rebel Sauhagin. Several rests later owing to setting up contingencies, the party descends into the Underdark proper. Careful now, one wrong move could mean the end...
We tackle the Drow party by the Soul Gem first. I think the rationale was that attacking the three Mind Flayers could draw in the Myconids, who would in turn trundle past the Drow on their way to attack us, which would of course draw the Drow in (yeah, allegiances for Call For Help are weird). Not sure that's what would've happened, but didn't feel like risking it.
Anyway, Anomen actually has a single L7 slot available now, so the Drow are treated to Firestorm; they have no real way to counter even after they find us, since we're immune to almost everything thanks to buffs (and 5 out of 6 party members can protect those buffs).
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In notable contrast, the Mind Flayers definitely can and do counter. We have no one that can cast Protection from Magical Energy yet (and even if we did, that's a 6th level arcane spell, so it's not like we could cover even half the party), so Detonate hurts. Moreover, there's no way at all to protect from their instant-cast ranged no-save blunt damage attacks for 25-40 damage a pop. Per Mind Flayer. Every 2 rounds.
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We'll have the lack of pleasure of dealing with this again in the near future, but for now, we head for the Soul Gem and do the easier encounters: Madman Aganalo (Jhor the Bleeder +2 being nice for Amarande at the moment, though we'll upgrade again fairly soon), Riti for the Improved Haste scroll, and even Raevilin Strathi... yes, though a high-level Mage, he's still much easier than a Lich.
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I kicked myself thoroughly afterwards, because I misclicked when moving the scrolls, and accidentally had Amarande scribe Summon Efreeti (without potions to buff intelligence) rather than just handing Imoen the scroll. Thankfully he succeeded, but it will be a long time before he can cast that. Oh well.
North to the Swirfneblin village. Properly prepared, the Balor isn't a problem (SI: A, Death Ward, PfFire, CC); Amarande takes it single-handedly. Almost.
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So the plan is basically to do everything possible before heading into Ust Natha. So, let's help Vithal. We keep our distance slightly during the Earth gate, since the Greater Earth Elemental leads with an Earthquake. Other than that, things go well enough, and we get a few extra spell scrolls out of the deal with Vithal. A LOT of extra spell scrolls actually: Jan got Cat's Grace/Luck, and popped a Potion of Master Thievery. The resulting Pick Pocket score of (I think) 140 allowed him to rob Vithal blind before the latter teleported out. Poor Vithal's going to be quite upset when he checks his pockets... but we're the opposite of upset: Incendiary Cloud, Time Stop, Wail of the Banshee (meh), and Death Spell Hat! Nice haul.
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Oh, that Dimension Door graphic near Jaheira? Yes, that's of course respawned Mind Flayers popping in to help their erstwhile allies, the Air Elementals. Sigh. We scramble and somehow manage a defense (CC on a few, II on some others, Berserk on Minsc, all to get better saves/psionics immunity), but yet again the completely irresistable ranged blunt damage almost kills us. Only almost.
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Amarande survived only because they're limited to Ballistic Attack once every two rounds. That bit of horror over with, we easily clear the Kuo-toans guarding the bridge to the south, as well as the second Drow War party (who are quite a lot less threatening than the first). Alright, let's do the undeniably easiest lair first: Kuo-toans.
The inexplicable Beholder and two attendant Gauths just get Skeleton'd: Anomen has the 9HD version now, which is basically magic immune. With every Skeleton Warrior easily having survived, we send them against the Kuo-toans to the north, backed up by a few Cloudkills. Goes as well as you'd expect: Half the dungeon comes running in response to the Calls for Help, but that's fine. The Prince falls once his cronies are down and we can focus on him, and we even get some nice random scroll luck: Another Improved Haste as well as Protection from Magical Energy.
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While in the area, we sneak a peek at the gate-guarding Drow using Farsight. One Thief (hidden), one Mage, two (presumably) Priestesses, two Warriors, two Stone Golems, two Glabrezu. We can handle that, but not without a full set of spells. The reason we must handle it is because Adalon is notoriously sloppy when dropping you off here, so it's better to just kill the guardians ahead of time (and much safer).
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Though we do still have spells remaining for the Death Knights. Same cavalcade as usual: Buff protection, CC, DW, PfF. Amarande is joined by Jaheira: She now has ++ in Spear and is wielding the Impaler +3. She's actually devastatingly effective with a simple Strength spell, since unlike Minsc she can (twice per rest) protect her buffs, and enemies tend to ignore her if she has Iron Skins up. Though in this instance she's running Club of Meteoric Iron, owing to the rather massive damage boost it gets against unnatural creatures. Really, she'd be quite impressive if her (for a long, long time) limited number of high level spell slots weren't always by necessity dedicated to DW/CC/WR.
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Armor of the Hart +3 goes to Jaheira (Minsc is using Cloak of Protection +2 to help his abysmal saves), Girdle of Frost Giant Strength goes to Amarande, and the two-handed sword goes to the scrap heap, since Minsc has the wrong alignment.
Alright! We head for a rest, then return to clean out the Drow party. Turns out one of the Drow I thought was a Warrior was actually a Mage too.. or possibly a Fighter/Mage, but anyway. The fight is actually quite difficult: We reasonably swiftly take down the two Glabrezu, but this gives the enemy casters time to tear away at our defenses, and they keep refreshing their own. Being mere L12 Mages themselves, SI:A for Amarande and Jan doesn't last long. Once down, they're both vulnerable to Remove Magic, and the Drow Wizard lucked out in that he was able to get rid of Amarande's Protection from Cold. With potentially devastating consequences:
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That sneaky bugger held onto his Spell Trigger until he was almost dead (he dropped within a round after that screenshot). With maximally bad luck that could've actually ended the run, but as it was Amarande just quaffed a healing potion and carried on. Phew. Not much loot to be had aside from the Archer's Eyes either. We compensate by having Imoen do a few Limited Wish: Gems, more Glasses of Identification, Full Plate Mail +2 (for Anomen) and some Golems for target practice.
Almost ready to tackle the two big lairs, but first: Alchra Diagott remains alive. Or dead. Well, he still exists on this plane: Let's remedy that. Alchra obliges by burning himself to a crisp (we tore down his protections and he's actually not immune to fire damage, so his own Incendiary Cloud did him in).
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This was after he popped both Dragon's Breath and Comet on our unsuspecting summons. Seems a bit much for two scrolls of consequence (Spell Turning, Delayed Blast Fireball), but fine.
OK, let's do the one that will drive me up the wall first: Illithids. The east side of the city goes fine (there's at most three simultaneous Mind Flayers here). West side, less swimmingly: First room looks like this.
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And the end result looks like this:
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So, what happened? Irresistible no-save ranged 40ish blunt damage every two rounds from every Mind Flayer happened, interspersed with 20ish area-of-effect no-save magical damage every two rounds, also from every Mind Flayer. They took one look at our summons and basically scoffed, then started teleporting everywhere, killing at will, with us having absolutely zero recourse except just spamming healing potions. Yes, I'm fuming.
So, we HAD enough CC for two full buff rounds, but now we had to spend a WR to get Minsc and Jan back up: Amarande has to resort to engaging a few Illithids under a Potion of Invulnerability (works fine, he's got nice saves to start with). In fact, we end up wasting four such potions: I did a Farsight and saw no Illithids at all in the Staff of Command room, so figured they had just teleported in to help the big room we had trouble with, leaving a lone Umber Hulk stranded. No such luck, so had to take preventative measures in case they started teleporting around (which they didn't).
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We clear the remainder (really, there's just the room with a few prisoners) before engaging the Master Brain. Whom I forgot has Remove Magic. Well, it's called Psionic Disjunction, but that's not fooling anyone. For a moment, things had the potential to turn ugly, but Amarande is swiftly Mazed, leaving the rest of the party free to deal with the Brain and its lone dangerous Illithid attendant (Golems and Umber Hulks are no threat).
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Ugh. That was not much fun. Killing the Githyanki on our way back to the Swirfneblin village is like a holiday in comparison: They're not even virtually magic immune, dealing 55-60 ranged damage every two rounds, teleporting at will, turning Improved Invisible at will, attacking four times a round and draining 5 intelligence per hit whilst having 50% physical damage resistance... How exactly are these guys even contenders compared to Illithids?
Beholders left, then we can proceed to Ust Natha. This time I actually remembered that SCS alters Beholder placement: Instead of getting dropped in the lap of an Elder Orb, we only have to deal with two standard Beholders on entry. We just apply enough buffs (Chant/Emotion: Courage/Emotion: Hope/II) to get everyone's saves low enough to be safe, then swarm them. They both drop within a round, so never even got to do more than dispel a few buffs and toss an Inflict Serious Wounds at Jan.
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We clear out the Drow at the entrance, then almost immediately run afoul of the Hive Mother to the south (she sees straight through invisibility). However, it seems she only has one Death Spell.. which she promptly wastes on the Berserk Warrior we send at her. Even though she keeps seeking us out, we have enough one-shot summons to keep her occupied while Anomen gets a few Skeleton Warriors up and running, and that's all she wrote.
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The rest of the Hive goes very smoothly. Fireball, Skull Trap, Spike Growth weeds out most Beholders/Gauths (Spike Growth seems to really weird them out, they keep going back and forth through it), and if by some miracle any do find us, there's a skeleton greeting party available. Closest brush with horrific death: The damnable Illithid messing with some Gauths. Jaheira drops to within one Ballistic Attack of going down, but we make it through. I make a mental note of the fact that not even Death Tyrants have a good answer to Skeleton Warriors; and it seems the Elder Orb didn't memorize Death Spell. Heh. In fact there were two of them... neither sporting a Death Spell.
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Well, that was a long time coming, but after another rest we enter Ust Natha, and are promptly dispatched outside again. The adventurer ambush is resolved with minimal expenditure of spell slots (so we take some damage), but as long as N'ashtar is taken care of, there's little else here to worry about.
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After rescuing Phaere and returning, we nip into Quile's abode. Her servants do not react well to Fire Storm, and Quile is quite helpless on her own.
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Since we've got time, we indulge in the pit fights (we also kind of desperately need gold, as there's tons of stuff here we want to buy before departing for good). Amarande handles everything: There's no rule about bringing 5 Skeleton Warriors summoned by someone else into the pit with you, after all, as the resident Beholder soon realizes.
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On a roll, Amarande deals with Lasonar and Chantrilla. Then Imoen gets to try her magical skills against the lowest-ranked Drow wizard... who still has access to 8th level spells (thankfully he spent his Spell Trigger on buffs). Imoen takes a weird but effective Ice Lance/Lightning Bolt/Lance of Disruption Spell Sequencer but miraculuosly survives, and I end up having to pass her crummy summoning scrolls to allow her to pull off a win. All this for a piddling amount of experience. Yeah, we won't indulge in any more Mage duels, thank you.
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We proceed with the plot. The adamantite-smuggling Beholder is swiftly dealt with; the slimy Drows are a bit of a headache since Minsc as always gets his buffs dispelled and take a beating, but no major concern there either. We indulge in a rest before intruding upon Deirex. We've set it up so we have enough crucial long-term buffs to replenish everything once: So everyone gets a good round of buffing before we enter, in the hope that Deirex will waste his initial cast on Remove Magic rather than something truly nasty. Hopefully he doesn't have 3x ADHW on enemy sighted prepared.
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Oof... he kind of did (1/3). We must've been right on the verge of taking that ADHW full force, but good on us for dodging! Deirex apparently can't target us with Remove Magic even though he sees us, so ends up casting it on himself, but we're already out of range. So our plan actually kind of worked!
Time for a massive anti-climax: HLA's notwithstanding, Deirex is just summon-mobbed into oblivion. He's a Necromancer, it seems, and even spent lots of slots on Control Undead (not that it helps him, Skeleton Warriors have obscene magic resistance). Maybe Necromancers should be a bit more demon-summoning inclined? Or at the very least pop their own Skeleton Warriors. Not that I'm complaining, as we literally had no other way of fighting him (SI:A and Spell Trap... only way to deal with that is Ruby Ray of Reversal which Imoen simply didn't have at the time).
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We loot everything, and prepare for a real fight: House Jae'llat.
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Yeah. This will hurt. Fortunately, Anomen gets a Fire Storm off even though he takes damage while casting it, and that more or less keeps Valas and Hindra from doing much owing to consistently being interrupted (and it's also really helpful in shaving some HP off the, no kidding, 30 or so Jae'llat guards that come running). Even so, there's a LOT of shuffling and running and retargetting, but at the end of the day, all you can do is just grind through it.
So we do. Amarande runs out of Stoneskin/MI/Blur by the end and has to resort to his contingency kicking in, but we made it through without any casualties. Minsc came the closest to death, but that's just Minsc for you. I don't even have any great screenshots of the fight; someone popped a Teleport Field halfway through and it was all I could do to keep us from losing coherence totally and our back line dropping (Jae'llat guards have serious THAC0 and will absolutely melt Stoneskin/MI defenses on a pure Mage).
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And... that's almost it! We've got nearly two days to return with some blood for Ardulace (and we already have all three samples), so we indulge in shopping. Overindulge, you might say, as we end up with naught but 7500ish gold remaining. I probably could have made do with less scrolls.
One last rest, then we're off to Ardulace. Anomen Sanctuaries into the egg chamber and puts Soulafein's fakes in, Ardulace drops, Phaere drops, and we easily leave the city under Haste before we are discovered, reporting our success to Adalon. The Drow guarding the temple are woefully inadequate adversaries at this point, and we power through. Once out of the Underdark, we convince Elhan to let us roam free, and... we're in the clear!
That WAS a long way, but we made it. Barring stupid mistakes it should be a fairly clear path to the end of SoA from here, but we do have a lot of adventuring left to do, so who knows. However, we've got the gear, we've got the levels, we've (almost) got the spell selection... we'll let nothing stop us.
Amarande is now a level 12/13 Half-Elven Fighter/Mage.
Unga-Bunga gather things after rest, say farewells to Lonelywood folk, make trek to barbarian camp. Unga-Bunga find Beornen of Great Whale tribe, tell Beornen Unga-Bunga ready sail Wyrm Isle on Sea of Moving Ice.:
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Unga-Bunga, barbarians sail long, finally land Wyrm Isle. Barbarians make camp on southwest edge of Isle, Unga-Bunga help make camp:
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After camp made, Unga-Bunga stretch out, rest a bit, ask Tribesmen Jorn, Beornen help Unga-Bunga slay Icasaracht, Matriarch of all Wyrms of the North. Tribesmen Jorn, Beornen say too busy hunt Icasaracht, need watch over camp:
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Unga-Bunga ask other Elk Tribesmen, Bear Tribesmen help, none help Unga-Bunga, wish Unga-Bunga luck. Unga-Bunga grumble, gather things, cast protection magics, leave camp to search Isle. Unga-Bunga battle great Troll horde, Scrag horde:
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Unga-Bunga find many ships wrecked on isle, battle Scrags squatting in ships, call lightning down on scrags:
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Unga-Bunga climb top of Isle, find Ice Golem Sentries guarding passage into ice caverns under surface:
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Unga-Bunga, elementals slay Ice Golem Sentries, gain entry into ice caverns:
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Unga-Bunga feel cold, know colder in ice caverns. Unga-Bunga sigh, take off Boots of Speed. Unga-Bunga wear Boots of North, Lysan's Mantle of Coming Storm, Black Wolf Talisman, wield Fang of Gloomfrost dagger Smithy Tiernon smith for Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga toasty, feel no cold, snug as bug in rug.
Unga-Bunga enter caverns, attacked by hordes of Great Ice Trolls, Greater Snow Trolls, Berg Yeti, and Bone Scavengers:
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Unga-Bunga cast nature magics, blind foes, summon Spike Stones, Spirit Fire, Static Charge, slay dozens of foes. Unga-Bunga come long way, baby:
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Unga-Bunga battle further into caverns, find bridge leading deeper into caverns, slay last foes guarding bridge:
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Unga-Bunga enter deeper caverns, battle Water Kin elemental, hordes of Greater Ice Trolls, Greater Stone Trolls, Scrags:
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Unga-Bunga hear trolls call for aid, more trolls come from south, attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga look for clear space, cast blinding magics:
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Unga-Bunga, elementals fight long battle, finally slay all foes:
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Unga-Bunga cross strange span over chasm in ice tunnels, battle many Iced Bones, Cold Bones, Frozen Bones, Bone Scavengers, find many treasures in bone graveyard:
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Unga-Bunga ambushed by many Water Elemental Kin in frozen ponds, elementals not able attack Water Elemental Kin. Unga-Bunga summon Static Charge, careful not touch water:
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Unga-Bunga search eastern cavern, follow cavern wall to southern cavern wall, then back west. Unga-Bunga find narrow span over chasm, turn north, find dead great wyrm. Unga-Bunga ambushed by Bone Scavengers, Iced Bones, Cold Bones, Frozen Bones:
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Unga-Bunga summon elementals, spirits, beat all foes down, find treasures in great wyrm's belly. Unga-Bunga clean treasures in snow:
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After clean treasures, Unga-Bunga gather things, circle round great wyrm's head, see Sahugain Cleric guarded by Boneguard Skeletons protecting altar. Sahugain Cleric, Boneguard Skeletons not attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga approach Sahugain Cleric. Sahugain Cleric say Sahugain Cleric name Xactile, Priestess of Sekolah, Custodian of Field of Bones:
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Cleric Xactile tell Unga-Bunga Cleric Xactile help beings passing from life to death make journey, lay bones in Field of Bones, say Icasaracht demand it, keep intruders away:
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Unga-Bunga ask Cleric Xactile about dead great wyrm. Cleric Xactile think dead great wyrm either Icasaracht's mate or Icasaracht's rival, dead for ages:
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Cleric Xactile plead Unga-Bunga not slay Icasaracht, say Cleric's Xactile's people try stop Unga-Bunga, say will die protecting Icasaracht:
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Unga-Bunga feel bad for Cleric Xactile but explain why Unga-Bunga need slay Icasaracht. Cleric Xactile understand, not stop Unga-Bunga:
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Unga-Bunga return barbarian camp, tell tribesmen what Unga-Bunga find in caverns. Unga-Bunga hope some tribesmen decide help Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga rest, gather things, return Xactile. Unga-Bunga cast protection magics, toss Pixie Dust, take passage through Sekolah Temple into large chamber guarded by Vodyanoi:
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Unga-Bunga spot many traps in passage, summon elementals, spirits, attacked by many Vodyanoi, Sahugain:
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Unga-Bunga, elementals, spirits slay Vodyanoi, Sahugain. Unga-Bunga not able disarm traps, cast protection magics, set off traps. Unga-Bunga not want step trap when not prepared. Unga-Bunga see Ice Golem Sentries guarding passage further into chamber:
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Unga-Bunga leave Ice Golems be, search side chambers, slay Water Elemental Kin, find treasures:
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Once Unga-Bunga search all side chambers, Unga-Bunga summon elementals, cast protection magics, prepare battle Ice Golems:
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Unga-Bunga command elementals attack Ice Golems. Ice Golems attack, many Vodyanoi, Sahugain swarm chamber, overwhelm elementals, attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga trust protection magics, cast blinding magics just in time:
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Ice Golems resist Unga-Bunga's magics, more Vodyanoi, Sahugain attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga retreat further into chamber, cast blinding magics, summon spirits to battle Ice Golems:
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Unga-Bunga, spirits finally battle all foes down:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, explore further into chamber, spy Sahugain Prince, Sahugain Elite Guards. Unga-Bunga trip trap, cover mouth so not cry out:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga move back to western side of chamber, summon elementals, send elemental toward Sahugain. Unga-Bunga command elemental return when Sahugain attack elemental. Unga-Bunga summon spirits, attack Sahugain Prince, Sahugain Elite Guard:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga, elementals, spirits slay Sahugain Prince, rush rest of Sahugain, slay all Sahugain:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga search Sahugain chamber, find many treasures. Unga-Bunga see ruined preservation ward on floor on western side of chamber, destroy preservation ward on eastern side of chamber:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga search dead Sahugain, find key on Sahugain Prince, open passage into Icasaracht's lair:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga weary, need rest, make plan battle Icasaracht. Unga-Bunga leave chamber, go back barbarian camp. On way back, Unga-Bunga realize strange span across chasm really dead great wyrm's frozen tail. Unga-Bunga shudder:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga return barbarian camp, tell tribesmen all Unga-Bunga find in caverns. Unga-Bunga tell tribesmen Unga-Bunga battle Great Wyrm Icasaracht on morrow, ask all tribesmen help. No tribesmen help. Tribesmen tell Unga-Bunga tribesmen tribe of Elk and Bear. Unga-Bunga think tribesmen Tribe of Sloth, but Unga-Bunga not say anything.
Unga-Bunga settle in for night, take massive amount peyote, ask spirits guidance for battle to come...
So, what happened? Irresistible no-save ranged 40ish blunt damage every two rounds from every Mind Flayer happened, interspersed with 20ish area-of-effect no-save magical damage every two rounds, also from every Mind Flayer. They took one look at our summons and basically scoffed, then started teleporting everywhere, killing at will, with us having absolutely zero recourse except just spamming healing potions. Yes, I'm fuming.
So, we HAD enough CC for two full buff rounds, but now we had to spend a WR to get Minsc and Jan back up: Amarande has to resort to engaging a few Illithids under a Potion of Invulnerability (works fine, he's got nice saves to start with). In fact, we end up wasting four such potions...
Should have used potions from the start. It would have saved you some damage.
- SCS illithids won't use their status-effect spells on anyone who's outright immune due to spells and items. They will use them on characters that are effectively immune due to unbeatable spell saves.
- The status-effect spells are higher priority than the damage spells, and the illithids do respect the "one spell per round" timer. If they're wasting their effort on futile psi-blasts and charms, they aren't damaging you.
- There are no dispels at all before the final boss of the area. Whatever buffs you put up, they'll last. There's no better time to use your easily-dispelled buff potions.
The target spell save here: -3 for immunity to everything. Protection from Evil can get you 2 points (not reflected in the character sheet), Spirit Armor can get you 3 points, the various forms of improved invisibility can get you 4 points for a relatively short duration, and it's equipped items and potions for the rest.
Also, when it comes to specific protections, stoneskins/ironskins do work against the ballistic attacks. The illithids won't even target a protected character ... which might just focus those attacks on the unprotected characters.
... the, no kidding, 30 or so Jae'llat guards that come running ...
Actual count: three named family members (two clerics, one fighter) and 13 fighter guards. SCS adds a mage family member and six spellcaster guards.
It's still more drow than you'll ever face in one fight unless you take on the collective forces of Ust Natha. And the Jae'llat guards are level 12 fighters with 18/76 strength, a cut above the level 9 fighters with 17 strength that other battle swarms you with.
Should have used potions from the start. It would have saved you some damage.
- SCS illithids won't use their status-effect spells on anyone who's outright immune due to spells and items. They will use them on characters that are effectively immune due to unbeatable spell saves.
- The status-effect spells are higher priority than the damage spells, and the illithids do respect the "one spell per round" timer. If they're wasting their effort on futile psi-blasts and charms, they aren't damaging you.
- There are no dispels at all before the final boss of the area. Whatever buffs you put up, they'll last. There's no better time to use your easily-dispelled buff potions.
The target spell save here: -3 for immunity to everything. Protection from Evil can get you 2 points (not reflected in the character sheet), Spirit Armor can get you 3 points, the various forms of improved invisibility can get you 4 points for a relatively short duration, and it's equipped items and potions for the rest.
Also, when it comes to specific protections, stoneskins/ironskins do work against the ballistic attacks. The illithids won't even target a protected character ... which might just focus those attacks on the unprotected characters.
That's very good info, thank you. And it explains why all of a sudden there were no problems when running Potion of Invulnerability. With IWD spells from SCS, it will be another 6 to all saves from Chant/Prayer/Recitation/Emotion: Hope as well (can easily have this up for every fight in the Illithid city by this point), so that's -12 all saves for the entire party. You could add Righteous Wrath of the Faithful for another 1 boost, but that induces fatigue, so best not.
You'd still probably need Spirit Armor for one or two characters, but with this merciless stacking, even Minsc could be effectively immune...
Unga-Bunga sleep, have vision. Unga-Bunga see Unga-Bunga enter chamber, battle Icasaracht, many Sahugain Royal Guards, Sahugain Royal High Priestess, Sahugain Underpriestesses, Sahugain King. Unga-Bunga see something in distance, not able see what but Unga-Bunga sense great evil, something surrounded by darkness.
Unga-Bunga wake from vision, look in Holding Bag, take bundle from bag. Unga-Bunga carefully unwrap bundle holding Breath of Auril dagger Unga-Bunga take from Archmage Kontik's dead fingers. Unga-Bunga know dagger cursed, also know dagger make Unga-Bunga immune cold. Unga-Bunga set down dagger, look through bag more, take Mithran's cloak from bag (+3 AC, +2 Saves). Unga-Bunga put on cloak, take deep breath, grasp Breath of Auril dagger in left hand. Unga-Bunga feel dagger freeze to hand, hope live to have curse removed.
Unga-Bunga stand, slowly gather things. All tribesmen on Isle gather, watch Unga-Bunga put on armor, cloak, sling bag over shoulders. Tribesmen holler, chant, beat chests, raise Unga-Bunga's spirit, give Unga-Bunga hope. Unga-Bunga know not to ask others join Unga-Bunga, know Vision Quest Unga-Bunga's alone.
Unga-Bunga slowly walk toward path leading to ice caverns, turn around, thrust fist in air. Tribesmen thrust fists in air, holler more. Unga-Bunga make way up path to cave, enter ice caverns, make trek to Icasaracht's chamber.
Unga-Bunga stand outside chamber, read Protection of Cold scroll, toss Pixie Dust, cast all protection magics. Unga-Bunga stand outside chamber, take deep breath, ask spirits for aid:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga step through gate into chamber, see Icasaracht. Icasaracht approach, meet Unga-Bunga:
Spoiler
Icasaracht tell Unga-Bunga coming to lair fatal mistake. Unga-Bunga say only fatal to Icasaracht. Icasaracht challenge Unga-Bunga, put words to test:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga ask Icasaracht why Icasaracht return old lair, make easy Unga-Bunga find Icasaracht. Icasaracht tell Unga-Bunga Icasaracht cheat death, make beacon in lair if die so Icasaracht spirit find lair, make preservation ward in lair, preserve offspring. If Icasaracht die, Icasaracht spirit find lair, enter offspring body:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga think Icasaracht even more evil, tell Icasaracht so. Icasaracht say Icasaracht mate not agree plan, Icasaracht kill mate. Unga-Bunga shudder. Unga-Bunga ask Icasaracht why Icasaracht hate Ten Towns. Icasaracht say dragonkind once roamed Faerun freely until Unga-Bunga's kind came, say dragonkind fears even sleep now:
Spoiler
Icasaracht say Icasaracht share outcome with barbarians, say Ten Towns will drive barbarians to extinction just like dragonkind:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga ask why Icasaracht take so long awaken. Icasaracht say blade wielded by Aihonen over century ago broke itself, sacrifice to keep Icasaracht spirit asleep, tell Unga-Bunga blade must have been removed from Icasaracht heart:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga remember Water Spirit Elisia want Unga-Bunga give broken sword to Jhonyn in Easthaven village. Unga-Bunga see how small actions can lead huge consequences...
Unga-Bunga tell Icasaracht not want fight, ask if can make peace. Icasaracht rage at Unga-Bunga, want fight to death:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga take Battle Axe: Defender into hand, hold Breath of Auril dagger up, shield from Icasaracht breath. Icasaracht charge Unga-Bunga, call Sahugain aid. Unga-Bunga dodge Icasaracht, see Sahugain King, many Sahugain approach:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga know Icasaracht see Unga-Bunga, not think Sahugain see Unga-Bunga under Pixie Dust. Icasaracht guide Sahugain follow Unga-Bunga, try trap Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga try elude Sahugain, make Sahugain block Icasaracht from attacking Unga-Bunga:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga race past Sahugain, see glowing soul gem guarded by protection aura, make Unga-Bunga stop in tracks. Unga-Bunga remember vision, fear soul gem:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga reverse steps, summon elemental near Priestess. Sahugain Priestesses begin casting nature magics:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga summon more elementals, wait for Icasaracht, Sahugain gather round elementals, cast blinding magics:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga blind Icasaracht! Unga-Bunga blind Icasaracht! Unga-Bunga cry out joy, cast more blinding magics, blind all foes:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga move away from battle, cast Spike Stones. Icasaracht breathe cold, Unga-Bunga hold up Frost of Auril dagger, not frozen. Unga-Bunga guess Icasaracht breathe cold at elemental, breathe Unga-Bunga also. Icasaracht thrash wings about, pummel and cut elementals:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga see last elemental almost down, dance, summon spirits. Icasaracht breathe cold, Unga-Bunga hold up Frost of Auril dagger. Unga-Bunga glad Unga-Bunga meet Kontik, take Kontik's dagger:
Icasaracht turn, face Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga see evil gleam in Icasaracht's eyes, almost think Icasaracht see Unga-Bunga with blinded eyes. Icasaracht sweep mighty wing, strike Unga-Bunga on helmet, stun Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga stop dance, spirits return home:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga realize Icasaracht scry Unga-Bunga, see Unga-Bunga cast blinding magics, pretend blind until Unga-Bunga vulnerable.
Unga-Bunga see Icasaracht approach, brace for death, know failed Vision Quest. Icasaracht sweep wing at Unga-Bunga again:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga see Icasaracht rear head back to bite Unga-Bunga in half. Unga-Bunga cry out, focus, shrug off stunning blow!
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga flee Icasaracht, glad choose Breath of Auril dagger over Boots of North so Unga-Bunga keep Boots of Speed on feet:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga run like Captain Jack Sparrow, try get space from Icasaracht, run loop around chamber. Unga-Bunga summon beetles:
Unga-Bunga see Icasaracht stumble, see blinding flash from Soul Gem, see Icasaracht spirit leave Icasaracht body, fly into Soul Gem. Unga-Bunga move away, watch Icasaracht Body fall to ground:
Spoiler
Icasaracht Soul Gem summon Vodyanoi, Vodyanoi attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga realize battle not over, need break Soul Gem:
Soul Gem cast many spells at Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga resist Soul Gem magics until cast Ice Storm. Unga-Bunga wince, burned by cold:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga know Protection of Cold scroll Unga-Bunga read last twelve hours. Unga-Bunga marvel, realize battled Icasaracht for over twelve hours. Unga-Bunga flee from Soul Gem, take last Protection of Cold scroll from scroll case, read scroll. Unga-Bunga see two Sahugain Royal Guard still alive, blinded, standing in corner. Unga-Bunga exhausted, hurt, rage at Sahugain, vow vengeance:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga return Soul Gem. Soul Gem cast dark magics at Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga resist:
Unga-Bunga feel Icasaracht anger, fear emanate from gem. Soul Gem cast powerful magics, slay animals:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga hear powerful incantation from Soul Gem, brace for fire, keep dancing so spirits battle Soul Gem:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga see animals weaken Soul Gem, resist Soul Gem's magics:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga see cracks in Soul Gem, cracks lengthening. Unga-Bunga mad with pain, sense victory:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga take leave of senses, want vengeance on Sahugain. Unga-Bunga command animals leave Soul Gem, lead animals to Sahugain in southwest corner, command slay Sahugain. Unga-Bunga afraid when Soul Gem break Unga-Bunga not get slay Sahugain, take treasures.
Unga-Bunga not see Soul Gem summon Vodyanoi horde. Vodyanoi horde crush Unga-Bunga, spirits against cavern wall. Unga-Bunga know Unga-Bunga lose focus, control. Unga-Bunga refocus, dance, summon spirits to battle Vodyanoi horde:
Unga-Bunga exhausted, watch spirits slay Vodyanoi, last Sahugain Royal Guard. Unga-Bunga take meaningless treasures, make vow never lose self to vengeance again:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga return Soul Gem, blind Vodyanoi with last nature magics, summon animals, command animals attack Soul Gem.
Unga-Bunga see animals destroy Soul Gem once and for all, see light of Soul Gem fade and die:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga see gate to freedom from Icasaracht chamber shatter to pieces:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga fall to knees, give thanks to spirits, forefathers, holler, beat chest weakly. Unga-Bunga claim scales from Icasaracht body, treasures from fallen Sahugain, make trek up to surface of Isle. Unga-Bunga leave ice caverns, step into sunlight, see barbarian tribesmen camped around cave opening. Tribesmen look at Unga-Bunga...
Unga-Bunga reach into bag, take dragon scale from bag, hold dragon scale up to sky. Tribesmen let out deafening roar, nearly knock Unga-Bunga over. Tribesmen rush Unga-Bunga, lift Unga-Bunga off ground, carry Unga-Bunga down to encampment. Shaman Jorn treat Unga-Bunga's wounds. Tribesmen light great fire, dance, sing, chant, celebrate great victory. Unga-Bunga lie by fire, treated to great feast. Unga-Bunga exhausted, fall asleep, sleep many hours.
Next day Tribesmen sail Unga-Bunga back to Hengorot, Shaman Hjollder embrace Unga-Bunga, congratulate Unga-Bunga for completing Vision Quest. Unga-Bunga shake head, tell Shaman Hjollder Unga-Bunga Vision Quest not yet complete. Shaman Hjollder shake head, marvel at Unga-Bunga, Vision Quest. Unga-Bunga tell Shaman Hjollder, Tribesmen Unga-Bunga need return Kuldahar, complete Vision Quest.
Shaman Hjollder, Tribesmen wail, not want Unga-Bunga go. Unga-Bungs say Unga-Bunga not have choice, need complete Vision Quest, return tribe, teach young in tribe. Tribesmen have victory feast, honor Unga-Bunga. Later that night, Shaman Hjollder take Unga-Bunga aside, ask Unga-Bunga if ready return Kuldahar. Unga-Bunga tell Shaman Hjollder ready.
Shaman Hjollder windwalk Unga-Bunga back to Kuldahar, say goodbye, windwalk away:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga hope Unga-Bunga strong enough finish Vision Quest, plan trek for Dorn's Deep next day, make journey to confront Revered Brother Poquelin...
[Probably the most epic battle I've ever had in these games. It could have gone either way many, many times...]
Unga-Bunga take rest in Kuldahar, visit merchants next day. Unga-Bunga visit Smithy Conlan, remember dragon scales Unga-Bunga take from Icasaracht, show Smithy Conlan scales:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga hire Smithy Conlan craft armor from scales, pay 5,000 gold pieces, Smithy Conlan say ready in three days. Unga-Bunga visit friends, barter Oswald for healing potions, plan battle with Revered Brother Poquelin. Unga-Bunga get armor from Smithy Conlan when ready. Unga-Bunga think Smithy Conlan do good job, lot better armor than studded leather:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga make trek Lower Dorn's Deep, decide before confront Revered Brother Poquelin need see to Merchant Nym:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga rest in Archer Tower, ask spirits aid for battle with Revered Brother Poquelin. Unga-Bunga take massive amount of peyote, have vision: Unga-Bunga see Unga-Bunga confront Revered Brother Poquelin in large chamber with stained glass windows picturing crossed fists, blood on wrists. Revered Brother Poquelin surrounded by animals, Unga-Bunga realize animals false, really evil beings. Unga-Bunga see chamber cut from earth, see two caves set in north of chamber, see Revered Brother Poquelin seal stair behind Unga-Bunga, not let Unga-Bunga escape. Unga-Bunga see Revered Brother Poquelin cowardly port Revered Brother Poquelin near caves, command beings protect Poquelin. Unga-Bunga see countless evil creatures stream from caves as Unga-Bunga battle Poquelin, endless stream of creatures never stop.
Unga-Bunga see Poquelin resist many magics, immune to fire, cast endless magics. Unga-Bunga afraid.
Unga-Bunga see Poquelin wear necklace of great power, think necklace own Poquelin more than Poquelin own necklace. Unga-Bunga see necklace watch battle, necklace fear losing grip over Poquelin. Unga-Bunga think if Poquelin in enough danger, necklace make Poquelin flee battle...
Unga-Bunga wake from vision very afraid. Unga-Bunga know elementals attack what elementals want, even when Unga-Bunga command attack one foe. Unga-Bunga know spirits have own mind, attack what spirits want. Unga-Bunga know Unga-Bunga's best direct combat magics summon fire, know battle Poquelin in cave so Unga-Bunga not able Call Lightning. Unga-Bunga know Static Charge strike random foes. Unga-Bunga know Unga-Bunga not great warrior, not know how make Poquelin flee...
Unga-Bunga lay out items on ground, sit down with items, scrolls, potions, plan battle strategy for many hours. Unga-Bunga ask spirits for aid, fall asleep. Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather items, walk to Fallen Temple. Unga-Bunga place lieutenant badges into six slots near stair in back of Temple. Magic barrier blocking stair fall away. Unga-Bunga stand before stair, take deep breath, cast protection magics:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, climb stair, see Revered Brother Poquelin surrounded by two cats, two black bear, two chickens and wolf. Unga-Bunga see Revered Brother Poquelin watch stair, not see Unga-Bunga!
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga not sure if Poquelin try trick Unga-Bunga like Icasaracht, carefully scout chamber while keep eye on Poquelin. Unga-Bunga see stained glass windows in chamber picture two crossed fists, blood on wrists. Unga-Bunga see two caves from vision in back of chamber, where Unga-Bunga see hordes of beings flood chamber. Unga-Bunga summon elemental horde where Unga-Bunga see Poquelin port in vision:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga walk back near Poquelin in chamber, cast all protection magics. Unga-Bunga unsling bow, put Acid Arrows in quiver, drink Protection from Cold potion. Unga-Bunga tap Poquelin on chest with bow, shake of Pixie Dust, confront Poquelin about not being true Priest of Ilmater:
Spoiler
Poquelin admit Poquelin false Priest of Ilmater, thank Unga-Bunga for slaying Yxonemei:
Spoiler
Poquelin tell Unga-Bunga how Poquelin hear artifact of great power call to Poquelin, say artifact Crenshinibon:
Spoiler
Poquelin say Poquelin slay Archdruid Arundel so Arundel not use Heartstone Gem, discover Poquelin, Poquelin's plans. Poquelin admit not think Unga-Bunga bring Heartstone Gem to Larrel, discover plans:
Spoiler
Poquelin say Unga-Bunga only destroy Poquelin's diversionary forces, tell Unga-Bunga real forces massing near Easthaven, tell Unga-Bunga Poquelin kill Unga-Bunga now:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga step back from Poquelin, see animals begin transform into evil beings. Unga-Bunga raise bow, shoot arrow into Poquelin's chest, disrupt Poquelin casting magics:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga see dumb elementals charge Poquelin, command elementals stop. Unga-Bunga see Poquelin cast Flamestrike, port away to north side of chamber:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga summon Spike Stones around Poquelin, Unga-Bunga swarmed by evil creatures:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga command one elemental battle monsters near Unga-Bunga, command other elementals attack Poquelin, try block caves but evil beings start swarming chamber from caves:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga summon six Spike Stones on Poquelin, wait for right moment, charge enemy horde, cast blinding magics:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga summon four Spike Growths on Poquelin, unsling bow, shoot acid arrows at Poquelin. More beings swarm chamber, Poquelin command beings attack Unga-Bunga:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga see Poquelin resist nearly all Spike Stones, Spike Growths, see Poquelin wear down very slowly. Evil beings swarm Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga run with Boots of Speed, try dodge swarming beings, shoot arrows at Poquelin when able:
Spoiler
Swarming beings force Unga-Bunga move south from northern chamber, cast blinding magics to blind swarming beings, give Unga-Bunga space. Unga-Bunga afraid, only have one blinding spell left Poquelin cast powerful magics on Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga try resist magics:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga forced retreat south end of chamber, not able watch Poquelin battle. Poquelin leave field of Spike Stones, Spike Growths! Unga-Bunga guess all elementals dead. Unga-Bunga very afraid, see nearly all chamber filled with evil beings. Unga-Bunga out of elemental summoning magics, summon beetles, command beetles bite Poquelin. Unga-Bunga shoot arrows at Poquelin, rarely hit Poquelin:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga see Poquelin enraged, summon horrible magics, cast fire down on all near Poquelin. Unga-Bunga forced down to southern edge of chamber, Unga-Bunga ready last blinding spell:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga cast last blinding magics. Unga-Bunga fear Unga-Bunga fall, plead with beetles, shoot arrows...
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga unleash arrow, see beetles bite Poquelin, hear Poquelin cry out. Unga-Bunga feel lightheaded, see Crenshinibon flash blinding light:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga feel earth fall away, see all go black for moment. Unga-Bunga feel cold, snow beneath feet. Unga-Bunga open eyes, see Unga-Bunga in Easthaven. Unga-Bunga realize Unga-Bunga force Crenshinibon have Poquelin retreat!
Unga-Bunga move eastward through Easthaven, find many buildings ruined, see many Cyclops patrolling village:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga come to Winter Cradle tavern, see two Cyclops bashing tavern. Unga-Bunga think maybe townsfolk hiding tavern, summon elementals, slay Cyclops:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga tavern door, find main level ruined. Unga-Bunga take stair down cellar, find Old Jed hiding in cellar drinking. Old Jed tell Unga-Bunga Easthaven townsfolk captured, placed in stockade on outskirts of village. Unga-Bunga ask Old Jed more about village but Old Jed pass out:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga look around tavern basement, remember slaying rats in basement when first arrive Easthaven over year ago, remember how Unga-Bunga tested many times over year, grow wiser, stronger. Unga-Bunga hope Unga-Bunga pass final test, complete Vision quest soon...
Unga-Bunga leave tavern, summon elementals, fight Cyclops, battle way to stockade:
Spoiler
Townsfolk tell Unga-Bunga great winter storm gathered around village over many days until one ice shafts tore up through ground, Cyclops stormed village. Townsfolk say Cyclops kill all villagers who resist Cyclops, put rest in stockade:
Spoiler
Townsfolk tell Unga-Bunga Cyclops take Priest Everard to temple, torture Everard for half-day, bring Priest Everard back stockade:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga thank townsfolk, speak to Priest Everard. Everard tell Unga-Bunga Cyclops torture Everard, want Everard break glyphs protecting Jerrod's Stone in temple. Everard tell Unga-Bunga if Poquelin open Jerrod's Stone Poquelin gather demons into army, destroy all Faerun:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga ask Everard tell Unga-Bunga how enter temple. Everard show Unga-Bunga sign to make, grant entry into temple. Everard suffering from torture, tell Unga-Bunga will follow if Everard able. Unga-Bunga thank Everard:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga explore rest of village before entering temple, slay Cyclops, make sure townsfolk safe. Unga-Bunga find Villager Jhonyn near water in southwest village, Jhonyn tell Unga-Bunga what happen village. Unga-Bunga tell Jhonyn Unga-Bunga free villagers from stockade, tell Jhonyn go somewhere safe:
Spoiler
Jhonyn say blade Unga-Bunga give Jhonyn long ago healed, want give Unga-Bunga restored blade, Unga-Bunga thank Jhonyn. Unga-Bunga wish Unga-Bunga learned how wield swords:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga make sure rest of village safe, slowly approach temple covered in ice. Unga-Bunga make sign, cross fists, blood on wrists. Unga-Bunga see wards fade, enter temple:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga search temple, hear Everard enter temple. Everard tell Unga-Bunga Everard try break glyphs protecting passage to Jerrod's Stone, ask Unga-Bunga climb ice tower in temple, try find another way to Jerrod's Stone:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga climb tower, enter chamber lit with torches, beds aligning wall:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga see doorway set in southwest corner of chamber, sense evil through doorway. Unga-Bunga have vision. see trickster in chamber filled with mirrors. Unga-Bunga see trickster cast illusion magics, create many images of self, use Lightning Wand to shoot lightning bolts all around room, lightning bounce off mirrors. Unga-Bunga see four Cryshal Sentries attack Unga-Bunga, chase Unga-Bunga round chamber...
Unga-Bunga take Boots of Grounding from bag. Unga-Bunga sigh, take off Boots of Speed, put on Boots of Grounding. Unga-Bunga drink Potion of Insulation, unsling shortbow, cast protection magics, enter chamber. Unga-Bunga come face to face with Trickster Pomab:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga listen Pomab boast about Pomab, Pomab tell Unga-Bunga Pomab appointed ruler of Easthaven:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga ask Pomab if Poquelin appoint Pomab ruler. Pomab laugh at Unga-Bunga, say Unga-Bunga not even know who master is, what master is. Pomab demand Unga-Bunga surrender, say Unga-Bunga death quick and merciful:
Spoiler
Pomab tell Unga-Bunga Pomab betrayed town from very beginning of plot, suggested expedition so Hrothgar, others abandon village, leave Easthaven defenseless:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga angry at Pomab, tell Pomab every person in Easthaven will hate Pomab when learn truth. Unga-Bunga ask Pomab turn from evil, serving Poquelin, help Unga-Bunga battle Poquelin:
Spoiler
Pomab say Pomab have power, power worth guilt, command sentries attack Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga see lightning bolts strike elemental. Unga-Bunga summon more elementals, cast Protection from Lightning on elementals. Unga-Bunga cast blinding magics but Cryshal Sentries not able be truly blinded, Pomab images resist Unga-Bunga's magics:
Spoiler
Unga-Bunga unsling shortbow, command elementals attack Pomabs. Unga-Bunga lure Cryshal Sentries attack Unga-Bunga, run round chamber, shoot arrows at Pomabs:
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Unga-Bunga see most arrows, elementals hit false Pomab images, see image fade, reappear. Unga-Bunga see arrows, elementals sometimes draw blood, know hit real Pomab, cause false image fade:
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Unga-Bunga, elementals land blows on true Pomab over time until only true Pomab remain:
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Unga-Bunga see elemental strike Pomab, see Pomab fall, see Cryshal Sentries fall:
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Unga-Bunga take deep breath, see ladder on north side of chamber climbing to next level of temple. Unga-Bunga climb ladder, see Crenshinibon floating above small dais in chamber, see blue light shining from Crenshinibon. Unga-Bunga approach Crenshinibon...
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Unga-Bunga blocked by magic barrier, not able apporach Crenshinibon. Unga-Bunga see mirror portal in northwest corner of chamber. Unga-Bunga approach mirror portal, sense great evil, feel exhausted...
Unga-Bunga back away from mirror portal, climb down to chamber with beds, decide take rest in chamber, ask spirits for vision, aid in great battle to come...
Unga-Bunga sense Vision Quest soon over, for good or ill...
Our progress in this session was generally good, though we were faced with one vicious curve-ball thrown by the game ...
We started outside Durlag's Tower, having cleared the walls last time. Inside, we gave Riggilo a dodgy present and dealt with his annoyance about that, before heading onto the roof to take down more basilisks.
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Moving on to the Cloakwood, we didn't bother with recovering a bastard sword, but did think Spider's Bane might be handy. Corefighter tried dragging the occupants of Centeol's lair outside a few at a time. More came at once than expected, but we still had a comfortable victory, with no-one being poisoned.
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At the mine, Burdock did a good job against the defending party by blinding Rezdan before sneaking in to stab Kysus - he was shot down by Flydian a moment later. Burdock took Drasus for a run round until Flydian could get there to double-team him, while Corefighter was finishing off Genthore.
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There were no alarms going to the bottom level of the mine. The battle horrors guarding Davaeorn were pulled back individually before Corefighter used a magic blocking potion to attack Davaeorn. He wasn't wearing the boots of speed and didn't manage to close with the mage and was eventually charmed after his potion wore off. That was Davaeorn's final spell though and he was out of luck when resorting to melee combat.
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Arriving at the City, we found as usual Quayle loitering with intent outside the gates. Gate70 tends to take a precautionary principle there by killing him just in case he turns hostile. Corefighter thought he would try that himself, but Burdock used his monk speed to do the dirty deed before Corefighter could get there.
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Early encounters included the ogre mage in the sewers - Corefighter making good use of Spider's Bane there to negate the threat of the carrion crawlers.
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To further improve his axe-swinging skills we then went to find the Mountain Maulers. We found that battle pretty easy, even if poor old Gorpel Hind found it harder going.
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The nearby battle with Degrodel's guards was a bit more problematic, with Corefighter being forced into retreat for a bit there after running out of healing potions. Once inside though, the mage himself was no real threat.
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What seemed like routine progression continued with killing Jalantha and returning a young child to be resurrected. When we moved on to Lothander, however, we discovered his scroll was missing. Returning to the temple confirmed it wasn't there, though it was clearly apparent in the screenshot of Jalantha's death.
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We decided to run with that loss, by aiming to complete the game before Flydian died of poison. That meant there was suddenly more of an incentive than usual to save game time by quick movement - so we went back to Lothander to pick up some boots of speed for Corefighter.
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Rather than fighting at the Iron Throne, Burdock just sneaked in to discover the clues pointing to Candlekeep and we quickly moved on to there - though Flydian by that time was feeling rather worse for wear.
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Corefighter used a scroll of PfM and a storm giant potion to loot the tombs, before putting the scroll to more good use against Prat's gang. He then did a round of the local spider population while the others used a PfP scroll to clear the exit of basilisks.
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Flydian felt that progress had been good and decided to rest to pick up a DUHM. Resting once did trigger a Bhaal power - but it was his second slow poison. However, resting again was successful and Flydian decided not to push his luck by trying for a second DUHM.
We hadn't done Ramazith's Tower earlier and decided to go there to pick up an extra tome and a +2 ring. Burdock was quickly on the case, sneaking upstairs to deal with the mage while the others were engaged below. Rather than wait for him, however, Corefighter and Flydian went to find some ghasts. That proved potentially dangerous when one of them chased Flydian between levels, where hobgoblins made movement difficult - Burdock came back down to help out there.
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Slythe was dispelled by arrow after talking, but was still able to land a couple of hits on Burdock before collapsing. Flydian then encouraged Krystin to kill Quenash, in order to pick up the Cloak of Balduran.
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We visited the local temple to heal up before entering the palace to disrupt the ceremony there. The dopplegangers didn't last long, with both dukes comfortably surviving.
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The session ran out at that point, so we'll have to remember next time not to do too much resting before confronting Sarevok .
Wizard slayer 7, 91 HPs (incl. 5 from helm), 180 kills
Fighter 8, 81 HPs, 185 kills, 0 deaths
Dark moon monk 8, 65 HPs, 102 kills, 1 death
@Grond0 I bought loads of heal potions at the temple, so we shouldn't need to rest. Your character and mine don't have any abilities we need for final battle, we might have to do without a few monk abilities. But we should be able to win with melee/ranged/potions I think. I also have a PfM for me (or you if you need it) to help insure we are not incapacitated during the fight.
I believe that Gorion was disappointed that I grew up to be a Blackguard, that disappointment only being tempered by the fact that I am a follower of Helm and thus honest, if more than a little self-centred and power-hungry.
After the death of Gorion I and Imoen headed for the FAI where we returned Joia's ring and met up with Tarnesh. Tarnesh killed Imoen before being killed by a guard.
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I raised Imoen after which she used her skills to increase our wealth somewhat.
We headed to Beregost where she continued to use her skills and in so doing acquired a cloak for me after which I bade her farewell near to Algernon.
I calmed Marl and took a tome to Firebead after which I reached level 2.
Afdter killing two ogrillon I delivered a letter to Mirianne, after which I found the Colquetle amulet and some ankheg armour.
I turned down 200gp from Oublek and after finding a ring of fire resistance took Samuel to the FAI.
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Then three caravan guards were killed.
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The Colquetle amulet was then returned.
Silke tried to kill me but failed. I killed her.
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I then helped the Dudley family.
Tonder was then returned to human form.
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I tried to help Mellicamp but failed.
Geltik et al were then killed.
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Bassilus cast Rigid Thinking on me and succeeded, but by that time I was out of sight.
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I then killed him and was handsomely rewarded.
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I returned Kessey's pet rabbit.
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Greywolf and then Zargos were killed.
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Zordral and the Amazing Oopah were killed next.
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Nearby I bought a replacement rabbit for Ugh and took it to him.
I made my way to the lighthouse area and killed the sirines charming Arkushule to act as an ally. She helped a lot before being killed. However, having no thief I didn't enter the cave.
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I then headed south, helped Charleston Nib and took Brage to the temple. I am now searching for the merchant who sold the cursed sword. In the process I killed Vax and Zal and reunited Albert and his dog.
Finding the merchant is proving difficult.
After helping Drizzt against the gnolls and killing some half-ogres for Bjornin I am now level 6 and reputation 20.
Dorn joined me and together we killed Kryll. Then Xzar and Montaron joined the party. Now needing one or two clerics, Tenya and Viconia perhaps.
Taking a break from my avenger run after nearly dying in Durlag's Tower level 2 because I was too tired to be sufficiently focused, I decided to continue with another druid run, the one with my shapeshifter Varuca.
BGEE unmodded beside Lefreust UI, insane without double damage
Varuca is an half elf true neutral shapeshifter, currently level 2.
After Gorion's death, she and Imoen decided to avoid roads and to be careful in case of another ambush, so she up north of FAI to meet Ajantis, then passed by High Hedge on her way to Beregost and recruited Kivan.
In Beregost, Silke died and so Varuca could add Garrick to the party.
Going south the Nahskel festival, she freed Branwen which in turn joined our cause.
The party explored the surroundings of the gnolls fortress, save Brage, help Ruffie and Albert, bring a book to Firebead, a scroll to Mirianne, calm down Marl, and bring a necklace to Mr Colqettle.
We also killed another bounty hunter in Nashkel.
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So far I play my shapeshifter like a fighter, and only turn back human before resting for healing spells.
Now that she have 20 HP, she's clearly the best frontliner of the group, 19 strength and 2 APR help a lot early game.
Unga-Bunga climb down ladder, return main temple floor, tell Priest Everard about mirror portal. Unga-Bunga tell Priest Everard Unga-Bunga meditate, ask spirits aid Unga-Bunga. Priest Everard tell Unga-Bunga Priest Everard keep trying bring down glyphs protecting Jerrod's Stone:
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Unga-Bunga wish Priest Everard luck, climb up ladder to rest chamber, sit down next to bed:
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Unga-Bunga take all items from Holding Bags, Potion Bags, Scroll Case, Ammo Bags, lay out before Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga take massive amount peyote, ask spirits guide Unga-Bunga...
Unga-Bunga have vision: Unga-Bunga see Unga-Bunga enter mirror portal, confront Poquelin. Unga-Bunga see Poquelin break Jerrod's Stone, open portal Underworld, summon two Cornugon from portal. Unga-Bunga see flash of light, portal resealed, Unga-Bunga not see how. Unga-Bunga see Poquelin reveal true self as powerful devil from Underworld, steal all Unga-Bunga's protection magics. Unga-Bunga see trapped stones on chamber floor try steal Unga-Bunga's magics. Unga-Bunga see two Iron Golems animate, battle Unga-Bunga with Devil Poquelin, two Corungon.
Unga-Bunga see Iron Golems spew noxious clouds, make Unga-Bunga choke. Unga-Bunga see Cornugon slash Unga-Bunga, make bleeding wound Unga-Bunga not able heal. Unga-Bunga see Devil Poquelin cast dark, infernal magics at Unga-Bunga, wield hellfire, poison, slash at Unga-Bunga with twin swords tall as Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga see battle chamber spin like Wheel of Time, see Unga-Bunga, Poquelin battle for long while until vision fade...
Unga-Bunga wake from vision drenched in sweat, shivering, shuddering. Unga-Bunga know end of Vision Quest at hand...
Unga-Bunga mop sweat from face with cloak, look over items, potions, scrolls, make plan for battle. Unga-Bunga know only spirits Unga-Bunga summon hurt Poquelin, Iron Golems, know elementals, beetles not hurt Poquelin, Iron Golems. Unga-Bunga afraid, know Unga-Bunga must battle alone for long, long while...
Unga-Bunga sit with items, plan for many hours, fall asleep sitting on floor with back against bed...
Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather things, climb ladder to mirror portal. Unga-Bunga stand next to mirror portal, take deep breath, hope battle plan work:
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Unga-Bunga not cast protection magics, know Devil Poquelin steal Unga-Bunga's magics. Unga-Bunga ask spirits for aid, step through mirror portal:
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Unga-Bunga enter circle chamber, like Wheel of Time, see Devil Poquelin standing near Jerrod's Stone. Unga-Bunga challenge Devil Poquelin leave Jerrod's Stone be, battle Unga-Bunga:
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Devil Poquelin tell Unga-Bunga not kill Unga-Bunga so Unga-Bunga see beginning of Devil Poquelin conquest of all Faerun:
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Unga-Bunga see Devil Poquelin turn, face Jerrod's Stone, wield dark magics:
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Devil Poquelin break Jerrod's Stone! Devil Poquelin summon two Cornugon from portal:
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Unga-Bunga afraid, not know how seal portal. Unga-Bunga hear cry from south end of chamber, see Priest Everard charge into chamber, stop short when see portal:
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Unga-Bunga see Priest Everard charge portal, cry out. Unga-Bunga see Cornugon strike Priest Everard, open horrific wounds. Unga-Bunga see Devil Poquelin cast dark magics at Priest Everard, see Priest Everard run past Devil Poquelin, Cornugon, leap into portal, seal Jerrod's Stone once again:
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Unga-Bunga see Devil Poquelin rage, belittle Priest Everard's sacrifice. Unga-Bunga vow not let Priest Everard's sacrifice be in vain, tell Devil Poquelin Unga-Bunga slay Devil Poquelin, complete Vision Quest, return tribe:
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Devil Poquelin reveal true form: Belhifet, Devil of Avernus! Belhifet speak dark magics, try steal Unga-Bunga's magics away, but Unga-Bunga not cast magics before battle, not lose magics:
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Unga-Bunga wear Symbol of Sehanine Moobow into battle, grasp Symbol in hand, cast Find Traps magics. Unga-Bunga able cast Find Traps magics on own but know casting take too much time:
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Unga-Bunga flee to south end of chamber, Belhifet, Iron Golems, Cornugon chase Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga turn east, follow wall of circle chamber, take Oil of Speed from belt, swallow Oil of Speed:
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Unga-Bunga toss flask aside, feel Oil course through body. Unga-Bunga turn north, run round circle chamber. Unga-Bunga wear Boots of Speed to battle, able get space from Belhifet, Golems, Cornugon with Boots of Speed, Oil of Speed. Unga-Bunga run along north side of circle chamber, take powerful throwing knife Unga-Bunga claim from Sahugain temple from belt, throw at Cornugon. Unga-Bunga miss:
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Iron Golems breath noxious clouds in chamber. Unga-Bunga dodge clouds, run between clouds and traps in center of chamber. Unga-Bunga run along western side of circle chamber, take Violet potion from belt (Str 25, Dex 3, Con 3, 24 hours), drink potion. Unga-Bunga feel strong as ox, feel frail, feel body go rigid:
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Unga-Bunga feel great strength, know Iron Golem bigger, easier to hit than Cornugon. Unga-Bunga fling throwing knife at Iron Golem, knife pierce iron, dig into golem, return Unga-Bunga's hand:
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Unga-Bunga run, reverse Wheel of Time, take Potion of Fortitude from belt, drink potion. Unga-Bunga hoard potions over adventure, save for right moment. Unga-Bunga know moment now, Vision Quest at hand:
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Unga-Bunga not feel frail after drink potion. Iron Golems breathe noxious fumes, make clouds over entire north chamber. Unga-Bunga run through clouds choking. Belhifet tire chasing Unga-Bunga, speak dark magics, port next to Unga-Bunga, raise blades:
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Unga-Bunga ask spirits for aid, run past Belhifet, drink Potion of Agility, throw knife at Iron Golem, strike Golem:
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Unga-Bunga run round chamber, come to northern chamber near noxious clouds. Unga-Bunga know only time cast quick magics, cast Protection from Evil, hold breath:
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Unga-Bunga run through noxious cloud, poison burn chest. Unga-Bunga throw knife, strike Golem, see Cornugon run through cloud, Cornugon wince. Unga-Bunga drink healing potion, decide endure pain, lure Cornugon through clouds:
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Unga-Bunga run chamber, drink two Potions of Mind Focusing, make Unga-Bunga smart, deft. Unga-Bunga throw knife with precision, know potions last twelve hours, hope twelve hours long enough:
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Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, drink more potions, read Protection from Fire scroll. Unga-Bunga know magic scroll read quicker than Unga-Bunga cast protection magics. Unga-Bunga drink Potion of Fire Resistance just in time...
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Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, throw knife into Golem many, many times. Belhifet rage, summon Firestorm on Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga wear Remorhaz Helm into battle, helm protect Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga resist spell:
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Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, drink healing potions, throw knife into Golem. Belhifet curse, try hold Unga-Bunga with dark magics, but Unga-Bunga drink Potion of Freedom, resist magics:
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Belhifet try trap Unga-Bunga, port in front of Unga-Bunga, command Iron Golems, Cornugon corner Unga-Bunga:
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Unga-Bunga turn, run into central chamber. Unga-Bunga run between trapped cobbles runed with dispel magics, escape trap. Unga-Bunga very afraid, realize Unga-Bunga forget cast Iron Skins. Unga-Bunga lucky Vision Quest not end with one blow. Unga-Bunga run to eastern side of chamber, cast Iron Skins:
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Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time. Unga-Bunga very weary, throw knife into Golem many, many times:
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Belhifet port many times, try catch Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga run like jackrabbit, leap over blades, duck under blades, escape by skin of teeth many times:
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Unga-Bunga cry out, turn, throw knife into Golem. Golem sputter, fall to cobbles. Unga-Bunga cry out joy, relief, know must battle for many more hours to come:
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Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, throw knife into last Golem many, many times. Belhifet port, try trap Unga-Bunga, nearly catch Unga-Bunga many times but Unga-Bunga escape:
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Unga-Bunga strike Golem many times, catch Golem one last time, Golem crumble to cobbles:
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Unga-Bunga see Belhifet turn, look at golems on cobble, hope Belhifet beginning doubt outcome of battle:
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Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, throw knife at Cornugon. Unga-Bunga not let Cornugon get close Unga-Bunga, know Cornugon cut deep wound, make Unga-Bunga bleed. Unga-Bunga throw knife many, many times, know Cornugon much more agile than Golems, much harder to strike:
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But sometimes Unga-Bunga land great strike, hear Cornugon bellow anger, pain:
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Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time. Belhifet port near Unga-Bunga, swing great blades, but Unga-Bunga duck just in time:
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Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, run many hours. Unga-Bunga turn, throw knife at Cornugon, cry out when Cornugon fall:
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Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, throw knife into last Cornugon many times. Belhifet enraged, speak dark magics, try burn Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga resist darkfire, strike Cornugon mighty blow:
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Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time ever on, ask spirits help carry Unga-Bunga, lighten Unga-Bunga's feet. Unga-Bunga nearly struck by Belhifet but escape:
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Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, hurl knife into Cornugon, see Cornugon fall to cobbles:
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The Wheel of Time stand still. Unga-Bunga turn, face Belhifet. Belhifet rage, leap into air, summon fire onto Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga resist fire:
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Unga-Bunga face Belhifet alone, know not need fear noxious clouds, bleeding wounds. Unga-Bunga race across chamber, try cast protection magics before Belhifet catch Unga-Bunga:
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Belhifet cut into Unga-Bunga's Iron Skins but not hurt Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga race across chamber, summon Earth Elemental:
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Unga-Bunga know now time call spirits aid Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga begin dance, summon spirits to battle while Belhifet battle elemental:
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Belhifet slay many spirits. Unga-Bunga grieve but summon more spirits. Unga-Bunga know even with potions Unga-Bunga not catch Belhifet with knife unless very lucky, afraid Belhifet regenerate. Unga-Bunga know need swarm Belhifet, have many spirits strike as one. Unga-Bunga watch Earth Spirit strike Belhifet:
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Unga-Bunga dance feverishly, blink eyes as swear pour from forehead. Belhifet rage, port away from spirits, but Unga-Bunga know spirits always pursue Belhifet, put selves between Belhifet and Unga-Bunga, make spirit wall:
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Unga-Bunga dance, feel potions wearing off but not stop dance. Belhifet slay spirits by dozen, but spirits sometimes catch Belhifet. Unga-Bunga see Belhifet wounded, implore spirits keep up attack:
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Belhifet port across chamber, spirits chase Belhifet. Unga-Bunga suddenly feel tired, frail, know Potion of Fortitude wear off, make Unga-Bunga vulnerable:
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Unga-Bunga falter in dance, spirits return home. Belhifet laugh, face Unga-Bunga, swing blades:
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Unga-Bunga afraid, begin new dance, summon Earth Spirit. Earth Spirit rumble up to Belhifet, pound Belhifet, lift Unga-Bunga's spirits, make Unga-Bunga cheer!
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Unga-Bunga, Belhifet dance battle of war many hours across chamber. Unga-Bunga know only most powerful spirits able wound Belhifet. Unga-Bunga know not all spirits Unga-Bunga summon most powerful, but Unga-Bunga realize all beings, all spirits have worth, have place and value:
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Unga-Bunga dance many hours, know all but Violet potion fade away. Unga-Bunga legs feel like heavy stones, arms like worn rags, know Unga-Bunga battle Belhifet more than twelve hours. Unga-Bunga dance for life, for Vision Quest, to save all peoples near and far. Unga-Bunga take hope, see Belhifet also worn:
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Unga-Bunga begin tire, dance falter, spriits return home. Unga-Bunga realize Unga-Bunga not able continue dance:
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Unga-Bunga run from Belhifet, drink Oil of Speed. Unga-Bunga overcome with fear, fatigue, rage at Belhifet, hurl knife, land lucky strike!
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Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, mind addled with fatigue, not know what do. Unga-Bunga know not have many potions, try steel heart for one last dance. Unga-Bunga run many hours, sometimes strike Belhifet:
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Belhifet chase Unga-Bunga long while, teleport away. Unga-Bunga realize Belhifet make mistake. Unga-Bunga stop running, begin dance, summon spirits before Belhifet approach Unga-Bunga:
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Unga-Bunga, Belhifet battle across chamber. Earth Spirit strike Belhifet, Unga-Bunga cheer. Unga-Bunga dare have hope, begin believe Unga-Bunga prevail over Belhifet...
In the twenty-first hour of battle Belhifet stumble, fall to cobbles:
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Unga-Bunga collapse to cobbles, hear great noise as ice encasing temple shatter, fall to ground. Spirits surround Unga-Bunga, keep Unga-Bunga from harm before returning home when Unga-Bunga safe.
Unga-Bunga lay on cobbles, pass out, awaken to Easthaven townsfolk approaching Unga-Bunga, staring at Jerrod's Stone. Townsfolk lift Unga-Bunga off cobbles, carry Unga-Bunga to Winter's Cradle tavern basement, try tend Unga-Bunga's wounds...
Unga-Bunga sleep many, many hours before waking. Unga-Bunga leave basement, step outside into open air. Unga-Bunga marvel at adventure Unga-Bunga undertake over last year. Unga-Bunga feel peace in heart, know Vision Quest complete:
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Unga-Bunga see townsfolk emerge from ruined houses, approach Unga-Bunga. Townsfolk thank Unga-Bunga, whisper prayers for Priest Everard, Unga-Bunga ask spirits guide Priest Everard too.
Unga-Bunga return basement, gather things, step outside once more. Unga-Bunga thank townsfolk, wish townsfolk well, tell townsfolk time Unga-Bunga return tribe. Townsfolk embrace Unga-Bunga, not want let Unga-Bunga go. Unga-Bunga patient, let townsfolk slowly give way, let Unga-Bunga leave. Unga-Bunga step onto path leading out of Easthaven village...
As Unga-Bunga approach edge of village, pride swell in Unga-Bunga's heart. Unga-Bunga walk toward rising sun, wonder what might lie on path next. Unga-Bunga's celebrate completion of Vision Quest, pound chest, thrust fist in air!
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Will do a separate summary post when I have time. For now, I'll just say Unga-Bunga and I had a time...
So far I play my shapeshifter like a fighter, and only turn back human before resting for healing spells.
Now that she have 20 HP, she's clearly the best frontliner of the group, 19 strength and 2 APR help a lot early game.
Hopefully can make it to BG 2. An iron-skinned greater werewolf sounds like it could be fun! Or does that not work? Can't remember if buffs stay during shape-shifting.
So far I play my shapeshifter like a fighter, and only turn back human before resting for healing spells.
Now that she have 20 HP, she's clearly the best frontliner of the group, 19 strength and 2 APR help a lot early game.
Hopefully can make it to BG 2. An iron-skinned greater werewolf sounds like it could be fun! Or does that not work? Can't remember if buffs stay during shape-shifting.
I'm pretty sure buffs stay in werewolf forms.
Thanks for support, i'm almost level 5 now, just recruited Baeloth instead of Garrick and preparing to go to Cloakwood.
Before thinking of BG2, I fear SoD, where all my previous no reload attempts failed.
I didn't knew SoD enough last time, since then I did some completionnist runs and should do better there.
Comments
Just another short update: Fought my way through De'Arnise keep. The trolls hit hard, but rotating my frontline fighters and healing them up from time to time allowed me to get through the place with only resting once. For the yuan-ti mage, I used Keldorn's inquisitor dispel magic to get rid of his buffs:
Previous updates:
In the event I did manage another quick session today (unfortunately). That saw exploration in the City including:
- a first use of darts of stunning to acquire a necklace of missiles.
- dragging inhabitants of Ramazith's tower outside where spirits could easily gobble them.
- sorting out a basilisk using horror followed by nymph hold monster.
- using Spirit Fire on Jalantha before nymphs sorted out Lothander and Marek.
- killing Ragefast to get a cloak to boost charisma to 20 (prompting a spending spree).
- new acquisitions included the dagger of venom, that turned the dopplegangers at the Seven Suns green with envy.
- most of the Iron Throne party were lured downstairs into ambush, before the last couple died to area damage.
- picked up the Helm of Balduran before lightning did the main damage against Degrodel's guards on the way to getting the Cloak of Balduran.
I remembered to pick up the violet potion before reporting for duty back at Candlekeep. Lightning protection made looting the tombs there easier than usual. Prat failed to see me running past him, allowing me to recruit an army of nymphs to deal with his party. I attempted to deal with the basilisks using horror and stunning darts, but Bhaal horror only lasts 4 rounds and I failed to stun the second one in time - and had to resort to using a potion before it could focus its gaze.
After resting for a second DUHM I bought up some expensive arrows and commenced the final encounters. Slythe was drawn away from his partner, shot with a dispelling arrow and held. At the palace one doppleganger was panicked by horror, while others were confused and both dukes survived. After working through the maze, I bypassed the Undercity party to get into the temple. Sarevok was activated with a dispelling arrow then evaded behind a pillar, leaving Semaj to teleport out on his own. He killed a single nymph before dying in a bunch of Fogs. Sarevok was then pulled out and doomed, but still survived a number of hold attempts from the remaining pair of nymphs available. I started running round shooting him, but didn't check the status of my lightning protection ...
No trouble dealing with the slavers - access to insect plague, chaos and transmuter slow takes down pretty much any humanoid party at this level:
Instead of entering the temple ruins, I decided to do the Imnesvale sidequests and travel back to Athkatla in order to get the Harper plot and Nalia's kidnapping started. I got a bit distracted by sidequests, completed the Ployer curse and ended up doing most of the non stronghold-related sidequests and encounters in the city. For easier battles, this just involved PfE 10' radius and slow to turn any odds in my favor, for serious opponents I added chaos, insect plague, holy smite, a bunch of magic missles and combat buffs (mostly chant, bless, the holy power + DUHM + righteous magic + righteous magic, sometimes ghost armor, mirror image and blur) - also true sight if needed, though I don't use inquisitor dispel all that much, mostly because it takes down my own buffs. Forest beings and skeletons, sometimes fire elementals, were also helpful - Mencar stood no chance:
The only time my party got into low hitpoints was when getting Kitthix - everyone was already exhausted, I had basically no buffs left, and Nalia used her fireball to kill the spiders which dealt huge damage to my own crew as well - still, this was just friendly fire and a calculated risk:
I'm at 600k experience right now, which is right where I was when I imported my party from my previous run from SoD - so, the difference is actually pretty big - this is after 2 stronghold quests and all minor Athkatla sidequests plus some additional encounters. I thought I would be mostly caught up after a single stronghold quest.
Temple ruins were rather straightforward, with fire elementals doing most of the work until the shade lord died to a quick assault:
Rayic Gethras was breached and killed, Mae'var dealt with and another quest finished:
I wasn't buffed when facing the halfling spellcasters, as they approached me from rather far away. As they had spell protections and combat protections up and I wouldn't have the time to breach both of them before they would unleash their spells upon my unprotected party, I decided to cast a death fog in their direction, which did wonders in interrupting their spellcasting:
Next up, and our final piece of content in chapter 3: The Unseeing Eye
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184998#Comment_1184998
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185119#Comment_1185119
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185133#Comment_1185133
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185145#Comment_1185145
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185255#Comment_1185255
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185316#Comment_1185316
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185380#Comment_1185380
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185418#Comment_1185418
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185581#Comment_1185581
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185693#Comment_1185693
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185730#Comment_1185730
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185847#Comment_1185847
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185972#Comment_1185972
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186115#Comment_1186115
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186205#Comment_1186205
Unga-Bunga rest in Hobart shack, gather things, enter castle. Unga-Bunga use key from Maluradek, open door to dungeons, go down stair to first level dungeon. Unga-Bunga see gate, two levers. Unga-Bunga peek through slots in gate, see many prison cells. Unga-Bunga hear grunting, piercing cries, think monsters in cells:
Unga-Bunga pull levers, see gate open, prison cells open. Unga-Bunga watch Wyverns, Unber Hulks, Trolls, Minotaurs, Neo-Orog Marauders, and Red Myconids battle. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, watch battle, cheer for death to all:
After long battle only Wyverns, Minotaurs left. Unga-Bunga summon elemental, sneak up on Wyverns, Minotaurs battling elemental, blind foes with nature magics:
Unga-Bunga, elementals battle minotaurs, wyverns down. Unga-Bunga gather treasures, find stairway to second level dungeon. Unga-Bunga walk narrow passageway leading to large chamber. Unga-Bunga see four prison cells in chamber, not see lever. Unga-Bunga summon elemental, approach gate, gate break down, Beholder charge Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga run around corner of chamber, hide from Beholder rays:
Unga-Bunga slay Beholders in all four cells, blind with nature magics, Static Charge beholders, let elementals pummel Beholders:
Unga-Bunga see west, east passageways from chamber, see door to north. Unga-Bunga approach door:
Door tell Unga-Bunga need two heads with no eyes, two mouths but no voice to open door. Unga-Bunga get angry, count ten again:
Unga-Bunga search east passage from chamber, battle many Spectral Guards:
Unga-Bunga find dead body behind gate. Unga-Bunga take skull from body, think skull head but no eyes, mouth but no voice.
Unga-Bunga dust off skull, put in bag:
Unga-Bunga search west passage from chamber, battle wyverns, many Spectral Undead. Unga-Bunga like blinding things with nature magics:
Unga-Bunga find corpse behind gate again, take skull, bring skulls to Door. Door say Unga-Bunga pass Door now:
Unga-Bunga sleepy, want rest in Hobart shack, go back to first level dungeon. Unga-Bunga find all hells break loose:
Unga-Bunga notice many empty cells in second level dungeon, wonder how monsters got to first level dungeon. Unga-Bunga shrug, clean up first level dungeon:
Unga-Bunga rest in Hobart shack, return castle, take stair to third level dungeon. Unga-Bunga see gate, lever, toss Pixie Dust, move lever. Unga-Bunga see gate open, Luremaster Bard in chamber. Unga-Bunga approach Luremaster Bard, not see Olive Slime hoard until talk Luremaster. Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga Luremaster died in chamber:
Luremaster tell Unga-Bunga poem, want Unga-Bunga escape room, battle Luremaster, Spectres, give Luremaster, Spectres rest:
Luremaster point at gate behind Unga-Bunga, seal gate:
Unga-Bunga see Luremaster port away, left in chamber with olive slimes. Olive Slimes not see Unga-Bunga under Pixie Dust.
Unga-Bunga see three doors in chamber: west, north, and east:
Unga-Bunga try north door, door locked. Unga-Bunga bash door, knock off Pixie Dust, olive slimes attack Unga-Bunga but olive slimes slow. Unga-Bunga break down door, go inside room, cast Static Charge. Static Charge not hurt slimes:
Unga-Bunga watch slimes try attack Unga-Bunga but slimes not fit doorway. Unga-Bunga throw axe, not hurt slimes. Unga-Bunga remember axe kill Maladurek, take axe from Holding Bag, poke at slimes with axe:
Unga-Bunga slowly battle down slimes over hours. Once slimes dead, Unga-Bunga try east door, find more slimes, Slime Zombie. Unga-Bunga run back north room, cast elemental magics on slimes:
Unga-Bunga run out elemental magics, hack slimes with axe. Unga-Bunga tired, not remember Slime Zombie hurt by axe, look up, see Slime Zombie attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga run further into room, spy secret door on east wall, battle zombie down:
Unga-Bunga finally battle zombies, slimes down. Unga-Bunga try west door, door locked, not able break door. Unga-Bunga go to south gate, see lever behind gate. Unga-Bunga not able pull lever, know Unga-Bunga trapped in dungeon:
Unga-Bunga hope way out dungeon further in dungeon, toss Pixie Dust, find passage to fourth level dungeon. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, rest third level dungeon, gather things, take passage to fourth level dungeon...
Mist (female human inquisitor, Grond0); Trile (female elf mage, Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1182126/#Comment_1182126
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1183183/#Comment_1183183
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1183542/#Comment_1183542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184320/#Comment_1184320
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184421/#Comment_1184421
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184654/#Comment_1184654
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184911/#Comment_1184911
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185115/#Comment_1185115
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185739/#Comment_1185739
- Illasera lasted only a few moments and her Black Reavers made a run for it as soon as she went down.
- There were no problems with the first Pocket Plane Challenge, with Bodhi being destroyed by the iMoD while her cronies struggled briefly with a planetar.
- A few tasks in Saradush were completed before Mist attempted to hook up with a female courtesan. She was rebuffed, but a nearby male was more willing to try and suck her dry on the way into Gromnir's palace.
- Despite inquisitor dispel, both of Gromnir's mages lasted long enough to cast timestops, but failed to do anything with them and died in a wilting.
- In the Forest of Myr, Trile was chased round for a bit by vampiric wraiths until Mist could take them down. The Master Wraith was another destroyed undead.
- The lower floor of the Fire Giant Temple went pretty smoothly. Mist was buffed with fire protection, so that fire damage healed her and she could quickly recover damage by standing in lava. There was though a warning sign upstairs when she was tempted to attack in melee an elite fire giant which went berserk at near death. Two quick hits on her left her dangerously low on HPs and she withdrew.
- Yaga-Shura was already close to dying from a GWW when Trile finished him off with a wilting. That provided Mist with a level and she stupidly took a level in mace to be able to use the iMoD more effectively - just as Trile handed the superior Runehammer to her
- The Oasis was quickly cleared with the help of another planetar.
- At Amkethran an unintended dialogue chose meant the monks in the cave left without fighting. The merchant also disappeared, but Mist was able to purchase the Gargoyle Boots before he went.
- Moving on the Sendai's Enclave, Mist initially intended just to kill the Woodcutter before going invisible and heading for the enclave proper. That meant she didn't bother with any defenses, like hardiness. Those weren't needed for the Woodcutter, as he collapsed under a GWW. However, Mist then changed her mind and decided to stick around to fight the other local drow. They're decent fighters though and she soon took severe damage. She'd decided to withdraw and was in the act of turning to run, when a drow assassin tagged her with a backstab ...
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184998#Comment_1184998
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185119#Comment_1185119
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185133#Comment_1185133
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185145#Comment_1185145
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185255#Comment_1185255
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185316#Comment_1185316
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185380#Comment_1185380
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185418#Comment_1185418
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185581#Comment_1185581
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185693#Comment_1185693
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185730#Comment_1185730
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185847#Comment_1185847
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185972#Comment_1185972
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186115#Comment_1186115
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186205#Comment_1186205
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186384#Comment_1186384
Unga-Bunga follow north passage, spy traps in passage, not able disarm traps. Unga-Bunga cast protection magics, take deep breath, step on traps:
Traps make loud noises. Unga-Bunga see Jackal Shaman come round corner, Jackal Shaman not see Unga-Bunga through Pixie Dust. Unga-Bunga rush past Jackal Shaman, set off traps before Jackal Shaman see Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga summon elementals, battle Jackal Shaman, Greater Jackals, Jackal Warriors. Jackals make elementals sleep with gaze, Unga-Bunga cast protection magics, protect from sleep:
Unga-Bunga, elementals battle jackals down. Unga-Bunga see cave opening in cavern wall, enter cave, see spider horde. Unga-Bunga summon beetles, battle spiders. Unga-Bunga see Stone Nuisances come round corner, cast missiles Unga-Bunga. Stone Nuisances resist Unga-Bunga magics, make Unga-Bunga angry:
Unga-Bunga, beetles, elementals slowly battle spiders, Stone Nuisances down. Unga-Bunga find emerald gem in chest, Earth altar in cave:
Unga-Bunga put emerald gem in bag, leave cave, explore main cavern. Unga-Bunga find another cave, enter cave, see Minotaur. Minotaur beg Unga-Bunga not kill Minotaur, run off into cave:
Unga-Bunga think Minotaur think Unga-Bunga stupid. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, summon elemental hoard, explore cave, find Minotaur Horde, Stone Nuisances:
Unga-Bunga command elementals hold off Minotaurs, cast nature magics, blind Minotaurs. Stone Nuisances resist Unga-Bunga magic. Unga-Bunga think Stone Nuisances more than nuisance:
Unga-Bunga leave some elementals behind Unga-Bunga, protect from ambush. Unga-Bunga hear elementals battle Minotaurs, blind ambushing Minotaurs:
Unga-Bunga find Heaven altar, runed chest. Runes say Seasons Change All That We Know:
Unga-Bunga have hunch, take gems find on altars from bag, put gems in runed chest. Gems sparkle, disappear:
Unga-Bunga return altars where find gems, find better gems:
Unga-Bunga not sure if gems help Unga-Bunga escape dungeon. Unga-Bunga shrug, put gems in bag, return main cavern, toss Pixie Dust, head south. Unga-Bunga feel power in air, pulsing underground. Unga-Bunga see ring of standing stones surrounded by Jackal Shamans, Jackal Warriors, hordes of bats, two Summoner Mages.
Unga-Bunga watch, plan battle, see Summoner Mages cast summoning magics, summon Glabrezu. Glabrezu see Unga-Bunga under Pixie Dust, attack Unga-Bunga!
Unga-Bunga summon elementals, beetles, summon Plague Swarms, Spike Stones. Unga-Bunga try kill Summoner Mages before summon more Glabrezu:
Beetles not hold off Glabrezu, force Unga-Bunga retreat. Unga-Bunga chased by Greater Jackals, Glabrezu:
Glabrezu strong, resist most Unga-Bunga magics. Unga-Bunga summon more beetles, finally blind Glabrezu with nature magics. Unga-Bunga summon spirits, finally beat down Glabrezu, Jackals, return standing stones. Unga-Bunga, spirits slay remaining Glabrezu, Greater Jackals:
Unga-Bunga beat chest some, search around standing stones. Unga-Bunga find blind Jackal Shaman cowering in corner, search Jackal things, find parchment:
Unga-Bunga read parchment, parchment say Master take gems from portal, scratch gems, hide gems in dungeon. Parchment say need restore gems, bring gems to portal, escape Master. Unga-Bunga think Luremaster Master, think gems part of Luremaster game. Unga-Bunga still not sure why spirits have Unga-Bunga battle Luremaster for vision quest but Unga-Bunga not argue spirits.
Unga-Bunga put parchment in bag, search southern end of cavern, find cave. Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, enter cave, see Jackals, Greater Jackals, Jackal Shaman, Stone Nuisances guarding altar, chest:
Unga-Bunga summon elementals, cast nature magics, blind all but Stone Nuisances:
Unga-Bunga summon Spike Growth, spirits, slay all Jackals, Stone Nuisances. Stone Nuisances hard kill, think should call Stone Nightmares:
Unga-Bunga find Flawed Agate Gem in chest, bring gem Changing Chest, find Flawless Sunstone Gem in altar:
Unga-Bunga search southern chamber, go back north, take east passage. Unga-Bunga ambushed by many Shamblers, blind Shamblers with nature magics, kill Shamblers with throwing axe. Unga-Bunga's arm feel like noodle:
Unga-Bunga about return third level dungeon to rest, see Greater Jackal camping in nook in wall. Greater Jackal see Unga-Bunga, not attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga talk Greater Jackal. Greater Jackal say Greater Jackal name Rikasha:
Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga Rikasha retired Jackal warrior, ask Unga-Bunga about playing Luremaster game, say Unga-Bunga brought by Halfling Hobart:
Unga-Bunga tell Rikasha Unga-Bunga brought by Hobart. Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga Hobart lackey of Luremaster, say not trust Hobart. Unga-Bunga ask Rikasha about Luremaster. Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga Luremaster absolute ruler of Castle Maluradek, dungeons, say everyone else prisoners, slaves, servants:
Unga-Bunga ask Rikasha which one Rikasha. Rikasha say Rikasha each one at one point. Unga-Bunga think Rikasha smart, like Rikasha, especially since Rikasha not attack Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga ask Rikasha if know way out caverns. Rikasha say Jackals once lived above ground, great earthquake swallowed city, buried Jackals beneath surface. Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga Jackals build portal to surface, take many, many years. Rikasha say while portal built, humans settle on old Jackal city site, drive Jackals back underground when finally use portal:
Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga Luremaster take portal gems, scratch gems, hide gems around caverns. Unga-Bunga show Rikasha parchment found near standing stones, Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga parchment written by Jackal Shaman, say Unga-Bunga trust parchment. Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga portal at Jackal Temple on lake to east:
Unga-Bunga very weary but smile, think Unga-Bunga close to escaping Anauroch desert, close to freedom from Luremaster, Hobart. Rikasha say Rikasha watch Unga-Bunga rest, keep Unga-Bunga safe. Unga-Bunga thank Rikasha, rest with one eye open just in case.
Unga-Bunga wake, gather things, wave to Rikasha, follow passage south. Unga-Bunga approach southern cavern wall, find Jackal camp cut in half by underground stream:
Unga-Bunga summon elemental across stream, lure all Jackals across stone crossing. Unga-Bunga summon elemental on stone crossing, command elemental guard crossing, summon Spike Stones on all:
Unga-Bunga find cave opening, toss Pixie Dust, enter cave, see many harpies. Unga-Bunga afraid, remember Harpy wail stun Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga cast all protection magics:
Unga-Bunga think more Harpies down western passage in cave, summon elementals, wait see if more Harpies come. Unga-Bunga right, massive horde of Harpies, Fiendish Harpies, Infernal Harpies come. Infernal Harpies cast evil magics, make Unga-Bunga afraid:
Cave chamber fill to bursting with Harpies. Unga-Bunga know elementals not kill Harpies, shake off Pixie Dust, try blind Harpies with nature magics:
Unga-Bunga not able reach all harpies with magics, some harpies attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga cast Iron Skins, try blind more Harpies, hope Harpies not stun Unga-Bunga with wailing:
Unga-Bunga move away from blinded Harpies, cast Static Chrage, Spike Stones, summon spirits, take vengeance on dreaded Harpies:
Unga-Bunga, spirits finally slay harpies. Unga-Bunga search further into cavern, battle Stone Nuisances, take gem from altar:
Unga-Bunga return Rikasha, take rest, go back to Jackal camp, take eastern passage. Passage turn north, Unga-Bunga see Jackal Temple on lake, see many, many Jackal Warriors, Greater Jackals, Jackal Shaman, and Summoner mage. Unga-Bunga sneak near temple, know need slay Summoner mage quick, summon elemental near Summoner mage. Unga-Bunga hide near Jackal Shaman, not want Shaman dispel Unga-Bunga magics:
Unga-Bunga try blind Jackals, overwhelmed by Jackals. Unga-Bunga blind some Jackals, retreat from temple, chased by many Jackals:
Unga-Bunga retreat narrow cave passage, cast Static Charge, summon spirits defend passage:
Unga-Bunga, spirits slay Jackals. Unga-Bunga return temple, slay blinded Jackals:
Unga-Bunga beat chest many minutes, return Rikasha, take rest. After rest, Unga-Bunga gather things, return temple, take north passage battle down spiders, find cave opening:
Unga-Bunga enter cave, battle down large sleuth of Dire Bears:
Unga-Bunga go further into cave, see Stone Nuisances guarding altar. Unga-Bunga claim last portal gem, summon elementals, battle down Stone Nuisances:
Unga-Bunga take gems from bag, count five Flawless Gems, remember five-pointed rune on wall in Castle Maluradek. Unga-Bunga return Rikasha, take rest...
Next day, Unga-Bunga gather things, tell Rikasha Unga-Bunga try activate Jackal Portal, ask if Rikasha want join Unga-Bunga. Rikasha tell Unga-Bunga Rikasha too old journey, wish Unga-Bunga well. Unga-Bunga thank Rikasha, return Jackal Temple:
Unga-Bunga study runes near slots in temple floor, place gems according to runes:
Unga-Bunga place last gem, feel temple stone tremble, see temple symbol illuminate, see portal open:
Unga-Bunga take step back, prepare enter portal, confront Luremaster for last time...
We made our way to the eyeless and used Balduran's Shield against any beholders we met. Still low levels, so no lich spawn and rather small beholder groups, making these areas rather easy to progress through - didn't even meet any yuan-ti mages. I buffed for the blind priest battle:
Finally, since quite a bit of time had passed, I decided to try and rest outside in order to trigger the final encounter of the harper plot - we got there, using greater malison, chaos and slow to turn the tides:
Flydian - dwarf wizard slayer (Grond0)
Corefighter - dwarf fighter (Corey_Russell)
Burdock - human dark moon monk (Gate70)
Previous updates
Then it was off to the coast to find some sirines. Flydian looked in his case for a potion of clarity, but couldn't find it and, looking up found that Corefighter had already quaffed it and was standing in the middle of the first group - who didn't last long. The second group proved more troublesome when they charmed Flydian (Corefighter asking a bit plaintively why he couldn't have stayed out of melee) and then Burdock, but that was only a temporary hiccup.
Turning to the Nashkel Mine we breezed through there to find Mulahey, who was blinded before calling in his reinforcements.
Wizard slayer 6, 75 HPs, 115 kills
Fighter 6, 55 HPs, 108 kills, 0 deaths
Dark moon monk, 54 HPs, 77 kills, 1 death
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184998#Comment_1184998
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185119#Comment_1185119
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185133#Comment_1185133
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185145#Comment_1185145
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185255#Comment_1185255
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185316#Comment_1185316
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185380#Comment_1185380
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185418#Comment_1185418
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185581#Comment_1185581
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185693#Comment_1185693
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185730#Comment_1185730
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185847#Comment_1185847
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185972#Comment_1185972
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186115#Comment_1186115
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186205#Comment_1186205
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186384#Comment_1186384
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186417#Comment_1186417
Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, cast all protection magics, step through portal. Unga-Bunga ported to castle throne room, confronted by Luremaster. Luremaster say Unga-Bunga strongest of all who've tried escape castle:
Luremaster ask Unga-Bunga best Luremaster, Spectres in great battle, free Unga-Bunga through victory:
Luremaster shout battle cry, port Spectral Heroes into throne room, port away:
Spectral Heroes rush Unga-Bunga, not attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga think Spectral Heroes not see Unga-Bunga under Pixie Dust, summon elemental:
Unga-Bunga watch Spectral Heroes rush elemental. Luremaster port more Spectral Heroes into hall. Unga-Bunga recognize Wizard Criek of Bane, Criek's henchmen:
Unga-Bunga know Criek of Bane want dispel foes, make plan. Unga-Bunga move away from elemental, let Criek of Bane dispel elemental, other Spectral Heroes attack elemental:
Unga-Bunga rush toward Spectral Heroes battling elemental, cast nature magics, blind all Spectral Heroes:
Unga-Bunga command elemental move away, attack Blind Criek of Bane, cast Static Charge. Luremaster port behind Unga-Bunga, dispel Unga-Bunga's protection magics:
Unga-Bunga summon elemental, command elemental attack Luremaster. Luremaster port away, cast Feeblemind, make elemental useless, cast Lightning Bolt at other elemental:
Luremaster port away. Unga-Bunga summon spirits, battle down Blind Criek of Bane, begin battle other Spectral Heroes:
Unga-Bunga approach other Spectral Heroes. Cleric Spectres cast great magics: Firestorm, Dispel Magic, Cloud of Pestilence:
Unga-Bunga think battle long battle, want save magics. Unga-Bunga dance, summon more spirits, slowly battle Spectral Heroes down:
Unga-Bunga look around, not see Luremaster. Unga-Bunga summon elemental, toss Pixie Dust elemental, Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga search throne room for Luremaster, see hidden compartment in throne. Unga-Bunga afraid trap, keep searching for Luremaster:
Unga-Bunga, elemental approach southeast corner of throne room. Luremaster port in, cast Magic Missile elemental, port away when elemental attack Luremaster:
Unga-Bunga get angry, not know how kill Luremaster, try make plan. Unga-Bunga try rush Luremaster when Luremaster attack elemental, cast nature magics, try blind Luremaster. Unga-Bunga try but Luremaster port away too fast:
Unga-Bunga, elemental search for Luremaster, Unga-Bunga try blind Luremaster again, Luremaster too fast, port away:
Luremaster keep avoiding Unga-Bunga, cast magics at elemental, Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga get very angry, count ten many times:
Unga-Bunga near run out blinding magics, rush Luremaster, cast blinding magics, finally blind Luremaster!:
Unga-Bunga command elemental attack Luremaster. Luremaster cast magics at elemental. Unga-Bunga think elemental get too close Luremaster:
After Luremaster port away, Unga-Bunga command elemental not attack Luremaster. Unga-Bunga creep near Blind Luremaster, command elements, cast elemental magics at Luremaster:
Unga-Bunga summon six Spike Growth magics, maybe four Spike Stone magics. Luremaster not fall:
Unga-Bunga count at least 800 damage on Luremaster easily, feel like Apollo Creed fighting Rocky Balboa, not believe Luremaster not go down. Unga-Bunga out of combat magics, hurl throwing axe at Luremaster, let Static Charge hit Luremaster:
Unga-Bunga count another 700 damage, wonder if Luremaster part troll. Unga-Bunga look for fire dagger in bag, approach Luremaster. Luremaster admit Luremaster defeated. Unga-Bunga think Luremaster wanted Unga-Bunga approach Luremaster before Luremaster give up ghost:
Luremaster praise Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga not mind praise, think Unga-Bunga axe hit Luremaster so hard Luremaster see double, keep calling Unga-Bunga "Heroes":
Unga-Bunga watch Luremaster go silent, fade away. Unga-Bunga search throne room, find ring in throne compartment:
Unga-Bunga take ring, leave castle, return Hobart shack, Hobart not in shack. Unga-Bunga look at ring, think ring look like ring Hobart use to port Unga-Bunga Castle Maluradek:
Unga-Bunga put on ring, use ring power, port from Anauroch desert back to Lonelywood Village Inn:
Unga-Bunga holler, beat chest, celebrate part completion of Vision Quest. But Unga-Bunga know Vision Quest not yet done, decide rest inn, travel barbarian camp next day, sail Sea of Moving Ice for Island of Great Wyrm Tribe. Unga-Bunga hunt Icasaracht, Matriarch of all Wyrms of the North...
Not many screenshots here, but I made my way through Spellhold today - Perth failed to deal with a mass invisibility opener:
Previous
We clear another Priestess with no issue, though there's no lovely Cloak of Reflection to be had; SCS moves it elsewhere. The remainder of the City goes smoothly as well, the most noteworthy occurences being several random drops of genuinely useful scrolls: Spell Deflection, Death Spell, Pierce Magic. Nice.
We side with the Prince and have at King Ixilthetocal... who actually pops a Whirlwind Attack. That could've been bad news for Minsc, but thankfully the King drops almost immediately.
We finish by killing the Prince (gaining little but the Wave Blade and a low-value gem...) as well as the handful of Rebel Sauhagin. Several rests later owing to setting up contingencies, the party descends into the Underdark proper. Careful now, one wrong move could mean the end...
We tackle the Drow party by the Soul Gem first. I think the rationale was that attacking the three Mind Flayers could draw in the Myconids, who would in turn trundle past the Drow on their way to attack us, which would of course draw the Drow in (yeah, allegiances for Call For Help are weird). Not sure that's what would've happened, but didn't feel like risking it.
Anyway, Anomen actually has a single L7 slot available now, so the Drow are treated to Firestorm; they have no real way to counter even after they find us, since we're immune to almost everything thanks to buffs (and 5 out of 6 party members can protect those buffs).
In notable contrast, the Mind Flayers definitely can and do counter. We have no one that can cast Protection from Magical Energy yet (and even if we did, that's a 6th level arcane spell, so it's not like we could cover even half the party), so Detonate hurts. Moreover, there's no way at all to protect from their instant-cast ranged no-save blunt damage attacks for 25-40 damage a pop. Per Mind Flayer. Every 2 rounds.
We'll have the lack of pleasure of dealing with this again in the near future, but for now, we head for the Soul Gem and do the easier encounters: Madman Aganalo (Jhor the Bleeder +2 being nice for Amarande at the moment, though we'll upgrade again fairly soon), Riti for the Improved Haste scroll, and even Raevilin Strathi... yes, though a high-level Mage, he's still much easier than a Lich.
I kicked myself thoroughly afterwards, because I misclicked when moving the scrolls, and accidentally had Amarande scribe Summon Efreeti (without potions to buff intelligence) rather than just handing Imoen the scroll. Thankfully he succeeded, but it will be a long time before he can cast that. Oh well.
North to the Swirfneblin village. Properly prepared, the Balor isn't a problem (SI: A, Death Ward, PfFire, CC); Amarande takes it single-handedly. Almost.
So the plan is basically to do everything possible before heading into Ust Natha. So, let's help Vithal. We keep our distance slightly during the Earth gate, since the Greater Earth Elemental leads with an Earthquake. Other than that, things go well enough, and we get a few extra spell scrolls out of the deal with Vithal. A LOT of extra spell scrolls actually: Jan got Cat's Grace/Luck, and popped a Potion of Master Thievery. The resulting Pick Pocket score of (I think) 140 allowed him to rob Vithal blind before the latter teleported out. Poor Vithal's going to be quite upset when he checks his pockets... but we're the opposite of upset: Incendiary Cloud, Time Stop, Wail of the Banshee (meh), and Death Spell Hat! Nice haul.
Oh, that Dimension Door graphic near Jaheira? Yes, that's of course respawned Mind Flayers popping in to help their erstwhile allies, the Air Elementals. Sigh. We scramble and somehow manage a defense (CC on a few, II on some others, Berserk on Minsc, all to get better saves/psionics immunity), but yet again the completely irresistable ranged blunt damage almost kills us. Only almost.
Amarande survived only because they're limited to Ballistic Attack once every two rounds. That bit of horror over with, we easily clear the Kuo-toans guarding the bridge to the south, as well as the second Drow War party (who are quite a lot less threatening than the first). Alright, let's do the undeniably easiest lair first: Kuo-toans.
The inexplicable Beholder and two attendant Gauths just get Skeleton'd: Anomen has the 9HD version now, which is basically magic immune. With every Skeleton Warrior easily having survived, we send them against the Kuo-toans to the north, backed up by a few Cloudkills. Goes as well as you'd expect: Half the dungeon comes running in response to the Calls for Help, but that's fine. The Prince falls once his cronies are down and we can focus on him, and we even get some nice random scroll luck: Another Improved Haste as well as Protection from Magical Energy.
While in the area, we sneak a peek at the gate-guarding Drow using Farsight. One Thief (hidden), one Mage, two (presumably) Priestesses, two Warriors, two Stone Golems, two Glabrezu. We can handle that, but not without a full set of spells. The reason we must handle it is because Adalon is notoriously sloppy when dropping you off here, so it's better to just kill the guardians ahead of time (and much safer).
Though we do still have spells remaining for the Death Knights. Same cavalcade as usual: Buff protection, CC, DW, PfF. Amarande is joined by Jaheira: She now has ++ in Spear and is wielding the Impaler +3. She's actually devastatingly effective with a simple Strength spell, since unlike Minsc she can (twice per rest) protect her buffs, and enemies tend to ignore her if she has Iron Skins up. Though in this instance she's running Club of Meteoric Iron, owing to the rather massive damage boost it gets against unnatural creatures. Really, she'd be quite impressive if her (for a long, long time) limited number of high level spell slots weren't always by necessity dedicated to DW/CC/WR.
Armor of the Hart +3 goes to Jaheira (Minsc is using Cloak of Protection +2 to help his abysmal saves), Girdle of Frost Giant Strength goes to Amarande, and the two-handed sword goes to the scrap heap, since Minsc has the wrong alignment.
Alright! We head for a rest, then return to clean out the Drow party. Turns out one of the Drow I thought was a Warrior was actually a Mage too.. or possibly a Fighter/Mage, but anyway. The fight is actually quite difficult: We reasonably swiftly take down the two Glabrezu, but this gives the enemy casters time to tear away at our defenses, and they keep refreshing their own. Being mere L12 Mages themselves, SI:A for Amarande and Jan doesn't last long. Once down, they're both vulnerable to Remove Magic, and the Drow Wizard lucked out in that he was able to get rid of Amarande's Protection from Cold. With potentially devastating consequences:
That sneaky bugger held onto his Spell Trigger until he was almost dead (he dropped within a round after that screenshot). With maximally bad luck that could've actually ended the run, but as it was Amarande just quaffed a healing potion and carried on. Phew. Not much loot to be had aside from the Archer's Eyes either. We compensate by having Imoen do a few Limited Wish: Gems, more Glasses of Identification, Full Plate Mail +2 (for Anomen) and some Golems for target practice.
Almost ready to tackle the two big lairs, but first: Alchra Diagott remains alive. Or dead. Well, he still exists on this plane: Let's remedy that. Alchra obliges by burning himself to a crisp (we tore down his protections and he's actually not immune to fire damage, so his own Incendiary Cloud did him in).
This was after he popped both Dragon's Breath and Comet on our unsuspecting summons. Seems a bit much for two scrolls of consequence (Spell Turning, Delayed Blast Fireball), but fine.
OK, let's do the one that will drive me up the wall first: Illithids. The east side of the city goes fine (there's at most three simultaneous Mind Flayers here). West side, less swimmingly: First room looks like this.
And the end result looks like this:
So, what happened? Irresistible no-save ranged 40ish blunt damage every two rounds from every Mind Flayer happened, interspersed with 20ish area-of-effect no-save magical damage every two rounds, also from every Mind Flayer. They took one look at our summons and basically scoffed, then started teleporting everywhere, killing at will, with us having absolutely zero recourse except just spamming healing potions. Yes, I'm fuming.
So, we HAD enough CC for two full buff rounds, but now we had to spend a WR to get Minsc and Jan back up: Amarande has to resort to engaging a few Illithids under a Potion of Invulnerability (works fine, he's got nice saves to start with). In fact, we end up wasting four such potions: I did a Farsight and saw no Illithids at all in the Staff of Command room, so figured they had just teleported in to help the big room we had trouble with, leaving a lone Umber Hulk stranded. No such luck, so had to take preventative measures in case they started teleporting around (which they didn't).
We clear the remainder (really, there's just the room with a few prisoners) before engaging the Master Brain. Whom I forgot has Remove Magic. Well, it's called Psionic Disjunction, but that's not fooling anyone. For a moment, things had the potential to turn ugly, but Amarande is swiftly Mazed, leaving the rest of the party free to deal with the Brain and its lone dangerous Illithid attendant (Golems and Umber Hulks are no threat).
Ugh. That was not much fun. Killing the Githyanki on our way back to the Swirfneblin village is like a holiday in comparison: They're not even virtually magic immune, dealing 55-60 ranged damage every two rounds, teleporting at will, turning Improved Invisible at will, attacking four times a round and draining 5 intelligence per hit whilst having 50% physical damage resistance... How exactly are these guys even contenders compared to Illithids?
Beholders left, then we can proceed to Ust Natha. This time I actually remembered that SCS alters Beholder placement: Instead of getting dropped in the lap of an Elder Orb, we only have to deal with two standard Beholders on entry. We just apply enough buffs (Chant/Emotion: Courage/Emotion: Hope/II) to get everyone's saves low enough to be safe, then swarm them. They both drop within a round, so never even got to do more than dispel a few buffs and toss an Inflict Serious Wounds at Jan.
We clear out the Drow at the entrance, then almost immediately run afoul of the Hive Mother to the south (she sees straight through invisibility). However, it seems she only has one Death Spell.. which she promptly wastes on the Berserk Warrior we send at her. Even though she keeps seeking us out, we have enough one-shot summons to keep her occupied while Anomen gets a few Skeleton Warriors up and running, and that's all she wrote.
The rest of the Hive goes very smoothly. Fireball, Skull Trap, Spike Growth weeds out most Beholders/Gauths (Spike Growth seems to really weird them out, they keep going back and forth through it), and if by some miracle any do find us, there's a skeleton greeting party available. Closest brush with horrific death: The damnable Illithid messing with some Gauths. Jaheira drops to within one Ballistic Attack of going down, but we make it through. I make a mental note of the fact that not even Death Tyrants have a good answer to Skeleton Warriors; and it seems the Elder Orb didn't memorize Death Spell. Heh. In fact there were two of them... neither sporting a Death Spell.
Well, that was a long time coming, but after another rest we enter Ust Natha, and are promptly dispatched outside again. The adventurer ambush is resolved with minimal expenditure of spell slots (so we take some damage), but as long as N'ashtar is taken care of, there's little else here to worry about.
After rescuing Phaere and returning, we nip into Quile's abode. Her servants do not react well to Fire Storm, and Quile is quite helpless on her own.
Since we've got time, we indulge in the pit fights (we also kind of desperately need gold, as there's tons of stuff here we want to buy before departing for good). Amarande handles everything: There's no rule about bringing 5 Skeleton Warriors summoned by someone else into the pit with you, after all, as the resident Beholder soon realizes.
On a roll, Amarande deals with Lasonar and Chantrilla. Then Imoen gets to try her magical skills against the lowest-ranked Drow wizard... who still has access to 8th level spells (thankfully he spent his Spell Trigger on buffs). Imoen takes a weird but effective Ice Lance/Lightning Bolt/Lance of Disruption Spell Sequencer but miraculuosly survives, and I end up having to pass her crummy summoning scrolls to allow her to pull off a win. All this for a piddling amount of experience. Yeah, we won't indulge in any more Mage duels, thank you.
We proceed with the plot. The adamantite-smuggling Beholder is swiftly dealt with; the slimy Drows are a bit of a headache since Minsc as always gets his buffs dispelled and take a beating, but no major concern there either. We indulge in a rest before intruding upon Deirex. We've set it up so we have enough crucial long-term buffs to replenish everything once: So everyone gets a good round of buffing before we enter, in the hope that Deirex will waste his initial cast on Remove Magic rather than something truly nasty. Hopefully he doesn't have 3x ADHW on enemy sighted prepared.
Oof... he kind of did (1/3). We must've been right on the verge of taking that ADHW full force, but good on us for dodging! Deirex apparently can't target us with Remove Magic even though he sees us, so ends up casting it on himself, but we're already out of range. So our plan actually kind of worked!
Time for a massive anti-climax: HLA's notwithstanding, Deirex is just summon-mobbed into oblivion. He's a Necromancer, it seems, and even spent lots of slots on Control Undead (not that it helps him, Skeleton Warriors have obscene magic resistance). Maybe Necromancers should be a bit more demon-summoning inclined? Or at the very least pop their own Skeleton Warriors. Not that I'm complaining, as we literally had no other way of fighting him (SI:A and Spell Trap... only way to deal with that is Ruby Ray of Reversal which Imoen simply didn't have at the time).
We loot everything, and prepare for a real fight: House Jae'llat.
Yeah. This will hurt. Fortunately, Anomen gets a Fire Storm off even though he takes damage while casting it, and that more or less keeps Valas and Hindra from doing much owing to consistently being interrupted (and it's also really helpful in shaving some HP off the, no kidding, 30 or so Jae'llat guards that come running). Even so, there's a LOT of shuffling and running and retargetting, but at the end of the day, all you can do is just grind through it.
So we do. Amarande runs out of Stoneskin/MI/Blur by the end and has to resort to his contingency kicking in, but we made it through without any casualties. Minsc came the closest to death, but that's just Minsc for you. I don't even have any great screenshots of the fight; someone popped a Teleport Field halfway through and it was all I could do to keep us from losing coherence totally and our back line dropping (Jae'llat guards have serious THAC0 and will absolutely melt Stoneskin/MI defenses on a pure Mage).
And... that's almost it! We've got nearly two days to return with some blood for Ardulace (and we already have all three samples), so we indulge in shopping. Overindulge, you might say, as we end up with naught but 7500ish gold remaining. I probably could have made do with less scrolls.
One last rest, then we're off to Ardulace. Anomen Sanctuaries into the egg chamber and puts Soulafein's fakes in, Ardulace drops, Phaere drops, and we easily leave the city under Haste before we are discovered, reporting our success to Adalon. The Drow guarding the temple are woefully inadequate adversaries at this point, and we power through. Once out of the Underdark, we convince Elhan to let us roam free, and... we're in the clear!
That WAS a long way, but we made it. Barring stupid mistakes it should be a fairly clear path to the end of SoA from here, but we do have a lot of adventuring left to do, so who knows. However, we've got the gear, we've got the levels, we've (almost) got the spell selection... we'll let nothing stop us.
Amarande is now a level 12/13 Half-Elven Fighter/Mage.
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184998#Comment_1184998
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185119#Comment_1185119
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185133#Comment_1185133
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185145#Comment_1185145
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185255#Comment_1185255
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185316#Comment_1185316
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185380#Comment_1185380
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185418#Comment_1185418
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185581#Comment_1185581
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185693#Comment_1185693
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185730#Comment_1185730
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185847#Comment_1185847
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185972#Comment_1185972
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186115#Comment_1186115
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186205#Comment_1186205
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186384#Comment_1186384
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186417#Comment_1186417
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186449#Comment_1186449
Unga-Bunga gather things after rest, say farewells to Lonelywood folk, make trek to barbarian camp. Unga-Bunga find Beornen of Great Whale tribe, tell Beornen Unga-Bunga ready sail Wyrm Isle on Sea of Moving Ice.:
Unga-Bunga, barbarians sail long, finally land Wyrm Isle. Barbarians make camp on southwest edge of Isle, Unga-Bunga help make camp:
After camp made, Unga-Bunga stretch out, rest a bit, ask Tribesmen Jorn, Beornen help Unga-Bunga slay Icasaracht, Matriarch of all Wyrms of the North. Tribesmen Jorn, Beornen say too busy hunt Icasaracht, need watch over camp:
Unga-Bunga ask other Elk Tribesmen, Bear Tribesmen help, none help Unga-Bunga, wish Unga-Bunga luck. Unga-Bunga grumble, gather things, cast protection magics, leave camp to search Isle. Unga-Bunga battle great Troll horde, Scrag horde:
Unga-Bunga find many ships wrecked on isle, battle Scrags squatting in ships, call lightning down on scrags:
Unga-Bunga climb top of Isle, find Ice Golem Sentries guarding passage into ice caverns under surface:
Unga-Bunga, elementals slay Ice Golem Sentries, gain entry into ice caverns:
Unga-Bunga feel cold, know colder in ice caverns. Unga-Bunga sigh, take off Boots of Speed. Unga-Bunga wear Boots of North, Lysan's Mantle of Coming Storm, Black Wolf Talisman, wield Fang of Gloomfrost dagger Smithy Tiernon smith for Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga toasty, feel no cold, snug as bug in rug.
Unga-Bunga enter caverns, attacked by hordes of Great Ice Trolls, Greater Snow Trolls, Berg Yeti, and Bone Scavengers:
Unga-Bunga cast nature magics, blind foes, summon Spike Stones, Spirit Fire, Static Charge, slay dozens of foes. Unga-Bunga come long way, baby:
Unga-Bunga battle further into caverns, find bridge leading deeper into caverns, slay last foes guarding bridge:
Unga-Bunga enter deeper caverns, battle Water Kin elemental, hordes of Greater Ice Trolls, Greater Stone Trolls, Scrags:
Unga-Bunga hear trolls call for aid, more trolls come from south, attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga look for clear space, cast blinding magics:
Unga-Bunga, elementals fight long battle, finally slay all foes:
Unga-Bunga cross strange span over chasm in ice tunnels, battle many Iced Bones, Cold Bones, Frozen Bones, Bone Scavengers, find many treasures in bone graveyard:
Unga-Bunga ambushed by many Water Elemental Kin in frozen ponds, elementals not able attack Water Elemental Kin. Unga-Bunga summon Static Charge, careful not touch water:
Unga-Bunga search eastern cavern, follow cavern wall to southern cavern wall, then back west. Unga-Bunga find narrow span over chasm, turn north, find dead great wyrm. Unga-Bunga ambushed by Bone Scavengers, Iced Bones, Cold Bones, Frozen Bones:
Unga-Bunga summon elementals, spirits, beat all foes down, find treasures in great wyrm's belly. Unga-Bunga clean treasures in snow:
After clean treasures, Unga-Bunga gather things, circle round great wyrm's head, see Sahugain Cleric guarded by Boneguard Skeletons protecting altar. Sahugain Cleric, Boneguard Skeletons not attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga approach Sahugain Cleric. Sahugain Cleric say Sahugain Cleric name Xactile, Priestess of Sekolah, Custodian of Field of Bones:
Cleric Xactile tell Unga-Bunga Cleric Xactile help beings passing from life to death make journey, lay bones in Field of Bones, say Icasaracht demand it, keep intruders away:
Unga-Bunga ask Cleric Xactile about dead great wyrm. Cleric Xactile think dead great wyrm either Icasaracht's mate or Icasaracht's rival, dead for ages:
Cleric Xactile plead Unga-Bunga not slay Icasaracht, say Cleric's Xactile's people try stop Unga-Bunga, say will die protecting Icasaracht:
Unga-Bunga feel bad for Cleric Xactile but explain why Unga-Bunga need slay Icasaracht. Cleric Xactile understand, not stop Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga return barbarian camp, tell tribesmen what Unga-Bunga find in caverns. Unga-Bunga hope some tribesmen decide help Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga rest, gather things, return Xactile. Unga-Bunga cast protection magics, toss Pixie Dust, take passage through Sekolah Temple into large chamber guarded by Vodyanoi:
Unga-Bunga spot many traps in passage, summon elementals, spirits, attacked by many Vodyanoi, Sahugain:
Unga-Bunga, elementals, spirits slay Vodyanoi, Sahugain. Unga-Bunga not able disarm traps, cast protection magics, set off traps. Unga-Bunga not want step trap when not prepared. Unga-Bunga see Ice Golem Sentries guarding passage further into chamber:
Unga-Bunga leave Ice Golems be, search side chambers, slay Water Elemental Kin, find treasures:
Once Unga-Bunga search all side chambers, Unga-Bunga summon elementals, cast protection magics, prepare battle Ice Golems:
Unga-Bunga command elementals attack Ice Golems. Ice Golems attack, many Vodyanoi, Sahugain swarm chamber, overwhelm elementals, attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga trust protection magics, cast blinding magics just in time:
Ice Golems resist Unga-Bunga's magics, more Vodyanoi, Sahugain attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga retreat further into chamber, cast blinding magics, summon spirits to battle Ice Golems:
Unga-Bunga, spirits finally battle all foes down:
Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, explore further into chamber, spy Sahugain Prince, Sahugain Elite Guards. Unga-Bunga trip trap, cover mouth so not cry out:
Unga-Bunga move back to western side of chamber, summon elementals, send elemental toward Sahugain. Unga-Bunga command elemental return when Sahugain attack elemental. Unga-Bunga summon spirits, attack Sahugain Prince, Sahugain Elite Guard:
Unga-Bunga, elementals, spirits slay Sahugain Prince, rush rest of Sahugain, slay all Sahugain:
Unga-Bunga search Sahugain chamber, find many treasures. Unga-Bunga see ruined preservation ward on floor on western side of chamber, destroy preservation ward on eastern side of chamber:
Unga-Bunga search dead Sahugain, find key on Sahugain Prince, open passage into Icasaracht's lair:
Unga-Bunga weary, need rest, make plan battle Icasaracht. Unga-Bunga leave chamber, go back barbarian camp. On way back, Unga-Bunga realize strange span across chasm really dead great wyrm's frozen tail. Unga-Bunga shudder:
Unga-Bunga return barbarian camp, tell tribesmen all Unga-Bunga find in caverns. Unga-Bunga tell tribesmen Unga-Bunga battle Great Wyrm Icasaracht on morrow, ask all tribesmen help. No tribesmen help. Tribesmen tell Unga-Bunga tribesmen tribe of Elk and Bear. Unga-Bunga think tribesmen Tribe of Sloth, but Unga-Bunga not say anything.
Unga-Bunga settle in for night, take massive amount peyote, ask spirits guidance for battle to come...
- SCS illithids won't use their status-effect spells on anyone who's outright immune due to spells and items. They will use them on characters that are effectively immune due to unbeatable spell saves.
- The status-effect spells are higher priority than the damage spells, and the illithids do respect the "one spell per round" timer. If they're wasting their effort on futile psi-blasts and charms, they aren't damaging you.
- There are no dispels at all before the final boss of the area. Whatever buffs you put up, they'll last. There's no better time to use your easily-dispelled buff potions.
The target spell save here: -3 for immunity to everything. Protection from Evil can get you 2 points (not reflected in the character sheet), Spirit Armor can get you 3 points, the various forms of improved invisibility can get you 4 points for a relatively short duration, and it's equipped items and potions for the rest.
Also, when it comes to specific protections, stoneskins/ironskins do work against the ballistic attacks. The illithids won't even target a protected character ... which might just focus those attacks on the unprotected characters.
Actual count: three named family members (two clerics, one fighter) and 13 fighter guards. SCS adds a mage family member and six spellcaster guards.
It's still more drow than you'll ever face in one fight unless you take on the collective forces of Ust Natha. And the Jae'llat guards are level 12 fighters with 18/76 strength, a cut above the level 9 fighters with 17 strength that other battle swarms you with.
That's very good info, thank you. And it explains why all of a sudden there were no problems when running Potion of Invulnerability. With IWD spells from SCS, it will be another 6 to all saves from Chant/Prayer/Recitation/Emotion: Hope as well (can easily have this up for every fight in the Illithid city by this point), so that's -12 all saves for the entire party. You could add Righteous Wrath of the Faithful for another 1 boost, but that induces fatigue, so best not.
You'd still probably need Spirit Armor for one or two characters, but with this merciless stacking, even Minsc could be effectively immune...
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184998#Comment_1184998
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185119#Comment_1185119
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185133#Comment_1185133
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185145#Comment_1185145
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185255#Comment_1185255
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185316#Comment_1185316
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185380#Comment_1185380
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185418#Comment_1185418
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185581#Comment_1185581
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185693#Comment_1185693
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185730#Comment_1185730
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185847#Comment_1185847
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185972#Comment_1185972
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186115#Comment_1186115
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186205#Comment_1186205
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186384#Comment_1186384
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186417#Comment_1186417
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186449#Comment_1186449
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186528#Comment_1186528
Unga-Bunga sleep, have vision. Unga-Bunga see Unga-Bunga enter chamber, battle Icasaracht, many Sahugain Royal Guards, Sahugain Royal High Priestess, Sahugain Underpriestesses, Sahugain King. Unga-Bunga see something in distance, not able see what but Unga-Bunga sense great evil, something surrounded by darkness.
Unga-Bunga wake from vision, look in Holding Bag, take bundle from bag. Unga-Bunga carefully unwrap bundle holding Breath of Auril dagger Unga-Bunga take from Archmage Kontik's dead fingers. Unga-Bunga know dagger cursed, also know dagger make Unga-Bunga immune cold. Unga-Bunga set down dagger, look through bag more, take Mithran's cloak from bag (+3 AC, +2 Saves). Unga-Bunga put on cloak, take deep breath, grasp Breath of Auril dagger in left hand. Unga-Bunga feel dagger freeze to hand, hope live to have curse removed.
Unga-Bunga stand, slowly gather things. All tribesmen on Isle gather, watch Unga-Bunga put on armor, cloak, sling bag over shoulders. Tribesmen holler, chant, beat chests, raise Unga-Bunga's spirit, give Unga-Bunga hope. Unga-Bunga know not to ask others join Unga-Bunga, know Vision Quest Unga-Bunga's alone.
Unga-Bunga slowly walk toward path leading to ice caverns, turn around, thrust fist in air. Tribesmen thrust fists in air, holler more. Unga-Bunga make way up path to cave, enter ice caverns, make trek to Icasaracht's chamber.
Unga-Bunga stand outside chamber, read Protection of Cold scroll, toss Pixie Dust, cast all protection magics. Unga-Bunga stand outside chamber, take deep breath, ask spirits for aid:
Unga-Bunga step through gate into chamber, see Icasaracht. Icasaracht approach, meet Unga-Bunga:
Icasaracht tell Unga-Bunga coming to lair fatal mistake. Unga-Bunga say only fatal to Icasaracht. Icasaracht challenge Unga-Bunga, put words to test:
Unga-Bunga ask Icasaracht why Icasaracht return old lair, make easy Unga-Bunga find Icasaracht. Icasaracht tell Unga-Bunga Icasaracht cheat death, make beacon in lair if die so Icasaracht spirit find lair, make preservation ward in lair, preserve offspring. If Icasaracht die, Icasaracht spirit find lair, enter offspring body:
Unga-Bunga think Icasaracht even more evil, tell Icasaracht so. Icasaracht say Icasaracht mate not agree plan, Icasaracht kill mate. Unga-Bunga shudder. Unga-Bunga ask Icasaracht why Icasaracht hate Ten Towns. Icasaracht say dragonkind once roamed Faerun freely until Unga-Bunga's kind came, say dragonkind fears even sleep now:
Icasaracht say Icasaracht share outcome with barbarians, say Ten Towns will drive barbarians to extinction just like dragonkind:
Unga-Bunga ask why Icasaracht take so long awaken. Icasaracht say blade wielded by Aihonen over century ago broke itself, sacrifice to keep Icasaracht spirit asleep, tell Unga-Bunga blade must have been removed from Icasaracht heart:
Unga-Bunga remember Water Spirit Elisia want Unga-Bunga give broken sword to Jhonyn in Easthaven village. Unga-Bunga see how small actions can lead huge consequences...
Unga-Bunga tell Icasaracht not want fight, ask if can make peace. Icasaracht rage at Unga-Bunga, want fight to death:
Unga-Bunga take Battle Axe: Defender into hand, hold Breath of Auril dagger up, shield from Icasaracht breath. Icasaracht charge Unga-Bunga, call Sahugain aid. Unga-Bunga dodge Icasaracht, see Sahugain King, many Sahugain approach:
Unga-Bunga know Icasaracht see Unga-Bunga, not think Sahugain see Unga-Bunga under Pixie Dust. Icasaracht guide Sahugain follow Unga-Bunga, try trap Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga try elude Sahugain, make Sahugain block Icasaracht from attacking Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga race past Sahugain, see glowing soul gem guarded by protection aura, make Unga-Bunga stop in tracks. Unga-Bunga remember vision, fear soul gem:
Unga-Bunga reverse steps, summon elemental near Priestess. Sahugain Priestesses begin casting nature magics:
Unga-Bunga summon more elementals, wait for Icasaracht, Sahugain gather round elementals, cast blinding magics:
Unga-Bunga blind Icasaracht! Unga-Bunga blind Icasaracht! Unga-Bunga cry out joy, cast more blinding magics, blind all foes:
Unga-Bunga move away from battle, cast Spike Stones. Icasaracht breathe cold, Unga-Bunga hold up Frost of Auril dagger, not frozen. Unga-Bunga guess Icasaracht breathe cold at elemental, breathe Unga-Bunga also. Icasaracht thrash wings about, pummel and cut elementals:
Unga-Bunga see last elemental almost down, dance, summon spirits. Icasaracht breathe cold, Unga-Bunga hold up Frost of Auril dagger. Unga-Bunga glad Unga-Bunga meet Kontik, take Kontik's dagger:
Unga-Bunga cheer when spirits slay Sahugain King!
Spirits slay most blinded Sahugain, earth spirits attack Icasaracht, strike mighty blows:
Icasaracht turn, face Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga see evil gleam in Icasaracht's eyes, almost think Icasaracht see Unga-Bunga with blinded eyes. Icasaracht sweep mighty wing, strike Unga-Bunga on helmet, stun Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga stop dance, spirits return home:
Unga-Bunga realize Icasaracht scry Unga-Bunga, see Unga-Bunga cast blinding magics, pretend blind until Unga-Bunga vulnerable.
Unga-Bunga see Icasaracht approach, brace for death, know failed Vision Quest. Icasaracht sweep wing at Unga-Bunga again:
Unga-Bunga see Icasaracht rear head back to bite Unga-Bunga in half. Unga-Bunga cry out, focus, shrug off stunning blow!
Unga-Bunga flee Icasaracht, glad choose Breath of Auril dagger over Boots of North so Unga-Bunga keep Boots of Speed on feet:
Unga-Bunga run like Captain Jack Sparrow, try get space from Icasaracht, run loop around chamber. Unga-Bunga summon beetles:
Unga-Bunga cast Static Charge, summon spirits. Icasaracht battle spirits, breathe cold Unga-Bunga:
Earth Spirits land blows on Icasaracht. Unga-Bunga see Icasaracht weakening, creep closer, try land Static Charge:
Icasaracht screech, thrash wings, strike Unga-Bunga three times. Unga-Bunga's Iron Skins fade, Unga-Bunga gravely wounded:
Unga-Bunga flee, recast Iron Skins, run about chamber, chug healing potions:
Unga-Bunga flee to southwest corner of chamber, summon beetles:
Unga-Bunga drink more potions, summon elemental, spirits, strike Icasaracht with Static Charge:
Unga-Bunga dance, dance more, plead spirits battle Icasaracht down! Unga-Bunga see Icasaracht weakening...
Unga-Bunga land Static Charge on Icasaracht...
Unga-Bunga see Icasaracht stumble, see blinding flash from Soul Gem, see Icasaracht spirit leave Icasaracht body, fly into Soul Gem. Unga-Bunga move away, watch Icasaracht Body fall to ground:
Icasaracht Soul Gem summon Vodyanoi, Vodyanoi attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga realize battle not over, need break Soul Gem:
Unga-Bunga approach Soul Gem, cast Spike Stones, Writhing Fog, try slay Vodyanoi, Soul Gem:
Soul Gem cast many spells at Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga resist Soul Gem magics until cast Ice Storm. Unga-Bunga wince, burned by cold:
Unga-Bunga know Protection of Cold scroll Unga-Bunga read last twelve hours. Unga-Bunga marvel, realize battled Icasaracht for over twelve hours. Unga-Bunga flee from Soul Gem, take last Protection of Cold scroll from scroll case, read scroll. Unga-Bunga see two Sahugain Royal Guard still alive, blinded, standing in corner. Unga-Bunga exhausted, hurt, rage at Sahugain, vow vengeance:
Unga-Bunga return Soul Gem. Soul Gem cast dark magics at Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga resist:
Unga-Bunga let Static Charge slay Vodyanoi, summon animals, command animals attack Soul Gem:
Unga-Bunga feel Icasaracht anger, fear emanate from gem. Soul Gem cast powerful magics, slay animals:
Unga-Bunga hear powerful incantation from Soul Gem, brace for fire, keep dancing so spirits battle Soul Gem:
Unga-Bunga see animals weaken Soul Gem, resist Soul Gem's magics:
Unga-Bunga see cracks in Soul Gem, cracks lengthening. Unga-Bunga mad with pain, sense victory:
Unga-Bunga take leave of senses, want vengeance on Sahugain. Unga-Bunga command animals leave Soul Gem, lead animals to Sahugain in southwest corner, command slay Sahugain. Unga-Bunga afraid when Soul Gem break Unga-Bunga not get slay Sahugain, take treasures.
Unga-Bunga not see Soul Gem summon Vodyanoi horde. Vodyanoi horde crush Unga-Bunga, spirits against cavern wall. Unga-Bunga know Unga-Bunga lose focus, control. Unga-Bunga refocus, dance, summon spirits to battle Vodyanoi horde:
Unga-Bunga Static Charge, spirits slowly break Vodyanoi horde:
Unga-Bunga exhausted, watch spirits slay Vodyanoi, last Sahugain Royal Guard. Unga-Bunga take meaningless treasures, make vow never lose self to vengeance again:
Unga-Bunga return Soul Gem, blind Vodyanoi with last nature magics, summon animals, command animals attack Soul Gem.
Unga-Bunga see animals destroy Soul Gem once and for all, see light of Soul Gem fade and die:
Unga-Bunga see gate to freedom from Icasaracht chamber shatter to pieces:
Unga-Bunga fall to knees, give thanks to spirits, forefathers, holler, beat chest weakly. Unga-Bunga claim scales from Icasaracht body, treasures from fallen Sahugain, make trek up to surface of Isle. Unga-Bunga leave ice caverns, step into sunlight, see barbarian tribesmen camped around cave opening. Tribesmen look at Unga-Bunga...
Unga-Bunga reach into bag, take dragon scale from bag, hold dragon scale up to sky. Tribesmen let out deafening roar, nearly knock Unga-Bunga over. Tribesmen rush Unga-Bunga, lift Unga-Bunga off ground, carry Unga-Bunga down to encampment. Shaman Jorn treat Unga-Bunga's wounds. Tribesmen light great fire, dance, sing, chant, celebrate great victory. Unga-Bunga lie by fire, treated to great feast. Unga-Bunga exhausted, fall asleep, sleep many hours.
Next day Tribesmen sail Unga-Bunga back to Hengorot, Shaman Hjollder embrace Unga-Bunga, congratulate Unga-Bunga for completing Vision Quest. Unga-Bunga shake head, tell Shaman Hjollder Unga-Bunga Vision Quest not yet complete. Shaman Hjollder shake head, marvel at Unga-Bunga, Vision Quest. Unga-Bunga tell Shaman Hjollder, Tribesmen Unga-Bunga need return Kuldahar, complete Vision Quest.
Shaman Hjollder, Tribesmen wail, not want Unga-Bunga go. Unga-Bungs say Unga-Bunga not have choice, need complete Vision Quest, return tribe, teach young in tribe. Tribesmen have victory feast, honor Unga-Bunga. Later that night, Shaman Hjollder take Unga-Bunga aside, ask Unga-Bunga if ready return Kuldahar. Unga-Bunga tell Shaman Hjollder ready.
Shaman Hjollder windwalk Unga-Bunga back to Kuldahar, say goodbye, windwalk away:
Unga-Bunga hope Unga-Bunga strong enough finish Vision Quest, plan trek for Dorn's Deep next day, make journey to confront Revered Brother Poquelin...
[Probably the most epic battle I've ever had in these games. It could have gone either way many, many times...]
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184998#Comment_1184998
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185119#Comment_1185119
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185133#Comment_1185133
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185145#Comment_1185145
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185255#Comment_1185255
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185316#Comment_1185316
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185380#Comment_1185380
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185418#Comment_1185418
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185581#Comment_1185581
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185693#Comment_1185693
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185730#Comment_1185730
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185847#Comment_1185847
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185972#Comment_1185972
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186115#Comment_1186115
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186205#Comment_1186205
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186384#Comment_1186384
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186417#Comment_1186417
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186449#Comment_1186449
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186528#Comment_1186528
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186577#Comment_1186577
Unga-Bunga take rest in Kuldahar, visit merchants next day. Unga-Bunga visit Smithy Conlan, remember dragon scales Unga-Bunga take from Icasaracht, show Smithy Conlan scales:
Unga-Bunga hire Smithy Conlan craft armor from scales, pay 5,000 gold pieces, Smithy Conlan say ready in three days. Unga-Bunga visit friends, barter Oswald for healing potions, plan battle with Revered Brother Poquelin. Unga-Bunga get armor from Smithy Conlan when ready. Unga-Bunga think Smithy Conlan do good job, lot better armor than studded leather:
Unga-Bunga make trek Lower Dorn's Deep, decide before confront Revered Brother Poquelin need see to Merchant Nym:
Unga-Bunga rest in Archer Tower, ask spirits aid for battle with Revered Brother Poquelin. Unga-Bunga take massive amount of peyote, have vision: Unga-Bunga see Unga-Bunga confront Revered Brother Poquelin in large chamber with stained glass windows picturing crossed fists, blood on wrists. Revered Brother Poquelin surrounded by animals, Unga-Bunga realize animals false, really evil beings. Unga-Bunga see chamber cut from earth, see two caves set in north of chamber, see Revered Brother Poquelin seal stair behind Unga-Bunga, not let Unga-Bunga escape. Unga-Bunga see Revered Brother Poquelin cowardly port Revered Brother Poquelin near caves, command beings protect Poquelin. Unga-Bunga see countless evil creatures stream from caves as Unga-Bunga battle Poquelin, endless stream of creatures never stop.
Unga-Bunga see Poquelin resist many magics, immune to fire, cast endless magics. Unga-Bunga afraid.
Unga-Bunga see Poquelin wear necklace of great power, think necklace own Poquelin more than Poquelin own necklace. Unga-Bunga see necklace watch battle, necklace fear losing grip over Poquelin. Unga-Bunga think if Poquelin in enough danger, necklace make Poquelin flee battle...
Unga-Bunga wake from vision very afraid. Unga-Bunga know elementals attack what elementals want, even when Unga-Bunga command attack one foe. Unga-Bunga know spirits have own mind, attack what spirits want. Unga-Bunga know Unga-Bunga's best direct combat magics summon fire, know battle Poquelin in cave so Unga-Bunga not able Call Lightning. Unga-Bunga know Static Charge strike random foes. Unga-Bunga know Unga-Bunga not great warrior, not know how make Poquelin flee...
Unga-Bunga lay out items on ground, sit down with items, scrolls, potions, plan battle strategy for many hours. Unga-Bunga ask spirits for aid, fall asleep. Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather items, walk to Fallen Temple. Unga-Bunga place lieutenant badges into six slots near stair in back of Temple. Magic barrier blocking stair fall away. Unga-Bunga stand before stair, take deep breath, cast protection magics:
Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, climb stair, see Revered Brother Poquelin surrounded by two cats, two black bear, two chickens and wolf. Unga-Bunga see Revered Brother Poquelin watch stair, not see Unga-Bunga!
Unga-Bunga not sure if Poquelin try trick Unga-Bunga like Icasaracht, carefully scout chamber while keep eye on Poquelin. Unga-Bunga see stained glass windows in chamber picture two crossed fists, blood on wrists. Unga-Bunga see two caves from vision in back of chamber, where Unga-Bunga see hordes of beings flood chamber. Unga-Bunga summon elemental horde where Unga-Bunga see Poquelin port in vision:
Unga-Bunga walk back near Poquelin in chamber, cast all protection magics. Unga-Bunga unsling bow, put Acid Arrows in quiver, drink Protection from Cold potion. Unga-Bunga tap Poquelin on chest with bow, shake of Pixie Dust, confront Poquelin about not being true Priest of Ilmater:
Poquelin admit Poquelin false Priest of Ilmater, thank Unga-Bunga for slaying Yxonemei:
Poquelin tell Unga-Bunga how Poquelin hear artifact of great power call to Poquelin, say artifact Crenshinibon:
Poquelin say Poquelin slay Archdruid Arundel so Arundel not use Heartstone Gem, discover Poquelin, Poquelin's plans. Poquelin admit not think Unga-Bunga bring Heartstone Gem to Larrel, discover plans:
Poquelin say Unga-Bunga only destroy Poquelin's diversionary forces, tell Unga-Bunga real forces massing near Easthaven, tell Unga-Bunga Poquelin kill Unga-Bunga now:
Unga-Bunga step back from Poquelin, see animals begin transform into evil beings. Unga-Bunga raise bow, shoot arrow into Poquelin's chest, disrupt Poquelin casting magics:
Unga-Bunga see dumb elementals charge Poquelin, command elementals stop. Unga-Bunga see Poquelin cast Flamestrike, port away to north side of chamber:
Unga-Bunga summon Spike Stones around Poquelin, Unga-Bunga swarmed by evil creatures:
Unga-Bunga command one elemental battle monsters near Unga-Bunga, command other elementals attack Poquelin, try block caves but evil beings start swarming chamber from caves:
Unga-Bunga summon six Spike Stones on Poquelin, wait for right moment, charge enemy horde, cast blinding magics:
Unga-Bunga summon four Spike Growths on Poquelin, unsling bow, shoot acid arrows at Poquelin. More beings swarm chamber, Poquelin command beings attack Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga see Poquelin resist nearly all Spike Stones, Spike Growths, see Poquelin wear down very slowly. Evil beings swarm Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga run with Boots of Speed, try dodge swarming beings, shoot arrows at Poquelin when able:
Swarming beings force Unga-Bunga move south from northern chamber, cast blinding magics to blind swarming beings, give Unga-Bunga space. Unga-Bunga afraid, only have one blinding spell left Poquelin cast powerful magics on Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga try resist magics:
Unga-Bunga forced retreat south end of chamber, not able watch Poquelin battle. Poquelin leave field of Spike Stones, Spike Growths! Unga-Bunga guess all elementals dead. Unga-Bunga very afraid, see nearly all chamber filled with evil beings. Unga-Bunga out of elemental summoning magics, summon beetles, command beetles bite Poquelin. Unga-Bunga shoot arrows at Poquelin, rarely hit Poquelin:
Unga-Bunga see Poquelin enraged, summon horrible magics, cast fire down on all near Poquelin. Unga-Bunga forced down to southern edge of chamber, Unga-Bunga ready last blinding spell:
Unga-Bunga cast last blinding magics. Unga-Bunga fear Unga-Bunga fall, plead with beetles, shoot arrows...
Unga-Bunga unleash arrow, see beetles bite Poquelin, hear Poquelin cry out. Unga-Bunga feel lightheaded, see Crenshinibon flash blinding light:
Unga-Bunga feel earth fall away, see all go black for moment. Unga-Bunga feel cold, snow beneath feet. Unga-Bunga open eyes, see Unga-Bunga in Easthaven. Unga-Bunga realize Unga-Bunga force Crenshinibon have Poquelin retreat!
Unga-Bunga toss Pixie Dust, begin explore ruined Easthaven. Unga-Bunga think Poquelin, Crenshinibon near...
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1184998#Comment_1184998
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185119#Comment_1185119
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185133#Comment_1185133
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185145#Comment_1185145
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185255#Comment_1185255
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185316#Comment_1185316
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185329#Comment_1185329
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185380#Comment_1185380
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185418#Comment_1185418
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185531#Comment_1185531
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185535#Comment_1185535
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185542#Comment_1185542
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185568#Comment_1185568
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185581#Comment_1185581
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185689#Comment_1185689
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185693#Comment_1185693
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185730#Comment_1185730
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185847#Comment_1185847
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1185972#Comment_1185972
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186115#Comment_1186115
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186205#Comment_1186205
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186384#Comment_1186384
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186417#Comment_1186417
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186449#Comment_1186449
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186528#Comment_1186528
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186577#Comment_1186577
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186684#Comment_1186684
Unga-Bunga move eastward through Easthaven, find many buildings ruined, see many Cyclops patrolling village:
Unga-Bunga come to Winter Cradle tavern, see two Cyclops bashing tavern. Unga-Bunga think maybe townsfolk hiding tavern, summon elementals, slay Cyclops:
Unga-Bunga tavern door, find main level ruined. Unga-Bunga take stair down cellar, find Old Jed hiding in cellar drinking. Old Jed tell Unga-Bunga Easthaven townsfolk captured, placed in stockade on outskirts of village. Unga-Bunga ask Old Jed more about village but Old Jed pass out:
Unga-Bunga look around tavern basement, remember slaying rats in basement when first arrive Easthaven over year ago, remember how Unga-Bunga tested many times over year, grow wiser, stronger. Unga-Bunga hope Unga-Bunga pass final test, complete Vision quest soon...
Unga-Bunga leave tavern, summon elementals, fight Cyclops, battle way to stockade:
Townsfolk tell Unga-Bunga great winter storm gathered around village over many days until one ice shafts tore up through ground, Cyclops stormed village. Townsfolk say Cyclops kill all villagers who resist Cyclops, put rest in stockade:
Townsfolk tell Unga-Bunga Cyclops take Priest Everard to temple, torture Everard for half-day, bring Priest Everard back stockade:
Unga-Bunga thank townsfolk, speak to Priest Everard. Everard tell Unga-Bunga Cyclops torture Everard, want Everard break glyphs protecting Jerrod's Stone in temple. Everard tell Unga-Bunga if Poquelin open Jerrod's Stone Poquelin gather demons into army, destroy all Faerun:
Unga-Bunga ask Everard tell Unga-Bunga how enter temple. Everard show Unga-Bunga sign to make, grant entry into temple. Everard suffering from torture, tell Unga-Bunga will follow if Everard able. Unga-Bunga thank Everard:
Unga-Bunga explore rest of village before entering temple, slay Cyclops, make sure townsfolk safe. Unga-Bunga find Villager Jhonyn near water in southwest village, Jhonyn tell Unga-Bunga what happen village. Unga-Bunga tell Jhonyn Unga-Bunga free villagers from stockade, tell Jhonyn go somewhere safe:
Jhonyn say blade Unga-Bunga give Jhonyn long ago healed, want give Unga-Bunga restored blade, Unga-Bunga thank Jhonyn. Unga-Bunga wish Unga-Bunga learned how wield swords:
Unga-Bunga make sure rest of village safe, slowly approach temple covered in ice. Unga-Bunga make sign, cross fists, blood on wrists. Unga-Bunga see wards fade, enter temple:
Unga-Bunga search temple, hear Everard enter temple. Everard tell Unga-Bunga Everard try break glyphs protecting passage to Jerrod's Stone, ask Unga-Bunga climb ice tower in temple, try find another way to Jerrod's Stone:
Unga-Bunga climb tower, enter chamber lit with torches, beds aligning wall:
Unga-Bunga see doorway set in southwest corner of chamber, sense evil through doorway. Unga-Bunga have vision. see trickster in chamber filled with mirrors. Unga-Bunga see trickster cast illusion magics, create many images of self, use Lightning Wand to shoot lightning bolts all around room, lightning bounce off mirrors. Unga-Bunga see four Cryshal Sentries attack Unga-Bunga, chase Unga-Bunga round chamber...
Unga-Bunga take Boots of Grounding from bag. Unga-Bunga sigh, take off Boots of Speed, put on Boots of Grounding. Unga-Bunga drink Potion of Insulation, unsling shortbow, cast protection magics, enter chamber. Unga-Bunga come face to face with Trickster Pomab:
Unga-Bunga listen Pomab boast about Pomab, Pomab tell Unga-Bunga Pomab appointed ruler of Easthaven:
Unga-Bunga ask Pomab if Poquelin appoint Pomab ruler. Pomab laugh at Unga-Bunga, say Unga-Bunga not even know who master is, what master is. Pomab demand Unga-Bunga surrender, say Unga-Bunga death quick and merciful:
Pomab tell Unga-Bunga Pomab betrayed town from very beginning of plot, suggested expedition so Hrothgar, others abandon village, leave Easthaven defenseless:
Unga-Bunga angry at Pomab, tell Pomab every person in Easthaven will hate Pomab when learn truth. Unga-Bunga ask Pomab turn from evil, serving Poquelin, help Unga-Bunga battle Poquelin:
Pomab say Pomab have power, power worth guilt, command sentries attack Unga-Bunga:
Pomab cast illusion magics, summon many images of self, command Cryshal Sentries attack Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga summon elemental, command elemental attack nearest Pomab:
Unga-Bunga see lightning bolts strike elemental. Unga-Bunga summon more elementals, cast Protection from Lightning on elementals. Unga-Bunga cast blinding magics but Cryshal Sentries not able be truly blinded, Pomab images resist Unga-Bunga's magics:
Unga-Bunga unsling shortbow, command elementals attack Pomabs. Unga-Bunga lure Cryshal Sentries attack Unga-Bunga, run round chamber, shoot arrows at Pomabs:
Unga-Bunga see most arrows, elementals hit false Pomab images, see image fade, reappear. Unga-Bunga see arrows, elementals sometimes draw blood, know hit real Pomab, cause false image fade:
Unga-Bunga, elementals land blows on true Pomab over time until only true Pomab remain:
Unga-Bunga see elemental strike Pomab, see Pomab fall, see Cryshal Sentries fall:
Unga-Bunga take deep breath, see ladder on north side of chamber climbing to next level of temple. Unga-Bunga climb ladder, see Crenshinibon floating above small dais in chamber, see blue light shining from Crenshinibon. Unga-Bunga approach Crenshinibon...
Unga-Bunga blocked by magic barrier, not able apporach Crenshinibon. Unga-Bunga see mirror portal in northwest corner of chamber. Unga-Bunga approach mirror portal, sense great evil, feel exhausted...
Unga-Bunga back away from mirror portal, climb down to chamber with beds, decide take rest in chamber, ask spirits for vision, aid in great battle to come...
Unga-Bunga sense Vision Quest soon over, for good or ill...
Flydian - dwarf wizard slayer (Grond0)
Corefighter - dwarf fighter (Corey_Russell)
Burdock - human dark moon monk (Gate70)
Previous updates
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1186431/#Comment_1186431
We started outside Durlag's Tower, having cleared the walls last time. Inside, we gave Riggilo a dodgy present and dealt with his annoyance about that, before heading onto the roof to take down more basilisks.
We hadn't done Ramazith's Tower earlier and decided to go there to pick up an extra tome and a +2 ring. Burdock was quickly on the case, sneaking upstairs to deal with the mage while the others were engaged below. Rather than wait for him, however, Corefighter and Flydian went to find some ghasts. That proved potentially dangerous when one of them chased Flydian between levels, where hobgoblins made movement difficult - Burdock came back down to help out there.
Wizard slayer 7, 91 HPs (incl. 5 from helm), 180 kills
Fighter 8, 81 HPs, 185 kills, 0 deaths
Dark moon monk 8, 65 HPs, 102 kills, 1 death
I believe that Gorion was disappointed that I grew up to be a Blackguard, that disappointment only being tempered by the fact that I am a follower of Helm and thus honest, if more than a little self-centred and power-hungry.
After the death of Gorion I and Imoen headed for the FAI where we returned Joia's ring and met up with Tarnesh. Tarnesh killed Imoen before being killed by a guard.
I raised Imoen after which she used her skills to increase our wealth somewhat.
We headed to Beregost where she continued to use her skills and in so doing acquired a cloak for me after which I bade her farewell near to Algernon.
I calmed Marl and took a tome to Firebead after which I reached level 2.
Afdter killing two ogrillon I delivered a letter to Mirianne, after which I found the Colquetle amulet and some ankheg armour.
I turned down 200gp from Oublek and after finding a ring of fire resistance took Samuel to the FAI.
Then three caravan guards were killed.
The Colquetle amulet was then returned.
Silke tried to kill me but failed. I killed her.
I then helped the Dudley family.
Tonder was then returned to human form.
I tried to help Mellicamp but failed.
Geltik et al were then killed.
Bassilus cast Rigid Thinking on me and succeeded, but by that time I was out of sight.
I then killed him and was handsomely rewarded.
I returned Kessey's pet rabbit.
Greywolf and then Zargos were killed.
Zordral and the Amazing Oopah were killed next.
Nearby I bought a replacement rabbit for Ugh and took it to him.
I made my way to the lighthouse area and killed the sirines charming Arkushule to act as an ally. She helped a lot before being killed. However, having no thief I didn't enter the cave.
I then headed south, helped Charleston Nib and took Brage to the temple. I am now searching for the merchant who sold the cursed sword. In the process I killed Vax and Zal and reunited Albert and his dog.
Finding the merchant is proving difficult.
After helping Drizzt against the gnolls and killing some half-ogres for Bjornin I am now level 6 and reputation 20.
Dorn joined me and together we killed Kryll. Then Xzar and Montaron joined the party. Now needing one or two clerics, Tenya and Viconia perhaps.
BGEE unmodded beside Lefreust UI, insane without double damage
Varuca is an half elf true neutral shapeshifter, currently level 2.
After Gorion's death, she and Imoen decided to avoid roads and to be careful in case of another ambush, so she up north of FAI to meet Ajantis, then passed by High Hedge on her way to Beregost and recruited Kivan.
In Beregost, Silke died and so Varuca could add Garrick to the party.
Going south the Nahskel festival, she freed Branwen which in turn joined our cause.
The party explored the surroundings of the gnolls fortress, save Brage, help Ruffie and Albert, bring a book to Firebead, a scroll to Mirianne, calm down Marl, and bring a necklace to Mr Colqettle.
We also killed another bounty hunter in Nashkel.
So far I play my shapeshifter like a fighter, and only turn back human before resting for healing spells.
Now that she have 20 HP, she's clearly the best frontliner of the group, 19 strength and 2 APR help a lot early game.
Entire List of Updates:
Final Update...
Unga-Bunga climb down ladder, return main temple floor, tell Priest Everard about mirror portal. Unga-Bunga tell Priest Everard Unga-Bunga meditate, ask spirits aid Unga-Bunga. Priest Everard tell Unga-Bunga Priest Everard keep trying bring down glyphs protecting Jerrod's Stone:
Unga-Bunga wish Priest Everard luck, climb up ladder to rest chamber, sit down next to bed:
Unga-Bunga take all items from Holding Bags, Potion Bags, Scroll Case, Ammo Bags, lay out before Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga take massive amount peyote, ask spirits guide Unga-Bunga...
Unga-Bunga have vision: Unga-Bunga see Unga-Bunga enter mirror portal, confront Poquelin. Unga-Bunga see Poquelin break Jerrod's Stone, open portal Underworld, summon two Cornugon from portal. Unga-Bunga see flash of light, portal resealed, Unga-Bunga not see how. Unga-Bunga see Poquelin reveal true self as powerful devil from Underworld, steal all Unga-Bunga's protection magics. Unga-Bunga see trapped stones on chamber floor try steal Unga-Bunga's magics. Unga-Bunga see two Iron Golems animate, battle Unga-Bunga with Devil Poquelin, two Corungon.
Unga-Bunga see Iron Golems spew noxious clouds, make Unga-Bunga choke. Unga-Bunga see Cornugon slash Unga-Bunga, make bleeding wound Unga-Bunga not able heal. Unga-Bunga see Devil Poquelin cast dark, infernal magics at Unga-Bunga, wield hellfire, poison, slash at Unga-Bunga with twin swords tall as Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga see battle chamber spin like Wheel of Time, see Unga-Bunga, Poquelin battle for long while until vision fade...
Unga-Bunga wake from vision drenched in sweat, shivering, shuddering. Unga-Bunga know end of Vision Quest at hand...
Unga-Bunga mop sweat from face with cloak, look over items, potions, scrolls, make plan for battle. Unga-Bunga know only spirits Unga-Bunga summon hurt Poquelin, Iron Golems, know elementals, beetles not hurt Poquelin, Iron Golems. Unga-Bunga afraid, know Unga-Bunga must battle alone for long, long while...
Unga-Bunga sit with items, plan for many hours, fall asleep sitting on floor with back against bed...
Unga-Bunga wake next day, gather things, climb ladder to mirror portal. Unga-Bunga stand next to mirror portal, take deep breath, hope battle plan work:
Unga-Bunga not cast protection magics, know Devil Poquelin steal Unga-Bunga's magics. Unga-Bunga ask spirits for aid, step through mirror portal:
Unga-Bunga enter circle chamber, like Wheel of Time, see Devil Poquelin standing near Jerrod's Stone. Unga-Bunga challenge Devil Poquelin leave Jerrod's Stone be, battle Unga-Bunga:
Devil Poquelin tell Unga-Bunga not kill Unga-Bunga so Unga-Bunga see beginning of Devil Poquelin conquest of all Faerun:
Unga-Bunga see Devil Poquelin turn, face Jerrod's Stone, wield dark magics:
Devil Poquelin break Jerrod's Stone! Devil Poquelin summon two Cornugon from portal:
Unga-Bunga afraid, not know how seal portal. Unga-Bunga hear cry from south end of chamber, see Priest Everard charge into chamber, stop short when see portal:
Unga-Bunga see Priest Everard charge portal, cry out. Unga-Bunga see Cornugon strike Priest Everard, open horrific wounds. Unga-Bunga see Devil Poquelin cast dark magics at Priest Everard, see Priest Everard run past Devil Poquelin, Cornugon, leap into portal, seal Jerrod's Stone once again:
Unga-Bunga see Devil Poquelin rage, belittle Priest Everard's sacrifice. Unga-Bunga vow not let Priest Everard's sacrifice be in vain, tell Devil Poquelin Unga-Bunga slay Devil Poquelin, complete Vision Quest, return tribe:
Devil Poquelin reveal true form: Belhifet, Devil of Avernus! Belhifet speak dark magics, try steal Unga-Bunga's magics away, but Unga-Bunga not cast magics before battle, not lose magics:
Unga-Bunga wear Symbol of Sehanine Moobow into battle, grasp Symbol in hand, cast Find Traps magics. Unga-Bunga able cast Find Traps magics on own but know casting take too much time:
Unga-Bunga flee to south end of chamber, Belhifet, Iron Golems, Cornugon chase Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga turn east, follow wall of circle chamber, take Oil of Speed from belt, swallow Oil of Speed:
Unga-Bunga toss flask aside, feel Oil course through body. Unga-Bunga turn north, run round circle chamber. Unga-Bunga wear Boots of Speed to battle, able get space from Belhifet, Golems, Cornugon with Boots of Speed, Oil of Speed. Unga-Bunga run along north side of circle chamber, take powerful throwing knife Unga-Bunga claim from Sahugain temple from belt, throw at Cornugon. Unga-Bunga miss:
Iron Golems breath noxious clouds in chamber. Unga-Bunga dodge clouds, run between clouds and traps in center of chamber. Unga-Bunga run along western side of circle chamber, take Violet potion from belt (Str 25, Dex 3, Con 3, 24 hours), drink potion. Unga-Bunga feel strong as ox, feel frail, feel body go rigid:
Unga-Bunga feel great strength, know Iron Golem bigger, easier to hit than Cornugon. Unga-Bunga fling throwing knife at Iron Golem, knife pierce iron, dig into golem, return Unga-Bunga's hand:
Unga-Bunga run, reverse Wheel of Time, take Potion of Fortitude from belt, drink potion. Unga-Bunga hoard potions over adventure, save for right moment. Unga-Bunga know moment now, Vision Quest at hand:
Unga-Bunga not feel frail after drink potion. Iron Golems breathe noxious fumes, make clouds over entire north chamber. Unga-Bunga run through clouds choking. Belhifet tire chasing Unga-Bunga, speak dark magics, port next to Unga-Bunga, raise blades:
Unga-Bunga ask spirits for aid, run past Belhifet, drink Potion of Agility, throw knife at Iron Golem, strike Golem:
Unga-Bunga run round chamber, come to northern chamber near noxious clouds. Unga-Bunga know only time cast quick magics, cast Protection from Evil, hold breath:
Unga-Bunga run through noxious cloud, poison burn chest. Unga-Bunga throw knife, strike Golem, see Cornugon run through cloud, Cornugon wince. Unga-Bunga drink healing potion, decide endure pain, lure Cornugon through clouds:
Unga-Bunga run chamber, drink two Potions of Mind Focusing, make Unga-Bunga smart, deft. Unga-Bunga throw knife with precision, know potions last twelve hours, hope twelve hours long enough:
Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, drink more potions, read Protection from Fire scroll. Unga-Bunga know magic scroll read quicker than Unga-Bunga cast protection magics. Unga-Bunga drink Potion of Fire Resistance just in time...
Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, throw knife into Golem many, many times. Belhifet rage, summon Firestorm on Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga wear Remorhaz Helm into battle, helm protect Unga-Bunga, Unga-Bunga resist spell:
Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, drink healing potions, throw knife into Golem. Belhifet curse, try hold Unga-Bunga with dark magics, but Unga-Bunga drink Potion of Freedom, resist magics:
Belhifet try trap Unga-Bunga, port in front of Unga-Bunga, command Iron Golems, Cornugon corner Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga turn, run into central chamber. Unga-Bunga run between trapped cobbles runed with dispel magics, escape trap. Unga-Bunga very afraid, realize Unga-Bunga forget cast Iron Skins. Unga-Bunga lucky Vision Quest not end with one blow. Unga-Bunga run to eastern side of chamber, cast Iron Skins:
Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time. Unga-Bunga very weary, throw knife into Golem many, many times:
Belhifet port many times, try catch Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga run like jackrabbit, leap over blades, duck under blades, escape by skin of teeth many times:
Unga-Bunga cry out, turn, throw knife into Golem. Golem sputter, fall to cobbles. Unga-Bunga cry out joy, relief, know must battle for many more hours to come:
Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, throw knife into last Golem many, many times. Belhifet port, try trap Unga-Bunga, nearly catch Unga-Bunga many times but Unga-Bunga escape:
Unga-Bunga strike Golem many times, catch Golem one last time, Golem crumble to cobbles:
Unga-Bunga see Belhifet turn, look at golems on cobble, hope Belhifet beginning doubt outcome of battle:
Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, throw knife at Cornugon. Unga-Bunga not let Cornugon get close Unga-Bunga, know Cornugon cut deep wound, make Unga-Bunga bleed. Unga-Bunga throw knife many, many times, know Cornugon much more agile than Golems, much harder to strike:
But sometimes Unga-Bunga land great strike, hear Cornugon bellow anger, pain:
Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time. Belhifet port near Unga-Bunga, swing great blades, but Unga-Bunga duck just in time:
Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, run many hours. Unga-Bunga turn, throw knife at Cornugon, cry out when Cornugon fall:
Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, throw knife into last Cornugon many times. Belhifet enraged, speak dark magics, try burn Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga resist darkfire, strike Cornugon mighty blow:
Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time ever on, ask spirits help carry Unga-Bunga, lighten Unga-Bunga's feet. Unga-Bunga nearly struck by Belhifet but escape:
Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, hurl knife into Cornugon, see Cornugon fall to cobbles:
The Wheel of Time stand still. Unga-Bunga turn, face Belhifet. Belhifet rage, leap into air, summon fire onto Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga resist fire:
Unga-Bunga face Belhifet alone, know not need fear noxious clouds, bleeding wounds. Unga-Bunga race across chamber, try cast protection magics before Belhifet catch Unga-Bunga:
Belhifet cut into Unga-Bunga's Iron Skins but not hurt Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga race across chamber, summon Earth Elemental:
Unga-Bunga know now time call spirits aid Unga-Bunga. Unga-Bunga begin dance, summon spirits to battle while Belhifet battle elemental:
Belhifet slay many spirits. Unga-Bunga grieve but summon more spirits. Unga-Bunga know even with potions Unga-Bunga not catch Belhifet with knife unless very lucky, afraid Belhifet regenerate. Unga-Bunga know need swarm Belhifet, have many spirits strike as one. Unga-Bunga watch Earth Spirit strike Belhifet:
Unga-Bunga dance feverishly, blink eyes as swear pour from forehead. Belhifet rage, port away from spirits, but Unga-Bunga know spirits always pursue Belhifet, put selves between Belhifet and Unga-Bunga, make spirit wall:
Unga-Bunga dance, feel potions wearing off but not stop dance. Belhifet slay spirits by dozen, but spirits sometimes catch Belhifet. Unga-Bunga see Belhifet wounded, implore spirits keep up attack:
Belhifet port across chamber, spirits chase Belhifet. Unga-Bunga suddenly feel tired, frail, know Potion of Fortitude wear off, make Unga-Bunga vulnerable:
Unga-Bunga falter in dance, spirits return home. Belhifet laugh, face Unga-Bunga, swing blades:
Unga-Bunga afraid, begin new dance, summon Earth Spirit. Earth Spirit rumble up to Belhifet, pound Belhifet, lift Unga-Bunga's spirits, make Unga-Bunga cheer!
Unga-Bunga, Belhifet dance battle of war many hours across chamber. Unga-Bunga know only most powerful spirits able wound Belhifet. Unga-Bunga know not all spirits Unga-Bunga summon most powerful, but Unga-Bunga realize all beings, all spirits have worth, have place and value:
Unga-Bunga dance many hours, know all but Violet potion fade away. Unga-Bunga legs feel like heavy stones, arms like worn rags, know Unga-Bunga battle Belhifet more than twelve hours. Unga-Bunga dance for life, for Vision Quest, to save all peoples near and far. Unga-Bunga take hope, see Belhifet also worn:
Unga-Bunga begin tire, dance falter, spriits return home. Unga-Bunga realize Unga-Bunga not able continue dance:
Unga-Bunga run from Belhifet, drink Oil of Speed. Unga-Bunga overcome with fear, fatigue, rage at Belhifet, hurl knife, land lucky strike!
Unga-Bunga run Wheel of Time, mind addled with fatigue, not know what do. Unga-Bunga know not have many potions, try steel heart for one last dance. Unga-Bunga run many hours, sometimes strike Belhifet:
Belhifet chase Unga-Bunga long while, teleport away. Unga-Bunga realize Belhifet make mistake. Unga-Bunga stop running, begin dance, summon spirits before Belhifet approach Unga-Bunga:
Unga-Bunga, Belhifet battle across chamber. Earth Spirit strike Belhifet, Unga-Bunga cheer. Unga-Bunga dare have hope, begin believe Unga-Bunga prevail over Belhifet...
Earth Spirit strike Belhifet again, Belhifet rage, immolate, cast fire:
Unga-Bunga, Belhifet battle dance of war across chamber. Many spirits fall but some land strikes on Belhifet:
Belhifet bellow at Unga-Bunga, spirits, cast fire down. Belhifet rage after Unga-Bunga, chase Unga-Bunga around chamber casting down fire:
Unga-Bunga see Belhifet weaken, implore spirits. Spirits swarm Belhifet. Unga-Bunga command spirits bring Belhifet down!
In the twenty-first hour of battle Belhifet stumble, fall to cobbles:
Unga-Bunga collapse to cobbles, hear great noise as ice encasing temple shatter, fall to ground. Spirits surround Unga-Bunga, keep Unga-Bunga from harm before returning home when Unga-Bunga safe.
Unga-Bunga lay on cobbles, pass out, awaken to Easthaven townsfolk approaching Unga-Bunga, staring at Jerrod's Stone. Townsfolk lift Unga-Bunga off cobbles, carry Unga-Bunga to Winter's Cradle tavern basement, try tend Unga-Bunga's wounds...
Unga-Bunga sleep many, many hours before waking. Unga-Bunga leave basement, step outside into open air. Unga-Bunga marvel at adventure Unga-Bunga undertake over last year. Unga-Bunga feel peace in heart, know Vision Quest complete:
Unga-Bunga see townsfolk emerge from ruined houses, approach Unga-Bunga. Townsfolk thank Unga-Bunga, whisper prayers for Priest Everard, Unga-Bunga ask spirits guide Priest Everard too.
Unga-Bunga return basement, gather things, step outside once more. Unga-Bunga thank townsfolk, wish townsfolk well, tell townsfolk time Unga-Bunga return tribe. Townsfolk embrace Unga-Bunga, not want let Unga-Bunga go. Unga-Bunga patient, let townsfolk slowly give way, let Unga-Bunga leave. Unga-Bunga step onto path leading out of Easthaven village...
As Unga-Bunga approach edge of village, pride swell in Unga-Bunga's heart. Unga-Bunga walk toward rising sun, wonder what might lie on path next. Unga-Bunga's celebrate completion of Vision Quest, pound chest, thrust fist in air!
Will do a separate summary post when I have time. For now, I'll just say Unga-Bunga and I had a time...
Hopefully can make it to BG 2. An iron-skinned greater werewolf sounds like it could be fun! Or does that not work? Can't remember if buffs stay during shape-shifting.
Thanks for support, i'm almost level 5 now, just recruited Baeloth instead of Garrick and preparing to go to Cloakwood.
Before thinking of BG2, I fear SoD, where all my previous no reload attempts failed.
I didn't knew SoD enough last time, since then I did some completionnist runs and should do better there.