At Abazigal's Lair, Al confronted Draconis in human form. With good saving throws, Cloak of Mirroring and immunity to weapons, Al was safe from all human attacks - and just had to make sure he kept enough distance not to be caught under the dragon when it changed. In dragon form, Draconis has a pretty nasty breath weapon and none of the Crew had protection against that. However, they handed out damage themselves quick enough to kill Draconis before any of them were in danger.
There were no problems moving through the rest of the lair, gaining some bronze pantalettes on the way by subcontracting a recovery job to Bondari. In the final area they circled around Abazigal's position while killing all the salamanders. His hardiness meant it took a while to whittle down Abazigal's human form and prompt a change. Unfortunately the impact from that threw Baby Face into a slight cavity in the rocks and he was unable to get out before Abazigal arrived. He borrowed Mad Dog's cloak and assumed rat form just in time to save his life while the others launched a desperate attack. Baby Face had put back on the Cloak of Reflection after that and this time using that spared his life as Abazigal was unable to finish him off before his own HPs ran out. The XP from that was just enough for level 26.
Back in Amkethran they beat up some monks and mercenaries. That provided them with a gate key and they moved inside in search of Balthazar. His supporting monks were quickly slaughtered, but his high HPs and ability to disappear allowed him to survive several GWWs. His fast speed and ability to hold opponents were pretty dangerous and 2 oils of speed were used to keep him out of attack range of slower members of the Crew until he finally fell.
After resting up the Crew did the third PP challenge - a single GWW round being too much for the Slayer. For the fourth the Favored of Cyric managed just a single backstab on the Crew - though a couple of summons were killed as well. For the fifth the Crew all equipped either natural +4/5 weapons or slings using +4 ammunition. Vito tried to keep the attention of the bone blades with a fair amount of success and a couple of rounds of GWW saw the end of the Ravager. The XP from that left Al just short of another level and I considered going to Watcher's Keep to find some more enemies, but ultimately decided the run should come to an end one way or the other now.
For the first time in BG2EE the Crew made major use of potions before being transported to the Throne. Mad Dog was wearing the BMU and kept close to her, while the others poured fire in from the surroundings - causing her to flee quicker than I expected. Annoyingly, a vampiric wraith ignored Mad Dog and level drained Bugsy before Yan-C-Bin was shot down. For her second incarnation a simmy was used to help occupy her - that died just as she ran away once more. Cryonax was left stuck behind a troll while the rest of his icy gang melted away. For Mel's 3rd incarnation a first round of GWWs hit her for far more than her HPs. However, her script kept her alive until her attempt to heal herself was interrupted and she was forced to run once more. Mad Dog borrowed the Reflection Shield to snuff out the danger from the Fallen Solar. The Mariliths PfMW kept them going for a couple more rounds, but then it was time to see what Mel had left. The answer was - nothing like enough. Another GWW immediately eliminated her HPs and then it was just a matter of waiting a couple of seconds until she'd tried and failed to heal herself - prompting an intervention from the solar.
Al took the honours for the most kills. That's the first time that I've run essentially the same party through the game twice. In principle it might seem unlikely that they would try their luck for a 3rd time. However, Al did elect to stay mortal and I'm already wondering whether they would have any chance of success without using any weapons at all ...
@Grond0 Congratulations! Good job with the second round of fighters, though the weaponless variety (without them being monks) seems like it would be very challenging indeed.
Comments
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1218157/#Comment_1218157
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1218245/#Comment_1218245
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1218263/#Comment_1218263
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1218305/#Comment_1218305
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1218352/#Comment_1218352
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1218381/#Comment_1218381
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1218402/#Comment_1218402
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1218417/#Comment_1218417
At Abazigal's Lair, Al confronted Draconis in human form. With good saving throws, Cloak of Mirroring and immunity to weapons, Al was safe from all human attacks - and just had to make sure he kept enough distance not to be caught under the dragon when it changed. In dragon form, Draconis has a pretty nasty breath weapon and none of the Crew had protection against that. However, they handed out damage themselves quick enough to kill Draconis before any of them were in danger.
There were no problems moving through the rest of the lair, gaining some bronze pantalettes on the way by subcontracting a recovery job to Bondari. In the final area they circled around Abazigal's position while killing all the salamanders. His hardiness meant it took a while to whittle down Abazigal's human form and prompt a change. Unfortunately the impact from that threw Baby Face into a slight cavity in the rocks and he was unable to get out before Abazigal arrived. He borrowed Mad Dog's cloak and assumed rat form just in time to save his life while the others launched a desperate attack. Baby Face had put back on the Cloak of Reflection after that and this time using that spared his life as Abazigal was unable to finish him off before his own HPs ran out. The XP from that was just enough for level 26.
Back in Amkethran they beat up some monks and mercenaries. That provided them with a gate key and they moved inside in search of Balthazar. His supporting monks were quickly slaughtered, but his high HPs and ability to disappear allowed him to survive several GWWs. His fast speed and ability to hold opponents were pretty dangerous and 2 oils of speed were used to keep him out of attack range of slower members of the Crew until he finally fell.
After resting up the Crew did the third PP challenge - a single GWW round being too much for the Slayer. For the fourth the Favored of Cyric managed just a single backstab on the Crew - though a couple of summons were killed as well. For the fifth the Crew all equipped either natural +4/5 weapons or slings using +4 ammunition. Vito tried to keep the attention of the bone blades with a fair amount of success and a couple of rounds of GWW saw the end of the Ravager. The XP from that left Al just short of another level and I considered going to Watcher's Keep to find some more enemies, but ultimately decided the run should come to an end one way or the other now.
For the first time in BG2EE the Crew made major use of potions before being transported to the Throne. Mad Dog was wearing the BMU and kept close to her, while the others poured fire in from the surroundings - causing her to flee quicker than I expected. Annoyingly, a vampiric wraith ignored Mad Dog and level drained Bugsy before Yan-C-Bin was shot down. For her second incarnation a simmy was used to help occupy her - that died just as she ran away once more. Cryonax was left stuck behind a troll while the rest of his icy gang melted away. For Mel's 3rd incarnation a first round of GWWs hit her for far more than her HPs. However, her script kept her alive until her attempt to heal herself was interrupted and she was forced to run once more. Mad Dog borrowed the Reflection Shield to snuff out the danger from the Fallen Solar. The Mariliths PfMW kept them going for a couple more rounds, but then it was time to see what Mel had left. The answer was - nothing like enough. Another GWW immediately eliminated her HPs and then it was just a matter of waiting a couple of seconds until she'd tried and failed to heal herself - prompting an intervention from the solar.
Al took the honours for the most kills. That's the first time that I've run essentially the same party through the game twice. In principle it might seem unlikely that they would try their luck for a 3rd time. However, Al did elect to stay mortal and I'm already wondering whether they would have any chance of success without using any weapons at all ...
Edit:
Al, the Fighter (#2): @Grond0
Notable Mods: None
Difficulty: Core Rules
Special: Party only contains unkitted fighters. No use of item-based healing or resurrection. No using or equipping melee weapons.
Start: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1218133/#Comment_1218133
End: https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1218423/#Comment_1218423