Yeah, but I'm mostly just annoyed planning all but the pools part of the end battle. And now I wont even get to see the tactics work against the Big 6 and Melissan.
@Enuhal Thank you! Fireball, eventually to be superceded by Skull Trap, continues to be key when we're dealing with large enemy groups.
It'll be a long time before enemies have resistances and/or HP to shrug off, at present levels, 45D6 fire damage, averaging 157.5 damage (78.75 if they make five saves in a row).
@histamiini Near-perfect run, I must say. Your posts are also a very good source of information on enemy abilities.
How to survive without a CON modifier: A Random Run, Part 3
Previous part found here
We import into SoD by importing one character at a time, rather than importing the save game directly: This ensures our characters arrive right at the cap, not getting any extra experience.
Other than Invoker inexplicably loosing the 6 HP Familiar bonus (even though we kept the familiar...), the import worked fine.
Also, we'll add a slight difficulty increase. The party had to rush to Korlasz's dungeon before the latter could make a run for it, so we wound up leaving nearly all of our gear in the hands of the palace treasurer, Ophyllis; Invoker was only able to bring the Chain Mail +3, Krotan's Skullcrusher +2 and the Helm of Balduran. I'm sure it'll be fine, certainly Ophyllis can be trusted and won't sell all of our stuff to finance his gambling addiction.
It does mean we have to punch our way through the opening dungeon in our undies, though...
With only one melee weapon, we dismantle the first enemy group with, yes, Fireball. This, along with the contents of the room occupied by Porios, allows us to equip everyone with basic gear. I opted to allow purchasing things from the Flaming Fist Healer using the starting 30k gold, though I'll probably ban that in the future: We bought out her stock of healing potions.
Downstairs, there's not really much choice but to keep Fireballin' (though Enchanter offers some variety with Skull Trap, owing to him literally not being able to cast Fireball).
But man, even by opening dungeon standards, we are weak. Clearing the first big Undead group down here virtually exhausts our spell slots, so we have to risk a rest under Invisibility 10' Radius. It took something like 6 tries, as we kept getting interrupted by enormous amounts of 1HD Skeletons (we had to head back upstairs, as there wouldn't have been enough room...), but we eventually got it.
Onward we press, Fireballing as we go, and utilizing summons for the encounters with level-draining enemies.
I found something game-breakingly fun down here: You can backstab with Stone Fist.
I'll try not to abuse that. We reach Korlasz's chambers, drop a Cloudkill and a Chaos, and beyond dealing with the few Undead in there, that was it: Korlasz either ran out of HP or failed her save against Cloudkill (she should be immune to the instant death effect owing to her level?). Either way, she and her cronies accomplished nothing. Having looted everything, we return to the palace.
Not much to report for our brief foray into the city, though we sold some of the loot to afford a few items: Two +1 THAC0 bracers (sorely needed), and the cap that grants +2 CHA for bards. Could've skipped the last one I think. Anyway, off we go!
We clear the first outside area, then head on over to Isabella and Ikros, whom we help out against the Vampire. We still have absolutely awful trap detection capabilities, so while chasing after the Vampire Cleric eats a level drain trap bringing her to level 3... yikes.
We indulge in a spot of evil by leading the local Orc warband to Isabella and Ikros, and of course the latter stand no chance in a prolonged fight; not that their loot was worth the effort.
Nevertheless pleased at the way things turned out, we head back towards camp and.. oh dear.
That is decidedly not so great. We're almost out of spells, and Cleric is still stuck at L3.
I try to rest, but this area doesn't allow it... and I do so hate ignoring the random encounters in SoD. Alright.
We bust out of a Scroll of Greater Restoration which we bought off the Flaming Fist Healer, bringing Cleric back online (though she has no spells memorized...). We'll have to do what we can here!
Fortunately, we had a few Potions of Fire Resistance. This, combined with Sunfire from the Shield we got from Isabella (RIP), and a few Scorcher from that Wand of Fire you get in Korlasz's dungeon, actually carries us through the first group of Trolls inside the cave.
Cleric quaffs a Potion of Freedom, Fighter/Mage/Thief does the same with a bunch of Fighter potions (Giant Strength/Heroism/Invulnerability... might as well, he's the only one that can use them at present) and we descend through the pool.
And it works out! We have just enough charges left on the Wand of Fire to clear all the trolls out; don't think it'd have gone so smoothly if we'd had to fight them properly.
Good that we didn't have to abandon loot! We rest up at the camp and start clearing the Repository of Undeath.
Semahl doesn't make it (mainly because we can't just Fireball his position...), but otherwise the first level goes smoothly, owing to our firepower; Web by Invoker is also very good.
Again, we have to leave to rest several times, but other than that, progress is good and steady. Also, it turns out 5HD Skeleton Warriors can handle the Bronze Sentry just fine.
The Secret Revealed does for Coldhearth, we toss the Phylactery in the fire, have Cleric equip the Helmet of Dumathoin (freeing up the Helm of Balduran for Fighter/Mage/Thief), and return to camp. A quick rest later, we wrap things up by mercilessly Fireballing the Crusaders (we want the loot!).
Oh, one last thing: You can steal from Herod, which we gladly indulge in. This is another thing I'll ban from now on in my SoD runs , and I definitely won't allow it in BG2, but just for now. Apparently he only has difficulty 65, so getting Pick Pockets to 165 (two Potions of Master Thievery are enough for us) guarantees success. Cleric gets the Club +2, Blade gets the Savage Shortbow +2, and I forget the rest, but basically, we steal almost everything. Now, on to Troll Claw Woods!
We immediately head off into the wilderness, and almost as immediately, Enchanter picks up his old BG1 pasttime: Dying.
We duly raise him, and continue clearing the area (Cloudkill is quite handy here).
Mass Fireball ensures the Troll Cave goes smoothly; we depart for the Fort, and then depart again almost as quickly, since we need the Ward Token to do anything (though not before getting hit with an Oil of Fiery Burning from a local Hobgoblin Captain, which stings a bit since again... we have no HP).
The Greater Wyverns outside are handled via massive buffing and summons soaking up most of the damage.
I had planned to handle the Spider Cave using minimal resources, but always underestimate the sheer number of fairly dangerous Spiders in here: We end up blowing nearly all our remaining buffs and offensive spellworks, but do come out on top.
Cleric has good enough HP and saves that it's fine to toss one or two Fireballs at her even if she doesn't have Protection from Fire up, so occasionally we get a bit sloppy. We go back outside after having taken care of the Beetles that burrowed in, clear the Bugbears to the north, then get the Young Green Dragon ambush on our way back to camp. We help the Dragon, of course, since the Red Ioun Stone isn't so bad for Mage/Thief (and we've no use of a Halberd +2).
Then, en route back to the Temple, we get the Goblin/Myconid ambush, which is good since it means Elven Chainmail for Fighter/Mage/Thief. Yeah, AC5 isn't that terrific, but he can keep it equipped at all times, and it just looks nice: Very Elvish.
We make our way into the Temple, daggering Morentherene while passing by. The Bugbears aren't much danger, though we Fireball them anyway to ensure no Stalkers sneak past and put Enchanter out of his misery. Down in the temple proper, we opt not to quaff Potions of Perception: I'm sure we can tank any trap damage down here.
Or not, as it turns out. Maybe we should start using those potions...
At least Cleric can cast Raise Dead now, so we just rest up in the dungeon under Invisibility 10' Radius and continue.
Ziatar is remarkably weak for a Half-Dragon, though you've got to watch out for her breath weapon: This we solve by just mobbing her and her helpless Mage cronies with Skeleton Warriors.
Well, aside from the occasional horrible death, this is going just fine. The Neothelid takes a very long time to surface, but once it does, it drops within a few seconds due to massed Magic Missile.
Summons distract Akanna's Aerial Servants while we destroy them with magical firepower, and Akanna herself fares no better.
A rest later, we go all-out on Darskhelin and his Dominated party: Nothing lives long enough to threaten us.
I considered just rushing straight to the Shadow Aspect, but knowing how dangerous it can be, we rest again.
With every conceivable buff active (including True Sight on Cleric), the Shadow Aspect doesn't even last three rounds, since it wanders too close to several pre-laid traps right after having eaten five Magic Missiles.
And we now have access to the Fort. We take Vichand down: I prefer intimidating him, since if you fight him you have to be quick or he alerts the camp, but I guess Blade isn't that frightening. All the other little quests are done, and we finish by stealing literally almost every potion from Thirrim. Ugh, I feel dirty, but he does have a ton of Potions of Genius/Mind Focusing, and we so sorely need those...
Time for the easiest Fort battle I've ever had. We use some Fireballs, sure, but mostly it's Potions of Explosions (which Thirrim had in spades): These go straight through Minor Globe of Invulnerability, so readily burn the crusade Mages to a crisp, along with the rest of the rabble. The rabble unfortunately included Khalid, as the game remembers his gear from BG1... where he had a Long Sword, a Helmet, and nothing else (since I stole his stuff when first meeting him). Less than optimal when leading the charge.
I actually forget how we interrupted the Crusader Mage on the bridge, but evidently we did somehow: The Fort is saved, and we may proceed.
Arriving at yet another camp, we can finally sell off a bunch of crap to Nazramu, netting us 100k.
5k of which we promptly donate, since I misclicked and forced the local Ilmater-worshipping crazy person to accept healing, dropping reputation by 1...
Anyway! We do the little quests around camp, and this seems a good place to stop for now.
With decent gear all-around, we're now in a good position to blitz ahead, though we'll likely take the time to scribe scrolls first thing.
I seem to recall the Concocter having at least a few Intelligence-boosting potions, which is good, since we need about 13 of them in total in order for everyone to be guaranteed success... and that's using the Gem Dagger for +1 INT for whoever is scribing at the moment. This is why we haven't scribed anything yet, we just didn't have enough potions until we ripped Thirrim off.
Anyway, let's hope we can keep it up. Fireball and/or Skull Trap, in combination with Skeleton Warriors, should be sufficient to carry us through the rest of SoD. It better be, as magic is pretty much all we've got going for us.
I'll be away for a week, so next update will be some time from now; hopefully it'll be one culminating in beating Belhifet and moving on to BG2. Until next time!
Session 11 of this run has up to two more hours of mayhem. We were at the point of going to make a deal with Adalon last time. On our way to see her Omen and Coreheal ran into a drow war party. Omen took hefty damage but even without Tar helping he swiftly brushed them aside
Tar was not helping? Why no, she was laying snares slightly to the south. As the last drow fell to the ground she tossed a special snare onto the body, and we entered Adalons lair. We sealed a deal to retrieve her eggs by swearing fealty on even more snares Tar left as a gift
As we left her lair the sound of snares could be heard, earlier than Tar had expected. On inspection we discovered the entire adventuring party had perished including their troublesome thief for whom Tar had planned to foil with the True Sight from her book of one spells
A quick rest, then on to the drow city in disguised dark elf forms. Tar almost gave herself away with dialogue menu option 1 but just stopped herself and instead announced as Veldrin from Ched Nasad. So it was that we were granted access to Ust Natha
We wasted little time, purchasing only the staff of earth for Tar and the Rod of Smiting for Coreheal. Neither strictly necessary but we are entertaining the idea of max overkill except when extreme recklessness cannot be avoided
We found ourselves rescuing Phaere. Tar a bit miffed that she had no first HLA and the containered Death spell scroll remained unused. We resorted to snares and these worked reasonably well but Omen still did much axe work. Phaere mentioned a reward and told us to return to Ust Natha
We dealt with a beholder, a peacefully brokered helmet from a patrol, and convinced Solaufein he should act as if dead otherwise we would make it a permanent fixture for him. Then we offered up the Elder Brain blood when Phaere's beholder eyestalk proved unsufficient for the Matron Mother, and juggled dragon eggs. Only one recipient could be happy about the results, other than us
The summoned Demon Lord killed both the Matron Mother and Phaere, but as it was about to depart Tar gave it the real eggs in exchange for a magical halberd. We ran for the city exit, Tar lagging behind her speedbooted companions. She even had time to quip to the guards that there was "nothing to see here"
Coreheal counter-threatened the Aboleth while we refused to deal with Ghaunadians or Deirex's lichy tower. We were being quick in our escape
By the time Tar got past the tavern and almost to the Aboleth tank all the drow started to go hostile. Omen and Coreheal were waiting at the city gate, shouting that Tar should not have hung about. She shouted back that she had gone as fast as her little legs would carry her (could have gulped an oil of speed though) and the drow started to attack and surround her. Not good news
Tar though had ideas, chiefly glugging a potion of invisibility while there was still a path to the exit. She made it without further damage and we escaped to freedom
That was close. Indeed, so close that quite a few of the drow joined us outside. Tar kept running while invisible, and hurled a special snare backwards as she gained sufficient distance. Omen was merrily carving away with his axe but poor Coreheal took a couple of quick hits and slumped to the ground. Our first party death for quite a while
Omen seemed relatively safe and the special snare mazed all the drow. They returned in dribs and drabs, landing on newly-laid snares and smashed into them with ferocious axe blows. Once all were dead Tar fumbled inside her bag of holding and used the Rod of Resurrection on Coreheal
Back to Adalon, who was unaware of our eggstravagance with her brood. Tar was searching for the right words to tell her while passing potions of cold resistance to Omen and Coreheal. Once we were fully protected from cold (and fire for Omen) we decided Coreheal should present her with a Firestorm. Omen swung his mighty axe but the cluster of snares were quicker than his arm. Tar scooped up a vial of dragon blood and we made our way back from the Underdark
Elven general Elhan was there to interrogate us, and our story convinced him to make us hunt Bodhi down IMMEDIATELY. Right-oh
It appears we had to stop off at Trademeet to purchase the belt of inertial barrier for Tar. Ringing in our ears; IMMEDIATELY
So, Umar Hills and the strange book merchant. No sign of him, we searched high low and all around the snares left by adventurers resembling ourselves. Eventually we came to the horrible conclusion that we might not have looted a container in the excitement of dealing with Rejiek Hidesman. A quick trip to the Bridge district confirms this, and we return to Umar Hills
The book merchant duly does a trade, reveals himself as a master craftsman of un-natural armour, pours the dragon blood over Tar's human flesh and declares it quite complete. With that done he announces awareness of our ruse and attacks. This would have been a brief combat ending with Omen the bloody axeman standing amid severed enemy limbs and torsos if it were not for the humane dwarven and gromish snare killing Darcin Cole and his minions immediately
Tar was crossing off her to-do list rapidly. Next to the city docks, where Cromwell forged the Equalizer long sword, the Gesen shortbow and the Wave halberd. Two were bagged and Omen grabbed the bow for seldom-use rather than the seldom-use of a longbow he'd previously rarely drawn in anger. We asked a couple of times about forging Crom Faeyr but Cromwell stubbornly refused on account of us not having the Hammer of Thunderbolts. Mr Picky!
We trotted off to the Temple district, although our two hours was up we felt obliged to give ourselves a clue as to what we should start with next time by standing outside the lair
Tar has picked up the missile container so between that and the bag of holding we had no inventory issues during the session and without visiting a store after Windspear Hills it looks quite manageable
High level abilities
Tar: Use any item (summoned a familiar), scribe scrolls, alchemy
Omen: Hardiness, whirlwind, greater whirlwind
Coreheal: Spike trap, summon deva
We've also treated ourselves to the shield of reflection; Tar realising she can use it rather than bagging it
On to session 12. We are taking in the ambience of the sewers outside a hidden illithid enclave so will be freshly ready, or not
What was that? Tar can't see an EDIT button (yes yes it's in the cog part while I'd got it in my head that it was at the bottom next to Quote), and realises she forgot to mention that after visiting Cromwell and before going to the Temple district we spent almost an hour playing dragon and mouse at Windspear Hills because of the Hammer of Thunderbolts. She ought to have remembered that the three of us fought well together and Tar only inappropriately mazed one group of low level enemies right at the start which left Omen twiddling his thumbs before they could be killed and Garren Windspear would make his entrance
Coreheal popped undead. Omen meleed adamatium golems. Tar kept out of trouble while making mischief for our enemies. Firkraag survived our initial snares as Tar intended to rest but Coreheal laid 3 more snares and they would misbehave if we rested. So Omen took a lot of damage before we eventually hauled the fiery dragon to the ground. Tar tagged and bagged more items so there is a lot of stuff to sell after the illithid lair and Cromwells forging complete. Then we could go after Bodhi unless we decide the guarded compound or Twisted Rune need to be investigated looted
Comments
It'll be a long time before enemies have resistances and/or HP to shrug off, at present levels, 45D6 fire damage, averaging 157.5 damage (78.75 if they make five saves in a row).
@histamiini Near-perfect run, I must say. Your posts are also a very good source of information on enemy abilities.
Previous part found here
Other than Invoker inexplicably loosing the 6 HP Familiar bonus (even though we kept the familiar...), the import worked fine.
Also, we'll add a slight difficulty increase. The party had to rush to Korlasz's dungeon before the latter could make a run for it, so we wound up leaving nearly all of our gear in the hands of the palace treasurer, Ophyllis; Invoker was only able to bring the Chain Mail +3, Krotan's Skullcrusher +2 and the Helm of Balduran. I'm sure it'll be fine, certainly Ophyllis can be trusted and won't sell all of our stuff to finance his gambling addiction.
It does mean we have to punch our way through the opening dungeon in our undies, though...
With only one melee weapon, we dismantle the first enemy group with, yes, Fireball. This, along with the contents of the room occupied by Porios, allows us to equip everyone with basic gear. I opted to allow purchasing things from the Flaming Fist Healer using the starting 30k gold, though I'll probably ban that in the future: We bought out her stock of healing potions.
Downstairs, there's not really much choice but to keep Fireballin' (though Enchanter offers some variety with Skull Trap, owing to him literally not being able to cast Fireball).
But man, even by opening dungeon standards, we are weak. Clearing the first big Undead group down here virtually exhausts our spell slots, so we have to risk a rest under Invisibility 10' Radius. It took something like 6 tries, as we kept getting interrupted by enormous amounts of 1HD Skeletons (we had to head back upstairs, as there wouldn't have been enough room...), but we eventually got it.
Onward we press, Fireballing as we go, and utilizing summons for the encounters with level-draining enemies.
I found something game-breakingly fun down here: You can backstab with Stone Fist.
I'll try not to abuse that. We reach Korlasz's chambers, drop a Cloudkill and a Chaos, and beyond dealing with the few Undead in there, that was it: Korlasz either ran out of HP or failed her save against Cloudkill (she should be immune to the instant death effect owing to her level?). Either way, she and her cronies accomplished nothing. Having looted everything, we return to the palace.
Not much to report for our brief foray into the city, though we sold some of the loot to afford a few items: Two +1 THAC0 bracers (sorely needed), and the cap that grants +2 CHA for bards. Could've skipped the last one I think. Anyway, off we go!
We clear the first outside area, then head on over to Isabella and Ikros, whom we help out against the Vampire. We still have absolutely awful trap detection capabilities, so while chasing after the Vampire Cleric eats a level drain trap bringing her to level 3... yikes.
We indulge in a spot of evil by leading the local Orc warband to Isabella and Ikros, and of course the latter stand no chance in a prolonged fight; not that their loot was worth the effort.
Nevertheless pleased at the way things turned out, we head back towards camp and.. oh dear.
That is decidedly not so great. We're almost out of spells, and Cleric is still stuck at L3.
I try to rest, but this area doesn't allow it... and I do so hate ignoring the random encounters in SoD. Alright.
We bust out of a Scroll of Greater Restoration which we bought off the Flaming Fist Healer, bringing Cleric back online (though she has no spells memorized...). We'll have to do what we can here!
Fortunately, we had a few Potions of Fire Resistance. This, combined with Sunfire from the Shield we got from Isabella (RIP), and a few Scorcher from that Wand of Fire you get in Korlasz's dungeon, actually carries us through the first group of Trolls inside the cave.
Cleric quaffs a Potion of Freedom, Fighter/Mage/Thief does the same with a bunch of Fighter potions (Giant Strength/Heroism/Invulnerability... might as well, he's the only one that can use them at present) and we descend through the pool.
And it works out! We have just enough charges left on the Wand of Fire to clear all the trolls out; don't think it'd have gone so smoothly if we'd had to fight them properly.
Good that we didn't have to abandon loot! We rest up at the camp and start clearing the Repository of Undeath.
Semahl doesn't make it (mainly because we can't just Fireball his position...), but otherwise the first level goes smoothly, owing to our firepower; Web by Invoker is also very good.
Again, we have to leave to rest several times, but other than that, progress is good and steady. Also, it turns out 5HD Skeleton Warriors can handle the Bronze Sentry just fine.
The Secret Revealed does for Coldhearth, we toss the Phylactery in the fire, have Cleric equip the Helmet of Dumathoin (freeing up the Helm of Balduran for Fighter/Mage/Thief), and return to camp. A quick rest later, we wrap things up by mercilessly Fireballing the Crusaders (we want the loot!).
Oh, one last thing: You can steal from Herod, which we gladly indulge in. This is another thing I'll ban from now on in my SoD runs , and I definitely won't allow it in BG2, but just for now. Apparently he only has difficulty 65, so getting Pick Pockets to 165 (two Potions of Master Thievery are enough for us) guarantees success. Cleric gets the Club +2, Blade gets the Savage Shortbow +2, and I forget the rest, but basically, we steal almost everything. Now, on to Troll Claw Woods!
We immediately head off into the wilderness, and almost as immediately, Enchanter picks up his old BG1 pasttime: Dying.
We duly raise him, and continue clearing the area (Cloudkill is quite handy here).
Mass Fireball ensures the Troll Cave goes smoothly; we depart for the Fort, and then depart again almost as quickly, since we need the Ward Token to do anything (though not before getting hit with an Oil of Fiery Burning from a local Hobgoblin Captain, which stings a bit since again... we have no HP).
The Greater Wyverns outside are handled via massive buffing and summons soaking up most of the damage.
I had planned to handle the Spider Cave using minimal resources, but always underestimate the sheer number of fairly dangerous Spiders in here: We end up blowing nearly all our remaining buffs and offensive spellworks, but do come out on top.
Cleric has good enough HP and saves that it's fine to toss one or two Fireballs at her even if she doesn't have Protection from Fire up, so occasionally we get a bit sloppy. We go back outside after having taken care of the Beetles that burrowed in, clear the Bugbears to the north, then get the Young Green Dragon ambush on our way back to camp. We help the Dragon, of course, since the Red Ioun Stone isn't so bad for Mage/Thief (and we've no use of a Halberd +2).
Then, en route back to the Temple, we get the Goblin/Myconid ambush, which is good since it means Elven Chainmail for Fighter/Mage/Thief. Yeah, AC5 isn't that terrific, but he can keep it equipped at all times, and it just looks nice: Very Elvish.
We make our way into the Temple, daggering Morentherene while passing by. The Bugbears aren't much danger, though we Fireball them anyway to ensure no Stalkers sneak past and put Enchanter out of his misery. Down in the temple proper, we opt not to quaff Potions of Perception: I'm sure we can tank any trap damage down here.
Or not, as it turns out. Maybe we should start using those potions...
At least Cleric can cast Raise Dead now, so we just rest up in the dungeon under Invisibility 10' Radius and continue.
Ziatar is remarkably weak for a Half-Dragon, though you've got to watch out for her breath weapon: This we solve by just mobbing her and her helpless Mage cronies with Skeleton Warriors.
Well, aside from the occasional horrible death, this is going just fine. The Neothelid takes a very long time to surface, but once it does, it drops within a few seconds due to massed Magic Missile.
Summons distract Akanna's Aerial Servants while we destroy them with magical firepower, and Akanna herself fares no better.
A rest later, we go all-out on Darskhelin and his Dominated party: Nothing lives long enough to threaten us.
I considered just rushing straight to the Shadow Aspect, but knowing how dangerous it can be, we rest again.
With every conceivable buff active (including True Sight on Cleric), the Shadow Aspect doesn't even last three rounds, since it wanders too close to several pre-laid traps right after having eaten five Magic Missiles.
And we now have access to the Fort. We take Vichand down: I prefer intimidating him, since if you fight him you have to be quick or he alerts the camp, but I guess Blade isn't that frightening. All the other little quests are done, and we finish by stealing literally almost every potion from Thirrim. Ugh, I feel dirty, but he does have a ton of Potions of Genius/Mind Focusing, and we so sorely need those...
Time for the easiest Fort battle I've ever had. We use some Fireballs, sure, but mostly it's Potions of Explosions (which Thirrim had in spades): These go straight through Minor Globe of Invulnerability, so readily burn the crusade Mages to a crisp, along with the rest of the rabble. The rabble unfortunately included Khalid, as the game remembers his gear from BG1... where he had a Long Sword, a Helmet, and nothing else (since I stole his stuff when first meeting him). Less than optimal when leading the charge.
I actually forget how we interrupted the Crusader Mage on the bridge, but evidently we did somehow: The Fort is saved, and we may proceed.
Arriving at yet another camp, we can finally sell off a bunch of crap to Nazramu, netting us 100k.
5k of which we promptly donate, since I misclicked and forced the local Ilmater-worshipping crazy person to accept healing, dropping reputation by 1...
Anyway! We do the little quests around camp, and this seems a good place to stop for now.
With decent gear all-around, we're now in a good position to blitz ahead, though we'll likely take the time to scribe scrolls first thing.
I seem to recall the Concocter having at least a few Intelligence-boosting potions, which is good, since we need about 13 of them in total in order for everyone to be guaranteed success... and that's using the Gem Dagger for +1 INT for whoever is scribing at the moment. This is why we haven't scribed anything yet, we just didn't have enough potions until we ripped Thirrim off.
Anyway, let's hope we can keep it up. Fireball and/or Skull Trap, in combination with Skeleton Warriors, should be sufficient to carry us through the rest of SoD. It better be, as magic is pretty much all we've got going for us.
I'll be away for a week, so next update will be some time from now; hopefully it'll be one culminating in beating Belhifet and moving on to BG2. Until next time!
Tar, dwaven bounty hunter (Gate70)
Omen, dwarven defender (Grond0)
Coreheal VII, gnome cleric / thief (Corey_Russell)
Session 11 of this run has up to two more hours of mayhem. We were at the point of going to make a deal with Adalon last time. On our way to see her Omen and Coreheal ran into a drow war party. Omen took hefty damage but even without Tar helping he swiftly brushed them aside
Tar was not helping? Why no, she was laying snares slightly to the south. As the last drow fell to the ground she tossed a special snare onto the body, and we entered Adalons lair. We sealed a deal to retrieve her eggs by swearing fealty on even more snares Tar left as a gift
As we left her lair the sound of snares could be heard, earlier than Tar had expected. On inspection we discovered the entire adventuring party had perished including their troublesome thief for whom Tar had planned to foil with the True Sight from her book of one spells
A quick rest, then on to the drow city in disguised dark elf forms. Tar almost gave herself away with dialogue menu option 1 but just stopped herself and instead announced as Veldrin from Ched Nasad. So it was that we were granted access to Ust Natha
We wasted little time, purchasing only the staff of earth for Tar and the Rod of Smiting for Coreheal. Neither strictly necessary but we are entertaining the idea of max overkill except when extreme recklessness cannot be avoided
We found ourselves rescuing Phaere. Tar a bit miffed that she had no first HLA and the containered Death spell scroll remained unused. We resorted to snares and these worked reasonably well but Omen still did much axe work. Phaere mentioned a reward and told us to return to Ust Natha
We dealt with a beholder, a peacefully brokered helmet from a patrol, and convinced Solaufein he should act as if dead otherwise we would make it a permanent fixture for him. Then we offered up the Elder Brain blood when Phaere's beholder eyestalk proved unsufficient for the Matron Mother, and juggled dragon eggs. Only one recipient could be happy about the results, other than us
The summoned Demon Lord killed both the Matron Mother and Phaere, but as it was about to depart Tar gave it the real eggs in exchange for a magical halberd. We ran for the city exit, Tar lagging behind her speedbooted companions. She even had time to quip to the guards that there was "nothing to see here"
Coreheal counter-threatened the Aboleth while we refused to deal with Ghaunadians or Deirex's lichy tower. We were being quick in our escape
By the time Tar got past the tavern and almost to the Aboleth tank all the drow started to go hostile. Omen and Coreheal were waiting at the city gate, shouting that Tar should not have hung about. She shouted back that she had gone as fast as her little legs would carry her (could have gulped an oil of speed though) and the drow started to attack and surround her. Not good news
Tar though had ideas, chiefly glugging a potion of invisibility while there was still a path to the exit. She made it without further damage and we escaped to freedom
That was close. Indeed, so close that quite a few of the drow joined us outside. Tar kept running while invisible, and hurled a special snare backwards as she gained sufficient distance. Omen was merrily carving away with his axe but poor Coreheal took a couple of quick hits and slumped to the ground. Our first party death for quite a while
Omen seemed relatively safe and the special snare mazed all the drow. They returned in dribs and drabs, landing on newly-laid snares and smashed into them with ferocious axe blows. Once all were dead Tar fumbled inside her bag of holding and used the Rod of Resurrection on Coreheal
Back to Adalon, who was unaware of our eggstravagance with her brood. Tar was searching for the right words to tell her while passing potions of cold resistance to Omen and Coreheal. Once we were fully protected from cold (and fire for Omen) we decided Coreheal should present her with a Firestorm. Omen swung his mighty axe but the cluster of snares were quicker than his arm. Tar scooped up a vial of dragon blood and we made our way back from the Underdark
Elven general Elhan was there to interrogate us, and our story convinced him to make us hunt Bodhi down IMMEDIATELY. Right-oh
It appears we had to stop off at Trademeet to purchase the belt of inertial barrier for Tar. Ringing in our ears; IMMEDIATELY
So, Umar Hills and the strange book merchant. No sign of him, we searched high low and all around the snares left by adventurers resembling ourselves. Eventually we came to the horrible conclusion that we might not have looted a container in the excitement of dealing with Rejiek Hidesman. A quick trip to the Bridge district confirms this, and we return to Umar Hills
The book merchant duly does a trade, reveals himself as a master craftsman of un-natural armour, pours the dragon blood over Tar's human flesh and declares it quite complete. With that done he announces awareness of our ruse and attacks. This would have been a brief combat ending with Omen the bloody axeman standing amid severed enemy limbs and torsos if it were not for the humane dwarven and gromish snare killing Darcin Cole and his minions immediately
Tar was crossing off her to-do list rapidly. Next to the city docks, where Cromwell forged the Equalizer long sword, the Gesen shortbow and the Wave halberd. Two were bagged and Omen grabbed the bow for seldom-use rather than the seldom-use of a longbow he'd previously rarely drawn in anger. We asked a couple of times about forging Crom Faeyr but Cromwell stubbornly refused on account of us not having the Hammer of Thunderbolts. Mr Picky!
We trotted off to the Temple district, although our two hours was up we felt obliged to give ourselves a clue as to what we should start with next time by standing outside the lair
Tar has picked up the missile container so between that and the bag of holding we had no inventory issues during the session and without visiting a store after Windspear Hills it looks quite manageable
High level abilities
Tar: Use any item (summoned a familiar), scribe scrolls, alchemy
Omen: Hardiness, whirlwind, greater whirlwind
Coreheal: Spike trap, summon deva
We've also treated ourselves to the shield of reflection; Tar realising she can use it rather than bagging it
On to session 12. We are taking in the ambience of the sewers outside a hidden illithid enclave so will be freshly ready, or not
Coreheal popped undead. Omen meleed adamatium golems. Tar kept out of trouble while making mischief for our enemies. Firkraag survived our initial snares as Tar intended to rest but Coreheal laid 3 more snares and they would misbehave if we rested. So Omen took a lot of damage before we eventually hauled the fiery dragon to the ground. Tar tagged and bagged more items so there is a lot of stuff to sell after the illithid lair and Cromwells forging complete. Then we could go after Bodhi unless we decide the guarded compound or Twisted Rune need to be investigated looted