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 Fireball, eventually to be superceded by Skull Trap, continues to be key when we're dealing with large enemy groups.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
Next 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
Tar had started a plan for session 12: Deal with the temple district illithid, get Crom Faeyr and the fire dragon armour forged, stop off at the guarded compound and clear the Twisted Rune before dealing with Bodhi. Plus stop in at the Slums to see if the Lathander quest could be progressed at night
First then the illithid. We cleared the initial room of fighters and laid snares from the door at the end of the passage back to this chamber. A special snare was placed last so we could get respite if pushed backwards. No need for this though, so we moved on towards the third and final chamber. Omen filled the doorway with his broad shoulders while Coreheal shot from behind. Tar hung back and when Omen suffered from a first braindrain (intelligence down to 6) Tar mazed the illithid
At this point I had to answer the door but the game was safely paused. By the time I came back the game was unpaused, illithid all dead, and the hammer of Thunderbolts was in my inventory. Talk about efficient delegation
Tar then decided to deal with the guarded compound as we were already in the vicinity and Cromwells forgings would not make a material difference there. Omen got the delight of asking for a lesson and we laid a few snares. Tar used her HLAs to make a potion and a scroll after laying snares. As she looked in her inventory and gulped a rogue speed potion she announced she was ready to start then realised Omen and Coreheal had already defeated the first enemies
We laid more snares and headed upstairs, the plan being to return downstairs and see who was lured with us. Coreheal took a hefty backstab from Ketta (12 hp of 77 left) so we encouraged him to run as Sion and Koshi blundered into snares. Koshi survived long enough to be mazed again but Sion died in traps and against skeletons Coreheal had left
A few more snares and we went upstairs again, and decided to drag enemies back downstairs again Ketta, Malafan and Olaf Rassmusen arrived. Ketta backstabbed a skeleton warrior so Tar used the book of spells True Sight. Malafan and Olaf died quickly and Ketta soon followed them
Upstairs again, lingering long enough for Tar to disable two enemy traps and only Stalman remained so we killed him - Coreheal clearing two more traps as we left to forge items courtesy of Cromwell
It was now not quite 10pm but Tar wanted to make sure she turned up at the slums. So we went into the Copper Coronet to sell loot from the end of the previous session and so far today. She used a Friends scroll for a charisma of 24 because Omen had asked about purchasing the Defender of Easthaven flail
It was 9pm then 10pm but nope the Talos contact was not biting. Tar could see the temple quest in her journal but Coreheal and Omen could not. We returned to the Temple district, confirmed the quest had been given, and back to the slums to confirm a no-show. Lathander is out of luck
Next then. The Twisted Rune. Snares for the lich. Omen did the summoning but Shangalar triggered a further maze snare which was intended for Revenak and possibly Shyressa. It died before the maze started, while Revenak and Vaxall the beholder were also being mazed. Omen 'rescued' Vaxall by killing it before the maze activated and turned to face Shyressa as Revenak was mazed. Omen had forgotten to swap weapons and took a level drain, so switched and destroyed the vampire. Layene had seen us earlier though so at this point we (not Tar she's still working on being a team player) were hit by a firestorm. We still got the kill for Shyressa then stepped out of the firezone. Layene and her pit fiend gave Omen a couple of hits, while Tar used her Firetooth dagger to almost kill Layene. She managed to cast wail of a banshee before perishing just as Revenak re-appeared. We raced to him but he was mazed a second time by a snare Tar had intended for Layene. He returned to land on a pair of normal snares and we looted to our hearts content
So Bodhi and the vampire nest. Omen used Azuredge and the mace, while Coreheal turned aplenty. Tar trotted along behind, keeping out of the way and dealing with traps. Omen battered Bodhi into submission and Tar looted the container. We returned to Elhan, then realised Tar had not picked up the Lanthorn. Two quick trips later we were on our way to Suldanessellar
Two adamantite golems appeared to be getting the better of Omen (88/171hp with dwarven stance active) but Tar decided to test them against a maze snare. Both disappeared and she decided to try normal snares for their return. Raamilat summoned a nabassu while Tar was tidying her inventory then cast timestop and firestorm. No real danger for us with Tar once more showing her team skills. Omen is mazed by Raamilat but just as Coreheal sends a deva in Raamilat is mazed by Tar with another snare and lands on another snare upon returning
Next are a group of golems, only iron and sand meaning short work is made of them. Tar decides it is time to deal with Nizidramanii'yt the dragon, tossing a special snare in and as it is mazed Coreheal and Tar lay a snare each. We intend to lay more but the dragon returns far quicker than we expect. Omen is in melee but Tar has retreated and throws another maze snare. Another 2 traps are laid despite being entangled and as one was a spike trap they are enough for the dragon to succumb
We'd like to say the rest of the city was a cake walk but Omen had to retreat from golems and rakshasa at one point. He had only taken 2 or 3 steps away before Coreheal healed him, and 2 seconds later all enemies were dead. We entered the temple of Rillifane and let the avatar obtain a victory there. Tar emptied her containers with the merchant outside and we moved on to the tree of life
Tar claimed one earth elemental and one fire elemental with the staffs she had been hoarding, but the air elementals were gone before she could see them. Irenicus made a grand speech then promptly died from excess snarekiness and dragged us into Hell
We collected all tears of Bhaal except one, used them up, collected the last one, and then faced Irenicus the slayer. Coreheal took mighty damage again, before healing himself. Irenicus put up a good fight and even mazed Tar once but we've seen all his moves and it did not end well for him. Go jump off a cliff into a fiery pit and good riddance
So we reached Throne of Bhaal, starting with Illasera. Or as we knew her, Illasera the mazed and (on her return, it's behind you) trapped. Tar stripped her of her boots and we were all speedy from this point
The first thing Tar did on meeting Cespenar was have him forge the Aslyferund armour and hand it to Coreheal. 40,000gp and she thought it to be better than the shadow dragon armour. Omen and Coreheal both thought otherwise, but we will never know as it disappeared between Tar and Coreheal. It's only money. Lots of money
We did the first Pocket Plane quest, the initial enemies determinedly chasing Tar. Eventually all attention switched to Omen and we made easy pickings from then. At the end only Ellisime arrived and Tar had held back. In the moments for her to move within crossbow range, Omen had completed the area
The entrance to Saradush was now open so we ventured there. Coreheal almost died while Tar was making distance, and as he too decided to run she snared the many enemies so they would be mazed instead of giving chase. Coreheal healed himself and laid snares. Tar had to caution him as he laid several, reminding him the enemies would return in dribs and drabs so 1-2 snares per time would be optimal. It didn't really matter as Omen was patiently waiting and cut enemies down in a steady arrival procession
Melissan greeted us and our two hours was up. It had been a good session but ToB enemies can quickly kill Coreheal or Tar, and even Omen can be in danger if swarmed. Tar needs to keep on top of her maze snares to deal with this scenario
We've barely seen Tar in trouble recently but today ends that streak. Does she survive...
The session starts well with Omen and Tar tag-teaming conversations between the Saradush scroll merchant, Squip the thief and is taskmaster. With the store open for business we sell a few items. Tar fails to convince the local clergy of her decent nature, meaning Omen and Coreheal have to step in and obtain a secret key. Kisers plot is foiled and we clear out the vampires before heading into the castle cellars
Thieves aplenty down here, including two of us. Coreheal draws some attention away from Omen and pays with his life, so once the remaining thieves are downed we use a second rod of resurrection charge of the session, the first having raised a childs father outside
The orogs in the remaining cellar rooms are whittled down and then we can head upstairs into the castle
Our entry is a bit of a struggle, although we have two sets of True Sight running we have enemies split around. Omen is merrily axing away, while Coreheal uses sling and spells. Tar is not doing well though, trying a couple of snares but each time an enemy is in sight. Still, we (meaning mainly Omen and partly Coreheal) are victorious so we hide and head in to see Gromnir
His party start to chase Tar immediately. She initially suspects someone could see through invisibility but then realises her hide in shadows must have cancelled while in cutscene. Omen once more holds ground as Coreheal casts, and Tar runs around the edges of the room eventually finding somewhere to throw a special snare from. All are mazed except Gromnir who must be immune to it. Omen cuts him down and another snare or two are set for the returnees
Tar decides to visit the stores to sell loot of the fallen, and purchases a second bag of holding - she's heard if you get to the Oasis there are more lootables than you can hold and she intends to disprove that theory
With Gromnir dead we use the Pocket Plane to travel outside Yaga Shuras home in the Marching Mountains, and clear out a large number of troops. Omen and Coreheal are expecting to travel to the Marching Mountains next but instead Tar invokes the next part of her not very well thought out and entirely unspoken plan
Coreheal voices his confusion - we have already been to Watchers Keep. Omen is wiser and realises the fourth head of the Flail of Ages is our next objective. We soon have that in our grasp, having blundered our way around but safely and with no party deaths. Omen turns to go but Tar is also after the helm of the rock. So we complete the four corners at which point Tar looks at the caged chromatic demon and despite her concerns decides more combat is needed. It is duly released and would put up a tremendous effort were it not for the four spike traps that kill it immediately
Discretion being the better part of valour, and Tar having no valour, it is clearly time to leave the Keep. Only, Tar wants to obtain forge steal or borrow something that Coreheal will use unlike Aslyferund or horn of the rock. So after another Pocket Plane rest and Omen grumbling that we appear to have disposed of the cloak +2 for Cespenar to upgrade whoops we return to the Keep
If Tar can remember the path this might not be extreme suicide...
The next level starts with us following Yakman the mad elf. Tar stumbles from chamber to chamber, not able to recall where she should be heading. At one point we all prove unworthy of retrieving a holy bastard sword from a pillar, at another point we meet a group of alu fiends and a succubus. Tar has been half expecting this but not knowing exactly when, and throws Omen a potion of invulnerability. Omen gulps it but several seconds later he is charmed or dominated anyway
Tar has to admit she can't remember directions mentioned to her many years ago. It would be safe to retreat and foolhardy to continue... it may already be too late...
Coreheal runs from Omen, as ordered by Tar. He runs past Tar, making her realise she should have stated where to run, primarily around the chamber and not into a corner. Instead, Tar runs as she had intended Coreheal to and we both gulp potions of invisibility but it appears all enemies can see through invisibility. Tar continues running but is also charmed and the enemies teleport to Omen and kill him slowly - Coreheal unable to help as Omen would turn on him with deadly effects - before focusing on Coreheal
Coreheal takes hits aplenty forcing him to use the tree of life nuts and healing potions. After a short while it is clear Coreheal will die before Tar is uncharmed, and if that happens the game is up. Omens ethereal remnants suggest Coreheal should pick up the cloak of the sewers and use rat form. This gives Coreheal survival time and Tar comes to her senses. There are three important things she does at this point. Firstly, use the rod to resurrect Omen. Secondly give Omen a helm of charm protection. Thirdly throw a special snare near the alu fiends and stop the ongoing attack on Coreheal
We lay more snares, Coreheal retreats and Omen takes his place. It does not end well for the Alu fiends. That was a very close call, and although we have five minutes remaining Tar decides the session will end early. It is heresy to suggest between now and next week she will consult "Mike's" RPG oracle and that we should travel NW, NE, NW, NW arriving with some sort of protection from nasty stuff
(but will she remember that)
Postscript:
While looking at party gear for next time I observed Grond0 did not have the Flail of Ages, maybe he lost it when he died in Watchers Keep after Cespenar upgraded it. Then I thought more, and can't remember him mentioning it or I missed his comment. Then I remembered I never handed it back to him. Then I had a good look at the screen recording - snips below
This was my inventory about a minute before Cespenar
Then I picked 3 potions of fire resistance up, followed by the helm of the rock and fire scepter
Then we Pocket Planed and spoke to Cespenar, where you can clearly see the flail and head disappearing but no replacement flail mentioned
I had assumed Grond0 received the flail but don't believe that is how the game worked. After forging the flail and upgrading the helm I went into inventory to give the items back and you can see there is no flail. I didn't check Grond0's inventory at the time but assume he lost it then
& using items BLUN14 and BLUN30A on a retest I can see the +4 flail should be mentioned and returned to the protagonist so this feels like a bug to me
I was unable to recreate the issue (from the latest save, with full inventory, with item equipped by Omen, with Omen controlled by a client character). I have added item BLUN30C to Grond0's inventory and he has the choice of whether to use it or not - I don't know quite how or why but the poor flail rarely remains in our multiplayer games
(suspect it might be due to a long running session of 2 hours and three of us in multiplayer from 2 countries, as we often see odd quirks during games)
How to survive without a CON modifier: A Random Run, Part 4
Previous part found here
Next part found here
Ah yes, the great slog awaits. The Underground River part of SoD is without a doubt my least favorite part: I feel like the expansion would have benefitted from just having set the experience cap to around 400k instead and skipped this part entirely.
Anyway, we begin by scribing, using up (I think) a good dozen Potions of Genius in the process, what with our silly number of arcanists.
Options enhanced, we embark upon clearing the random crap all over these maps, but not before the Shadowy Figure waylays us (and is promptly killed by a Potions of Explosion barrage). Next, some no-name Ogre Tribe knocks off Blade and do a good job of almost forcing us to flee the map.
We were a bit low on spells at the time, which is almost a death sentence for us... and happens sooner than you think, since we need a good 4-5 Fireballs/Skull Traps to kill anything.
Anyway, we press on, and in customary fashion, almost meet our end in the Spider Cave (the one with the Killer Mimic that spits its glue clear through walls...).
I always trip the same land mines in SoD, yet always bumble through somehow. Maybe next time I'll remember to either have everyone quaff a Potion of Freedom, or have those that do not just wait invisibly until the Mimic is dealt with.
There are thankfully no more close calls for a while.
Well, that was a lie. Our Detect Traps is so shoddy we can't really disarm much, and Cleric pays the price. Good thing I never send Fighter/Mage/Thief to open stuff, a bad roll on that would've probably chunked him.
With all outdoor areas cleared, we engage the Crusaders guarding the entrance to the Underground River.
Things of course go smoothly with a full contingent of summons and buffs, but it's quite exhausting to play like that (lots of clicking and planning), so usually we just play it fast and loose.
The enormous amount of trash mobs in the southwest parts underground are just disposed of using massed Skull Traps; inside Kanaglym, Skeleton Warriors do a good job of holding the local undead and Necromancers at bay while we just unload some Potions of Explosion (these go straight through MGoI).
On the way out, Zhadroth gets a taste of The Secret Revealed, and we pick up Spell Sequencer for four out of five arcanists (Blade can't use the robe), as well as the Ring of Regeneration to reduce our dependence on Potions of Healing. I wish the ring was available much earlier, it's such a nice convenience item.
The northwestern parts of the river are painstakingly cleared: We're not taking chances anymore now that we're so close to the end, and retreat many times to rest up. Ultimately, we make our way into the Castle proper, though not before ripping off Crusader Priest Polvi for everything he's got: 180 Pick Pockets is enough to steal from him with 100% success rate.
He's got some decent stuff, notably scrolls, potions and lots of magical bullets, though as a result we are now suffering severe inventory congestion.
In the castle basement, we set some traps near the entrance to hopefully slow down reinforcements a bit, summon Skeleton Warriors to hold off the big blob of Crusaders to the east, and walk in on Hephernaan.
Both his Mages are swiftly undone, Hephernaan flees, and so do we (though not before looting his room thoroughly).
Yes, you can just loot it later if you want, but I prefer scribing the quite valuable scrolls found here before invading Dragonspear Castle proper.
We avoid any further combat; we've something like 40 Potions of Invisibility, so just slip past the Crusader Mage/Cleric at the river that cast invisibility detection spells.
Since we've managed to amass a gargantuan amount of Potions of Genius, we scribe our valuable hoard of rare scrolls carefully: It's actually a bit of an optimization problem when you have five casters vying for scrolls.
After a bit of thinking, Fighter/Mage/Thief gets the lion's share of the defensive ones; we will be relying on him as our frontliner for dangerous fights in BG2 until Invoker recovers from dualing, so Fighter/Mage/Thief really needs SI+SS.
I skip questing in the courtyard: There's no loot there we need, and nothing you get there can be imported to BG2 either, so we just trigger the invasion instead.
I'll summarize: Potions of Explosion, Potions of Explosion, Web, Skull Trap.
Gotta do something with all those potions, they're pointless in the Hells.
The courtyard battle is handled via even more Potions of Explosions alongside Skull Trap and some clerical buffs; Ashatiel challenges us.
Ah, crap on a stick. Invoker fails his save against Greater Command: My mistake, I really should've had him quaff a Potion of Magic Shielding the moment the duel started. Fortunately, he managed to get off a Monster Summoning III first, so Ashatiel spent quite some time dismantling summons, and her clerical level should be low since she's a triple class. Will Invoker's defenses outlast the Greater Command's duration even though he's suffering auto-hits?
Just barely. Ashatiel was hitting fairly hard and often, but Invoker's CON bonus kept him alive. Phew.
I play it safe and have him quaff a Potion of Invisibility; who cares about honor, we're going to survive this no matter what.
Ashatiel and her cohorts get to feel the full force of Spell Sequencer (Skull Trap x3!).
That, along with the Killer Mimic debacle, was the closest we've been so far to losing the run.
Shaken yet not stirred, we press on, and safely (?) reach the Nine Hells.
The enemies here use Hold Person, Fear and Charm (but have no means of dispelling), so Potions of Clarity and Freedom all around keeps everyone safe.
We arrive in good order at the Hellevator, and start putting our ludicrously bloated inventory to use.
Everyone gets protected against everything the Devils/Demons/whatever they are can throw at them: There are enough protection scrolls throughout SoD to turn an entire party of six immune to Fire, Lightning and Poison.
Hold Person/Fear/Charm is covered by Chaotic Commands, or just a Potion of Clarity.
That done with, we apply basically every potion that grants some kind of bonus (Potions of Fortitude/Agility/Strength/Defense are very useful for our party, given our abysmal stats); save the one hour and less duration ones for the ride up the Hellevator, and only apply the very short duration buffs like SI after the third wave.
Potions of Magic Shielding are best kept in reserve, in case someone drops and has to be revived mid fight, or your buffs get dispelled by Belhifet (see below).
I write the above mostly for my own benefit so I won't forget next go around...
There's only a single Dispel Magic in play during the Belhifet fight: Belhifet himself force-casts it first thing, and he can easily be coerced into targetting whoever's closest if he can't see protagonist (just scatter, it'll at most affect one character assuming everyone has an Oil of Speed running).
This time, Belhifet threw it at Fighter/Mage/Thief, who had SI: A running. Lucky.
We let Caelar aid us, but she fails her save against something (I'm not sure what) that knocks her unconscious for a few rounds.
Amazingly, Cleric spamming scrolls of Greater Restoration at Caelar (with the Battle Tankard equipped to keep her from going fatigued immediately) actually keep Caelar alive long enough for the latter to recover.
With his reinforcements dealt with, we turn on Belhifet, and he pops Infernal Conveyance, teleporting away and going invisible.
We counter the invisibility, and Enchanter + Mage/Thief both pop Lower Resistance, bringing Belhifet's magic resistance down by 81% (!). I'm fairly sure he has a lot less than that to start with, so he's now completely vulnerable to magic.
This is what we have been waiting for. Belhifet has no acid resistance at all... but every party arcanist knows Vitriolic Sphere, and every party arcanist except Blade has access to Spell Sequencer owing to Zhadroth's robe.
You can guess the outcome.
Belhifet was already wounded following our tender ranged mercies, so he has no way to stand up to what is basically an instant 90 x 3 = 270ish acid damage. Great success, and a good showcase of just how incredibly lethal this party can be with proper planning. No spell defenses? No chance.
That's all she wrote. We escape hell, leaving Caelar to stew there, and return home to Baldur's Gate after being framed for a crime we did not commit. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them... maybe you can hire the A-team Arcanist-team.
We escape uneventfully, are captured equally uneventfully, and BG2 awaits.
We leave SoD at the cap of 500k experience: The next batch of level-ups comes only at 660k, and 750k (L12) will see Invoker dual.
I feel he really needs Protection from Magical Weapons to stand a chance at tanking come ToB, so it'll be a late dual, though not exceedingly so: He'll regain his abilities at L13 Fighter, so 2 million, which is late mid - early late SoA.
Assuming we make it that far, but here's hoping. See you in BG2.
Tar looks around - we're in Watchers Keep on the maze level
NW to a room with no enemies
NE to a room with enemies. We ignore them and head NW (we are near that exit)
NW to a room with enemies. We ignore them, pick up some items from the floor and head NW
Tar scratches her head - she'd not thought this far ahead. Aesgareth is facing us and engages in conversation. Tar plays along and tells him she will have to think on the matter. Then she uses the Pocket Plane to never return again (although see below)
Cespenar wants 5000gp to forge some armour which is duly passed to Coreheal and for once he receives it and wears it
So now we can proceed. Tar looks at her map and decides we should visit Nyalee in the swamp. A host of undead swarm us - Omen moving ahead a bit quicker than Tar would have liked as she cut-scenes her way to the front and is heavily level drained after a conversation with the Master Wraith. She runs away and tries to cast True Sight but a wraith hits her again. She continues running while Omen smashes and Coreheal uses Turn Undead before casting restoration on her
The next group of undead enemies have all their non-casters snaremazed, and the casters put up a good fight but are ultimately pummeled as their support starts to return. We learn of Yaga Shuras heart from Nyalee and make room in our backpacks for it by emptying a few snares onto the ground. As we depart more undead try to greet us but Coreheal turns and destroys them
The Marching Mountains is next and while the outside and lower level of the fire giant temple are not as difficult as normal in a trio we still make slow work of it. Coreheal dies at one point, Omen and Tar are badly wounded at other points, an attempted pocket plane rest freezes the game so we have to clear the middle two rooms twice, and the top left room has an offset staircase meaning Omen gets stuck and surrounded by fire trolls and salamanders. His hardiness keeps him alive and after Tar despairs of hitting salamanders with the Wave halberd she suggests Coreheal can use Crom Faeyr on the trolls. This speeds matters up
The temple interior is better but still ragged around the edges. Or at least to Tar who is fairly ineffective with her weapons and if she cannot get snares into action is reliant on her companions. Berenn is defeated mainly by a low door, while Imix forces us to retreat before making the mistake of chasing us - he did not see the three snares we had laid for such an occasion
Coreheal confirms he has both hearts so we return to Nyalee. She attempts to turn on us but our earlier traps spike her and maze most of her supporting cast. They eventually return to face Omen, then we attempt to rest several times in more than one area. Coreheal had suggested using the pocket plane, the game hints might have also done so and Omen finally jokes about whether Tar has thought about it. She obstinately chooses to rest outside Watchers Keep - does that count as returning
Yaga Shura then. We sort of clear the bridge, scare Yaga Shura off and lay a few snares for his return. We fend off several enemies to keep the snares intact and on his return we bait him in and down he goes. Tar knows what this means - loot his corpse and make our way to the armourers emporium known as the Oasis. At that place she convinces Omen and Coreheal to drag enemies away briefly then uses three special snares to start mazing enemies. She wants to add in spike traps but dribs and drabs of enemies continue to arrive so must patiently wait for Omen and Coreheal to kill them the old fashioned way. Crude but effective, and two bags of holding prove more than adequate to stash armour bows swords and shields
Amkethran next, helping the cleric and thieves in two arguments with monks, protecting the mayors daughter and once more being set up by Saemon Havarian. Tar buys the Klogoroth axe for Omen, and bags gargoyle boots and Enkidus Plate in case we ever meet Cyrics followers in the pocket plane. Then we continue towards Sendai's enclave, laying snares near the woodcutter
Not enough snares, nobody is killed and despite a few summons and a deva we are soon forced onto the back foot. Tar tries another book of infinite True Sights but is backstabbed so forced to run. Coreheal is badly wounded, Omen more badly wounded. Tar feels terrible about retreating round the base of the building so summons a golem and then Kitthix. Omen and Coreheal are steadily deteriorating but finally Tar gets a snare or two working and we claw our way back on top. Tar decides we should rest in the Pocket Plane this time, mainly because Cespenar can upgrade the Rune Hammer for Omen
It doesn't look like we've done a huge amount in the two hours available to us but it was a lot of hard work with many dangerous enemies. At one point Coreheal died - Tar thinking it might have been in the lower area of the Fire Giant temple but not certain. We purchased a second Rod of Resurrection with the primary one down to four charges remaining
It's official - we have more money than sense now
(about 100,000 less than I expected but Klogoroth, Enkidu and Gargoyle may not have been cheap)
Edit: oh and we completed the second Pocket Plane challenge - Tar managing two special snares so the enemies can be separated. Angelo fails to be snared so perishes first. Semaj returns first so is spike trapped, Anti-Tar is next and duly Omened, while Tamoko survives two spike traps and only survives attack by Omen thanks to Coreheal nipping in for the kill
How to survive without a CON modifier: A Random Run, Part 5
Previous part found here
The party successfully imports into BG2, with the right amount of hitpoints and exactly 500k experience each; see spoiler for SCS 35.21 WeiDU.
Include arcane spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: 35.21
Include divine spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: 35.21
Include bard songs from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: 35.21
Core Stratagems spell-system changes (installed by default by any AI component): 35.21
Changes to Restoration: 35.21
Changes to shapeshift spells: 35.21
Icewind Dale-inspired tweaks to Baldur's Gate/Baldur's Gate II spells: 35.21
Rebalancings of slightly-too-powerful spells: 35.21
Spell school changes: 35.21
Spells increased in power: 35.21
Add 9 new arcane spells: 35.21
Add 6 new divine spells (some borrowed from Divine Remix): 35.21
Revised elementals and elemental summoning: 35.21
Move or modify some overpowered magic items: 35.21
Replace +1 arrows and other projectiles with nonmagical "fine" ones: 35.21
Replace many +1 magic weapons with nonmagical "fine" ones: 35.21
Reduce the number of Arrows of Dispelling in stores -> Remove Arrows of Dispelling from stores: 35.21
Wider selection of random scrolls: 35.21
Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic -> Inquisitors dispel at their level (not twice their level): 35.21
More Appropriate-Speed Bears: 35.21
Improved shapeshifting: 35.21
Decrease the rate at which reputation improves -> Reputation increases at about 1/4 the normal rate: 35.21
Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: 35.21
Revised handling of death effects like disintegration, petrification and imprisonment (party members who are disintegrated etc can be resurrected; imprisoned or petrified characters rejoin the party automatically; the game doesn't end if the main character is petrified or imprisoned): 35.21
Revised resting: resting in the wild uses up provisions: 35.21
Revised inn rooms: more expensive, more benefits: 35.21
Allow the Cowled Wizards to detect spellcasting in most indoor, above-ground areas in Athkatla: 35.21
Remove unrealistically helpful items from certain areas: 35.21
Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from the game -> Remove all ammo from random containers: 35.21
Delay the arrival of the "bonus merchants" in the Adventurers' Mart and the Copper Coronet: 35.21
Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorisable spells (each may be taken only once): 35.21
Ease-of-use party AI: 35.21
Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): 35.21
Smarter general AI: 35.21
Better calls for help: 35.21
Smarter Mages: 35.21
Smarter Priests: 35.21
Potions for NPCs: 35.21
Improved golems: 35.21
Improved fiends and celestials: 35.21
Smarter genies: 35.21
Smarter dragons: 35.21
Smarter beholders: 35.21
Smarter mind flayers: 35.21
Smarter githyanki: 35.21
Improved Vampires: 35.21
Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: 35.21
Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: 35.21
Improved Shade Lord: 35.21
Spellcasting Demiliches: 35.21
Tie difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings to the difficulty slider: 35.21
Improved Random Encounters: 35.21
Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix"): 35.21
Improved Unseeing Eye: 35.21
Improved Bodhi: 35.21
Party's items are taken from them in Spellhold: 35.21
Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: 35.21
Improved Sahuagin: 35.21
Improved Beholder hive: 35.21
Rebalanced troll regeneration: 35.21
Improved Drow: 35.21
Improved Watcher's Keep: 35.21
Improved Fire Giant temple: 35.21
Improved Sendai's Enclave: 35.21
Improved Abazigal's Lair: 35.21
Improved Minor Encounters: 35.21
Now that they're in some sense accomplished adventurers, the entire party are given proper names:
Clarice the Cleric, Burton the Blade, Figaro the Fighter/Mage/Thief, Mathias the Mage/Thief, Envor (?) the Enchanter and Ioalus the Invoker.
I had intended to import Krotan's Skullcrusher +2 for Figaro, but forgot that Staff Mace +2 is higher in the priority list, and since Ioalus had the latter equipped at the end of SoD, that's what we ended up with... eh.
7HD Skeleton Warriors and some use of occasionally successfully laid traps prove quite adequate in clearing most of Irenicus' dungeon, but cannot help much when it comes to our atrocious Find Traps skill(s).
Guess we're resting early whether we like it or not... let's just have Clarice spring the traps, she should have decent odds of survival. Better than Mathias, at any rate.
Once Mathias is back on his feet, the rest of the dungeon is uneventful, as is clearing the Circus (True Sight and Magic Missiles for the Werewolves and Shadows, respectively).
We remember to pick up the disappearing scroll case from Bernard, and clear the Beastmaster's pen with a single Cloudkill.
Cloudkill proves quite helpful in a number of encounters here, as enemies in the Sewers are low hit dice.
We still have lots of spell slots available, as Ioalus won't dual until L12.
A few Skull Traps and a suitably buffed Figaro dismantle Captain Haegan and his band.
Here we run into a first major issue: There's a resetting Prismatic Spray trap in the beached ship blocking our path that we simply can't disarm (to the far north of the corridor, north of the two Slaver Wizards). Fortunately, we can just send Skeleton Warriors under the supervision of invisible Mathias to deal with the remaining slavers..
Ugh, completely random Thief skill points are a serious pain. Even if I give Mathias the Bracers of Dexterity at some point, he won't break past 50 Find Traps unaided. We'll need the Ring of Danger Sense (which ironically is quite dangerous to retrieve), and even then probably will have to depend on Potions of Perception. We'll see how we handle things.
Having freed the slaves, we've ample gold, so invest in a magic license, and free Viconia while at it.
Suna Seni and friends get a big ol' helping of Skull Trap while we're en route back to the Promenade.
At the Promenade, we mess up a bit: Brennan Risling manages to escape. Should've prepared some 2x Magic Missile sequencers for this, but figured we had the damage to take him down quickly. I figured wrong: We've almost no damage at all! In fact, we must resort to Magic Missile'ing Mencar into the ground, since we just can't hit him (but he can assuredly hit us).
I run into another behavior I've never observed before at the City Gates: The two Shadow Thieves being recruited by a Vampire that attack you (and have some decent scrolls including Contingency) disappear on us.
What happened was that the time went from night to day right after they turned hostile, and apparently they just despawn then... never to reappear. Irksome.
En route to Watcher's Keep, we get to save Renfield. Sasha and Prebek are too low-level to have much in the way of defenses; the traps in their home are far more deadly.
We just can't disarm anything. Clarice will have her work cut out for her...
Xzar is assassinated, and we collect the odds and ends of loot.
We expose Reijek Hidesman next, getting a lovely scroll of Spell Deflection as random loot.
Speaking of random loot, we also pick up a scroll of Spell Sequencer in the graveyard.
Even with one dual-to-be and a Blade, there's still three party members that can (eventually) use that, so yes, I'll gladly take it... along with the Protection from the Elements scroll found in the Crypt King's, well, crypt.
We delve further underground; Pai'Na and her brood succumb to a Cloudkill and some focused fire (she has no armor so even our paltry THAC0 is sufficient).
The Vampyre in the southern tombs is a real piece of work, as usual: Not content to whail ineffectively at a Skeleton Warrior, it tries to seek out better targets. We eventually take it down, though Figaro takes a heavy hit (level-drain wise).
We actually have to retreat back to the Graveyard and rest up, but return under cover of Skeleton Warriors.. and finally hit a milestone.
At 750k experience, Ioalus hits Invoker L12 (picking up * in Quarterstaff), and immediately duals to Fighter.
I realized after the fact I had forgotten to cast Find Familiar, so he will be down 12 HP for a long time...
Will we beat the odds and actually pick up a specialization? Or will we forever be doomed to single-pip misery?
Ioalus rolls the dice once, twice, thrice, quice (?), and ends up with...
Long Sword *, Scimitar / Wakizashi / Ninjato *, Spear **.
OK, it could've been worse. I'd say spear is the third worst proficiency given my play style.
Club is the worst, since the only weapon better than +3 requires you to keep everyone around immune to fire at all times.
Dagger is second worst, since it's just such puny damage.
Spear... is Spear. It'll be OK. I hope? There are good spears available, though it'll be some time until we see them, and I am a little wary of Piercing as a damage type. But let's just forge ahead; at least we got a specialization, which is a minor miracle in itself.
Ideally, I'd like to go straight for the Ring of Danger Sense now, but I realize it's a bit risky to brave the Planar Sphere in our current state: Let's instead focus on big quests with little to no traps. Trademeet!
Lots of mooks at the Druid Grove, but a simple strategy of massed Fireballs works here: Frontliners need Chaotic Commands to protect against Greater Command, and Protection from Fire to protect both against Flame Strike, and our own Fireballs. Then you're golden.
Cloudkill clears the Spider infestation to the west, then we use five Skeleton Warriors to help clear another couple of Troll spawns (reducing us to a single badly wounded Skeleton Warrior left).
The Troll Mound is actually a bit tough, as the multitude of Trolls have an easy time hitting us; I end up using our single Potion of Fire Breath to help clear the field.
As you note, Ioalus has a hitpoint problem: One good hit is enough to send him into dangerous territory, as he's unlikely to survive two hits, and all but certainly dead if he has to take three hits. I need to be careful when using him for a long time, but we desperately need his THAC0...
We loot and (I think for the first time ever, for me) equip the Spear of the Unicorn +2, as well as the Bracers of Archery (the latter on Burton). Well, that improves things ever so slightly, at least.
The Greater Earth Elemental to the north of the Mound is trapped into oblivion, and we let the local Trolls narrowly defeat the Shadow Druid and his cohorts.
Kylan Lind and friends are helpless against Skeleton Warriors, and the enormous blobs of continuously spawned Red Myconids on the bridge are treated to Cloudkill (Myconids have strangely good THAC0 and can get quite dangerous if you let them swarm you).
We're almost out of spells here, and actually end up having to do a running battle against the Adherent and the Shadow Druid at the entrance to the Druid Grove: Dalok somehow didn't follow. The reason is that the Adherent has stupidly good AC, and both the Shadow Druid and Dalok popped Entropy Shield, rendering our ranged weaponry null and void... so we had to wait out their buffs.
Not the party's proudest moment, or it wouldn't have been if they had any pride. They do not, in fact: Survival is the priority here.
Cernd defefats Faldorn, and we rest outside Adratha's cottage under Invisibility 10' Radius; there's no way we could engage Adratha and friends on the same rest as that used to clear the entire Grove.
Clarice and Figaro go immune to very nearly everything, and enter. Ihtafeer and Sadaat both pop protections galore, but Jalaal is lower level, and doesn't last long. Fortunately, the protections do not include Spell Shield or Spell Immunity: Abjuration, so Breach is sufficient to make them vulnerable; Sadaat soon joins Jalaal.
But Ihtafeer herself remains a thorny issue. She's clever too: I thought her out of almost everything, but she was conserving her strength. As the party closes in for the kill, a Sunfire erupts, nearly killing several of us.
Still, that was all she had left, beyond some Magic Missiles. Some potions later, we finish the job.
That was harsh. We used almost every spell slot we had, and still had some difficulties.
Yet a win is a win.
Back to Trademeet, where we successfully pickpocket Taquee for the Efreeti Bottle (Burton was poised to instantly speak to Khan Zahraa in case of failure).
We are showered with rewards, and also duly clear the local crypt, earning a random drop of a scroll of True Sight for our efforts; soon, Envor will be scribing scrolls, I imagine.
I want the Elven Chain Mail for Figaro, but grossly overestimate the noble magelings: They both die to a combination of Sunfire and Fireball before amounting to anything.
We also finish up the Reijek Hidesman quest while here, finally gaining a point of reputation in the process; we're still only at 18 reputation, even though we bribed it all the way to 17 fairly early on.
That was quite a bit of adventuring; we return to the Copper Coronet, and this seems a good place to stop.
Burton, Clarice and Mathias are all within earshot of leveling; another major quest should do it.
Ioalus is trotting along at a steady pace, though it'll be a long time until he reaquires his true powers.
Envor is a pure arcanist: Now that he's L12, it'll be a very long time until he markedly improves again.
Figaro is almost at a standstill: His THAC0 will basically not improve much for the foreseeable future, nor his spell slots, really.
He has just enough arcane juice to handle a single major battle per day; the rest of the time, he's a poor-AC poor-HP poor-THAC0 Fighter without weapon specialization. And yet, he's still our best combatant... though Ioalus is catching up.
Things are looking a bit grim! The party is quite demanding to play as well. We have plenty of spell slots, but nearly all of them must be devoted to defenses and/or buffs in order for us not to get absolutely crushed by anything tougher than a throng of Goblins. Hopefully things'll improve as we level. Let's hope we get some good luck on those random HLA's too...
The party is sitting at roughly 850k experience; next up will likely be the Umar Hills, since there are barely any traps there.
With the experience from that, we will likely brave the Planar Sphere next. Not just for the Ring of Danger Sense, but also the Ogre Strength gauntlets: Everyone except Ioalus is frightfully weak, after all. Maybe we should invest in the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength, that should help our melee a bit...
Anyway, until next time!
Good progress @aldain - I've often made an exception for thief ability points when it comes to randomized parties, mostly because it's quite annoying to fully randomize that many points one by one (though the SCS option with thief abilities in sets of five would make it easier), but that also resulted in my thieves actually being capable of disarming traps.
The hill gIant strength belt would certainly be ideal to get, it's always been a huge turning point for at least one fighter in any of my randomized groups - and if maces are a good choice for your F/M/T, it seems like Mauler's Arm might be an option to save another level 2 slot for strength. Of course, if you dare to venture into the Unseeing Eye questline early - which imo is not as impossible in practice as it might sound in theory, especially with the level 11 version of skeletons available, and a lot of good anti-undead tools in existence - you can build your own ideal fighter in terms of stats, with the dexterity gauntlets, the fortitude girdle (which lasts for 8 hours, making it essentially permanent outside of ambushes during/after travel if one remembers to use it after every rest) and the hill giant strength belt.
@Enuhal Yes, the more I think about it, the more I'm leaning towards picking up the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength straight away.
It'll be a big boost for Figaro. I've also considered the Unseeing Eye: Ioalus is in the odd position of not benefitting at all from increased CON, but Figaro will become a (non-specialized) powerhouse with 19 STR, 18 CON, and 18+ DEX (usually only requires 1 - 2 Cat's Grace, as he gains 1 - 8 points owing to being part Thief). I am a bit wary of the traps there: Then again, there will be traps in the Planar Sphere too. I think going shopping for a fair number of Potions of Perception is also a priority... looks like we'll be spending some gold.
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.
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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
Tar, dwaven bounty hunter (Gate70)
Omen, dwarven defender (Grond0)
Coreheal VII, gnome cleric / thief (Corey_Russell)
Tar had started a plan for session 12: Deal with the temple district illithid, get Crom Faeyr and the fire dragon armour forged, stop off at the guarded compound and clear the Twisted Rune before dealing with Bodhi. Plus stop in at the Slums to see if the Lathander quest could be progressed at night
First then the illithid. We cleared the initial room of fighters and laid snares from the door at the end of the passage back to this chamber. A special snare was placed last so we could get respite if pushed backwards. No need for this though, so we moved on towards the third and final chamber. Omen filled the doorway with his broad shoulders while Coreheal shot from behind. Tar hung back and when Omen suffered from a first braindrain (intelligence down to 6) Tar mazed the illithid
At this point I had to answer the door but the game was safely paused. By the time I came back the game was unpaused, illithid all dead, and the hammer of Thunderbolts was in my inventory. Talk about efficient delegation
Tar then decided to deal with the guarded compound as we were already in the vicinity and Cromwells forgings would not make a material difference there. Omen got the delight of asking for a lesson and we laid a few snares. Tar used her HLAs to make a potion and a scroll after laying snares. As she looked in her inventory and gulped a rogue speed potion she announced she was ready to start then realised Omen and Coreheal had already defeated the first enemies
We laid more snares and headed upstairs, the plan being to return downstairs and see who was lured with us. Coreheal took a hefty backstab from Ketta (12 hp of 77 left) so we encouraged him to run as Sion and Koshi blundered into snares. Koshi survived long enough to be mazed again but Sion died in traps and against skeletons Coreheal had left
A few more snares and we went upstairs again, and decided to drag enemies back downstairs again Ketta, Malafan and Olaf Rassmusen arrived. Ketta backstabbed a skeleton warrior so Tar used the book of spells True Sight. Malafan and Olaf died quickly and Ketta soon followed them
Upstairs again, lingering long enough for Tar to disable two enemy traps and only Stalman remained so we killed him - Coreheal clearing two more traps as we left to forge items courtesy of Cromwell
It was now not quite 10pm but Tar wanted to make sure she turned up at the slums. So we went into the Copper Coronet to sell loot from the end of the previous session and so far today. She used a Friends scroll for a charisma of 24 because Omen had asked about purchasing the Defender of Easthaven flail
It was 9pm then 10pm but nope the Talos contact was not biting. Tar could see the temple quest in her journal but Coreheal and Omen could not. We returned to the Temple district, confirmed the quest had been given, and back to the slums to confirm a no-show. Lathander is out of luck
Next then. The Twisted Rune. Snares for the lich. Omen did the summoning but Shangalar triggered a further maze snare which was intended for Revenak and possibly Shyressa. It died before the maze started, while Revenak and Vaxall the beholder were also being mazed. Omen 'rescued' Vaxall by killing it before the maze activated and turned to face Shyressa as Revenak was mazed. Omen had forgotten to swap weapons and took a level drain, so switched and destroyed the vampire. Layene had seen us earlier though so at this point we (not Tar she's still working on being a team player) were hit by a firestorm. We still got the kill for Shyressa then stepped out of the firezone. Layene and her pit fiend gave Omen a couple of hits, while Tar used her Firetooth dagger to almost kill Layene. She managed to cast wail of a banshee before perishing just as Revenak re-appeared. We raced to him but he was mazed a second time by a snare Tar had intended for Layene. He returned to land on a pair of normal snares and we looted to our hearts content
So Bodhi and the vampire nest. Omen used Azuredge and the mace, while Coreheal turned aplenty. Tar trotted along behind, keeping out of the way and dealing with traps. Omen battered Bodhi into submission and Tar looted the container. We returned to Elhan, then realised Tar had not picked up the Lanthorn. Two quick trips later we were on our way to Suldanessellar
Two adamantite golems appeared to be getting the better of Omen (88/171hp with dwarven stance active) but Tar decided to test them against a maze snare. Both disappeared and she decided to try normal snares for their return. Raamilat summoned a nabassu while Tar was tidying her inventory then cast timestop and firestorm. No real danger for us with Tar once more showing her team skills. Omen is mazed by Raamilat but just as Coreheal sends a deva in Raamilat is mazed by Tar with another snare and lands on another snare upon returning
Next are a group of golems, only iron and sand meaning short work is made of them. Tar decides it is time to deal with Nizidramanii'yt the dragon, tossing a special snare in and as it is mazed Coreheal and Tar lay a snare each. We intend to lay more but the dragon returns far quicker than we expect. Omen is in melee but Tar has retreated and throws another maze snare. Another 2 traps are laid despite being entangled and as one was a spike trap they are enough for the dragon to succumb
We'd like to say the rest of the city was a cake walk but Omen had to retreat from golems and rakshasa at one point. He had only taken 2 or 3 steps away before Coreheal healed him, and 2 seconds later all enemies were dead. We entered the temple of Rillifane and let the avatar obtain a victory there. Tar emptied her containers with the merchant outside and we moved on to the tree of life
Tar claimed one earth elemental and one fire elemental with the staffs she had been hoarding, but the air elementals were gone before she could see them. Irenicus made a grand speech then promptly died from excess snarekiness and dragged us into Hell
We collected all tears of Bhaal except one, used them up, collected the last one, and then faced Irenicus the slayer. Coreheal took mighty damage again, before healing himself. Irenicus put up a good fight and even mazed Tar once but we've seen all his moves and it did not end well for him. Go jump off a cliff into a fiery pit and good riddance
So we reached Throne of Bhaal, starting with Illasera. Or as we knew her, Illasera the mazed and (on her return, it's behind you) trapped. Tar stripped her of her boots and we were all speedy from this point
The first thing Tar did on meeting Cespenar was have him forge the Aslyferund armour and hand it to Coreheal. 40,000gp and she thought it to be better than the shadow dragon armour. Omen and Coreheal both thought otherwise, but we will never know as it disappeared between Tar and Coreheal. It's only money. Lots of money
We did the first Pocket Plane quest, the initial enemies determinedly chasing Tar. Eventually all attention switched to Omen and we made easy pickings from then. At the end only Ellisime arrived and Tar had held back. In the moments for her to move within crossbow range, Omen had completed the area
The entrance to Saradush was now open so we ventured there. Coreheal almost died while Tar was making distance, and as he too decided to run she snared the many enemies so they would be mazed instead of giving chase. Coreheal healed himself and laid snares. Tar had to caution him as he laid several, reminding him the enemies would return in dribs and drabs so 1-2 snares per time would be optimal. It didn't really matter as Omen was patiently waiting and cut enemies down in a steady arrival procession
Melissan greeted us and our two hours was up. It had been a good session but ToB enemies can quickly kill Coreheal or Tar, and even Omen can be in danger if swarmed. Tar needs to keep on top of her maze snares to deal with this scenario
Tar, dwaven bounty hunter (Gate70)
Omen, dwarven defender (Grond0)
Coreheal VII, gnome cleric / thief (Corey_Russell)
We've barely seen Tar in trouble recently but today ends that streak. Does she survive...
The session starts well with Omen and Tar tag-teaming conversations between the Saradush scroll merchant, Squip the thief and is taskmaster. With the store open for business we sell a few items. Tar fails to convince the local clergy of her decent nature, meaning Omen and Coreheal have to step in and obtain a secret key. Kisers plot is foiled and we clear out the vampires before heading into the castle cellars
Thieves aplenty down here, including two of us. Coreheal draws some attention away from Omen and pays with his life, so once the remaining thieves are downed we use a second rod of resurrection charge of the session, the first having raised a childs father outside
The orogs in the remaining cellar rooms are whittled down and then we can head upstairs into the castle
Our entry is a bit of a struggle, although we have two sets of True Sight running we have enemies split around. Omen is merrily axing away, while Coreheal uses sling and spells. Tar is not doing well though, trying a couple of snares but each time an enemy is in sight. Still, we (meaning mainly Omen and partly Coreheal) are victorious so we hide and head in to see Gromnir
His party start to chase Tar immediately. She initially suspects someone could see through invisibility but then realises her hide in shadows must have cancelled while in cutscene. Omen once more holds ground as Coreheal casts, and Tar runs around the edges of the room eventually finding somewhere to throw a special snare from. All are mazed except Gromnir who must be immune to it. Omen cuts him down and another snare or two are set for the returnees
Tar decides to visit the stores to sell loot of the fallen, and purchases a second bag of holding - she's heard if you get to the Oasis there are more lootables than you can hold and she intends to disprove that theory
With Gromnir dead we use the Pocket Plane to travel outside Yaga Shuras home in the Marching Mountains, and clear out a large number of troops. Omen and Coreheal are expecting to travel to the Marching Mountains next but instead Tar invokes the next part of her not very well thought out and entirely unspoken plan
Coreheal voices his confusion - we have already been to Watchers Keep. Omen is wiser and realises the fourth head of the Flail of Ages is our next objective. We soon have that in our grasp, having blundered our way around but safely and with no party deaths. Omen turns to go but Tar is also after the helm of the rock. So we complete the four corners at which point Tar looks at the caged chromatic demon and despite her concerns decides more combat is needed. It is duly released and would put up a tremendous effort were it not for the four spike traps that kill it immediately
Discretion being the better part of valour, and Tar having no valour, it is clearly time to leave the Keep. Only, Tar wants to obtain forge steal or borrow something that Coreheal will use unlike Aslyferund or horn of the rock. So after another Pocket Plane rest and Omen grumbling that we appear to have disposed of the cloak +2 for Cespenar to upgrade whoops we return to the Keep
If Tar can remember the path this might not be extreme suicide...
The next level starts with us following Yakman the mad elf. Tar stumbles from chamber to chamber, not able to recall where she should be heading. At one point we all prove unworthy of retrieving a holy bastard sword from a pillar, at another point we meet a group of alu fiends and a succubus. Tar has been half expecting this but not knowing exactly when, and throws Omen a potion of invulnerability. Omen gulps it but several seconds later he is charmed or dominated anyway
Tar has to admit she can't remember directions mentioned to her many years ago. It would be safe to retreat and foolhardy to continue... it may already be too late...
Coreheal runs from Omen, as ordered by Tar. He runs past Tar, making her realise she should have stated where to run, primarily around the chamber and not into a corner. Instead, Tar runs as she had intended Coreheal to and we both gulp potions of invisibility but it appears all enemies can see through invisibility. Tar continues running but is also charmed and the enemies teleport to Omen and kill him slowly - Coreheal unable to help as Omen would turn on him with deadly effects - before focusing on Coreheal
Coreheal takes hits aplenty forcing him to use the tree of life nuts and healing potions. After a short while it is clear Coreheal will die before Tar is uncharmed, and if that happens the game is up. Omens ethereal remnants suggest Coreheal should pick up the cloak of the sewers and use rat form. This gives Coreheal survival time and Tar comes to her senses. There are three important things she does at this point. Firstly, use the rod to resurrect Omen. Secondly give Omen a helm of charm protection. Thirdly throw a special snare near the alu fiends and stop the ongoing attack on Coreheal
We lay more snares, Coreheal retreats and Omen takes his place. It does not end well for the Alu fiends. That was a very close call, and although we have five minutes remaining Tar decides the session will end early. It is heresy to suggest between now and next week she will consult "Mike's" RPG oracle and that we should travel NW, NE, NW, NW arriving with some sort of protection from nasty stuff
(but will she remember that)
Postscript:
While looking at party gear for next time I observed Grond0 did not have the Flail of Ages, maybe he lost it when he died in Watchers Keep after Cespenar upgraded it. Then I thought more, and can't remember him mentioning it or I missed his comment. Then I remembered I never handed it back to him. Then I had a good look at the screen recording - snips below
This was my inventory about a minute before Cespenar
Then I picked 3 potions of fire resistance up, followed by the helm of the rock and fire scepter
Then we Pocket Planed and spoke to Cespenar, where you can clearly see the flail and head disappearing but no replacement flail mentioned
I had assumed Grond0 received the flail but don't believe that is how the game worked. After forging the flail and upgrading the helm I went into inventory to give the items back and you can see there is no flail. I didn't check Grond0's inventory at the time but assume he lost it then
& using items BLUN14 and BLUN30A on a retest I can see the +4 flail should be mentioned and returned to the protagonist so this feels like a bug to me
I was unable to recreate the issue (from the latest save, with full inventory, with item equipped by Omen, with Omen controlled by a client character). I have added item BLUN30C to Grond0's inventory and he has the choice of whether to use it or not - I don't know quite how or why but the poor flail rarely remains in our multiplayer games
(suspect it might be due to a long running session of 2 hours and three of us in multiplayer from 2 countries, as we often see odd quirks during games)
Previous part found here
Next part found here
Anyway, we begin by scribing, using up (I think) a good dozen Potions of Genius in the process, what with our silly number of arcanists.
Options enhanced, we embark upon clearing the random crap all over these maps, but not before the Shadowy Figure waylays us (and is promptly killed by a Potions of Explosion barrage). Next, some no-name Ogre Tribe knocks off Blade and do a good job of almost forcing us to flee the map.
We were a bit low on spells at the time, which is almost a death sentence for us... and happens sooner than you think, since we need a good 4-5 Fireballs/Skull Traps to kill anything.
Anyway, we press on, and in customary fashion, almost meet our end in the Spider Cave (the one with the Killer Mimic that spits its glue clear through walls...).
I always trip the same land mines in SoD, yet always bumble through somehow. Maybe next time I'll remember to either have everyone quaff a Potion of Freedom, or have those that do not just wait invisibly until the Mimic is dealt with.
There are thankfully no more close calls for a while.
Well, that was a lie. Our Detect Traps is so shoddy we can't really disarm much, and Cleric pays the price. Good thing I never send Fighter/Mage/Thief to open stuff, a bad roll on that would've probably chunked him.
With all outdoor areas cleared, we engage the Crusaders guarding the entrance to the Underground River.
Things of course go smoothly with a full contingent of summons and buffs, but it's quite exhausting to play like that (lots of clicking and planning), so usually we just play it fast and loose.
The enormous amount of trash mobs in the southwest parts underground are just disposed of using massed Skull Traps; inside Kanaglym, Skeleton Warriors do a good job of holding the local undead and Necromancers at bay while we just unload some Potions of Explosion (these go straight through MGoI).
On the way out, Zhadroth gets a taste of The Secret Revealed, and we pick up Spell Sequencer for four out of five arcanists (Blade can't use the robe), as well as the Ring of Regeneration to reduce our dependence on Potions of Healing. I wish the ring was available much earlier, it's such a nice convenience item.
The northwestern parts of the river are painstakingly cleared: We're not taking chances anymore now that we're so close to the end, and retreat many times to rest up. Ultimately, we make our way into the Castle proper, though not before ripping off Crusader Priest Polvi for everything he's got: 180 Pick Pockets is enough to steal from him with 100% success rate.
He's got some decent stuff, notably scrolls, potions and lots of magical bullets, though as a result we are now suffering severe inventory congestion.
In the castle basement, we set some traps near the entrance to hopefully slow down reinforcements a bit, summon Skeleton Warriors to hold off the big blob of Crusaders to the east, and walk in on Hephernaan.
Both his Mages are swiftly undone, Hephernaan flees, and so do we (though not before looting his room thoroughly).
Yes, you can just loot it later if you want, but I prefer scribing the quite valuable scrolls found here before invading Dragonspear Castle proper.
We avoid any further combat; we've something like 40 Potions of Invisibility, so just slip past the Crusader Mage/Cleric at the river that cast invisibility detection spells.
Since we've managed to amass a gargantuan amount of Potions of Genius, we scribe our valuable hoard of rare scrolls carefully: It's actually a bit of an optimization problem when you have five casters vying for scrolls.
After a bit of thinking, Fighter/Mage/Thief gets the lion's share of the defensive ones; we will be relying on him as our frontliner for dangerous fights in BG2 until Invoker recovers from dualing, so Fighter/Mage/Thief really needs SI+SS.
I skip questing in the courtyard: There's no loot there we need, and nothing you get there can be imported to BG2 either, so we just trigger the invasion instead.
I'll summarize: Potions of Explosion, Potions of Explosion, Web, Skull Trap.
Gotta do something with all those potions, they're pointless in the Hells.
The courtyard battle is handled via even more Potions of Explosions alongside Skull Trap and some clerical buffs; Ashatiel challenges us.
Ah, crap on a stick. Invoker fails his save against Greater Command: My mistake, I really should've had him quaff a Potion of Magic Shielding the moment the duel started. Fortunately, he managed to get off a Monster Summoning III first, so Ashatiel spent quite some time dismantling summons, and her clerical level should be low since she's a triple class. Will Invoker's defenses outlast the Greater Command's duration even though he's suffering auto-hits?
Just barely. Ashatiel was hitting fairly hard and often, but Invoker's CON bonus kept him alive. Phew.
I play it safe and have him quaff a Potion of Invisibility; who cares about honor, we're going to survive this no matter what.
Ashatiel and her cohorts get to feel the full force of Spell Sequencer (Skull Trap x3!).
That, along with the Killer Mimic debacle, was the closest we've been so far to losing the run.
Shaken yet not stirred, we press on, and safely (?) reach the Nine Hells.
The enemies here use Hold Person, Fear and Charm (but have no means of dispelling), so Potions of Clarity and Freedom all around keeps everyone safe.
We arrive in good order at the Hellevator, and start putting our ludicrously bloated inventory to use.
Everyone gets protected against everything the Devils/Demons/whatever they are can throw at them: There are enough protection scrolls throughout SoD to turn an entire party of six immune to Fire, Lightning and Poison.
Hold Person/Fear/Charm is covered by Chaotic Commands, or just a Potion of Clarity.
That done with, we apply basically every potion that grants some kind of bonus (Potions of Fortitude/Agility/Strength/Defense are very useful for our party, given our abysmal stats); save the one hour and less duration ones for the ride up the Hellevator, and only apply the very short duration buffs like SI after the third wave.
Potions of Magic Shielding are best kept in reserve, in case someone drops and has to be revived mid fight, or your buffs get dispelled by Belhifet (see below).
I write the above mostly for my own benefit so I won't forget next go around...
There's only a single Dispel Magic in play during the Belhifet fight: Belhifet himself force-casts it first thing, and he can easily be coerced into targetting whoever's closest if he can't see protagonist (just scatter, it'll at most affect one character assuming everyone has an Oil of Speed running).
This time, Belhifet threw it at Fighter/Mage/Thief, who had SI: A running. Lucky.
We let Caelar aid us, but she fails her save against something (I'm not sure what) that knocks her unconscious for a few rounds.
Amazingly, Cleric spamming scrolls of Greater Restoration at Caelar (with the Battle Tankard equipped to keep her from going fatigued immediately) actually keep Caelar alive long enough for the latter to recover.
With his reinforcements dealt with, we turn on Belhifet, and he pops Infernal Conveyance, teleporting away and going invisible.
We counter the invisibility, and Enchanter + Mage/Thief both pop Lower Resistance, bringing Belhifet's magic resistance down by 81% (!). I'm fairly sure he has a lot less than that to start with, so he's now completely vulnerable to magic.
This is what we have been waiting for. Belhifet has no acid resistance at all... but every party arcanist knows Vitriolic Sphere, and every party arcanist except Blade has access to Spell Sequencer owing to Zhadroth's robe.
You can guess the outcome.
Belhifet was already wounded following our tender ranged mercies, so he has no way to stand up to what is basically an instant 90 x 3 = 270ish acid damage. Great success, and a good showcase of just how incredibly lethal this party can be with proper planning. No spell defenses? No chance.
That's all she wrote. We escape hell, leaving Caelar to stew there, and return home to Baldur's Gate after being framed for a crime we did not commit. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them... maybe you can hire the A-team Arcanist-team.
We escape uneventfully, are captured equally uneventfully, and BG2 awaits.
We leave SoD at the cap of 500k experience: The next batch of level-ups comes only at 660k, and 750k (L12) will see Invoker dual.
I feel he really needs Protection from Magical Weapons to stand a chance at tanking come ToB, so it'll be a late dual, though not exceedingly so: He'll regain his abilities at L13 Fighter, so 2 million, which is late mid - early late SoA.
Assuming we make it that far, but here's hoping. See you in BG2.
Tar, dwaven bounty hunter (Gate70)
Omen, dwarven defender (Grond0)
Coreheal VII, gnome cleric / thief (Corey_Russell)
Tar looks around - we're in Watchers Keep on the maze level
NW to a room with no enemies
NE to a room with enemies. We ignore them and head NW (we are near that exit)
NW to a room with enemies. We ignore them, pick up some items from the floor and head NW
Tar scratches her head - she'd not thought this far ahead. Aesgareth is facing us and engages in conversation. Tar plays along and tells him she will have to think on the matter. Then she uses the Pocket Plane to never return again (although see below)
Cespenar wants 5000gp to forge some armour which is duly passed to Coreheal and for once he receives it and wears it
So now we can proceed. Tar looks at her map and decides we should visit Nyalee in the swamp. A host of undead swarm us - Omen moving ahead a bit quicker than Tar would have liked as she cut-scenes her way to the front and is heavily level drained after a conversation with the Master Wraith. She runs away and tries to cast True Sight but a wraith hits her again. She continues running while Omen smashes and Coreheal uses Turn Undead before casting restoration on her
The next group of undead enemies have all their non-casters snaremazed, and the casters put up a good fight but are ultimately pummeled as their support starts to return. We learn of Yaga Shuras heart from Nyalee and make room in our backpacks for it by emptying a few snares onto the ground. As we depart more undead try to greet us but Coreheal turns and destroys them
The Marching Mountains is next and while the outside and lower level of the fire giant temple are not as difficult as normal in a trio we still make slow work of it. Coreheal dies at one point, Omen and Tar are badly wounded at other points, an attempted pocket plane rest freezes the game so we have to clear the middle two rooms twice, and the top left room has an offset staircase meaning Omen gets stuck and surrounded by fire trolls and salamanders. His hardiness keeps him alive and after Tar despairs of hitting salamanders with the Wave halberd she suggests Coreheal can use Crom Faeyr on the trolls. This speeds matters up
The temple interior is better but still ragged around the edges. Or at least to Tar who is fairly ineffective with her weapons and if she cannot get snares into action is reliant on her companions. Berenn is defeated mainly by a low door, while Imix forces us to retreat before making the mistake of chasing us - he did not see the three snares we had laid for such an occasion
Coreheal confirms he has both hearts so we return to Nyalee. She attempts to turn on us but our earlier traps spike her and maze most of her supporting cast. They eventually return to face Omen, then we attempt to rest several times in more than one area. Coreheal had suggested using the pocket plane, the game hints might have also done so and Omen finally jokes about whether Tar has thought about it. She obstinately chooses to rest outside Watchers Keep - does that count as returning
Yaga Shura then. We sort of clear the bridge, scare Yaga Shura off and lay a few snares for his return. We fend off several enemies to keep the snares intact and on his return we bait him in and down he goes. Tar knows what this means - loot his corpse and make our way to the armourers emporium known as the Oasis. At that place she convinces Omen and Coreheal to drag enemies away briefly then uses three special snares to start mazing enemies. She wants to add in spike traps but dribs and drabs of enemies continue to arrive so must patiently wait for Omen and Coreheal to kill them the old fashioned way. Crude but effective, and two bags of holding prove more than adequate to stash armour bows swords and shields
Amkethran next, helping the cleric and thieves in two arguments with monks, protecting the mayors daughter and once more being set up by Saemon Havarian. Tar buys the Klogoroth axe for Omen, and bags gargoyle boots and Enkidus Plate in case we ever meet Cyrics followers in the pocket plane. Then we continue towards Sendai's enclave, laying snares near the woodcutter
Not enough snares, nobody is killed and despite a few summons and a deva we are soon forced onto the back foot. Tar tries another book of infinite True Sights but is backstabbed so forced to run. Coreheal is badly wounded, Omen more badly wounded. Tar feels terrible about retreating round the base of the building so summons a golem and then Kitthix. Omen and Coreheal are steadily deteriorating but finally Tar gets a snare or two working and we claw our way back on top. Tar decides we should rest in the Pocket Plane this time, mainly because Cespenar can upgrade the Rune Hammer for Omen
It doesn't look like we've done a huge amount in the two hours available to us but it was a lot of hard work with many dangerous enemies. At one point Coreheal died - Tar thinking it might have been in the lower area of the Fire Giant temple but not certain. We purchased a second Rod of Resurrection with the primary one down to four charges remaining
It's official - we have more money than sense now
(about 100,000 less than I expected but Klogoroth, Enkidu and Gargoyle may not have been cheap)
Edit: oh and we completed the second Pocket Plane challenge - Tar managing two special snares so the enemies can be separated. Angelo fails to be snared so perishes first. Semaj returns first so is spike trapped, Anti-Tar is next and duly Omened, while Tamoko survives two spike traps and only survives attack by Omen thanks to Coreheal nipping in for the kill
Previous part found here
Include divine spells from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: 35.21
Include bard songs from Icewind Dale: Enhanced Edition: 35.21
Core Stratagems spell-system changes (installed by default by any AI component): 35.21
Changes to Restoration: 35.21
Changes to shapeshift spells: 35.21
Icewind Dale-inspired tweaks to Baldur's Gate/Baldur's Gate II spells: 35.21
Rebalancings of slightly-too-powerful spells: 35.21
Spell school changes: 35.21
Spells increased in power: 35.21
Add 9 new arcane spells: 35.21
Add 6 new divine spells (some borrowed from Divine Remix): 35.21
Revised elementals and elemental summoning: 35.21
Move or modify some overpowered magic items: 35.21
Replace +1 arrows and other projectiles with nonmagical "fine" ones: 35.21
Replace many +1 magic weapons with nonmagical "fine" ones: 35.21
Reduce the number of Arrows of Dispelling in stores -> Remove Arrows of Dispelling from stores: 35.21
Wider selection of random scrolls: 35.21
Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic -> Inquisitors dispel at their level (not twice their level): 35.21
More Appropriate-Speed Bears: 35.21
Improved shapeshifting: 35.21
Decrease the rate at which reputation improves -> Reputation increases at about 1/4 the normal rate: 35.21
Thieves assign skill points in multiples of five: 35.21
Revised handling of death effects like disintegration, petrification and imprisonment (party members who are disintegrated etc can be resurrected; imprisoned or petrified characters rejoin the party automatically; the game doesn't end if the main character is petrified or imprisoned): 35.21
Revised resting: resting in the wild uses up provisions: 35.21
Revised inn rooms: more expensive, more benefits: 35.21
Allow the Cowled Wizards to detect spellcasting in most indoor, above-ground areas in Athkatla: 35.21
Remove unrealistically helpful items from certain areas: 35.21
Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from the game -> Remove all ammo from random containers: 35.21
Delay the arrival of the "bonus merchants" in the Adventurers' Mart and the Copper Coronet: 35.21
Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorisable spells (each may be taken only once): 35.21
Ease-of-use party AI: 35.21
Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): 35.21
Smarter general AI: 35.21
Better calls for help: 35.21
Smarter Mages: 35.21
Smarter Priests: 35.21
Potions for NPCs: 35.21
Improved golems: 35.21
Improved fiends and celestials: 35.21
Smarter genies: 35.21
Smarter dragons: 35.21
Smarter beholders: 35.21
Smarter mind flayers: 35.21
Smarter githyanki: 35.21
Improved Vampires: 35.21
Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: 35.21
Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: 35.21
Improved Shade Lord: 35.21
Spellcasting Demiliches: 35.21
Tie difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings to the difficulty slider: 35.21
Improved Random Encounters: 35.21
Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix"): 35.21
Improved Unseeing Eye: 35.21
Improved Bodhi: 35.21
Party's items are taken from them in Spellhold: 35.21
Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: 35.21
Improved Sahuagin: 35.21
Improved Beholder hive: 35.21
Rebalanced troll regeneration: 35.21
Improved Drow: 35.21
Improved Watcher's Keep: 35.21
Improved Fire Giant temple: 35.21
Improved Sendai's Enclave: 35.21
Improved Abazigal's Lair: 35.21
Improved Minor Encounters: 35.21
Now that they're in some sense accomplished adventurers, the entire party are given proper names:
Clarice the Cleric, Burton the Blade, Figaro the Fighter/Mage/Thief, Mathias the Mage/Thief, Envor (?) the Enchanter and Ioalus the Invoker.
I had intended to import Krotan's Skullcrusher +2 for Figaro, but forgot that Staff Mace +2 is higher in the priority list, and since Ioalus had the latter equipped at the end of SoD, that's what we ended up with... eh.
7HD Skeleton Warriors and some use of occasionally successfully laid traps prove quite adequate in clearing most of Irenicus' dungeon, but cannot help much when it comes to our atrocious Find Traps skill(s).
Guess we're resting early whether we like it or not... let's just have Clarice spring the traps, she should have decent odds of survival. Better than Mathias, at any rate.
Once Mathias is back on his feet, the rest of the dungeon is uneventful, as is clearing the Circus (True Sight and Magic Missiles for the Werewolves and Shadows, respectively).
We remember to pick up the disappearing scroll case from Bernard, and clear the Beastmaster's pen with a single Cloudkill.
Cloudkill proves quite helpful in a number of encounters here, as enemies in the Sewers are low hit dice.
We still have lots of spell slots available, as Ioalus won't dual until L12.
A few Skull Traps and a suitably buffed Figaro dismantle Captain Haegan and his band.
Here we run into a first major issue: There's a resetting Prismatic Spray trap in the beached ship blocking our path that we simply can't disarm (to the far north of the corridor, north of the two Slaver Wizards). Fortunately, we can just send Skeleton Warriors under the supervision of invisible Mathias to deal with the remaining slavers..
Ugh, completely random Thief skill points are a serious pain. Even if I give Mathias the Bracers of Dexterity at some point, he won't break past 50 Find Traps unaided. We'll need the Ring of Danger Sense (which ironically is quite dangerous to retrieve), and even then probably will have to depend on Potions of Perception. We'll see how we handle things.
Having freed the slaves, we've ample gold, so invest in a magic license, and free Viconia while at it.
Suna Seni and friends get a big ol' helping of Skull Trap while we're en route back to the Promenade.
At the Promenade, we mess up a bit: Brennan Risling manages to escape. Should've prepared some 2x Magic Missile sequencers for this, but figured we had the damage to take him down quickly. I figured wrong: We've almost no damage at all! In fact, we must resort to Magic Missile'ing Mencar into the ground, since we just can't hit him (but he can assuredly hit us).
I run into another behavior I've never observed before at the City Gates: The two Shadow Thieves being recruited by a Vampire that attack you (and have some decent scrolls including Contingency) disappear on us.
What happened was that the time went from night to day right after they turned hostile, and apparently they just despawn then... never to reappear. Irksome.
En route to Watcher's Keep, we get to save Renfield. Sasha and Prebek are too low-level to have much in the way of defenses; the traps in their home are far more deadly.
We just can't disarm anything. Clarice will have her work cut out for her...
Xzar is assassinated, and we collect the odds and ends of loot.
We expose Reijek Hidesman next, getting a lovely scroll of Spell Deflection as random loot.
Speaking of random loot, we also pick up a scroll of Spell Sequencer in the graveyard.
Even with one dual-to-be and a Blade, there's still three party members that can (eventually) use that, so yes, I'll gladly take it... along with the Protection from the Elements scroll found in the Crypt King's, well, crypt.
We delve further underground; Pai'Na and her brood succumb to a Cloudkill and some focused fire (she has no armor so even our paltry THAC0 is sufficient).
The Vampyre in the southern tombs is a real piece of work, as usual: Not content to whail ineffectively at a Skeleton Warrior, it tries to seek out better targets. We eventually take it down, though Figaro takes a heavy hit (level-drain wise).
We actually have to retreat back to the Graveyard and rest up, but return under cover of Skeleton Warriors.. and finally hit a milestone.
At 750k experience, Ioalus hits Invoker L12 (picking up * in Quarterstaff), and immediately duals to Fighter.
I realized after the fact I had forgotten to cast Find Familiar, so he will be down 12 HP for a long time...
Will we beat the odds and actually pick up a specialization? Or will we forever be doomed to single-pip misery?
Ioalus rolls the dice once, twice, thrice, quice (?), and ends up with...
Long Sword *, Scimitar / Wakizashi / Ninjato *, Spear **.
OK, it could've been worse. I'd say spear is the third worst proficiency given my play style.
Club is the worst, since the only weapon better than +3 requires you to keep everyone around immune to fire at all times.
Dagger is second worst, since it's just such puny damage.
Spear... is Spear. It'll be OK. I hope? There are good spears available, though it'll be some time until we see them, and I am a little wary of Piercing as a damage type. But let's just forge ahead; at least we got a specialization, which is a minor miracle in itself.
Ideally, I'd like to go straight for the Ring of Danger Sense now, but I realize it's a bit risky to brave the Planar Sphere in our current state: Let's instead focus on big quests with little to no traps. Trademeet!
Lots of mooks at the Druid Grove, but a simple strategy of massed Fireballs works here: Frontliners need Chaotic Commands to protect against Greater Command, and Protection from Fire to protect both against Flame Strike, and our own Fireballs. Then you're golden.
Cloudkill clears the Spider infestation to the west, then we use five Skeleton Warriors to help clear another couple of Troll spawns (reducing us to a single badly wounded Skeleton Warrior left).
The Troll Mound is actually a bit tough, as the multitude of Trolls have an easy time hitting us; I end up using our single Potion of Fire Breath to help clear the field.
As you note, Ioalus has a hitpoint problem: One good hit is enough to send him into dangerous territory, as he's unlikely to survive two hits, and all but certainly dead if he has to take three hits. I need to be careful when using him for a long time, but we desperately need his THAC0...
We loot and (I think for the first time ever, for me) equip the Spear of the Unicorn +2, as well as the Bracers of Archery (the latter on Burton). Well, that improves things ever so slightly, at least.
The Greater Earth Elemental to the north of the Mound is trapped into oblivion, and we let the local Trolls narrowly defeat the Shadow Druid and his cohorts.
Kylan Lind and friends are helpless against Skeleton Warriors, and the enormous blobs of continuously spawned Red Myconids on the bridge are treated to Cloudkill (Myconids have strangely good THAC0 and can get quite dangerous if you let them swarm you).
We're almost out of spells here, and actually end up having to do a running battle against the Adherent and the Shadow Druid at the entrance to the Druid Grove: Dalok somehow didn't follow. The reason is that the Adherent has stupidly good AC, and both the Shadow Druid and Dalok popped Entropy Shield, rendering our ranged weaponry null and void... so we had to wait out their buffs.
Not the party's proudest moment, or it wouldn't have been if they had any pride. They do not, in fact: Survival is the priority here.
Cernd defefats Faldorn, and we rest outside Adratha's cottage under Invisibility 10' Radius; there's no way we could engage Adratha and friends on the same rest as that used to clear the entire Grove.
Clarice and Figaro go immune to very nearly everything, and enter. Ihtafeer and Sadaat both pop protections galore, but Jalaal is lower level, and doesn't last long. Fortunately, the protections do not include Spell Shield or Spell Immunity: Abjuration, so Breach is sufficient to make them vulnerable; Sadaat soon joins Jalaal.
But Ihtafeer herself remains a thorny issue. She's clever too: I thought her out of almost everything, but she was conserving her strength. As the party closes in for the kill, a Sunfire erupts, nearly killing several of us.
Still, that was all she had left, beyond some Magic Missiles. Some potions later, we finish the job.
That was harsh. We used almost every spell slot we had, and still had some difficulties.
Yet a win is a win.
Back to Trademeet, where we successfully pickpocket Taquee for the Efreeti Bottle (Burton was poised to instantly speak to Khan Zahraa in case of failure).
We are showered with rewards, and also duly clear the local crypt, earning a random drop of a scroll of True Sight for our efforts; soon, Envor will be scribing scrolls, I imagine.
I want the Elven Chain Mail for Figaro, but grossly overestimate the noble magelings: They both die to a combination of Sunfire and Fireball before amounting to anything.
We also finish up the Reijek Hidesman quest while here, finally gaining a point of reputation in the process; we're still only at 18 reputation, even though we bribed it all the way to 17 fairly early on.
That was quite a bit of adventuring; we return to the Copper Coronet, and this seems a good place to stop.
Burton, Clarice and Mathias are all within earshot of leveling; another major quest should do it.
Ioalus is trotting along at a steady pace, though it'll be a long time until he reaquires his true powers.
Envor is a pure arcanist: Now that he's L12, it'll be a very long time until he markedly improves again.
Figaro is almost at a standstill: His THAC0 will basically not improve much for the foreseeable future, nor his spell slots, really.
He has just enough arcane juice to handle a single major battle per day; the rest of the time, he's a poor-AC poor-HP poor-THAC0 Fighter without weapon specialization. And yet, he's still our best combatant... though Ioalus is catching up.
Things are looking a bit grim! The party is quite demanding to play as well. We have plenty of spell slots, but nearly all of them must be devoted to defenses and/or buffs in order for us not to get absolutely crushed by anything tougher than a throng of Goblins. Hopefully things'll improve as we level. Let's hope we get some good luck on those random HLA's too...
The party is sitting at roughly 850k experience; next up will likely be the Umar Hills, since there are barely any traps there.
With the experience from that, we will likely brave the Planar Sphere next. Not just for the Ring of Danger Sense, but also the Ogre Strength gauntlets: Everyone except Ioalus is frightfully weak, after all. Maybe we should invest in the Girdle of Hill Giant Strength, that should help our melee a bit...
Anyway, until next time!
The hill gIant strength belt would certainly be ideal to get, it's always been a huge turning point for at least one fighter in any of my randomized groups - and if maces are a good choice for your F/M/T, it seems like Mauler's Arm might be an option to save another level 2 slot for strength. Of course, if you dare to venture into the Unseeing Eye questline early - which imo is not as impossible in practice as it might sound in theory, especially with the level 11 version of skeletons available, and a lot of good anti-undead tools in existence - you can build your own ideal fighter in terms of stats, with the dexterity gauntlets, the fortitude girdle (which lasts for 8 hours, making it essentially permanent outside of ambushes during/after travel if one remembers to use it after every rest) and the hill giant strength belt.
It'll be a big boost for Figaro. I've also considered the Unseeing Eye: Ioalus is in the odd position of not benefitting at all from increased CON, but Figaro will become a (non-specialized) powerhouse with 19 STR, 18 CON, and 18+ DEX (usually only requires 1 - 2 Cat's Grace, as he gains 1 - 8 points owing to being part Thief). I am a bit wary of the traps there: Then again, there will be traps in the Planar Sphere too. I think going shopping for a fair number of Potions of Perception is also a priority... looks like we'll be spending some gold.