We made our way through the remainder of the Cloakwood without trouble. Corepally commented at one point that he needn't have run from some ambushing wyverns, given his immunity to poison. He declined, though, when offered the opportunity to tackle wyverns in their home cave environment. On reaching the mine 3 oils of fiery burning were lobbed in simultaneously and accounted for both mages. Drasus and Genthore lasted a while after that, but without offering any real threat. Inside the mine we quickly made our way down to the bottom level. Silo disarmed most of the traps and Corepally used a potion of magic blocking to hunt Davaeorn down before he had finishing his teleporting.
In the City there was an early problem when we took on the ogre mage in the sewers. Buster and Silo were in the shadows going down, leaving Corepally as the target. His AC proved insufficient against the attack of the crawlers and he was held. Buster and Silo attempted to burn up the attackers, but 1 crawler remained alive. That proved crucial as it chased Silo away and Buster was unable to finish off the ogre mage before it could summon an ogrillon. By that time Corepally was down to 3 HPs and the ogrillon managed to remove those to notch up our first party death.
After a temple visit we took on Ramazith's tower. Corepally used the Greenstone Amulet there to avoid being held by the ghasts. Nearby, though, Corepally took further heavy damage from Drelik's magic missiles. He was forced into retreat, but still got the satisfaction of the kill by lobbing in a throwing dagger from distance.
Corepally had lost his magical axe when re-equipping after his earlier death and wanted to get a replacement from the Maulers of Undermountain. That proved somewhat more difficult than expected after Corepally was once more held at the start of the conflict. With innocents around and a paladin's sensitive reputation to uphold throwing explosions around was not a good option and Corepally became a victim once more. Silo and Buster did a good job though in taking out the opposition. They were helped in that by Gretek's strange obsession. Despite being in a fight for his life he seemed more interested in the dreadful service in the pub and chased after a waiter that had jostled him in the melee. It might be some small consolation for Gretek that he did manage to get his revenge on the waiter just before being shot down himself .
While doing the poison quest we returned the body of Tremain's son and watched as he was resurrected. Unfortunately though the quest conversation became broken and we received no reward for our endeavours. Making up for that though we did manage to acquire Lothander's boots of speed by successfully blocking both staircases and disabling him with darts of stunning. Silo was pleased with how quickly he could now move around and fancied trying a bit of travel to wear them in properly. Corepally was less excited by the acquisition though and reminded Silo of the need to complete the poison quest. Buster was feeling excited himself about a new toy - in his case darts of stunning - and was given all our remaining stocks. He soon put them to good use to bring down Larze and kept them in hand when taking on Marek. The latter did manage to finish a confusion spell with affected Buster, but Buster continued attacks for a second or two and one of his darts took effect. Corepally came over to shrug off the remaining stack of darts and protect the wandering innocents.
There was more confusion in evidence when taking on Vay-ya. Corepally was protected by his amulet, but both Buster and Silo were confused this time. Fortunately Buster was in a corner away from any innocents and Corepally was able to stand by Silo and absorb his attacks while shooting down Vay-ya - once more successfully protecting our reputation. A nearby basilisk thought it might have got a reprieve when Silo looked in vain for any potions of mirror eyes. However, the potion bag was persuaded to disgorge a pair of invulnerability potions. As the saving throw bonus for those stacks, Corepally was able to push his petrification save into safe territory to pick off the basilisk.
The Iron Throne will be first on the list in the next session.
I have a solo cleric working their way through BG 1 but have a few questions:
1) I don't see a way to get the tomes from the Candlekeep crypts as I can only get 20 STR. Am I missing something?
2) How do I deal with Sarevok and Semaj since I can't dispel Sarevok's haste or Semaj's mirrors?
Corecleric XX the solo halfling cleric entering trilogy no-reload challenge:
Corecleric XX has just made it past Sarevok and is in Irenicus' dungeon. No near misses, some updates of note:
1) Most of Corecleric's experience was from basilisks, sirines, and some ankhegs. For ankhegs, some skeletons and commands worked OK. For basilisks, needed to use green PfP since I didn't have any skeletons yet. So a lot of slinging...however with help of skeletons Mutamutin was defeated. Also recruited Korax to boost the skeletons attack plus silence and holds and the battle vs Kirian's group was decisive.
2) The BG 1 level cap was reached quickly which meant a huge amount of content was skipped, basically just the main quest and upgrades from herein out.
3) I managed to dominate Khosahnn which for sure made it a bit easier to clear the bandit camp. For Tazok's tent, used sanctuary, moved into corner, summoned 4 skeletons, buffed them and sent them in - victory!
4) Nearly the entire Cloakwood skipped. For Cloakwood area 2, used freedom of action potion and potion of invisibility to skip the area.
5) For Drassus, buffed skeletons and silence was enough to prevail. Then went down to lowest level. For battle horrors, most damage was dealt by wand of heavens. I tried to rest, but was ambushed. So decided to charm one of them and send them against Davaeorn as a distraction, then sling all the way - success!
6) Only a few upgrades gotten in the Big City. Used sanctuary to talk to Thaldhorn and get the notes. Then headed to the Crypts. I had no way to open the crypts so just skipped the entire crypts using invisibility ring.
7) Slythe had a lot of problems with my skeletons, so no problem there. Duchal palace was different as somehow most of my skeletons failed to get into the battle. Luckily spamming wand of heavens was just enough to keep Belt alive. Thieve's maze was skipped although skeleton warriors were destroyed. For magic missile trap used shield amulet to protect myself.
8) Undercity party - was difficult, but victory nevertheless.
9) Sarevok - was a difficult battle a ton of potions used of all kinds, magic shielding, blue potions and haste potions. It was hard as Tazok, Semaj, and Angelo all joined the fight. Even a battle horror was spawned. But one by one they were killed, mostly with haste/slinging/running and repeat. I had to go invisible a lot, so much so the invis ring poofed. But Sarevok eventually admitted defeat. Whew!
@Corey_Russell If no mods, the Violet Potion sets STR to 25 for 24 hours. If SCS, Strength of Stone grants +4 STR; combine with Draw Upon Holy Might to reach 24 STR (if your Cleric doesn't have 18 base STR, cast Holy Power first), though I'm not sure if 24 is enough to bash open the chests.
There's no way to dispel Sarevok's haste as a solo Cleric, but you can just wait out Semaj's (and Angelo's, for that matter) buffs invisibly.
Ah of course the violet potion - can clerics use that? If so that was the answer. No mods on my install. And 24 STR is enough. As it turned out I was able to run and shoot Sarevok, apparently haste potion and haste boots was just enough edge. I just skipped the crypts as I didn't get your answer in time.
@Corey_Russell in the unmodded game the violet potion is indeed the only way for solo clerics (and druids and shamans) to get the strength tome - the wizard slayer is the only class that can't get that at all. Any character with base strength 18 can open the tomb without a tome (using DUHM to get 20+ strength) - that has a scroll of PfM that can be handy for some classes.
For the final battle you can make things a bit easier by activating Sarevok from range (shoot him when just in sight and immediately withdraw. Come back gradually while invisible / sanctuaried until his conversation activates). That means you only face him and Semaj, but you do need to keep out of sight of the dais. If you want to make things really easy then there's a repeating lightning bolt trap on the left which can kill all of them (though Angelo is hard to hit and takes a while). Wearing the boots of grounding means any character can get victory for the price of a single green scroll (or in the case of a cleric for nothing as your own protection spell lasts a long time).
Any character with base strength 18 can open the tomb without a tome (using DUHM to get 20+ strength) - that has a scroll of PfM that can be handy for some classes.
I am a halfling so don't get base 18 STR - I was only able to get to 20 STR using holy power and then DUHM. A PfM is not terribly useful for me as then I can't cast any spells...although final fight I didn't use spells really just a lot of slinging and gulping various potions.
Corecleric the level 11 solo halfling cleric (Priest of Lathander) - Update 2
So Corecleric made it out of Irenicus' dungeon OK. He did allow Imoen and Yoshimo to join but that was only because Corecleric didn't have any containers, so those two NPCs were Corecleric's containers. Yoshimo was booted once we sold the junk he was carrying and now Corecleric is solo once more. FIRST MAJOR PURCHASE: ring of air control. The improved invisibility was a huge help in ambushes, as Corecleric can go invisible, go to a corner, and summon and buff his skeletons plus make Corecleric immune to lightning. This enabled victory in all ambushes. I would probably have to run in ambushes without this item.
Some things accomplished:
1) Circus problem solved - no doubt on this since Corecleric used sanctuary, turn undead and true seeing.
2) Hendak freed. The mass of skeletons were very helpul as well as a greater command on the beast master.
3) Lilacor quest complete. Buffed skeletons carried the day once again.
4) Slavers in moored ship - this was considerably more difficult, but Corecleric prevailed once more. Corecleric used sword of flame (spell) to deal with trolls. Children freed.
5) Trademeet problem solved the cheesy way. That is, Corecleric used the invis potion at the High Merchant's office, and skipped everything in druid grove and let Cernd carry the day. A protection from petrification scroll plus skeletons allowed Corecleric to deal with genies. Shield of Harmony is a good upgrade.
6) Tarnor's group defeated. With sanctuary Corecleric sneaked up and told his buffed minions to take down Gaius. Corecleric used some hold persons and slinging but his minions couldn't quite finish the job so Corecleric had to run. However, resting then summoning a new batch of skeletons carried the day and also took down the Rakshashka and the kobold minions nearby.
Corecleric uses the belt of hill giant strength since otherwise he is so weak (17). Good thing as it was needed to loot Tarnor's goodies.
Trio 73 - 4th and final update Silo - human thief (illusionist) (Grond0)
Corepally - human cavalier (Corey_Russell)
Buster - human monk (Gate70)
Previous updates:
As has become something of an unfortunate habit in recent runs the start of the latest session could scarcely be distinguished from the finish as we made our way upstairs to confront the Iron Throne party. Corepally used a scroll of PfM and several potion buffs and would probably have been able to defeat the enemies on his own. Buster and Silo were keen though to demonstrate what they could do and joined in the attack once Corepally had engaged. Silo attempted a backstab on one of the clerics, but missed with that and withdrew out of sight to try and hide again. His attempt to disappear into the shadows failed though and the flame strike which followed him proved immediately fatal. Despite that being so early in the fight, Buster also managed to die before the death screen appeared thanks to both spell damage and a critical hit on him. We'll never know for sure, but I'd like to think that Corepally wreaked a terrible revenge in honor of his fallen comrades ...
@Grond0 Since the 5th floor iron throne baddies have a lot of nasty spells they throw around, like chaos, horror, and flamestrikes, as well as the archer can be dangerous and also Gardush is quite formidable by himself, it would have been prudent for you guys to wait a bit longer, and let the enemies waste their dangerous spells (like flamestrikes) on Corepally. We didn't have to do the fight either, as one of you guys could have just stealthed to get the letters in the back which updates the quest.
Trio 74 - after Trio 73 Roach - halfling swashbuck;er (Gate70)
Yeroc V - human berserker (Corey_Russell)
Sunny - human sun soul monk (Grond0)
After our previous outing we rolled three new characters; Grond0 finishing first for once followed by Corey_Russell and some time later I finally selected a portrait and rolled a swashy
A quick trip around home led to our leaving under cover of darkness, only to run into an ambush where Gorion died saving us. We fled in a random direction, somehow ending up with Shoal the nereid. We had to kill her - it's turning out to be a big bad world outside the walls of Candlekeep
Roach led his companions from place to place, making sure to choose random paths so it would be difficult for anyone to follow us. We picked up some green ankheg armour so Yeroc could blend into the scenery, and then picked up some items of interest. A magical flail for Yeroc (in a cave guarded by Ursa the cave bear). Girdles of piercing and bluntness. A +2 dagger borrowed from a revenant. Rings of protection, two so far. Gauntlets of dexterity - not that any of us need them. Boots of stealth from a hobgoblin, and subsequently from Zhurlong (Grond0 has a real dislike of him). Greywolfs long sword
Finally we arrive at an ankheg nest, the three of us continuing a long-running debate about when is the right time to fight ankhegs. We'd obviously worked out Yeroc would want a magical shield - however Bjornin wanted no part in this and refused to acknowledge our dealing with his half-ogre infestation to the south south west. We were used to this behaviour though, having already had Ardrouine refuse to believe we had killed three wolves at the lighthouse. No doubt we'll later find Hulrik can't count the xvart bodies around his prize cow (should we even bother to try or will we get all these multiplayer count missions fail)
So Yeroc had no magical shield. Boo hoo. Roach reached out from the shadows and shoved his companion down into the nest. A few minutes we emerged almost unscathed but several potions of healing lighter. The nest was clear
Were we done for the day? Of course we were, having already dealt with Bassilus (dead) and Melicamp (alive). Returned Albert and Rufie to warmer climes. Killed a bear for Jared. Killed more bears - we seem to be fixated with them today. Returned a letter to Mirianne. A necklace to Mr Colquetle. A decomposing body to the Friendly Arm Inn temple - we would have made it in good time until Sunny casually reminded Roach not to sleep and then said we never visited Larswood (more fool Roach for not merely peeking in that direction but taking a 16 hour trip there and another 16 hours back to Samuel's chagrin)
A ring for Joia. A sword for Perdue. Letting Neera take the enemy fire while we picked them off. Mistaking Silke for a mage (Roach) and making amends by killing her as a bard (Yeroc)
It looks a lot, and with our party progress may continue to be rapid. Yeroc is considering when to dual-class, having initially considered thief or mage he can focus on the latter since Roach has skulduggery covered
Sunny meanwhile had stolen into the lead with party kills. His well-timed Sun Soulray ability has often claimed a kill, while his flaming fists ability has been the subject of much debate. Like "I can't hit anything with these flaming fists"
So, I did roll up another random party and made it to Baldur's Gate... but one party member was a Dragon Disciple, and even with best-of-three you're almost guaranteed to end up with mostly useless spells. Which I did, and it kind of bummed me out, so I'm going with a regular NPC run with no special rule-set instead.
I enjoy arcanists, but keeping a pure Mage alive, especially throughout ToB, is a bit exhausting, as you're never more than one second and two rapid criticals/a single ADHW away from death.
This is true for any character to some extent, but even so I'd like a passive defense buffer: In this case, hitpoints!
Fighter/Mage is possible but it's a bit of a drag having to wait until 6M XP for 9th level spells.
I considered Dragon Disciple, but am also partial to the sense of progression you get from picking up rare spell scrolls and expanding your bag of tricks... so I went with a dual-class.
Starting: In BG1EE.
Difficulty: Insane with no level-dependent damage increase.
Mods: Full SCS 35.21.
Protagonist: Axis, Chaotic Good Human Berserker.
The intent here is not to maximize killing power (I think that's a bit of a moot point as a dual-class, since even if you go Kensai your THAC0 will eventually be subpar), but rather boosting passive defenses as far as they'll go for an almost pure arcanist.
Axis will principally be a Mage, but one that can lend a hand cleaning up scrubs, on great occasion (such as the final battle of ToB) physically brutalize enemies under Time Stop, and just be all-around very difficult to kill.
He will always be using a shield of some sort; I toyed with the idea of pure Fighter and going with either Shortbow or Crossbow, but ultimately went with Axe. His backup weapon will be Long Sword, since there are some nice ones that never see any use in my playthroughs, and also because of the level drain immunity from Angurvadal, which can be helpful during the Throne battle (other characters will need the Amulet of Power).
Axis will be travelling with the canon party: That means we will lack a Cleric for BG1, though the situation improves for SoD as I intend to replace wayward Imoen with Glint.
I am aiming to dual-class at L9: Standard choices are L2 (slight HP boost, armor/helmet/shield, eventual Grand Mastery in a weapon), L7 (+1/2 APR), L9 (max hit die) and L13 (+1/2 APR).
I'm tempted by L13, but that's a very long time without the fun Fighter abilities... so no.
L9 also means we have enough pips to reach Grand Mastery in both Axes and Long Swords before the Throne.
I doubt it'll matter, but I like the symmetry, and it also means we recover our Fighter abilities at the very end of SoD (Fighter 9 250k, Mage 10 250k), so are at peak power when beginning SoA.
Let's see how this goes.
Axis Is (?) Invincible: Part 1
Next part found here
Axis breezes through Candlekeep, picks up Imoen, and ditches Xzar and Montaron having relieved them of their paltry possessions. Axis may recruit companions along the way, but must promptly assemble the canon party.
Towards that end, we pick up Viconia, whose Commands allow us to easily take down Tarnesh.
Jaheira and Khalid join, and we make a quick detour north, where Viconia, under Sanctuary, helps us out by looting the Ankheg treasure hoard. Wand of Fire aquired (though we've no one that can use it yet).
Passing through Beregost, Viconia again spells the doom of the Red Wizard, and we swipe Neera's belongings; Neera also gets to help us out by identifying a few key items. We pick up a stack of Beruel's Retort, since I play with the component which replaces most magical weapons with non-magical fine ones (that are liable to break): Beruel's Retort can never break in melee, so Axis now has a magical +1 weapon.
There are still items we want to identify, so Neera tags along south; we gib some Flaming Fist Mercenaries accosting us, as we will have four characters that can wear heavy armor this go around.
Neira is Commanded, and we replace Neera with Minsc. Westward, ho!
We reach the Gnoll Fortress unimpeded by ambushes, and Gnoll and Hairtooth both succumb to Command.
Jaheira has to do the tanking for now, since she's the only one with the HP to survive a Halberd blow.
Still, with Ankheg plate she does a fine job, and we reach Dynaheir in one piece, replacing Viconia.
Party assembled, and we even got an Identify scroll as a random drop which Dynaheir successfully scribes.
We clear out a few simple things on our way back to civilization; Ingot the Gnoll to my delight drops a scroll of Web.
Minsc also drops, not so much to my delight.
Well, Dire Wolves are wonky in that they will often just start gunning for the character that last attacked them, ignoring whatever's in front of them. We rush back to Nashkel and get Minsc raised, of course.
Now we head back north: I want to unlock High Hedge's spell scrolls so Dynaheir can get some scribing in, but not without aquiring the 4k XP for clearing the Flesh Golems.
For this, we need magical ammunition, so head towards Ulgoth's Beard: On the way, we talk to Tenya, clear the Ankheg to the north of her hut, and deal with a Zombie infestation.
30 Arrows +2 should be sufficient for our needs.
Back in Beregost, we clear everything except Silke, then head to the Temple and dispatch the local Wolf Pack using our Wand of Fire: We got a number of additional spawns but were able to handle it sans deaths.
Flesh Golems are easy to hit, and once you've dragged the first one outside, you can safely take pot-shots at the second one while running around inside. The experience is welcome: Every frontliner is now at least L3, and so has a small HP buffer available.
I've run melee brute parties in BG1 before and it works fine once you get past the initial levels, but the front lines tend to become a bit crowded, so with this in mind Khalid will serve as archer this go-around.
He's actually the second-best archer in the game, since he can reach three pips in Longbow: Only Coran has him beat, owing to better Dexterity and being an Elf.
We head south, clearing out Dorn's ambush (no Bandit is a threat to Axis at this point), Greywolf, and then descend into the Mines.
The Kobold Chieftain goes hunting for us after a Fireball charge clears out his attendant Kobolds, but the Shaman stays put: We gleefully chop down the Chieftain, then carefully firebomb the Shaman from outside sight range until it drops.
Never underestimate the Shaman, as it has access to third level spells and a prediliction for casting Lightning Bolt.
A Fireball charge clears out the initial reinforcements and so Mulahey doesn't stand much of a chance.
We Charm Algernon and send him against Tranzig; Tranzig comes out on top, but his victory is short-lived (as is he).
Now with Algernon's Cloak available, we return to Nashkel: Mighty Oublek sacrifices himself, ensuring us a hefty 3k gold even as we avenge him against Nimbul.
Or at least we try to: Nimbul was targetting a moving Axis with Lance of Disruption. Enemies are special in that they are allowed to cast spells like Lance of Disruption, Lightning Bolt, Fireball etc. targetted at party members, but apparently when Nimbul twirled about on the spot, he somehow got caught in his own spell's area-of-effect.. and so effectively offs himself (and Rasaad, but who cares).
More XP is needed before the Bandit Camp. We clear out Jemby and her agitated boyfriend, some unruly Half-Ogres, a Hobgoblin bully, and then miraculously save Melicamp, though we don't get the reputation boost.
We also forge the Ankheg Plate: Eventually, I'm sure we'll want Minsc/Jaheira/Axis all in Full Plate, but for now Ankheg will do (and you can sell it for more than it costs to forge, anyway).
We could now afford to bribe reputation up to 17, and so start handing in quests: We do reach 20 quite quickly, and spend our meager remaining gold on some vital scrolls for Dynaheir.
Well then, now with Web available, let's be off towards the Bandit Camp.
We make a detour and pick up The One Gift Lost from the carnival (nearly bankrupting us), clear some bandits and Druids (both of whom are successfully interrupted), then get the lesser ambush.
Halacan is always interrupted in his initial casting, which I presume to be Sleep, by Molkar talking to the party, and so the former succumbs before doing anything of note.
Drakar soon joins Halacan on the ground, and then it's just clean-up of two melee brutes.
At the Bandit Camp, it's standard modus operandi: Settle in the south-east corner, alert the camp, then utilize Web/Entangle/Fireball. Works literally every time: The only real threat here is Venkt (often has Ice Lance / Horror / Slow available), so he should be prioritized once he appears.
Now, Imoen will be dualing: You need 85 Open Locks / 100 Find Traps to be able to solve everything in BG1, but with her initial skill point distribution, that means she needs Thief L7.
If you can settle for having to pop a Potion of Master Thievery (or with SCS, a Cat's Grace...) for the odd difficult lock, Thief L6 is sufficient and means she recovers her abilities much sooner, so we're aiming for that.
Imoen is nearing L6, so we head for Durlag's Tower: We leave as many enemies as possible alone, instead letting invisible Imoen disarm all the traps she can get at, delving all the way to the top of the tower and into the Warder level.
Good, this means all the more easily available XP that isn't locked behind nasty traps.
Traps disarmed, we retreat and head into Cloakwood.
A solitary Axis leads the charge into Centeol's lair under a Potion of Freedom and Fire immunity, and Minsc now has his (for most of the game) preferred weaponry.
Here, Imoen reaches Thief L6 as well and duals, so unfortunately we won't have her to open locks in the Cloakwood Mine.
Pushing deeper into the forest, we get the Amazon ambush.
That could've gone better.
So, the two Thieves here enjoy kamikaze runs: They'll use ranged weaponry to take down weak targets even when they themselves are being attacked in melee, and that's what happened here.
Dynaheir was weakened by several ranged hits, then finished off by a backstab. We should count ourselves lucky it wasn't a chunking critical.
We wreak our bloody vengeance and track all the way back to the FAI.
While in civilized lands, we also purchase the Battle Axe +1 for Axis from Feldepost's Inn. Perhaps a bit extravagant as he'll upgrade to the +2 version once we reach Baldur's Gate, but for now it's a small damage increase.
I had hoped we'd be able to re-activate Imoen's thieving abilities before delving into the Cloakwood Mine, so we head towards the partially detrapped Durlag's Tower, stopping by Mutamin's Garden on the way.
We barely need Korax at all, of course: Jaheira is using a Quarterstaff +3, Minsc has the Spider's Bane +2, and Axis is Axis, so we deal pretty serious damage pretty quickly.
The local adventuring party fares no better than Mutamin did, and we depart for the Tower, where a particularly nasty crit from Axis almost one-shots Kirinhale before she can engage in her usual teleporting shenanigans.
Greater Dopplegangers and Skeleton Warriors really can't put up much of a fight on their own, and we clear the whole de-trapped tower, but leave the Warder fight alone for now.
The experience still isn't enough, so we set about vacuuming the Sword Coast of encounters, starting with Bassilus.
At this point, we can just charge him: He never gets a spell off.
Likewise, Ankhegs are helpless before us; we head for the western seaboard in search of Sirines.
Droth is disposed of, Sirines are put to the sword (Axis is immune to their charms thanks to Enrage, and if Jaheira/Minsc get Dire Charmed, we just avoid them until it expires), and we grab the CON tome for Axis; of course he also got the previous tomes of CHA and WIS.
The Doomsayer is swiftly dismantled, Brage is returned to the Temple of Helm, and we proceed to clear all the little remaining encounters in the Cloud Peak mountains.
Not much to report really, we're a bit over-leveled by now so it all goes smoothly; we even nip in and deal with the Wolf of Ulcaster, which is no issue as long as you have several Remove/Resist Fear available and a way to counteract its Hold on-hit effect.
Eastern mountains next: A charmed Bentan charges headlong into a gaggle of Skeletons so that we may retrieve his Protection from Magic scroll, Meilum does not so voluntarily give up his bracers, the Revenant is just hacked to pieces, Narcillicus neglected to buff with Stoneskin, and Zordral just kind of dies.
Even the Red Wizards can't really do much: They summon a bunch of cannon fodder that we just sweep away with ease, and we now have The Victor available for interrupting spells.
We've now basically emptied the Sword Coast of encounters, but Imoen is still nowhere near Mage L7... pfeh.
Not much to do but charge bravely forward: Towards the Cloakwood yet again.
Some Bombardier Beetles successfully apply Deafness to both Rezdan and Kysus as the battle starts, greatly simplifying things;
Drasus and Genthore really aren't a threat at this point.
In the Mine proper, Imoen pops several Wand of Lightning charges from the side passage and successfully clear out nearly all of Hareishan's guards.
Hareishan herself is helpless against Axis' Enrage, though manages a Blindness before crumpling.
The only remaining threat before Davaeorn is Natasha, but with a few potions, Axis is nearly immune to all elemental damage... as Natasha discovers to her detriment.
OK, Davaeorn then. Same procedure as always: Someone goes ahead invisibly to trigger D's speech, Battle Horrors move in.
Once Battle Horrors are down, turn around and defeat five waves of guards from the entrance, then take your time dismanting D.
Though this time there's no need to try and wear D down with summons (we don't have many available so would have to spend some wand charges): Instead, Axis just engages D flat-out, trusting elemental resistances to keep him alive.
And they do! A nice, heroic victory.
There's only one lock down here you can't bash with 25 STR (Potion of Frost Giant Strength + Strength of Stone on Jaheira): A chest in D's lair containing the epic treasure that is a Wand of Fear.
Meh. I'll gladly let that get flooded... We depart for Baldur's Gate.
So, this should be quick and easy, and it is, for the most part.
I don't really remember what happened in Ramazith's Tower, but I think we were out of healing magic and didn't want to waste potions, so Axis lead the charge against Ramazith at about half HP. Still pulled off a comfortable win.
And that's the only remotely close call throughout the entire city... four warrior-types are too strong for BG1, you can bulldoze through just about any encounter.
We rest up, then climb the Iron Throne: As always, we sneak invisibly into the back chamber, and draw the two SCS-introduced Thieves first, as they start out hostile. They're soon overcome, and we turn our tender mercies on the real threat: Cloudwulfe and his cronies.
We just buff up and charge in, using a screen of Beetles.
Things turn hectic, but Axis is never in any real danger: Cloudwulfe did some good damage at range with melee assistance from Gardush, but that's about it.
Alright, Imoen regained her abilities a while ago, so Durlag's is now ripe for the taking.
We start by Charming Riggilo, who surprisingly survives several spells from the Ghost (we rectify this by gibbing Riggilo ourselves).
Again, the Ghost actually isn't that dangerous: At this point we can just mob him once he wastes his most potent spells.
Same goes for the Warders, really: Enraged Axis actually finishes Love on his own before the rest of the party mops up the other three, and we descend into the depths.
Never can Durlag's Tower go entirely smoothly though, as we run into some issues on the next level where we have to contend with an Islanne Doppleganger.
Jaheira is Confused, and Khalid... well, is literally boxed in.
SCS turns the Lesser Elementals from the summoning spells into their larger versions; I guess to make it more annoying to use them? Anyway, the Lesser Earth Elemental locks Khalid in place, and pummels him mercilessly.
I had to pop a Potion of Invisibility to keep him alive.
That's the only mishap for a while though; we descend further and uneventfully clear the entire level, including killing the Skeleton Archers from out of sight with Fireball so we can swipe their arrows.
They have a number of Arrows of Dispelling which are supremely useful for the fight against Sarevok, and in my install you can't buy these in any store, so it's worth the effort to get your hands on some.
We teleport onto the Chess board with everyone immune to lightning damage, firebomb the enemy pieces mercilessly, and pummel the King. Onward!
In comparison, the final level is easy-peasy: Just need some source of Free Action for the frontliners and healing potions, and you're golden.
We scurry away without engaging the Demon Knight, and that's Durlag's done as far as we're concerned.
Time for Balduran's Isle.
This is even easier than Durlag's. Aside from two fights in the entire quest chain (Karoug and Mendas), it's all melee brutes... and we're bigger brutes than them.
As for Karoug, enraged Axis baits out the Mage attendant's Remove Magic, which coincidentally fails to dispel anything, and then we just mob 'em all.
And yes, I remembered correctly: The Burning Earth +1 can hit Karoug.
It can in fact hit Loup Garou as well, as Mendas soon discovers... and with that, Balduran's Isle is completed.
Time to head for the end game: Off to Candlekeep.
I guess SCS enemies do what they can to stay relevant: They have literally no way of harming the protagonist, so they go for the easy mark with three Ice Lances. Eh, let them.
We raise Dynaheir and blitz our way through the crypts, with Imoen pulling off her first, best and almost certainly last backstab of the run.
Back in the city, we swiftly deal with Cythandria, Slythe and Krystin, and rescue Eltan. At the coronation, our trusty Beetles ensure there's no wayward Chaos on account of the Doppleganger Mage.
The Iron Throne party in the undercity is firebombed into oblivion, we successfully talk Tamoko down, and prepare for the final confrontation.
The four warrior-types get a Protection from Magic scroll (we've saved some Potions of Mind Focusing to force Minsc's INT up high enough that he can use scrolls...), potion buffs, then go to town while Imoen and Dynaheir hide invisibly in a corner under a Potion of Absorption to neutralize stray Lightning Bolts.
Khalid soon tags Sarevok with an Arrow of Dispelling, neutralizing the big guy as a threat, and we rapidly destroy the acolytes and their skeletal forms. On his own, Sarevok lasts about two rounds under withering ranged fire.
And that's all she wrote.
Having a pure-class Fighter as protagonist really makes an absurd difference: Axis is all but impossible to kill when properly prepared, deals serious reliable damage, and is difficult to even hit. This was one of the smoothest BG1 runs I've had for a long time: The only deaths, barring Minsc's single accident, were Dynaheir's.
Next up, Siege of Dragonspear.
Axis Is (?) Invincible: Part 2
Previous part found here
Next part found here
Axis is imported into SoD at 161k XP, and as has become customary, he rushes off to the starting dungeon essentially in his smallclothes, only having time to grab a few belongings (Chain Mail +3, Burning Earth +1 and Helm of Balduran, all for later import into BG2), and with no gold at all.
The rules are that I may freely use the items of the starting party to help clear the initial dungeon, though I may not strip them of any items. It's a bit of a moot point as I'll recruit (nearly) all of the initial party, but still, it keeps me from having a lot of gold available early on by selling gear.
We make liberal use of Dynaheir's Wand of Fear to dismantle the two Crusader groups on the first floor, and head downstairs.
Exceedingly careful resource allocation allows us to navigate the second level in comparative safety (Axis has to tank a few Wraiths to prevent us getting level drained), and Korlasz is shot until she surrenders.
I am allowed to spend any gold picked up from the dungeon itself at the Flaming Fist Healer, so grab a Potion of Persuasion to use when buying things in the city before leaving (as you're not allowed to rest before leaving.. I think, and therefore we cannot make use of the Friends ability of Brevlin's Quarterstaff as it doesn't start off charged), as well as some Restoration scrolls.
Once in the city, we set about clearing the quests: I don't know if SoD always just checks the protagonist's stats when deciding success/failure of stat checks, but Axis fails to get the nobles to incriminate themselves, and somehow looses one reputation point when defending himself (?) against Bartleby... annoying, that last one.
We sell off the items we gathered from Korlasz's dungeon, which lets us purchase the containers available here (very important to help with inventory congestion), two Gauntlets of Weapon Skill and a Potion of Magic Shielding, with a fair bit of gold left over. Off we go.
Minsc and Dynaheir are of course with us, as well as Glint.
We recruit Corwin and M'Khiin for now, and get started.
Tsolak is beaten into the ground, but I forget to pick up the Boot and a half of speed for later repair... dang it.
Returning to the camp, we get the Orcs vs Trolls ambush, and swiftly clear the underground cave with the help of the Suncatcher.
This we will never be able to do again, apparently, as Axis is too fugly to convince Takos to let us have one of his items. Double-dang it. Shouldnt've handed the quest in.
We enter the Repository of Undeath: Dynaheir provides Fireballs, Webs and Sunfires to thin the undead ranks when there's just too many of them, and we make excellent progress... though there's one little snafu.
A Skeletal Mage got a Stinking Cloud off, and 2/3rds of the party, including Axis, fails their save.
What's worse, Axis crumples almost right next to Minsc... who is Berserk at the moment.
If Minsc turns around and starts chopping at Axis, that's maybe 2 rounds at best he can survive.
I'm a bit desperate, so Glint chugs a Potion of Magic Shielding to ensure he stays conscious, takes up position next to Minsc, and just hopes he can survive the onslaught if Minsc bests his undead adversaries.. and if not, that he can survive the undead throng.
Fortunately, Axis recovers his senses the next round, but that was still a bit too close for comfort.
This was the only close call for now: We deal with the Coldhearth Lich, and annihilate the Crusaders at the bridge for their gear.
Now I indulge in a little reputation-manipulation.
Reputation is cheapest when going from 7 to 9: You get 2 reputation points for 500g.
Thanks to Bartleby, we are at 9 reputation: Recruiting Viconia temporarily drops that to 7.
500g gets us to 9, which again drops to 7 when we recruit Baeloth, so another 500g sees it back up to 9.
5200g now gets us all the way to 14 reputation, which catapults into 20 when M'Khiin, Baeloth and Viconia (we are about to recruit Jaheira after all so no longer need M'Khiin) leave us.
Hooray! We can now spend at our leisure, with maximum discount.
You can do something similar in BG1 with Viconia if you want; Baeloth can also be brought on there but only if the protagonist is high enough level, so it's more impactful in SoD.
This lets us pick up Mosela's Cudgel for Jaheira from Herod at 4k gold, which is quite nice (I do not allow stealing from stores as there's no chance of failure with high enough Pick Pockets).
We depart for the next chapter; the quest experience is enough to push Axis to Berserker L9, and he promptly duals.
We will now be significantly weakened for some time, but Jaheira helps make up for it; she's no powerhouse, but performs adequately with a decent club, and surprisingly, Beetles remain relatively competitive as summons throughout SoD since you get 2-3 of them per casting.
We'll keep Corwin around until we can pick up Khalid.
Lots of trash mobs are taken care of; there's a bit of a close call with the Greater Wyverns outside the Spider Cave, as they hit VERY hard and VERY often, though we just barely manage to keep Minsc in one piece.
The Spider Cave proper goes well (Free Action), Morentherene is daggered, and we push through the Bugbears into the temple proper.
The local Cultists are dealt with one room at a time, then Ziatar and her Mage bodyguards get to choke on a Cloudkill accompanied by some Skeleton Warriors: Ziatar takes two of them down while Corwin finishes her off at range.
The Neothelid makes a nuisance of itself, causing a fair bit of poison damage, but succumbs as soon as it pops up.
This time I'm a bit cautious around the Aerial Servants: We just drag them out of Akanna's room and slowly whittle them down at range, much safer than trying to best them in close combat.
Akanna herself is then swiftly defeated, and it's time for Darskhelin.
Not an entirely easy encounter, I'll admit. We're able to kill off Darskhelin fairly early, but the enemy Archer proves a real pain for Glint, not to mention the Mage that keeps popping irritating spells (not sure what disabled Minsc there, I think an initial Psionic Blast).
Then there's a bit of a snafu as we turn around to engage the Shadow Aspect: I accidentally let it spot us before we're done buffing, though thankfully we had Skeleton Warriors up and running.
I always forget between runs, but the damnable thing is nearly immune to Fire damage (90% resistance), so Dynaheir's Sunfires make little headway: Corwin eventually brings it low with a series of crits.
We return to Bridgefort, but Thirrim really doesn't have many good potions: We settle for a single Potion of Magic Shielding, and then have just enough cash left to purchase all the useful scrolls off of Belegarm.
With both Axis and Dynaheir now having updated spellbooks, Corwin is replaced by Khalid and we engage the Crusaders via frontal assault, though really we just let them stew in a double Cloudkill until they're all dead: Of course nearly all the Bridgefortians perished as well, as they kept running into the lethal vapors.
Khalid pops an Arrow of Dispelling at the Bridge Mage, and we're across scot-free. Hooray!
Now with access to Nazramu, we sell off a host of old crap, buy everything we need, and set about Dead Man's Pass.
This time I exercise the utmost care when dealing with the (second...) Spider Cave, as we trigger the Mimic with everyone except one Free Action'ed character invisible.
Other than that, the Pass is no real issue; we also clear that other little area the name of which escapes me, the one with the Greater Basilisk, and now it's onward to the Underground River, where we clear the south-western parts first.
Ferrusk is just bludgeoned to death, though you need to watch out here, as his Dark Treants/Shambling Mounds can really dish out large amounts of damage fast, and they're accompanied by webbing/unconsciousness-inducing Gargantuan Spiders... Free Action is highly recommended.
There's a spot of trouble as the Confusion trap in Kanaglym tags both Khalid and Minsc: I end up using a few Restoration scrolls to keep us from taking casualties.
Kherriun and her Necromancer cabal get Potion of Explosion'd into nothingness, and Zhaldroth has no recourse in the face of The Secret Revealed: Not that the Ring of Regeneration matters much at this stage, but the robe is nice.
We swing around and clear the north-western parts, without much issue.
Further into the complex, we buy a number of protection scrolls from Crusader Priest Polvi, then head up the elevator.
Skeleton Warriors last long enough, together with Jaheira's Fire Elemental, to allow us to swiftly escape after hurriedly looting Hephernaan's chambers (his Mages just aren't high enough level to survive three hasted warrior-types bashing them, even with Stoneskin/Mirror Image up).
On the way out, we clean house: A few Ice Storm from Dynaheir severely weakens the horde of Crusaders we first encounter, and then we just clear the rest out piece by piece, as the entire area didn't actually come after us instantly.
They're surprisingly weak: Even the Mages can't really hurt us as we just stomp through 'em.
Of course, we cleanse the River proper of Crusaders as well.
Alright, camp defense.
Trolls: Firebomb.
Wizards: Firebomb.
Paladins: Firebomb.
Grimgor: Attempt to Firebomb, get Khalid and Glint knocked out by Greater Command, have Axis do some tanking to literally keep them from exploding due to Grimgor closing to melee distance with Blade Barrier active, Grimgor eventually falls.
We rest up and head for Dragonspear Castle. As you noticed, Axis got a (final for SoD) level back there; his Fighter abilities are now back online.
This makes the Ashatiel fight a bit easier: Quaff a Potion of Magic Shielding and just kill her.
Good stuff!
Into Hell we go, and easily do we make it to the Hellevator, picking the Acid Tongue +3 as our reward from Thrix.
Everyone gets protection scrolls ensuring immunity to Cold (I don't think this is used here but not sure), Fire, Lightning and Poison (these are most definitely used).
Then its Free Action and Clarity, as well as any other potion buffs I've got lying around.
Right after wave #3 on the Hellevator, Axis pops Spell Immunity: Abjuration, and succeeds in baiting out Belhifet's only Dispel Magic.
With a serious amount of buffs up and three warriors pummelling him (plus Caelar), Belhifet just drops in no time flat: He doesn't even get to use Infernal Conveyance, and fails to do anything except reduce Khalid to 2/3rds HP.
Hooray!
I'm starting to get a better feel for SoD now, and it tends to go by quickly: I could probably speed it up quite a bit more if I wasn't so fixated on always looting everything and optimizing purchases, etc.
Really, all you need is some +3 weaponry/ammunition for the final fight, along with scrolls for immunity to Fire/Lightning/Poison, and some standard buff potions.. I suspect even just a few Giant Strength along with Heroism would do the job.
We go through the epilogue, though I am forced to reload since for some bizarre reason about half the items I wanted to import literally did not show up on the table in the Flaming Fist headquarters, even though they most certainly were in Axis' inventory before he got locked up: Putting them in the Bag of Holding allowed for bringing them along.
Axis escapes and is promptly captured again.
Axis enters Shadows of Amn with 500k experience (Berserker L9/Mage L10), his Fighter abilities active, and his Mage abilities ascendant.
Let's see if we can avoid the pitfalls of the last few runs (i.e., party member imprisonment by Lich before Freedom scrolls are available...).
To be continued! When next I get time to play.
Corecleric the level 19 solo halfling cleric (Priest of Lathander) - Update 3
So Corecleric made it through Chapter 3 OK - he is just about to enter Spellhold. Most major quest-lines complete, except Planar Sphere and Windspear Hills. He now has the flail of Easthaven and also Sling of Everaad. Sometimes he uses direct melee, sometimes minions with sling or spell support, sometimes firestorm, and sometimes Blade Barrier. His turn undead is strong enough to chunk most vampires which made Bodhi's lair pretty straight-forward. Will keep at it.
Trio 74 session 2 (link to 1) Roach - halfling swashbuck;er (Gate70)
Yeroc V - human berserker (Corey_Russell)
Sunny - human sun soul monk (Grond0)
Roach had one objective. Stay alive for 2-3 minutes and break our pattern of an early protagonist death. Job done
We'd cleared the ankheg nest last time so returned a body to farmer Brun then cleared a few remaining critters from his farmstead meaning Beregost smithy can forge several sets of armour for some other adventurers
We made our way to Gullykin and stole a sling +1. So now both Yeroc and Sunny have magical slings. Morvin and his cronies were in our way to the south, so we showed them the errors of their ways (such as antagonising a berserker). This went so well we decided to rest on their bodies only for a cleanup crew of kobolds to arrive. At this point Roach and Yeroc started to run but Sunny chose this moment to crash out of the multiplayer session and Roach had to drag him away instead
Once Grond0 had rejoined us it was time to hunt down Mutamin and his many basilisks. They were easy pickings after Yeroc used a green scroll to protect against petrification. We didn't have much planned for Kirians party so encouraged Yeroc to enrage. We had a snare laid (one of two worked) in case we needed to retreat but Kirian died quickly and Peter didn't last much longer. Lindin and Baerin are easy pickings on their own, meaning we got to loot their corpses shortly afterwards
Meilums bracers found their way to Sunny while Zal and Vax donated bracers of archery to Roach, and then it was time to head into Nashkel Mine. All very casual for us there with Yeroc taking lead, Roach clearing all traps and Sunny setting several enemies alight with flaming fists
Lamahla and her crew were oblivious of the traps Roach set (and that they both failed). Instead another berserker attack allowed us to eliminate them cleanly and yet more loot was stuffed into our backpacks. Back at Nashkel an assassin called Nimbul barely escaped a Flaming Fists death when Roach emerged from shadows for a swashbucklery non-backstab. Roach went into the store while his companions argued with Neira - as he joined them she cast hold person
Yeroc had already berserked but both Sunny and Roach were held. Roach may have been in the shadows but Neira attacked Sunny and hit him several times before Yeroc killed her. Sunny made a point of asking Yeroc why he was at melee range with his sling - Yeroc denied this initially and then realised he had indeed done this. He added that we should have let the berserker handle matters, at which point Sunny started with "but we're both..." and Roach interjected with "lunatics" only for Sunny to continue that he was trying to soft-soap with a logical answer of being weaker with ranged weapons
Beregost and Tranzig next. He almost died immediately, threatened us and then held on grimly for several rounds but not long enough to get to a lightning spell in the confined quarters. We'd picked up spiders near one of the other inns so took the largest body to the Friendly Arm Inn and finished our interest in that area
Roach made to go to Cloakwood, stared at his world map and realised the path was unknown so we visited the bandit camp instead. He helped out a bit in the exterior area but spent most of his time looting containers and bodies. Taurgosz Khosann put up a good fight but eventually relinquished his armour. Sunny and Yeroc waited outside the main tent, then two of us sneaked in and awaited our berserker
The mage inside, Venkt, cast mirror image but a snare had already slightly injured him. Roach missed with an arrow but Yeroc clubbed him with a flail and down he went. Yeroc had two enemies on him but Roach swung his shortbow in Hakt's direction to assist Sunny next. A single missile caught the hobgoblin in the back followed by a monkly foot in his face. Now there were two. A sun soulray accounted for Raemon and Britik got another of the same. More loot
Roach was carrying a lot of loot but saw his companions were less burdened, so he skipped a storesale and headed straight to Cloakwood. Yeroc took care of a dryad but declined the offer to visit a wyvern nest - a lack of antidotes apparently. Roach was somewhat disappointed and decides we can always deal with them on the way back...
Drasus has three buddies guarding Cloakwood mine. We have three oils of fiery burning. That removes both mages and wounds the fighters sufficiently for us to overwhelm them easily. We make our way into the mine until we pass Yeslick. Yeroc and Sunny wait at this point so Roach can unlock the door and sneak to the next level. He's given Yeroc a few buffing potions, as we have run out of healing potions. Yeroc decides he wants to wait for the final level of the mine before using them so down we go
Yeroc manages to clear the penultimate level without taking much further injury, and we picked up a healing potion or two. Roach fishes in his container again and finds a few potions for Sunny. This mainly because Roach had no healing abilities left and Sunny was half-dead after (pointed out by Yeroc - touche) attacking at melee range with his sling. This gave Sunny a clue as to why he'd underdamaged and taken hits
The final guard before Davaeorn doesn't know what hits him, Roach clears the traps, and Davaeorn manages two teleports away but perishes as his third teleport commences. Roach starts to clear the area of valuables while Yeroc deals with the remaining mustard jelly
Baldur's Gate awaited us, with gnomely Quayle suffering a monkly death. Once inside the city walls we picked up a tome of dexterity, cleared the four mages from Sorcerous Sundries and sold many many items. We stepped outside, with a berserk left to start us next time in the sewers against an ogre mage
Roach belatedly realises we forgot to sort the wyvern cave
With the session ended there was time for a quick banter about the ring of folly one of the mages had
Corey_Russell suggesting Roach wanted it
I said the usual use was to give it to Edwin before booting him from a party (usually the one from Mad Arcand)
Corey_Russell said he never used Edwin
Grond0 said he was a good mage
Corey_Russell insisted his poor dexterity meant had a poor armour class and died lots
Grond0 said don't have him in the front line
Corey_Russell said he still died in ambushes
I said have him in the middle of the party
Grond0 said he had decent hit points anyway
I said Davaeorns robe or bracers solved any armour issues
Corey_Russell said he found Minsc and Dynaheir more useful
We agreed to disagree, possibly
Yeroc has just taken the lead in kills from Sunny, with dual wielding and boots of speed helping. Roach is some way behind and likely to see the gap grow but he's quite happy to let his party bear the brunt of combat
Axis Is (?) Invincible: Part 3
Previous part found here
Axis imports into SoA with 500k experience (I don't allow for going over the SoD cap by importing from a save where you've spent a long time playing since the last time you loaded).
Irenicus' dungeon is no issue thanks to careful spell allocation in conjunction with Axis' absurd martial prowess, and we are off and out: Anomen and Jan are both immediately picked up, and we have our party, sans Imoen.
Starting at 500k experience means we are so powerful we typically don't bother with travelling invisibly: We can just best any ambush by brute force.
I'll refrain from selling most items (exception being non-magical, non-fine weaponry) until the Sauhaugin Temple, instead relying on the pure cash rewards for purchasing power, the first 5k of which goes towards a magical license.
We clear the circus without issue, but then encounter the first of several mistakes this run as we go after Mencar.
I somehow managed to set seven traps where they did little to no damage (two hit Mencar, one Smaeluv, though we did accidentally knock off Amon).
Brennan escapes and takes his ring with him, Smaeluv comes close to chunking Jaheira, and we even lose out on the experience for Mencar. Not a great start.
Next, the Copper Coronet, where as always we buy the Scroll Case off Bernard first thing, as it's only available as long as Lehtinan is in charge.
Here at least nothing untoward occurs, nor do we face difficulties clearing the Slaver ship.
As we travel further, we save a Harper, with Prebek and Sanasha both failing their save against Jan's Chaos.
While here, we also take out Officer Dirth for his Full Plate Armor (Jaheira waits outside so as not to trigger the Baron Ployer plotline yet).
With Anomen, Jan and (for now Yoshimo, but later) Imoen all ranged combatants, I'd like to reduce the stress of handling ammunition, so we depart from Watcher's Keep to pick up the Quiver/Case of Plenty.
The Trolls to the south are cleared out: We use Chaotic Commands and Protection from Fire (to ward against Greater Command and Flamestrike from the Spirit/Spectral Trolls), but unfortunately get Vampiric Wraiths in the main hall, and so have to break off and prepare buffs specifically to counter them.
Not so bad really: We just go with a full set of clerical buffs along with Improved Invisibility and Negative Plane Protection.
Now we have a good amount of pure cash available, so bribe our reputation up to 17, which quickly turns into 19 as we've left reputation rewards until now: Amnian Guard outside the circus +1, give Slave Girl inside the Slaver Ship 100g +1, turning in the Slaver quest to Hendak +1, though we failed to get the last point since I'm using the SCS component which reduces reputation gain to 1/4 normal rate.
So, I'd like to avoid selling, as said; we need a main quest with a big cash reward, since in addition to Gaelan's fee there are things we want to buy in the Underdark.
Trademeet fits the bill: The pure quest cash available alone is roughly 20k, it gets us a magical Club and Scimitar for Jaheira, and it's not so difficult... barring Ihtafeer. Off we go.
I forgot to visit the north gate here; the guards have a good chance of dropping fairly nice arcane scrolls, so I usually let the attacking animals kill them (the former keep using their bows even when attacked in melee and so typically lose the contest).
We proceed to the Druid Grove: Again, Chaotic Commands and Protection from Fire along with some basic clerical buffs let us proceed at rapid pace.
The Spiders are just firebombed, the Greater Earth Elemental is kited and Magic Missile'd, and we gleefully let the Trolls kill the Shadow Druid and his pet Mage.
Kylan Lind and cronies get Skeleton Warriors and a Cloudkill, as do the masses of Spore Colonies on the bridge to the east.
We clear everything up to Dalok and his hang-arounds, and here I spot another small mistake: The Burning Earth +1 (which I imported) has turned into Flametongue +1, and apparently it is strictly forbidden that two such blades should exist... so the Adherent just has a non-magical Scimitar. Drat.
Alright, just Ihtafeer to go.
Buff and charge!
... This encounter is not level-appropriate.
So, Rakshasas are quite nasty: They do deal pretty low melee damage, but they've got high APR, excellent THAC0, excellent armor class, require magical weaponry to hit, have enormous amounts of Mirror Image/Stoneskin/Protection from Magical Weapons available, and are essentially immune to magic (I forget if its L8 or L9 spells you need to hit them).
We've got no option but to keep wailing away while Ihtafeer and her two friends just unload all sorts of nasty Evocations on us, including Web and Stinking Cloud, interspersed with highly successful Remove Magic casts.
Honestly a little surprised we came out on top...
Still, we won: I let Cernd handle Faldorn, though this was another small mistake. The experience we can probably live without, but you also lose out on a magical staff.
There was no reason not to just buff Jaheira thoroughly and let her handle it: Cast Improved Invisibility on Jaheira, and Faldorn has to waste her first action on True Sight, which gives Jaheira time to get Insect Plague off, and then it's over.
What's done is done, so we return to Trademeet, where a Potion of Master Thievery allows Jan's successful swiping of the Efreeti bottle off the Djinn outside the tent.
We are awarded a fairly massive sum of gold, then opt to kill the local nobles: There's a reputation +1 in it for you if you give the Mantle to Lord Logan, but I wanted the Elven Chainmail which the male noble drops for Axis.
This is a fairly decent piece of spellblade armor, and it stacks with magical protection items too: It is now Axis' standard protection, since I don't want to invest in a Robe of the Good Archmagi yet.
Alright, I figure we'll do a few more little chores, mainly just clearing the Graveyard, then be off: We've got about 12k in pure cash once we pay Gaelan, and that along with selling a bundle of gems and unique magical items to the fish-folk should let us grab the important Underdark items. Let's just quickly solve the kidnappings.
... That's the biggest goof to date.
So what happened was that Camitis and what's-his-face ran outside after killing the fellow in red.
We followed, attacked them, they turned hostile, so the boy ran inside their hideout to flee from combat.
Once we entered, I had Jan unlock and loot the chest, not noticing the boy wandering around.
The boy alerts the guards, but also goes hostile!
This is a really weird BG2EE behavior, but I'm aware of it; I should've just left the chest alone.
Anyway, I start moving the party to flee the area, but AI is active... and one shot is all it takes.
That's a massive amount of cash spent on bribes gone for no good reason.
We bribe reputation back up to 17: I intend to buy enough that it's just barely worth it when you run the numbers (and you need reputation >= 10, else Anomen will fail his trial).
At least there are no issues clearing out the Graveyard; a Skeleton drops a Laeral's Tears necklace, which half-and-half makes up for the previous disaster.
We also deal with Baron Ployer while at it, and clear the Pirates out of the Sea's Bounty (they had something like 1200 gold in cash, not bad).
Now it's time to advance the plot, though I notice we have far overshot my intended experience: I typically want to be way south of the 1 million mark when reaching the Spellhold Maze.
I can't actually remember what the cutoff is, but Spellhold Irenicus becomes much tougher at a certain level of experience (and I think you can actually avoid having to fight a Lich in the Spellhold Library if you're low enough level).
We'll have to deal with both of these difficulties now, unfortunately.
Of course, by now off-the-shelf Vampires aren't much of a threat.
Jan gets a visit from one of many cousins as we head back to the surface for a breather before facing Bodhi, but his personal quest isn't that involved, so we knock it off right quick; Anomen also passed his trial around here.
Remains only to tackle Tanova and then play hide-and-seek with Bodhi.
I think Axis might actually be invincible.
That's an Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting he literally just shrugs off.
Tanova soon crumples, and Bodhi just stops trying once she's chased Minsc under an Oil of Speed around for a few turns.
We arrive in Brynnlaw and deal with the Courtesan's guild, fully buffed Axis and Jaheira handling Vadek.
We also knock off Perth.
He's got oodles of protection but crucially has no recourse in the face of poison damage: Since he follows you outside if he spots you and starts to cast a spell at you, we just lead him into a bunch of Yoshimo's traps, and he succumbs while dealing with some Skeleton Warriors off-screen.
In a rare stroke of good fortune, we get the Spell Turning page in the Book of Many Spells.
Excellent, that'll save an L7 slot.
The ward stone lets us pass the bridge, we are incapacitated (Axis yielding a point of Wisdom), and dumped into the Spellhold Maze essentially naked, where of course we pick up Imoen.
Now, let us make our way out of here.
I hate the Ruhk; that was a 2x Snilloc's Snowball Swarm Minor Sequencer it saved for the very last.
Good thing Axis has such absurd hitpoints, as he came perilously close to dropping there.
Still, we come out on top, and I prepare for these eventualities: Anomen has a Wondrous Recall available, so can Raise Jaheira promptly.
An Aerial Servant clears out the Yuan-Ti, Anomen has a few Spiritual Hammers so can dismantle the Clay Golem (of course, a single Remove Curse was also prepared to deal with the Cursed Wounds), and we head south.
Yeah, we're getting a Lich in the library.
It's not the most absurd list of pre-buffs I've ever seen (no Spell Trap, at least), but really, we've no realistic way of hurting it, beyond waiting for it to run out of Protection from Magical Weapons.
Fortunately, this particular Lich is a homebody: It typically won't leave the library, so we can draw away its substantial group of bodyguards and slowly dismantle them first.
We send what summons we have at the Lich, it easily disposes of them, and finally we charge.
There were several Alteration spells it tried to cast but which were interrupted, so I imagine it had at least two Time Stop memorized: We kind of lucked out with interrupts here.
The rest of the level goes smoothly: Traps and Chaotic Commands to deal with the lone Mind Flayer, Skeleton Warriors to handle the Beholder, and just brute force for the rest; we enter the third level.
The Yuan-Ti Mage here has summoned a Greater Air Elemental, so we head down the western path first while waiting for it to expire.
Once we double back, an Aerial Servant works wonders, together with a Chaos from Jan tagging the Yuan-Ti Mage.
We buff up (crucially, Protection from Lightning), and engage the Noble Djinni... which this time dies within a round.
Nice!
Next, the Ulitharid.
Not so nice.
Jaheira is just prone to dying.
Good thing we rested before entering this level; Anomen once again has to raise her.
The Spirit Troll is actually quite dangerous, though that's in part because we had almost no buffs left; you should at least have Chaotic Commands up to prevent Greater Command from turning things sour.
OK, we are freed by the Arbiter and make preparations.
I am ultra-cheap, so this time we'll kill Lonk the Sane (normally, I bribe him with 2k).
Unfortunately, Axis is the only one that has Secret Word available, and I need the two I have for Irenicus, so we have to hack our way through Lonk's protections (once his Mantle expires).
We teleport down to Irenicus with a number of buffs having expired, and Minsc with his dispelled.
Alright, so there's two ways to do this: The clever way and the stupid way, and we're pretty stupid alright.
The clever way is just swarming Irenicus first thing, as he will cast the Clone spell: If you can hurt him badly enough you can essentially bypass the fight.
That may or may not have been intentional, but it really seems like a Mage of Irenicus' caliber would at the least always keep Stoneskin up... so we back off while he casts the Clone spell and then pops his defenses.
The clones, at least, come in unbuffed, so we tag them with Insect Plague and Chaos off the bat, then set about destroying them.
The reason for this is that Irenicus has Spell Trap up: We do not have Ruby Ray of Reversal available (we can't even cast L7 spells yet, and even if we did, that scroll, barring a really lucky random drop, just isn't available at this point), so there's no way for us to get past that: We have to wait out his protections.
I thought he was supposed to pull his punches during this fight.
OK, so a long-standing bug is that a Planetar/Dark Planetar applies its Blade Barrier twice per round owing to its innate haste-effect.
Which means, anyone without Stoneskin/Ironskin that gets close basically explodes, and even if you've got the former spells up, they'll drop very quickly (not to mention the damn thing has a vorpal weapon); we've no hope of tanking it, and we've no hope of killing it, so all we can do is try to avoid it.
The Dark Planetar homes in on Minsc, but he (using the Boots of Speed we got in the maze) somehow manages to shake it off so it instead turns on the crazies; no time to rest though, Irenicus is going all-out on the HLA's.
It's just all-around bad news.
Axis can't escape it since he's targetted; all our buffs are dispelled thanks to the Dark Planetar, and we've got no potions available beyond a single Potion of Invulnerability (nothing to help with Fire resistance).
There's only a few seconds left before it hits, so we can't get a Protection from Fire off the ground in time: Axis is still likely to survive the blast, but on a failed save, even Anomen is going to die to that.
I shuffle party members around, desperately trying to disentangle Axis from the throng in time.
Yeah, I think it's over.
The game agrees: It crashed right after this screenshot.
I contemplated replaying the fight, but there's no way we were getting out of that alive: The Dark Planetar was one round away from exploding Minsc, Imoen was a single Melf's Minute Meteor from croaking, and mighty as he was, even Axis could not take on a Dark Planetar along with Irenicus when at 2/3 HP with no buffs available and using only Asylum equipment.
Oh, and even if we did somehow come out on top, Jaheira would still be chunked (and likely Minsc too).
Still funny that Axis remains invincible even in defeat: He took a Dragon's Breath and is still standing.
So I went back and checked some chapter-start saves: There's a whooping 400k (per character!) experience available between paying off Gaelan Bayle and fighting Irenicus in Spellhold.
I think the key if you want to do this fight fair and square is to abscond for Spellhold basically immediately once you have the funds; even then, if you come in at 500k, you'll just barely squeek by, since there will inevitably be some experience aquired while attaining the funds.
This assuming I remember correctly and the cutoff is 1 million experience.
If Irenicus is always like this under SCS insane, I don't really know how to handle it if you want to refrain from attacking while he's casting the Clone spell.
Some thoughts (all of which assume the item removal in Spellhold component is also installed):
Pierce through a Spell Trap so you can Breach Irenicus. You need at least L7 arcane spell slots for this (a single Ruby Ray of Reversal scroll is available pre-Spellhold, from the Red Wizard Enclave). Also, since you can't bring the scroll with you into the maze (so Imoen can't scribe it), either protagonist has to be a Mage/Sorcerer, or you need Edwin/Neera/Nalia in the party; even then, you need minimum 1.5 million XP before reaching Irenicus. Or bring a multi-class arcanist, in which case you need 3 million XP.
Tank Irenicus' spells until he runs out of defenses granting him physical immunity, while fighting off Magical Swords/a Dark Planetar/whatever else he summons. Difficult if you have party members that can't protect their buffs, and difficult even if you start fully buffed... the Dark Planetar is just too deadly.
Poison/Acid/Magical damage. I didn't see him pre-buff with Protection from Acid or Magical Energy. You get the Acid Fog scroll from Lehtinan, Cloudkill is freely available, as is Skull Trap (though the latter requires he not put up a Globe of Invulnerability). Maybe it'd work to just drop Cloudkills/Acid Fogs on him? But Dark Planetar has a short casting time so it's likely you'd still have to fight it...
Trio 74 session 3 (links to 1)2 Roach - halfling swashbuck;er (Gate70)
Yeroc V - human berserker (Corey_Russell)
Sunny - human sun soul monk (Grond0)
Roach still had one objective; stay alive for the first minute or two. He duly achieved this but no cub/scout badge of survive beyond the opening credits
As you may recall we were camped outside the Sorcerous Sundries next to a grate. Roach and Sunny managed to align their shadowiness while Yeroc had berserked. We dropped into the sewer and dealt with the ogre mage and his carrion crawlers. After emerging triumphantly we returned to pick up a body for Arkion the mage. He wanted us to deal with Nemphre and both failed to survive their first minute or two
Near to Nemphre were Taxek and Michael busy looting a house. That's our job, so we killed them
We continued through the city, killing Desreta and Vay-ya; Sunny swapping to gauntlets of ogre strength meaning Roach was handed down gauntlets of weapon expertise. Yeroc guzzled a potion to guarantee three rounds of successful saving throws and used this certainty to bash a greater basilisk out of a warehouse
Marek and Lothander were next on our list. Part way through dealing with them Roach decided to make a snack. Opening his recipe book he selected the two vital ingredients. A potion of explosions and twenty rabid chickens. Tasty. Back to Lothander - stunned by a dart and relieved of his boots. We were now fast (Yeroc) and faster (Sunny). Larze the ogre failed to outlast a dart of stunning, then Marek was also stunned
At this point we picked up the cloak of Balduran, helm of Balduran, relieved Ramazith of his ring of protection +2, and many other helpful items. Yeroc noticed the trend and asked if Roach got a discount for being a frequent visitor to Sorcerous Sundries to offload unwanted loot
Roach looted the Seven Suns while his companions dealt with doppelgangers. We'd spent a good hour or so in the city by now so headed out to Beregost because Sunny wanted to remove many scalps from his backpack. It felt opportune for Yeroc to return the dead cat he'd hoarded to the child near a waterfall, and then we made our way to Durlags Tower. Yeroc used two potions of mirror eyes to deal with basilisks and we looted the upper levels without descending into the depths
The Iron Throne HQ awaited us on our return. Yeroc asked if stealth was the order of the day but bash smash was Roach's plan. It went well although Sunny had to save against one spell
Candlekeep was easy pickings for us, with a thief and two heavy hitters. The hardest part was deciding who should have the tome of strength, until we insisted Sunny read it
We have returned to the city and dealt with Slythe to obtain his coronation invites. A few potions have been handed out for us to enjoy at said event, and it gives an excellent opportunity for us to fall at the first hurdle next time
postscript: Last time we lost the tome of bodily health due to multiplayer. This time Roach used the tome of intelligence before remembering Yeroc intended to dual to mage. Ah well, we may not get that far
@Gate70 There are loads of potions of genius in BG 2 and those easily shore up any INT deficiencies as far as scribing spells go so should be fine without the INT tome.
Comments
Silo - human illusionist (Grond0)
Corepally - human cavalier (Corey_Russell)
Buster - human monk (Gate70)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1222752/#Comment_1222752
We made our way through the remainder of the Cloakwood without trouble. Corepally commented at one point that he needn't have run from some ambushing wyverns, given his immunity to poison. He declined, though, when offered the opportunity to tackle wyverns in their home cave environment. On reaching the mine 3 oils of fiery burning were lobbed in simultaneously and accounted for both mages. Drasus and Genthore lasted a while after that, but without offering any real threat. Inside the mine we quickly made our way down to the bottom level. Silo disarmed most of the traps and Corepally used a potion of magic blocking to hunt Davaeorn down before he had finishing his teleporting.
In the City there was an early problem when we took on the ogre mage in the sewers. Buster and Silo were in the shadows going down, leaving Corepally as the target. His AC proved insufficient against the attack of the crawlers and he was held. Buster and Silo attempted to burn up the attackers, but 1 crawler remained alive. That proved crucial as it chased Silo away and Buster was unable to finish off the ogre mage before it could summon an ogrillon. By that time Corepally was down to 3 HPs and the ogrillon managed to remove those to notch up our first party death.
After a temple visit we took on Ramazith's tower. Corepally used the Greenstone Amulet there to avoid being held by the ghasts. Nearby, though, Corepally took further heavy damage from Drelik's magic missiles. He was forced into retreat, but still got the satisfaction of the kill by lobbing in a throwing dagger from distance.
Corepally had lost his magical axe when re-equipping after his earlier death and wanted to get a replacement from the Maulers of Undermountain. That proved somewhat more difficult than expected after Corepally was once more held at the start of the conflict. With innocents around and a paladin's sensitive reputation to uphold throwing explosions around was not a good option and Corepally became a victim once more. Silo and Buster did a good job though in taking out the opposition. They were helped in that by Gretek's strange obsession. Despite being in a fight for his life he seemed more interested in the dreadful service in the pub and chased after a waiter that had jostled him in the melee. It might be some small consolation for Gretek that he did manage to get his revenge on the waiter just before being shot down himself
While doing the poison quest we returned the body of Tremain's son and watched as he was resurrected. Unfortunately though the quest conversation became broken and we received no reward for our endeavours. Making up for that though we did manage to acquire Lothander's boots of speed by successfully blocking both staircases and disabling him with darts of stunning. Silo was pleased with how quickly he could now move around and fancied trying a bit of travel to wear them in properly. Corepally was less excited by the acquisition though and reminded Silo of the need to complete the poison quest. Buster was feeling excited himself about a new toy - in his case darts of stunning - and was given all our remaining stocks. He soon put them to good use to bring down Larze and kept them in hand when taking on Marek. The latter did manage to finish a confusion spell with affected Buster, but Buster continued attacks for a second or two and one of his darts took effect. Corepally came over to shrug off the remaining stack of darts and protect the wandering innocents.
There was more confusion in evidence when taking on Vay-ya. Corepally was protected by his amulet, but both Buster and Silo were confused this time. Fortunately Buster was in a corner away from any innocents and Corepally was able to stand by Silo and absorb his attacks while shooting down Vay-ya - once more successfully protecting our reputation. A nearby basilisk thought it might have got a reprieve when Silo looked in vain for any potions of mirror eyes. However, the potion bag was persuaded to disgorge a pair of invulnerability potions. As the saving throw bonus for those stacks, Corepally was able to push his petrification save into safe territory to pick off the basilisk.
The Iron Throne will be first on the list in the next session.
Thief 7 (Illusionist 7), 44 HPs, 63 kills
Cavalier 7, 85 HPs (inc. 5 from helm), 263 kills, 2 deaths
Monk 7, 59 HPs, 140 kills, 0 deaths
I have a solo cleric working their way through BG 1 but have a few questions:
1) I don't see a way to get the tomes from the Candlekeep crypts as I can only get 20 STR. Am I missing something?
2) How do I deal with Sarevok and Semaj since I can't dispel Sarevok's haste or Semaj's mirrors?
Corecleric XX has just made it past Sarevok and is in Irenicus' dungeon. No near misses, some updates of note:
1) Most of Corecleric's experience was from basilisks, sirines, and some ankhegs. For ankhegs, some skeletons and commands worked OK. For basilisks, needed to use green PfP since I didn't have any skeletons yet. So a lot of slinging...however with help of skeletons Mutamutin was defeated. Also recruited Korax to boost the skeletons attack plus silence and holds and the battle vs Kirian's group was decisive.
2) The BG 1 level cap was reached quickly which meant a huge amount of content was skipped, basically just the main quest and upgrades from herein out.
3) I managed to dominate Khosahnn which for sure made it a bit easier to clear the bandit camp. For Tazok's tent, used sanctuary, moved into corner, summoned 4 skeletons, buffed them and sent them in - victory!
4) Nearly the entire Cloakwood skipped. For Cloakwood area 2, used freedom of action potion and potion of invisibility to skip the area.
5) For Drassus, buffed skeletons and silence was enough to prevail. Then went down to lowest level. For battle horrors, most damage was dealt by wand of heavens. I tried to rest, but was ambushed. So decided to charm one of them and send them against Davaeorn as a distraction, then sling all the way - success!
6) Only a few upgrades gotten in the Big City. Used sanctuary to talk to Thaldhorn and get the notes. Then headed to the Crypts. I had no way to open the crypts so just skipped the entire crypts using invisibility ring.
7) Slythe had a lot of problems with my skeletons, so no problem there. Duchal palace was different as somehow most of my skeletons failed to get into the battle. Luckily spamming wand of heavens was just enough to keep Belt alive. Thieve's maze was skipped although skeleton warriors were destroyed. For magic missile trap used shield amulet to protect myself.
8) Undercity party - was difficult, but victory nevertheless.
9) Sarevok - was a difficult battle a ton of potions used of all kinds, magic shielding, blue potions and haste potions. It was hard as Tazok, Semaj, and Angelo all joined the fight. Even a battle horror was spawned. But one by one they were killed, mostly with haste/slinging/running and repeat. I had to go invisible a lot, so much so the invis ring poofed. But Sarevok eventually admitted defeat. Whew!
There's no way to dispel Sarevok's haste as a solo Cleric, but you can just wait out Semaj's (and Angelo's, for that matter) buffs invisibly.
For the final battle you can make things a bit easier by activating Sarevok from range (shoot him when just in sight and immediately withdraw. Come back gradually while invisible / sanctuaried until his conversation activates). That means you only face him and Semaj, but you do need to keep out of sight of the dais. If you want to make things really easy then there's a repeating lightning bolt trap on the left which can kill all of them (though Angelo is hard to hit and takes a while). Wearing the boots of grounding means any character can get victory for the price of a single green scroll (or in the case of a cleric for nothing as your own protection spell lasts a long time).
I am a halfling so don't get base 18 STR - I was only able to get to 20 STR using holy power and then DUHM. A PfM is not terribly useful for me as then I can't cast any spells...although final fight I didn't use spells really just a lot of slinging and gulping various potions.
So Corecleric made it out of Irenicus' dungeon OK. He did allow Imoen and Yoshimo to join but that was only because Corecleric didn't have any containers, so those two NPCs were Corecleric's containers. Yoshimo was booted once we sold the junk he was carrying and now Corecleric is solo once more. FIRST MAJOR PURCHASE: ring of air control. The improved invisibility was a huge help in ambushes, as Corecleric can go invisible, go to a corner, and summon and buff his skeletons plus make Corecleric immune to lightning. This enabled victory in all ambushes. I would probably have to run in ambushes without this item.
Some things accomplished:
1) Circus problem solved - no doubt on this since Corecleric used sanctuary, turn undead and true seeing.
2) Hendak freed. The mass of skeletons were very helpul as well as a greater command on the beast master.
3) Lilacor quest complete. Buffed skeletons carried the day once again.
4) Slavers in moored ship - this was considerably more difficult, but Corecleric prevailed once more. Corecleric used sword of flame (spell) to deal with trolls. Children freed.
5) Trademeet problem solved the cheesy way. That is, Corecleric used the invis potion at the High Merchant's office, and skipped everything in druid grove and let Cernd carry the day. A protection from petrification scroll plus skeletons allowed Corecleric to deal with genies. Shield of Harmony is a good upgrade.
6) Tarnor's group defeated. With sanctuary Corecleric sneaked up and told his buffed minions to take down Gaius. Corecleric used some hold persons and slinging but his minions couldn't quite finish the job so Corecleric had to run. However, resting then summoning a new batch of skeletons carried the day and also took down the Rakshashka and the kobold minions nearby.
Corecleric uses the belt of hill giant strength since otherwise he is so weak (17). Good thing as it was needed to loot Tarnor's goodies.
Will keep at it.
Silo - human thief (illusionist) (Grond0)
Corepally - human cavalier (Corey_Russell)
Buster - human monk (Gate70)
Previous updates:
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1222752/#Comment_1222752
https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/comment/1222857/#Comment_1222857
As has become something of an unfortunate habit in recent runs the start of the latest session could scarcely be distinguished from the finish as we made our way upstairs to confront the Iron Throne party. Corepally used a scroll of PfM and several potion buffs and would probably have been able to defeat the enemies on his own. Buster and Silo were keen though to demonstrate what they could do and joined in the attack once Corepally had engaged. Silo attempted a backstab on one of the clerics, but missed with that and withdrew out of sight to try and hide again. His attempt to disappear into the shadows failed though and the flame strike which followed him proved immediately fatal. Despite that being so early in the fight, Buster also managed to die before the death screen appeared thanks to both spell damage and a critical hit on him. We'll never know for sure, but I'd like to think that Corepally wreaked a terrible revenge in honor of his fallen comrades ...
Roach - halfling swashbuck;er (Gate70)
Yeroc V - human berserker (Corey_Russell)
Sunny - human sun soul monk (Grond0)
After our previous outing we rolled three new characters; Grond0 finishing first for once followed by Corey_Russell and some time later I finally selected a portrait and rolled a swashy
A quick trip around home led to our leaving under cover of darkness, only to run into an ambush where Gorion died saving us. We fled in a random direction, somehow ending up with Shoal the nereid. We had to kill her - it's turning out to be a big bad world outside the walls of Candlekeep
Roach led his companions from place to place, making sure to choose random paths so it would be difficult for anyone to follow us. We picked up some green ankheg armour so Yeroc could blend into the scenery, and then picked up some items of interest. A magical flail for Yeroc (in a cave guarded by Ursa the cave bear). Girdles of piercing and bluntness. A +2 dagger borrowed from a revenant. Rings of protection, two so far. Gauntlets of dexterity - not that any of us need them. Boots of stealth from a hobgoblin, and subsequently from Zhurlong (Grond0 has a real dislike of him). Greywolfs long sword
Finally we arrive at an ankheg nest, the three of us continuing a long-running debate about when is the right time to fight ankhegs. We'd obviously worked out Yeroc would want a magical shield - however Bjornin wanted no part in this and refused to acknowledge our dealing with his half-ogre infestation to the south south west. We were used to this behaviour though, having already had Ardrouine refuse to believe we had killed three wolves at the lighthouse. No doubt we'll later find Hulrik can't count the xvart bodies around his prize cow (should we even bother to try or will we get all these multiplayer count missions fail)
So Yeroc had no magical shield. Boo hoo. Roach reached out from the shadows and shoved his companion down into the nest. A few minutes we emerged almost unscathed but several potions of healing lighter. The nest was clear
Were we done for the day? Of course we were, having already dealt with Bassilus (dead) and Melicamp (alive). Returned Albert and Rufie to warmer climes. Killed a bear for Jared. Killed more bears - we seem to be fixated with them today. Returned a letter to Mirianne. A necklace to Mr Colquetle. A decomposing body to the Friendly Arm Inn temple - we would have made it in good time until Sunny casually reminded Roach not to sleep and then said we never visited Larswood (more fool Roach for not merely peeking in that direction but taking a 16 hour trip there and another 16 hours back to Samuel's chagrin)
A ring for Joia. A sword for Perdue. Letting Neera take the enemy fire while we picked them off. Mistaking Silke for a mage (Roach) and making amends by killing her as a bard (Yeroc)
It looks a lot, and with our party progress may continue to be rapid. Yeroc is considering when to dual-class, having initially considered thief or mage he can focus on the latter since Roach has skulduggery covered
Sunny meanwhile had stolen into the lead with party kills. His well-timed Sun Soulray ability has often claimed a kill, while his flaming fists ability has been the subject of much debate. Like "I can't hit anything with these flaming fists"
I enjoy arcanists, but keeping a pure Mage alive, especially throughout ToB, is a bit exhausting, as you're never more than one second and two rapid criticals/a single ADHW away from death.
This is true for any character to some extent, but even so I'd like a passive defense buffer: In this case, hitpoints!
Fighter/Mage is possible but it's a bit of a drag having to wait until 6M XP for 9th level spells.
I considered Dragon Disciple, but am also partial to the sense of progression you get from picking up rare spell scrolls and expanding your bag of tricks... so I went with a dual-class.
Starting: In BG1EE.
Difficulty: Insane with no level-dependent damage increase.
Mods: Full SCS 35.21.
Protagonist: Axis, Chaotic Good Human Berserker.
The intent here is not to maximize killing power (I think that's a bit of a moot point as a dual-class, since even if you go Kensai your THAC0 will eventually be subpar), but rather boosting passive defenses as far as they'll go for an almost pure arcanist.
Axis will principally be a Mage, but one that can lend a hand cleaning up scrubs, on great occasion (such as the final battle of ToB) physically brutalize enemies under Time Stop, and just be all-around very difficult to kill.
He will always be using a shield of some sort; I toyed with the idea of pure Fighter and going with either Shortbow or Crossbow, but ultimately went with Axe. His backup weapon will be Long Sword, since there are some nice ones that never see any use in my playthroughs, and also because of the level drain immunity from Angurvadal, which can be helpful during the Throne battle (other characters will need the Amulet of Power).
Axis will be travelling with the canon party: That means we will lack a Cleric for BG1, though the situation improves for SoD as I intend to replace wayward Imoen with Glint.
I am aiming to dual-class at L9: Standard choices are L2 (slight HP boost, armor/helmet/shield, eventual Grand Mastery in a weapon), L7 (+1/2 APR), L9 (max hit die) and L13 (+1/2 APR).
I'm tempted by L13, but that's a very long time without the fun Fighter abilities... so no.
L9 also means we have enough pips to reach Grand Mastery in both Axes and Long Swords before the Throne.
I doubt it'll matter, but I like the symmetry, and it also means we recover our Fighter abilities at the very end of SoD (Fighter 9 250k, Mage 10 250k), so are at peak power when beginning SoA.
Let's see how this goes.
Axis Is (?) Invincible: Part 1
Next part found here
Towards that end, we pick up Viconia, whose Commands allow us to easily take down Tarnesh.
Jaheira and Khalid join, and we make a quick detour north, where Viconia, under Sanctuary, helps us out by looting the Ankheg treasure hoard. Wand of Fire aquired (though we've no one that can use it yet).
Passing through Beregost, Viconia again spells the doom of the Red Wizard, and we swipe Neera's belongings; Neera also gets to help us out by identifying a few key items. We pick up a stack of Beruel's Retort, since I play with the component which replaces most magical weapons with non-magical fine ones (that are liable to break): Beruel's Retort can never break in melee, so Axis now has a magical +1 weapon.
There are still items we want to identify, so Neera tags along south; we gib some Flaming Fist Mercenaries accosting us, as we will have four characters that can wear heavy armor this go around.
Neira is Commanded, and we replace Neera with Minsc. Westward, ho!
We reach the Gnoll Fortress unimpeded by ambushes, and Gnoll and Hairtooth both succumb to Command.
Jaheira has to do the tanking for now, since she's the only one with the HP to survive a Halberd blow.
Still, with Ankheg plate she does a fine job, and we reach Dynaheir in one piece, replacing Viconia.
Party assembled, and we even got an Identify scroll as a random drop which Dynaheir successfully scribes.
We clear out a few simple things on our way back to civilization; Ingot the Gnoll to my delight drops a scroll of Web.
Minsc also drops, not so much to my delight.
Well, Dire Wolves are wonky in that they will often just start gunning for the character that last attacked them, ignoring whatever's in front of them. We rush back to Nashkel and get Minsc raised, of course.
Now we head back north: I want to unlock High Hedge's spell scrolls so Dynaheir can get some scribing in, but not without aquiring the 4k XP for clearing the Flesh Golems.
For this, we need magical ammunition, so head towards Ulgoth's Beard: On the way, we talk to Tenya, clear the Ankheg to the north of her hut, and deal with a Zombie infestation.
30 Arrows +2 should be sufficient for our needs.
Back in Beregost, we clear everything except Silke, then head to the Temple and dispatch the local Wolf Pack using our Wand of Fire: We got a number of additional spawns but were able to handle it sans deaths.
Flesh Golems are easy to hit, and once you've dragged the first one outside, you can safely take pot-shots at the second one while running around inside. The experience is welcome: Every frontliner is now at least L3, and so has a small HP buffer available.
I've run melee brute parties in BG1 before and it works fine once you get past the initial levels, but the front lines tend to become a bit crowded, so with this in mind Khalid will serve as archer this go-around.
He's actually the second-best archer in the game, since he can reach three pips in Longbow: Only Coran has him beat, owing to better Dexterity and being an Elf.
We head south, clearing out Dorn's ambush (no Bandit is a threat to Axis at this point), Greywolf, and then descend into the Mines.
The Kobold Chieftain goes hunting for us after a Fireball charge clears out his attendant Kobolds, but the Shaman stays put: We gleefully chop down the Chieftain, then carefully firebomb the Shaman from outside sight range until it drops.
Never underestimate the Shaman, as it has access to third level spells and a prediliction for casting Lightning Bolt.
A Fireball charge clears out the initial reinforcements and so Mulahey doesn't stand much of a chance.
We Charm Algernon and send him against Tranzig; Tranzig comes out on top, but his victory is short-lived (as is he).
Now with Algernon's Cloak available, we return to Nashkel: Mighty Oublek sacrifices himself, ensuring us a hefty 3k gold even as we avenge him against Nimbul.
Or at least we try to: Nimbul was targetting a moving Axis with Lance of Disruption. Enemies are special in that they are allowed to cast spells like Lance of Disruption, Lightning Bolt, Fireball etc. targetted at party members, but apparently when Nimbul twirled about on the spot, he somehow got caught in his own spell's area-of-effect.. and so effectively offs himself (and Rasaad, but who cares).
More XP is needed before the Bandit Camp. We clear out Jemby and her agitated boyfriend, some unruly Half-Ogres, a Hobgoblin bully, and then miraculously save Melicamp, though we don't get the reputation boost.
We also forge the Ankheg Plate: Eventually, I'm sure we'll want Minsc/Jaheira/Axis all in Full Plate, but for now Ankheg will do (and you can sell it for more than it costs to forge, anyway).
We could now afford to bribe reputation up to 17, and so start handing in quests: We do reach 20 quite quickly, and spend our meager remaining gold on some vital scrolls for Dynaheir.
Well then, now with Web available, let's be off towards the Bandit Camp.
We make a detour and pick up The One Gift Lost from the carnival (nearly bankrupting us), clear some bandits and Druids (both of whom are successfully interrupted), then get the lesser ambush.
Halacan is always interrupted in his initial casting, which I presume to be Sleep, by Molkar talking to the party, and so the former succumbs before doing anything of note.
Drakar soon joins Halacan on the ground, and then it's just clean-up of two melee brutes.
At the Bandit Camp, it's standard modus operandi: Settle in the south-east corner, alert the camp, then utilize Web/Entangle/Fireball. Works literally every time: The only real threat here is Venkt (often has Ice Lance / Horror / Slow available), so he should be prioritized once he appears.
Now, Imoen will be dualing: You need 85 Open Locks / 100 Find Traps to be able to solve everything in BG1, but with her initial skill point distribution, that means she needs Thief L7.
If you can settle for having to pop a Potion of Master Thievery (or with SCS, a Cat's Grace...) for the odd difficult lock, Thief L6 is sufficient and means she recovers her abilities much sooner, so we're aiming for that.
Imoen is nearing L6, so we head for Durlag's Tower: We leave as many enemies as possible alone, instead letting invisible Imoen disarm all the traps she can get at, delving all the way to the top of the tower and into the Warder level.
Good, this means all the more easily available XP that isn't locked behind nasty traps.
Traps disarmed, we retreat and head into Cloakwood.
A solitary Axis leads the charge into Centeol's lair under a Potion of Freedom and Fire immunity, and Minsc now has his (for most of the game) preferred weaponry.
Here, Imoen reaches Thief L6 as well and duals, so unfortunately we won't have her to open locks in the Cloakwood Mine.
Pushing deeper into the forest, we get the Amazon ambush.
That could've gone better.
So, the two Thieves here enjoy kamikaze runs: They'll use ranged weaponry to take down weak targets even when they themselves are being attacked in melee, and that's what happened here.
Dynaheir was weakened by several ranged hits, then finished off by a backstab. We should count ourselves lucky it wasn't a chunking critical.
We wreak our bloody vengeance and track all the way back to the FAI.
While in civilized lands, we also purchase the Battle Axe +1 for Axis from Feldepost's Inn. Perhaps a bit extravagant as he'll upgrade to the +2 version once we reach Baldur's Gate, but for now it's a small damage increase.
I had hoped we'd be able to re-activate Imoen's thieving abilities before delving into the Cloakwood Mine, so we head towards the partially detrapped Durlag's Tower, stopping by Mutamin's Garden on the way.
We barely need Korax at all, of course: Jaheira is using a Quarterstaff +3, Minsc has the Spider's Bane +2, and Axis is Axis, so we deal pretty serious damage pretty quickly.
The local adventuring party fares no better than Mutamin did, and we depart for the Tower, where a particularly nasty crit from Axis almost one-shots Kirinhale before she can engage in her usual teleporting shenanigans.
Greater Dopplegangers and Skeleton Warriors really can't put up much of a fight on their own, and we clear the whole de-trapped tower, but leave the Warder fight alone for now.
The experience still isn't enough, so we set about vacuuming the Sword Coast of encounters, starting with Bassilus.
At this point, we can just charge him: He never gets a spell off.
Likewise, Ankhegs are helpless before us; we head for the western seaboard in search of Sirines.
Droth is disposed of, Sirines are put to the sword (Axis is immune to their charms thanks to Enrage, and if Jaheira/Minsc get Dire Charmed, we just avoid them until it expires), and we grab the CON tome for Axis; of course he also got the previous tomes of CHA and WIS.
The Doomsayer is swiftly dismantled, Brage is returned to the Temple of Helm, and we proceed to clear all the little remaining encounters in the Cloud Peak mountains.
Not much to report really, we're a bit over-leveled by now so it all goes smoothly; we even nip in and deal with the Wolf of Ulcaster, which is no issue as long as you have several Remove/Resist Fear available and a way to counteract its Hold on-hit effect.
Eastern mountains next: A charmed Bentan charges headlong into a gaggle of Skeletons so that we may retrieve his Protection from Magic scroll, Meilum does not so voluntarily give up his bracers, the Revenant is just hacked to pieces, Narcillicus neglected to buff with Stoneskin, and Zordral just kind of dies.
Even the Red Wizards can't really do much: They summon a bunch of cannon fodder that we just sweep away with ease, and we now have The Victor available for interrupting spells.
We've now basically emptied the Sword Coast of encounters, but Imoen is still nowhere near Mage L7... pfeh.
Not much to do but charge bravely forward: Towards the Cloakwood yet again.
Some Bombardier Beetles successfully apply Deafness to both Rezdan and Kysus as the battle starts, greatly simplifying things;
Drasus and Genthore really aren't a threat at this point.
In the Mine proper, Imoen pops several Wand of Lightning charges from the side passage and successfully clear out nearly all of Hareishan's guards.
Hareishan herself is helpless against Axis' Enrage, though manages a Blindness before crumpling.
The only remaining threat before Davaeorn is Natasha, but with a few potions, Axis is nearly immune to all elemental damage... as Natasha discovers to her detriment.
OK, Davaeorn then. Same procedure as always: Someone goes ahead invisibly to trigger D's speech, Battle Horrors move in.
Once Battle Horrors are down, turn around and defeat five waves of guards from the entrance, then take your time dismanting D.
Though this time there's no need to try and wear D down with summons (we don't have many available so would have to spend some wand charges): Instead, Axis just engages D flat-out, trusting elemental resistances to keep him alive.
And they do! A nice, heroic victory.
There's only one lock down here you can't bash with 25 STR (Potion of Frost Giant Strength + Strength of Stone on Jaheira): A chest in D's lair containing the epic treasure that is a Wand of Fear.
Meh. I'll gladly let that get flooded... We depart for Baldur's Gate.
So, this should be quick and easy, and it is, for the most part.
I don't really remember what happened in Ramazith's Tower, but I think we were out of healing magic and didn't want to waste potions, so Axis lead the charge against Ramazith at about half HP. Still pulled off a comfortable win.
And that's the only remotely close call throughout the entire city... four warrior-types are too strong for BG1, you can bulldoze through just about any encounter.
We rest up, then climb the Iron Throne: As always, we sneak invisibly into the back chamber, and draw the two SCS-introduced Thieves first, as they start out hostile. They're soon overcome, and we turn our tender mercies on the real threat: Cloudwulfe and his cronies.
We just buff up and charge in, using a screen of Beetles.
Things turn hectic, but Axis is never in any real danger: Cloudwulfe did some good damage at range with melee assistance from Gardush, but that's about it.
Alright, Imoen regained her abilities a while ago, so Durlag's is now ripe for the taking.
We start by Charming Riggilo, who surprisingly survives several spells from the Ghost (we rectify this by gibbing Riggilo ourselves).
Again, the Ghost actually isn't that dangerous: At this point we can just mob him once he wastes his most potent spells.
Same goes for the Warders, really: Enraged Axis actually finishes Love on his own before the rest of the party mops up the other three, and we descend into the depths.
Never can Durlag's Tower go entirely smoothly though, as we run into some issues on the next level where we have to contend with an Islanne Doppleganger.
Jaheira is Confused, and Khalid... well, is literally boxed in.
SCS turns the Lesser Elementals from the summoning spells into their larger versions; I guess to make it more annoying to use them? Anyway, the Lesser Earth Elemental locks Khalid in place, and pummels him mercilessly.
I had to pop a Potion of Invisibility to keep him alive.
That's the only mishap for a while though; we descend further and uneventfully clear the entire level, including killing the Skeleton Archers from out of sight with Fireball so we can swipe their arrows.
They have a number of Arrows of Dispelling which are supremely useful for the fight against Sarevok, and in my install you can't buy these in any store, so it's worth the effort to get your hands on some.
We teleport onto the Chess board with everyone immune to lightning damage, firebomb the enemy pieces mercilessly, and pummel the King. Onward!
In comparison, the final level is easy-peasy: Just need some source of Free Action for the frontliners and healing potions, and you're golden.
We scurry away without engaging the Demon Knight, and that's Durlag's done as far as we're concerned.
Time for Balduran's Isle.
This is even easier than Durlag's. Aside from two fights in the entire quest chain (Karoug and Mendas), it's all melee brutes... and we're bigger brutes than them.
As for Karoug, enraged Axis baits out the Mage attendant's Remove Magic, which coincidentally fails to dispel anything, and then we just mob 'em all.
And yes, I remembered correctly: The Burning Earth +1 can hit Karoug.
It can in fact hit Loup Garou as well, as Mendas soon discovers... and with that, Balduran's Isle is completed.
Time to head for the end game: Off to Candlekeep.
I guess SCS enemies do what they can to stay relevant: They have literally no way of harming the protagonist, so they go for the easy mark with three Ice Lances. Eh, let them.
We raise Dynaheir and blitz our way through the crypts, with Imoen pulling off her first, best and almost certainly last backstab of the run.
Back in the city, we swiftly deal with Cythandria, Slythe and Krystin, and rescue Eltan. At the coronation, our trusty Beetles ensure there's no wayward Chaos on account of the Doppleganger Mage.
The Iron Throne party in the undercity is firebombed into oblivion, we successfully talk Tamoko down, and prepare for the final confrontation.
The four warrior-types get a Protection from Magic scroll (we've saved some Potions of Mind Focusing to force Minsc's INT up high enough that he can use scrolls...), potion buffs, then go to town while Imoen and Dynaheir hide invisibly in a corner under a Potion of Absorption to neutralize stray Lightning Bolts.
Khalid soon tags Sarevok with an Arrow of Dispelling, neutralizing the big guy as a threat, and we rapidly destroy the acolytes and their skeletal forms. On his own, Sarevok lasts about two rounds under withering ranged fire.
And that's all she wrote.
Having a pure-class Fighter as protagonist really makes an absurd difference: Axis is all but impossible to kill when properly prepared, deals serious reliable damage, and is difficult to even hit. This was one of the smoothest BG1 runs I've had for a long time: The only deaths, barring Minsc's single accident, were Dynaheir's.
Next up, Siege of Dragonspear.
Previous part found here
Next part found here
The rules are that I may freely use the items of the starting party to help clear the initial dungeon, though I may not strip them of any items. It's a bit of a moot point as I'll recruit (nearly) all of the initial party, but still, it keeps me from having a lot of gold available early on by selling gear.
We make liberal use of Dynaheir's Wand of Fear to dismantle the two Crusader groups on the first floor, and head downstairs.
Exceedingly careful resource allocation allows us to navigate the second level in comparative safety (Axis has to tank a few Wraiths to prevent us getting level drained), and Korlasz is shot until she surrenders.
I am allowed to spend any gold picked up from the dungeon itself at the Flaming Fist Healer, so grab a Potion of Persuasion to use when buying things in the city before leaving (as you're not allowed to rest before leaving.. I think, and therefore we cannot make use of the Friends ability of Brevlin's Quarterstaff as it doesn't start off charged), as well as some Restoration scrolls.
Once in the city, we set about clearing the quests: I don't know if SoD always just checks the protagonist's stats when deciding success/failure of stat checks, but Axis fails to get the nobles to incriminate themselves, and somehow looses one reputation point when defending himself (?) against Bartleby... annoying, that last one.
We sell off the items we gathered from Korlasz's dungeon, which lets us purchase the containers available here (very important to help with inventory congestion), two Gauntlets of Weapon Skill and a Potion of Magic Shielding, with a fair bit of gold left over. Off we go.
Minsc and Dynaheir are of course with us, as well as Glint.
We recruit Corwin and M'Khiin for now, and get started.
Tsolak is beaten into the ground, but I forget to pick up the Boot and a half of speed for later repair... dang it.
Returning to the camp, we get the Orcs vs Trolls ambush, and swiftly clear the underground cave with the help of the Suncatcher.
This we will never be able to do again, apparently, as Axis is too fugly to convince Takos to let us have one of his items. Double-dang it. Shouldnt've handed the quest in.
We enter the Repository of Undeath: Dynaheir provides Fireballs, Webs and Sunfires to thin the undead ranks when there's just too many of them, and we make excellent progress... though there's one little snafu.
A Skeletal Mage got a Stinking Cloud off, and 2/3rds of the party, including Axis, fails their save.
What's worse, Axis crumples almost right next to Minsc... who is Berserk at the moment.
If Minsc turns around and starts chopping at Axis, that's maybe 2 rounds at best he can survive.
I'm a bit desperate, so Glint chugs a Potion of Magic Shielding to ensure he stays conscious, takes up position next to Minsc, and just hopes he can survive the onslaught if Minsc bests his undead adversaries.. and if not, that he can survive the undead throng.
Fortunately, Axis recovers his senses the next round, but that was still a bit too close for comfort.
This was the only close call for now: We deal with the Coldhearth Lich, and annihilate the Crusaders at the bridge for their gear.
Now I indulge in a little reputation-manipulation.
Reputation is cheapest when going from 7 to 9: You get 2 reputation points for 500g.
Thanks to Bartleby, we are at 9 reputation: Recruiting Viconia temporarily drops that to 7.
500g gets us to 9, which again drops to 7 when we recruit Baeloth, so another 500g sees it back up to 9.
5200g now gets us all the way to 14 reputation, which catapults into 20 when M'Khiin, Baeloth and Viconia (we are about to recruit Jaheira after all so no longer need M'Khiin) leave us.
Hooray! We can now spend at our leisure, with maximum discount.
You can do something similar in BG1 with Viconia if you want; Baeloth can also be brought on there but only if the protagonist is high enough level, so it's more impactful in SoD.
This lets us pick up Mosela's Cudgel for Jaheira from Herod at 4k gold, which is quite nice (I do not allow stealing from stores as there's no chance of failure with high enough Pick Pockets).
We depart for the next chapter; the quest experience is enough to push Axis to Berserker L9, and he promptly duals.
We will now be significantly weakened for some time, but Jaheira helps make up for it; she's no powerhouse, but performs adequately with a decent club, and surprisingly, Beetles remain relatively competitive as summons throughout SoD since you get 2-3 of them per casting.
We'll keep Corwin around until we can pick up Khalid.
Lots of trash mobs are taken care of; there's a bit of a close call with the Greater Wyverns outside the Spider Cave, as they hit VERY hard and VERY often, though we just barely manage to keep Minsc in one piece.
The Spider Cave proper goes well (Free Action), Morentherene is daggered, and we push through the Bugbears into the temple proper.
The local Cultists are dealt with one room at a time, then Ziatar and her Mage bodyguards get to choke on a Cloudkill accompanied by some Skeleton Warriors: Ziatar takes two of them down while Corwin finishes her off at range.
The Neothelid makes a nuisance of itself, causing a fair bit of poison damage, but succumbs as soon as it pops up.
This time I'm a bit cautious around the Aerial Servants: We just drag them out of Akanna's room and slowly whittle them down at range, much safer than trying to best them in close combat.
Akanna herself is then swiftly defeated, and it's time for Darskhelin.
Not an entirely easy encounter, I'll admit. We're able to kill off Darskhelin fairly early, but the enemy Archer proves a real pain for Glint, not to mention the Mage that keeps popping irritating spells (not sure what disabled Minsc there, I think an initial Psionic Blast).
Then there's a bit of a snafu as we turn around to engage the Shadow Aspect: I accidentally let it spot us before we're done buffing, though thankfully we had Skeleton Warriors up and running.
I always forget between runs, but the damnable thing is nearly immune to Fire damage (90% resistance), so Dynaheir's Sunfires make little headway: Corwin eventually brings it low with a series of crits.
We return to Bridgefort, but Thirrim really doesn't have many good potions: We settle for a single Potion of Magic Shielding, and then have just enough cash left to purchase all the useful scrolls off of Belegarm.
With both Axis and Dynaheir now having updated spellbooks, Corwin is replaced by Khalid and we engage the Crusaders via frontal assault, though really we just let them stew in a double Cloudkill until they're all dead: Of course nearly all the Bridgefortians perished as well, as they kept running into the lethal vapors.
Khalid pops an Arrow of Dispelling at the Bridge Mage, and we're across scot-free. Hooray!
Now with access to Nazramu, we sell off a host of old crap, buy everything we need, and set about Dead Man's Pass.
This time I exercise the utmost care when dealing with the (second...) Spider Cave, as we trigger the Mimic with everyone except one Free Action'ed character invisible.
Other than that, the Pass is no real issue; we also clear that other little area the name of which escapes me, the one with the Greater Basilisk, and now it's onward to the Underground River, where we clear the south-western parts first.
Ferrusk is just bludgeoned to death, though you need to watch out here, as his Dark Treants/Shambling Mounds can really dish out large amounts of damage fast, and they're accompanied by webbing/unconsciousness-inducing Gargantuan Spiders... Free Action is highly recommended.
There's a spot of trouble as the Confusion trap in Kanaglym tags both Khalid and Minsc: I end up using a few Restoration scrolls to keep us from taking casualties.
Kherriun and her Necromancer cabal get Potion of Explosion'd into nothingness, and Zhaldroth has no recourse in the face of The Secret Revealed: Not that the Ring of Regeneration matters much at this stage, but the robe is nice.
We swing around and clear the north-western parts, without much issue.
Further into the complex, we buy a number of protection scrolls from Crusader Priest Polvi, then head up the elevator.
Skeleton Warriors last long enough, together with Jaheira's Fire Elemental, to allow us to swiftly escape after hurriedly looting Hephernaan's chambers (his Mages just aren't high enough level to survive three hasted warrior-types bashing them, even with Stoneskin/Mirror Image up).
On the way out, we clean house: A few Ice Storm from Dynaheir severely weakens the horde of Crusaders we first encounter, and then we just clear the rest out piece by piece, as the entire area didn't actually come after us instantly.
They're surprisingly weak: Even the Mages can't really hurt us as we just stomp through 'em.
Of course, we cleanse the River proper of Crusaders as well.
Alright, camp defense.
Trolls: Firebomb.
Wizards: Firebomb.
Paladins: Firebomb.
Grimgor: Attempt to Firebomb, get Khalid and Glint knocked out by Greater Command, have Axis do some tanking to literally keep them from exploding due to Grimgor closing to melee distance with Blade Barrier active, Grimgor eventually falls.
We rest up and head for Dragonspear Castle. As you noticed, Axis got a (final for SoD) level back there; his Fighter abilities are now back online.
This makes the Ashatiel fight a bit easier: Quaff a Potion of Magic Shielding and just kill her.
Good stuff!
Into Hell we go, and easily do we make it to the Hellevator, picking the Acid Tongue +3 as our reward from Thrix.
Everyone gets protection scrolls ensuring immunity to Cold (I don't think this is used here but not sure), Fire, Lightning and Poison (these are most definitely used).
Then its Free Action and Clarity, as well as any other potion buffs I've got lying around.
Right after wave #3 on the Hellevator, Axis pops Spell Immunity: Abjuration, and succeeds in baiting out Belhifet's only Dispel Magic.
With a serious amount of buffs up and three warriors pummelling him (plus Caelar), Belhifet just drops in no time flat: He doesn't even get to use Infernal Conveyance, and fails to do anything except reduce Khalid to 2/3rds HP.
Hooray!
I'm starting to get a better feel for SoD now, and it tends to go by quickly: I could probably speed it up quite a bit more if I wasn't so fixated on always looting everything and optimizing purchases, etc.
Really, all you need is some +3 weaponry/ammunition for the final fight, along with scrolls for immunity to Fire/Lightning/Poison, and some standard buff potions.. I suspect even just a few Giant Strength along with Heroism would do the job.
We go through the epilogue, though I am forced to reload since for some bizarre reason about half the items I wanted to import literally did not show up on the table in the Flaming Fist headquarters, even though they most certainly were in Axis' inventory before he got locked up: Putting them in the Bag of Holding allowed for bringing them along.
Axis escapes and is promptly captured again.
Axis enters Shadows of Amn with 500k experience (Berserker L9/Mage L10), his Fighter abilities active, and his Mage abilities ascendant.
Let's see if we can avoid the pitfalls of the last few runs (i.e., party member imprisonment by Lich before Freedom scrolls are available...).
To be continued! When next I get time to play.
So Corecleric made it through Chapter 3 OK - he is just about to enter Spellhold. Most major quest-lines complete, except Planar Sphere and Windspear Hills. He now has the flail of Easthaven and also Sling of Everaad. Sometimes he uses direct melee, sometimes minions with sling or spell support, sometimes firestorm, and sometimes Blade Barrier. His turn undead is strong enough to chunk most vampires which made Bodhi's lair pretty straight-forward. Will keep at it.
Roach - halfling swashbuck;er (Gate70)
Yeroc V - human berserker (Corey_Russell)
Sunny - human sun soul monk (Grond0)
Roach had one objective. Stay alive for 2-3 minutes and break our pattern of an early protagonist death. Job done
We'd cleared the ankheg nest last time so returned a body to farmer Brun then cleared a few remaining critters from his farmstead meaning Beregost smithy can forge several sets of armour for some other adventurers
We made our way to Gullykin and stole a sling +1. So now both Yeroc and Sunny have magical slings. Morvin and his cronies were in our way to the south, so we showed them the errors of their ways (such as antagonising a berserker). This went so well we decided to rest on their bodies only for a cleanup crew of kobolds to arrive. At this point Roach and Yeroc started to run but Sunny chose this moment to crash out of the multiplayer session and Roach had to drag him away instead
Once Grond0 had rejoined us it was time to hunt down Mutamin and his many basilisks. They were easy pickings after Yeroc used a green scroll to protect against petrification. We didn't have much planned for Kirians party so encouraged Yeroc to enrage. We had a snare laid (one of two worked) in case we needed to retreat but Kirian died quickly and Peter didn't last much longer. Lindin and Baerin are easy pickings on their own, meaning we got to loot their corpses shortly afterwards
Meilums bracers found their way to Sunny while Zal and Vax donated bracers of archery to Roach, and then it was time to head into Nashkel Mine. All very casual for us there with Yeroc taking lead, Roach clearing all traps and Sunny setting several enemies alight with flaming fists
Lamahla and her crew were oblivious of the traps Roach set (and that they both failed). Instead another berserker attack allowed us to eliminate them cleanly and yet more loot was stuffed into our backpacks. Back at Nashkel an assassin called Nimbul barely escaped a Flaming Fists death when Roach emerged from shadows for a swashbucklery non-backstab. Roach went into the store while his companions argued with Neira - as he joined them she cast hold person
Yeroc had already berserked but both Sunny and Roach were held. Roach may have been in the shadows but Neira attacked Sunny and hit him several times before Yeroc killed her. Sunny made a point of asking Yeroc why he was at melee range with his sling - Yeroc denied this initially and then realised he had indeed done this. He added that we should have let the berserker handle matters, at which point Sunny started with "but we're both..." and Roach interjected with "lunatics" only for Sunny to continue that he was trying to soft-soap with a logical answer of being weaker with ranged weapons
Beregost and Tranzig next. He almost died immediately, threatened us and then held on grimly for several rounds but not long enough to get to a lightning spell in the confined quarters. We'd picked up spiders near one of the other inns so took the largest body to the Friendly Arm Inn and finished our interest in that area
Roach made to go to Cloakwood, stared at his world map and realised the path was unknown so we visited the bandit camp instead. He helped out a bit in the exterior area but spent most of his time looting containers and bodies. Taurgosz Khosann put up a good fight but eventually relinquished his armour. Sunny and Yeroc waited outside the main tent, then two of us sneaked in and awaited our berserker
The mage inside, Venkt, cast mirror image but a snare had already slightly injured him. Roach missed with an arrow but Yeroc clubbed him with a flail and down he went. Yeroc had two enemies on him but Roach swung his shortbow in Hakt's direction to assist Sunny next. A single missile caught the hobgoblin in the back followed by a monkly foot in his face. Now there were two. A sun soulray accounted for Raemon and Britik got another of the same. More loot
Roach was carrying a lot of loot but saw his companions were less burdened, so he skipped a storesale and headed straight to Cloakwood. Yeroc took care of a dryad but declined the offer to visit a wyvern nest - a lack of antidotes apparently. Roach was somewhat disappointed and decides we can always deal with them on the way back...
Drasus has three buddies guarding Cloakwood mine. We have three oils of fiery burning. That removes both mages and wounds the fighters sufficiently for us to overwhelm them easily. We make our way into the mine until we pass Yeslick. Yeroc and Sunny wait at this point so Roach can unlock the door and sneak to the next level. He's given Yeroc a few buffing potions, as we have run out of healing potions. Yeroc decides he wants to wait for the final level of the mine before using them so down we go
Yeroc manages to clear the penultimate level without taking much further injury, and we picked up a healing potion or two. Roach fishes in his container again and finds a few potions for Sunny. This mainly because Roach had no healing abilities left and Sunny was half-dead after (pointed out by Yeroc - touche) attacking at melee range with his sling. This gave Sunny a clue as to why he'd underdamaged and taken hits
The final guard before Davaeorn doesn't know what hits him, Roach clears the traps, and Davaeorn manages two teleports away but perishes as his third teleport commences. Roach starts to clear the area of valuables while Yeroc deals with the remaining mustard jelly
Baldur's Gate awaited us, with gnomely Quayle suffering a monkly death. Once inside the city walls we picked up a tome of dexterity, cleared the four mages from Sorcerous Sundries and sold many many items. We stepped outside, with a berserk left to start us next time in the sewers against an ogre mage
Roach belatedly realises we forgot to sort the wyvern cave
With the session ended there was time for a quick banter about the ring of folly one of the mages had
I said the usual use was to give it to Edwin before booting him from a party (usually the one from Mad Arcand)
Corey_Russell said he never used Edwin
Grond0 said he was a good mage
Corey_Russell insisted his poor dexterity meant had a poor armour class and died lots
Grond0 said don't have him in the front line
Corey_Russell said he still died in ambushes
I said have him in the middle of the party
Grond0 said he had decent hit points anyway
I said Davaeorns robe or bracers solved any armour issues
Corey_Russell said he found Minsc and Dynaheir more useful
We agreed to disagree, possibly
Yeroc has just taken the lead in kills from Sunny, with dual wielding and boots of speed helping. Roach is some way behind and likely to see the gap grow but he's quite happy to let his party bear the brunt of combat
Previous part found here
Irenicus' dungeon is no issue thanks to careful spell allocation in conjunction with Axis' absurd martial prowess, and we are off and out: Anomen and Jan are both immediately picked up, and we have our party, sans Imoen.
Starting at 500k experience means we are so powerful we typically don't bother with travelling invisibly: We can just best any ambush by brute force.
I'll refrain from selling most items (exception being non-magical, non-fine weaponry) until the Sauhaugin Temple, instead relying on the pure cash rewards for purchasing power, the first 5k of which goes towards a magical license.
We clear the circus without issue, but then encounter the first of several mistakes this run as we go after Mencar.
I somehow managed to set seven traps where they did little to no damage (two hit Mencar, one Smaeluv, though we did accidentally knock off Amon).
Brennan escapes and takes his ring with him, Smaeluv comes close to chunking Jaheira, and we even lose out on the experience for Mencar. Not a great start.
Next, the Copper Coronet, where as always we buy the Scroll Case off Bernard first thing, as it's only available as long as Lehtinan is in charge.
Here at least nothing untoward occurs, nor do we face difficulties clearing the Slaver ship.
As we travel further, we save a Harper, with Prebek and Sanasha both failing their save against Jan's Chaos.
While here, we also take out Officer Dirth for his Full Plate Armor (Jaheira waits outside so as not to trigger the Baron Ployer plotline yet).
With Anomen, Jan and (for now Yoshimo, but later) Imoen all ranged combatants, I'd like to reduce the stress of handling ammunition, so we depart from Watcher's Keep to pick up the Quiver/Case of Plenty.
The Trolls to the south are cleared out: We use Chaotic Commands and Protection from Fire (to ward against Greater Command and Flamestrike from the Spirit/Spectral Trolls), but unfortunately get Vampiric Wraiths in the main hall, and so have to break off and prepare buffs specifically to counter them.
Not so bad really: We just go with a full set of clerical buffs along with Improved Invisibility and Negative Plane Protection.
Now we have a good amount of pure cash available, so bribe our reputation up to 17, which quickly turns into 19 as we've left reputation rewards until now: Amnian Guard outside the circus +1, give Slave Girl inside the Slaver Ship 100g +1, turning in the Slaver quest to Hendak +1, though we failed to get the last point since I'm using the SCS component which reduces reputation gain to 1/4 normal rate.
So, I'd like to avoid selling, as said; we need a main quest with a big cash reward, since in addition to Gaelan's fee there are things we want to buy in the Underdark.
Trademeet fits the bill: The pure quest cash available alone is roughly 20k, it gets us a magical Club and Scimitar for Jaheira, and it's not so difficult... barring Ihtafeer. Off we go.
I forgot to visit the north gate here; the guards have a good chance of dropping fairly nice arcane scrolls, so I usually let the attacking animals kill them (the former keep using their bows even when attacked in melee and so typically lose the contest).
We proceed to the Druid Grove: Again, Chaotic Commands and Protection from Fire along with some basic clerical buffs let us proceed at rapid pace.
The Spiders are just firebombed, the Greater Earth Elemental is kited and Magic Missile'd, and we gleefully let the Trolls kill the Shadow Druid and his pet Mage.
Kylan Lind and cronies get Skeleton Warriors and a Cloudkill, as do the masses of Spore Colonies on the bridge to the east.
We clear everything up to Dalok and his hang-arounds, and here I spot another small mistake: The Burning Earth +1 (which I imported) has turned into Flametongue +1, and apparently it is strictly forbidden that two such blades should exist... so the Adherent just has a non-magical Scimitar. Drat.
Alright, just Ihtafeer to go.
Buff and charge!
... This encounter is not level-appropriate.
So, Rakshasas are quite nasty: They do deal pretty low melee damage, but they've got high APR, excellent THAC0, excellent armor class, require magical weaponry to hit, have enormous amounts of Mirror Image/Stoneskin/Protection from Magical Weapons available, and are essentially immune to magic (I forget if its L8 or L9 spells you need to hit them).
We've got no option but to keep wailing away while Ihtafeer and her two friends just unload all sorts of nasty Evocations on us, including Web and Stinking Cloud, interspersed with highly successful Remove Magic casts.
Honestly a little surprised we came out on top...
Still, we won: I let Cernd handle Faldorn, though this was another small mistake. The experience we can probably live without, but you also lose out on a magical staff.
There was no reason not to just buff Jaheira thoroughly and let her handle it: Cast Improved Invisibility on Jaheira, and Faldorn has to waste her first action on True Sight, which gives Jaheira time to get Insect Plague off, and then it's over.
What's done is done, so we return to Trademeet, where a Potion of Master Thievery allows Jan's successful swiping of the Efreeti bottle off the Djinn outside the tent.
We are awarded a fairly massive sum of gold, then opt to kill the local nobles: There's a reputation +1 in it for you if you give the Mantle to Lord Logan, but I wanted the Elven Chainmail which the male noble drops for Axis.
This is a fairly decent piece of spellblade armor, and it stacks with magical protection items too: It is now Axis' standard protection, since I don't want to invest in a Robe of the Good Archmagi yet.
Alright, I figure we'll do a few more little chores, mainly just clearing the Graveyard, then be off: We've got about 12k in pure cash once we pay Gaelan, and that along with selling a bundle of gems and unique magical items to the fish-folk should let us grab the important Underdark items. Let's just quickly solve the kidnappings.
... That's the biggest goof to date.
So what happened was that Camitis and what's-his-face ran outside after killing the fellow in red.
We followed, attacked them, they turned hostile, so the boy ran inside their hideout to flee from combat.
Once we entered, I had Jan unlock and loot the chest, not noticing the boy wandering around.
The boy alerts the guards, but also goes hostile!
This is a really weird BG2EE behavior, but I'm aware of it; I should've just left the chest alone.
Anyway, I start moving the party to flee the area, but AI is active... and one shot is all it takes.
That's a massive amount of cash spent on bribes gone for no good reason.
We bribe reputation back up to 17: I intend to buy enough that it's just barely worth it when you run the numbers (and you need reputation >= 10, else Anomen will fail his trial).
At least there are no issues clearing out the Graveyard; a Skeleton drops a Laeral's Tears necklace, which half-and-half makes up for the previous disaster.
We also deal with Baron Ployer while at it, and clear the Pirates out of the Sea's Bounty (they had something like 1200 gold in cash, not bad).
Now it's time to advance the plot, though I notice we have far overshot my intended experience: I typically want to be way south of the 1 million mark when reaching the Spellhold Maze.
I can't actually remember what the cutoff is, but Spellhold Irenicus becomes much tougher at a certain level of experience (and I think you can actually avoid having to fight a Lich in the Spellhold Library if you're low enough level).
We'll have to deal with both of these difficulties now, unfortunately.
Of course, by now off-the-shelf Vampires aren't much of a threat.
Jan gets a visit from one of many cousins as we head back to the surface for a breather before facing Bodhi, but his personal quest isn't that involved, so we knock it off right quick; Anomen also passed his trial around here.
Remains only to tackle Tanova and then play hide-and-seek with Bodhi.
I think Axis might actually be invincible.
That's an Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting he literally just shrugs off.
Tanova soon crumples, and Bodhi just stops trying once she's chased Minsc under an Oil of Speed around for a few turns.
We arrive in Brynnlaw and deal with the Courtesan's guild, fully buffed Axis and Jaheira handling Vadek.
We also knock off Perth.
He's got oodles of protection but crucially has no recourse in the face of poison damage: Since he follows you outside if he spots you and starts to cast a spell at you, we just lead him into a bunch of Yoshimo's traps, and he succumbs while dealing with some Skeleton Warriors off-screen.
In a rare stroke of good fortune, we get the Spell Turning page in the Book of Many Spells.
Excellent, that'll save an L7 slot.
The ward stone lets us pass the bridge, we are incapacitated (Axis yielding a point of Wisdom), and dumped into the Spellhold Maze essentially naked, where of course we pick up Imoen.
Now, let us make our way out of here.
I hate the Ruhk; that was a 2x Snilloc's Snowball Swarm Minor Sequencer it saved for the very last.
Good thing Axis has such absurd hitpoints, as he came perilously close to dropping there.
Still, we come out on top, and I prepare for these eventualities: Anomen has a Wondrous Recall available, so can Raise Jaheira promptly.
An Aerial Servant clears out the Yuan-Ti, Anomen has a few Spiritual Hammers so can dismantle the Clay Golem (of course, a single Remove Curse was also prepared to deal with the Cursed Wounds), and we head south.
Yeah, we're getting a Lich in the library.
It's not the most absurd list of pre-buffs I've ever seen (no Spell Trap, at least), but really, we've no realistic way of hurting it, beyond waiting for it to run out of Protection from Magical Weapons.
Fortunately, this particular Lich is a homebody: It typically won't leave the library, so we can draw away its substantial group of bodyguards and slowly dismantle them first.
We send what summons we have at the Lich, it easily disposes of them, and finally we charge.
There were several Alteration spells it tried to cast but which were interrupted, so I imagine it had at least two Time Stop memorized: We kind of lucked out with interrupts here.
The rest of the level goes smoothly: Traps and Chaotic Commands to deal with the lone Mind Flayer, Skeleton Warriors to handle the Beholder, and just brute force for the rest; we enter the third level.
The Yuan-Ti Mage here has summoned a Greater Air Elemental, so we head down the western path first while waiting for it to expire.
Once we double back, an Aerial Servant works wonders, together with a Chaos from Jan tagging the Yuan-Ti Mage.
We buff up (crucially, Protection from Lightning), and engage the Noble Djinni... which this time dies within a round.
Nice!
Next, the Ulitharid.
Not so nice.
Jaheira is just prone to dying.
Good thing we rested before entering this level; Anomen once again has to raise her.
The Spirit Troll is actually quite dangerous, though that's in part because we had almost no buffs left; you should at least have Chaotic Commands up to prevent Greater Command from turning things sour.
OK, we are freed by the Arbiter and make preparations.
I am ultra-cheap, so this time we'll kill Lonk the Sane (normally, I bribe him with 2k).
Unfortunately, Axis is the only one that has Secret Word available, and I need the two I have for Irenicus, so we have to hack our way through Lonk's protections (once his Mantle expires).
We teleport down to Irenicus with a number of buffs having expired, and Minsc with his dispelled.
Alright, so there's two ways to do this: The clever way and the stupid way, and we're pretty stupid alright.
The clever way is just swarming Irenicus first thing, as he will cast the Clone spell: If you can hurt him badly enough you can essentially bypass the fight.
That may or may not have been intentional, but it really seems like a Mage of Irenicus' caliber would at the least always keep Stoneskin up... so we back off while he casts the Clone spell and then pops his defenses.
The clones, at least, come in unbuffed, so we tag them with Insect Plague and Chaos off the bat, then set about destroying them.
The reason for this is that Irenicus has Spell Trap up: We do not have Ruby Ray of Reversal available (we can't even cast L7 spells yet, and even if we did, that scroll, barring a really lucky random drop, just isn't available at this point), so there's no way for us to get past that: We have to wait out his protections.
I thought he was supposed to pull his punches during this fight.
OK, so a long-standing bug is that a Planetar/Dark Planetar applies its Blade Barrier twice per round owing to its innate haste-effect.
Which means, anyone without Stoneskin/Ironskin that gets close basically explodes, and even if you've got the former spells up, they'll drop very quickly (not to mention the damn thing has a vorpal weapon); we've no hope of tanking it, and we've no hope of killing it, so all we can do is try to avoid it.
The Dark Planetar homes in on Minsc, but he (using the Boots of Speed we got in the maze) somehow manages to shake it off so it instead turns on the crazies; no time to rest though, Irenicus is going all-out on the HLA's.
It's just all-around bad news.
Axis can't escape it since he's targetted; all our buffs are dispelled thanks to the Dark Planetar, and we've got no potions available beyond a single Potion of Invulnerability (nothing to help with Fire resistance).
There's only a few seconds left before it hits, so we can't get a Protection from Fire off the ground in time: Axis is still likely to survive the blast, but on a failed save, even Anomen is going to die to that.
I shuffle party members around, desperately trying to disentangle Axis from the throng in time.
Yeah, I think it's over.
The game agrees: It crashed right after this screenshot.
I contemplated replaying the fight, but there's no way we were getting out of that alive: The Dark Planetar was one round away from exploding Minsc, Imoen was a single Melf's Minute Meteor from croaking, and mighty as he was, even Axis could not take on a Dark Planetar along with Irenicus when at 2/3 HP with no buffs available and using only Asylum equipment.
Oh, and even if we did somehow come out on top, Jaheira would still be chunked (and likely Minsc too).
Still funny that Axis remains invincible even in defeat: He took a Dragon's Breath and is still standing.
So I went back and checked some chapter-start saves: There's a whooping 400k (per character!) experience available between paying off Gaelan Bayle and fighting Irenicus in Spellhold.
I think the key if you want to do this fight fair and square is to abscond for Spellhold basically immediately once you have the funds; even then, if you come in at 500k, you'll just barely squeek by, since there will inevitably be some experience aquired while attaining the funds.
This assuming I remember correctly and the cutoff is 1 million experience.
If Irenicus is always like this under SCS insane, I don't really know how to handle it if you want to refrain from attacking while he's casting the Clone spell.
Some thoughts (all of which assume the item removal in Spellhold component is also installed):
I'll think on how to handle this.
Roach - halfling swashbuck;er (Gate70)
Yeroc V - human berserker (Corey_Russell)
Sunny - human sun soul monk (Grond0)
Roach still had one objective; stay alive for the first minute or two. He duly achieved this but no cub/scout badge of survive beyond the opening credits
As you may recall we were camped outside the Sorcerous Sundries next to a grate. Roach and Sunny managed to align their shadowiness while Yeroc had berserked. We dropped into the sewer and dealt with the ogre mage and his carrion crawlers. After emerging triumphantly we returned to pick up a body for Arkion the mage. He wanted us to deal with Nemphre and both failed to survive their first minute or two
Near to Nemphre were Taxek and Michael busy looting a house. That's our job, so we killed them
We continued through the city, killing Desreta and Vay-ya; Sunny swapping to gauntlets of ogre strength meaning Roach was handed down gauntlets of weapon expertise. Yeroc guzzled a potion to guarantee three rounds of successful saving throws and used this certainty to bash a greater basilisk out of a warehouse
Marek and Lothander were next on our list. Part way through dealing with them Roach decided to make a snack. Opening his recipe book he selected the two vital ingredients. A potion of explosions and twenty rabid chickens. Tasty. Back to Lothander - stunned by a dart and relieved of his boots. We were now fast (Yeroc) and faster (Sunny). Larze the ogre failed to outlast a dart of stunning, then Marek was also stunned
At this point we picked up the cloak of Balduran, helm of Balduran, relieved Ramazith of his ring of protection +2, and many other helpful items. Yeroc noticed the trend and asked if Roach got a discount for being a frequent visitor to Sorcerous Sundries to offload unwanted loot
Roach looted the Seven Suns while his companions dealt with doppelgangers. We'd spent a good hour or so in the city by now so headed out to Beregost because Sunny wanted to remove many scalps from his backpack. It felt opportune for Yeroc to return the dead cat he'd hoarded to the child near a waterfall, and then we made our way to Durlags Tower. Yeroc used two potions of mirror eyes to deal with basilisks and we looted the upper levels without descending into the depths
The Iron Throne HQ awaited us on our return. Yeroc asked if stealth was the order of the day but bash smash was Roach's plan. It went well although Sunny had to save against one spell
Candlekeep was easy pickings for us, with a thief and two heavy hitters. The hardest part was deciding who should have the tome of strength, until we insisted Sunny read it
We have returned to the city and dealt with Slythe to obtain his coronation invites. A few potions have been handed out for us to enjoy at said event, and it gives an excellent opportunity for us to fall at the first hurdle next time
postscript: Last time we lost the tome of bodily health due to multiplayer. This time Roach used the tome of intelligence before remembering Yeroc intended to dual to mage. Ah well, we may not get that far