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New challenge-escape from Candlekeep

Okay I was doing fine on insane difficulty, minimal reload game. (Load only if the pc is dead) Battle atop the Iron Throne was immense, my party was slaughtered with only my pc wild mage and a confused Minsc remaining, luckily a web spell stopped the enemies while Minsc cut them all up with Spiderbane sword.

Anyway onto Candlekeep. At this point my pc was lvl 7 and my party was very well equipped. Full plate mail, amkheg plate, spidersbane+2, varscona+2, longbow+2, shortbow+2, staff+3, about 20 oil of speed (bought from Baldurs Gate) 50 potions og healing, various strength potions, 3 fire wands, 2 stun wands, all other wands, huge collection of all protection scrolls etc. Etc. In short I had the best items the game had to offer.

I wanted to make the escape from Candlekeep catacombs memorable. Fighting dopplegangers did not sound exciting with all the power my party had. So I dropped all of my party's cool items on to the ground in central library. So I assumed that they were stripped off their items when they were 'arrested'. Did some dice rolling for normal items, and kept them, these were the mundane items Tehtoril could scavenge when he came to rescue the party. So longsword, shortbow, composite bow, hammer, darts and three leather armors. Also got caught by the watchers straling stuff so to 'lose' all the gp. Result was all of the game's best loot was lost to me forever and I need to get out of the catacombs.

The various scrolls in the entrance library area of the catacombs were very important now. I wanted to loot the tombs but Immy got zapped by a lightning to death so I only could get the tome there and exited the area. My only other thief Coran had no trap handling skills.

In the next area, avoided all other disguised dopplegangers and went for the Elminster-Gorion. Oh boy. That was a fight. Used monster summoning and animate dead from Quayle to distract them and attack with what ranged weaponry my party had. Had to fight tooth and nail, and when a swarm of skeletons rushed to join the battle it became too ugly. Quayle used his invisibility and went to turn the skeletons away, my Pc got mirror imaged while Coran and Minsc got badly wounded by the archer skeletons. Skeletons got turned, but greater doppleganger scored a nasty critical (no helmets!) on an already badly wounded Coran-chunking him. Quayle casted wraithform and went to tank them, but to my suprise he got owned by one hit doing 24damage-he exactly had 24 hp. Again it was only down to my Pc and Minsc! Doing some kiting and spells we killed the last dopplegangers. Then my pc used his last invisibility on himself and Minsc used stealth so we avoided all the other dopplegangers waiting there and headed for the exit to next lvl.

I am scared to death to face Prat's party and will likely stealth pass them. Whereas normally I would squish them quick. Coran is gone forever (so sad) but I can raise Imoen and Quayle IF I manage to escape the catacombs AND raise enough money for the spells, somehow. (Got some nice jewelry and scrolls from the catacombs)

Then I will have to do some scavenging to get reasonable equipment. I need to get the various +1 equipment I've sold to the vendors in the past. Haven't finished Durlag's yet, so I have good excuse to go treasure hunting there too. Will be rough, difficult and exciting, as if starting from scratch, kinda.

What do you think about this challenge? Sure it is very sadistic, very hardcore and not for everyone, but suddenly my game became a lot more imteresting! Catacombs would have been a breeze with all of my items, but it turned out to be a nightmarish escape for survival! I enjoyed it and look forward to the rest of the game, I need to find reasonably fine equipment to challenge Sarevok.
GrandeCEudaemoniumBugratrdarkenjscohenAlderic

Comments

  • EudaemoniumEudaemonium Member Posts: 3,199
    edited January 2013
    This is not something I would do myself, but it is F****** EPIC!

    I should probably point out that I ended up reading your post while listening to 'United We Stand, Divided we Fall' by Two Steps From Hell, which made the tale of Coran's death and Quayle's valiant but vain efforts so much more incredible.

    Maybe I'll do it on, like, a much further playthrough when I can actually play the game well.
    lunar
  • BugratBugrat Member Posts: 118
    That is a cool way to increase the tension of what is normally a pretty easy dungeon crawl. I couldn't do it on Insane because I'm too much of a wimp, but a toned down version of the challenge (core rules, get items back afterwards) would appeal to me. Kind of like the BG2 mod that
    takes away all your items for the Spellhold dungeon but gives them back afterwards.

    That mod is one of my favorites, and if there was a similar mod for Candlekeep catacombs I would totally try it out.

    Losing all of your items is interesting, but I can't imagine Ulraunt would hold onto them after you prove your innocence later on.
    lunarAlderic
  • lDanielHolmlDanielHolm Member Posts: 225
    Ah, but you don't face Ulraunt again. Still, Tethtoril might be able to arrange for your party's gear to be left outside Candlekeep's walls for your exit from the catacombs.

    It's interesting, that's for sure. I couldn't do it, though... at least not without a mod that would give the items back afterwards. Then again, I rarely even play minimal-reload games.
    lunar
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    Aww thanks for the nice comments!
    Bugrat said:

    That is a cool way to increase the tension of what is normally a pretty easy dungeon crawl. I couldn't do it on Insane because I'm too much of a wimp, but a toned down version of the challenge (core rules, get items back afterwards) would appeal to me. Kind of like the BG2 mod that

    takes away all your items for the Spellhold dungeon but gives them back afterwards.

    That mod is one of my favorites, and if there was a similar mod for Candlekeep catacombs I would totally try it out.

    Losing all of your items is interesting, but I can't imagine Ulraunt would hold onto them after you prove your innocence later on.
    That mod was my inspiration for doing this challenge. I just thought that the party's magical items were donated to the keep and sold off. So Tethoril could only gather up some mundane equipment for the party to escape. I know that mod gives you your stuff back when you finish the dungeon, but this adds more difficulty.

    I can just picture in my mind, my poor pc fleeing the catacombs beneath his home, wounded, rugged, traumatised (learned he was a bhaalspawn, found all the people from his childhood possibly eaten by dopplegangers, his friends killed off and he is a wanted criminal sentenced to death for a crime he did not even commit! Woah, tough day.) He is scared, with only his clothes on his back. Even in a worse state than when he first left with Gorion. Kinda symbolic like a second, new beginning. Like a new birth of sorts. Also I can picture a confused but still cheerful Minsc carrying Imoen's and Quayle's corpses on his back. Heh. Nice picture ^^
    EudaemoniumBugrat
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