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The (no-reload) exploits of Amend of Candlekeep, Bounty and Treasure Hunter, and Company

Having completed BGI with my good archer on SCS, I want to have 2 other charnames ready for SoA. I have not played much of SoA for many years and want to run through 1 time on vanilla to refresh my metagame memory before starting my archer through on SCS. I also want to play each alignment and each type of class (rogue, fighter, divine caster, arcane caster). I have a good fighter (archer) ready to go, but alas my bard has died, my druid has died (3 times now), and my sorceror has died. My thief, however, has performed admirably through the early and mid portions of BGI, and so this journal will detail his exploits through the Sword Coast.

Meet the protagonist, Amend of Candlekeep, ward and foster-child of the sage Gorion as he appears now (just took the screenshot), in the city of Baldur´s Gate.

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Amend was raised in shelter and seclusion in Candlekeep under the tutelage of Gorion, a sage and spellcaster of some merit. From Gorion, Amend learned the importance of honoring one´s word and responsibility. A man´s word is his bond and fidelity to promises is the measure of any man.

Amend also learned something else, that Gorion never mentioned; everyone who visited Candlekeep was rich. Scholars, foppish dandies, petty nobles, powerful wizards, they all had one thing in common: money. The guards, many of whom were Aurorus´ friends, such as Hall, were poor. They drank too much, gambled, and engaged in other sorts of silly behavior to escape the reality that they were nothing more than servants and bodyguards, whose lives were forfeit if necessary, to protect their betters: everyone with money. If his word was the measure of a man, money was the measure of all other things. Everything could be had with money: women, power, pleasure, freedom from want, security, comfort. It was the fruit of labors and struggles: the measure of a man´s success against the adversities world.

He learned these lessons rather late, however, having frittered away most of his youth on frivolous activities: drinking and gambling with Hull, sneaking around the keep and pilfering little things for fun with his childhood friend Imoen, and so forth. The only real skills he possessed were a passable ability with a bow and a sword that he learned from Hull and the skills he developed with Imoen. He was possessed of an innate intelligence, however, and had a keen mind for mechanical things, dabbling with the creation of small traps and the like, capturing and killing squirrels and rats inside the keep.

So when Gorion told him that they would have to leave Candlekeep immediately because of a growing danger there and 2 assassins tried to kill him, Aurorus understood immediately what was at stake: his life. This would be a battle for his life, and it was time to put away childhood things, become a man, and use what little skills he had to survive and prosper in a harsh world.
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Comments

  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    Cool, I've already taken a liking to Amend :)
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    Wow hard luck with Shar-Teel there... Have you already dualled Imoen? Would you consider recruiting another thief? Monty, Safana?
  • AurorusAurorus Member Posts: 201
    Yeah Imoen had just dualled... good thing too... as it turns out... but that is for later in the story. She has really shined on this playthrough and is probably the MVPNPC this time around. Shar-Teel was the first NPC to be permanently killed (but not the last... lol).
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    OK I understand now why it was a good thing you dualled Immy.
    Will Amend now focus on traps? Or will you ignore traps / prepare against them with Mirror Images and potions?
  • AurorusAurorus Member Posts: 201

    OK I understand now why it was a good thing you dualled Immy.

    No... you reallly don´t... but you will as I continue the story... lol. Let´s just put it this way... I tried those 4 warders again in Durlag´s Tower.

  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    Aurorus said:

    OK I understand now why it was a good thing you dualled Immy.

    No... you reallly don´t... but you will as I continue the story... lol. Let´s just put it this way... I tried those 4 warders again in Durlag´s Tower.

    Oops, I thought you referred to Imoen's Color Spray on three of your (charmed) party members.... Ok, I'll wait and see :)

    I've just done a new install with less mods after my game crashed a few days ago, so I can start a new game again. I won't be playing with my old saves (because of a different mod setup), but I do have the CHR-files. Time to roll...
  • AurorusAurorus Member Posts: 201
    Tracking the Quarry Part 2

    After 3 weeks of searching the whole of the Sword Coast, the company finally found Brage, just south of an archeological expedition (which had unearthed an ancient icon, which Amend took and then had to defend against some doomsaying creature seeking the icon and speaking gibberish). Amend had scouted his location and prepared some traps for him so as he approached the group and his maniacal nature took control of him, the traps did him in: just how Amend had envisioned it months ago when practicing in Candlekeep.

    On the way back, Amend decided to pass near Beregost to search for another man with a price on his head: Bassilus, a mad cleric, notorious for heinous deeds. Scouting him from afar, Amend discerned just how perverse this man was; he was raising the dead as zombies and treating them as his family. He laid a few traps in the area in case he needed them, just out of sight of this Bassilus and had the company prepare to ambush the man from behind the traps.

    Moving up in stealth, Amend positioned himself behind Basilus. The group fanned out and approached interrupting him as he addressed the zombies as his family. With his concentration broken, most of the zombies fell back to dust. Viconia commanded him to die, Edwin blinded him, Kagain threw an axe, and Imoen also tried to blind him. He made his saves against the 2 blindnesses but not the command. As he fell prone, Amend backstabbed him; Kagain charged, Imoen loaded up another blindness. After a successful backstab, Amend faded back and drew his bow. Viconia tried to command him again, but he saved; Imoen started another blindness as he got back to his feet and began casting, Edwin magic missiled him to break his spell, and Kagain killed him with a blow from his axe. Amend collected his holy symbol as proof of the deed.

    image

    The group proceeded to Beregost to turn in the bounty on Bassilus; then returned to Nashkel to collect payment for the body of Brage.
  • AurorusAurorus Member Posts: 201
    The Long Dark of Nashkel

    Pleased with their profits from apprehending the lawless, Amend decided to pursue the reward for investigating the source of the problems in Nashkel mines. So after a few drinks with Kagain, Viconia, and Imoen, Amend set off for the mines.

    Near the mines he was delighted to discover Prism, the last of the local ne´er-do-wells, sculpting some woman´s face in the side of a rock. Prism mistook him for a bounty hunter named Greywolf and begged Amend to defend him against this Greywolf. Amend agreed, figuring he would collect the bounty after disposing of this competitor. Sure enough Greywolf arrived only to discover the area trapped. Before he could even apply his oil of speed to his weapon, 4 traps all around him went off, killing the careless bounty hunter. Amend laughed; for the first time since he left Candlekeep that dark night over a month ago. If this was the competition, he had little to fear. He was growing confident in his abilities and the abilities of his followers: perhaps too confident.

    The mines proved to be a fairly simple task. A clan of kobolds had moved into the lower reaches of the mines, probably through a secret tunnel that Amend discovered as he was leaving. Mighty blows from half-orc´s greatsword and Amend´s devastating sneak attacks coated the walls of mines in kobold as the group moved swiftly toward their chieftan.

    image

    A couple of sleep spells neatly removed most of the kobold guards, surrounds their leader; a command spell and a flurry of blows and arrows felled the chieftan, and a silence spell handled their shaman with little fuss. Amend was also pleased with himself, deftly finding and disarming a number of amateurish, makeshift traps that the kobolds had set up.

    At the base of the mines, Amend discovered the real source of the problem: a fat, half-orc cleric named Mulahey had stirred up the kobolds and was leading them. Amend snuck into his chambers and scouted him, along with a handful of kobold body guards. Amend placed a few traps in the caverns outside the room, Edwin set up a web to catch any more kobolds who entered. Then the group prepared for battle. Amend slipped unseen behind Mulahey, and he fell quickly to the now usual volley of commands, magic missiles, blindnesses, backstabs, and a charging dwarf and half-orc with poisoned blade. The traps and the web in the caverns outside dealt with his minions.image
  • AurorusAurorus Member Posts: 201

    Aurorus said:


    I've just done a new install with less mods after my game crashed a few days ago, so I can start a new game again. I won't be playing with my old saves (because of a different mod setup), but I do have the CHR-files. Time to roll...

    Time to roll a skald...

  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    edited April 2014
    Aurorus said:


    Time to roll a skald...

    I'm first taking my WS through the game, maybe switch to minimal-reload in BG2 if I make it there. I need to improve my knowledge of the game (especially since I'll be playing with the latest version of SCS).
    I had already rolled the skald, but lost him due to the crash...
    Aurorus said:


    (So I just decided to forget Ulcaster and did not get the rematch that I wanted with the Wolf... very frustrating).

    You can always get your rematch later. You should be able to enter the school without the wraith seeing you.
    Apart from that, good job at Firewine!
  • AurorusAurorus Member Posts: 201



    You can always get your rematch later. You should be able to enter the school without the wraith seeing you.
    Apart from that, good job at Firewine!

    I don´t think the rematch would have been very interesting any way. It would have been something along the lines of Wolf moves toward group... wolf takes 14d8+12 trap damage... wolf dies.
  • ZaknafeinBaenreZaknafeinBaenre Member Posts: 349
    So far it's a stomping!
  • AurorusAurorus Member Posts: 201

    So far it's a stomping!

    So far... haha... and Amend is feeling quite good about himself at this point, but "Pride" has a way of undoing a man.

  • chickenhedchickenhed Member Posts: 208
    That bandit camp post was great. Fun strategy there. Who will you pick up to replace Dorn?
  • AurorusAurorus Member Posts: 201

    That bandit camp post was great. Fun strategy there. Who will you pick up to replace Dorn?

    I raised him but tried to replace him later, as you will see. Amend is just not comfortable with Dorn. He smacks of the diabolical and made a pact with dark powers. Amend is a careful and deliberate man, a hunter. Making deals with devils is reckless and foolish. Amend is intelligent enough to realize that he lacks sufficient wisdom to understand such supernatural things, and he does not trust that which he does not understand. On top of all this, Dorn is a half-orc, and Amend is a bigot. He only likes humans (and Viconia), but he has come to respect dwarfs because of Kagain (he and Kagain are of like mind)- which sets him up to pick up Korgan in BGII.
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    Aurorus said:

    That bandit camp post was great. Fun strategy there. Who will you pick up to replace Dorn?

    I raised him but tried to replace him later, as you will see. Amend is just not comfortable with Dorn. He smacks of the diabolical and made a pact with dark powers. Amend is a careful and deliberate man, a hunter. Making deals with devils is reckless and foolish. Amend is intelligent enough to realize that he lacks sufficient wisdom to understand such supernatural things, and he does not trust that which he does not understand. On top of all this, Dorn is a half-orc, and Amend is a bigot. He only likes humans (and Viconia), but he has come to respect dwarfs because of Kagain (he and Kagain are of like mind)- which sets him up to pick up Korgan in BGII.
    Well done. The traps work impressively well! (I have been playing with a mod, trap revisions, as of late, which makes the setting good traps expensive.)

    If in recruiting Korgan, Amend expects to have a second Kagain at his disposal, he'll be mistaken. Kagain is rational, calculating, and Korgan is bloodthirsty, berserking killer.
  • AurorusAurorus Member Posts: 201


    If in recruiting Korgan, Amend expects to have a second Kagain at his disposal, he'll be mistaken. Kagain is rational, calculating, and Korgan is bloodthirsty, berserking killer.

    This will give Amend an excuse to recruit Korgan, however, who normally would not be his type of guy. The whole thing really makes me want to play a dwarven defender- the lost new kit in EE. Everyone talks about Blackguard being great, but dwarven defender is really good. D12 hit points... (can only go to 4 pips in axes and hammers... with Crom Faer, hardly a penalty), use defensive stance once per 4 levels (lasts 1 turn... which is great duration) which gives +50% resistance to piercing, slashing, and blunt weapons and an additional +2 bonus to saves (on top of the dwarf´s short-race bonus). Class also gets an innate 5% resist to all physical damage per 5 levels (so 70% damage resistance at level 20 with defensive stance). Really a powerhouse class- much better than blackguard imo.
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    Haha I liked this installment, the RP details make the reading very interesting :) Funny how Amend doesn't seem to be able to get rid of Dorn...
  • SirK8SirK8 Member Posts: 527
    Faldorn chunked by Wyverns, awesome. I'm enjoying reading this.
  • chickenhedchickenhed Member Posts: 208
    What a shame about Faldorn! It would have been great to have the spellpower of a Druid in the party; especially for BG1.
  • AurorusAurorus Member Posts: 201
    SirK8 said:

    Faldorn chunked by Wyverns, awesome. I'm enjoying reading this.

    She is the 2nd NPC to permanently die and not the last... lol.

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