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The Party of Spiders: No-reload SCS2 run

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  • WowoWowo Member Posts: 2,064
    Amazing stuff!
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    @lunar: Yay. More dragons... that can only be fun.
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    Sil wastes a valuable round and an even more valuable spell trying to keep the dragons at bay.
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    We also bring back Aerie because of her many summoning spells. Jan is next.
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    But one of the dragons has found us, and is perfectly poised to keep Aerie out of the spellcasting game for quite some time. And his friend isn't far behind.
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    This all happened mere minutes ago, but I had to assign so many characters to cast so many spells that I don't remember what all they were doing. In any case, Jan now has some rounds of automatic hits. But there's nothing much I can do with him. Although we've lowered one of the dragon's MR by now, Jan can't hope to slay either of them with DEX drain, as both dragons have 21 DEX, which means he needs 6 hits or more, depending on their MR, to get one of them down to zero. Plus, they're both immune to backstabs. Jan can do nothing of use with his Time Stop.

    Later, the dragons trigger more Time Traps while Jan is under the effects of Project Image, and neither Jan nor his clone can act while time is stopped.
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    All the while, the damage from Acid Arrow on Aerie builds up.

    Another time stop effect pops up later, though I was sure the dragons didn't get any closer to our Time Stops. Still, nobody is able to act, and the time stop passes unused.
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    Very ominous. Nalia's Project Image clone literally in the shadow of a dragon. Notice the dead Mordenkainen's Sword to the northwest, and the newly created one to the east. We've been spawning these constantly to make sure we have a durable summons. But the dragons have Magic Missile and have been able to take down the swords nonetheless, albeit very slowly.

    We bring back Imoen, who looks like a clone of Sil, but Aerie panicks, and Sil can't afford to spend a round casting Remove Fear on her.
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    The rest of the party is struggling to make headway on the dragons. We still aren't sure exactly how we're going to actually kill the dragons. We've considered fleeing, either outside the area or inside the dungeon, but I'm concerned about what it would be like to return and fight them later.

    Imoen is slain once more, seconds after we get her back, and Haer'dalis' Mislead clone vanishes. He now has only one Mislead spell left, and our party is much weaker without the extra bard songs. I decide to wait to use his last spell. If things truly go to hell, I might have to use the Wand of Lightning trick to summon a bunch of Mislead clones, but even then, a breath weapon from the dragons could take out the whole group in one blow.

    Nalia loses her Project Image clone. Everybody is low on spells, and our summons have run precariously thin.
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    I don't think Sil can deal with the rest of this encounter as it stands. Sil is a monster in Iron Golem form with her buffs intact, but she doesn't have her resistances anymore, since her Spell Sequencer ran out and her Minor Sequencer was disrupted by a Wing Buffet spell early on. I have a Heal+PFMW+Improved Haste Chain Contingency on 50% health, and a Heal Contingency on 25% health as a backup to the backup, but that will only keep her alive so long, and these dragons have over 700 HP apiece. We just can't deal that much damage without putting Sil, and therefore the entire run, in danger.

    I have Haer'dalis spawn in his clones.
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    Time to take back control of the situation.
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    What carnage! Congratulations man, on keeping Sil alive up till now. Am keeping my fingers crossed for her for the remainder of this...
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    As I was reading the first two dragon battles, I was like 'no way Sil will survive the next two dragon fights!' Because you have wasted too much resources. It was very exciting like from an old tv show 'will our hero survive? Tune in next week to find out. If you dare!'

    I did not know about the rest between dragon fights I thought it was one big no rest fight (aside drom wish spells)
    One screenshot is wrong, when you describe Sil getting her hp halved by black dragon breath. It shows an old one from the prison area.
    Stellar read, as always. Go! Be happy that you don't have bg2:ee with the latest patch as it made Abazigal's dragon form immune to time stop. Very, very scary!
    There is a hidey hole in Abazigal's lair where he can not reach you for melee. (But his breath can! So get immunity to electricity!) many solo no-reloaders have hidden there when things got very dangerous. And it will get very dangerous, that battle is a blast! (Literally!) (tip:get immunity to sleep/uncounciousness effect. I am not sure but chaotic commands may work. This is essential in the final Abazigal fight. For reasons.)
  • lunarlunar Member Posts: 3,460
    hispls said:

    I'm 99.9% certain that in my ToB EE the rope was in one of the underwater caverns. Possibly the mod makes you return to town for it so that you can get ambushed by the dragons upon your return?

    Anyway that was quite a close battle there. Thanks for taking the time to post this entertainment.

    Yep, scs mod adds this so dragons can ambush you when you return from town. There is also a hillarious banter with the shopkeeper, he mocks that despite your epic, world-shaking magic and artifact like items, you come to buy some mundane rope. He finds it so funny that he charges no money for the rope.

  • hisplshispls Member Posts: 166
    lunar said:


    Yep, scs mod adds this so dragons can ambush you when you return from town. There is also a hillarious banter with the shopkeeper, he mocks that despite your epic, world-shaking magic and artifact like items, you come to buy some mundane rope. He finds it so funny that he charges no money for the rope.

    The irony being you'll be hard pressed to find any pen and paper D&D character without 50' of rope, a tinder box, and iron rations in their inventory from inception. This goes back to the late 1970's
  • BlackravenBlackraven Member Posts: 3,486
    Very nice to see the Spiders back in action! Good luck @semiticgod!
  • semiticgoddesssemiticgoddess Member Posts: 14,903
    We damage Abazigal enough to prompt his transformation. He tries Remove Magic, but we are safe with SI: Abjuration.
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    Our party-wide Protection from Lightning will ward off his devastating lightning attack, but he can still lower our electrical resistance on a failed save vs. spell at -3. Only Sil has a guaranteed save without Blur spells, but the rest of the party is quite vulnerable.

    We can't give Abazigal too many rounds to act. We immediately pelt him with Wands of Spell Striking, and follow up with Feeblemind. Just as Sil is about to activate her triple Feeblemind Spell Trigger, I see the yellow shimmer on Abazigal's hide.
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    For safety's sake, I activate the trigger anyway. I see Abazigal only makes one save, suggesting he failed the other two.

    I wait a moment. Abazigal rears back his head--he's not disabled. That Spell Trigger only forced one save vs. spell, instead of three. Hoping to knock him out before things can go bad, I have Sil cast Project Image, activating her Maze+Feeblemind+Feeblemind Chain Contingency.

    It has no apparent effect. Even the Maze fails to hit Abazigal, even though he's inches away from her and the only enemy on the map. I thought Chain Contingency would be able to hit the nearest target, but somehow it failed. Sil gets hit by Abazigal's lightning breath, and though it does no damage, it ends the Project Image spell.

    But we have yet another redundant party member to pick up the slack: Aerie hits Abazigal with Maze, despite getting hit by Power Word: Blind. There's nothing Abazigal can do.
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    Now is the critical moment. We have several rounds before Abazigal reappears. We must set the stage for his return.

    Haer'dalis sets a Time Trap where Abazigal vanished. Tamah is nearby, but she is out of sight and disabled, and will not disturb Haer'dalis, nor trigger his trap. But we must also keep any other critters from wandering in and triggering the trap. After Jan casts Improved Haste on Haer'dalis, the rest of the party hurries to the west to wipe out any lingering enemies. There's only one.
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    This ensures our Time Trap only activates when Abazigal appears. When the Frost Salamander falls, the rest of the party hurries back to Haer'dalis. They will be needed soon. Haer'dalis lays a second Time Trap, while the rest of the party hastes itself.
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    Our SI: Abjuration spells run out, so we renew them as well. We wait for Abazigal to return.

    He doesn't show up.

    We cast some minor buffs, making use of the time without expending precious resources. We scout around to see if Abazigal has somehow appeared elsewhere, but the map is empty, save for us and Tamah. I even have Jan set up his own traps to the west. With nothing else to do, we spend a little time attacking Tamah. I stay focused on Haer'dalis. His action could make or break this battle.
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    Finally, Abazigal returns, and the screen turns gray. Haer'dalis now has automatic hits with the Answerer.

    But Abazigal took so long to escape Aerie's Maze, Haer'dalis' Improved Haste spell, which he got from Jan some time before, runs out. Haer'dalis now only has 2 APR with the Answerer (3 APR, dual-wielding with Kundane), and I'm not sure it's worth it to try and cast Improved Haste via the Amulet of Cheetah speed. That would take most of the duration of the Time Trap. Instead, Haer'dalis simply activates Offensive Spin for an extra 1 APR, and attacks Abazigal without Improved Haste.

    The second Time Trap triggers. Haer'dalis keeps wearing down Abazigal's incredible -15 AC.
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    Weakened by the Answerer, Abazigal is easy to hit. The party pounces on him, and the damage pours in.
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    Abazigal nears his end. To maximize our chances, though, I start casting Feeblemind.
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    Finally, Abazigal fails his save, and we can attack him at our leisure.
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    But Abazigal won't go down. We keep hitting him over and over, but he won't die.

    Right about here, I realize the Feeblemind effect is preventing is death.
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    Abazigal won't fall unless he gives his dying dialogue first. He can't do that if he's feebleminded. Sil casts Remove Magic, the party keeps attacking, and Abazigal delivers his final lines.

    Only a few battles remain: Sendai, Balthazar (unless we can win over, which I don't know how to do), the Slayer, the Chosen of Cyric, the Ravager, and finally Melissan.
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