16394 replies to this topic

[corey_russell]

Grats Wise! Let's see you keep it up in Amn.

[Grimwald the Wise]

It is the first time that I have got to Amn with an evil group, probably because I rarely play evil.

 

With the set-up I have after Cloakwood, there was no need to play evil as both characters had an amulet that made them true neutral.

 

A bit easier as far as role playing was concerned.

[Blackraven]

@Alesia, so far so good!
@Crevs, sorry about your loss. I kind of suck at playing parties myself (too complex for this simple mind, with so many actors to instruct lol). I do hope to read about a new adventure of yours soon.
@Dyara, great to see a new face, welcome and may luck be with your Fighter/Mage/Thief! (Nice journal entries btw.)
@Grimwald: congrats in defeating the Big S. 

 

Glorydd, Dwarven Fighter/Thief, 7th update

A long but pleasantly uneventful journey through the Cloakwood back to civilization brought Glorydd to the gates of the city of Baldur's Gate. The only upset had been another vivid, dark dream. In it she had found herself swimming in a massive river of blood, against the current, with difficulty. Again, she had been unsure how to interpret the dream. She had taken many lives, but they had been the lives of assassins that had been after her, bounty hunters, bandits. They had been the aggressors, not she, and she had never reveled in the killing. Perhaps that's what the swimming against the current represented? Either way she was again rewarded by a still unidentified divine presence with another special ability, that to cure diseases and remove poisons. She now had two of those in addition to two daily Lay on Hands abilities. 

 

This time the gate was open for Glorydd. She was even hailed by a Flaming Fist commander, Harold Loggerson, or simply 'Scar'. He offered her a number of informal jobs for the Fist. 

 

The city was overwhelming for her: so many people, so many places to see and things to do. It would distract her from her course for a number of days, but she had an eventful and educational time. 

Niklos, a Thief, introduced the Dwarf at the Thieves Guild, where she made some friends who took her with them on a couple of jobs and who showed her the city. Note that Glorydd didn't consider herself a Thief per se, even though many moons of surviving on her own had taught her a thing or two about picking a lock, hiding herself, and detecting and building snares. Glorydd had never lent herself to harming the common folk, quite the opposite, as she knew some of her 'colleagues' at the Guild might. At the same time she had no compunction about depriving the rich of some of their wealth.

Thus she went thieving with two friendly rogues named Rededge and Narlen Darkwalk, and she bartered with a fence, Black Lily, which yielded her a manual that increased her dexterity as soon as she finished reading it, the Sparkburst shortbow, a protective cowl, and some useful potions. Less friendly were her dealings with the guild leader, Alatos Thuibuld. After having retrieved three components for the building of a Haalruan skyship for him and Resar, a wizard, the latter attacked Glorydd. Apparently he didn't like her knowing anything about these components. Thankfully Narlen and Rededge prevented the mage from harming the Dwarf, impressing even Alatos with their loyalty to her. The events secured her a good position within the Guild. 

 

Another noteworthy event was a bloody affair at the B*tch Queen's House. Glorydd considered that one could never have enough healing, so she had made it a habit to visit temples to purchase healing potions. When she entered the Umberlee Temple she remembered Tenya, and asked for her. The child was somehow offended by Glorydd's presence and she attacked the Dwarf. Soon the entire clergy, including the high priestess Jalantha Mistmyr, were hostile. The Dwarf tried to get away, but saw the high priestess at her heels. Jalantha could have held Glorydd if it weren't for a timely quaffing of a potion of free action. Eventually Glorydd, the stronger warrior of the two females, slew her foe.

[Note: what really happened here was that forgetful Blackraven had Glorydd see Tenya before Varci Roaringhorn had been spoken to. The result was that there was only one dialogue option, that of demanding payment. It caused Tenya to go hostile. Fearing that all the others would attack as well, Glorydd immediately spoke to the priestess who summons Jalantha for the right price, so that the Marek/Lathander quest would not be lost should Blackraven inadvertently trigger it.] The Dwarf looted Jalantha's corpse and left the premises.

 

Glorydd released a Nymph from captivity even though she had promised a wizard named Ramazith to bring him the creature. She just couldn't bear to see the Nymph pine away. When she went to tell Ramazith of her failed mission, the wizard got extremely angry and promised to kill her. Unfortunately for him, Glorydd had potions of magic shielding and enchanted arrows that injured him through all his spell protections. He fell. In his tower home she found another tome that when read furthered Glorydd's ability. In this case it was her perceptiveness that had increased.

 

Glorydd's visit to the Lady's House, a temple dedicated to Tymora, went about as badly as her visit to the Umberlee temple. But this time she had herself to blame. A rare fit of kleptomania saw the Dwarf attempt to steal yet another magical tome (at least that's what she inferred from a glance at its cover). She failed to snatch the tome unseen. [Note: she only succeeded at the 2nd or 3rd pickpocket attempt.] Her action prompted the priests to start a number of ominous sounding incantations, so Glorydd decided to run rather than fight. Later, when she had the book identified at the magic shop Sorcerous Sundries, she learnt that she hadn't been mistaken about the nature of the tome. Reading it made her a wiser Dwarf. Hopefully it would prevent her from displaying such poor judgment as she had at the Lady's House.

 

Having antagonized two clergies, Glorydd didn't feel too safe in the city, so she resolved to focus on her missions for Scar and on the Iron Throne, and to leave the city as soon as she was done with those jobs. Her first task for Scar was to investigate the Seven Suns trading coster. She didn't take long in discovering that the strange acting merchants were in reality Doppelgangers. When she called them what they were, they attacked. However, Glorydd was the superior fighter by far. She slew them, released their prisoner, one of the Seven Suns owners who hadn't been replaced by a Doppelganger yet, and reported back to Scar.

He congratulated and rewarded her and then begged her to clear up the mystery of disappearences of people, purportedly into the sewers. The perpetrator turned out to be an Ogre Mage aided by a huge pack of Carrion Crawlers and Phase Spiders, indeed in the sewers. Glorydd quaffed a potion of freedom and to protect herself against the Carrion Crawlers with their paralyzing attacks and a potion of magic shielding, and then stubbornly, foolishly, focused her arrows on the Ogre Mage. She soon found herself surrounded by the giant centipedes, and the object of the Ogre's Magic Missiles, Melf's Arrows and Flame Arrows. She barely managed to fight herself free and find her way out of the sewers into a brothel, with her enemies at her heels. Apparently one WIS tome hadn't been enough...

Eventually all turned out well though. She hid and healed herself, and then confronted the Ogre Mage, which had also followed her into the bordello. A rain of enchanted arrows brought the monster down. With her job done, she didn't linger, for various noblemen mistook her for a harlot, and she had to muster all her patience to remain friendly. Sometimes she hated being a curvy Dwarven female in a surface world dominated by ever-ogling Humans with their twisted minds.

 

Glorydd allowed herself a night in the luxurious Helm and Cloak Inn, whose peace and quiet would allow her to contemplate her actions. The incident at the Lady's House was still on her mind, as was her impetuous course of action in the sewers. The Dwarf forgave herself her greed at the temple of Tymora, possibly a result of her work with the Thieves Guild, and pledged to use her thieving skills only where they would serve a higher need. As to her overconfidence in the sewers, she could only hope her near death experience would serve as a lesson. It was something she had to remember each time she was to undertake a mission that might involve violence.

When she awoke the next morning, the room was already lit by the morning sun. She rubbed her eyes and looked around to take in the room a bit better. She was surprised to to find a copper wire sticking out of a painting on the wall beside her bed. A closer look revealed that a snare had been attached to the painting. The Dwarf, quite handy with snares, disarmed the trap without difficulty, and removed the painting. Behind it, there was a whole in the wall, containing a marvelous helmet. Glorydd put the helmet into her pack and left the inn. She had the helm identified by Halbazzer Drin at the Sorcerous Sundries, and was overjoyed to discover she had found the Helm of Balduran, an item of legend with many powerful enchantments. The Dwarf decided not to sport the helmet in the city so as not to alarm its possible owner. Instead she replaced it carefully in her pack.

 

When she reported back to Scar, she was again handsomely rewarded, and she was also asked to investigate the Iron Throne. Glorydd's account of the Iron Throne's doings in Nashkel and the Cloakwood, and the problems that had befallen the Seven Suns were sufficient reason to investigate the Throne (even if it wasn't enough for a formal accusation and procedure).  Glorydd also had her own, peronal reasons to investigate the Throne of course, but Scar knew not of those motives.

She entered the Iron Throne headquarters invisibly, and she did nothing to make herself seen until she reached the top floor. It was heavily guarded by what looked to be a team of deadly sentries judging from their attires and high quality weaponry. Glorydd snuck past them, toward a number of back rooms. In one of them she found some correspondence mentioning a number of new names: Sarevok (who claimed to have slain Glorydd in his letter), Rieltar (apparently the Iron Throne leader, and Sarevok's father), and Tuth.

She also ran into an Iron Throne executive whom she forced with her blade on his throat to reveal her the location of the Throne's leaders: Candlekeep! She bound and gagged the man, hid in shadows and reported her findings to Scar and Duke Eltan, Commander of the Flaming Fist. The latter gave her an expensive tome that would guarantee her access to the citadel in order to continue her investigations for the city of Baldur's Gate (and her personal quest).

[corey_russell]

@Blackraven: Nice write up once again. It should be noted that the Water Queen's priestesses will also go hostile if you attempt to do the dead boy quest and talk to them with a character with 3 CHA (it has happened to a number of my characters).

[Grimwald the Wise]

I can feel the pain ... just had to resurrect Dorn twice only to get the Kryll quest done. And it's not just the money, I think I'm more concerned about the wasted time for going to a temple and walking back .

 

@Alesia_BH: Thank you

 

 

Just thought that I would wish you intelligence in your run, as luck runs out.

[Blackraven]

@Blackraven: Nice write up once again. It should be noted that the Water Queen's priestesses will also go hostile if you attempt to do the dead boy quest and talk to them with a character with 3 CHA (it has happened to a number of my characters).

Thanks Corey! I never knew about the consequences of 3 CHA at the Temple (my characters usually have higher CHA). Thank you for pointing it out.

[corey_russell]

Thanks Corey! I never knew about the consequences of 3 CHA at the Temple (my characters usually have higher CHA). Thank you for pointing it out.

 

No problem. You can imagine the shock the first time it happened - she gave me the dead boy, but immediately the priestesses were casting hold person - running for my life! Thought I'd give ya a heads up.

[Grond0]

Well done Wise - I knew being Gnasty would pay off for you in the end.

[Alesia_BH]

 

@Alesia, so far so good!

 

 

Thanks. I am rusty, but as a F/M, the deck is pretty heavily stacked in Arcadia's favor. She's through the Duchal Palace fight and just about ready to fix the Vok. She should move onto BG2 this evening.

 

Hopefully, we'll see each other in Amn- along with a few other familiar faces.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Congrats Wise! Stay gnasty!

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Arcadia's Game:

 

Meow!

 

I'll provide some catch-up coverage soon.

 

Best,

 

A.

 

Final BG1 Character Record:

[corey_russell]

@Alesia - Congrats on defeating Sarevok - btw, you might think a Fighter/Mage is a shoo in for success, even solo and against SCS, but I still want to see the results - there's a definite lack of F/M successes - and to boot I can see what I am doing wrong with my fighter/mages perhaps.

[Alesia_BH]

@Alesia btw, you might think a Fighter/Mage is a shoo in for success, even solo and against SCS, but I still want to see the results - there's a definite lack of F/M successes - and to boot I can see what I am doing wrong with my fighter/mages perhaps.

 

It differs from player to player. For me, bows + potions + wands is basically a free pass in BG1. Abjuration + alteration + illusion is essentially a free pass through SoA. As a consequence, I expect Arcadia to at least make it to ToB.  Now, am I capable of muffing it up? Absolutely. But, the odds are in Arcadia's favor.

 

I think the most common mistake people make with F/Ms is that they allocate too many slots to offensive spells. Another common error, at least from my point of view, is excessive focus on high levels spells. For F/Ms, 4/5/6 are the levels to really leverage, to my mind.

 

In general, I'm pretty confident with arcane characters. Setting aside Alastria, a melee sorcerer, who I played following a multi-year break, all of my arcane characters have made it to the final Ascension battle. Two of the three defeated Mel, and the one that didn't, Alicia, soloed the battle on insane shortly after her near miss. If I were to replay Alicia, she'd have a high probability of success. I feel pretty confident with any single class arcane character save a transmuter, an abjurer, a necromancer, or a wild mage. The multis are all fine. I'd be ok with the sensible duals -even if I'm unfond of them- though I, personally, would prefer not to play a kensai->mage (trading dispelling arrows + Harmony + The Reflex for extra damage makes little sense to me). 

 

Anyhoo. This convo is a bit too forward looking for my taste. Right now, Arcadia is prepping her inventory for her first journey out of the Promenade. That's the only challenge that matters at this moment.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Blackraven]

Congrats Alesia! After quite a long BG-less spell, it's a great feat to tackle BG1 with your first character, regardless of their class. 

[Alesia_BH]

Congrats Alesia! After quite a long BG-less spell, it's a great feat to tackle BG1 with your first character, regardless of their class. 

 

Thanks. While the rust won't be apparent in the posts, it was definitely there.

 

When I first got to the Carnival, I stood in front of the tents for like...ever, thinking: Ok, in one of these tents there's a dude with a good time belly who'll sell me the Shield Amulet, the Necklace of Missiles, and a Pro Pet scroll. In another, there's a mage who will send me running like Binky the Buffoon. Which one is which?...That one?...Maybe?....Not sure....Captain Swarmi: Can you help me out here? 

 

There were a few moment like that early on. But by around mid game I got in the flow. I made Arcadia waste some resources in a few battles (notably Drasus), but all told it was a pretty clean run.

 

Hopefully SoA will go as smoothly.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Alesia_BH]

Arcadia, Half Elven F/M: BG1 Overview (Part 1)

Ok. So, given that Arcadia is over in Amn already -and given that I feel like playing more than writing now- I'm going to revert to a fast n' loose, tongue n' cheek posting style. Arcadia's BG1 coverage will be light on details and big on please-please-let-me-get-this-over-so-I-can-play-more. It's selfish. And it makes me lame. But I've gone sans-BG for too long and now I'm binging. Don't hate me forever.

 

Mulahey

 

Arcadia's pre-Mulahey item set was basically Melium's Bracers, generic helm, Neclace of Missle/Shield Amulet/Greenstone, Large Shield + 1, RoP + 1, Piercing/Bluntness, Cloak of Displacement, Short Bow +1/Varscona, plus potions and wands.

 

That was fun to read wasn't it?

Mulahey was taken down under Shield, Potion of Freedom, Pro Evil, Potion of Strength, and Greenstone. Pro Fire was added as a precautionary measure since I planned to toast the minions but wasn't feeling super-confident with my targeting on account of rustiness.

 

Nimbul

 

This was a crazy critter fest.

 

Nimbul looked pretty harmless at first- especially with Arcadia running Greenstone + Shield.

 

But then he took his pre-buffs and summoned a whole lot of ugly.

 

Arcadia just vanished, grabbed some popcorn, and watched Nimbul's circus put the beat down on the Amnish guard. Pretty colors!

 

Eventually, Nimbul's buddy-wuds unsummoned, and Arcadia brought some critters of her own. Nimbul countered with "Wait, what? You know, this job doesn't pay enough. I'm gettin' outta here."

 

The revenge of the Amnish guard. Thanks for the boots, kiddos!

 

 

Bandit Camp

Arcadia accessed the Bandit Camp via Larswood. That means Teven got it.

 

Dart of Stunning on Teven-> Wand of Fire on bandits -> Vascona on Teven. Doners!

 

At the main camp, Arcadia used invisibility to reach the inner sanctum undetected. Buffed with Pro Fire (scroll), Pro Fire (potion), Shield, Potion of Regeneration, Oil of Speed, Pro Evil, Greenstone, Arcadia broke invisibility with a Dart of Stunning on Venkt. The first or second one stuck.

 

She then proceeded to blow the place up.

 

A touch of Varscona for extra flavor.

 

The Cloakwood

 

Arcadia basically stealth marched all the way to Davaeorn, save a handful of joker phase spiders who were nixed under Pro Poison.

 

Arcadia went with Pro Magic here- mostly to save gold and therefore time. Pro Magic, Potion of Stone Giant Strength, Potion of Regeneration, Oil of Speed was the full brew.

 

The first horror was dropped with the Wand of Frost, the second with Varscona..

 

 

Davaeorn took a little of both, though it was Varscona that finished him.

 

Arcadia very nearly waltzed on by Drasus for a second time on the way out, but then I thought: "You know, I like boots. And I like killing. And Arcadia's already running Pro Magic. So why not?"

 

Gulped a Potion of Absorption to nullify Drasus, and then went to work.

 

The only real threat here was my rustiness. I forgot that Pro Magic doesn't stop the PC's Wand of Fire blasts in my install. Sorry Arcadia! i just roasted part of your healing stash!

 

Arcadia recovered nicely though.

 

And that was that. Part 2 will cover The Gate through The 'Vok.

Best,

A.

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

The battles get tougher the deeper we go.  The losses mount but usually I’m able to raise the fallen despite selling a number of scrolls & other items we’d have liked to have had in our pouches. Unfortunately, I’m not always able to raise my companions. It took four trips down to the third Labyrinth Level to finish up & descend to level four.  As always, we defeated the tiresome three Doppelgangers at the stone archway & then two Phase Spiders near the library before getting to level three of the Labyrinth the first time down. The place is protected by a constantly Exploding Fireball Room but by timing it out we’re able to avoid the explosions easily. Tossing my Ring of Protection from Fire back & forth gave us extra comfort. Next we found ourselves in a Maze Garden & Imoen led the way, scouting using her innate invisibility while Finding/Removing Traps that lay in our way.  We defeated four Greater Ghouls before being ambushed by an Ashirukuru. That thing was rough & it was only Imoen’s innate Pixie Dust that allowed us to keep him visible until we could kill him.  Afterward, we avoided a massive trap that Imoen found & removed while we simultaneously defeated two more Greater Ghouls before entering an intensely hot room on the left & down a short hallway. There were four of these rooms.  In the first, there were two Phoenix Guards, a male & a female, that we easily defeated but I use the term loosely. Unfortunately, Phoenix Guards explode when they’re killed & then then reincarnate so you have to kill them again. The first explosion killed Quayle so we had to return to Nashkel to let Nalin perform a Raise Dead spell on him. On the way back to Nashkel, we had to carve up three Doppelgangers who’d respawned @ the stone Archway, as they continue to do.

 

After taking care of business in Nashkel, back thru the three Doppelgangers @ the stone archway, & then the spiders @ the library, I forget which, I think Wraith Spiders we were back on the 3^rd Labyrinth Level & entered a second room, the Air Room, down the same hallway on the left. We won a hard fight w/an Air Aspect & three Invisible Stalkers before continuing further down the hall to the next room on the left. There we had some trouble in the Earth Room w/four Fission Slimes that turned into like 10 as they respawned when we killed them. It was obvious we needed more HEAT so we returned to High Hedge & loaded up. On the way back to High Hedge we fought two more Greater Ghouls in the Maze Garden before getting out.  When we returned we fought thru the obligatory three Doppelgangers & two Phase Spiders but still didn’t have enough heat to beat the Fission Slimes. I finally took matters into my own hands & finished them. Continuing we found the last room on the left, Imoen scouted before we went in using her innate Invisibility while Finding/Removing Traps. She returned to report four Winter Wolves & a Polar Bear. Our plan was to go directly for the Polar Bear which we did & we took him out pretty easily but he wasn’t a typical Polar bear as he had an even more potent Blast of Frost than the Winter Wolves b/c it has the ability to Hold like an undead creature.

 

Key Event We killed the Polar Bear & were suddenly transported to a Chess Board. An ethereal voice laid out ‘rules’ which it turned out only we had to play by, e.g. my bishops had to move diagonally on their own color, Queen could do whatever, but then I as King couldn’t move @ all. We were informed that killing the King ended the game so he became our target at all costs.  In so doing, we lost Imoen, Minsc, Coran, Quayle until the last two standing were Branwen & I after we focused on the King who’d moved down to our end of board. Despite being surrounded by others we focused all our attacks on the King & killed him. Sure enough, all of the other pieces faded away. The victory was won. Unfortunately, I had four bodies that needed to be raised & nowhere to store their equipment. I found a door w/a stairway, to the 4^th Labyrinth Level Branwen & I met ghostly apparition of Durlag who said something about us needing to kill the evil in this place.  Branwen & I hazarded a long hallway w/o Imoen to Find Traps. We found a room w/a ghostly apparition of Islanne offering us a way out. Initially we deferred looking for a chest or something for storage. We found a room & defeated two Helmeted Horror’s before finding a barrel which we filled w/everything from the chess board taking three, maybe four trips to do so. 

ZUGZWANG FOR THE WHITE KING?


CHECKMATE FOR THE BLACK KING!!

Finally, we still had unexplored areas of the 3^rd Labyrinth Level so we returned through the three Doppelgangers & two Wraith Spiders back down to the 3^rd Level. Then I made an absolutely stupid decision based on how easy that Fireball Room had been. I tried to get us all over @ once instead of one @ a time. In so doing I charcoaled Coran & lost Quayle requiring another visit to Nalin.  Just stupidity & impatience caused yet another unraisable death.  And, so as I’ve had to do four times since I left Candlekeep, I had to find someone to take Coran’s place, especially in this place. Luckily, he’d not gotten close to any of us yet but he was still under my command. I’m out a strong bowman now as there are none that I can think of so I went to the Fishing Village & invited the Paladin Ajantis to join me. I gave him the Long Sword Coran had used & purchased him a set of Plate Mail but it wasn’t long after we returned to Durlag’s Tower that we got him a set of Full Plate.  He carries a family crested medium shield.  And so I led us back into the tower to finish up the brutal 3^rd Level. First we got caught up in a difficult fight w/Skeleton’s armed w/Composite Long Bows & Arrows of Fire & Ice. Problem there was traps of some kind of gas, that even Imoen wasn’t picking up on, so we couldn’t mow them down like we should have. Plus they were all on different platforms so while we were knocking Skeleton’s off of one platform we were being shot @ from one or multiple other platforms @ the same time. Bad stuff but we eventually got them all & Imoen collected a bunch of Arrows of Ice!

 

& finally, as if things hadn’t been tough enough already we found a cave w/a lone Skeleton standing amongst statues of various warriors. The room was dominated by the body of a dead, giant Wyrm. The term, ‘Wyrm’ is simply an age category of a Red Dragon. Red Dragon ages are grouped thus, Wymling, Very Young, Young, Juvenile, Young Adult, Adult, Mature Adult, Old, Very Old, Ancient, Wyrm & the oldest of all are the Great Wyrms. Wyrms are GIGANTIC Dragons. Luckily this one was dead but there were some very real & dangerous greater wyverns in that cavern. Luckily we’d listened to the skeleton before we grinded him to dust. He told us the statues were great warriors & would help us fight w/eventuality that they would turn on us.  We were smart enough to enlist their help. They  turned out to be a Dwarven warrior type, a Hamadryad, a warrior of some type as he wore Full Plate &, finally, a Hobgoblin w/a Composite Longbow. The four of them helped wear them down, killing the first & wounding the second. Then we were able to pick off the weakened one & defeat the last one collectively. These weren’t your grandfathers Greater Wyverns! J

 

And so it was back down to the 4^th Level, past Durlag’s apparition & back to Islanne so that we could get out the easy way.  Sure enough, it seems that will always be out.

 

Treasure of Note: (Purse = 3,081 gold) Armor/Weapons:  Gauntlet’s of Dexterity (Branwen); Long Sword +1 (sold); Full Plate (Ajantis); Gems/Jewelry: Pearl Necklace, Fire Opal Ring; Bloodstone Amulets (x2); Pearl; Potions: Scrolls:

 

Current Disposition: Back in Nashkel resting & preparing to head back into the keep

 

Next Steps:   Back down to the 4^th Level. Durlag’s apparition spoke of destroying “the evil in this place…”

 

Level Up: None

 

Current Party: (Reputation: 20 – Heroic)

·         Gawain: Ftr/8; HP91; Full Plate w/Large Shield +2, Cloak of Protection +2, Helm of Defense, Boots of Grounding, Girdle of Bluntness, Rings of Fire Resistance & Free Action; Bastard Sword +1/+3****, Mace +2, (SSS**) (Greater Basilisk)

·         Imoen: Thief (Charming Rogue/10); HP44; Shadow Armor, Cloak of Non-Detection & Gandolar’s Lucky Ring w/Short Bow*, Short Sword +1* Dagger +1*, (Kirinhale)(Thief Def)

·         Minsc: Fighter (Barbarian/8); HP68; Splint Mai w/Boots of Avoidance, Girdle of Bluntness &Spiders Bane***, Flail 1 x x2/THWS**(Spellcaster Defend)(Davaeorn)

·         Quayle: Mage (Illusionist/9); HP20; Bracers of Defense AC6, Sling* & Dagger +2*, Ring of Energy, Necklace of Missiles, (Battle Horror)(Wizard Defensive)

·         Branwen: Cleric (Priestess of Tempus/8): HP48; Full Plate +1 (Plate of the Dark) w/Large Shield +1, Gauntlet’s of Dexterity, Kiel’s Helmet & Mace +1*; Warhammer*; (SSS*);(Fuernebol)(Cleric Aggressive)

·         Ajantis: Fighter/(Paladin/8); HP47; Full Plate w/Medium Shield, Boots of the North; L/Sword +1** x2, Mace** (SSS**)(N/A) (Paladin )

 

Mods Used: HardTimes-v2; BG1UB_v12; bg1npc-v20; X0black101 (Blackguard); MegaModKits v1.01L; level1npcs-v1.9; bg2_tweaks-v14; Randomizer-v68; scs-v21 (- Tactical Challenges)

 

Blue Font: New information;

Red Font: Monster encounters (first use)

(Best kill)(Current AI)

* Name Levels are ancient, AD&D titles that used to represent each new level in a class

[Alesia_BH]

Nice work CKT! We don't see a lot of Durlag's Tower action here. Excellent writeup!

 

Best,

 

A.

 

 

Btw. Confession: I've never done Durlag's Tower.

[Dyara]

Dyara, elven Fighter/Mage/Thief - take 12 (update 1)

 

Day 6 (7 Mirtul, 1368)

On her way to Nashkell Mines Dyara met the half-orc Dorn Il-Khan who had some quarrel with his former buddies Senjak and Dorotea. Once the dispute was settled Dyara gained a new level as well as a new companion although she felt slightly uneasy in the presence of the blackguard who also fascinated her at the same time.

Dyara: 5179 XP, 57 kills, Ghast, F(2)/M(2)/T(3), 26(27) HP

Together they went back to Nashkell because Dorn wanted Dyara to question a woman named Taris who might know something about the sorceress Kryll, another member of Dorn's old adventurer party. Taris directed them to an area east of the mines. Since Dyara hadn't slept for days now and Dorn was injured from a lightning strike they decided to rest in Nashkell Inn.

Day 7 (8 Mirtul, 1368)

In the morning the two of them reached the mine area. While walking around they spotted the sculptor Prism carving a sculpture out of cliff. Prism begged Dyara to protect him until his work was finished. And while Dorn just watched the scene Dyara fought the bounty hunter Greywolf. She failed to blind him but thanks to an oil of speed she was able to outrun Greywolf, hide in the shadows and backstab until her enemy was finally dead. Dyara respected Prism's final wish and left the two emeralds in the eye holes of the sculpture.

Wielding her new sword Varscona Dyara and Dorn went further east in the search for Kryll.

Day 8 (9 Mirtul, 1368)

It wasn't difficult to track down Kryll but then nearly everything went wrong. Dorn was send to sleep and quickly killed by the skeletons. Kryll then casted horror on Dyara who failed her saving throw.
 

 

However for the only time this day Tymora smiled on her because while running around the skeletons (and also some gibberlings) had a hard time to actually hit her. Also Kryll seemed to have lost interest in her (or she had run out of spells). Eventually the fear spell went off but for some reason (while all the skeletons and gibberlings were on her trail) she had angried a powerful mage named Hafiz who was now throwing nasty spells at her. More then once she was close to death so she had to use her second (and final) oil of speed to get away. Dyara became slightly angry and wanted to kill the wicked spell caster. However Hafiz proved to have far more hitpoints (and magic missile spells) than Dyara thought. But instead of coming to her senses, perhaps looking for a shield spell, Dyara became really mad now, she attacked the dwarf over and over again, but to no avail, she just wasted all her healing potions. Finally with no other options left, Dyara retrieved Dorn's stuff, went to the temple in Nashkell to resurrect the blackguard and buy some healing potions. They spend the night in the inn, Dyara had a very strange dream and gained some healing powers.

Day 9 (10 Mirtul, 1368)

In the morning they left Nashkell to return to the place of their disgraceful defeat. First they attacked Hafiz, again Dyara did a lot of backstab damage but the mage wasn't impressed. He killed Dorn and caused serious damage to Dyara. Finally wasting her one and only potion of invisibility Dyara slew the nasty dwarf. Dyara continued the search for Kryll then but the sorceress was nowhere to be found. Instead Dyara found a ring of fire protection.

I guess I've encountered a bug here most likely caused by Dorn's death. Because of the bug Kryll disappeared and the area became filled with skeletons. Again Dyara went to Nashkell temple, resurrected Dorn a second time and returned.

Day 10 (11 Mirtul, 1368)

On their return they were greeted by an army of Glenns, Shanes, Daryls and Ricks. When they came to the place where they had found Kryll two days ago they got a deja-vu - the whole Dorn/Kryll scene started again. This time however Kryll was ouf spells and so she was easily defeated. Once she was dead everything went back to normal.  

Day 11 (12 Mirtul, 1368)

Dyara was begged to take the deserter Samuel to the Temple of Wisdom at Friendly Arm Inn. That location wasn't really on her way but after the horrors of the last days she really needed some feeling of success.

Day 13 (14 Mirtul, 1368)

Without any interruptions they took the injured Samuel to Gellana Mirrorshade. Nearly broke Dyara had to realise that she couldn't afford Dorn's company any longer and left the half-orc at the inn.

[Alesia_BH]

Arcadia, Half-Elven Fighter/Mage: BG1 Overview (Part 2)

 

I mentioned earlier that F/Ms have it easy in BG1. That's especially true in the endgame sequence.

 

Slythe and Krystin

 

Slythe had no answer for Arcadia's Pro Undead Mustard Jelly.

 

Krystin was finished with ranged weapons.

 

Arrow of Dispelling

 

Dart of Wounding to shutdown casting.

 

Finish.

 

Duchal Palace

 

Irrespective of the class, the Duchal Palace fight always makes me nervous.

 

Arcadia went heavy on the buffs.

 

She opened with Remove Magic cast from scroll. It's tempting to memorize Remove Magic, but I feel it's best to reserve the scroll for the Duchal Palace fight and thus have the opportunity to cast at level 10. Getting rid of the Dopes' haste effects and mirror images is mission critical.

 

With the Dopes dispellied, Vascona fixed them quick.

 

Drink up Belt.

 

Finished the last one in the basement.

 

Sarevok

 

Full elemental immunity, Pro Missiles, and a movement rate advantage made this safe. Task one was dispelling Sarevok's haste effect.

 

Semaj never got off an offensive spell thanks to Arrow of Dispelling + Arrows of Cold + Wand of Frost.

 

Same treatment for Angelo.

 

Diarmid

 

Tazok gulped an Oil of Speed. Arcadia dispelled it and then finished him.

 

Arcadia took Sarevok in melee- but not before stunning him. Stoneskins granted Arcadia the time she needed to read a Malison scroll. Then, Arcadia sent a stream of Darts of Stunning and Wand of Paralyzation pulses Sarevok's way. Eventually one took.

 

Fin!

 

On to Amn. And, hopefully, more thorough and satisfying coverage.

 

Best,

 

A.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Not that rusty, huh, Alesia?  Keep rocking in Amn!

 

Btw. Confession: I've never done Durlag's Tower.

 

It has some its own, special... attraction. My confession - I can't resist its draw, so I always make it through. You might want to visit it someday - it's definitely worthy of your attention and time 

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

Arcadia, Half-Elven Fighter/Mage: BG1 Overview (Part 2)

 

I mentioned earlier that F/Ms have it easy in BG1. That's especially true in the endgame sequence.

My first ever PC playing p&p AD&D back ~ 1979 was a Fighter/Magic User.  Hmmm. Thanks, good food for thought.  CKT

[Alesia_BH]

Not that rusty, huh, Alesia?  Keep rocking in Amn!

 

Thanks Serg. As mentioned earlier, the rust can't really be seen in the posts, save the Drasus fights and a few extra precautions, like the Pro Fire against Mulahey. It's there though. I definitely find myself thinking a lot more about routing choices and spell slot allocations, for instance. Things that would have been intuitive to me a year ago require consideration now. Hopefully that won't become a problem. I'm thinking with an F/M it'll be less of an issue because pre-buffs and weapons based immunities can minimize the need for timely, intuitive counters.

 

It has some its own, special... attraction. My confession - I can't resist its draw, so I always make it through. You might want to visit it someday - it's definitely worthy of your attention and time 

 

I can understand that. For me, Durlag's and Watcher's just feel like crazy detours. Given that my PC is basically supposed to be saving the world, I just can't bring myself to say: "Hey! I've got an idea! Let's spend a month in a massive and lethal dungeon!"

 

Watcher's is great though, and I'm sure Durlag's is, too. Just a couple days ago, I saw a BG poll which asked players what their favorite dungeon was. Durlag's won by a landslide. I should definitely do it.

 

Anyhoo. Cheers to those who have tackled Durlag's here- especially the Durlag's adventurer of the hour: CKT!

 

Best,

 

A.

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

Not that rusty, huh, Alesia?  Keep rocking in Amn!

 

It has some its own, special... attraction. My confession - I can't resist its draw, so I always make it through. You might want to visit it someday - it's definitely worthy of your attention and time 

I eliminate the experience point gap & clean out every other stop in BG/ToTSC before going to DsT (Ice island, Balduran, etc).  There is a bunch of experience there & I like it going into the final battle & BGII/ToB.

 

Now excuse me while I geek out:  DsT is really a medieval keep that derived from the older dirt & timber Motte & Bailey Castles. The Keep (tower - or Donjon) is the last line of defense.  The Bailey is the courtyard outside the keep but inside the Curtain Wall. DsT has a typical Drawbridge & Barbican. Inside the Drawbridge is the Portcullis (metal gate) covered by the Gate Towers & the Breastwork between them - all designed to protect the Keep. The Battlements (from which the Skeleton's rain down arrows & the Bastions (towers in the curtain wall) all make this a typical European/Crusader Castle...which is why I love this adventure & the Gnoll Stonghold so much.  

 

Btw, I met a guy on a plane last week who builds games & is very familiar w/Baldur's Gate. I'm talking w/him about writing a mod to make a secondary Gnoll Stronghold adventure similar to DsT that leads thru several increasingly harder levels, maybe even to a portal to the 422d layer of the abyss where Yeenoghu, Demon Lord of Gnolls resides. It could also lead to layer 421 where Doresain, Demon Lord of Ghouls resides because Doresain is a vassal of Yeenoghu.  I don't know yet just playing around w/ideas now. There are also Aspects of Demon Lords, namely their earthly form, which are still very dangerous & could serve as the final battle like the Demon Knight in DsT.  Oh well, that's a long way off but stay tuned. Of course, I'd have him make this for Tutu b/c too many of the mods I like are not available in EE, e.g., my favorites are Hard Times, Level 1 NPCs, MegaMod Kits, Randomizer, etc., none of which I think are usable w/EE.  I think SCS is but that's another I prefer.  

 

Now, to Level 4 baby! Bring on the demon Knight for an ass whoopin'! (then it'll take me a week to complete the write up - :l  lol

 

CKT

[Charlestonian Knight Templar]

...I can understand that. For me, Durlag's and Watcher's just feel like crazy detours. Given that my PC is basically supposed to be saving the world, I just can't bring myself to say: "Hey! I've got an idea! Let's spend a month in a massive and lethal dungeon!"

I use the time after the PC is accused of murder in Chapter 6 & escapes the Candlekeep Catacombs to 'lay low' for a while 'saving the world' by defeating evil wherever it's found from northern Amn through Ulgoth's Beard (but outside Baldur's Gate). I figure he begins in the south, farther from the reach of the FF) & slowly works north until he feels strong enough to face his accusers in  BG. CKT