16394 replies to this topic

[Blackraven]

Congratulations Aasim! I like your Blackguard kit, hopefully you'll have a long and successful BG2 run with it

Good progress Grond0. Nice tactics against the Red Wizards. I haven't fought them in a a long while (considering them too dangerous)..

[Aasim]

Congratulations Aasim! I like your Blackguard kit, hopefully you'll have a long and successful BG2 run with it

I'll upload it tomorrow; so anybody can play it. I find him neat, altough he lacks the sheer melee prowess of some other fighter kits. Posion does make up for it however. I was thinking about granting him a custom HLA - whenever he kills something, he'd get healed for a few HP. 

[Grond0]

I get them regularly too - but since I am either vanilla or easytutu, I take no damage, so rather meaningless unless I want a pretty picture. : )

I think they have been more frequent in this game than normally.  That might be partly a matter of perception, as I've been paying attention to them, and also partly the reality that I've not avoided them (while I would often rest or leave the area during rainfall in a solo game).

[Grond0]

Wrecking Crew {13} - dwarf fighters (update 5)

 

On the top floor of Durlag's Kirinhale eventually left it too long to go ethereal.

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I'm not sure if they'll come back to do the underground levels, but for now the gang was finished with Durlag's.  

 

Moving on to Firewine Ruins they offered Meilum a fair (well, fairish) fight.  

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For Kahrk they spread out to absorb a number of chaos, horrors, flame arrows etc.  They'd successfully done that without losses and his initial buffs had dropped when he went invisible and refused to reappear.  After resting to heal they returned to the area to have another go.  This time when he appeared Carlo immediately used the invisibility ring to disappear and wait for mirrors to evaporate.  That helped somewhat, but it was still a tricky fight with 3 characters affected by chaos and another by slow at one point.  There was a lot of detailed movement to try and keep away from the permanently hasted ogre mage, but they did eventually manage to work their way through his stoneskins - just as he finally died from an overdose of blasts from the Ring of Energy.

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After resting they returned to Firewine.  A sneak attack killed Bentan, but there was no reputation penalty there.  However, they did lose 10 for doing the same to Poe.  The reason for delaying so long going to Firewine was less to do with Kahrk than the fact that I hate the Firewine Ruins.  However, in the gang went anyway.  Carlo was given protection against fire and lightning using green scrolls and went to trigger all the traps while the others lagged behind.  To replace damage done by other types of traps he used a regeneration potion for the first time and then topped that up with invulnerability on meeting Lendarn.  The mage retreated, but an ogre mage followed Carlo to where the others could attack.  

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Back again Carlo managed to corner Lendarn.  The mage had numerous magic missiles, but couldn't reduce Carlo's HPs quickly enough to protect his own skin.

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The only wilderness areas not yet cleared were Ulcaster and Larswood.  The former soon saw Icharyd on his way before his call lightnings could do much damage.

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The Wolf of Ulcaster managed to scare Bugsy and generate some ghouls just before he died.  

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However, the others were quickly able to finish them off and go to rescue Bugsy.

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The final area before the Bandit Camp was Larswood and the gang fully explored that before showing themselves to Teven.  At the Camp they had an initial fight with Tazok before he tried to give up.  However, as often happens he didn't run in a straight line away and paid the penalty.  

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After a rest they attacked one of the Black Talons and then conducted a run and shoot campaign until Venkt arrived.  He seemed to think that mirror images would be enough to keep him safe until he cast another spell - that tactic might work in a solo game, but it's not a good idea against Al's gang (a couple of fireballs backed up the missile damage there)!

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With so many archers attacking at once the criticals mounted up on Carlo and Baby Face took over the rearguard position to finish off the initial enemies.  Taugosz had surprisingly not got there in time to join in the main fun and the Crew had to retrace their steps a bit to find their armour upgrade.  

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They finished off the relatively few remaining enemies in the area, though didn't do much looting before leaving.  

 

In Beregost they were looking for a house to burgle - with a party I'm happy to have one slow poison, but would like a horror as well - when Lamalha turned up.  She quickly realised though she should have picked on someone her own size and the attackers evaporated with just a backstab and a smite to show for it.  

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They remembered to complete their burgling before resting and have just stocked up on ammunition for the journey to the Cloakwood.

 

Al - L7, 82 HPs, 419 kills, ***** longbow / * long sword

Carlo - L7, 88 HPs, 329 kills, 0 deaths, **** flail / ** sling

Baby Face - L7, 61 HPs (-14 from Claw), 364 kills, 0 deaths, **** 2-handed sword / ** crossbow

Bugsy - L7, 74 HPs, 202 kills, 1 death, **** katana / ** dart

Vito - L7, 70 HPs, 319 kills, 1 death, **** halberd / ** shortbow

Mad Dog - L7, 69 HPs, 229 kills, 0 deaths, ***** axe / * 2-weapon

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 82 - (update 2)

Petra, half-elf fighter/mage/thief (Grond0) & Ayce, human dark moon monk (Gate70)

 

A generally good session today saw this pairing progressing nicely.

 

They started off by asking Greywolf to donate his sword to Ayce before moving through the Nashkel Mines.  Even with only 10% skill in detect traps Petra was able to remove most of the traps on the way down to Mulahey.  The cleric was floored by a stinking cloud and then blinded by Ayce,

Spoiler

but somehow was still able to open a conversation and summon some allies - not that they helped him much after all the kobolds went to sleep on the job.

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There was another stinking cloud for the amazons, meaning they all fell easily.  

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However, the same was not true for Nimbul - he was tackled without spells and managed to scare Ayce before sending a couple of lots of magic missiles into him.  Petra came forward just in time to attract his attention and prevent the third lot of MMs from killing Ayce, but was quite happy to see a soldier steal the credit for Nimbul's death just before her staff connected.

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Tranzig managed an acid arrow, but lost out to frozen fists

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before the duo travelled to the lighthouse area.  A potion of clarity allowed Ayce to melee the sirines, preventing them from using their arrows of biting.  

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Inside the pirate cave Petra remembered to disarm the first traps before shooting golems behind cover of a stealthed Ayce (though the latter took one blow when noticing too late that his stealth had failed).  Petra then hurried towards the final golem.  Ayce tried to stop him to warn him about the next trap, but too late - fortunately Petra saved anyway.  

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The golem was then shot without problems allowing Petra to boost his HPs a bit with the tome.

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The final encounters were in the area to the south.  Petra managed to convince Ayce to take on the Doomsayer using damage from his wands.  3 blasts from the wand of frost and numerous ones from the wand of magic missiles took down the Doomsayer, who failed to connect even once on the speedy monk running him round.

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Brage then offered a lift back to civilisation.

 

Stats:

Petra, fighter 4 / mage 4 / thief 5, 43 HPs, 97 kills

Ayce, dark moon monk 6, 42 HPs, 59 kills, 0 deaths

[Grimwald the Wise]

Blame it on old age.

I have forgotten how Grond0 posts the links without showing the pictures.

 

I have a massive post coming on and only want to show the images to those who want to see them.

 

Please remind me.

 

Testing:

 

Special http://i1108.photobu...nt/Baldr077.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
; Spoiler.

 

It works though not quite right.

[Aasim]

Special BBCode; Spoiler.

[Grimwald the Wise]

After the ambush which left Gorion dead, I set off for Nashkel. Just north of there I was given a ring that was to prove invaluable.
On returning to Beregost, I was set upon by an assassin by the name of Karlat and I was delighted when Silke helped me against him.

Special http://i1108.photobu...nt/Baldr052.jpg

Karlat followed me and I was forced to use the ring to get another ally in the form of Algernon.

Special http://i1108.photobu...nt/Baldr054.jpg

Upon being charmed, Karlat killed Algernon before attacking me. Fortunately he did not pick up the cloak, otherwise it would have been curtains for me.
Realising its significance, I acquired it and used it to charm a number of guards who then gave me the protection that I needed.

Eventually I heard the sound of Karlat killing Silke.

Special http://i1108.photobu...nt/Baldr060.jpg

Meanwhile I had to charm some innocents when attacked by spiders:

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They were not however strong enough to defeat them. I therefore enlisted the help of Morninglords, Morninglord Guards and Morningmasters some of whom died.

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After dealing with Karlat, Silke and the spiders, I headed north and met various enemies:

These were unexpected so early in the game:

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In the friendly arms area I came into conflict with some caravan guards who provided me with good equipment cheaply:

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I helped the priestess against Sonner and then came face to face with a hostile ankheg. I won.

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I headed south and fought first Vax:

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And then Zal.

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Then came a cave bear:

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Followed by Krumm and then an ogre-mage.

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And then some assassins at the gnoll stronghold:

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Returning to Nashkel, I came across yet another assassin:

Special http://i1108.photobu...nt/Baldr077.jpg

 

After going ankheg hunting I returned the body of his son to farmer Brun:

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After killing the Ankhegs I went to the basilisk area where I killed some more bad guys:

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After that I killed Bassilus:

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After taking suitable potions I then went after the sirene:

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And killed the flesh golems:

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And the carrion creepers:

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I needed help to kill Shoal and partner:

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I then helped Prism against Greywolf:

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With a little help, I saved a boy from a baby wyvern:

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I then took on the mines:

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And killed Mulahey:

Special http://i1108.photobu...nt/Baldr090.jpg

 

To be continued.

[Grond0]

Special BBCode; Spoiler.

Aasim is referring to the box with a green line across it next to the rubber on the tool bar - this allows you to choose various special codes from a drop-down list (including spoiler).  

Spoiler

Anything you put into the text box using that will be inserted into the post as spoiler.

 

Alternatively you could type the entries in yourself.  Spoiler starts with {spoiler} and ends with {/spoiler} - just replace the curly brackets with square ones to make it work.

 

Note that when you edit or quote a post you are shown the actual text rather than the special effects shown in the original post - which makes it easier to see what codes are being used to determine particular effects.

[Grond0]

Wrecking Crew {13} - dwarf fighters (update 5)

 

In the Cloakwood I intended to help Aldeth, but used the wrong character to talk to him initially and lost the chance to start that encounter - instead he learnt a final lesson about the dangers of being rude to a group of heavily-armed dwarves.  

 

After clearing the first area they moved on to the second.  Vito was poisoned there, which was potentially bad news - particularly when an ambush prevented the gang from resting after the initial enemies were dead.  However, the poison ran out earlier than I expected before they could try and rest again.

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They briefly showed themselves to Centeol and were lucky when only a portion of the forces inside followed them back out.  The enemies still managed to poison Mad Dog though, but this time they were able to rest successfully once everyone was dead.  

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After more resting to heal up they went back in to sort out Centeol and get Baby Face his sword upgrade.

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A wyvern and spider ambush on the way to the third area looked dangerous when 2 characters were webbed and a wyvern seemed persistent in its attempts to hit one of them - but it was eventually dealt with before damage to Bugsy got critical.

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The druids then caused little trouble: Amarande's buffs kept him going a while, but a couple of trips up and down the stairs to split him up from summons did the job.  

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Resting in the area proved a problem, with continual ambushes, until they found that a grove of subterranean trees provided a safe hiding place.

 

In the fourth area the hamadryad's stoneskins allowed her to cast a couple of charms, but Carlo saved both times.  

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However, she pulled back from the grave using PW:crash, requiring the party to try again.  This time Carlo was charmed, but that didn't really help her much.  The wyverns in the area were outclassed.

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At the mine the gang cleared the surrounding area before going to find Drasus & co.  They were pulled back towards the bridge, where Drasus was killed while the mages were still buffing.  

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Carlo was then confused, as was Vito shortly afterwards and the others ran away briefly to ensure damage spells couldn't target a group.  Vito took various spell damage, putting him low on HPs and the others returned to intervene - only for Vito to immediately get confused again just after recovering his senses from the first dose!  The others were able to save him from some summoned monsters

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and then concentrate enough damage to finish off Rezdan while Baby Face did baby-sitting duty on Vito (standing next to him to ensure he had a THAC0 penalty with his bow).  

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Genthore was the next to go before Kysus' last stand ended just as Vito regained his senses again.

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After a lot of resting to heal up (look at the surrounding body count), the party is finally ready to explore the Cloakwood Mine.

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Al - L7, 82 HPs, 479 kills, ***** longbow / * long sword

Carlo - L7, 88 HPs, 395 kills, 0 deaths, **** flail / ** sling

Baby Face - L7, 61 HPs (-14 from Claw), 421 kills, 0 deaths, **** 2-handed sword / ** crossbow

Bugsy - L7, 74 HPs, 231 kills, 1 death, **** katana / ** dart

Vito - L7, 70 HPs, 366 kills, 1 death, **** halberd / ** shortbow

Mad Dog - L7, 69 HPs, 287 kills, 0 deaths, ***** axe / * 2-weapon

[Aasim]

Great stuff Grond0 - keep it up.

[Grimwald the Wise]

Aasim is referring to the box with a green line across it next to the rubber on the tool bar - this allows you to choose various special codes from a drop-down list (including spoiler).  

Spoiler

Anything you put into the text box using that will be inserted into the post as spoiler.

 

Alternatively you could type the entries in yourself.  Spoiler starts with {spoiler} and ends with {/spoiler} - just replace the curly brackets with square ones to make it work.

 

Note that when you edit or quote a post you are shown the actual text rather than the special effects shown in the original post - which makes it easier to see what codes are being used to determine particular effects.

 

I've been posting all these years and never come across the BBCode toolbar before. I'll have to make myself a document about that.

 

Perhaps I will have to investigate all the other icons that I have never used as well.

[Blackraven]

Dagny, Gnome Cleric/Illusionist (take 3), 1st BG1 report

I like Dagny, so I started another run with her a few days ago. I've got a new install, essesntially my standard install with Ascension, SCS I and II v21, aTweaks, the mods for Rogues (Rebalancing, Song & Silence, Expanded Thief Stronghold), the UBs, Wheels of Prohepcy, Alternatives and Oversight, Level1NPCs for NPC customization, and a couple of smaller quest and item mods (BGQE, Sirine's Call, Grey Clan, Quest Pack, Item Upgrades), tweaks (BGTTweaks, BG2Tweaks), banter mods. Also the BG1NPCSoA mod that should make Yeslick, Garrick, Branwen, Skie, Kagain, Faldorn, Xzar, Monty, Quayle & Tiax available as joinable NPCs in SoA with banter and all. I'm quite curious about the latter mod.

A bit unwilling to rush her through BG1 again as a solo character, I decided to have Dagny seek company this time. Dagny is a carefree, non-commital little lass at heart, and gets along best with similar folk. But I also wanted to do an arcane-heavy run, so she'll have to compromise a bit on party composition for my sake.

Here's a screenshot of her character record at level 1 (for those who didn't meet her before):

Spoiler

She had a bit more XP than normal when she left Candlekeep because I imported her character file that already came with some XP.

She took comfort in Imoen's company shortly after Gorion's tragic death. The two girls first traveled to the FAI, which had been Gorion's specific instruction. Ever keen-eyed, Dagny found a Ring of Wizardry by the gate. As a Charming Rogue, Imoen gets a casting of Charm Person at level 1. She used it effectively to make Tarnesh empty his spellbook in the air and on himself before she finished the panicked wizard with a critical in melee range.

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As a pair of female Forgotten Realms Robin Hoods, the girls helped many a commoner in Beregost, but robbed the affluent Travenhursts of some of their valuables. The gals also met two guys in the center of town, Tiax and Garrick. Tiax wouldn't stay with the party, as the girls considered him insane, but his Ghast helped Garrick out of the employment of his evil mistress Silke and into the party.

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West of Beregost the trio destroyed a Skeleton (with Shielded Dagny doing the tanking). Thalantyr used its skull as a component for a spell that would supposedly restore Melicamp the rooster to human form, but unfortunately something went wrong in the casting of that spell.

Garrick (plain Bard as modified by RR; RR Skald again not working properly) got along soon and well with Dagny and Imoen. To me his personality, banter and voiceset more than make up for his alleged lack of usefulness. The friends traveled to the South Coast (via Red Canyons and Lighthouse Area), where they protected Charleston Nib before they lifted to Nashkel with Brage. The Nashkel inn was not visited, as Dagny wanted to have lvl 2 priest spells (Hold Person) first. Oublek, BGQE babysitting, and Bjornin's Half-Ogres west of Nashkel boosted the party's reputation.
Karlat was blinded and slain before the trio took a trip to the farmland north of the FAI. There, Dagny cast Sanctuary to purloin an Ankheg treasure hoard, reunited farmer Brun with (the corpse of) his son, and accepted a commission for three fishermen to slay the evil priestess Tenya. After receiving a light beating from the party Tenya told them that the fishermen were the real criminals. So Dagny & Co ended up retrieving a bowl for the girl to make amends. 

Way down south at the Nashkel Carnival Quayle, a Gnome with the same profession as Dagny, joined the party, and a retired scholar named Archibald gave Garrick a tome he had always wanted to own.

Spoiler

The book referenced a Bard named Myr'Cutio who was said to have dwelled in the Ulcaster area. Garrick asked the others whether they were interested in going there, and was answered in the affirmative. However they had other business to attend to first, such as eliminating Greywolf,

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and Bassilus,

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and Zargal and his Hobgoblin lackeys.

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These dealings provided enchanted weaponry for Garrick, Dagny and Imoen respectively. (Quayle already had an enchanted Flail, from Sonner. I didn't change his stats, but he has 13 STR in my setup, which allows him to wield Flails.)

In the eastern Cloudpeaks Dagny's and Quayle's Hold Persons and Blindnesses made the party prevail with ease over Sendai and her cronies, and over Vax and Zal.

Spoiler

(The oil of speed that Vax was about to quaff was actually secured as well.)

Further west Krumm and Caldo were also Held and slain. Three Winter Wolves fell as well, and Ludrug lost a duel against Garrick (of all people). Near the Gnoll Stronghold, Gnarl and Hairtooth fell to Imoen's arrows. The Gnolls themselves were butchered, with some difficulty as Dagny and Quayle, each with 18 DEX (Quayle thanks to the Gauntlets) and Shield spells were passable tanks at best, and they didn't have enough Sleep spells to knock out all the Gnolls.

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Dynaheir was returned to Minsc and left in his care.

Neira (Hold Person) and Zordral (Blindness, disrupting Magic Missiles, and Hold Person) were the party's next victims.

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Imoen and Korax, inspired by Garrick, were the heroes in Mutamin's garden.

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Dagny did a spell-scribing session after that, with her INT boosted by Gellana's potions. Unfortunately there are few of those potions for a party full of casters of barely above average INT. (Quayle's 17 INT isn't bad but he gets a penalty for copying spells from other schools than Illusionism.) I've grudgingly accepted that several scrolls will be lost this game. In BG2 it's different because the temples sell 13 mind focusing and 13 genius potions each.

Preparations were made for an ambush on Kirian & Co, with a Cloudkill rendering them unconscious, and with Lindin Blinded and Peter Held, but a wrong click in the dialogue with Kirian made her walk off before she could be released of her Golden Girdle.

Spoiler

The party left the others and traveled to the nearby Ulcaster ruins. There they had to defeat an overwhelming number of Hobgoblins and Skeletons (Dagny used her Turn Undead ability to make the enemy more manageable), before they could seek out Myr'Cutio, and when they did meet the latter, or at least his spectre, they learned that he was hostile and that they weren't ready for him.

Spoiler

The companions decided to see if they could become more experienced in Black Alaric's cave. They didn't have enough enchanted ranged ammo, so Dagny tried to take advantage of the fact that the Flesh Golems didn't attack all the time. Her invisible companions could protect her when necessary. This went quite well, until the sixth and last Golem she would slay in order for Quayle and Dagny to reach Cleric levl 5 (and thus get Animate Dead), showed her she shouldn't be messing with Golems.

Spoiler

Back at the Ulcaster Ruins, the area was still infested with Skeletons and Zombies. They were so many that Garrick decided to use the Wand of Fire Dagny had found in the Ankheg hoard. Due to bad targeting he not only dispatched the undead but also nearly himself.

Spoiler

I wonder if it was his leadership position and 20 CHA or his song that kept the Bard from panicking there.

When more undead and Hobgoblins were dispatched the party tried their hand at a tentative, second assault on Myr'Cutio. Summoned Skeletons were sent in to occupy the spectre, and Quayle cast Silence at the enemy from a distance, a brave act that Myr'Cutio retalliated against with a faster cast, highly damaging Skull Trap.

Spoiler

The Silence did 'connect', but Myr'Cutio came after the party with a MGoI up. He proved to have MR when exposed to the Wand of Fire, had good AC and was immune to normal weapons or missiles, so the companions had no way to finish him before the Silence expired. A rare moment of clarity on my part made Dagny protect her friends and herself from Fear, which may have been a lifesaver.

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After a lot of running around, and occasional hits by Dagny, Skeletons (do their weapons hit as +1? I didn't think so) and Imoen, Myr'Cutio was no more.

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Garrick took the spectre's stylish Bardic Chainmail:

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And he told Dagny of his brother Marek, which made me wonder if this is the same Marek as the one we should meet in Baldurs Gate.

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Thalantyr produced the Improved Shield amulet (AC4, +1 saves, no Shield effect though). The party then went Ankheg hunting, relying on Sleeps and Skeletons.

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The Nashkel Mines were next. At the second level, a level I normally sneak through, Imoen got busted by a couple of Kobolds when failing to hide, but Dagny hadn't changed her memorized level 1 spells since the Ankheg hunt, so she had plenty of Sleeps to help deal with the vermin.

Spoiler

The same spell worked wonders on the bridge on the third level as well, as did the Wand of Fire. (I've become less parsimonious with expendable items. The Wand of Fire wasn't strictly necessary here, but I just couldn't be bothered with taking on dozens of Kobolds one at a time.)

The Kobold Shaman and the Chieftain, backed by a number of Elites, were managed with a Stinking Cloud and a Scorcher-charge of the Wand of Fire. The Shaman lasted quite long actually, and survived the Scorcher, but his only potentially dangerous spell was a Horror. When he targeted Imoen with it, she went Invisible (and saved anyway).
Having had enough of the Kobolds, Dagny Silenced Mulahey while he was still blue-circled so that he couldn't summon his minions. He was then Held and finished off.

Spoiler

Xan, Fighter/Enchanter, became the party's fifth member.

Outside, the Narcillicus fight was a bit messy after the wizard saved against the Wand of Paralyzation; several healing potions were lost in order for everyone to stay alive. But I got a second chance after a crash to desktop, and had a much cleaner result with Skeletons doing most of the work.

Spoiler

Unlike the first time, Dagny got Blinded by her foe. While she had to wait to regain her sight, Xan used a scroll of PfUndead to deal with the Ghasts and the Revenant.

Nimbul was a bit sketchy after the party failed to retreat on time to leave him for the guards take care of. They fled to the garrison, with a Slowed Garrick sauntering behind the others. The party expected Nimbul to follow them inside, so they summoned two Skellies. However Nimbul never dared enter the garrison, so more Skeletons were summoned outside. They soaked up several of the assassin's spells, before Imoen finished him off with a Magic Missile.

Spoiler

In Beregost the party summoned Skeletons to deal with Tranzig, though he summoned his own Monsters. He also escaped from a Stinking Cloud's AoE but a Spook made him easy pickings after all.

Spoiler

On the North Coast the Skeletons were a bit too effective: they killed Shoal's Water Weird, which was pretty cool, but they also killed Shoal before she could tell the party she didn't want to fight any longer. So no Droth and no Helmet of Defense for Xan.

Spoiler

The Ogres they left alone after about twelve Wolves came after the companions.

Wand of Fire scorchers, one of which managed to injure Garrick, finished the Battle Horrors guarding the entrance to Durlag's tower, while inside the tower Imoen took out the Ghasts with ranged attacks and the protection of invisible party members. Skeletons killed the Basilisks, and Xan - after a long game of hide and seek - slew Kirinhale. Looting the upper levels and the cellars yielded the companions sufficient gold to purchase the Robe of the Neutral Archmagi and the Claw of Kazgaroth. They also bought a Wand of Fire from Erdane, sold it again after it turned out that it had no scorcher charges, only fireballs, and bought it again, fully recharged with 50 charges of each ability.

After a night at Feldepost's the crew got ambushed by Lamalha and her friends. Dagny stunned Lamalha with her Wand of Paralyzation, leaving her in Xan's care. Quayle Held Zeela (the other Cleric) and invisible Telka. Garrick dispelled that invisibility and together with Imoen he attacked the two amazons, later joined by Xan after the Elf was done with Lamalha. Dagny Blinded and then Held Maneira; she was eventually slain by Xan.

Spoiler

In the Wood of Sharp Teeth Druids and Bandits died. (This included Teven and his band and Raiken & Co., even though I think Raiken is kind of likeable, for a bandit.) 

What was most peculiar to me was that there were no Black Talons. Instead the companions ran into a Wraith Spider, and while they were resting they got attacked by a Giant Spider that Webbed Garrick before the others killed it. On her way to the Bandit Camp, Dagny survived this:

Spoiler

This forest had a very Cloakwoody feel to it.

Buffed with a potion of defense, two potions of fire protection, and an oil of speed, Dagny put the Wand of Fire to good use in the Bandit Camp:

Spoiler

The party spoke with Ender Sai about the Iron Throne and their Cloakwood base, returned to the FAI to relax and to trade with Bentley and Gellana, and started preparations for their foray into Cloakwood.

[Grond0]

I like Dagny, so I started another run with her a few days ago. 

So do I.  I hope your (slightly) slimmed down install enables you to take her on a long run.

[Grond0]

Wrecking Crew {13} - dwarf fighters (update 5)

 

In the Cloakwood Mine Hareishan's mirrors and stoneskins were no match for the incoming attacks and his guards didn't do much better.

Spoiler

 

On the next level down the ogre mage managed only a chromatic orb.  Carlo used the invisibility ring for the first time in a while to try and prevent Natasha getting into combat until all her guards were dead, but she scared him off with a detect invisible.  

Spoiler

Once the others were in position though Carlo went into the attack and Natasha proved to be another mage not realising that attack is the best form of defence.

Spoiler

 

After clearing the rest of that area, along with the traps near Davaeorn, the gang went back to the top floor to rest - producing another large stack of bodies while healing.  Finally coming back Carlo showed himself to the battle horrors and then used the ring of invisibility to park them out of the way (thinking about it afterwards I probably should have killed them for the XP, but I was just concentrating on reducing risks at the time).  When Davaeorn teleported himself to the others he was then faced with the same problem as previous mages of too many attacks (standard APR for the group is 17) for his defences to handle even after using a potion of defence.

Spoiler

 

After flooding the mine they dodged Kamuzu (to keep the reputation increase for later) and travelled back to a temple to make a small donation so that Al learnt slow poison.  

 

Finally arriving in Baldur's Gate they renewed stocks of missile weapons and set about clearing that, starting with the mages in Sorcerous Sundries - helped by a bit of friendly fire from Niemain there.  

Spoiler

As with other areas they will fully explore all main map and underground areas and do all significant encounters in houses.  For the moment though they're concentrating on the main quest.  They did just complete Arkion and Nemphre and then go to do the poison quest - Lothander provided another pair of boots of speed there,

Spoiler

while Marek demonstrated good missile resistance and actually persuaded most of the group to close in to melee in order to finish him off.

Spoiler

 

After clearing the Seven Suns the gang bought a few exploding arrows each and went to the Iron Throne.  The first round of explosions killed 3 of the casters and the gang switched to standard weapons to finish the job.  One of the Shennaras was still alive and backstabbed Baby Face

Spoiler

- he got revenge using the Ring of Energy.  Meanwhile Gardush was proving too strong for Mad Dog and he had to call on others to help with the tanking to finish the job.

Spoiler

 

After resting and selling equipment I decided to get one more upgrade - the Helm & Cloak providing the Helm of Balduran and a +2 axe for Mad Dog.  He was in the front row and again took heavy damage from Gretek, but after the latter was stunned by a dart from Bugsy the others quickly folded and Mad Dog took his revenge.

Spoiler

 

The gang reported to Duke Eltan and are poised to travel to Candlekeep - where a dangerous surprise will be waiting.

 

Al - L7, 82 HPs, 524 kills, ***** longbow / * long sword

Carlo - L7, 88 HPs, 440 kills, 0 deaths, **** flail / ** sling

Baby Face - L7, 61 HPs (-14 from Claw), 473 kills, 0 deaths, **** 2-handed sword / ** crossbow

Bugsy - L7, 74 HPs, 248 kills, 1 death, **** katana / ** dart

Vito - L7, 70 HPs, 390 kills, 1 death, **** halberd / ** shortbow

Mad Dog - L7, 69 HPs, 314 kills, 0 deaths, ***** axe / * 2-weapon

[Golden28]

Nice upload BR! Please keep Dagny safe.

 

Cheers!

[Aasim]

Such bloody endeavors Grond0 . I usually set sail to Spellhold and don't have half the kill rate you do.

 

@Blackraven - GL with your new install - hope you find it satisfying enough.

[corey_russell]

Yeenter the Dwarf entering Trilogy no-reload challenge...

Traveling with: Kagain, Montaron, Viconia, Imoen

Permanently Dead: Xzar

 

Setup:

Vanilla BG 1 (e.g. NOT EasyTutu)

Core Rules at all times

Tales of the Sword Coast and official TotSC patch

no mods, "gore" on (characters can be chunked)

 

Restriction: I am Role-playing that Yeenter believes Hell is life on Faerun. Thus, if one of his party dies, he doesn't have the heart to resurrect said party member, because at last, they've escaped Hell. Therefore, if any NPCs die they will stay dead.

 

 

Yeenter joined up with Imoen, Xzar and Montaron on the first map. They found a diamond, and in the area to the East they found a magical protection ring, given to Yeenter. Then they traveled south to get Kagain. Afterwards, they headed south to get to Nashkel so Xzar and Montaron would be happy.

 

The party then tried to get their last party member, Viconia. So far so good. It was time to head to Beregost to get some equipment. However, we got 6 hobgoblin and 6 gibberling ambush - Xzar was targeted by the hobgoblin archer and quickly died. The party did manage to win the fight though. We will leave that last spot open, as recruiting another mage will likely lead to the same thing (the mage dying in an ambush - vanilla BG 1 ambushes can be very dangerous, such as the 12 archer/4 worg ambush, etc.)

 

In Beregost, we got full plate for Yeenter. Viconia is using the Ankheg plate, while Kagain is using plate mail armor. We took out some ogrillions, so that Bjornin would give a shield to Kagain.

 

We definitely want to get the DEX gauntlets for Kagain as soon as possible. So next session the party will head to the Gnoll Fortress.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 82 - (update 3)

Petra, half-elf fighter/mage/thief (Grond0) & Ayce, human dark moon monk (Gate70)

 

Some more good work today saw this pair moving pretty smoothly towards the final stages, with just one potential disaster in the Cloakwood Mine.

 

They started off by picking up Samuel and taking him back to the FAI.  Tarnesh was blinded there, but a guard took the glory for the kill.

Spoiler

 

Moving north the ankhegs were attacked.  The first 4 all fell to sleep spells, but Petra's last 2 of those were resisted.  However, the ankhegs struggled to hit Ayce anyway and he was only damaged once while finishing them off - the final one having to overcome the handicaps of both being blinded and facing a blurred opponent!

Spoiler

 

After buying cloak, amulet and ring at Ulgoth's Beard it was time for the bandit camp.  Sleep was effective there as well, with a web accounting for Taugosz.  

Spoiler

Inside the tent a stinking cloud made it possible to blind all the opponents.

Spoiler

 

A trip through the Cloud Peaks picked up the charisma tome before seeking out some more high value XP at Durlag's Tower.  3 battle horrors failed to close in fast enough to avoid wand scorchers,

Spoiler

while a casting of PfP each allowed the basilisks on the roof to be meleed.  

Spoiler

The tome there was also picked up, although it's not of much use to this pair.

 

There wasn't much action in the Cloakwood, although Petra couldn't resist trying to backstab the hamadryad.  The first time he closed in on her she successfully charmed Ayce and Petra withdrew to avoid both of them being charmed at once (ending the game).  However, once the charm wore off there was no escape.  

Spoiler

At the Mine stinking cloud once more allowed the whole party to be blinded, although Rezdan saved several times while Ayce muttered in the background something on the lines of "just shoot him you silly bugger".  

Spoiler

The duo avoided the mages on the way down to Davaeorn where Petra successfully disarmed 4 traps - and Ayce said just too late "shouldn't there be 5".  

Spoiler

With HPs now very low Petra stayed out of the way while Ayce used a potion of magic blocking and closed with the mage.

Spoiler

 

In the City the duo did the poison quest.  That provided a bonus of some more boots of speed when Lothander strangely found it hard to run away - perhaps the 8 grease spells cast by Petra might have had something to do with it .  

Spoiler

Ayce used the Greenstone Amulet for the first time to avoid being confused by Marek.  Petra tried to backstab and get away, but didn't move quickly enough to get out of spell range, but fortunately saved.  

Spoiler

Ramazith was cut down to get another tome and a RoP upgrade.  There was an amusing moment there when a ghast chased Petra out of the Tower, but on Gate70s computer it showed Biff the Understudy as doing the chasing - I wonder what Biff thought of having to take on that role .  The Helm & Cloak of Balduran were also acquired and Ayce will be aiming to complete their equipment needs by getting hold of the ogre gauntlets at the start of the next session.

 

Stats:

Petra, fighter 6 / mage 5 / thief 6, 61 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 212 kills

Ayce, dark moon monk 7, 45 HPs, 119 kills, 0 deaths

[corey_russell]

@Gate70, Grond0 - that was very funny with Biff the Understudy chasing Gate70 as a "ghast" - you don't really think of a ghast as a plot element, but apparently it is on Gate70's computer...

[corey_russell]

By the way I forgot to mention Yeenter had battled Neira - we had Kaigain move to the center of the room, so that only he might be held. Imoen used her magic missile wand, and Yeenter was throwing axes at Neira - Yeenter's throwing axe got the kill shot. I spent a LONG time rolling ( at least 30 minutes, maybe more. Many hundreds of re-rolls) to get the 18/00 strength - I wanted him to be strong as possible partly because I wanted him to use axes all the way until ToB (thus he needs to be strong enough to carry his own axes), as well as make him strong enough he can get the job done himself, should all the NPCs fall.

[Blackraven]

Glad to see ye entered the BG1 no-reload challenge again Corey. I hope your Dwarf will cope well with Hell on earth!

[corey_russell]

Glad to see ye entered the BG1 no-reload challenge again Corey. I hope your Dwarf will cope well with Hell on earth!

Thanks! If you think about it, BG 1 was super dangerous world to live in. In the area south of Beregost, there's a child walking around, yet not 30 paces away are two blood-thirsty ogrillions! Countless examples of this kind of thing in the BG 1 world. Traveling to another city to see your relative would be taking your life into your hands, even notwithstanding the threat from bandits as well as all the dangers in the country-side. Also they let just anybody buy fire wands or invisibility potions - potential for mass murder with the 1st, and nothing you own is secure with the threat from the 2nd. And I don't think Earth is Hell, just Faerun (the world where BG takes place). : )

[Blackraven]

Very true Corey, it's a jungle out there, though the city of Baldur's Gate is a haven of law and order (compared to Athkatla).

[corey_russell]

Very true Corey, it's a jungle out there, though the city of Baldur's Gate is a haven of law and order (compared to Athkatla).

Yet the City of Baldur's Gate is the very place anyone can buy fire wands! Not no-reload, but I've used those wands to slaughter the civilians in the city to see how long my party could last against the enforcers that would eventually arrive...those things are worse than guns of today! : )