16394 replies to this topic

[Grond0]

Phantasmic 6 {25} - monks party (update 1)

As a reminder I'm currently trying to get the monks to complete BG1 without using healing potions or antidotes and without any of them ever being killed on an SCS BGT installation. 

 

I've been very busy in the last few weeks, so haven't posted any progress, but I've still been running in the background with the odd half-hour here and there.  That's seen:

 

- the 22nd attempt ending when I was just too slow to move the monks away from Meilum after failing to stun him with a stealth attack.  The consolation there though was that HPs had been extremely poor up to then.

 

- the 23rd didn't last long thanks to a critical from a kobold commando arrow in an ambush.  The monks were still at 1st level at the time, which saved Phantom from death by the initial damage - but the fire damage from the arrow completed the job.

Spoiler

 

- the 24th attempt opened with a new tactic for me.  I normally don't allow NPCs to be recruited in my runs and, as a result, tend to kill Xzar and Montaron to get their equipment.  However, up to now I've always just run away from Imoen - this time her luck finally ran out.

Spoiler

After that the monks made relatively untroubled progress up to finishing off the basilisks, but Wraith (who had very low HPs) then fell to a one-shot critical from Lindin.

Spoiler

 

For the 25th I've been pretty careful to date and I don't think anyone's ever been particularly badly damaged.  That doesn't mean there's no risk as critical hits during ambushes can be a threat even quite late in the game - but the way I think of it is the monks have avoided particularly bad luck as opposed to needing any good luck .  Everyone's up to level 6 having made their usual sort of progress to date - Shoal, Meilum, basilisks, reputation quests (always avoiding routes where bandits or ogre magi might ambush them), shopping at Ulgoth's Beard, Durlag's Tower (exterior and first 3 levels), Nashkel Mine.  

 

They're currently in the process of clearing out the Cloud Peak Mountains.  I will eventually be aiming to have finished everything possible with the exception of Durlag's Tower - the number of traps there make progress both hard and tedious if you want to avoid any casualties.

 

Chimera - L6, 41 HPs, 105 kills

Spectre - L6, 37 HPs, 160 kills, 0 deaths

Phantom - L6, 33 HPs, 116 kills, 0 deaths

Wraith - L6, 54 HPs, 110 kills, 0 deaths

Spook - L6, 40 HPs, 100 kills, 0 deaths

Spirit - L6, 43 HPs, 98 kills, 0 deaths

HPs are generally low, though Wraith is the exception this time and she might be used as a lead character more than usual as a result.

[ussnorway]

Omt- 1,

 

Level 1:

 

Hear text as mp3,

 

 

I reached fai at night, only to be jumped by a wizard looking to make a quick buck by slitting me throat… fortunately I was flirting with the guards at the time he attacked but my luck changed when I was court trying to pickpocket a merchant in Beregost and we had to leave town quickly.

I decided to go west into Gnoll country to rescue a damsel (mostly for the easy loot) then what could have been a nasty ambush was unraveled by the timely arrival of a half-ork… unlike some I'm not racist against them, so he took the spot Minsc had and the experience gave Imoen the push to start learning magic.

 

Spoiler

 

I purchased a necklace of missiles and we explored the mines… mostly kobots and the odd trap which I managed well enough, until the cleric boss called in reinforcements but Dorn sorted it. Jaheria started getting on my back about our rep so I swapped the Mage we saved from the mines for a Cleric named Branwen and returned to Beregost were sticking up for another merchant wiped my zen debt and finally unlocked my next level.

[Dyara]

Hänsel & Gretel (Inquisitor / Undead Hunter) (& Imoen (Thief->Mage)) - Update 1

Actually this is the second attempt, the first one (not posted here) started very well but was more or less thrown away at the Ulcaster Ruins when the trio - despite knowing better - tried to fight the improved Wolf of Ulcaster (without undispellable immunity to fear this seems just suicide).

The initial post had ended with Hänsel, Gretel and Imoen cleansing Nashkell Mines of any kobolds and half-orc clerics. Instead of following the clues they had found in Mulahey's lair the trio went to Durlag's Tower. The Battle Horrors were the expected tough adversaries and fighting them took quite long as both the battle horrors and Hänsel and Gretel as well could hit only on criticals (the battle horrors however were far better at that, rolling quite a lot of 20s while Gretel rolled just two of them).

Spoiler

At first I wondered why Hänsel could hit on a 19 despite having a worse thac0 than Gretel but then I realized that it's the two-handed-weapon style that not just doubles the damage on a 19 but also makes it a guaranteed hit (didn't know that).

Inside the tower they explored the upper levels, taking the tome from the altar but ignoring both the Kirinhale and the ghost of Durlag's buddy Daital.

As for the tomes (or lum's machine later) it was decided that all the intelligence, wisdom and dexterity increments will go to Imoen (I will manually adjust her stats in BG2), strength, charisma and the first constitution will go to Hänsel while Gretel gets the second constitution. This is very different from all my previous runs where all stat increases went to the main char. It looks like Gretel gets the short end but actually she doesn't need anything but one constitution increase and she already has the highest stats.

In the basement of the tower Imoen triggered a trap confusing her a little bit. Quickly both Hänsel (instead of just dispelling the confusion) and Gretel hid in one of the small rooms but unfortunately Bayard wasn't that 'smart', became hostile and had to pay the price. The exploration of Durlag's labyrinth (and Imoen's life too) ended temporarily at a trap...

Spoiler

Unfortunately it was a repeating trap, fortunately the trap did cold damage (so with Gorion's belt Gretel should be safe) and it did not trigger when Gretel tried to gather Imoen's items but unfortunately a) Gretel hadn't room for all items (and Hänsel still felt the aftermath of the previous fight against some slimes and didn't want to risk drawing the attention of the nearby skeleton warrior by walking toward Gretel so she could hand over some of Imoen's items), B) the trap triggered when Gretel tried to return to Hänsel and c) the trap didn't do cold damage but electrical damage and Hänsel was wearing the boots of Talos. Fortunately however Gretel had enough hitpoints to survive. Hänsel and Gretel returned to Nashkell where Imoen was resurrected. To get Imoen to level 7 (so that she could dualclass to mage) the party explored all the areas in the south (becoming waylaid by some amazons and by molkar's group - none of them were real threats) and west...

Spoiler

When fighting the sirines Hänsel became feebleminded and confused while Imoen became charmed...


... switching Hänsel's and Gretel's position made fighting sirines much easier (as Hänsel could easily dispel any effects on Gretel)...

... and finally after disarming the traps inside Black Alaric's cave Imoen had enough experience to became a mage. At High Hedge Imoen (so far a mage without any spells but the two spells she got at mage level 1 as the party had collected lots of scrolls but had forgotten to buy some potions of genius to allow Imoen to scribe them safely) was provided with the Robe of the Good Archmagi. Still the journey had its dangerous moments...

Spoiler

Mutamin's Garden then saw the trio hunting basilisks...

Spoiler

The idea was to kill all the basilisks first, then go for Mutamin and finally take on Kirian's party but unfortunately Mutamin spoiled the plan by appearing and dispelling both Gretel's and Imoen's protection from petrification (and the party had just one potion of mirror eyes as a reserve)...

Spoiler

On top of that Hänsel became affected by a Ray of Enfeeblement but a potion of giant strength brought him back into business...

Spoiler

... helping Gretel to fight the remaining basilisks while Mutamin had run away...

Spoiler

The party returned to Beregost but went back after resting there. The remaining basilisk and Mutamin himself were put to rest, Korax was collected and then Imoen got into a fight with Kirian's party (it really helps to have Imoen around as she gets the blame for all the questionable things paladins wouldn't do... like stealing (Algernon's cloak for example) or making non-hostile adventurer groups to fight the party). Fighting Kirian's group turned out rather easy ...

Spoiler

... but Kirian turned invisible and escaped somehow. Even Hänsel's true sight couldn't reveal her position (perhaps she got scared while invisible). The party had to search the whole area eventually finding her. Looking for more experience (at that time I still hoped for Imoen's thieving skills to be back when going for the bandits camp) the party returned to Durlag's Tower but fighting the basilisks on the roof, some doppelgangers, lots of skeletons, another battle horror and a doom guard consumed lots of healing potions but did not bring Imoen to the next level (and there are still four to go)...

Spoiler

 It seems Hänsel and Gretel are really twins as they rolled the same hp on each level so far (Hänsel has more HP because of the tome)...

Name     Level                  HP   Game Kills XP     Game Kills  Strongest Kill   Deaths  Pips
Hänsel   Inquisitor(6)       83 HP   73,281 (+ 58,090)  362 (+203) Battle Horror    -       Two-Handed-Sword(**),Longbow(**),War Hammer(*)THWS(*)
Gretel   Undead Hunter(6)    77 HP   96,466 (+ 77,750)  344 (+222) Greater Basilisk 1x      Longsword(**),Shortbow(**),Dualwield(**)
Imoen    Thief(7)->Mage(4)   50 HP   23,333 (+ 19,824)   76 (+ 54) Greater Basilisk 3x      Shortsword(*),Ninja-to(*),Shortbow(*),Dart(*)

 
To give some background information on Hansel&Gretel I'd like end this update with a 'very short fairy tale':

 

Hansel and Dumpling, they went into the forest.
After quite some dawdling, Hansel called a rest.
You all do know the tale, its very gruesome ending:
Hansel took a fork and ate the dumpling up.
(Michael Ende 1982 - clumsy translation by Dyara 2015)

To be continued...

[Grond0]

Phantasmic 6 {25} - monks party (2nd and final update)

 

Getting more ambitious after finishing off the Cloud Peaks the monks had a go at the Valley of the Tombs.  They pulled the 2 mustard jellies produced by Narcillicus away to improve the odds, but a critical on Spook still managed more damage than any of them had taken previously and 2 of them were poisoned before the jelly went splat and they could run away to cure the poison.  They also ran away from the second jelly when Wraith was poisoned early on before coming back to finish it off.  They then sneaked up to stun Narcillicus to finish off the area.

 

They cleared a few more areas without trouble, although I failed to kill the Doomsayer after not picking up the idol from storage - resulting in it running away to find it.  They were more successful at the Lighthouse where the first group of sirines confused 2 of the monks, but failed to charm any.  Those sirines still did much better than Sil and her companions however - they failed to get a hit in.  The golems were then quickly shot down.

 

After restocking with ammunition they went to find the last group of sirines to the north.  They were just finishing off the last of the large group of ogre-kin in the area when they ran back to a previously cleared part of the map and found a ghast and ghoul had appeared.  In itself that wasn't a surprise and I should have had plenty of time to dodge them.  However, with well over 1,000 victims in the run to date I was starting to suffer my normal attacks of carelessness and didn't move Phantom away fast enough.  Even after he was paralysed I thought I had a decent chance of saving him, but the other monks didn't have much luck with their attacks and Phantom still had a missile weapon equipped so was taking damage much faster than he otherwise would have ...

Spoiler

 

Thinking about it while writing this post, Chimera did have a couple of green scrolls of protection from magic and using one of those immediately would have removed the paralysis quickly enough to save Phantom.  Oh, well - something to remember for next time .

[corey_russell]

Tough break Grond0. What about things like haste potions on the other monks, could that have saved your now dead monk...

[Grond0]

Monks are immune to slow and haste unfortunately, which is overall something of a handicap compared to fighter classes .

[Dyara]

Monks are immune to slow and haste unfortunately, which is overall something of a handicap compared to fighter classes .

 

But monks get the faster movement and more attacks (so basically that what haste does) when they level up, don't they?

[corey_russell]

Monks are immune to slow and haste unfortunately, which is overall something of a handicap compared to fighter classes .

Perhaps a potion of firebreath may have helped then - you have to be real careful to to hit your own guy, but probably could be done.

[Grond0]

But monks get the faster movement and more attacks (so basically that what haste does) when they level up, don't they?

They do get faster movement, but I don't think they really have an advantage in APR over fighters.  Monks are essentially dual-wielding fists and APR goes up gradually by 0.5 APR from a starting 1 APR to a maximum of 4 APR at level 18.  Fighters normally benefit from 0.5 APR from weapon proficiency and get further 0.5 APR at levels 7 and 13 - hence getting to 3.5 APR beyond that level when dual-wielding.  Up until level 18 fighters would thus expect to be able to get the same or higher APR than monks.  Even above that level fighters will also often benefit from the additional APR benefit from Belm or another similar weapon, so I would say that at best monks are eventually able to achieve parity on base attacks.  However, by that level fighters are likely to have equipment or fellow party members who can double their APR with improved haste - and the inability of monks to benefit from that is a significant weakness.

[Dyara]

Ah, okay, thanks for the info ... playing only FMT, don't know much about other classes ...

[Epsil0]

Alright. Took me awhile with school and having to reset a couple mods (plus accidentally deleting the wrong copy of BG...)

Mods are again full SCS including all tactical encounters, Rogue Rebalancing, and BG2Tweaks.

Benders in Baldur's Gate, Introduction

I decided on making my PC the Earthbender, because he's the only one going to be allowed Stoneskin. I thought I might as well attempt to survive backstabs, so here we are.

Tarvol, the Earthbender

Picture created (?) by darcprinces of the Soliaonline forums, third post on this page.

 

Lana, the Airbender

Probably my favorite picture of the bunch, created by c-dra of Deviantart and found here

Jun, the Waterbender

Water took me the longest to find; I think I spent around 90 minutes before I found this here by SolKorra, of Deviantart and was satisfied.

Flare, the Firebender

This one was a no-brainer. Meet Shu, by Yamino, again from Deviantart.

Rigor, the... Monk.

For reasons, one non-bender/caster has to be included here. Monk fits the theme entirely too well.

Picture, I think, from either gaiaonline or Heroes' United. Or something called Ragnarok. I really can't figure out the source of this bugger.

 

So, divvying up the level 1 spells (first two are the ones currently known.) If a spell can thematically go to two or more, I'll allow multiple sorcerers access to them.

Earth: Armor, Grease. Pro. Petrification, Chromatic Orb, Shield. 

Water: Charm person, Chill Touch, Grease, Identify, Magic Missile.

Fire: Shocking Grasp, Burning Hands, Spook, Pro. Evil, Magic Missile.

Air: ... I somehow have Blind as one of my picks here. It makes 0 sense thematically, so I'll be swapping it out via EEKeeper. Color Spray, Reflected Image. (... most useless spells in BG2 ever...) Shield, Friends, Magic Missile.

 

If I hit level 4, I'll post again on divvying up the level 2 spells; Air gets a few bones here (Blur! Invisibility! Mirror Image!)

[Alesia_BH]

Interesting idea! Enjoy, Epsil0!

 

Best,

 

A.

 

 

Btw. Why not give Shocking Grasp to air (lightning)? Blindness to fire (smoke)?

[Grond0]

Air: ... I somehow have Blind as one of my picks here. It makes 0 sense thematically, so I'll be swapping it out via EEKeeper. 

Best of luck to the Benders!

 

I don't see why blind can't fit within air if you want that to be the case.  I remember vaguely a discussion years ago on the forums about the nature of blind and that concluded that it wasn't directly affecting the target, but instead put some sort of obstacle in front of their eyes (otherwise it's difficult to see why skeletons would be affected for instance).  

 

Blind also does not totally blind the target, but just limits vision - which again is consistent with some sort of shield or haze being placed in front of the eyes.  If you accept that then blind fits well in the same category as blur - which you've already suggested should be counted as air.

[ussnorway]

Omt- 2,

 

Level 2:

 

Hear text as mp3,

 

I swapped Jaheira (Edwin avoids a fight) for Neera and went hunting Horrors… we killed them quickly by passing the frost wand between us… I claimed the book of wisdom.

Spoiler

 

I wanted a decent sword in case of melee so we had words with a bounty hunter named wolf something… his demise gave me my next level.

[Epsil0]

Mmm, the main reason that I'm against using Blind is the ridiculous duration. Glitterdust (which Air gets, oddly enough) fits thematically, since throwing up dust clouds to blind things for a short while was possible, but I can't think of any effect that would effectively win a fight by just impairing vision. Shocking Grasp is Fire because in that canon, lightning attacks were pretty much hyper-firebending. One of the main enemy fire benders in the series, Azula, is known for using lightning with devastating results. Any other system, electricity probably goes under Air, but not this one, unfortunately.

 

I've already had one failure where I forgot that attempting to fight and kite and split my attention between 10 or some ogres is a poor idea when I have no warriors. Still moving on with the second, though I won't truly update until I've hit at least level 2s across the board. As for the spell picks, it's been interesting: Grease and Color Spray are the two most spammed skills right now, and I'm running into issues with the number of melee spells I have, since I can't even use them without being in death's range.

[Alesia_BH]

Shocking Grasp is Fire because in that canon, lightning attacks were pretty much hyper-firebending. One of the main enemy fire benders in the series, Azula, is known for using lightning with devastating results. Any other system, electricity probably goes under Air, but not this one, unfortunately.

 

Got it.

 

Once again, enjoy! 

 

Best,

 

A.

[Dyara]

Hänsel & Gretel (Inquisitor / Undead Hunter) (& Imoen (Thief->Mage)) - Update 2

The previous update had ended outside of Durlag's Tower where the trio was hunting for experience. But for advancing to the next level Imoen still was in need of more than 15k XP. At Firewine Bridge Imoen forced Gretel into a duel with Meilum...

Spoiler

Unfortunately the earned gauntlets of weapon experience didn't helped Gretel much when a short time later she was killed by a skull trap...

Spoiler

Somewhat exhausted Hänsel and Imoen made their way to a small halfling village...

Spoiler

... where Gretel was resurrected. At Larswood and Peldvale the trio fought lots of bandits collecting more than 70 scalps...

Spoiler

Also Corsone had to pay for his treachery...

Spoiler

At Spider Wood the party became attacked by a group of Red Wizards...

Spoiler

... and lots of spiders...

Spoiler

After refilling magical arrows at Beregost the party finally went for the Bandit Camp. Imoen had prepared the battle field with Grease and Web while Hänsel and Gretel were shooting arrows at the bandits killing them one by one with Imoen adding a fireball or two...

Spoiler

Later then Gretel went into melee fight while her (90%) immunity to fire damage (ring+potion) allowed Hänsel to throw some explosives (without hurting his sister much)...

Spoiler

Inside a trapped chest...

Spoiler

... they found some important letters naming the party's next destination: a mine deep within Cloakwood Forest.

 

Name     Level                  HP   Game Kills XP     Game Kills  Strongest Kill   Deaths  Pips
Hänsel   Inquisitor(7)       98 HP   91,714 (+ 18,436)  458 (+ 96) Battle Horror    -       Two-Handed-Sword(**),Longbow(**),War Hammer(*)THWS(*)
Gretel   Undead Hunter(7)    91 HP  122,873 (+ 26,407)  448 (+104) Greater Basilisk 2x      Longsword(**),Shortbow(**),Dualwield(**)
Imoen    Thief(7)->Mage(6)   50 HP   31,464 (+  8,131)  117 (+ 41) Greater Basilisk 3x      Shortsword(*),Ninja-to(*),Shortbow(*),Dart(*),Quarterstaff(*)

 

To be continued...

 

[Grond0]

Knockout {5-8} - melee sorcerer (1st and final update)

 

I decided to let the monks have a break and have another go with Knockout.  She is allowed to use any attacks she wants, but must not be responsible for any deaths (including via summons) except using her own melee attacks.  She's also not allowed healing potions or antidotes, though, unlike the monks, that's not much of a restriction for her.

 

Her 5th attempt saw Knockout up to the basilisks where she killed the monsters before tackling Kirian's group.  Kirian was persuaded to chase her to the edge of the map where she did a disappearing act and went back for the others.  They were all blinded and she was softening them up with darts when Kirian rather meanly suddenly reappeared and a chromatic orb spelt doom for Knockout.  

Spoiler

 

Her 6th attempt also ended at the basilisk area when she was wearing down a pair of basilisks with darts.  with one of them already at near death and the other badly wounded I got slightly distracted by looking at the rapidly diminishing stock of darts left and thinking I would switch to chill touch when they were gone, rather than equipping more.  That meant I was too slow to pause the game after the penultimate dart hit for 5: that put the basilisk just in range of a maximum HP critical - and guess what the final dart was.

Spoiler

 

Her 7th attempt didn't get far - misjudging how quickly a ghoul would attack when trying to get Zhurlong's boots back from a hobgoblin.

Spoiler

 

Her 8th was once more cruelly ended at the basilisk area.  Everything had gone pretty smoothly up to there and there were no real mistakes.  However, while wearing down one of the basilisks she got it to near death with a critical before pausing and retargeting another basilisk.  Unfortunately, as sometimes happens the mouse click didn't take and her next attack was still on the original basilisk - killing it.

Spoiler

[corey_russell]

Tough breaks there Grond0. Perhaps it's 9th time's the charm for ya?

[biowherewolf]

Omt- 2,

 

Level 2:

 

Hear text as mp3,

 

I swapped Jaheira (Edwin avoids a fight) for Neera and went hunting Horrors… we killed them quickly by passing the frost wand between us… I claimed the book of wisdom.

[spoile

 

 

 

Good luck ussnorway.

What do you think of Neera? I thought she would be a fun and interesting companion and add some unpredictability to the game. But I found her to be mostly useless and a bit lame. The voice acting is decent. Some of the dialog is funny. But the side quests are pretty lame and the whole wild mage class seems useless to me. Of course, it could just be my bad luck. I don't think she ever got any beneficial surge ever. I think once (and I do mean *once*) she got a surge that allowed her to cast at a higher level, but... honestly, with most spells, it doesn't matter. And the rest of the surges were either negative or just plain meaningless. For me, it turned out that the unpredictability was just annoying. 

What are your experiences so far?

--BW

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 93 - (update 3)

Chris, half-elf fighter/mage/cleric (Grond0) & Gromm, half-orc cleric (Gate70)

 

After a busy recent period in RL we managed to hook up briefly this afternoon to continue this run.  After reminding ourselves of where we'd got to progress started with relieving Meilum of his bracers - he did well to save against multiple spells, but still failed to land a blow in hand to hand.

 

Most enemies caused even less trouble than Meilum when faced with the abuse of clerical spells.  Silence on its own is pretty devastating and saw the end of Mulahey (Gromm took his ring to allow him to generate a larger skeleton army).  

Spoiler

Adding skeletons to the mix increases the pressure - particularly when they're fighting in a stinking cloud, as the amazons found out.  

Spoiler

 

At the Bandit Camp most of the enemies failed to get past Gromm's defenses.  A few skeletons were produced for Taugosz to chew on - and he did that very well.  As a result he got treated to the next line of attack - falling victim to a hold person.  

Spoiler

Inside the tent silence again did the hard work - Chris deciding that there was no point adding in a stinking cloud against the already beleaguered defenders.

Spoiler

 

Stats:

Chris, fighter 5 / mage 4 / cleric 5, 45 HPs, 115 kills

Gromm, cleric 6, 39 HPs, 100 kills, 0 deaths

[Gate70]

Sneak preview of todays session; Gromm didn't quite hear correctly, what with a helmet over his ears.

Spoiler

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 93 - (update 4)

Chris, half-elf fighter/mage/cleric (Grond0) & Gromm, half-orc cleric (Gate70)

 

The session started by finishing off a few quests - like returning Joia's ring and a dead cat.  

 

Then the duo moved on into the Cloakwood.  There wasn't much action there, though a test demonstrated that ettercaps could be affected by a stinking cloud.  

Spoiler

On arrival at the mine more skeletons and stinking cloud were too much for Drasus & co.

Spoiler

 

In the mine a few guards failed to delay progress much before sanctuary allowed a rest prior to confronting Davaeorn.  The battle horrors were quickly disposed of by a first use of wand scorchers from Chris

Spoiler

before generating skeletons to chase down Davaeorn.

Spoiler

 

Arriving at Baldur's Gate Chris took opportunity of the plentiful gold available to buy a number of spells before undertaking the poison quest.  After killing Jalantha they went to find Marek, summoning some skeletons only to discover an empty space where Marek should have been.  Sheepishly they departed to find Lothander first - using skeletons to surround him allowed Chris to get his own speedy boots.  

Spoiler

Then it was back to Marek who survived long enough to confuse Gromm, but some herding skeletons were successful in protecting the innocents - though Chris was briefly worried when Gromm dashed towards a civilian before explaining that he had recovered his senses.

Stats:

Chris, fighter 5 / mage 5 / cleric 5, 48 HPs, 133 kills

Gromm, cleric 7, 44 HPs, 122 kills, 0 deaths

[Dyara]

Hänsel & Gretel (Inquisitor / Undead Hunter) (& Imoen (Thief->Mage)) - Update 3

In the last episode Hänsel, Gretel and Imoen had cleared the Bandit Camp. After resting at the Friendly Arm Inn they set out for Cloakwood Forest. They tried to arbitrate between some hunters from Baldur's Gate and the local druids but to no avail...

Spoiler

Later Gretel became caught in a spider's web...

Spoiler

... but with some help she survived...

Spoiler

In search for Tiber's brother (and the sword 'Spider's Bane') they entered Centeol's lair...

Spoiler

They came too late to save Chelak but at least the sword was unbroken. Fighting lots of Wyverns the trio finally reached the mines. The first contact with the mercenaries guarding the mines ended in a draw as each side had to mourn one loss...

Spoiler

After resurrecting Gretel at the Friendly Arm Inn the trio returned and the remaining mercenaries were easily dispatched...

Spoiler

Without a thief the party used the backdoor to get to Hareishan...

Spoiler

Before confronting Davaeorn the trio tried to rest but apparently it wasn't allowed...

Spoiler

... but the party was able to persuade the Iron Throne guards to turn a blind eye (or two actually). At Davaeorn's lair everyone went invisible. The traps were disarmed by running across them and the Battle Horror were distracted by summoned Gnoll Elites...

Spoiler

Then Davaeorn's own spell casting cut off his guards from helping him (there was only one guard coming to his aid anyway) so he was on his own ...

Spoiler

... and he didn't last long...

Spoiler

The party left the mine without flooding it yet and went to Baldur's Gate. On a first stroll through the streets the party cleansed the 'Seven Suns', they saved Tremain's son and a captive nymph, Gretel got resurrected after the party had a quarrel with Gretek and his maulers of undermountain...

Spoiler

... and finally Imoen got her thieving skills back (which she immediately used to get Arkion's Bloodstone Amulet and Nemphre's Onyx Ring). A trip to the countryside then saw the party catching up on some unfinished business (getting all the loot from both bandit camp and mines and finally flooding the latter). Back at Baldur's Gate the sewers were explored and Aldeth Sashenstar was helped a second time.

On their third day in the city the party fought Degrodel's guards...

Spoiler

... they got Baldur's Helm and his cloak too, they became poisoned but found an antidote and they finally made it into the Iron Throne building but were greeted with hostility...

Spoiler

A temporary retreat then allowed the party to attack from the other side...

Spoiler

Imoen's web spell then turned the tide definitely...

Spoiler

Send by Duke Eltan to Candlekeep the party had to fight some Ogre Mages but prevailed easily...

Spoiler

Inside they were arrested for killing the Iron Throne leaders (which of course they didn't) but with Tethtoril's they made their escape through the catacombs where they met Elminster, Gorion and Tethtoril...

Spoiler

... who revealed themselves as doppelgangers...

Spoiler

In the cave Prat and his gang were caught in a web...

Spoiler

The cave's exit then led the party back to the surface.

 

Name     Level                  HP   Game Kills XP     Game Kills  Strongest Kill   Deaths  Pips
Hänsel   Inquisitor(8)      110 HP  201,170 (+109,456)  656 (+198) Battle Horror    -       Two-Handed-Sword(**),Longbow(**),War Hammer(*)THWS(*)
Gretel   Undead Hunter(8)   102 HP  247,979 (+125,106)  683 (+235) Greater Basilisk 4x      Longsword(**),Shortbow(**),Dualwield(**)
Imoen    Thief(7)->Mage(8)   56 HP   48,104 (+ 16,640)  157 (+ 40) Greater Basilisk 3x      Shortsword(*),Ninja-to(*),Shortbow(*),Dart(*),Quarterstaff(*)

 

To be continued...

 

[Dyara]

Hänsel & Gretel (Inquisitor / Undead Hunter) (& Imoen (Thief->Mage)) - Update 4

In the last episode the party had escaped through the catacombs of Candlekeep. Instead of returning to Baldur's Gate however they went to Durlag's Tower again. The four warders were defeated ...

Spoiler

Gretel triggered the encounter and then lured Fear in one of the corridors where she killed him easily. Being immune to hold effects really helps here.


Again Pride was the by far most powerful of the four warders as he hits very hard. Both Hänsel and Gretel had to retreat once, Hänsel tried to dispel him but Pride quickly renewed his buffs.


Using the momentum (and the still active haste spell) Love stood no chance when Hänsel and Gretel stormed the well room.


While Pride is the strongest, Avarice is by far the most annoying of the four warders. Hänsel has 'True Sight' but it's only 2x/day and the duration is rather short so the party had to walk around and wait for Avarice to attack. Imoen was hidden and Avarice couldn't hit Hänsel or Gretel so in the end he died as well without doing any harm.

Further down the party had to fight lots of doppelgangers, sometimes disguised as Durlag's family. Once the whole party became confused...

Spoiler

... but fortunately it had no consequences (besides reducing the supply of healing potions)...

Spoiler

... and after successfully fighting four Dwarven Doom Guards the way to the next level was clear. There the party fought the skeletons, ignored the Greater Wyverns and killed two Ashirukurus to get the loot from the Maze Garden. The four challenges proved to be no challenge, the Fission Slime was lured out of its lair (and killed last) to allow the party to prepare for the chess board.

A web spell brought the chess pieces' attack to a halt...

Spoiler

... and while Hänsel and Gretel tried to fend off the ones that broke through, Imoen used her wands of fireball on the rest...

Spoiler

Imoen became confused and Gretel became caught in the web but Hänsel took care of both...

Spoiler

... and then first the Queen and finally the King went down (and Hänsel got a new sword)...

Spoiler

On the next level Gretel became poisoned by the Astral Phase Spider (but survived), the other spiders and the undead were no threat as was the Demon Knight...

Spoiler

The party returned to Nashkell to let their wounds healed and to rest in the inn.

 

Name     Level                  HP   Game Kills XP     Game Kills  Strongest Kill   Deaths  Pips
Hänsel   Inquisitor(8)      110 HP  302,035 (+100,865)  696 (+ 40) Demon Knight     -       Two-Handed-Sword(**),Longbow(**),War Hammer(*)THWS(*)
Gretel   Undead Hunter(8)   102 HP  330,479 (+ 82,500)  737 (+ 54) Greater Basilisk 4x      Longsword(**),Shortbow(**),Dualwield(**)
Imoen    Thief(7)->Mage(8)   56 HP   74,574 (+ 26,470)  189 (+ 32) Greater Basilisk 3x      Shortsword(*),Ninja-to(*),Shortbow(*),Dart(*),Quarterstaff(*)

 
To be continued...