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[Alesia_BH]

Alessandra in the Underdark

Alessandra is currently making her way through the Underdark. I'll quickly post on her early adventures down below.

In the interest of avoiding the fiascos Ashoka created for herself (Soulafein's death by fungus, and the United Underdark Ranger Hunt for those who may recall...), Alessandra took down the Myconids and Drow Party enroute to gnome-ville.

The Myconids got it first. The Deva was called in to prevent mushroom overload.


Alessandra sent her Deva over to get a start on the Drow while she was finishing off the Myconids. It took down a couple fighters and drew out some spells before they iced it. 



The Deva's most important achievement was messing up the Drow's deployment- giving Alessandra an opportunity to buff and then drop them one by one.


One of the mages interrupted Alessandra's buffing (and hastened his own demise) by attempting a Divination cast. When foes attempt to Divine, Alessandra breaks and disrupts to protect her Mirror Images and RoAC untargettability. 



Last Drow. Alessandra's only regret is that she did not have a chance to layer in ProEvil hence reducing the visual contrast between her and the backdrop...


The Demon, while upgraded, fell quickly. Alessandra took a little damage from his Aura of Flaming Death, but the fight lasted only a round and a half. He spent most of the time Stunned thanks to the Deva.



Current Character Record and Inventory.



Best,

A.

Edit. I just thought I'd tack on coverage of the first first Kuo-Toans and the second Drow party.

No meaningful damage was taken against the Kuo-Toans or the Drow.

The Kuo-Toans

Alessandra wasn't buffed when she stumbled on the Kuo-Toans. She was able to layer in the essentials though. First a Hardiness.


Then Pro-Evil so she can look all pretty...


 In SCS, the Whips backstab. The Warriors get Potions of Extra Healing. The Mages and Priests will try to disappear, heal, and rebuff when they take damage. The first casters weren't able to execute their disappear-> reengage move so the batch went quickly.


With regards to defense, the Stunning Bolts were a major concern of course- especially after being tagged with Malison. The Reflex took care of the Bolts though. Against the mages, Harmony for Enchantment, The Reflex for Conjuration solved them when they were in the middle of their books. Alessandra just had to keep Strength Potions and Oils of Speed around to counter Slow and Enfeeblement.
 


The second pair of casters executed their disappear->reengage move extending the battle.


Alessandra had a painful urge to do some Critical Missing by this point. I would have preferred she hadn't done it when wieding a Two-Hander close to a mage who is going Enchantment post-Malison. I was keeping track of the round segements here and there was time to re-quip Harmony so it wasn't a big thing.


Ditched the Two-Hander once the dispel landed and finished.


The Drow

Alessandra had a nice little plan here that worked out swimingly. That movement mark is the Deva's: she's headed North. Alessandra, invisible, is headed South.


The Deva set up shop at the choke point. The Drow took their pre-buffs and quaffed their potions soon after. 3 Priests and one fighter to the south with still invisible Alessandra. 



The Fighter peels off in pursuit of the Deva...


The Priests hope to hang back and cast. Good luck with that gals...




At this point, Alessandra activated her Ring of Gaxx invisibility, headed north, and then positioned herself with near the Mage.



The Mage falls.


Cleanup time.



Edit 2: Tacking on the Boz ambush...Sorry if this post is getting too long and image laden...

The Boz Ambush gave Alessandra a chance to try out her new blade: The Harbinger. It was a success, for the most part...

Tried to open with a Carsomyr Whirlwind on the Mage. Guess what happened...


Switched targets, the Blindness from Pitch couldn't save Chandrilla.


Alessandra withdrew untill her sight returned.


You know, I always wondered whether this thing really does Petrify Ogres. Now I know. I'm glad Alessandra doesn't wield Halbreds...


Alessandra got 3 10d6 Fireballs out of Harbinger during the fight. Buffed to +100% Fire Resistant, they healed her while helping clear the fodder and disrupting spells.


The Mage caught a Carsomyr Whirlwind once his ProMW wore off.


With just the Thief left, Alessandra switch to the Defender + Sentinel. A -20AC and 80% Piercing Damage makes Thieves a lot less threatening.


Current Inventory and Character Record.

Edited by Alesia_BH, 06 December 2011 - 05:48 AM.

[BBMorti]

I am glad to see things went smoother than the last time we saw one of your great characters make their way into the underdark.

I will bite my tongue on making some comment or joke about this time being 'less entertaining' for the reader than the chaos that evolved for poor Ashoka

Edited by BBMorti, 06 December 2011 - 08:45 AM.

[BBMorti]

Anatole has defeated Yaga-Shura.

Since I have my screen-shot issue I recorded the battle instead if anyone should be interrested in the strategy.

Video: www.youtube.com/watch

For readers it included her protecting herself with minor buffs and stoneskin from scroll.. the soldiers in this battle use normal weapons which Anatole is immune too, only giants and spells from the rare mage can hurt her, which is easily avoided.

A quick arrow from gesens bow to make Yaga-shura teleport away.. run to a quiet part of the battle field and put down a time stop trap and wait for his return.
When he returns run to the top part where is it hard to move around when you are a huge fire giant and find a decent place for a new time trap.. then enter stealth and move down and lure Yaga-Shura up to the prepared spot, him having natural true seeing makes this a simple pull with cloak of no-detection.. then it was just drinking an oil of speed potion and use the poison weapon skill on the bow and equip arrows of biting.. the two poisons stack giving incredible amounts of poison damage. He falls very soon after to the young assassin!

I will try and get around to do a light writeup on her progress up to this battle soon enough.

Edited by BBMorti, 06 December 2011 - 03:27 PM.

[Alesia_BH]

BBMorti wrote...

I will bite my tongue on making some comment or joke about this time being 'less entertaining' for the reader than the chaos that evolved for poor Ashoka

Oh don't you worry BBMorti. Alessandra had plenty of Underdark screwups in the end. You'll see. 

[Alesia_BH]

Alessandra in the Underdark: Part II

It wouldn't be quite right to say that Alessandra's time in the Underdark ended sooner then expected. My characters have an undeniable knack for screwing up the the Dragon Egg quest in one way or another and there was little reason to think Alessandra would be an exception. She does, however, get the prize for quickest foul up.

Admittedly, Alessandra wasn't to enthusiastic in her defense of Phaere. Having collected what she needed from the city -and knowing she could brave the Kou-Toan route defenses- she wasn't terribly disappointed when the Drow fell.


Alessandra promptly dropped Sola, and then sallied forth into the Beholder lair in search of an Amulet. She played "catch me if you can" with the Drow down there and let them serve as her personal Beholder clearing Army.



That worked out fine untill Alessandra stumbled on the Hive Mother (I haven't visited the Beholder Lair in over 5 years). The Hive Mother, who detects the invisible via script, dispelled Alessandra's invisibility leading to this predicatable scene...


Alessandra had zero interest in fighting the Hive Mother. And I can't say I blame her. The Questpack version had a love of illusions, ProMW, and Stoneskins, without Breach, she's likely best left alone. Alessandra ran and then enjoyed a peaceful night sleep in Gnome-Ville.

The morning was less peaceful...


Into the tunnels. Collected the Corrupted Tadpoles first.


Alessandra had no trouble with the SCS Kuo-Toans. They can can be a hassle for Thieves (and to a lesser extent Stalkers) but they just can't hit a Sword and Shield Paladin in Drow armor.


Corrupting the youth, and buffing the self, rendered the Backstabbing Prince harmless.


A few blasts from Harbinger helped finish the mission.


To the exit. Alessandra sent her Deva in first -hoping to draw out a Telefield cast and artfully evade the ugly like her predecessors.


The Demons had to be dispatched before heading for sunlight.


Then the mad dash. The Telefield had died down by the time Alessandra approached the exit, but her foes were spread out enough to allow safe passage.


Time for Bodhi.

 
Current Character Record and Inventory.



Best,

A.

Edited by Alesia_BH, 07 December 2011 - 12:56 AM.

[BBMorti]

Update on Anatole's progresses;

Level Four of watchers keep.
A scroll of protection against undead was used to clear high level undead spawns on the main floor.
Mind flayer part she used some charges of her cloud kill wand to clear out umber hulks and then she used greenstone amulet charges, oil of speed and the occational time stop trap to simply hit and run them with backstabs.

Stacked a few charges of cloud kill on killer mimics.
Scroll of magic was used for the Demi lich, then shot it down with bow of gesen.
Dragon was taken down under time stop, though the protection from magic scroll was still running, just in case.

She left watchers keep after level 4 as she got the other main item she came for, staff of the ram.. which she upgraded to +6.

Current backstab record is 310 damage! :happy:

Temple in the forest of Mir, Anatole placed a time stop trap and drank an oil of speed, spoke to the wraith, then rushed back to the trap and used a scroll of protection against undead. Shot them down with bow of Gesen after.. used dragonslayer sword to reveal two of its minions that had gone invisible.

Marching mountains went smooth.. with staff of the ram +6 Even the Elite giants was lucky to survive two backstabs.. and they moved much slower than Anatole.. making it a very uneven fight, but very fun for her.
It took a bit of time getting through the temple because of backstabbing all the way through as well as making sure to check every square inch for traps. Also she kept her Fire resistance very high all the way through there, im sure it is standart for most players but still wanted to mention it.

Time stop traps was needed to comfortably take down the prince of fire.. the giants simply stood no chance.
time stop traps was also needed for those panthers and floating skulls that both move very fast and see through any kind of stealth.
Using time stop to land backstabs, buffing up with tensers for excample or even luring them into spike traps are all decent solutions for a solo Assassin against those.. I chose time traps.

Returned with the two hearts and placed a single time trap before speaking with thw witch.. when she went aggresive a charge from ring of air control was used (improved invis) and she was taken down in one backstab, looted and Anatole was gone from the area.

Last was Yaga-Shura which I posted the video for a little further up, reposting just in case anyone should be curious.
Yaga-shura kill: www.youtube.com/watch

She sneaked through the Oasis in stealth and went to pickup the important gargoyle boots and a few other items as well as selling in Amkethran, next stop will likely be Sendai's enclave.

Cheers!

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alessandra's Game:

I've uploaded a little video covering Alessandra's time in the underdark- set to a tune which suits the locale. It can be found here.

Edited by Alesia_BH, 07 December 2011 - 12:43 PM.

[ussnorway]

UD4;
Update on PUK’ and A’lisia; more of a restart actually… I’ve waited a long time for a good female (heterosexual) romance opportunity and since Amber was written towards allowing a player2 romance I’m going to reset my attempt to the beginning of bg2.

This hopefully means that both my BAUL siblings will soon be gazing longingly into the eyes of their tiefling lovers… should make for some interesting pillow talk.

FYI I left Puk’ &co parked at the Copper Coronet for the last two weekends (while I explored a galaxy far, far, away) but they’ll basically just be retracing their steps so I’ll post again when they catch up unless disaster strikes.
Mods are the same as before with the added edition of
~HAERDALISROMANCE/HAERDALISROMANCE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Haer'Dalis Romance (SoA): v1

Edited by ussnorway, 07 December 2011 - 01:19 PM.

[C Barchuk]

BBMorti wrote...

Update on Anatole's progresses;

Level Four of watchers keep.
A scroll of protection against undead was used to clear high level undead spawns on the main floor.
Mind flayer part she used some charges of her cloud kill wand to clear out umber hulks and then she used greenstone amulet charges, oil of speed and the occational time stop trap to simply hit and run them with backstabs.

Stacked a few charges of cloud kill on killer mimics.
Scroll of magic was used for the Demi lich, then shot it down with bow of gesen.
Dragon was taken down under time stop, though the protection from magic scroll was still running, just in case.

She left watchers keep after level 4 as she got the other main item she came for, staff of the ram.. which she upgraded to +6.

Current backstab record is 310 damage! :happy:

Temple in the forest of Mir, Anatole placed a time stop trap and drank an oil of speed, spoke to the wraith, then rushed back to the trap and used a scroll of protection against undead. Shot them down with bow of Gesen after.. used dragonslayer sword to reveal two of its minions that had gone invisible.

Marching mountains went smooth.. with staff of the ram +6 Even the Elite giants was lucky to survive two backstabs.. and they moved much slower than Anatole.. making it a very uneven fight, but very fun for her.
It took a bit of time getting through the temple because of backstabbing all the way through as well as making sure to check every square inch for traps. Also she kept her Fire resistance very high all the way through there, im sure it is standart for most players but still wanted to mention it.

Time stop traps was needed to comfortably take down the prince of fire.. the giants simply stood no chance.
time stop traps was also needed for those panthers and floating skulls that both move very fast and see through any kind of stealth.
Using time stop to land backstabs, buffing up with tensers for excample or even luring them into spike traps are all decent solutions for a solo Assassin against those.. I chose time traps.

Returned with the two hearts and placed a single time trap before speaking with thw witch.. when she went aggresive a charge from ring of air control was used (improved invis) and she was taken down in one backstab, looted and Anatole was gone from the area.

Last was Yaga-Shura which I posted the video for a little further up, reposting just in case anyone should be curious.
Yaga-shura kill: www.youtube.com/watch

She sneaked through the Oasis in stealth and went to pickup the important gargoyle boots and a few other items as well as selling in Amkethran, next stop will likely be Sendai's enclave.

Cheers!

Morti, I've thoroughly enjoyed your adventures bud. I'm a big assassin fan and it's cool seeing the assassin get some playtime. I've also loved the videos and definitely want to see more, if isn't too much trouble. They're a big help in giving me different tips and tactics on playing an assassin effectively, especially in a solo situation. So I've learned alot from Anatole for sure! Love the all the use of time traps. That seems to be key and one I haven't utilized enough in my own playthroughs. Keep it up man. Great job!

Edited by C Barchuk, 07 December 2011 - 02:05 PM.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Update of BlackStrider & Co (Sendai)

Evertrusted Imoen (now being true Archmage) cast Freedom spell and released me from Impisonment of Real Life so Band Of Six continue their Tour de Amn...
Still being under effect of multiple buffs from Demogorgon fight Band took the second Pocket Plane challenge and then headed to the Sendai enclave. With Planetar's support we dispatched so called "woodsman" and Drow in disguise and then steamrolled through the Lair itself. The battle vs Sendai was pretty straightforward - debuffs and almost pure melee whilst Planetar inhibit incoming Drow forces. Jaheira hit her 15th druid level at last and now has loads of highlevel spells. Here some shots of the Band activities:

  

  

  

  

  

Now onto Abazigal.

Band Of Six:

BlackStrider - lead guitar, vocals (growling) - Cleric 22 / Illusionist 18, 456 kills, Firkraag
Jaheira - bass guitar (*boss* temper) - Fighter 20 / Druid 15, 755 kills, Dragon (Green from WK)
Nalia - keyboards - Mage 26 / Thief 4, 248 kills, Thraxll'ssillyia
Viconia - lead (clean/screaming) vocals - Cleric 35, 167 kills, Bodhi
Mazzy - drums - Fighter (wanna be paladin) 32, 638 kills, Kangaxx the Demi-Lich
Imoen - kantele, percussion  - Mage 23 / Thief 7, 140 kills, Berenn

to be continued...

[Beeblbrox]

Knew this would happen... upon doing a level up I forgot to reset the slider to core from normal. I only had 2 combats (I think) - they were pretty trivial - and learned a big bunch of spells. I can get back to prior learning the spells. Going back pre-combats is impossible. What does the forum feel I ought to do in this situation? Abandon/Reload prior spells/Continue?

[Alesia_BH]

I'd recommend doing whatever makes you feel most comfortable. Just make sure you'll be satisfied personally and then let us know what you've decided. I'll sure we'll all continue to enjoy your characters adventure regardless of what you choose.

Best,

A.

[Grond0]

Beeblbrox wrote...

Knew this would happen... upon doing a level up I forgot to reset the slider to core from normal.

There is an option in the BG2 Tweaks mod (I think probably in other mods as well) to give max HP on level up.  If you regularly want that with your characters it might be worth installing so that you don't have to remember to reset the slider.

[BBMorti]

C Barchuk wrote...

Morti, I've thoroughly enjoyed your adventures bud. I'm a big assassin fan and it's cool seeing the assassin get some playtime. I've also loved the videos and definitely want to see more, if isn't too much trouble. They're a big help in giving me different tips and tactics on playing an assassin effectively, especially in a solo situation. So I've learned alot from Anatole for sure! Love the all the use of time traps. That seems to be key and one I haven't utilized enough in my own playthroughs.

Thanks for taking the time to toss me this very positive feedback, I appreciate it a lot!

It is nice to know there is some interest from another assassin fan, I have enjoyed this run a lot so far and I know what you are talking about with how great it feels if one can pick up a piece of new information from one of the players in these threads, I have picket up my own bits from the great players of these challenges, myself. :happy:

Keep it up man. Great job!

I will do my best!

cheers

[Vaclavc]

Serg BlackStrider wrote...
Band Of Six:
BlackStrider - lead guitar, vocals (growling) - Cleric 22 / Illusionist 18, 456 kills, Firkraag
Jaheira - bass guitar (*boss* temper) - Fighter 20 / Druid 15, 755 kills, Dragon (Green from WK)
Nalia - keyboards - Mage 26 / Thief 4, 248 kills, Thraxll'ssillyia
Viconia - lead (clean/screaming) vocals - Cleric 35, 167 kills, Bodhi
Mazzy - drums - Fighter (wanna be paladin) 32, 638 kills, Kangaxx the Demi-Lich
Imoen - kantele, percussion  - Mage 23 / Thief 7, 140 kills, Berenn

Great run. Good luck with Abazigal, I am especially interested in tactics you will use with C/I against Draconis.

BBMorti wrote...
It is nice to know there is some interest from another assassin fan, I have enjoyed this run a lot so far and I know what you are talking about with how great it feels if one can pick up a piece of new information from one of the players in these threads, I have picket up my own bits from the great players of these challenges, myself. :happy:

I am also big fan of thieves and assassins and I follow your progress carefully - I have learned much from you about the use of time traps.

BTW, Alesia_BH and BBMorti - thanks for uploading great videos.

V

[Beeblbrox]

This is the story of Zaphod so far.

Zaphod is a fighter, known well for amassing as much gold and items as he can get his hands on at minimum risk, and hoarding them.  Companions that have managed to stay in his party suspect he really wants to be a dragon.  I say the ones who have managed to stay largely because Zaphod has a habit of becoming friends with anyone he meets, stripping them naked and dumping them without as much as a 'by your leave'.  Imoen is still pissy at having been dumped in the middle of Cloakwood for some jumped up half elf who was a fairly good shot with an arrow.

Zaphods love of gold and hoarding was so extreme that not even one potion was drunk, one wand charge used, one scroll used (apart fom mage learning) nor one magical arrow shot in the entirity of his adventures in the Sword Coast.  Every single scrap he discovered was meticulously collected, sorted and stored in 3 strategic locations (k, barrels) in Beregost, Nashkel, and Baldurs Gate.  Some of the more common items were sold - but only at the maximum possible bidding price.  Zaphods party was often dragged for example, from Nashkel to Baldurs Gate on nothing
more than a mission to sell a bunch of Short Swords for 5gp per item
rather than 2gp.  Nothing was sold once the maximum possible price had been undermined, and Zaphods justification for this was that 'the markets will recover one day', which confused Minsc.  Further.

Every single throwing dagger discovered (and there was a LOT of them) was sold individually for a trade of 10gp per 10 stack instead of 3-5gp for the stack.  This confirmed Branwens belief that despite the hints of Zaphods raving dreams (which he bored everyone to tears with every time he had one) he was in fact the b*stard child of the gods of anal retention and mercantilism.

Oh a couple of potions were used in Zaphods fight with his brother under Baldurs Gate, specifically Oils of Fiery Burning, which didn't do much except toast Yeslick permanently.  Zaphod was actually a bit pissed off about this as much as he is a b*stard he had managed to keep everyone alive for the duration of his adventure.  Branwen suspected he was really mostly annoyed at having wasted a couple of his precious potions, which Zaphod protested against but was shushed by general consensus.

Anyhow, with Zaphods abduction the first thing he asked Imoen upon recovering consciousness was: 'is my stuff ok?' to which Imoen replied 'no, you've probably made 3 very rich beggars'.

Zaphods second question (after waking up a second time from passing out with shock) was 'how the f*ck did you get out of Cloakwood and all the way here on your own anyway?'.  Imoen ignored his question cryptically and insisted they get out of their new found predicament at the first opportunity.  Zaphod agreed muttering 'you know I'm going to dump you first opportunity I get anyway don't you'.  Imoen smiled to herself at this and the adventure began...

[BBMorti]

Update on Anatole the level 40 Assassin;

Ok so Sendai's Enclave was the next stop for Anatole, she arrived outside a woodcutters hut and sneaked inside of it to loot the chests then out again and cast clairvoyance to reveal the area.
The fight was triggered soon after asking about the gravestones.. and Anatole made sure to kill all drows outside before entering the enclave.
The late game assassin can accumulate a huge amount of potions because she simply one shots with her backstabs. I picked up 5 potions of invisibility pr. Thief as well as other useful potions from the other people there, very handy!

Umber hulks and spiders was killed with cloud kill mainly.. protecting yourself from confusion and what else and then running around gathering them all in one spot around, you then turning invisible. This makes it a quick thing to do, even though a little pointless since Anatole hit the level cap ages ago

First captain was killed with a backstab and the key was looted, then turned invisible and left the room.

I used potions of invisibility in the slaver tunnels, sneaked to the end, backstabbed and then potion of invisible.. after each backstab I had "pause when target is gone" on and equipped shield of harmony as the potion of invis was being gulp'd! just to prevent any risk with the bounch of confusions being cast your way from the umber hulks as you are revealed.

Lich was not the longest battle Anatole has ever had --> www.youtube.com/watch 

Sendai's priestess;
Well the Earth elemental prince I was never gonna enter any kind of melee with.. so I used stealth to first find a few angles for pulling his two minions out into traps, I was extra careful as the prince itself cares little for stealth. I had buffed with mirror image, stoneskin and potion of absorbtion + girdle of bluntness.. just if I had to endure a random hit or two.
the two minions of his was pulled and killed with normal traps.
Then I placed two time traps with a fair distance and all the spike traps I had between them.. pulled the prince with simu from helmet. he ran for me as soon I was in vision, though.
Time trap triggered which was good since he makes this huge earthquake knockdown .. it took almost the whole trap duration before I was on my feet again..
Ran back behind the spike traps and they did devastating damage to him.

I pocketplane rested and placed two time traps again with a good distance between them and then shot a cloud kill charge into the priestess room, which pulled the Demon knight and vampire into the first time stop trap.. I took them both down with a backstab each in its duration.
Then the priestess came out and triggered the second time trap and she was taken down during its duration. I left the hive mother etc. in there. 

The captain you can duel was done with boots of speed + oil of speed.. then I hugged the door I came in from, until he was close to me there.. then rushed to the opposite door and put down a time trap and entered stealth.. the rest is ,..murder.
The beholder keeps spamming some true seeing ability that made usage of invisibility potions impossible for me even with no-detection...

Mind flayers I stealthed before opening each door to the vampire illithid's and took down each of them with a backstab from staff of the ram... incredible weapon!
Placed a time trap before opening the door to the named mind flayer as well as a second time trap back at the entrance room.. the named one sees through any stealth so the trap at the door is there to trigger when it comes storming to eat your brain.
Helmet of charm protection, greenstone amulet charge used before opening the door.. he casts his stuff and follow into the trap triggering it and then its just quickly removing him with a solid backstab (289 damage).. The few others in there are easier since they have no stealth detection but caution was used, of course.

At first I wanted to record the Sendai battle but it dragged out so very long that I desided to stop recording when the raw footage reached 29,3 Giga bytes of data.
But I did take a few screens during the battle, too.. the tactics were a bit like this.
I buffed up quite well, maybe most importantly a lot of speed and then protection against dispel magics (immunity to spell schools). When the battle started I called in my simularcum from helmet and had it cast a Gate spell at the entrance to take care of spawns.. the plan was then to kill a few of her clones meanwhile.. well we only managed to strongly damage the first one before the pit fiend came charging to join the fight.. and her clone desided to summon a pit fient more and apparently they desided to enter a long battle with each others.
Not sure which of the pit fiends it was but one of them survived far longer and was part of the fight for a good bit!


All clones was immune to backstabs and had true seeing anyways so I mainly used the rare trap, if I got the chance to place one, to clear out random creatures running around the battle field.. main weapon used was Bow of gesen fully hasted and Axe of unyelding with Grom fayer in the off hand to clear mobs and damage clones. Shifted to Rune hammer main hand for Skeleton warrior summons.
Boots of gorgoyle was used for her thief clone. I lost some
speed for that short time but immunity to her backstabs felt more vital
to have.
Rod of reversal for strong protections on clones, else Acid arrows + poison weapon skill to penetrate light protections like stoneskins.
I almost emptied all the charges of the staff of fire to keep adds busy. (Wish I just had a planetar summon for that)

Slayer change was used at one point to kill 5 summons + a clone very quickly to regain control of the battle field.. lots of fire elemental summon corpses from the staff laying around...


When the real Sendai came my tactic was to use scrolls of tensers transformation and try and squeeze in buffs and summons when I could, usually when she used her onyx ring to blink. But she kept dispelling by buffs! That was especially frustrating for the tensers transformation scrolls. I digged deep in my bags for scrolls and potions for this battle but in the end she did fall. In hinsight I could have done the battle much smoother at many points but that is part of the charms of no-reloads I guess.. I am just happy I was the last one standing in the end.


Cheers

Edited by BBMorti, 08 December 2011 - 01:42 PM.

[Easymask]

Hi everyone!

Amazing work so far BBmorti & Alesia - keep it up! Also looking very much forward to you Cleric/Mage in Amn, Vaclavc!

After making it to Amn, the four man group has done a couple of quests in the Bridge District, taken care of the Slavers & helped Trademeet.
The first Slaver ambush went quite well, and the reward was some much needed equipment.

The second did as well, which in the end gifted Squire Aurellion with a Helm of Charm Protection.

Unfortunatley, we have had one casualty thus far:


The Rune Assassins saw straight through Sicarius' Potion of Invisibility - thus(like a few of my previous runs), the party needed a new thief. They picked up Nalia when they reached the De'Arnise stronghold, and are about to take on a few trolls! I'll probably trade her in for Imoen once we get to Spellhold.

Edited by Easymask, 08 December 2011 - 04:05 PM.

[corey_russell]

Hmm, maybe you need to run a 5 man party from now on Easymask - two thieves! : ) It must be tough recruiting new thieves "Why do you need a thief?" "Well our previous thief died so bad they couldn't b resurrected, as did numerous thieves before them." "Um is the pay real good?"

[Easymask]

Mavelorn and his party - final update.

Having cleared De'Arnise keep and recruiting Nalia - the party bought the Robe of Vecna and Shield of Balduran before heading to the temple district. The Unseeing Eye was their goal.

After talking to the Priest of Helm, the party entered the sewer and soon came to blows with Draug Fea and his party. 

Well prepared, buffed and rested - Mavelorn and his party attacked. Things where going well, and soon both enemy Clerics where dead. Mavelorn and a summoned Djinni got hit with Chaos, while Nalia was effected by Power Word: Sleep.

Soon there after Tarnor the Hatchetman fell, followed by Sir Ardanis. Still the fight could be won. Squire Aurellion attempted to turn the tables with a Dispel Magic, hoping to effect both his party members and the enemy mage. Before he was able to cast his dispel, he was hit by Maze. Things where looking very grim at this point.

The Djinni was able to cast invisibility on the now Charmed Mavelorn, but the Mage stabbed the Djinni and the spell was broken.  Nalia's death soon followed, and the depleted Mage could do nothing to stop his own demise.



Truly a shame - it seems that once one of my character dies and is replaced, things turn quite sour.

Edit:
@Corey_russel 
Haha aye, it would seem my party really does need more of them. It's a shame there is only one good thief that I like in Baldurs Gate 2(Yoshimo, whom I think is a great character!), otherwise it would probably be a bit easier.

Edited by Easymask, 08 December 2011 - 06:16 PM.

[Wierdo]

corey_russell wrote...

Hmm, maybe you need to run a 5 man party from now on Easymask - two thieves! : ) It must be tough recruiting new thieves "Why do you need a thief?" "Well our previous thief died so bad they couldn't b resurrected, as did numerous thieves before them." "Um is the pay real good?"

Heh, good thieves take care of their own pay

[Wierdo]

@EasyMask

Sorry to hear about your demise. In case it makes you feel any better, many no-reload players have met their doom to that party of adventurers in the sewers. The only advice I can provide is to

a) Don't take them for granted, pre-buff and be careful.
Fireballs are good, especially lots of them launched simultaneously (ie the Immolation Strategy, which I used extensively through BG1 and much of early BG2). Add in a Prot from Fire buffed, invisible fighter who starts swinging in the middle of your enemies when the fireballs go off, and you have a good recipe for nearly instant success.

[Easymask]

@Wierdo

Thank you for the kind words Wierdo - and yeah, they haven't really been too much of a problem before. Their mage was the one messing everything up for me, as I usually have a Thief sneak up to kill him before the fight even begins(and before he gets his Oracle off). My entire party was Invisible and fully buffed, but the Oracle spell the Mage cast dispelled all of that.

With the two enemy clerics dead though, we where in a quite good position - but even with two breaches, two dispels and two Pierce Magics(edit: Oh and a Remove Magic as well) - we couldn't put a dent in the enemy Mage. Thus both Ardanis and Aurellion where forced to go after their archer & the two Dwarves while the Mage had his way with us.

It all pretty much runs down to: Don't fight them unless I have A: A thief that can kill the Mage with backstab or B: when my Mage/Mages are high enough level to clear the Mages defences.

Edit: Oh and I did use two Skull Traps(I find them much more powerful than Fireballs) that did most of the damage to the Clerics(and disrupted one of the Mages spells). 

Edited by Easymask, 08 December 2011 - 11:29 PM.

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Throne of Bhaal

Wierdo and her band have defeated all who came before them, and now found themselves confronting Melissan at the throne of Bhaal.

This is going to be a very truncated story. This is because I am actually overseas right now and not in contact with my BG computer. I have my old laptop here but there is no BG on it <sniff>. However, I do havev civII so that is something to look forward to in a dull moment.

Wierdo actually completed her battle against Melissan nearly a week ago, but I have been too busy with work, kids and a million little jobs that had to be done before I could get on a plane.

Wierdo and her band managed to defeat all of the five. To Wierdo's credit, she did not get hit even once for damage - although some spells managed to trigger her contingencies at various points. Other members of her party did suffer terrible wounds, including Bruce who was burned to death on lava in the Hall of the Fire Giant King to a freak event involving a removal of fire protections (by a burning man) quickly followed by a Time Stop before Bruce could get off the lava (but even so, Wierdo was somehow able to resurrect his ashes).

Enough of that. Even with all Ascension and SCSII have to offer, Abazigal, Sendai, Illasera, Yaga all lie dead. Balthazar joined Wierdo's cause as well. My favourite parts would have to include the fight with four dragons while going against Abazigal.

Moving along, I was going to say that because I am away from my main PC I can't give you all the screenshots that I'd like. In fact, I only have a few from the end which I quickly uploaded the other day.

As you will have already worked out, Wierdo managed to defeat Melissan without even getting a proverbial scratch on herself. That is mainly due to her staying out of trouble, preferably invisibly. Wierdo also used lots of summons. As my install has no limitations on Devas/Planetars, at one point Wierdo had seven celestials on the table at the same time. That is a pretty impressive squad of shock troopers. Some might call this an exploit but there are heaps of things in this install to make it so much more difficult than normal, so 'meh' to that.

I did suffer through lots of crashes though. At first my PC crashed four times while well into the first battles against the five. However, I worked out what the problem was. Some of you may recall that I had a bug with Bruce's Lunar Stance ability causing a crash. Some kind soul on the boards pointed out that this was due to the 'Sparkle' effect. Well, I took this advice to Near Infinity and removed references to "Sparkle: Explosion" and everything was fine from there. Until now.

I noticed that the crashed tended to occur after Balthazar used his "Glitterdust" ability. I checked it out in NI and found that this also used the "Sparkle: Explosion" effect and I may have also found it in Balthazar's Lunar Stance - but it was last week and I'm not sure now.

After solving this, there wasa only one more crash (after I had left the game to go to work, and the PC crashed soon after resuming the battle).

 Anyway, here is a screenshot of the final victory moment, captured for posterity:




As my nine y.o. daughter was with me at the time, I let her make the choices for Wierdo's ascension. She decided to forgo the taint and live a normal wife with Jaheira. Personally, I would have chosen the path of Godhood and driven Jaheira and her bossy. control-freakishness away, but my daughter has a big heart.

I may post a detailed story about this fight in about a month, when I'll be back home.

I can't actually remember what levels the characters in the party were at this finale. However, they are probably something like this:

The Bretheren

Wierdo - Gnome Illusionist(21)/Thief(28)

Annakin - Human Berserker/Mage (12/28)

Bruce - Human Monk(43)

Starria - Half-Elf Ranger/Cleric (21/26)

Mazzy - Halfling Paladin(34)

Jaheira - Half-Elf Fighter/Druid (23/25)


Next: Back to the start of BG1

[Wierdo]

Easymask wrote...

@Wierdo
...
Edit: Oh and I did use two Skull Traps(I find them much more powerful than Fireballs) that did most of the damage to the Clerics(and disrupted one of the Mages spells). 

The key is to do enough damage to kill at least several of them. You need more than two skull traps or fireballs to take these guys out reliably. Try four next time (Oil of Fiery Burning is useful here).

You're right about Skull trap doing more damage. Skull traps do 1d6 per level, up to 20d6 in unmodded BG. Modded with SCSII (I think), my skull traps are limited to 12d6. Fireballs only do up to 10d6 in any install.

However, fire is more commonly available and much easier to protect against if you want one or two fighters to be in the middle of it at start chopping (either due to invisibility, or because they just run up into the fray). That makes fire a good choice and the fighters finish off what the flames start.