15228 replies to this topic

[Gate70]

BBMorti wrote...(in BG1 forum)
Congratulations Gate70 good work and hopefully you will prove as successful in amn as well. =)

Unlikely, but it is fun trying.

Voral, LG human male cavalier.
Ascension, Fixpack (core), BGT, Generalized Biffing.

Sarevok is dead, so Belt lines up another job involving the golden pantaloons.


Irenicus laughs as he casts the Shadowkeeper spell. At a stroke reputation drops to 12, and experience reduces to 161k.

Imoen, Jaheira, Minsc and Yoshimo are escorted outside.

[ussnorway]

Welcome aboard Gate70, Yippie I was starting to get a little lonely over here.

[Gate70]

Will try and fit a few updates in then, hopefully won't die too soon with Yoshimo etc around.
---
Voral, LG human male cavalier + Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo. & Aerie.

The circus.
Weapons: Sword of Chaos, staff +1, non-proficient dagger +1 (Minsc), Katana +1. & Aerie. Sling as quarterstaff isn't enchanted.

Voral and Jaheira kill the shadows, NPP failing to stop Jaheira getting drained stats.

Interlude.
A final NPP is used to kill a creature called Hareishan.
Cohrvale and Breig bark briefly.

The Copper Coronet.
Weapons: Sword of Chaos, sling, longbow, shortbow, sling.

Yoshimo is a fine foil to the guards while Voral kills any casters.
Minsc charms a winter wolf and sends it towards the beastmaster.
Voral finishes the beastmaster while the party start on his pets.
Hendak eliminates Lehtinan, Yoshimo equips the Tuigan Bow.
Jaheira equips the sling of seeking, Minsc reserves Azuredge (non-proficient).

The Slaver Compound, through the guarded stair entrance.
Minsc equips a composite longbow +1.
Yoshimo sneakily de-traps a few steps.
Aerie silences one slaver wizard making this battle easy.
Yoshimo removes another trap from the shadows.
"Captain" Haegan is soon dead.
Aerie uses M's acid arrows to remove a pair of trolls.

The sewers.
A kobold staff is retrieved first.
Aerie earns her place, dispelling hobgoblin shaman hold from Voral.
A severed hand, ring and blood lead to the retrieval of Lilacor.

Gear so far.

Edited by Gate70, 26 January 2012 - 08:36 PM.

[Gate70]

Voral, LG human male cavalier + Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo, Aerie.

Interlude.
The bridge district is a fine place to stage a mugging.

Bridge District murders.
Ironskins protect Jaheira from a rune assassin while Voral deals with ghasts.
Vellin Dhan and Rejiek Hidesman both escape, lt Aegisfield isn't too bothered.

Suna Seni.
A plague on you.

[Gate70]

Voral, LG human male cavalier + Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo, Aerie.

Irritating distractions.
Aerie stops nagging after speaking to Quayle then Raelis Shai. Minsc stops nagging about Delon after we talk to Minister Lloyd.

Interlude.
Jaheira and Yoshimo are held by a now deceased priest of Cyric. Jaheira is cursed by Baron Ployer, and cured by retrieving a lock of her hair. Sansuki is rescued; Minsc is drained once before Aerie can NPP him.

The services of Sir Sarles.
Illithium is taken fron Neb, restoring Minsc at the same time. Sir Sarles rejects the fake alloy, but the temple are pleased with it.

Xzar and the Harpers.
Renfeld is returned to the Harpers Guild. Xzar asks for help retrieving Montaron. Prebek's house is cleared. Xzar is assassinated before our eyes.

The treachery of Mae'var.
Yoshimo reaches the limit of his de-trapping skills, petrifying himself in the training room. A nearby temple has a scroll of stone to flesh for only 150gp. Rayic Gethras is distracted by summons and eventually dies. Documents and a dagger are dutifully retrieved. Renal Bloodscalp examines the evidence and asks me to deal with Mae'var. Done.

More interludes.
Tanova takes offence at our shadow thief alleigance. Tough fight as Yoshimo is dominated and Minsc nearly drained to death.

Aran Linvail.
15,000gp is required for a key. Mook is murdered by Lassal, and he escapes when attacked. Gracen the enemy guild contact has a note with location clues. Yoshisnares hit grimward archers when we return from Aran Linvail, meaning Haz is dead before we can reach the battle. Despite this the vampire lair starts off as fun for Voral and Minsc.


Even more fun with the improved Minsc of Disruption.


Special snares and buffs prepare for the final room. The vampires are easy but the grimwarders almost kill Minsc. Skeletons and a fire elemental finish Lassal. Staking him results in Bodhi arriving, departing at this point.

Edited by Gate70, 28 January 2012 - 05:27 PM.

[corey_russell]

Vessen the halfling priest of Lathandar -- FINAL Update

Vessen's battle was a bit anti-climatic, thanks to Lily. She laid 7 spike traps. We had some summons too, but Ravager was killed in about 3 seconds, since the traps put it to near death.


We then did the pool battles and the various battles vs. Melissan. One battle was real dicey 2/3 the party dead, but then we ran into a horrible bug -- somehow the screen changed to the pocket plane (even though it should have been destroyed when we met Melissan) -- but clicking my potraits would NOT change to the Throne of Bhaal. I tried saving and re-loading but no go. I wasn't dead, just couldn't do anything. Unfortunately had to reload from my save just before destroying the pocket plane.

We did the batles once more. Lots of summons, horrid wiltings and storms of vengeance. Also lots of energy blades and MMM. We also used 4 spike traps for second and third Melissan battles, which put her to near death. For the final battle with Melissan, I did maximum buffs, some mordy swords, Planetar and some bears. Poor Lily got chunked before the end! She was such a great contributor for so long, she will be missed...

The party, however avenges her permanent death and defeats Melissan.

Vessen decided to be a mortal, so he could live the rest of his life with his family members, Joshua his son and Paja his wife.

Thoughts about this run:
This was a very well balanced party. In particular, Paja the druid and Lily the Blade made both BG 2 and ToB much smoother. Vessen was never powerful head-to-head with enemies, and in fact he had quite a few close calls in the run. He pretty much stayed in the back and stayed as a support character. Paja was set to summoner script, which helped a lot so I didn't have to micromanage all the time, which was very nice.

Thoughts about my next run:
Considering that this is my 3rd successful trilogy no-reload run (previous successes was Candar the berserker and Lotan the fighter/druid), it's time to add the difficulty mods. I find both SoA and ToB very difficult solo, so going to leave though unchanged. What I will do, is see about modding BG 1. If I have to change to the BG 2 engine, will miss the BG 1 engine.

Edited by corey_russell, 28 January 2012 - 09:12 PM.

[AnonymousHero]

Grats, corey!

... and welcome to the world of difficulty-enhancing mods!

[Shadow_Leech07]

congrats Corey_Russell! Good luck in your next run.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Congratulations, Corey! Well done!

[ussnorway]

UD12;
@corey_russell, Congrats & welcome to the harder levels of game play.

Ust'Natha is ambush central & the first contenders were Kuo-Toa although why they should be guarding a beholder liar is news to me... has anyone ever managed to talk to these guys without it ending in fishcakes? I asked Amber to lay traps here and we had just set off to visit the mysterious lady the Duergar told us about when ten dark elves ambushed us (a slaughter of Drow?) Anyway, we managed a fighting retreat back to the traps.



Lady silverback changed our appearance so we wouldn’t draw so much attention & ensnared us into competition for her perilous eggs... as it turned out the Drow initiation had us return to the same Beholder entrance to ambush some Mind Flayers (after dispatching some luckless humans) & I decided to go ahead and pillage the Beholder lair as well but we didn’t feel confident about fighting SCS upgraded Beholders yet so Do’Dad just cloaked and we walked back to Ust'Natha with his collected spoils.



After several fights i.e. duelling at the tavern I started relishing my respites in the aptly named lust chambers... [censured]... before dispatching an additional Beholder for a girl named Phaere and being blackmailed into killing yet another girl* for a Telepathic Fish!



*This battle had me worried until I remembered that I only needed to kill/ loot one Drow to win so Amber laid traps outside her door (a precaution I didn’t need), Jaheira & Do’Dad both cast ‘Blade Barrier’ then I cloaked us with ‘Invisibility, 10' Radius’;
Round 1 Jaheira, Do’Dad & Amber moved up & Imoen positioned herself to guard me whilst a suspicious guard started casting divination but too little too late.
Round 2 Amber turned Qilue into a Drow paddle-pop whilst the rest of us moved towards the door and/ or summoned peons.
Round 3 Taking a leaf from Irenicus' tactics journal we abandoned our peons to a hopeless battle whilst we fled... Amber claimed the +4 dagger.

Edit; p.s I forgot to say that I did a spot of shopping notably; “Staff of Earth +2”, “Kaligun’s Amulet” & “Rod of Smiting”.

Edited by ussnorway, 29 January 2012 - 07:59 AM.

[Gate70]

Congratulations Corey & nice going ussnorway.

Voral, LG human male cavalier + Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo, Aerie. A bad day for Minsc

Crypt crawling in the graveyard district.
Mummies, a crypt king, shadow fiends, skeleton warrior and Uncle Lester have been dealt with. Kamir, Arenthis and Risa take several days to meet Kamir got lost at one point?

At night in the slums.
Camitis and Reti die for their sins, allowing retrieval of the silver pantaloons. Travin directs us to Borinall, then we retrieve a stuffed teddy bear before we depart.

Umar Hills.
A mimic and out of control golem help Daar, Colette and Jermien realise their stupidity. Slaughtering chickens wrong conversation choice delivers a beljuril, and evidence of werewolves is found. Madulf and his deserters are entrusted with defending the community while we move north.

Temple Ruins, outside.
Anath convinces us to help fight a shade lord at the shadow temple. Minsc gets himself surrounded. Voral turns a mirror to kill many shadow creatures but Minsc is still stuck and perishes. Once the battle is won Aerie memorises raise dead and restores him.

Shadow temple.
A pair of skeleton warriors kill Minsc. Aerie raises him and Voral swaps armour. A shadow jailor fails to stop us releasing Mazzy Fentan, and Voral "guesses" the ritual statue questions. Minsc is held by a shadow fiend, but Aerie casts remove paralysis thanks BBMorti EDIT POLYTOPE to rescue him.

Minsc gets held again, rescued before more skeleton warriors kill him. He decides to dual-wield Arbane when fighting shadow fiends.

Shadow Dragon.
Various buffs almost do the job, but our summons are falling and Minsc gets obliterated belatedly noted the level drain message, should have used the iMoD then.


A desperate struggle ensues. EDIT: Yoshimo gets the kill with an arrow +1 or a normal snare.


With Minsc and much equipment gone there is nothing to do but complete the job, starting with Shadow Patrick.


Shadow Lord next.


Shadow, then Shadow Altar.


EDIT: So what was lost, other than Minsc and Boo? EDIT2: Jaheira has the shield as Minsc switched to Lilacor, but everything else has gone.

Edited by Gate70, 29 January 2012 - 03:26 PM.

[corey_russell]

Consolations, Gate70 on the loss of Minsc. And yes he definitely should have been using the IMoD if you had it. Good going taking down the shadow dragon despite the loss of your tank.

And thanks everyone for the congratulations!

[BelgarathMTH]

@Corey, gratz on your successful run. I like your new picture - no more confusing you with other people using the old one.

@Gate: I love your posting style. Very easy to read, and probably convenient for writing as well. You make the best screen shots I've ever seen. I wish I knew how to do that.

For my abbreviation guide: What's an IMoD?

[corey_russell]

Belgarath: Thanks about the picture. It's my Dragon Age's character portrait -- I thought that made more sense than using Duncan's (a character in Dragon Age). : ) As for IMoD that's the Improved Mace of Disruption -- major feature? immunity to level drains.

[Gate70]

Thanks. All I do is edit the screenshot (GIMP editor on Linux), copy the areas I want, crop the rest and zoom to 100%. Most graphic packages can do that, and saving it in PNG format or maybe JPEG works well for these forums.

Other major feature of the mace is chance to destroy undead each hit.

[BelgarathMTH]

Thanks for the "IMoD" info. I put it in my list.

@Corey, I notice that both of your chosen icons are bearded fellows. I tried to get my own DA portrait that you see in my posts to be as close to my real-life appearance as possible, so I wonder if you do that, too.

@ Gate, GIMP? Linux? PNG? Don't answer that, I'm just chuckling at how superior you are to me in tech skills! I bet you'll be programming holodecks within the decade!

I'm enjoying following both of your no-reload exploits. USS Norway's too.

[corey_russell]

BelgarathMTH wrote...

Thanks for the "IMoD" info. I put it in my list.

@Corey, I notice that both of your chosen icons are bearded fellows. I tried to get my own DA portrait that you see in my posts to be as close to my real-life appearance as possible, so I wonder if you do that, too.

@ Gate, GIMP? Linux? PNG? Don't answer that, I'm just chuckling at how superior you are to me in tech skills! I bet you'll be programming holodecks within the decade!

I'm enjoying following both of your no-reload exploits. USS Norway's too.

Yes, in real life I am bearded -- which wouldn't be hard to deduce, since the picture I am using in BG 1 is my real life picture and you can see my beard there.

[Gate70]

Voral, LG human male cavalier + Jaheira, Yoshimo, Aerie. & Valygar.

Interlude.
So Minsc has gone, welcome Valygar. n.b. looks like the amulet survived too.

The villagers confirm they have accepted Malduf, while Aerie and Jaheira fight overnight. Jaheira is taken hostage by Ertof Dand then immediately taken away by Meriona. Madulf pitches in, helping defeat Ertof at the expense of most of his companions.

Harper HQ.
Jaheira returns, insisting the harpers need help. Instead Galvarey twists my words and attacks. Yoshimo points out the snare set weeks earlier. This and an insect plague means the battle is rapidly over.

Guarded compound.
Sion and Ketta volunteer a lesson so we educate two skeletons, a nymph and a fire elemental. Upstairs is tougher but doom, insect summons, silence, hold person, hold monster and slow just keeps Voral alive. On the way out an efreeti re-appears to add a fireball. Valygar is now dual-wielding Celestial Fury with his family blade offhand.

The de'Arnise Hold.
With the ground floor cleared it is time to open the drawbridge. Yoshimo's snares do their job and clear the courtyard. A fire elemental helps dispose of an iron golem, then Glaicas gets stunned by Celestial Fury.

de'Arnise basement.
Yoshimo rounds up the umber hulks so they can be easily culled. His snares drop Torgal so Voral can apply the FoA.


The druid grove.
Voral and Valygar are non-proficient with the FoA and Stonefire axe so Yoshimo goal-hangs, leaping in with a single arrow of fire whenever a troll hits the deck. Kyland Lind and his druids fall for the old insect plague silence combo.


Buffs take care of Ihtafeer, summons buffer against myconids and a trio of druids. Cernd takes offense to a summon (skeleton? others were fire elemental and berserk warrior) and attacks. Speaking to Faldorn summons him again, so once Jaheira kills Faldorn (doom nymph hold person) a hasty retreat is called for.

Trademeet.
The djinn move on, Rejiek Hidesman is finally dealt with and a mantle of Waukeen is entrusted to the mayor.

Preparation.
Buying, selling, a brief raid on the top level of Watchers Keep. Yopshimo is the only one with an empty backpack.

[ussnorway]

So will Valygar be tanking for you now or Jaheira?

[corey_russell]

ussnorway wrote...

So will Valygar be tanking for you now or Jaheira?

Looks like Valygar and Voral should be in the front lines. Valygar dual-wielding Katanas will out-dps Jaheira any day of the week. Besides, Jaheira could then do stuff like insect plagues and call lightnings.

[Gate70]

Paladin & ranger up front. Jaheira has the girdle because of the sling of seeking and Valygar with STR 17 is still very effective.

Edit & an update.

Voral, LG human male cavalier + Jaheira, Yoshimo, Aerie & Valygar.

Harper Hold showdown.
Jaheira has returned to the hold. Voral is quite the sight, apparently.

Yoshimo has left a snare, holding one of the waiting mercenaries. The rest fall quickly.

Hidden rooms.
A pirates retreat is safely cleared. Strategy vs a lich is for Voral and Valygar to buff while Jaheira summons a fire elemental, Yoshimo loots a chest and Aerie passes an identified Daystar to Voral. Valygar, Jaheira, Yoshimo and Aerie retreat while Voral attacks the lich with Daystar.

Voral is mazed intelligence is 8 so a long wait, but Valygar waits outside. The lich and pit fiend turn on each other until the pit fiend is stunned. The lich summons an efreeti, but still Valygar waits.

Voral returns, and calls Valygar. Two oils of speed later Voral is attacking the lich while Valygar takes the efreeti. Jaheira, Yoshimo and Aerie arrive to missile the efreeti. Valygar drops it and moves to the injured pit fiend. Voral has wounded the lich so uses a Daystar Sunray.


Job done, almost.


Time for the old one-two.

Edited by Gate70, 31 January 2012 - 10:18 PM.

[Gate70]

Voral, LG human male cavalier + Jaheira, Yoshimo, Aerie & Valygar.

Dermin Courtierdale and the harpers
Kitthix, a berserk warrior and a flesh golem are summoned as Dermin approaches. Jaheira adds insect plague and that is that.

Windspear Hills.
Decent progress is made, although Valygar is taking serious damage in each fight. He is very badly injured fighting golems in the ruins (1 iron, 1 clay, 2 stone) and has to retreat. Voral fends them off while some healing is done, but a lack of suitable weapons/proficiencies is telling.

The iron golem is dropped, as is one stone golem. Then Voral falls (lack of attention on my part as focusing on getting Valygar healed). Back to Candlekeep...

Edited by Gate70, 04 February 2012 - 09:49 AM.

[Grond0]

Hard luck Gate. Didn't I see something recently about Valygar having golems as his chosen enemy - might have come in handy for you.

[ussnorway]

UD13;
Heading towards the light.

After a couple more minor tasks I finally meet the big cheese whom as it turns out has a fetish craving for the blood of a Kuo-Toa prince... what a coincidence I just happen to have one in my bag but I played mute because I wanted to tidy up some loose ends first. After leaving the temple I dispatched some slimes and had a chat to Jarlaxle about his unfortunate Lich issue.

After checking the notes it appears that this particular Lich likes to toss out various death spells whilst hiding under an impressive list of immunities, plus he has also been known to associate with a fallen planetar so all in all a tough ask for a party championed by a sorceress... I recharged my “Rod of Resurrection” &  purchased a ‘Spell Trigger’ which I cast direct from the scroll then I put up ‘Spell Immunity’ (necromancy) & ‘Invisibility, 10' Radius’ before activating my inner Slayer.



Round 1: I fired my ‘Spell Trigger’ (‘Lower Resistance’ times two & ‘Ray of Enfeeblement’), Jaheira summoned the Efreeti, Do’Dad put up ‘Repulse Undead’ & team two i.e. Imoen, Amber & Haer'Dalis started moving away hoping to avoid getting ‘Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting’ dropped onto them... Deirex activated his various immune to this and that buffs then used ‘Time Stop’ to summon his Fallen Planetar.

Round 2&3: Jaheira & myself got stuck into the Planetar whilst Do’Dad pushed Deirex over against the wall... I think this must have changed his range (cancelling his spells) & therefore he only put up more defensive buffs.

Round 4, 5 & 6: I dropped out of the Slayer mode after dispatching the FP & we basically had a Mexican stand-off with nobody able to harm the other... I couldn’t get past his assortment of buffs but Do’Dad had him pinned against the far wall & easily shrugged off the various death spells.

Round 7, 8 & 9: Do’Dad had to retreat to rebuff &  then Deirex surprised me by repeatedly summoning ‘Mordenkainen's Sword’ which of course threatened to bugger all the traps that Amber placed so Jaheira sacrificed herself to hold the line whilst I dispatched them & her (unfortunately) with ‘Skull Trap’s.

Round 10-16: We held him at range with skeleton warriors and then Do’Dad/ Jaheira took turns tanking whilst my “Rod of Resurrection” kept them in play untill Deirex dropped a nasty ‘Spell Trigger’ but his protections started to fail and it was game over.



After all the resources spent on this encounter I probably (just) broke even... hardest battle he has given me for quite some time. I delivered the blood and freed some slaves to fix my reputation then watched both the girls get what’s coming too them before raiding the House of Jae'llat but SCS2 upgraded defences uses the buggy follow the leader script & Do’Dad had to massacre a dozen Drow to reach the exit then once outside Amber/ Jaheira got trapped in the crowd press & things looked a little grim. They had to pass all their gear to Do’Dad and he managed to cut a conduit for me to get out of Ust'Natha  only to get betrayed/ abandoned by Lady Silverback at the threshold to the surface... ADALON!

Edited by ussnorway, 05 February 2012 - 08:57 AM.

[corey_russell]

Consolations, Gate70. Good luck in Candlekeep.