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[Alesia_BH]

Demon Battle I

Ok. Here's my first post using the scary and unfamiliar but supposedly improved Photobucket...

Having consummed many of her abilities in the opening battle at the Throne, Alyssa had to continue scraping by in Demon Battle I. She managed but she also got more than she bargained for.

I was not expecting the Ascension demons to have SCS abilties. But, shortly after the battle began, it was clear that they did have them. That was worrisome since Alyssa hadn't prepped for SCS Demon abilties. Suddenly she'd now have to continuously make the saves against Symbol spells cast at will while also maintaining PW:Stun and Implosion defenses. Potion of Invulnerability + Potion of Stone Form + Minor Spell Deflection Scrolls largely handled those tasks. Arbane and Arvoreen were kept at the ready.

Having a stack of regular snares available, Alyssa put them to use in the opening. Quick progress. 


Once the Alu-Fiends showed they had Secret Word available to them, dropping the Balor became mission critical else risk Implosion exposure. His Symbols spamming  and demon summoning made it all the clearer that he had to go.



Wand of Spell Striking.


Sling of Seeking.


The Nabassus made melee unwise since their repeated VTing would make them tough to kill- especially for a middling melee fighter like Alyssa. Hooray for Slings.



Once the Nabassus were gone, Alyssa was free to finish in melee.


Best,

A.

Edited by Alesia_BH, 15 September 2012 - 08:09 AM.

[Gate70]

Last time I read the SCS II notes I saw mention of a single rest being allowed, just checked and here it is;

Tactical Challenges: Make the starting dungeon slightly harder

This is a very low-key modification to the initial dungeon. It replaces the pathetic goblins with duergar (which I think has a better "feel" to it in any case) and it prevents you from sleeping more than once. (I allow you to sleep once because (i) it gives you a chance to choose your spells, and (ii) Imoen has some rest-related dialogue that I don't want to block.)

Edited by Gate70, 15 September 2012 - 07:43 AM.

[ussnorway]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Test.

Add an s to the end (before the .png) and you get a thumb =

then add "[url=http://i.imgur.com/nwMX4.png" to the front & "[/url]" to the back with out the quotes "

Edited by ussnorway, 15 September 2012 - 07:50 AM.

[Alesia_BH]

Gate70 wrote...

Last time I read the SCS II notes I saw mention of a single rest being allowed 

The way it used to work was that you got one free rest anywhere, but also unlimited rests near the Dryads.

One rest and one rest only does make more sense to me.

Edited by Alesia_BH, 15 September 2012 - 08:10 AM.

[Alesia_BH]

Demon Battle II

The prelude to Demon Battle II included a cruel hoax.

Balthazar hooray!


But no. You can't get a Second Wind if you're dead. And Balthazar is indeed dead.

Or is he? Maybe he was just Imprisoned and a dialog message came up from the bowels of Faerun, Alyssa thought.

Bodhi has to be freed and killed anyways- let's check now.

The scroll was read, Bodhi emerged, and Bodhi was chunked.


But no Balthy. Bummer again.

Back to the demons.

If the first batch got the nibbly-scrapy Alyssa, the second batch got the crazy-overpowered Alyssa thanks to a recent refresh. This was a very quick fight- even though the Demons were backstab immune. Improved Alacrity->Buff->Time Trap Stack->Mislead- with a Black Blade of Disaster already in hand. Only the invisible Babau's and the ProMW Marilith survived. Everyone else was chunked in black and white.



Easy finish now. Wand of Spell Striking->Melee.



Best,

A.
 

Edited by Alesia_BH, 15 September 2012 - 08:26 AM.

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alyssa's Game:

Demon Battle III was another quicky- it isn't really worthy of a full post. The way Alyssa won, however, is worth mentioning because it could lead to her demise.

Sleepy-headed and not thinking things through, I instructed Alyssa to use her regular snares. That was a mistake: she should have retained those for use after Demon Battle III and before touching the ability refresh pool. She was also supposed to have a pair of Time Traps reserved for that stage if she intended to execute Alesia's successful Mel 5 battle plan. Drat!

I think I see an alternate opening for Alyssa use, but it's going to take a bit of Spell Trap alchemy and it has the oh-so distrurbing feature of being untested. We'll see what happens I guess...

I'm not sure when she'll start the final fight. Soon though.

Best,

A.

@DMWW- Alyssa used the Control Demon abiltiy on a Nabassu and the critter was crazy stupid: he just stood there staring at Alyssa while the Cambions hacked him to pieces. Is something awry here?

Edited by Alesia_BH, 15 September 2012 - 09:10 AM.

[DMWW]

Alesia_BH wrote...
@DMWW- Alyssa used the Control Demon abiltiy on a Nabassu and the critter was crazy stupid: he just stood there staring at Alyssa while the Cambions hacked him to pieces. Is something awry here?

Yeah, probably - will chase. (I'm not always as careful as I should be at making sure PC-controlled creatures behave sensibly.)

BTW, the option to rest by the dryads was unintentional - and I didn't even know it was possible till reading this thread. I probably blocked it in the course of fixing something else.

[Alesia_BH]

Yeah, probably - will chase.

Understood. It's not a big thing for my playthrough. I prefer not to use the Control Demon ability anyways. I just tried it to see how they'd behave.

BTW, the option to rest by the dryads was unintentional - and I didn't even know it was possible till reading this thread. I probably blocked it in the course of fixing something else. 

Makes sense. I had imagined that the Dryads were watching over me while I slept. 

I do think it's better if it's one rest only though.


A.

Edited by Alesia_BH, 15 September 2012 - 01:14 PM.

[Gate70]

Grond0/Gate70 multiplayer attempt 8 : Pendal (Gate70, protaganist) and Thimble (Grond0).

Pendal and Thimble congratulate each other. They've shopped at the Adventurers Mart and returned to the temple district where they braved gauth, beholders and shadows. Then reached a forgotten temple guarded by diseased ex-worshippers and retrieved an ancient rod. Fought their way back to Sassar only for a lightning bolt to be triggered. Thimble is so shocked she loses control.

Grond0 is booted from the game after my internet flakes out. I try to save the game and "the usual problem" has struck. On investigation we have lost...the entire session with the last decent save being the auto-save about a minute after we started. There isn't even an auto-save on leaving the promenade so we know it has happened there. All we did there was shop so the culprit seems most likely to be one of us in a store and the other doing something "crazy" like being in their own inventory, passing items into spare inventory slots, checking a bag/container, storing something in a chest etc or walking in/out of the shop. So new rule is if one person is shopping the other has to sit on their hands. Sounds easy but you just try it!

30 minutes of deja-vu sees us back with Sassar, having braved the beholders again (Thimble obviously, Pendal not having a spell immunity available to him and err having to wash his hair). A quick flick through the Icewind Dale II book confirms this sort of thing just doesn't happen there.

Oswald Fiddlebender takes Bulwark and Salde by airship to help the Neverwinter forces, but poor weather and adverse summoning see him crash into a frozen mountain front. Boring beetles get the better of Salde but her dying words are to tell Bulwark about a beetle nest that should be destroyed rather than fighting the rapidly multiplying beetles. With the nest destroyed Bulwark finds a friendly priest (he's a werewolf too so not to be antagonised) and raises Salde for only 9200gp.

Soon afterwards giant spiders attack, and in trying to avoid them Salde stumbles into a formian giant - one hit and she has 1hp left. Bulwark suggests she retreat inside the airship but she glugs a healing potion and starts casting. Odea Winterthaw and her Auril frostmaidens are next, then an annoying caster stood on a bridge. After emptying her spellbook Salde follows Bulwark so he can finish off with some melee.

The exterior of an ice palace is next. It is tough going but Salde adds acid attacks, skulltraps, ice storms and flaming shrouds to thin a few crowds. Bulwark is looking forward to a big jump in his magic resistance to avoid collateral damage from this sort of excessive behaviour. Sherincal the half-dragon takes a series of magic missiles then a series of acid orbs (can't remember the spell name, is in the screenshot when Photobucket allows it).

Grond0 hasn't played much further than this while my memory is quite vague. I remember there is a puzzle with multiple levels that is tedious in single player after a couple of run throughs and no doubt more so in multiplayer where one of us (caster: me) will have to watch the other (melee:Grond0) for a long time. Believe this is optional and whatever the reward is may not be worth it so will check before next session.

Bulwark is level 11 with 49 (+58) kills, Salde level 12 with 272 (+27) kills.

Pendal Fighter 12 / Illusionist 13. 212 BG1 kills. 274 (+10) BG2 kills. Adamantite golem.
Thimble Fighter 12 / Illusionist 13. 196 BG1 kills. 602 (+54) BG2 kills. Firkraag.

[Alesia_BH]

 Alyssa v. Mel and The Five

And so it ends. Alyssa has defeated Mel and The Five. It was a lengthy battle, and she owes her victory to a Bounty Hunter who paved the way, but I guess Alyssa deserves her win in the end- despite my discomfort with her.

Battle Prep


Alyssa's battle prep was slightly unusual here since her abilties hadn't been managed as planned. Fortunately, as an M/T she had other ways of achieving the same goals. For those who don't recall, Alesia had laid down a stack of Snares near Sendai's position -along with a Time Trap to the left- before calming the last pool, wielding a Black Blade of Disaster and running Improved Haste along with Mislead. This essentially took out Sendai, and gave Alesia a chance to drop Balthazar before Mel entered the fray. She was then able to step to the side from Balthazar's position and finish Illasera.

Alyssa wanted to execute the same plan. But how to without the traps? Improved Alacrity and Chain Contingency to the rescue. Loading the Chain was the tricky part: that took a little Spell Trap Alchemy.

Spell Trap (scroll)->Projected Image (scroll)->PI Alyssa: PW:S(scroll) into Alyssa's Spell Trap->PI Alyssa:PW:K(scroll) into Alyssa's Spell Trap. That allowed Alyssa to load a Chain with Limited Wish among others before touching the pool. You'll see why that was important later.

Next, Alyssa took her long duration Potion/Scroll buffs, arranged her spellbook, dropped a MIslead, took a BBoD, and touched the pool- immediately activating Improved Alacrity once it was calmed. She then raced up to Sendai's position with IA active and laid down her traps: 6 Snares and one Time Trap. Alesia had to lay all those down before touching the pool. IA alowed Alyssa to do it right after.



All but the Time Trap ended up being irrelevant since Alyssa at the last moment decided she didn't want to trust Sendai's destruction to the traps.

The Fight

For good characters, it's Sarevok, Sendai and Yaga on the left: Abazigal, Grominir, Illasera on the right.

The fight begins. The Time Trap triggers. Going against script, Alyssa heads toward Sendai rather than Illasera.

One down.


Mel's arrival ended Alyssa's Time Stop, but Alyssa was read to start another. Remember that Limited Wish Chain?


So long Illasera.


Mel thought she'd try a Time Stop of her own, but Alyssa heard "praeses" and was Focused.

NW: As a reminder, keeping your aura clear and listening for the Alteration incantations is absolutely crucial for a soloist in this fight. Focus must be activated before Mel's Time Stops. If you miss, ProMW is your only hope.

Unfortunately, Alyssa didn't really have a plan for using the time, and it passed uneventfully.


A phase followed where Alyssa was stuck using her sling waiting for Mel to use Time Stop again. She made progress though.



Mel said "praeses" Alyssa Focused, and this time she got aggressive- taking Yaga down with the Chaos Blade. ProMW kept Mel at bay.


Pushing her advantage, she used the round while Mel was on her keist to cast Time Stop again and drop Gromnir.


Just Abazigal left now. Tried to dispell his junk with Carsomyr but that didn't work for some reason.


After seeing that, Alyssa decided against burning another Time Stop scroll. Instead, she chose to let time resume and Breach Abby in preparation for the next time stop sequence.

Focused. And then a BBoD assault whic brought him down to Badly Injured before a ProMW Contingency kicked in.


Time resumes, and Abby was Breached again.


Time Trap->Black Blade of Disasater ended him.


Time for Mel.

During this phase the keys were to keep saves highly negative and maintain distance- ideally while running Spell Sheild+Stoneskins+Spell Protection. Alyssa paid close attention to her positioning and was very careful with her aura in order to insure that Focus would be available when needed. Bone Blades and Unleash lead to some scary moments. A missed Focus led to the biggest scare.

Once Alyssa had Mel on her own, she snuck off, activated Improved Alacrity, full buffed, and laid down a patch of Spike Traps. The result?


Right....

And so Alyssa shifted from crazy-overpowered mode to nibbly-scrappy mode once again.

Alyssa got a few knocks in with the BBoD while running ProMW.


But, terrifyingly, Mel Telported Without Error away, cast Time Stop silently, and then Teleported Without Error back. Having no verbal cue, Alyssa missed her Focus. It was a just a matter of whether the ProMW and Stoneskins would hold out.


They did. And Alyssa struck back with devestating sling bullet blasts. Ok: maybe not quite devestating...


Nibble-Nibble.


This probably looks familiar to those who remember Alesia's epilogue. Sling bullets and the Wand of Frost...And just as in Alesia's case the screenshots belie the nature of the fight, it was a twitchy nerve wracking affair that could have quickly gone sour at dozens and dozens of moments. This fight wasn't about chucking sling bullets: it was about ability use timing, positioning, and aura management.


The endgame differed slightly for Alyssa. Alesia finished with a Backstab flury. Alyssa on the other hand found stationary AoE stuff surprisingly helpful after a few Lower Resistance casts.


And then it ended. 


Fin!

Setting aside my discomfort with Alyssa, I hope others enjoyed her run. M/Ts do have a lot to offer: they can definitely be a fun class to play. The true challenge, it seems, lies in finding ways to use their at times game-breaing abilities in a balanced and satisfying way. Perhaps I'll give it a try again someday?
(For now, know that if you have Jan Jansen in your party, you have an absolute monster at your disposal....) 

I'll probably provide further epilogue commentary on Alyssa's run later. I have to go now though! 

Thanks to everyone who has followed Alyssa's adventure!

Best,

A.

Edited by Alesia_BH, 15 September 2012 - 03:53 PM.

[corey_russell]

Congrats Alesia_BH! Was this a trilogy run?

[Alesia_BH]

Yes. Remember the Rabbit familiar backstabbing Sarevok? That was Alyssa. 

Solo with SCS in both legs (full pre-buffs, most of the tactical components).

Ascension in ToB of course.

Edited by Alesia_BH, 15 September 2012 - 01:22 PM.

[Grond0]

Well done Alesia. Nice to see the scoreboard ratchet up one more success against Mel.

[corey_russell]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Yes. Remember the Rabbit familiar backstabbing Sarevok? That was Alyssa. 

Solo with SCS in both legs (full pre-buffs, most of the tactical components).

Ascension in ToB of course.

Very good. I am adding Alyssa to the Hall of  Heroes then (first post of this thread).

[Alesia_BH]

Grond0 wrote...
Well done Alesia. Nice to see the scoreboard ratchet up one more success against Mel.

corey_russell wrote...
Very good. I am adding Alyssa to the Hall of  Heroes then (first post of this thread).

Thanks. I feel a little bad for Alyssa now that it's all over: she's kind of like a child who can't get parental approval no matter what she does. 

Ultimatelly, I suspect the only problem I have with Alyssa is that she isn't Alesia. I guess I wish I had run a M/T first and then let Alesia benefit from the recon rather than the other way around. Oh well. They were both enjoyable runs, and I'm sure Alesia will get another shot at Mel soon.


A.

Edited by Alesia_BH, 15 September 2012 - 03:39 PM.

[Alesia_BH]

Btw. I want to start another character but I can't choose.

(Alo interests me but I'm not sure I want to go with another thief...)

If anyone has any cool portraits they'd like to share let me know somehow. I prefer to build characters from the portrait up.

Edit: Alyssa's run may be my last Trilogy game for awhile: my BG1 install isn't working suddenly...

Edited by Alesia_BH, 15 September 2012 - 04:44 PM.

[corey_russell]

 Vaquen the level 9 dwarven fighter update #1
Traveling with Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo

Vaquen did survive Chateau Irenicus, definitely a challenge with only allowed 1 rest. We skipped the battle mage and vampire but did the rest. Imoen would have died thanks to the backstabbing thieves at the end but her belt saved her. Yoshimo picked up 3 invis potions, which turned out to be critical later...also Vaquen picked up a firebreath potion, which also turned out critical later...

First job was of course selling our junk and saving things for Aerie. Jaheira using a +1 scimitar for now, and Minsc the Sword of Chaos. Vaquen needed a magical axe, but we were first forced to stop by the slums to talk to Gaelan. We battled Corvhale and Bregg and it was actually a real battle with their potion use...Vaquen's team still won without casualty. After picking up the +2 axe in the graveyard, now everyone has a magical weapon so we can go pick up Aerie and solve the Circus problem...

This led to my first SCS ambush! What a fight...Jaheira got slaughtered, Yoshimo used all 3 of his invis potions for backstabs (we needed the extra damage dealing), Vaquen and Minsc were gulping heal potions like they were going out of style. Vaquen used the firebreath potion from Chateau Irenicus to slaughter the mage and do lots of the damage to the Suna Sune slavers...Minsc was feared so was out of action, Yoshimo a sliver of life, so ran away to save his skin..Vaquen defeated the remaining slavers and the team survived!


I would say so far the extra potions are just allowing us stay in one piece, doesn't seem imbalancing so far...

Edited by corey_russell, 15 September 2012 - 04:50 PM.

[Alesia_BH]

Congrats on surviving your first SCS ambush!

I hope you're enjoying the ride.

[Gate70]

Congratulations Alesia, always good to see the modded end-game done like that.

Grunn, LN human male monk
Saemon Havarian and Desharik watch as I fend off four pirates. Saemon watches again as I fend off a shipload of githyanki, then he teleports away as the ship is dragged to the ocean floor and me with it. I wake up in an undercity cavern, forced to fight an ettin before being asked to kill a rebel prince for the sahuagin. I agree, on condition they buy some trinkets from me in return for 3 restoration scrolls and 3 heroism potions.

I take a wrong turn and end up in an area originally frequented by drow. No problem, I have spell turning, improved invisibility and the cloak of displacement so should be reasonably safe. I drop out of the shadows to deal with a bone golem (Monk: 24, Critical Strike). Some imps want to play a game and I detect mischief so use detect traps (85%) to win without stepping on anything nasty. I can't convince a Spectator beholder to help me so make a grab for what it is guarding then defend myself from attack. As I near a huge stone head of Sekolah I kill a priestess and stash a cloak of mirroring in my backpack as my magic resistance is already 72% + 10% Gaxx bonus.

I work through many sahuagin (each one is at least 3000xp, their bolts are -14 to hit me and when they do they are not magical weapons so ineffective). One or two have better bolts but I arrive uninjured at the prince. He hits me so I GWW him into chunks. On my way back I visit the sahuagin ampitheatre for a one-sided battle thanks to a GWW then WW. I have doomed this sahuagin colony, and my reward for doing so from their king is the gauntlets of crushing taking unbuffed THACO to -11 with 4APR. He hands me a rope to descend into the Underdark but I'm a monk and use my speed to run around the edges and descend under my own control in a wall of death venture.

My first act in the underdark is to sneak up and GWW a mind flayer (Monk: 25, Smite) before finding Carlig and setting up a trade account. He has nothing of interest so I ask for information instead. I head west to pick up some tainted tadpoles and get drained back to level 17 by a demon knight. I pack the belt of inertial barrier away and try a belt of frost giant strength, then use one of my 7 restoration scrolls before resting. Soon only the kuo-toa prince remains and I decide to tackle him fairly until he panics. While on the move I cannot hit him quickly enough so throw the tainted tadpoles in a breeding pool and stealth back to him. He panics twice more but on the third occasion I can stay close enough to kill him. A group of drow guarding an entrance are the final confrontation but the door behind them is locked so I must turn back (Monk: 26, GWW).

Next I stumble, fully buffed, into a beholder lair. An elder orb is waiting and as it starts to cast true sight I use two GWW's to chunk it - a lone eyeball remains so I backpack it and finish off a nearby beholder. I could clear the lair but you've got to leave something for other adventurers to complete and the remaining xp, coin and items are of little interest. Instead I leave quickly only to stumble into an illithid lair. What are the chances of that?

The illithid try to stun me and I play along - got to be easier than breaking doors down with your bare hands. An ogre jailer tells me I am here to fight (he's read my mind so living with flayers must rub off on you). I nod, adding that I'm also here for any broken weapons he has too. Three umber hulks are wheeled out to play with me, and they are dragged away shortly afterwards while I have done the bare minimum to defeat them. Back in my cell I open a door to speak to Simyaz, after his fight I agree to help them and while they glare at a stadium I do all the hard work to get a mind circlet around the neck of an illithid. Sure enough, I'm still stuck while Simyaz and his gang manage to leave so I do a bit more work to try and get out on my own.

Four flayers and two umber hulks fall for GWW WW (Monk: 27, Critical Strike). Another rest, then two more flayers go to a GWW, an umber hulk, insane dwarf berserker and kuo-toa priest are meleed and there are only two chambers left in the lair. An ulitharid, two flayers and an umber hulk are in one and GWW deals with the brain-suckers to leave me in control against the hard case. I've worked hard for my reputation so create a second mind circlet. An ulitharid is first, then the master brain and a mind flayer. Two brain golems and an umber hulk bring up the rear and I emerge unscathed from this final battle (Monk: 28, GWW) to release the slaves. Simyaz is waiting for me outside but I've rested and GWW my way through his welcoming party. 

A swirf village is in trouble so I throw a balor down a pit and use a scroll to stop it returning. Then I use two GWW's to drop a drow war party and three more to deal with drow abusing a portal prison (Monk: 29, Hardiness). Then I turn each facet and have my minions deal with whatever arrives. The berserk warrior is de-buffed and imprisoned but Kitthix poisons that caster so I can sneak in with a deadly punch. Alchra Diagott removes Kitthix but I have moved away from a timestop and follow-up spells. A GWW with Daystar badly wounds him but then he misleads so I kill that and retreat after sending in the genie. He stays invisible so I sneak next to him and light him up with a sunray before freeing Bedlen Dagglefod. Gont of Riatavin is last and leaves without a fight.

Edited by Gate70, 16 September 2012 - 09:57 AM.

[Alesia_BH]

Gate70 wrote...

Congratulations Alesia, always good to see the modded end-game done like that.

Thanks. It's a pretty reliable method for thieves. I'd like to work ones out for warriors and mages as well.


Btw. Grunn is looking good!

[Gate70]

Grond0/Gate70 multiplayer attempt 8 : Pendal (Gate70, protaganist) and Thimble (Grond0).

Thimble takes out Azuredge and starts to work through the undead guarding the Unseeing Eye pit, dropping a lich with the first hit. A sunfire or two speed things up and the duo move on to the pit. Thimble takes the lead and Pendal sends in a pair of nishruu to see if they will help. He then takes staying alive to new extremes after a pair of beholders circle round. One targets him and as a domination comes in he tries to equip the shield of harmony only to find his MMM's prevent this. He quickly runs away and lets Thimble tidy up. She adds a few more buffs and clears the area. The Unseeing Eye is rodded and flailed.

After tidying up and collecting a reward various items are sold before Mekrath is assisted. Pendal doesn't do slavery so Mekrath is given a lesson before we head into a Planar Prison via a young conduit. With the landing area of the prison clear Thimble puts on boots of speed and Pendal suspects many a battle will be over before he arrives; should be good for his life expectancy. A rest is called for so out comes the Icewind Dale II book again.

The Ice Palace is holding regular ritual sacrifices with prisoners, Bulwark and Salde don't really think too much about this and have a rest until healed - lots of prisoners sacrificed. After this salutory lesson most of the rest of the entrance level is completed without rest, despite anti-magic shells being used. Bulwark fights on while Salde is reduced to a bow and arrow for what seems like forever, then one of the various ice golem champions manages to hold/stun him. His amazing (for a monk) hit points keep him alive until he recovers, while Salde has a dispel magic available she cannot cast it from inside the anti magic shell. Once the shells wear off Salde decides ice storms will be useless against the polar bears, winter wolves and ice maidens but MMM's and vitriolic sphere (aka acid orb) both work well, as do the undead summons. When things get really tough she is casting chain lightning (good) and toasting the frosted enemies with flame shroud (an A+++ spell in this situation). Her greater bone golem summon also catches fire easily without taking much damage and can be guided between groups of enemies for a single shroud to contagiously work around every enemy in sight. There isn't much left to do other than open a door with a lightning machine and mirrors, work out how the transporting stairs work and how a blood-stained device the size of a room works without finding out the painful way, then other levels of the palace can be investigated.

Bulwark is level 12 with 536 kills and 112hp, Salde level 12 with 308 kills and 18hp.

Pendal Fighter 13 / Illusionist 13. 212 BG1 kills. 299 (+25) BG2 kills. Adamantite golem.
Thimble Fighter 13 / Illusionist 13. 196 BG1 kills. 703 (+99) BG2 kills. Firkraag.

Edited by Gate70, 16 September 2012 - 09:58 AM.

[Gate70]

Grunn, LN human male monk
The evening starts off with checking that young Daglefodd got home safely. His dad has a Spell Immunity scroll for sale so I suggest he prays for gnome fighter/illusionists to turn up. He tells me to go stick myself in a dark cave, and strangely enough that's exactly what I do. Adalon is a large silver dragon who, you guessed it, needs my help. Despite my magic resistance she transforms my looks into those of a drow and sends me packing.

I bluff my way into Ust Natha where the first person I see is hawking a Spell Immunity scroll. They're everywhere, and instead I feign a drink problem to stock up on potions. It seems sensible to confirm this by heading to the inn and start a brawl with Lasaonar and then Chalinthra. I can't convince Sondal to let me play with mages so move on to the animal pit. Szordrin quickly loses his umber hulk, nabassu, Sahuagin prince and beholder. I am now left with deciding to play the drow at their own game or to just break into the temple and steal the eggs. It's midnight, how long can this possibly take...

1 GWW has Simia and crew dealt with, a rest and another GWW has 3 mind flayers down so 3 umber hulks later Phaere is rescued (Monk: 30, GWW). A rest or two later I get to GWW a beholder for Phaere. 8 hours later I have a helmet from a swirf patrol leader. Soon afterwards I have pretended to kill Solaufein then spend 8 hours "resting" before heading to the temple to meet Mother Ardulace.

Phaere is shown to be incompetent by mistaking a beholder for an elder orb and I am tasked with returning such an eye stalk or the blood of a kuo-toa prince or the blood of an illithid elder brain. I have all three but need time to speak investigate further so promise to return quickly. I grab a rope from Visaj and buff before entering Deirex's tower. Immediately I am banished and re-united with Visaj and his pal Jaraxle. They send me back to the outside of the tower where I GWW and hide before entering. 10 APR of Daystar are foiled, 2 hitting before PfMW is cast. I run, casting Kitthix then a berserk warrior as timestop is cast. Two more times my attacks are foiled and all three summons have gone, with WotB cast for good measure. I've had my fill of this so drop a sunray next to Deirex and tut-tut as he implodes to a frazzled husk. A storm giant strength potion is needed to force one lock then I leave courtesy of a gem. Jaraxle takes this gem and returns me to the outside of the tower.

I return to the Mother Matron and hand over one of the desired items, then deal with some slimes (this lot badly wound me and I glug an extra healing potion - something not needed for quite a while) before Phaere slips me some fake eggs. Solaufein hands me more fake eggs and I have to remember who wants what. I have the real eggs and those from Solaufein, while Phaere's eggs are in the egg chamber and I have escaped without having to fight. Phaere takes the other fake eggs and an imp congratulates me.

I'm getting bored waiting for the lesser demon lord to turn up, but it is worth the delay to see the Matron Mother and Phaere get their come-uppance even if my despicable date & dump of Phaere is taken to extremes (Monk: 31, GWW - it seems the best standard monk HLA for me). I grab the fallen equipment and hide, returning to Adalon. The gem given by the swirf must be incredibly bright as I can see even with it in my bag of holding. Adalon returns me to the locked door which now swings open and I can finally smell fresh air. Not bad, Ust Natha done & documented in about 50 minutes.

Edited by Gate70, 16 September 2012 - 09:59 AM.

[ussnorway]

@Alesia_BH, Congratulates on a solid victory... personally I’d like to see some more divine love & these would have to be three of the better portraits I've used.

Female Dwarf... (Cleric?)


Female Human,


& Female Elf


@corey_russell, IMO, Once you get your hands on some regeneration items the potion dependency starts to ease off a bit... what’s the final party going to be?

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note Everyone:

I'm considering starting an SCS-Ascension Solo Challenge much like the Ascension Solo Challenge from the old forums. Like the prior thread, it would permit reloads; it's purpose would be to encourage experimentation and allow people to showcase novel tactics.  Fallen no reloaders would be welcome.

I'm curious: is there interest?.

If so, let me know.

Best,

A.


@ussnorway- If we get an SCS-Ascension Solo Challenge going, I'll happily run a single class divine caster there. I'm fairly certain I'd need a few reloads for the endgame.

Edited by Alesia_BH, 16 September 2012 - 03:55 AM.

[corey_russell]

 Vaquen the level 9 dwarven fighter - SCS "Trial by fire" continues...
Traveling with Minsc, Yoshimo, Jaheira, Nalia, Aerie
@USSNorway - going to stick with above party, though swapping out Imoen for Yoshimo of course when the time comes.

Well, the party freed Hendak OK, though the better calls for help make it much harder than usual. Everyone survived. Interesting enough, people thought I would have too many potions - well with the damage the SCS enemies have dealing, so far it's been not enough!

We entered the slaver's HQ via the front door. Initial foray was OK. But wow, the next group with the mages was a massive disaster. For one, the enemy mages were mowing down Minsc and Vaquen with their MMM and magic missiles! Minsc almost did no swings was drinking the last of the heal potions then killed.

Vaquen was going to follow soon, but Jaheira and Aerie cast some heals to keep him intact. However, this mean Aerie got too close and died quickly. Nalia tried to help with slow and cloudkill. The enemy  mages didn't like that and use some magic direct damage spells and mowed her down next.

After that, Vaquen got held! However, about this time Jaheira started to summon two nymphs. The enemy mages concluded the nymphs were now the high priority targets. This extra time allowed Jaheira and Yoshimo to finish the enemy mages.



At first we gathered what we could then headed to the temple, but noticed a problem - we only have 1200 gold! That isn't enough to raise everyone. I decided the party is dieing so much, I might as well have Jaheira permanently memorize Harper's Call. So we headed to the Copper Coronet, and then a SCS mugger ambush hit us!

Our spells are still out and Vaquen had one heal potion which was immediately used. Vaquen took a lot of backstabs, but survived with a sliver of life.


Ironically we did NOT get any potions to speak of from the ambush - the enemies had used them all! We finally got to the CC, rested and requipped and sold what little we head. We headed back to the slaveers HQ and managed to finish the remaining ones, without further casualty. We reported our success to Hendak, rested, then Minsc went all around the CC building (outside)...what Minsc you smell something? Vaquen followed and sure enough there were muggers! The party rushed to assist. However, Yoshimo was killed by some backstabbing thieves. Time to rest again.

Nalia starts to complain now...Yikes! And I still have at least one more ambush to weather, possibly two (which may mean more deaths). Hmm...be ironic if all these deaths makes Nalia leave me.

I now have a ton of respect for those that solo SCS, considering the difficulites I'm having with a full party. I haven't even got to the harder parts yet, though by force have to work on D'Arnise Keep ASAP.

Edited by corey_russell, 16 September 2012 - 04:19 AM.