15228 replies to this topic

[Grond0]

There is a perceptible pause between finishing the first conversation with the demon and it applying the deduction to your stats.  If you try to talk to it again during that pause that will interrupt the script and prevent the deduction taking effect.  I have a feeling that SCS introduced a change to the mechanic to prevent that working, though I don't remember for sure.

[ussnorway]

Yes I would assume so but thanks any way.

[ussnorway]

Bg2 run update 2S1.14,

 

Hear text as mp3,

 

Slumming it; by Sarah,

 

I showed Imoen my favourite statue… “dam fine looking girl A sis”, then we killed an un-dead for the reputation and some chain elf amour but even with it, having Imoen in the front row was making me peevish.

 

 

Back to the Promenade for my Robe of Vecna, then we visited the circus to get the ring of Influence for Puk… this also lets Imoen step back a bit which we all agreed was less stress.

 

We had time so we decided to visit the temple sewers and get the cloak for Mazzy. We made quick work of the awesome four-some and the cat gave no trouble so we agreed to kill a sea troll that was bugging Roger when we got into a scrap with coreys’ beholder pals… for a minute there it looked if-E but we concentrated on the big eye and unfortunately (for him) had the firepower to do the job.

 

With night quickly approaching, we did one final fetch that mirror quest but politely refused the arm-candy reward… sorry Haer'Dalis, we actually just wanted these wands but I’ll call you sometime.

[ussnorway]

Bg2 run update 2S1.15,

 

Hear text as mp3,

 

Burning my bridges; by Sarah,

 

 

The bard promised us a reward should we find a certain gem… which we did of course. When we arrived at the district a murderer was still at large so we solved it first then entered the prison without stressing about stealth. My ‘skull trap’-‘Spell Sequencer’ won the opening battle on its own then we had no trouble from the Warden himself… a single ‘Death fog’ dispatched him.

[corey_russell]

Corarcher the Elvish Archer entering BG 2 portion of trilogy no-reload challenge...

Traveling with: Misty (fighter), Forrest (ranger), Hanna (swashbuckler 10 {inactive} > mage 5), Paja (totemic druid), Joshua (jester)

 

So the team makes it out of Irenicus' dungeon. No scares or anything, the team was quite capable. The major thing that happened is Hanna decided to become a mage after the escape - she has 100% in traps, locks and snares, which she will regain once she is mage level 11.  See this post for stats of the team.

 

We also dealt with the circus issue, rather easily. We are about to talk to Galen Bayle.

[ussnorway]

Does Hanna look to fight in melee one day or is the swashbuckler not a key part of her build... assume katanas for the zerth?

[corey_russell]

Does Hanna look to fight in melee one day or is the swashbuckler not a key part of her build... assume katanas for the zerth?

Nice idea about using the Zerth. With Forrest and Misty in the front-lines, she really doesn't need to be in front too. She's a mage mostly out of necessity - we could use the arcane help in BG 2/ToB. When I first rolled her, I actually didn't intend a dual - I noticed later I could with the INT tome so took advantage of it in BG 2, plus Joshua can provide the spike traps, so she didn't have to be a high-level thief.

[corey_russell]

Corarcher the elvish archer - Update 2

 

Well I said the dungeon was pretty clean - then I noticed this screenshot:

Joshua was casting resist fear when the party got hit with horror and 2/3 of the party ran in fear. But Corarcher's called shot finished the mage.

 

The slaver ship is really rough when you don''t have a thief and a full party. We didn't want to mess with the sewers, so we tried the front door (with knock spell - we got our first warning from the Cowlies). But then remembered by the repeating poison trap which doesn't appear to offer a save. So Paja summoned 3 spirit animals and a fire elemental which took out the enemies nearby. Misty tried to loot what she could, but she had to use some elixars of health to walk across the trap and back. So we have to go into the sewers after all but WITHOUT resting (so loot doesn't rot).

 

But getting ahead myself - we were doing the Lilacor quest and Misty tried to bribe the kobold shaman for his staff - but it didnt work because we didn't have 2000 gold. Misty ran away and Forrest tried to assist (since he is immune to hold with the Arbane off-hand) - but Forrest wasn't watching where he walked and was petrified.

 

Misty ran to the party for help, but she was careless too and walked over the same petrify trap - her halfling saves kept her in one piece. Once the kobolds made it to the party, the kobolds met their doom. But this then meant we had to carefully walk over the petrify trap, get a stone to flesh scroll, return, heal up and press into the Slaver Ship, after crossing the petrify trap again on the nearby board - AND we have to cross at the board on the return leg.

 

Fortunately, the actual battles at the Slaver Ship were rather smooth - an insects on the Cleric of Cyric made it pretty smooth. Misty, with both the best saves and HP, was nominated to trigger the blob trap. Negotiating the spray trap wasn't as bad, as the spirit animals/fire elemental killed everthing, so just looting. With no thief, Corarcher had to use DUHM and trigger some trapped chests (Corey_Russell remembered they weren't instant-death traps). Finally we make it way back and report to Hendak, who was quite pleased, naturally. Joshua will use the Lilacor, not that it will be equipped much. At the moment, he's using Tuigan's bow for lack of a better weapon to use.

 

So now we have enough for our magic license, we got ahead and get our magic license. I must have been in a gambling mood - Joshua has 100% in pick-pockets, so he attempted to pick-pocket Tolgerias for his ring of ram - and FAILED

 

I turned off the AI and ran for our lives. Once we got outside, more Amnish guards tried to attack us and they went hostile. I noticed some of the guards even came our defense, how nice to choose us over their fellow soldier! We did make it out of here, but we'll have to be extremely careful if we should ever return - will probably just return invisible (will have to come here again for the Sir Sarles quest - won't be able to turn in Neb's head I don't think though.).

 

In our escape, we got ambushed by Renfield's attackers - we got them easy, returned Renfeld to his cohort, and decided this was enough excitement for one day. Will try to be more cautious tomorrow.

[Grond0]

Will try to be more cautious tomorrow.

That sounds vaguely familiar to me somehow ...

[Blackraven]

Nice update Corey! Lots of "oops" moments
Glad to see you've been able to manage it all though.

[Grond0]

Twister - dwarf bounty hunter (update 1)

 

It didn't take too long this morning for Twister to finish off his work on the Sword Coast, so there was some time left before breakfast to make a start on BG2.

 

He escaped from the dungeon without any problem.  Highlights included finishing off the last mephit portal with a backstab and watching Ulvaryl mysteriously collapse even before he properly got into the room.

 

The circus proved no more of an obstacle - he got to level 12 there - with Kalah being scared by Bhaal horror and running out of sight to allow him to make use of a trap.  He reported in to Gaelan Bayle then tried to steal some more thieving potions from Arledrian, but failed and had to execute her.  Instead he went to the Docks and got the potions from Gorch.  On the way back to the Promenade to sell and steal (to get enough money to not bother with picking up loot in future) he came across the Suna Seni ambush - much to their regret.

 

Once he had lots of money he returned to the Slums to ensure Bernard would display his full stock.  Then he headed for Watcher's Keep - proceeding there even after rescuing Renfeld on the way.  A bunch of traps were wasted when only mephits proved to be on guard.  After clearing the rest of the top level traps were rather more useful against the statues, with backstabs soon finishing them off - taking Twister to level 13.

[Grond0]

Twister - dwarf bounty hunter (2nd and final update)

 

After returning Renfeld Twister one-shotted Prebek, leaving Sanasha struck dumb while being struck down.  He then learned enough while looting the Harpers to get to level 14.

 

Traps left outside the lich's hiding place in the City Gates were intended to account for him, but he refused to follow Twister outside - eventually resulting in a spot of redecoration of the tomb.  Still disdaining the use of an undead protection scroll, Twister used stealth attacks to clear the Graveyard - saving Nevin with a backstab.

 

Backstabs and traps cleared the underground of spiders, including Twister's first century backstab.  More traps led the way into the Southern tombs - Twister needing to be particularly careful to never let the vampyre see him as he had no defense against domination.  For Pai'Na his opening backstab proved a wash-out and a few spiders survived the pre-laid traps so he ran out of the nest (any bite by a spider would have been fatal as he had no defense against poison at that time).  Coming back in, the Ring of Energy finished off the spiders allowing him to deal with Pai'Na at leisure (level 15).

 

At the Bridge District Twister picked up the berserker horn.  However, even with a bit of damage from traps the berserker and Kitthix between them were unable to finish off both Rune Assassins and Twister had to use a potion of speed to be able to safely run and shoot to kill the second one.

 

At Trademeet the genies died in traps, allowing Twister to inherit the efreeti bottle.  He bought some further items, including Blackblood, before travelling to the Grove.  A mixture of summons, backstabs and traps dealt with everything there with no problem - Twister picking up a nice new backstab record (174) on the way as well as getting to level 16.  He bought a few potions before trying to backstab Adratha - that failed, but she died in traps anyway.  

 

After reporting in to the mayor Twister cleared the tomb (a first use of Daystar sunray helping there) and helped Tiris before finishing his shopping and returning to Athkatla.

 

Carrying on with his work on trolls he visited the de'Arnise Hold next.  His special traps (chance of applying Otiluke's) were not much use, but there were no problems there downstairs.  The yuan'ti mage was comprehensively chunked before a moment's lack of concentration proved costly.  Twister was working through the golems and attacked the second flesh golem without me realising he had been slowed by a stone golem just killed.  As a result after he summoned the berserk warrior to help him he was not able to retreat from the attacking golem.  He made it to the doorway and must have been right on the verge of being able to take an invisibility potion, but was cut down before he could disappear.

 

[corey_russell]

@Grond0: Sorry to hear that. Being slowed and solo is definitely a bad combo.

[Blackraven]

Blasted concentration lapses... Sorry about that Grond0.
I always have my Thieves keep as many invisibility potions as possible. Could that have been an option for you, or are such potions not allowed (like healing potions)?

[corey_russell]

Blasted concentration lapses... Sorry about that Grond0.
I always have my Thieves keep as many invisibility potions as possible. Could that have been an option for you, or are such potions not allowed (like healing potions)?

@Blackraven - Grondo said he had just summoned the berserker, thus his aura wasn't clear. That's when he noticed he was slowed and tried to survive 6 seconds so he could go invisible when aura clear but he didn't make it.

[Blackraven]

@Blackraven - Grondo said he had just summoned the berserker, thus his aura wasn't clear. That's when he noticed he was slowed and tried to survive 6 seconds so he could go invisible when aura clear but he didn't make it.

Sorry. Had to go to work, and apparently failed to even read Grond0's last sentence. Forget about my syggestion...

[Grond0]

Toxic {3} - dwarf kensai (update 1)

 

Toxic has been given another chance to impose himself on Amn after tearing up the Sword Coast.

 

I'm only intending to give very brief summaries of his progress up to the point in hell he reached in his last incarnation.  To speed things up this version won't be picking up most treasure or holding on to equipment that he's unlikely to use.

 

So far he has:

- escaped from the dungeon

- restored the circus.

- organised a hostile take-over at the Copper Coronet.

- cleared the top level of Watcher's Keep.  I got a bit sucked into a challenge there to try and kill all the statues without missile weapons or critical protection.  However, with criticals of up to 90 HP a time from the statues (he had 89 HPs!) I eventually decided that was too dangerous and finished off the last of the statues mainly with throwing axes.

- rescued Renfeld and completed Xzar's quest.

- helped Roger and killed the sewer rakshasa.

- used protection from undead scroll to get Daystar and kill the undead in the Graveyard.

- the RoAC protected against Pai'Na, while a first use of Daystar sunray burned up her spiders.

[Blackraven]

Wow Grond0, I think I wouldn't be as fast ever even with a boots of speed wearing and permanently hasted character! Impressive, keep it up

[Grond0]

Thanks Blackraven - so far, so good.

 

Toxic {3} - dwarf kensai (update 2)

 

In between Christmas preparations Toxic has made further progress and has just left for Spellhold - though with only about half the XP he had at that stage in his last incarnation.

 

- killed the genies in Trademeet (he had to use a potion of speed to keep ahead of them before they got distracted by the militia).  Then watched Cernd kill Faldorn (left the rakshasas for now) before clearing the tomb.  That provided just enough funds to buy the normal equipment, including Ras and dwarven hammer (his first magical ranged weapon).

- tracked down the kidnappers and collected the ransom.

- trod on the Fallen Paladins.

- ran through Mae'Var's tasks then punished him for his misdeeds.

- opened up access to the liches and used a PfU scroll to get the Ring of Gaxx.

- paid Gaelan Bayle and ran through Aran's tasks (using summons to shield Toxic from vampire attacks).

- tracked down some illithium and upgraded the MoD.

- for a bit of revenge for my bounty hunter Toxic killed the golems at the de'Arnise Keep, but didn't complete the quest (just picking up the FoA and shield amulet).

- he similarly cut short his work in Umar, picking up Ilbratha and a beljuril (and Valygar's body), but not going to the temple.

- of necessity, he was more thorough with the Planar Sphere and got his first HLA there when stealing the heart from a demon.

[Grond0]

Toxic {3} - dwarf kensai (update 3)

 

The usual types of mistakes finally caught up with Toxic in the Underdark

 

- in Brynnlaw he struck down Perth before he could buff and opened his book to true seeing.

- he made his way through Spellhold without alarms (now dual-wielding most of the time - despite having no proficiency in two-weapon fighting he can still hit most things with a 2).  When using the machine to try and get boots of grounding his inventory was full and he was refunded 5 tokens rather than getting the boots.  He still then had 10 tokens, but there wasn't another pair on offer (I know he could still buy some in Athkatla).  I realised when doing this post I should anyway have got the boots of speed (normally my characters would have got the ones on offer in the planar prison before this).

- as usual a hammer WW did enough damage for Irenicus to eventually realise he had to go.

- in Fish City Toxic picked up a couple of cloaks in return for the lives of the king and prince before moving on to the Underdark.

- he helped some deep gnomes before hammering some Demon Knights (left all the rest of the kuo-toa area alone).

- Gaxx haste was enough to take out an elder orb guarding the beholder hive and Toxic then sneaked past other enemies to get the Greenstone Amulet.

- he did much more of the illithid hide-out on the way to take out the Master Brain.

- a RL distraction contributed to giving away his identity at the gates to the drow city (always a danger with that conversation).

- I hadn't actually been planning on killing Adalon, but didn't fancy ploughing through all the drow so took her on.  Used fire elementals for the first time to occupy her while GWWs went through her defences.

- heading for the exit I expected to take on one group of kuo-toa and didn't do any preparation for them.  That would have been fine if they were the only enemies.  However, all the kuo-toa from the room nearer the entrance heard the commotion and piled out behind him in support of their brethren.  Trapped in the tunnel Toxic beat a way out with a GWW, but took quite a bit of damage in the process.  Normally in that situation he would have now been safe, but he found he was slower than a couple of chasing monitors, even using a potion of speed - the boots of speed overlooked in Spellhold proving sorely missed there.  He attempted to break contact using a GWW, but failed and the monitors kept on his heels until a couple of final hits proved fatal.

[Blackraven]

This is sad news Grond0. I'm still impressed with all the progress you made with your Kensai (difficult solo class), and I can see a Wizard Slayer / Wild Mage scenario here for you, if you have the patience...

[corey_russell]

This is sad news Grond0. I'm still impressed with all the progress you made with your Kensai (difficult solo class), and I can see a Wizard Slayer / Wild Mage scenario here for you, if you have the patience...

@Grond0: Sad news indeed - sorry to hear your Kensai bite the dust

@Blackraven: I doubt Grond0 will do either WS or Wild Mage, as he has already had a solo, trilogy success with both of those classes. I suppose he could surprise me though...What Grond0 needs to be doing is a solo Paladin, he doesn't have a success with that!

[Blackraven]

@Grond0: Sad news indeed - sorry to hear your Kensai bite the dust

@Blackraven: I doubt Grond0 will do either WS or Wild Mage, as he has already had a solo, trilogy success with both of those classes. I suppose he could surprise me though...What Grond0 needs to be doing is a solo Paladin, he doesn't have a success with that!

What I was trying to say is that the same patience (perseverance) that helped Grond0 complete the challenge with a Wild mage and with a Wizard Slayer might also help him prevail with a Kensai. I agree on the Paladin idea though, and I also think Rangers are rather underrepresented in the hall of fame. 

[corey_russell]

What I was trying to say is that the same patience (perseverance) that helped Grond0 complete the challenge with a Wild mage and with a Wizard Slayer might also help him prevail with a Kensai. I agree on the Paladin idea though, and I also think Rangers are rather underrepresented in the hall of fame. 

I see. We have Corbeast (a ranger kit) in the hall of heroes, how many do we need there do you think?

[Blackraven]

I see. We have Corbeast (a ranger kit) in the hall of heroes, how many do we need there do you think?

Well there are two single class Thieves, two or three Druids, three Monks, two Bards... I'd say another Ranger wouldn't be out of place. I'm surprised there's no Fighter/Thief. I think that's going to be my next (liberally metagamed) character.