Arcadia v Melissan and The Five (or Safety First)
Ok. I finally found time to complete Arcadia's final post.
Heading into the final confrontation with Mel and The Five, I considered a number of battle plans. Ultimately, I decided to complete the fight in the safest way, partly to insure that Arcadia would succeed, but also to illustrate features of the final Ascension fight that can allow safe passage for no reloaders.
The final Ascension fight can be difficult. It can be intimidating. That's especially true in no reload play where second chances don't exist. But with an understanding of the battle and the threats faced, a variety of classes can successfully complete it. Let's take a look at the foes.
Good characters who have aligned with Balthazar face Abazigal, Gromnir, Illasera, Sarevok, Sendai, and Yaga-Shura. It's essentially a melee heavy party rounded out by an archer and a cleric/mage. For solo characters, a straight on melee assault of this group is almost guaranteed to be a losing proposition: they are too strong, too accurate, and too resilient. But while the Five will almost invariably enjoy an advantage in melee against a solo PC, they are at a structural disadvatage against a ranged fighter: the arena they are fighting in is perfectly suited to ranged combat and the few ranged attack options they have can be negated.
Illasera is, of course, a deadly archer. But she can be killed, or, in the alternative, made irrelevant by the Reflection Shield. And once Illasera is dealt with one way or the other, the only ranged combatant to worry about is Sendai.
Sendai is a powerful spellcaster. But by then end of ToB, most PCs are capable of withstanding magical assaults. Of those capable, none surpass arcane classes.
So for Arcadia, an F/M, the route to victory was clear: fight at range with the Reflection Shield in the off hand and use spells to negate Sendai's magical attacks. With those threats neutralized, the rest of the Five will be helpless due to their inability to trackdown a mobile range fighter in a large arena.
Sounds simple. And it is. But the details matter. As easy as the plan is to execute, it's easier to get it wrong.
By conserving her resources throughout the Demon Battles, Arcadia was able to enter the final fight fully buffed with a fully loaded spellbook. Her buffs were her standards, enhanced by potions and green scrolls. Here's the full list: Protection from Fire (green scroll), Protection from Cold (green scroll), Protection from Electricity (Green Scroll), Protection from Acid (Green Scroll) Potion of Mind Focusing, Potion of Storm Giant Strength, Potion of Invulnerability, Potion of Absorption, Potion of Heroism, Potion of Magic Protection,Oil of Speed, Stoneskins, Protection from Magical Energy, Protection from Cold, Protection from Fire, Protection from Acid, Spell Shield, Spell Turning, Spell Deflection, Spirit Armor, Vampiric Touch (hitpoint buff), Resist Fear, Protection from Evil, Blur, Mirror Image, Improved Invisibility, Spell Immunity: Abjuration, Spell Immunity: Divination, Spell Immunity: Conjuration, Improved Haste, Hardiness, and Draw on Holy Might. Her Contingency was set to Helpless: ProMW. This was to be her protection in case of a Sendai Implosion. Her Chain was chosen to defend agains the threat of Time Stop melee->Power Word: Kill. It was Hitpoints 50%: ProMW, Spell Shield, Spell Deflection. Her Trigger held key defensive spells in reserve for quick deployment. It was Spell Shield, Spell Deflection, and Spell Immunity: Abjuration. Her Sequencer was Teleport Field x 3. it was intended to serve as an emergency escape route in case she was boxed in.
Here are a couple shots of her pre-battle character record, showing her resistances and saves.
Finally, her inventory. Note that this shot was taken before the buffing had been completed, hence the differences in AC and hitpoint totals.
Just two more prep phase shots. These show Arcadia's spell slot allocations. Note that her book had been streamlined and simplified for the final fight. The most important allocations were at 3,4,5 & 6. Arcadia's plan was to counter attacks on her magical defenses by recasting spell protections. This, in turn, would keep her protected from Breach. Of note is the absense of allocations to Improved Invisibility. Arcadia chose to forgo casting SI:D during the fight to insure that she'd have enough SI:As to counter Sendai's Removes. And without SI:D, II is of less use.
Ok. Enough small talk: let's get right to the killing.
The battle begins with Sendai, Yaga-Shura, and Sarevok to the west.
Abazigal, Gromnir, and Illasera (shadowed) to the east.
Since Arcadia was confident that she could counter all the threats that the Five posed, she chose to use the "death's door" strategy, which entails taking all members of the Five down to Near Death before killing any one of them. This delays Mel's arrival, since she only appears when one of the Five is killed. Assuming it can be executed safely, it simplifies the battle. Not all characters can do it, however. For characters who lack the Relection Shield, it is typically better to kill Illasera immediately. Also, those opposed by Balthazar may have to take a different approach.
For Arcadia, Sendai posed the greatest threat by far. Not only did she have a store of Removes, she also had an Implosion, which could be deadly due to the Hold effect. So long as Sendai was alive and had those spells available to her, Arcadia would have to maintain both Spell Immunity: Abjuration and a spell protection or, at the very least, she would have to have one of the two up while having a clear aura and the needed spell in reserve. Throughout the battle, Arcadia's rule was to not use her aura offensively unless both SI:A and a spell protection were in place. Arcadia also made Sendai her prime target in the early stages of the battle, since a spell foiled could be a spell saved.
When combat began, Sendai withdrew to the north. Since she was running ProMW, Arcadia went to work with unenchanted darts. Surprisingly, Sendai had not started the battle with Stoneskins or Ironskins so the dart assault did have a chance of foiling spells. Nonetheless, Sendai got off a key spell: Wish. And she selected the single best option that she could have: I wish for myself and my allies to be granted super-human speed.
Given that Arcadia's plan was to stay mobile and fight ranged, this was dangerous. Outlasting Sendai's Wish would be the greatest challenge of the Five phase of the fight.
Arcadia succeeded, but managing movement while simultaneously tracking attacks on her magical defenses was a challenge. Abazigal launched a Breach, which targetted through Arcadia's pre-buff Improved Invisibility. With SCS's consistent Breach component installed, Breach will bounce off of Spell Turning. And since both Arcadia and Abazigal were running Spell Turning, the Breach bounced back and forth between them untill ultimately it collapsed Arcadia's Spell Turning. Arcadia was not Breached, since she was running Spell Deflection too, but one layer of her magical defenses had been peeled. Let's check the character record.
As you can see, the Spell Turning was down, but the Spell Shield and Spell Deflection remained in place. And Spell Immunity was still active as well. Arcadia used her aura to recast Spell Turning.
Shortly thereafter, a Sendai Time Stop passed uneventfully on account of Arcadia's buffs. A Remove bounched harmlessly off of Arcadia's SI:A. A Ruby Ray was launched, but it was countered with a Spell Shield recast.
Following the Time Stop, Arcadia's Spell Immunity: Abjuration expired. Sendai, predictibly, launched a Remove. Arcadia countered with a SI:A.
Each Remove drawn from Sendai's book was a victory for Arcadia. Sendai's Removes and her Implosion were the only hopes the Five had for victory. Arcadia used the temporary reprieve from attacks on her defenses to resume her assault on the Five, here choosing Yaga-Shura.
Another Sendai Ruby Ray took down Arcadia's recast Spell Shield. Arcadia was now forced to use her Trigger earlier than she would have liked, effectively wasting an SI:A.
While Arcadia's spell defenses remained fully intact, Sendai and Abazigal had made progress by drawing down Arcadia's reserved spell protection. But Arcadia was making progress too: progress on the hitpoints of the Five.
And all their ranged attacks were frustrated either by the Reflection Shield or Arcadia's specific protections. The Five could not win like this.
All the Five could do was fall back on their healing.
But the assault continued. And while Arcadia had to counter yet more attacks on her magical defenses, she had the upper hand.
A Yaga-Shura Firestorm, intended to heal Yaga and harm Arcadia, may have done the former but it didn't do the latter. And the rest of the Five clearly didn't appreciate the lava bath. It accelerated their demise.
Before long, the Five knew they were beaten.
Now ready to take on Melissan, Arcadia checked her defenses and cast Spell Shield from scroll to replace one she had lost. She then ended Sendai.
It was time to face Mel.
Upon arrival, Mel sought to make immediate progress with a Time Stop.
Arcadia was ready with a Focus, however, and as it turned out, the Time Stop never came to pass. The deaths of the already weaken Abazgial and Illasera interupted her spell.
Sarevok was next.
Shortly thereafter, Arcadia hear "manos." As a precaution, she refreshed her SI:A, but she was pretty sure that Mel was casting something else. She was.
(Does everyone remember the Imprisonment that Arcadia tried to cast on Balthazar? Had that succeeded, the mighty monk would have leapt out of the ground at this very moment. It's a shame Balthazar activated Lunar Stance.)
It was now Yaga-Shura's turn.
Melissan tried a Spellstrike. But Arcadia's Spell Shield was there to catch it.
And all that remained of the Five was Gromnir. He would soon fall.
Mel was now vulnerable. It was time to finish her. The plan was to kill her in toe-to-toe melee
Arcadia drank a precautionary Potion of Magic Shielding to protect against Mel's save lowering on hit effect. That ultimately proved unnecessary: ProMWs would prevent Mel from landing a blow.
Once she had the space and a clear aura, Arcadia cast Improved Alacrity.
She then took the buffs remaining in her book and conjured a Black Blade of Disaster. She cast ProMW, launched a Breach, and then activated Greater Whirlwind and Critical Strike.
The opening round did 200hp of damage. Mel was quickly brought down to injured. Meanwhile, her spear bounced harmlessly off of ProMW.
After another round of engagement under Greater Whirlwind, Arcadia withdrew to refresh ProMW. She then resumed her assault with another Greater Whirlwind
After reaching Near Death, Mel took far more damage than expected. I was concerned that she was bugged. But after a ProMW refresh and a final GWW assault, she fell. Arcadia was victorious.
And that's how it happened.
While Arcadia's run may not have been the most dramatic, it was enjoyable and satisyfing. F/Ms have the ability to power through most every encounter, but that doesn't necessarily trivialize the adventure. It takes care and attention to detail to keep an F/M safe -especially a half-elven F/M. I enjoyed my time with Arcadia. I hope others enjoyed her as well.
Best,
A.
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and Alesia 
