Sorry to see that Blackraven, though dying like that is hardly foreign territory for me! Do you know where in the room Wynter was - I might then be able to say what the trap was?
Haha, I have indeed seen some of your characters die from traps... The trap was near the entrance. There are three there I think. Wynter triggered ether the one on the right (seen from the entrance) or the middle one.
Haha, I have indeed seen some of your characters die from traps... The trap was near the entrance. There are three there I think. Wynter triggered ether the one on the right (seen from the entrance) or the middle one.
@Blackraven - those traps can be completely avoided. If you hug the wall on the bottom, you don't have to trigger any of them. You have to trigger the two traps guarding the portal key, but a VT should help with those ones.
Martha, level 13 half-elven Totemic Druid, adventuring with Minsc, Jaheira, Yoshimo and Aerie
I've started some major quests ever so slightly, and done a couple more minor ones. Also managed to get characters killed in ways I didn't really see coming...
The first visit to the Harper Hold went perfectly. We entered invisible and made it to the back corridor undetected. Seems like most spellcasters are slower to cast insvisibility purges and such than they are in BG1.
I opened the battle in the same way that has become routine now when I gat waylaid (we always travel invisble and pull back out of sight).
- Summon two elementals
- Remove Fear and PfE 10' Radius on everyone
- Chaotic Commands on someone (usually Aerie)
- Trap the base camp a little (at least one trap of each type - this is to nail pursuing characters, especially invisible thieves)
- Yoshimo scouts out where the edge of the enemy pack is
- Coordinated opening move just outside enemy sight: Aerie casts Skull Trap, Minsc blows Horn of Silence, Yoshimo throws a special trap
- Pull back, send in the elementals
- Aerie adds Holy Smites if needed. If thieves are still alive, she also casts True Seeing.
Umar Hills quest is done. Thanks for the tip about the trap/container by the giant talking statue head. After the Shade Lord is defeated, the head disappears if you talk to it again. Nothing major in the container
Full circus around the Circus
In the Promenade, Tanova and two lackeys were waiting. As we were invisible, they didn't see us at first. I did my opening move (sans the Silence) described above. This earned us a warning from the Cowled Wizards. Oops. I had declined a free license in the Boo quest earlier, because I still have the ambition to have Aerie fight them for profit later.
The two male vampires were majorly hurt by the Skull Trap and the thief trap. They chickened out of the fight here. One was never seen again, the other turned bat for a long time. Tanova had only been hurt by the Skull Trap because she was still blue circled when the thief trap went off. I do not know what she did to Minsc now (some sort of Domination, I think), but whatever it was, it had him just standing there like a vegetable, his INT even lower than usual.
The fight was on! My druids opened with Call Lightning. Yoshi and Mazzy soon found out that all their arrows were useless. Aerie threw some MMMs but she was soon on the run. Level drained once (4 levels!!) before she got NPP up. "Drinks blood"? Oh yeah, I saw something about that in the SCS readme. Something to do with Constitution. Which Aerie has very little of...
Tanova summoned a wolf and then, OH NO, she did that blood thing again!:
(As you can see, no indication on the portrait that Minsc should be disabled. But he was, I couldn't even access his inventory. I suppose having 3 INT (or was it 2?) simply makes one too stupid to even walk...)
Jaheira was still invisble, but she took the chance to firebreathe Tanova as she went past her:
Badly chosen next target, oh ye gods of the sky:
Tanova managed to Dominate Jaheira soon after that screenie. OH DEAR, I AM SO SORRY!
As you can see, Minsc was now aware that his "witch" had died (and back under my control. Mostly.), so he Berserked. Bad situation for the Vampire standing close to him:
Mazzy was now in melee with Tanova, who had turned into a bat. Didn't seem to have any special powers in this form, but was hard to hit. Also, Mazzy found out that her +2 Sword of Arvoreen had no effect.
I didn't want to risk Minsc doing something stupid now, so once the vampire was dead, I left him there. Just moved a character close enough so I could pass on Lilarcor to Mazzy. She wasn't particularly good with it (even with a STR 19 potion), but still:
Over the course of this fight (since the time Jaheira died), Martha had let loose all the damage spells she had, including all her 4 damaging Bhaal powers. Yoshimo had emptied the magic missile wand. I really missed Aerie here, she could have thrown MMMs and pumped out many Scorchers from her wand.
This was getting a bit disheartening, with Bat Tanova regenerating up to Injured again. By now, Minsc's Berserk had timed out. "Alright, you take over", said Mazzy. That was much better. Minsc regularly hit the bat for good damage. Bat fled eastward, but was boxed in my Minsc and a spirit animal. BTW, neither sprit animals nor fire elementals could damage Tanova.
Bat fled again, this time NE. BIG mistake, as that area was heavily trapped:
Well, I do not quite agree with you, Harper lady:
After getting out from the inn, Reviane and her harpers attacked. The two spellcasters ended up furthest away from us. Martha threw a spirit wolf in their faces, backed off and followed up with a fire elemental that she led there. This was great for us, since it allowed us to focus on the three fighters. Minsc had a very painful battle with Reviane, her halberd damaging him faster than extra healers would heal him. He had to make a run for it. Drank an invisibility potion but Reviane kept on chasing him! Martha summoned another spirit animal that physically blocked Reviane's path. Minsc was saved and the battle quickly turned in my favour.
Trademeet next. After some initial looting (two cool high-level scrolls in unexpected places!), I decided to kill Taquee the djinn for his bottle and some XP. I've read that this doesn't affect Khan and his friend inside the tent. Turns out that is not true with my mod setup! Oops...
Not knowing what to expect, I buffed Minsc a little and sent him in. OK, they use Stoneskin, Improved Haste and like to go invisible a lot. Flesh to Stone?! Yikes! Ah, makes sense, these guys are earth genies. Good thing he saved. What is his save? 7 vs spells.
Since it was Khan that threw the nasty spell, I assumed Minsc would be fine now (apart from needing some healing potions). Smash cut to my crew outside, Minsc's portait gone! Ah, the other guy also knew that spell...
Right. Back to Waukeen temple for some Stone to Flesh scrolls. I sent in an Improved Invisible Aerie. Great, he's still in one piece!
She de-stoned and talked to him. He said Boo was ruffled, and asked her to talk to him again after a while. Minsc started to drink potions. Very nice of the Dao to leave him alone. Aerie picked up the fighting, in her own manner:
I sent in Jaheira, followed by Yoshimo. Khan got killed but Faafirah disappeared. I cast Invisibility Purge both inside and outside the tent but he was nowhere to be found. Khan dropped a +2 Scimitar.
Other newly aquired gear:
- Plate of Balduran for Jaheira (bought from Deidre at the Mart)
- Namarra (+2 Long Sword that does 1D8+4 damage and can cast Silence) for Yoshimo. Found in Temple ruins. Good thing I had given him Long Sword proficiency.
- Tansheron's Bow +3 for Yoshimo (Trademeet merchant)
- Shield of Harmony +2 for Jaheira (reward from Guildmistress Busya)
We've recruited Cernd and will go to the Druid Grove next.
Haha, I have indeed seen some of your characters die from traps... The trap was near the entrance. There are three there I think. Wynter triggered ether the one on the right (seen from the entrance) or the middle one.
The right hand one is indeed acid. Mirrors do work against that (unlike area damage), but you must just have been unlucky. The middle one is a poison dart - mirrors will work against the damage of the dart, but you will always be subject to the poison effect using the EE.
The right hand one is indeed acid. Mirrors do work against that (unlike area damage), but you must just have been unlucky. The middle one is a poison dart - mirrors will work against the damage of the dart, but you will always be subject to the poison effect using the EE.
Thanks for confirming this.
I knew about the poison traps. Wynter had triggered a couple of those as well. 
@Corey, knowing the exact dimensions of traps is useful as well. I still need to work on that.
@Jianson, great battle with those Vamps!
), he'd been close to death several times before so was about due for the chop.
Sorry Grond0, I would have liked to see more of your Monks in Amn.
Trio no reload (#1 - update 8)
(Grond0, corey_russell, Gate70)
The trio continued ticking off Chapter 2 & 3 areas today - not too many left now. They started off just finishing off Gaal to complete the work done on the Unseeing Eye quest last time.
Then they slaughtered the Fallen Paladins
before returning to the Graveyard to sort out the remaining vampires. With just a couple of those required for Forem to get a level and recover his kensai abilities he was eager to get stuck in and put the iMoD to good use to prevent Tanova from taking any action. The vampires downstairs were no problem and nor was Bodhi, who didn't stick around long.
After recovering the Dawn Ring to finish their work for the temples they went to the last major area left - the Planar Sphere. There was a near-miss early on there when Entu stunned Forem. Ragemage failed to dispel the effect and Forem only just survived long enough to recover the ability to run away.
Forem also had to give Miseri a less than subtle nudge when poisoned by an iron golem and finding the thief's attention was elsewhere.
Summons depleted Lavok's spells and Ragemage's buffs lasted just long enough to recover a demon heart
on the way to Tolgerias. He was treated to a first use of a spell sequencer and though he survived that and an initial attack he failed to produce much offensive punch.
The remaining enemies were soon cleared out and the trio carried Lavok outside for a last taste of fresh air.
The final action of the session was returning to Umar to sort out a dragon. Miseri laid 3 traps under his toes and asked if more were needed, but Ragemage was keen to get on with the action. A skull trap sequencer and the traps got Thaxy to badly wounded quickly, but he then proved quite hard to hit and lasted a while. That was mainly as a result of Gate70's connection failing - resulting in Forem just acting the part of an observer. Eventually, with Ragemage's buffs starting to wear thin, I took control of Forem and a few whacks from him proved enough (screenshot shows the battle just before the fatal blow).
Stats (cont from BG1)
Miseri, thief 13 (wizardslayer 13), 125 HPs (incl. 11 from ioun stone), 476 kills
Ragemage, mage 14 / berserker 9, 103 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 484 kills, 2 deaths
Forem, cleric 13 / kensai 11, 103 HPs, 481 kills, 5 deaths
As predicted last time Ragemage did indeed take the kills lead early in that session. However, Forem has comfortably been outscoring him since recovering his fighting talents and will go back on top next time in this closely-contested race. Miseri will also get his own fighting abilities back at some point and will be vying for second place.
Although I think Chimera was still pretty unlucky that his 66 HPs were unable to withstand a single hit (he hadn't got around to putting on the ioun stone - the extra 6 HPs from that might well have saved him
Blaeh...
Did you wield a ranged weapon of sorts? That does beef up backstab damage...in any case, 66 HP is indeed far stretched for a punk thief.
Blaeh...
Did you wield a ranged weapon of sorts? That does beef up backstab damage...in any case, 66 HP is indeed far stretched for a punk thief.
No. I must admit that is often something I'm guilty of, but this time I had carefully checked that everyone had their fists ready. My vague memory is that those thieves don't have much of a multiplier in vanilla, but if they now have say 5x then they wouldn't need more than +1 weapons (maximum 6+1 basic damage x 5 x 2 for critical) = 70. Alternatively they may have have been given other bonuses ...
Corethief IX the solo/duo dwarven thief enteirng BG 2/ToB portion of Trilogy No-Reload challenge
Restrictions: Only group-mate will be Imoen - if unavailable, will be solo
Setup: see sig (vanilla BG 2 + ToB)
Corethief IX has made it out of Chateau Irenicus as well as solved circus problem. Here he is at the end of the session:
Things of note:
1) The duo used a lot of methods to defeat enemies - sometimes will auto-attack, sometimes backstabs, sometimes summons, and sometimes spell damage.
2) We failed to kill Ulvayryl (the enemy mage got the kill shot)
3) Corthief IX did a serious mis-click in the circus - he made Aerie hostile! (for the 1st time in all my runs). Note only did I lose 20,000 experience for that mis-click, I also had to use a firebreath potion because she used some high level spells (saw a prismatic spray) to take her out.
4) Just a boat-load of potions - Watcher's Keep will definitely be the 1st stop after Galen Bayle.
Screenies of the adventure
It was actually really fun duo-ing with Imoen - I can see why other challengers have done that before.
Corethief IX - FINAL Update!
I had the easiest Suna Seni battle ever - a single firebreath potion managed to take out the entire group!
Unfortunately I also had one of my hardest fights with a stone golem ever. The golem, unfortunately was brilliant - it managed to both do a critical for 50 dmg (Corethief IX only had 58 HP) AND slow. At that point Corthief IX needed to both gulp a big healing potion as well as haste potion but that was impossible and Corthief IX was killed - back to the drawing boad!
Cor
Unfortunately I also had one of my hardest fights with a stone golem ever. The golem, unfortunately was brilliant - it managed to both do a critical for 50 dmg (Corethief IX only had 58 HP) AND slow. At that point Corthief IX needed to both gulp a big healing potion as well as haste potion but that was impossible
Couldn't an invisibility potion have saved you?
Couldn't an invisibility potion have saved you?
No.
1) I had got hit for 50 dmg (out of 58 HP), did extra healing potion, then another big hit. Aura was not clear.
2) Was slowed, so long time for any action to trigger
3) Didn't have an invisibility potion.
Corey
Hard luck Corey. You might want to invest in the invisibility potion for sale in the Adventurer's Mart for future similar contingencies.
Hard luck Corey. You might want to invest in the invisibility potion for sale in the Adventurer's Mart for future similar contingencies.
I was planning to. I would have wanted to use it for more important things, not random mobs like a stone golem.
Damn Corey, I hadn't congratulated you yet on your BG1 success, and now it's already time for condolences... 
Hope your new Corthief fares better!
Damn Corey, I hadn't congratulated you yet on your BG1 success, and now it's already time for condolences...
Hope your new Corthief fares better!
Damn Corey, I hadn't congratulated you yet on your BG1 success, and now it's already time for condolences...
Hope your new Corthief fares better!
Thanks! I'm not surprised at the result. I have a ton yet to learn as far as soloing non-fighter types. Which is why I'm not playing SCS, since vanilla BG 2 can easily kill my non-fighter type characters when I am solo...
No.
1) I had got hit for 50 dmg (out of 58 HP), did extra healing potion, then another big hit. Aura was not clear.
2) Was slowed, so long time for any action to trigger
3) Didn't have an invisibility potion.
Corey
I mean, if you had used inviso potion instead of extra healing.
Well, good luck on the next run. I really like your thief trio you have going there.
I mean, if you had used inviso potion instead of extra healing.
Well, good luck on the next run. I really like your thief trio you have going there.
Thanks Jianson.
But if simply wanted to live, I had numerous options:
1) Don't go to Watcher's Keep
2) stealth past golem
3) rest outside, then use RoAC to sneak past golem
These were things I COULD already do. I don't need to talk about things that I couldn't do, but could do in the future, unless the tip helps me to kill the thing. Going invisible with potion wouldn't have given me the victory - maybe fight another day. But I already had ways above to simply live. What I really needed is a good way for a low level thief to beat the golem without traps (which I didn't have).
Sorry if I came across as harsh, and of course I can't picture exactly how the situation happened. Also, I am not used to thinking about how things might play out without a party. I have tried very little soloing, but enough to know that the slightest mistake often means it's over.
Going invisible with potion wouldn't have given me the victory.
OK, I didn't realize this.
I wasn't thinking about a non-fighting solution, I was thinking that if it was me and I had an invisibility potion (which I would have really tried to find/buy before trying any area this dangerous), I would first have downed that one to buy me time. Then heal up to full, wait out golem slow, apply oil of speed, etc. Maybe do hit-and-run around the corners there. Aren't Stone Golems vulnerable to +2 arrows? Maybe stealth archery is possible.
Sorry if I came across as harsh, and of course I can't picture exactly how the situation happened. Also, I am not used to thinking about how things might play out without a party. I have tried very little soloing, but enough to know that the slightest mistake often means it's over.
OK, I didn't realize this.
I wasn't thinking about a non-fighting solution, I was thinking that if it was me and I had an invisibility potion (which I would have really tried to find/buy before trying any area this dangerous), I would first have downed that one to buy me time. Then heal up to full, wait out golem slow, apply oil of speed, etc. Maybe do hit-and-run around the corners there. Aren't Stone Golems vulnerable to +2 arrows? Maybe stealth archery is possible.
Not to worry, I am not offended. The only areas to maneuver is the room you zone into level 1 WK, the room to the left (a few chests, small room) and the very small golem room. I had totally forgotten stone golems slow. I should have downed the haste potion before even engaging the thing. Unfortunately my only +2 weapon was the Arbane - which can easily allow a counter-hit. A single hit got me to near death. Still, it was at least possible if I had done it that way. (hit, run around corner, hide, repeat) Stealth archery probably wouldn't have worked out that great, mainly as the lines of sight were very short - wouldn't want to get hit with bow equipped! The golem was pretty fast...
Thanks for confirming this.
I knew about the poison traps. Wynter had triggered a couple of those as well.
@Corey, knowing the exact dimensions of traps is useful as well. I still need to work on that.
We don't want that to happen again so here are the traps in Ellesime's Room 
...
And some late condolences to grond and corey as well
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