15228 replies to this topic

[Grond0]

Phantasmic 6 {52} - monks party (update 6)

 

The next port of call was the Windspear Hills.  Early progress there was serene, but Spectre had a slight hiccup when he tried to use a scroll of PfU against the group of vampires.  That did allow him to kill 3 elder vampires, but 3 ancient ones were unaffected by his +2 fists.  A +3 dagger was thrown through a wall to him and using that with quivering palm soon killed another vampire.  However, the regeneration of the other vampires was far too quick for his 1 APR standard attacks to hurt them.  After resting the monks sneaked in and used all 3 of their +3 weapons to attack with quivering palms.  That killed another of them, though Spirit was drained 4 levels by an attack in the process.  After retreating and resting they tried once more against the last one, but didn't find it easy:

- first Spectre tried a stealth attack and missed.

- Phantom tried to attack as well, but the vampire took rat shape and hid in front of his eyes.  It then went to backstab poor old Wraith and a blink of the eye later fatally attacked her again. 

Spoiler

- at that point Chimera also attacked from stealth, but also missed and everyone ran away again.

- trying again they failed to get a single attack from their 3 quivering palms and all of them lost some blood before they could get away and hide.

- I was tempted to use summons to provide some cover, but gave the monks one more attempt and this time Chimera got the job done.

Spoiler

 

Moving on, sneak palm attacks killed 2 greater wolfweres, allowing the final one to be overwhelmed by basic damage.  

Spoiler

Tazok was also beaten up

Spoiler

before they finally found an adamantite golem in Firkraag's golem compound - it found its gas cloud useless and despite saving against all their palms was eventually chipped away by multiple stealth attacks.

Spoiler

 

The genies were all stealth-attacked, without the need for any fire protection, in order to get the mask - very useful as it gives a third monk protection against critical hits.  Beating up the guardian then got the last of the monks the XP for level 14 - and they all suddenly developed significant magic resistance.  

Spoiler

There wasn't much need for that in the battle with Samia, where initial attacks set several of the enemies quivering.  Only Ferric Ironblade managed any real opposition - landing 2 backstabs on Spectre before being the last to fall.

Spoiler

For Conster summons drew out many of his spells before the monks waited out mirrors and true sight.  A palm attack failed with the initial hits, allowing Conster to put up both red and blue fire shields, but a follow-up blow was too much for him.

Spoiler

 

The monks then reported in to Garren Windspear - like Thaxy, Firkraag will be left for another day ...

 

Stats (cont. from BG1)

Chimera - L14, 71 HPs (incl 6 from ioun stone; 5 from amulet), 300 kills

Spectre - L14, 70 HPs, 439 kills, 2 deaths

Phantom - L14, 82 HPs, 333 kills, 1 death

Wraith - L14, 81 HPs, 267 kills, 5 deaths

Spirit - L14, 69 HPs, 286 kills, 2 deaths

Spook - chunked at L11

[Grond0]

Phantasmic 6 {52} - monks party (7th and final update)

 

Looking to make use of Tazok's key the monks returned to the Temple sewers.  First things first though and they had a date with Tarnor & co.  A sneak attack there ensured Gaius had no chance to buff and the rest of them lasted less than 2 rounds.

Spoiler

 

In the illithid enclave the monks once more used sling shots from the shadows to try and pull enemies away individually.  That worked well with several fighters and archers, but then the mage stopped half way.  Rather than try and pull him further the monks tried a general sneak attack on him.  However, he saved against stuns / palms and immediately cast a teleport field - which transported Spectre and Chimera into the room.  They tried to run back, but were both immediately stunned by the illithid.  At the point they were stunned they were both out of sight of the illithid,

Spoiler

but the operation of the teleport field sent them back into the room and the illithid immediately used planar travel to get next to Chimera.  

Spoiler

The others tried to intervene, but with only 10 intelligence they were never going to be in time ...

[Grimwald the Wise]

Hard luck Grond0

[Dyara]

Damn

[corey_russell]

Sounds rough Grond0 - teleported as a mind-flayer snack. Where's a summon when you need one? Have them get teleported...

[Blackraven]

Condolences Grond0. I wouldn't have foreseen that Teleport Field either...

[Aasim]

Auch...grats on coming this far anyway. 

[ussnorway]

Death by squid... no shame in that mate.

[Grond0]

Thanks all.  I felt that was a good learning experience.  Indeed, I was surprised how easy progress was when I was taking the safe option - that gives me hope for the next attempt .

[ussnorway]

SEE2 -01, 

 

Hard Yakka;

 

Hear text as mp3,

 

After a long night of battles, we crawled victoriously into the early morning daylight where my sister promptly got herself arrested and reminded me that I owe her a jail break for that little incident at the end of DS… well it’s nice to have a long term goal I guess.

 

Spoiler

 

Tactics; My fireballs managed to kill the goblins (eventually) and the fact that golems have a sense of fare play makes them manageable but the worlds worst Bounty hunter and a bersurko Ranger are liabilities I can’t afford… even the Druid-Fighter is only along to attract enemy fire.

 

After selling all the gear I can spare we have just enough to get a magic licence but the budget wouldn’t also stretch to cover the glasses so I’ll just have to come back for them later… now I have to collect companions (cannon fodder) and see about earning some real cash.

[Jianson]

Martha, level 13 half-elven Totemic Druid, adventuring in Chapter 2 with Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo, Aerie and Mazzy

 

Armed with two Protection from Undead scrolls, we returned to Windspear dungeon. Two small problems waited for Minsc there. First, a stupid Orc pack had spawned in a corridor, eating up on Minsc's scroll time. He had already used up some time to chase down the first two vampires. They are quick and move around a lot. It's either chasing them down or using a lot of fancy ammunition.

 

Second problem was this:

 

 

Not wanting to risk that his 10 minutes of undead protection would be up before he had killed the mummies and vampires, Jaheira also received a scroll so we could speed things up a little. Minsc snapped out and in of the fear a couple of times and used the time where he wasn't scared to chop up the mummies. Jaheira summoned some stuff to draw out some of the more advanced vampires from hiding. We weren't completely done when Minsc's scroll ran out, but almost. Here is the last one to go, with a generous helping of a firebreath potion:

 

 

Yoshimo doing some target practice (and with these advanced golem abilities, I've grown to really like poison protection scrolls - they last for 6 hours):

 

 

We went down to Firkraag to have a chat, then used Pixie Dust in an attempt to get past Conster. Of course he dispelled the invisibility, so I used invisibility potions on 3 of the 4 characters that got revealed. Aerie cast a spell on herself instead.

 

Tried Call Woodland Beings on Conster. Worked pretty well:

 

 

Stronger summons and a little off-sight blasting did him in:

 

 

Went to Druid Grove to purchase gong from ogre mage and to do the second stronghold quest. This one takes place in Trademeet, where a creature called Chaos has been trying to take over a druid-to-be, a boy called Loren.

 

Chaos managed to cause just that, and to be extremely annoying. Not only did this creature drop my framerate down to levels never before seen on my current computer, it also interrupted Aerie when she was about to cast True Seeing. Chaos' main melee attack causes level drain, and his hit on Aerie also stole her memorized Breach (I should have put Breach in the first slot!). Very annoying when Chaos casts PfMW and is apparently also immune to non-magical weapons... 

 

This creature teleports around in a chaotic manner and its appearence shifts between looking like a beholder, an otyugh, a vampire and a shadow (and maybe something else). Once the PfMW had expired, I attacked with a fire elemental, which promptly got Dominated. Jaheira drew the elemental into a tent and drank a potion to get invisible. My next summon was far more succesful. A spirit lion landed a hit on Chaos and it didn't save against the stun effect:

 

 

(The damage it dealt to the lion here was remaining Melf's Acid Arrow damage)

 

Back in Athkatla, we did the Fallen Paladins quest and the Sir Sarles quest (required a trip to the Temple Ruins). Before entering Neb's house, I had Aerie cast Haste on us. This awoke the wrath of the Cowled Wizards (we had been warned before). But we entered the house before they had fully spawned, so no real trouble. After the fight with Neb and his spirit kids, Martha cast Pixie Dust before going out. I tried to fight the wizards with Aerie using Cloudkill wand while Improved Invisible and SI:Divinitioned. Yikes, better always keep the distance to them! I saw Confusion and ADHW cast on their position. Also, they summoned two Mordy Swords. I have no idea how, but those swords somehow knew where Aerie was once the cloud started to tickle them. A mage showed up also (did the swords shout to her?). I found it best to simply leave the map. Question: are these guys like the Flaming Fist burglar guards in BG1, in that they will disappear after a couple of hours, or will this pack of mages still be in the Bridge district if I return?

 

I've done Edwin's/Mae'Var's quests, temporarily swapped Mazzy for Edwin, and reported Mae'Var's treachery to Renal Bloodscalp.

Rayic was persuaded to hand over his signet ring, with the promise to bring Edwin to him later. Edwin, OTOH, thinks Rayic is dead, so I have now in fact double-crossed both wizards. Those moves will probably come back to bite me, but it's what I have chosen to do for now.

 

I am planning to leave Minsc or Jaheira in the Coronet, pick up Korgan and do the graveyard southern tomb quests (and return the broken Spider's Bane to Pai'Na while there). I know Korgan doesn't like Aerie (and treats her badly) but I hope that they can get along for the short time it takes to do Korgan's quest.

[Grond0]

Question: are these guys like the Flaming Fist burglar guards in BG1, in that they will disappear after a couple of hours, or will this pack of mages still be in the Bridge district if I return?

In my experience they should disappear, but once or twice they haven't done so - if I were you I'd use invisibility and throw in a summons from out of sight just to make sure ...

[Dyara]

Dyara (Fighter/Mage/Thief) (Update 1)

At first Dyara felt relieved to be on the surface again but unfortunately she had appeared in the middle of a battle field. Some thieves were fighting the mage Irenicus, Imoen was there as well, then other wizards appeared, there was a lot of spell casting and before Dyara could say a single word the mage and Imoen were taken away by the wizards leaving behind Dyara and lots of dead bodies.

After selling the loot Dyara had taken from the dungeon the circus was returned to normal business. Dyara left Waukeen's Promenade for the Slums where she was awaited by Gaelan Bayle who promised helping her to find Imoen and Irenicus for 20,000 gold. Not sure how to raise so much money Dyara went into the nearest inn fighting Amalas in the pit and putting a new owner in charge afterwards.

When Dyara returned to the Adventurer's Market she witnessed some kind of robbery. Fortunately an Amnian soldier was around putting the three evildoers (Brelm, Lucy and Gereth) to justice. Dyara became slightly injured but other than that no innocent bystanders were harmed and all the furniture was kept intact. Only Ribald missed a ring but that's nothing compared to what could have happened if these criminals had succeeded in whatever they might had planned...

Spoiler

Back at the Copper Coronet Dyara entered the sewers, she got big sword as a reward for solving a riddle and then she entered the slaver boat through the backdoor causing chaos and confusion among the slavers...

Spoiler

Unfortunately that didn't last long (enough to get more than three slavers killed) so Dyara had to make a temporary escape with everyone following her into the sewers...

Spoiler

Back at the slaver boat Dyara killed some trolls...

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... released some children and fought the remaining slavers and despite becoming confused she succeeded nevertheless...

Spoiler

Dyara reported to Hendak and did some shopping (to for now avoid Valen approaching her once she went outside). Next stop was the Graveyard District where all the smaller tombs where explored...

Spoiler

When returning to the Slums Dyara became ambushed by some slavers but being hidden in the shadows allowed her to sneak away and conjure an air elemental (who didn't went hostile)...

Spoiler

Selling the loot from the tombs got her above 10,000 gold again and the meeting with Valen was inevitable now. However instead of going to the Graveyard Dyara decided to pay Gaelan Bayle who arranged for a meeting with the Shadow Thieves' leader Aran Lindvail.

 

Name     Level                           HP           Game Kills XP     Game Kills  Strongest Kill   Deaths Pips
Dyara:   Fighter(8)/Mage(9)/Thief(11)    94 (+5)         154.756           159      Crypt King       -      Longsword(**),Flail(**),TWF(**)

 
To be continued...

[Grond0]

Trio no reload (#1 - 10th and final update)

(Grond0, corey_russell, Gate70)

 

Miseri finally lived up to his name in the City of Caverns, after a difficult session.  It started with the trio taking ship with Saemon only to find the Githyanki captain getting stuck and not having his conversation.  Eventually talking to Saemon again reset the cut-scene and the captain did finally talk and run away - though not before hitting Miseri hard.  

Spoiler

 

In the City of Caverns Miseri ran over one trap, rather than remove it and Ragemage did the same.  However, they acquired the tooth without further problems and then killed the priestess for her cloak on the way to the Prince.  After telling him they would kill the king they returned to the throne room, but a lack of communication there meant the king was attacked before he had a chance to give his speech.  That meant that when the prince arrived the cut-scene didn't provide him with the opportunity to talk and, as he was unkillable in the cut-scene, we had to reload.

Spoiler

 

Regrettably I had taken no hard saves and the previous autosave was back in Brynnlaw so we had lost all progress to date.  That meant having to redo it all - which is normally more dangerous than first time round.  This time there was an early taste of problems to come when Forem took a turn to walk through a trap before Miseri could disarm it - he disappeared into a maze for some time (with intelligence of 3).  Eventually though the Prince was talked to once more and the trio arrived back to confront the king.  This time he gave his speech and attacked Miseri - who turned to run.  He didn't get far though as one of the courtiers hit him with a stunning bolt and with 3 enemies clustered round him his HPs dropped rapidly.  The game was paused to see if Ragemage could cast invisibility in time - but he couldn't ...

Spoiler

[ussnorway]

SEE2 -02, 

 

Spirits against Shadows;

 

Hear text as mp3,

 

After purchasing a licence, I rescued Viconia and literally “ran for the hills”.
We used stealth to trick some shadows out into the light then pitted my spirits against the shadow bridge ambush… Viconia cloaked to collect a nice sling but the ammo is even more valuable and we didn’t engage the undead because we will need it against the lord.

 

Spoiler

 

We buffed up (repulse undead) and attacked the alter first to limit the enemy targets… Viconia used her new sling to kill it outright with a lucky shot (the sun stone ammo) but then the shade lord retaliated killing her outright with some kind of poison | drain attack so with her repulse down the shadows are back in play so we retreated and raised her back upstairs for a second round.

 

Without his shadows the lord is manageable and we overwhelmed him with range | melee attacks… Mazzy is frilled to not have to “sleep” with him now and I’m sure the town will welcome us back as heroes… special mention to Jan for using his detect illusions.

[Dyara]

Dyara (Fighter/Mage/Thief) (Update 2)

It was very late in the evening when Dyara arrived at the docks. Immediately she was attacked by a vampire, level-drained, then mugged by thugs and molested by a mad priest of Cyric. Leaving behind a trail of dead bodies she made it into the shadow thieves' guildhall and left it somewhat later with two quests assigned, a new amulet around her neck, a nice ring on her finger and another ring in her pocket.

Dyara returned to the graveyard where Uncle Lester rose from his grave to swap places with his nephew Nevin. Below the graveyard the lower tombs were cleansed from spiders and undead...

Spoiler

After returning a teddy bear to a murdered halfling boy Dyara went to the Temple District to start the temple quests and to fetch the necklace of Talos. Returning said necklace got her introduced to Edwin and the quest to kill the Cowled Wizard Rayic Gethras. That had to wait however as Dyara went to the Government District first. There she met with Sir Sarles, the drow Viconia and some Beshaba fanatics (the latter were killed in the process).

Back at the docks Dyara started her work for Aran Lindvail. A visit to Rayic Gethras' house resulted in lots of killed mephits, two destroyed stone golems and a dead wizard as the +4 enchantment of the Burning Earth sword (and its fire damage) interrupted all the wizard's spell casting...

Spoiler

The other Thief Guild quests were done as well and with the proof of Mae'Var's betrayal Dyara returned to Renal Bloodscalp. On her way to Waukeen's Promenade Dyara saved Renfeld from certain death (the Chaos spell again made the encounter rather simple). After talking to the ore merchant Jerlia Renfeld was brought to the Galvarey Estate starting the Harper quest. That was delayed however as Dyara went to the Copper Coronet to continue the Sir Sarles quest. At the Graveyard Dyara talked to the murdered halfling boy's parents and she helped an orphan girl to find a new caretaker.

Next Dyara went to the Bridge District (the last unvisited district besides the gates). There she started the Skinner quest, she finished the 'Buried alive' quest (Camitis escaped though), she got the illithium (and Neb's head), she started the Planar Prison quest, she sought out some traitors and their contact Gracen) and finally she paid the local tanner a visit. Dyara decided to take out the ghasts first (so she could replace Arbane's sword with a better offhand weapon) ...

Spoiler

... but that proved nearly fatal as the two rune assassins and the bone golem were quickly hacking through her stoneskins and mirror images forcing her to retreat...

Spoiler

Fortunately only the golem followed her and hiding in the shadows allowed Dyara to heal her wounds. Then the golem and the remaining assassin were killed and Dyara reported to Lieutenant Aegisfield. At the Government District Neb's head was delivered and Sir Sarles refused to work with the fake illithium and mortally offended he left Athkatla immediately. That brought Dyara back to the Temple of Helm finishing the Sir Sarles quest and starting the Lathander quest. A visit at the Order of the Most Radiant Heart also got her the Fallen Paladin quest. Traveling back and forth between Temple District and Bridge District, only interrupted by a short trip to the slums got these two quests finished quickly.

Back at the Docks Dyara reported to Aran Lindvail, Prebek's house was visited and its inhabitants were slain...

Spoiler

... resulting finally in the death of Xzar. While there and as it was about time Dyara decided to take on Mae'var's guild. Not for the first time a Chaos spell proved to be a good opening allowing Dyara fight the enemies one by one while Mae'Var was killed by a poisoned trap...

Spoiler

Dyara reported to Renal Bloodscalp but refused to take over Mae'Var's guild. At the Adventurer Market Dyara bought old Vecna's worn out robe and went for a rest at the Den of Seven Vales but that got her into a fight with Mencar Pebbelcrusher's gang. The fighting went rather good ...

Spoiler

... but unfortunately three of the five escaped downstairs ...

Spoiler

... and then Dyara failed to save vs. a chaos spell resulting in a peasant's death and a heavy blow to her reputation...

Spoiler

Doing penance at the nearby Temple of Ilmater brought her reputation back to somewhat popular but nevertheless she decided to go into hiding and keep a low profile for a while. And where's a better place to do this than the Temple District's sewer system?

Down there Dyara immediately was attacked by lots of kobolds forcing her to switch to Arbane's Sword to counter their shaman's hold spells. While searching for Roger's sea troll Dyara ran into a very mean looking and very big eyeball thing but despite all its eyes (and fortunately) it couldn't see her...

Spoiler

After getting rid of the rakshasa Dyara started to fight the beholder group using her wand of lightning...

Spoiler

That caused heavy damage and split the group allowing her to fight (and kill) them one-by-one. After retrieving the (broken) Spider Bane sword and talking to Keldorn Dyara left the sewers again for she was tired and out of spells.

 

Name     Level                           HP           Game Kills XP     Game Kills  Strongest Kill   Deaths Pips
Dyara:   Fighter(10)/Mage(11)/Thief(12)  101 (+5)        476.752           320      Bone Golem       -      Longsword(***),Flail(**),TWF(**)

 
To be continued...

[Jianson]

Back at the Docks Dyara reported to Aran Lindvail

 

I'm glad to see I am not the only one who has misread his name this way.

 

 

Great write-up.

 

How come there was a beholder pack in the sewers?

[corey_russell]

I'm glad to see I am not the only one who has misread his name this way.

 

 

Great write-up.

 

How come there was a beholder pack in the sewers?

In vanilla, that beholder group shows up in the sewers in Chapter 6. However, they can appear in Chapter Two, depending your SCS settings if you have that.

[Dyara]

I'm glad to see I am not the only one who has misread his name this way.

 

How come there was a beholder pack in the sewers?

... but Google reveals that it's a commen mistake ...

 

 

 

How come there was a beholder pack in the sewers?

Usually it's an Otyugh but if you're high level it's an beholder and two gauth. So I wasn't surprised actually as I knew they would be there. I just wrote it for the dramatic effect    .

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 101 - (update 2)

Sean, half-elf stalker (Grond0) & Joak, elf diviner (Gate70)

 

I was prioritising playing rather than recording over the weekend, so am a bit behind in our MP progress .

 

Looking back at my notes we started in the Graveyard where Sean failed to tell Joak of his plan to just backstab a shadow fiend in a tomb and run away.  Rushing in to help, Joak found herself on her own against a pair of shadow fiends and a mummy and failed to survive after being held.  After a temple visit work downstairs was rather better executed - Pai'Na was overcome with the help of summons before a skull trap killed almost all the spiders.

Spoiler

 

After paying for a magic license the berserk warrior provided Sean with another summoning option of his own.  Joak then knocked open some tomb doors to get access to liches and a scroll of PfU each allowed Kangaxx's ring to be acquired.  

Spoiler

Back at the Bridge District a kidnap victim was released (for a small consideration) and the skinner murders were easily solved.

Spoiler

 

Stretching their legs a bit, the de'Arnise Hold was the next target.  Most of that was serene progress, but the umber hulks proved problematic.  Joak was confused at one point, while Sean saved a couple of times himself before finishing things off.  After a rest to renew summons though TorGal was easy.

Spoiler

 

The next destination was Trademeet where some attacking animals were greeted with a death fog.  For some reason though the militia soldiers saved from the animals didn't seem too pleased and reputation fell to 5 - resulting in a change in designation for Sean to a "Fallen Stalker".  Undaunted, Joak suggested perhaps it was time to prioritise the ranger quest and the pair immediately left for Umar Hills.

 

At Umar Joak looked briefly to be in trouble as the mimic's acid attacks bypassed her stoneskin - but the mimic's HPs ran out first.  

Spoiler

The pair moved on to the ruined temple where they chewed through undead led by greater mummies with the help of skeleton warriors.  Sean might have lost all his innate spells and abilities, but could still use his equipment - and the Shade Lord found itself evaporating when Sean said "let there be light".

Spoiler

 

Sean didn't take the level earned in case that caused problems, but did provide a bit of funding for the temple to raise reputation.  A series of rests then allowed the duo to quickly move through the ranger quests.  The only potential problem was when they were approaching the witch Umar in the temple dungeon and Joak said "oh, I forgot about him" as she was paralysed by a glabrezu.  Fortunately the same fate didn't overcome Sean and shortly afterwards the death of the witch allowed him to regain his status (and acquire the moon dog).

Spoiler

 

Back in Trademeet the genies found they could make no headway against a pair protected by PfP.  

Spoiler

Moving on to the Grove the trolls were soon dispatched - the moon dog doing a good job in the troll mound to occupy trolls while Sean and Joak whittled their numbers away.  There were no other problems before Cernd was told to go and eat his lunch by himself.  

Spoiler

Some crashes delayed finishing the other quests in Trademeet, but they were eventually done as well.

 

Back in Athkatla Aran's tasks were run through in order to get access to vampire HQ.  I could legitimately claim there were no problems with the enemies while doing the tasks, but the Hand of God did reach down at one point to kill Joak 

(in MP summons by the client don't disappear when they should and Joak was apparently hiding under a skeleton warrior left over from an earlier encounter which I tried to kill )

 

The vampires didn't last long after Joak allowed Sean to borrow her amulet for a while.  Tanova saved against a pre-emptive attack with the MoD, but after skeleton warriors had depleted her spells Sean was successful with a second attempt.  

Spoiler

Bodhi was sent running very quickly.

Spoiler

 

The final action was doing the Sir Sarles quest and upgrading the MoD so that Joak can hang on to the AoP in future.

 

Sean, stalker 13, 138 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 351 kills

Joak, diviner 14, 56 HPs, 126 kills, 3 deaths

[ussnorway]

SEE2 -03, 

 

Pass the ammunition;

 

Hear text as mp3,

 

I accepted just the leather armour because we need the additional reputation more than money then we agreed to quickly help Mazzy save her sister and recharged the clouldkill wand.

 

Spoiler

 

The watcher keep,

 

Viconia stealthed past the guards to collect some of the choice loot then tossed an undead through the front door to distract the waiting defenders and split them up… one at a time the horrors are manageable (just) but the loot is well worth the risks with rest | heals just a staircase away. I defeated the golums one at a time to give the old bustard his slippers but the statues are out of my league for now and Jan has some family emergency that may force us to return to the city.

[Grond0]

Phantasmic 6 {53} - monks party (update 1)

 

The monks again failed in their original objective to get through BG1 without deaths, but have carried on anyway to try their luck in BG2.  They had no real problems in the dungeon, although the genie ran away scared and disappeared without giving them the chance to kill.  They once more managed to kill Ulvaryl by surrounding her and waiting for the battle mage to wear her down.  

Spoiler

The XP from that was just sufficient to give Spectre enough to get to level 9 before leaving the dungeon.  

Spoiler

Normally I require everyone to have the XP for the next level before taking it, but I stretched a point this time to allow Spectre to go back and kill the golem jailer (using her new +1 fists).  The others levelled up after receiving the bonus for exiting the dungeon and their good fortune with HP rolls continued - only Chimera now being below average HPs.

 

After a quick trip to the circus the monks reported in to Gaelan Bayle before handing control of the Copper Coronet over to Hendak.  

Spoiler

 

After travelling to the Docks they started Mae'Var's quests and ambushed Suna Seni on the way. Stunning the mage gave them a good start,

Spoiler

but numerous invisibility potions and backstabs from the thief (none of them criticals fortunately) meant they still had to work hard to finish the job without casualties - Chimera only getting involved in the action after the thief was dead.

Spoiler

 

At the Temple area they stole a Wand of the Heavens from the Temple of Talos, along with the necklace.  While travelling they also rescued Renfeld - in contrast to Suna Seni no-one took any significant damage there.

 

Back at the Docks there was more thief danger from the second vampire ambush (the one that killed Chimera a couple of runs ago) - this time the higher level thief landed a backstab that would have killed any of the monks if it had been a critical, but Chimera was safely out of harms way anyway and the thief was immediately stunned before he could try again.

Spoiler

 

Inside Rayic's house the stone golems were successfully separated.  With only a couple of +2 weapons the other monks were taking their turn to play target and the golems landed some meaty blows before finally being subdued.  

Spoiler

Upstairs, Rayic disappeared by script after talking to the monks, preventing them from launching any attack.  Spectre tried popping up and down a few times under stealth hoping he would try detecting invisible, but Rayic didn't want to play that game.  Spectre then stayed a bit longer - double-tapping the space bar to ensure she could escape if Rayic started casting.  He was too smart for that though - a flame arrow sequencer resulting in instant death.  

Spoiler

A temple visit soon saw Spectre on her feet again though and Rayic didn't last long after following the monks downstairs.

Spoiler

 

There were no mage problems with Prebek & Sanasha - neither surviving a sneak attack.  

Spoiler

After looting the harpers the monks successfully avenged Xzar's death.

Spoiler

 

The remaining tasks for Mae'Var were done, but the monks would prefer to have some friendly summons before invading the guild.

 

Stats (cont from BG1)

Chimera - L9, 56 HPs, 459 kills

Spectre - L9, 63 HPs, 668 kills, 1 death

Phantom - L9, 65 HPs, 407 kills, 0 deaths

Wraith - L9, 69 HPs, 464 kills, 0 deaths

Spook - L9, 71 HPs, 422 kills, 0 deaths

Spirit - L9, 73 HPs, 470 kills, 1 death

[Jianson]

Martha, level 13 (and 14!) half-elven Totemic Druid, adventuring in Chapter 2 with Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo, Aerie, Korgan, Edwin and Mazzy (yes, quite a varied cast lately)

 

We did as I had planned, picked up Korgan to do his and Edwin's quest in the southern tombs. What I didn't plan was for Jaheira to walk away (forever? She said "...I doubt we'll see each other again") when I dismissed her. She had left all her good items in a container at the Coronet for Korgan to pick up, but I still felt a little betrayed. I hadn't played her quest line all the way, hadn't been at the stage where she leaves the party at night, and so hadn't played the 'Dermin/Harpers finale' either. Would it have made a difference if I had?

 

That was a letdown. Should have dropped Minsc instead...

 

 

Oh well, the tombs business went well. We entered with the whole party invisible. After some initial de-trapping and scouting by Yoshimo, the characters still invisible gathered around Martha and she summoned a fire elemental. A little mistake in the positioning let the zombies through in single file:

 

 

Okay, so those are super wimpy but once the bigger critters decided to attack Martha rather than the elemental they couldn't damage (decent brains for not having any...), she drank a potion to turn invisible.

(Hehe, this seems to be my go-to solution for anything that turns out a little dicey. That's OK, all the thieves I've defeated with fast methods have provided us with plenty of the violet flasks.)

 

aTweaks helped me a little here. It replaces the vampire at the start with a spectre because aTweaks advocates the idea that vampires aren't undead (and thus, do not fit the theme in this place). The spectre couldn't damage the elemental more than any of the other undead could. The elemental now wiped out the whole place (Aerie threw it a Remove Fear when mummies scared it stiff), except for the back end of Nevaziah's corridor. Minsc took over against a couple of mummies, and cured himself of the mummy rot afterwards.

 

SCS beefs up Nevaziah a great deal. He is still the least capable lich in the game but while the vanilla version can only cast up-to-level-6 spells (IIRC), this Nevaziah used Spell Trap, Simulacrum, Sphere of Chaos and Mordy Sword, among lots of other things. Seemed to have a permanent 'Dragon Fear' aura, too. I didn't want him to see any of my characters if I could avoid it, so we backed off and sent in summons. He pressed us all the way back to the starting room, where my summoned Woodland Beings faced a sequencer of Web + Stinking Cloud and a Cloudkill. The Hamadryads have pretty high MR. Nice, I didn't know that. Nymph bit the dust here, but Nevaziah's ally turned on him:

 

 

The sword got him to Badly Injured before it expired. Korgan drank an Oil of Speed and beat him up with the Blackblood club.

During our stay here, Martha levelled up to 14, and was greeted outside by a druid. She was also greeted by Bodhi, who urged us to come back once we had our spending under control. 

 

Pimlico estate, fight with Shagbag's gang on the Coronet roof, then goodbye Korgan for this run, unless I really need him later.

 

We welcomed Mazzy back and went to the Druid Grove for the challenge to become the Great Druid.

 

Martha buffed with a lot of stuff, including her newfound Shield of the Archons spell.

To my surprise, she got to keep all her items for this challenge. Just like last time, she started off with a spirit animal. Got a bear. Meh. I had hoped for snake or wolf, as their cold damage goes through Iron Skins. Druid started off like this:

 

 

So Martha hit with her Dart of Stunning, and no save message? Isn't the effect supposed to ignore Iron Skins?

Okay...well, better summon another animal to keep the burning bugger busy. A lion this time:

 

 

Druid cast Insect Plague. It hit the bear, but the part aimed at Martha bounced back onto the druid. And his next spell attempt was dealt with using another move copied from the Faldorn duel:

 

 

Martha tried to summon a fire elemental on her own. But the druid was tenacious, had cast another spell at her earlier (don't remember what, but it cancelled out the SotA), then hit with another Insect Plague, which interrupted her elemental summoning. Dammit, those insects are so annoying!

 

Druid's next move was much scarier: cast Nature's Beauty! I saw no save message but Martha neither died nor was blinded, so I dunno what happened. Was she maybe outside that spell's range? Anyway, this was scary enough that Martha used up one of her precious Magic Shielding potions.

 

 

Druid killed spirit bear but Martha's lion bested his elemental, before the druid killed the very wounded lion.

Time to do some real damage, cheesy tools or no:

 

 

Martha kept throwing darts. First Stunning, then Wounding darts. And pumped out another wand flame. Last damage was a dart:

 

 

Finally tore through his Skins. No saving throw mentioned. Maybe he is such a high-level Druid that he is completely immune to poison? At what level does that happen? And if he was such a high-level Druid, why not start off with a Dispel Magic in this duel?

 

Enjoying her new fancy title:

 

 

 

Mae'Var finale

Very easy start, as the four accompanying assassins have only normal weapons. That means a spirit animal is immune to their attacks. Spirit Lion ate them all up, and even got the Priest of Cyric before Mae'Var killed it (and Joolon, the lion from the figurine). Woodland beings being their usual charming selves:

 

 

That remaining spell arsenal doesn't look too threatening. Kitthix doing its thing next:

 

 

Mazzy moved in and shot him down.

 

Aerie mopped up the thieves on the other floors:

 

 

Nice XP reward from Renal (giving Aerie a double level-up, to 13/13). We are now resting at Sea's Bounty, where Aerie and Edwin have scribed some scrolls for each other. She had given him Stoneskin earlier, and now it was Invisibility, Emotion and Summon Nishruu, while he provided her with a Death Spell scroll.

Both have activated Contingency: Invisibility - if helpless.

 

Up next: the Lathander temple quest, and checking the one-time merchant at the Gate. We need just one more type of potion for Jadarath's quest: Magic Blocking. I do not think I have seen one in the whole game.

[Dyara]

What I didn't plan was for Jaheira to walk away (forever? She said "...I doubt we'll see each other again") when I dismissed her. She had left all her good items in a container at the Coronet for Korgan to pick up, but I still felt a little betrayed.

I guess Jaheira felt the same . Understandably, she lost Khalid (because of you), she has broken up with her harper friends (because of you) and now you dismiss her. Most likely in place of Jaheira I would have done the same .

[Jianson]

I guess Jaheira felt the same . Understandably, she lost Khalid (because of you), she has broken up with her harper friends (because of you) and now you dismiss her. Most likely in place of Jaheira I would have done the same .

 

Point taken.

Too bad I couldn't explain to her that the plan was rather that she could take a day off...