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[Dyara]

Dyara (Fighter/Mage/Thief) (Update 8)

After saying good-bye to Garren Windspear Dyara was set to return to Athkatla but reading 'Imnesvale / Umar Hills - 4 hours' on a signpost made her change her plans and early in the morning Dyara arrived at the picturesque little village of Imnesvale, hidden away in the beautiful Umar Hills. Despite the early hour a town meeting was taking place and Dyara promised to investigate a series of killings and disappearances. Also Dyara helped a mage to construct a golem, she saved this very mage from getting smashed by that very golem, she got a beljuril for 120 gold, she recruited some trainees for the local military by sponsoring weapons and beer and for a while she acted as part time ambassador. Eventually Dyara tracked down Valygar Corthala who she was supposed to return to the Cowled Wizards but as Tolgerias had lied about the whole situation Dyara revoked the contract and both Dyara and Valygar immediately went to the slums where the ranger opened the Planar Sphere and then returned to his cabin in the Umar Hills.

While inside unfortunately the sphere set off for another plane and Dyara was trapped. She met some Knights of Solamnia who warned her about a halfling war party somewhere to the left. After stealth attacks and a wand of fear were used to thin out the halflings' lines Dyara tried to use Carsomyr for the first time (to dispel stoneskins from Kayardi) but failed miserably and Kayardi became untouchable for the next rounds (as Dyara didn't bother to work through her spell protections) ...

Spoiler

No harm done however as there were still other things to do...

Spoiler

Dyara then dispelled Kayardi's invisibility and finally Carsomyr did its job...

Spoiler

Another halfling war party was waiting in the next room and again Carsomyr did a good job...

Spoiler

Lavok had to be breached twice before the necromancer went down...

Spoiler

Inside the core of the planar sphere Dyara was awaited by Togerias and another (hostile looking) mage but stealth allowed her to get rid of that mage...

Spoiler

Dyara then attacked Tolgerias but a contingency kicked in...

Spoiler

... Tolgerias tried to impress with spellcasting but Dyara took a break...

Spoiler

A cornugon then triggered a pre-laid time trap...

Spoiler

... and finally Dyara came for Tolgerias...

Spoiler

Next Dyara entered the abyss and collected some hearts from nearby demons...

Spoiler

Dyara then used one of the hearts to power up the sphere's engine; the sphere returned to Athkatla and Lavok was brought outside where he died but not before handing the sphere over. As to be expected the Cowled Wizards had to interfere but an agreement was made. With Ribald's help the Knights of Solamnia were returned to their plane and Dyara became a teacher for three young acolytes.

 

Name   Level                          HP       Game Kills XP  Game Kills  Strongest Kill        Deaths Pips
Dyara  Fighter(16)/Mage(15)/Thief(20) 119 (+5)  3,528,717      1,128      Firkraag              -      Longsword(***),Flail(**),THS(**),TWF(**)

 
To be continued...

 

[Jianson]

Tolgerias' helper mage didn't have Stoneskin up? That's sloppy...

[Dyara]

That's sloppy...

Definitely . I've looked it up with NI and she had stoneskin memorized so she should had precast it. Perhaps something went wrong...

 

Dyara (Fighter/Mage/Thief) (Update 9)

The three Knights of Solamnia were safely returned to their home plane, her acolytes were occupied for the next days, De'Arnise Keep didn't require her presence either and thus Dyara had the time to return to the Umar Hills to further investigate the deaths und disappearances. She searched Merella's cabin; there she found Mazzy Fentan's note and her map leading to some old temple ruins somewhere to the north and immediately Dyara went there.

The area was infested with all sorts of shadows (was about to use daystar here but thought that its power might be needed more urgently later and as I'm always trying to minimize resting...)...

Spoiler

... but Dyara entered the old temple nevertheless. Inside the ruined temple she had to fight two lichs...

Spoiler

... and even a Shadow Dragon tried to block her path...

Spoiler

Thaxll'ssillyia looked strong and powerful but didn't really knew what to do other than blinding her and going invisible every now and then...

Spoiler

... and so it was just a matter of time until the dragon was defeated...

Spoiler

The stairs led Dyara outside again and Daystar was used to get rid of the shadows...

Spoiler

... then the shadow altar was destroyed...

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... and finally the shade lord was taken care off...

Spoiler

Returning to Imnesvale got Dyara a warm welcome, a reputation increase, an armor she had no use for and some scolding from Minister Lloyd's wife.

 

Name   Level                          HP       Game Kills XP  Game Kills  Strongest Kill        Deaths Pips
Dyara  Fighter(17)/Mage(16)/Thief(20) 121 (+5)  3,750,197      1,214      Firkraag              -      Longsword(***),Flail(**),THS(**),TWF(**)

 
To be continued...

[Grond0]

Returning to Imnesvale got Dyara a warm welcome, a reputation increase, an armor she had no use for and some scolding from Minister Lloyd's wife.

Some people just refuse to see the value of swords and ale in helping children grow up .

[Jianson]

Martha, level 14 half-elven Totemic Great Druid, still adventuring in chapter 2 with Minsc, Yoshimo, Aerie, Edwina and Nalia

 

Guarded Compound

As I wrote before, the lower floor and the floor traps had already been dealt with.

We entered the left stairs under invisibility and entered the closest room. Sion the mage cast two Confusions and an Emotion on his position but noone moved from their spot. Yoshimo de-trapped and looted the whole floor.

 

We took position in the lower left room and conjured up some summons. Yoshimo threw a trap to keep Sion (and Maferan) away from the early battle. Yoshimo pulled back, I sent in the first troops, then Edwina and Aerie pulled off an awesome Malison-Emotion through the doorway:

 

 

The three most dangerous of those four out. Sweet! My summons slaughtered the quartet but the brutish Olaf took two of them with him. Sion approached. My plan for him was to fight him with a Minsc Simulacrum. In my setup, clones can't use quick item slots (this prevents some cheese) but they can use all their other worn equpiment - including Arrows of Dispelling.

I made a mistake here (or at least I did something not planned), though. Do you see it?

 

 

That's the real Minsc. I hadn't clicked on the Simulacrum's circle but on the portrait. Oh well, Dispelling- and Acid Arrows worked fine.

 

No Celestial Fury among the loot but there were some other nice things, including Ring of Fire Control. Martha now wears this and it provides some good elemental protection along with her other gear:

 

 

Feels nice to have this. She can now maybe survive one of those Sequencers I fear so much (unless they use Skull Traps in it instead...).

 

We speculated earlier about that suspicious symbol on the floor. Was it a Symbol-(something) spell? Indeed it was:

 

 

 

Freeing Haer'Dalis

We entered Mwkrath's lair with all but Minsc invisible. There were mephits multiplying quite a bit and being invisible certainly is no foolproof protection against their damaging attacks (although it helps...). The Magma variant was especially hurtful. I knew full well to avoid the passage to the prisoner so we took the narrow corridor to the south instead. Nalia acted as invisible blocker while Minsc fired an obscene amount of arrows. They both needed some healing potions but the mephits thinned out after a while. When Minsc was chasing down one of the last mephits, he happened to be seen by Mekrath. Oops. We just told him that we would leave.

 

But him seeing a hostile creature in there for a while also turned him hostile. Douple oops. Well, at least the mephits were now gone, so we could regroup and send in some summons who eventually defeated Mekrath. Found scroll of Delayed Blast Fireball on him.

Yoshimo scouted out the perfect spot for Edwina to Death Spell a minotour and five umber hulks to their immediate doom. Haer'Dalis was sent off to his freedom, with our promise that we'd return there with the portal gem. If that does happen, it won't be until chapter 6, I think.

 

The search for Valygar

On to Imnesvale, where I stripped Nalia of all the good stuff and left her at Umar Inn. She disappeared. What? Ah, she was invisible at the time. I had Minsc use the Detect Invisibility thing on a sword he carries (forgot the name) but that did not reveal Nalia. Moving around inside the inn, I could figure out where she was, because there was one spot we could not stand. Aerie tried True Seeing but that didn't help. Neither did this:

 

 

Okay, so she IS there! 

 

We went to Valygar's cabin but he wasn't there. Consulting the journal, I could see that we hadn't been to his house after starting the quest. Darn.

 

On our way out, there were some rangers that wanted to kill us. I do not remember what I said to them to provoke that...

Oh well, their problem. And a chance for Edwin to play with a powerful new spell:

 

 

The leader managed to hit Yoshimo twice but that was it for them. Emotion and Call Lightning flying, etc.

 

Before going back to Athkatla and Valygar's place there, we rested at the inn, woke up and saw Nalia there. Great!

 

 

Valygar's butler directed us to Suna Seni, so we had a chat with her at the Copper Coronet. Interesting, first time I've seen that dialogue. When she was leaving, Yoshimo pickpocketed her for an Identify scroll and a potion of magic protection.

 

On the journey back to Inmesvale, Degardan had finally tracked down Edwin(a). He ambushed us on our travels, even though we were invisible. Edwin thought Degardan was too cocky and decided to fry him with a 3xFlame Arrow sequencer he had recently prepared at the Coronet. Even starting from invisibility, the sequencer button wasn't fast enough. SPELL TURNING!!

 

 

I also saw three Armor type graphics close to us. More (invisible) mages, I suppose... 

We moved down-right. Minsc right-clicked on Edwin's gear to pick it up. Now followed a long wait to make Degardan less dangerous. He used Dimension Door twice to get to us (even though we were invisible) and he Animated three skeleton warriors. He eventually ended up in the down-right corner. Aerie did her usual Speed Oil - Sanctuary - Blade Barrier routine, which took out two of the skeletons. She then cast Death Fog at the center of the area. That damaged an ogre mage who revealed himself. He was shot down fast by MMMs and my two archers. Next up, a Cloudkill charge from the wand a little past the death fog instakilled two more ogre mages. 

 

Yoshimo scouted out Degardan and held him in place with a thrown trap. I sent Minsc to kill the last skeleton while my two remaining spellcasters started a summoning spree. Four of the summons were lost to Degardan's Death Spells, but we had more. And this time, the Minsc Simulacrum plan worked better. Still, Degardan approached us a little too early for comfort but a combined effort from several characters nailed him:

 

 

Oh yeah, my first use of the Rod of Resurrection we have found lately.

 

We met up with Valygar in his cabin and he joined the party.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 101 - (update 6)

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

 

 A couple of short sessions I didn't get around to documenting earlier in the week were followed by a decent session yesterday to push this pairing onwards.

 

The last update left them at the City of Caverns and they had no real problems there in killing the king and the prince (apart from having to do most of it twice as a result of a crash).

 

In the Underdark Joak was able to put a Dark Planetar on retainer to smooth progress past a balor and a giant soul gem.

Spoiler

Carrying on to confront Vithal without resting proved more problematic.  That was initially the case when Joak failed to move fast enough to get out of sight before a timestop and paid the penalty.  

Spoiler

After a use of the RoR, it looked as though Vithal was going to fall under Sean's assault with the FoA, but at near death he somehow found the ability to put up PfMW by contingency - despite having already used in the battle both contingency and chain contingency .  Vithal took no further chances and dimension doored away during another time stop.

 

In the beholder area Sean ensured the first elder orb had no time to react by using greater deathblow on him.  He was less careful a bit further on though and had to rely on Joak to help him out after being paralysed by a gauth - prompting the pair to run away after picking up the Greenstone Amulet.  

 

The illithids were left in peace, but the duo did work through the kuo-toa area - finishing off by overpowering the Prince without bothering to taint his tadpoles.

Spoiler

 

After successfully resisting the usual urge to proclaim Sean had come straight from Adalon, he checked in with the drow.  On the way to save Phaere Sean sneaked up on N'ashtar.  Positioning there meant a backstab wasn't possible, but his improved haste assault still killed the mage before he could buff.  

Spoiler

Somewhere around this point Sean put on the amulet of spell warding.  With his base saving throw now minimised by extra levels, that took his standard spell save to -1 - to make him significantly less likely to be incapacitated by spell attacks in future.

 

I was expecting Joak to use her favourite death spell on Phaere's attackers, but malison + emotion made a decent substitute.  The remaining drow tasks were done quickly and precisely - at least so I thought until Phaere thanked Sean for giving her the real eggs .  That meant that rather than watching the summoned demon toast the matron mother and Phaere, Sean and Joak had to do a bit more work there before quickly running out of the city under stealth.

Spoiler

 

After leaving the Underdark Sean gave Kruin his coveted sword blade to avoid any potential unpleasantness (and the possibility of crashes).  Cromwell upgraded the Wave and Gesen before the duo moved on to the Graveyard.  Joak seemed a bit sceptical about Sean's planned approach there - see a vampire, smack a vampire - but that worked well enough with the MoD making short work of the encounters.  Bodhi herself didn't last much longer than her flock.

Spoiler

 

The doppleganger ambush managed a bit of damage, but the pair had already decided to just run away from that and were soon regenerated as they entered Suldanesselar.  That was worked through without trouble with the help of a couple of planetars.  Nizi managed to kill one of those, but died before having any chance to take advantage of that success.  

Spoiler

In the temple Rillifane was summoned to deal with the intruders - and actually managed to spot and kill them all this time.

 

Moving on to the Tree of Life Joak left Irenicus a skeleton warrior to play with after the Tree was cleared of vermin.  A couple more summons kept Jon busy until a window of opportunity arose for the planetar as Jon's latest PfMW expired.

Spoiler

 

In hell Sean carefully took the goody-goody route to protect his ranger status.  He forgot to cash in tears before confronting Sarevok so would have been vulnerable to attacks - but Joak put up the golem to distract Sarevok while he was being hammered.  A few skeleton warriors were then pre-placed to help finish off Jon's demon army and joined by a planetar for the assault on the Slayer.  That very quickly took it to near death and a number of further hefty hits suggested that Jon's death speech was due - but it didn't trigger.  After a couple of further attempts at doing that the attackers withdrew for a while and let the Slayer recover much of its health before coming back in - this time Jon accepted his fate on cue (I tried taking a screenshot there, but the EE doesn't seem to like doing that during a cutscene).

 

Sean, stalker 24, 169 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 869 kills

Joak, diviner 23, 65 HPs (incl. 5 from ioun stone), 267 kills, 6 deaths

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 101 - (7th and final update)

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

 

A session yesterday saw rapid progress through ToB, until eventually hitting some (dragon) buffers.

 

The opening encounter was no trouble as the question "how many Reavers will Illasera bring" was answered conclusively with "not enough".  

Spoiler

Moving directly into the first Pocket Plane Challenge a planetar's ability to counter an invisible Irenicus saw the end of that.

 

In Saradush Joak spent a bit of time looting bodies, allowing Sean to have almost opened up access to the spell shop by the time she got there.  Some vampires in the prison mostly had only a brief acquaintance with the iMoD before a planetar cleared the way through to the palace.  After resting and buffing an invisible, backstabbing assault saw none of the mages able to cast a spell and Gromnir died with more of a whimper than a bang.

Spoiler

 

Moving on to find Nyalee there was more work for the iMoD, made easier by Joak stripping the Master Wraith's protections.

Spoiler

 

Sean received full buffs before entering the Fire Temple and made short work of the giants there - mainly starting with backstabs for the elites, before carrying on in melee.  He used the healing available from Blackrazor to good effect and cleared the lower temple in quick time with the help of a few summons.  Upstairs, the large number of giants around Berenn saw a switch to missile weapons - and then a further switch to stealth attacks when Berenn proved to have physical mirror up - Joak did dispel that, but I think the giant was dead by then anyway.  

Spoiler

All the important buffs were still active as Imix became the final victim.

Spoiler

 

After Nyalee suffered a fatal change of mind Yaga-Shura was the next victim.  Sean was about to strike him down anyway, only to find the giant wilting under the strain of Joak's assault.

Spoiler

 

In the second PP challenge Sean's doppleganger managed to survive an initial improved-hasted assault by his namesake and start to strike back.  Sean had to briefly consider the options before deciding (correctly) that a GWW would be able to finish the doppleganger off before low HPs would force Sean to retreat.  The others then posed no problems.

 

Jamis was the sole victim as the duo ran through the Oasis to get to Amkethran - stopping there just long enough to buy the Gargoyle Boots.

 

At Sendai's enclave the first moment of concern was when Sean triggered a prismatic spray trap in the lich's hideout - nearly killing his companion.  

Spoiler

Sean himself was briefly worried when he failed to get through Ogremoch's stoneskins quickly and had to get on his skates to run round the fast-moving elemental before Joak could intervene - her own stoneskins lasting just long enough.  

Spoiler

There were no other concerns on the way to the statues and they all fell pretty quickly, but Sendai herself lasted longer than expected.  Sean did attack her a fair amount in melee, but was breaking off regularly due to worries about being Harmed and that made it difficult to get a decisive attack before she teleported away.  However, eventually she stayed still just too long.

Spoiler

 

Back at the PP the Slayer did quite well to survive long enough to force Sean to retreat.  However, the planetar healed him and closing once more saw the Slayer's last stand.

Spoiler

 

Despite having carried around an acid-resistant suit of armour for many moons, Sean relied on his trusty studded leather against Draconis - and got breathed on for his trouble almost immediately after the dragon form emerged before the screen had time to settle.  He retreated briefly while Joak reduced Draconis' resistance and a planetar occupied its attention. but came back in to take the dragon to near death.  At that point Draconis did a last-ditch invisibility, which might possibly have saved him if he hadn't then immediately attacked the planetar - allowing Sean to get another whack in while a wilting hit.

Spoiler

 

I was starting to wonder if I'd have enough time to see ToB complete in a session as we moved through the tunnels on the way to Abazigal.  However, any fears about time were put into perspective as another dragon emerged from its human shell.  His protections meant he was only lightly wounded when a summoned mordy sword expired (or possibly was killed) and the dragon made short work of an attacking planetar before turning on Sean.  In no mood to fight Abazigal one-on-one Sean turned to run - only to find (as is not uncommon when dealing with dragons), that there was a horrendous speed difference in their movements.  Despite wearing the boots of speed and being improved hasted, Sean was far slower than Abazigal and was hit by 2 big chomps while moving only a short distance away.  With his HPs now critically low Sean paused briefly for thought before trying once more to run - but once more failed miserably in the attempt ...

[ussnorway]

SEE2 -07, 

 

Three of crowds;

 

Hear text as mp3,

 

After misplacing the bard, I grabbed another Cleric but he takes quick exception to my vampire. I assumed this is a racism issue for Anomen… being a goody two shoes and all so when he asked for my help to avenge a sister, it wasn’t a difficult moral dilemma. I also kicked mis wingless for Jan (family matter sorted out), un-cursed Jaheira, kick the crap out of some nosy harps, and a spot of thief double cross before finally getting back to the theatre…

 

Spoiler

 

As a true demon the thrull master can see invisible targets so Hexxat used this fact to lure him away from his guards for an easier kill… that’s easier not easy but with him dispatched the air elementals are manageable on their own. I had a near disaster when falling into a werewolf pit but my spirits managed to hold the boss wolf off as the last of my team killed his pups… the actual Warden is very easy… a ‘deathfog’ to soften him up as the thrull rebel then Viconia pinned him with a skelly warrior as Jan ‘cloud kill’ finished him off.

 

p.s, Anomen is getting insistent about vampires being evil “bit hypocritical coming from a murderer of innocent children if you ask me” but I agreed to park Hexxat (for now) then got jumped by more of them pesky harps… I need to rest up a bit and consider my next move.

[ussnorway]

SEE2 -08, 

 

Teeth vs leather;

 

Hear text as mp3,

 

After a long trek up north, Jaheira abandoned me to face the harps and I replaced her with a better melee fighter… the temple was impressive but Viconia didn’t want to hang around so we returned to the city.

 

Anomen has calmed down a lot now that the shock of getting buggered by the order has healed… he didn’t bat an eyelid when I joined up with Bohdi and has stopped glaring at Hexxat.

 

The shadow thief fortifications proved to be lacking in defence against bears and Wilson tore through them like a hot knife… I don’t know who started the rumour that leather armour used by shadow thieves is made from bear cubs lol.

 

Spoiler

 

As a note on personal development, I’ve achieved my 13th level as we set sail to get Imoen back.

[Dyara]

Dyara (Fighter/Mage/Thief) (Update 10)

After a well-deserved rest at the Umar Inn Dyara left Imnesvale and the Umar Hills behind but instead of using the ship to Spellhold Dyara returned to Watcher's Keep. Sometimes I think that Dyara perhaps is afraid of travelling by ship and that's why she tries to delay the journey as much as possible. In any case Dyara went down to where she had met the crazy elf Yakman some time ago and continued her exploration of Watcher's Keep from there...

There she didn't follow the route described in Yakman's journal but took the portal to the west leading her into a wild magic room inhabited by some quasits...

Spoiler

Not sure where to go next Dyara chose the southern portal and appeared in a room with a succubus and some alu-fiends. The succubus wanted to kiss her but when Dyara refused the succubus' apparent unfriendliness triggered the time trap Dyara had set before...

Spoiler

Dyara used the eastern portal which led her in a dead magic zone where some cornugons, velithuus and a pit fiend failed in killing her. Dyara then went north and ended up in a room with a balor fighting some cornugons. Somewhat shocked Dyara saw the balor easily tear off the head of one of the cornugons and she felt she had to act quickly while the balor was still occupied...

Spoiler

Taking the eastern portal next Dyara ran into a group of Tanar'ri led by the balor Tahazzar. Somewhat terrified and scared Dyara only wanted to leave, by accident one of her time traps fell to the ground...

Spoiler

... next Dyara rushed for the balor and smashed him until he went down...

Spoiler

Dyara grabbed the scepter gem (and somehow the demon's heart as well), she ran for the southern portal and fortunately she arrived in a room already visited and cleansed.

Spoiler

Using twice the southern portal led her into a room full of fiends from the Nine Hells of Baator. This time Dyara tried to pull herself together, the leader of the Baatezu Ka'rashur told her about the blood war and how they were trapped here surely because of their ancient foes, the tanar'ri. Because she had killed Tahazzar Dyara became friends with the Baatezu and was given another scepter gem (and a thieves' hood).

Using the portal to the south Dyara arrived in a room with some Glabrezu...

Spoiler

At first the room appeared somewhat empty but that was about the change quickly...

Spoiler

Glabrezus, Greater Fire Elementals and Ice Salamanders tried to kill Dyara but one-by-one Dyara wore them down (every now and then drinking a healing potion so her hit points didn't fall below 90)...

Spoiler

The portal to the west then led Dyara into another wild magic zone, this time inhabited by some tieflings...

Spoiler

Dyara managed to kill two of them, had to retreat then but some pre-laid traps turned the tide...

Spoiler

Travelling north Dyara came upon some Demon Knights and a Cambion; a time trap allowed for some easy killings...

Spoiler

A 'Power Word: Blind' then forced Dyara to retreat...

Spoiler

but a second pre-laid time trap allowed her to heal and finally to finish the remaining foes...

Spoiler

Dyara took the northern portal and appeared in a large room, inhabited by an already hostile Demon Wraith. Dyara stepped back (out of side of the Demon Wraith) so she could set a time trap...

Spoiler

... and lots 'Greater Whirlwinds' were used to finally overcome the Demon Wraith...

Spoiler

Finally Dyara had reached the exit of the maze. She was greeted by the Cambion Aesgareth who wanted to play some card game but Dyara had no interest in playing cards, she wanted the cards for herself. Stealing the cards unfortunately was without success so plan B kicked in...

Spoiler

One of Aesgareth's companions tried a time stop as well but other than dispelling Dyara's spell shield nothing bad happened. Another pre-laid time trap allowed Dyara to kill the remaining foes but the spell caster...

Spoiler

and Carsomyr then made short work of Fire Shields, Improved Mantles and Stoneskins...

Spoiler

Dyara used the portal and appeared in front of some strange machine. Trapped within was the mage Carston, who used the machine to summon some mind flayers...

Spoiler

Further exploration of area forced Dyara to fight all kind of monsters (Shadow Fiends, Mutated Spiders, Magic Golems, Killer Mimics and Yuan-ti) but compared to the previous fights in the maze they all were mere child's play...

Spoiler

Before exploring areas close-by Dyara decided for some fresh air and a rest in the open...

 

Name   Level                          HP       Game Kills XP  Game Kills  Strongest Kill        Deaths Pips
Dyara  Fighter(18)/Mage(17)/Thief(22) 125 (+5)  4,770,927      1,317      Firkraag              -      Longsword(***),Flail(**),THS(**),TWF(**)

 

 

[Jianson]

That Glabrezu/Elemental/Salamander fight looks insane!

 

What's the deal with 90 HPs? A threshold for the effect of some of the Power Words?

[corey_russell]

That Glabrezu/Elemental/Salamander fight looks insane!

 

What's the deal with 90 HPs? A threshold for the effect of some of the Power Words?

With Power Word: Stun, it doesn't offer a saving throw. If you have less than 90 HP THAT MOMENT then you get stunned, assuming you don't have any magic resistance items/buffs or are otherwise immune.

[Dyara]

With Power Word: Stun, it doesn't offer a saving throw. If you have less than 90 HP THAT MOMENT then you get stunned, assuming you don't have any magic resistance items/buffs or are otherwise immune.

Yub... that fight looks insane but if AC is high enough PW: Stun is the only danger here (other than perhaps remove magic but SI:Abj. takes care of that - had to recast it in between). I decided against Arbane because I wanted to use a shied (and I hadn't thought about using a potion of free action ).

 

While looking at the screenshots I wonder why I survived the Tahazzar fight (HP far below 90) but I guess it's because I had switched to Carsomyr and most likely its +50% magic resistance (in my game Carsomyr adds 50% MR rather than setting MR to 50%) saved me from PW: Stun; iirc SCS doesn't target MR above 50% (unless the spell ignores MR).

[Dyara]

Dyara (Fighter/Mage/Thief) (Update 11)

Dyara left Watcher's Keep for some rest but before going to sleep she grabbed the 'Deck of Many Things' from her bag. She remembered reading a book back then in Candlekeep describing the game, its cards or plaques as they were called in the book, the risks and how a mage could prepare himself to avoid them all. As she had only one Spell Immunity still memorized Dyara sacrificed a potion of invulnerability to not get imprisoned by the DONJON card (SI:Abj. or save vs. death of -8 or lower required) and finally she casted SI: Evocation to counter the cards "RUIN" (lose all money) and "EURYALE" (saving throws permanently decreased by one). That spell also prevents the beneficial effects of the cards "GEM" (five valuable gems) and "JESTER" (+50,000 XP) but Dyara wasn't really interested in one of them anyway.

Running her fingers along the edge of the metallic plaques, Dyara finally made a decision and removed her chosen card from the deck. The plaque depicted a scene filled with black runes and what appeared to be a man screaming in terror inside of a cage. The card was clearly labeled "DONJON"...

... but nothing bad happened as Dyara easily saved against the harmful effect of the card. Nevertheless it had been an exciting experience; in fact Dyara was far too excited to sleep so she packed up her bag and returned to Watcher's Keep. There she flipped a coin and took the northern stairs to the Illithid encampment.

As to be expected the area was crawling with umber hulks and all kind of illithids but good saving throws (thanks to the still lingering effect of the invulnerability potion), Arbane in the off-hand and good armor class fights mostly went very smoothly...

Spoiler

... as only some sort of 'ballistic attack' could really hurt Dyara. Of course some of the illithids tried to feed on her brain but thanks to potion of mind focusing used some time ago and occasional casting of 'Mantle' Dyara's intelligence never fell below 16.

Spoiler

Things changed a little bit later when the potion of invulnerability and other beneficial effects had worn off...

Spoiler

... her remaining five normal traps killed three of the most meddlesome mind flayers (unfortunately not as much as Dyara had hoped for)...

Spoiler

.. but situation became a little bit tricky when Dyara's hit points were reduced to a one-third...

Spoiler

... and she took the wrong turnoff and became trapped in a dead end...

Spoiler

She tried to assassinate the illithids... to nearly no avail unfortunately but nevertheless she succeeded finally without losing too much of her precious brain...

Spoiler

The two vampiric illithids in the final room proved to be no challenge; Dyara left the now illithid-less encampment to finally get some rest outside of Watcher's Keep. In the morning she grabbed the 'Deck of Many Things' again; after making her preparations (SI: Alteration to counter the VOID (Disintegrate) and equipping Adjatha the Drinker to counter the ROGUE (dire charm) she picked her second card...

The drawn card depicted a great holy man in rich robes, with the penitent bowing before him. In his hands, he held aloft a great golden key. The card was labeled "KEY".

As soon as Dyara had taken the card a small ring appeared in her hands. At first she was a little bit disappointed as she had hoped for the STAR card (in my installation the card raises intelligence only for pure mages while normally it raises intelligence for all mages; therefore in my installation Dyara as a fighter/mage/thief like a pure fighter would have gained +1 strength instead of +1 intelligence). But then she thought, the 'Warder's Signet +3' ring isn't too bad either. While it had no regeneration like her improved Guard's Ring another +1 to armor class / saving throws is still better than fighting four Demon Knights or getting 300,000 XP when you've already reached the cap.

Dyara had already found the blue oil and the red one but to light the six braziers in the proper fashion she needed some purple oil as well. Also very special flint and tinder was required as for some reason the (imaginary) flint and tinder Dyara usually used for lighting her camp fire didn't worked. Therefore a visit at the Githyanki encampment was in order...

Spoiler

What was expected to be a walk in the park was about to turn into a disaster as some of the Githyanki had weapons that could dispel on hit (how evil and perfidiously that?)...

Spoiler

Dyara darted for the stairs but the Githyanki knew how to use them too...

Spoiler

... but fortunately they didn't follow outside. There Dyara equipped her full plate armor, grabbed her largest shield and returned to teach the Githyanki a lesson...

Spoiler

Next a demilich was put to rest...

Spoiler

... and Dyara had (just) a chat with the mighty Saladrex. Garock and Rock were released from guarding the Crystal Mallet and Carston was released both from being trapped inside Lum's machine and his miserable life... so at least Dyara had planned but then she took pity on the mage and allowed him to leave. After playing with the levers and buttons of Lum's machine for a while Dyara said good-bye to Watcher's Keep for now. But before leaving Dyara pulled out the Deck of Many Things once more. She prepared herself with SI: Enchantment (to counter the 'FOOL' card (WIS=3, confusion) and then she drew her third card...

The card showed an achingly beautiful woman half-hidden by a lantern held in front of her as she moved through the darkness. The night sky behind her was bright and vividly real. A label below read "MOON".

Now that's a great card, Dyara rejoiced, as her hit points were increased by 10. Happily and contently she left Helm's keep for her own one. There a priest of Tempus was allowed to set up a temple and Dyara became the first customer by buying another deity's boots. When she returned to her sphere in the slums her acolytes had finished their first item... the "Dagger of Dyara". For their next task the three were set to scribe a Scroll of Mislead.

 

Name   Level                          HP       Game Kills XP  Game Kills  Strongest Kill        Deaths Pips
Dyara  Fighter(18)/Mage(17)/Thief(22) 144 (+5)  5,250,927      1,382      Firkraag              -      Longsword(***),Flail(**),THS(**),TWF(**)

 

To be continued...

 

[Grimwald the Wise]

A close run thing there Dyara.

[ussnorway]

SEE2 -09, 

 

The finger of death;

 

Hear text as mp3,

 

After a brief battle the prat gave us a key to enter spellhold as well as a book that holds fireballs… protection from magic weapons is a nice buff but irrelevant when it’s a bear attacking you. I gave up a point of intelligence to reach Imoen and she stepped into Anomens slot for the maze.

 

Spoiler

 

Bodhi was a good sport and even let us keep the gear which is a nice bonus… Haer’Dalis used the jelly shape to survive the painting traps then I discovered a nice sharman neckless to console me about becoming a creature of darkest shadow.

 

Irenicus made the same mistake with his opening buff and Wilson jumped him as I put up a insect plague to stop his non-scripted spells… the party retreated to a corner to fight our ids.

 

Wilson proved more than Irenicus could handle and we looked good until one of the loons started shooting lightning about… somehow they decided this damage was my fault and turned against us. In seconds Wilson was turned to stone and Viconia | Hexxat fell to massive spell damage.

I retreated to the steps with my sister beside me and the bard spinning like a top in front but a finger of death ended the match.

 

Spoiler

 

BGee2 patch two notes;
The legacy of bhaal is a good challenge for a balanced party that makes magic damage much less useful and melee far more important.

 

Bugs;
Turn undead does NOT work… its fine in bgee and DS under patch 2 but completely broken in bg2ee at this difficultly level.

 

After battle report;
While you could argue that any plan starting with “lets free all the loons” is fundamentally flawed, I only suggest that holding my ground for longer at the start would have meant my ids have spawned in front of Irenicus and keep them all together | probably under my opening insect plague but as for the friendly fire… I have to wonder?

[corey_russell]

Sorry to hear the end of your run, USSNorway, as well as for the less than satisfactory way everything played out.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 102 - (update 1)

Pern, gnome fighter / illusionist (Grond0) & Axmin, dwarf kensai (Gate70)

 

This pairing has made a relatively trouble-free start to BG2.  As usual we didn't restrict resting in the dungeon, making it easy to keep HPs up at safe levels.  The circus and Copper Coronet offered little more challenge - with the Beastmaster at the latter being foiled by wraithform.

 

After acquiring Officer Dirth's plate armor for Pern for the rare occasions he might feel the need of it Suna Seni's party was spoiled by a chaos.  A number of bugs made for irritating progress around here, including the temple quests not activating properly.  Pern was also surprised to find that Mae'Var required a statuette from Lathander rather than the expected necklace - and grabbing that turned the temple hostile.

 

Shrugging those setbacks off though the duo made their way up through Rayic's house.  He rather stupidly stood still while being whittled down - apparently with nothing to cast to stop Axmin (who was attacking under improved invisibility), while failing to target Pern instead who was a bit farther away.  

Spoiler

Mae'Var then found his guild invaded - wraithform confounding the thieves upstairs before improved invisibility ensured no survivors were left downstairs.

Spoiler

 

Next up was Watcher's Keep where Pern was ready to use wraithform once more on any vampiric wraiths around.  However, there were none of those on show, but there were some standard wraiths who were quite happy to hit Pern anyway - resulting in both characters being well drained.  

Spoiler

Feeling he could still take a bit more punishment though Axmin went to trigger a couple of traps - staggering back to the entrance with a whole 7 HPs left.  Not to be outdone Pern got herself clawed by an ettercap shortly after that and watched as her HPs melted away.  Having already used an antidote in BG1 she was disinclined to do so again - and fortunately was saved from having to make a painful choice as the poison stopped ticking while she still had a comfortable 4 HPs left .  

Spoiler

Before leaving, the first pair of statues were activated and beaten up - though their resistance against slashing and piercing damage kept them going a bit longer than expected and Pern had to break off combat for a bit to take her armor off and renew her buffs before finishing the second one off.

Spoiler

 

Back in the City a few tasks in the Graveyard led down to Pai'Na.  Pern disposed of most of the spiders there with a sunfire, though by the time that went off Axmin had already settled matters with Pai'Na and started on the spiders himself.

Spoiler

 

Renfeld was then saved and returned to the harpers before another sunfire set Prebek up for a one on one contest with Axmin - the mage lost.  

Spoiler

After looting the harper hold gold seemed fairly plentiful, so Pern splashed out to purchase Azuredge and pay for a magic license.  The latter will enable her to get access to the liches in the city next time.  This session though ended doing a few other tasks in the Bridge District while preparing for that.  Those tasks included smacking down a pair of Ruined Assassins

Spoiler

and punishing the kidnappers (an amusing incident there when Reti was apparently resurrected by a good Samaritan at the nearby temple and burst back into the kidnappers' house after being left for dead outside - resulting in both Pern and Axmin now sporting Boots of Avoidance ). 

 

 

Pern, fighter 9 / illusionist 10, 101 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm, 6 from familiar), 113 kills

Axmin, kensai 10, 128 HPs (incl. 11 from ioun stone), 147 kills, 0 deaths (2 in BG1)

[Jianson]

Martha, level 14 half-elven Totemic Great Druid, entering the Planar Sphere, with Minsc, Yoshimo, Aerie, Edwin and Valygar

 

Yikes, how long it's been since I last did this quest. My memory on many details was very fuzzy.

 

My first summon (a fire elemental) took out the first pack of halfling fighters. Assaulting the spellcasters didn't go so well early on, so we fell back into the room with the Solamnic knights. Seeing some red-circle creatures turned them hostile. Oops.

Not much to do about that other than killing them. At least you do not suffer rep loss. Aerie doing most of the dirty work (in the screenie, she's about to cast Blade Barrier - I've started to use two Sanctuary spells (another cast before the first one times out) so I can maximixe the effective Blade Barrier time):

 

 

The very last BB round damaged Mogadish, so I knew he was vulnerable. To this:

 

 

A tactic I've started to use vs. spellcasters is to first silence them from off-screen. Horn of Silence and Namarra gives Yoshimo 6 attempts per rest. If the silence sticks and it's an arcane caster, you can be almost sure a Vocalize is coming. At that point, I step in with an archer that does guaranteed elemental damage on hit (ice/acid arrows). Like this:

 

 

Here, it was obvious that Kayardi wasn't even Stoneskinned, so it was a quick fight.

 

Stealth bombing supreme (Edwin starting to love several of his 7th-level spells):

 

 

Then it was time to fight some golems. Now that Jaheira is no longer available, it often falls on Martha to be the tank against hard hitters. She and Minsc (with small help from Valygar) took on Clay while the other 3(-4) shot down the Stone golems:

 

 

The cursed wounds work like mummy rot: healing magic becomes useless. I could still pass the Ring of Regeneration around to heal everyone but of course I wanted to get rid of the effect before fighting anything serious. Cure Disease didn't help and neither did resting. What to do? Ah, those are Cursed wounds. "Aerie, fix that! Good."

 

Yikes, I do not remember Lavok being this impressive!

 

 

He may look like a lich and have some lich-like abilities but fortunately, seeing invisible is not one of them.

 

The outdoor fighting was pretty interesting. I have no demon-boosting mod other than SCS 'Smarter general AI', so the Tanar'ri abilities I had to deal with were (in addition to see invisible) mostly Silence, a ranged Vampiric Touch and a Death Gaze. The Death Gaze is nothing like the dreaded thing Aec'Letec uses, though. It just causes damage (I think) and forces you to save or be stunned. Valygar was stunned. Still in shadows when it happened and out of sight of the demon but he was soon revealed, and there were two fire mephits watching:

 

 

Minsc came over to save him with his bow.

 

I tried to coordinate my assaults on the tanar'ri. Gave Minsc Free Action and at least one strong summon by his side. Valygar provided artillery (and some melee) support:

 

 

The one they're fighting in the second screenie is the named one (Lei-something). It arrived just about when we had defeated the second. The two Maurezhi didn't manage to do much - summoned weak skeletons and tried a single Hold Person, which failed. The fire elemental ate them up.

 

I planned the fight with Tolgerias for a while. Decided to open up with a nicely timed double whammy of Delayed Blast Fireball and Skull Trap. Timed it right, but got within visual range too soon, so Tolgerias' buffs triggered. Those included Protection from Fire and Globe of Invulnerability, so my assault didn't even scratch him. His apprentice and pet sword, though:

 

 

Yoshimo hid in the upper part of the room and laid down all four regular traps in a heap. But since those are fire based and PfF lasts a minute per caster level (I suppose that means around 20 min for Tolgerias) they were useless when they triggered. My first silence plan worked, though:

 

 

Would this be the point where we start to dominate? Nope. Tolgerias activated a spell trigger that included PFMW.

In hindsight, I should have just assaulted him then and there, taken down the PFMW with Breach and shot him down before the silence had expired, but I was a little too much chicken for that.

 

Instead, I hid all of us again and resorted to a summoning storm, getting him to use up Death Spell, another Abi Dalzim (he had cast one on his position earlier, along with Confusion x3), Wail of the Banshee (!) and several minor damage and -disabling spells. Eventually, a trio of strong summons tore through his last Stoneskins.

 

 

Now it was just some golem fighting left to do in the Sphere. The Iron Golem AI fried up, so instead of throwing their poison clouds at Yoshimo, they both kept trying to run to and attack him from stuck positions. Yoshimo could leisurly take down the blocked Stone golems first, then the Iron ones. That left three Clay Golems to deal with. I wanted to avoid more Cursed Wounds, so I used a Hasted duo of Invisible Stalker and Aerial Servant. The Stalker couldn't damage the golems (not enchanted enough, I suppose) but it provided a target that was hard for the golems to hit and thus acted as shield for the brutal Aerial Servant.

 

So, the venue was a success overall and provided some nice loot as well: Ring of the Ram, Bala's Axe (another anti-mage tool with potential - I plan to have my Minsc Simulacrum try this out. If it works as it did in BG1, the effect will go through Stoneskin, unless the hit doesn't count because PFMW or something similar is up).

 

Yoshimo and Minsc levelled up. Yoshimo now has 80% in Detect Illusion and Minsc is less than 300k away from getting our first HLA (he has 800k more XP than anyone else).

 

Too bad about the Solamnic Knights, though.

[corey_russell]

Nice work Jianson! SCS just eats me up - plus my solo attempts on vanilla still fail plenty so there I am...

[ussnorway]

Thanks Corey, I'm pretty happy with how the sharman plays and will prob take another shot at it after Katarina.

[Dyara]

Dyara (Fighter/Mage/Thief) (Update 12)

After giving her acolytes their second task Dyara returned to Watcher's Keep once more. There she used the portal opened by the machine of Lum the Mad and so she reached the last but one level of Watcher's Keep, called the 'Final Seal'. To open this final seal Dyara had to require three keys...

The first key was acquired by slaying all kind of monsters...

Spoiler

Once Dyara had placed the key into the lock and turned it six Rilmani appeared...

Spoiler

... and were sent back home immediately...

Spoiler

To not waste all the still active buffs Dyara decided to immediately take on the Green Dragon, both for passing the "Test of Bravery" and to get the "Warrior's Skull. Unfortunately SI:Abjuration wore off too quickly and all her protections were dispelled by a remove magic making this fight much more difficult and lasting as Dyara had expected...

Spoiler

But in the end the dragon went down and Dyara got the skull required for controlling the spirit warrior who then was moved through a maze and killed the mummy. This got Dyara the second key; placing that key into the lock and turning it unleashed the lich Azamantes and some flaming skulls. Despite Azamantes' apparently innate ability to "precast" stoneskin over and over again during a time stop the lich went down and so did the flaming skulls...

Spoiler

Next Dyara easily passed the "Test of Wits" by successfully playing games with an imp. Also the "Test of Stamina" wasn't much of a challenge...

 

Spoiler

Before placing the third key into the lock Dyara prepared the battlefield by placing five of her normal traps and one time trap close to the seal and another time trap as backup in the room with the four cylinders. Then she turned the key...

Spoiler

The traps did lots of damage but for some reason didn't injure anybody so Dyara had to do the whole work on her own by hand. First the Hive Mother was brought near death during time stop and killed shortly after...

Spoiler

When Dyara started to take damage she tried to reach her refuge in the corner but changed her mind and turned right. That way she lost all but Nalmissra and the succubus fought a losing battle...

Spoiler

Two down, four to go. When Dyara approached the seal she immediately became attacked...

Spoiler

... so she had to retreat but again only one of the enemies bothered to follow her. This time it was the drow cleric Ameralis Zauviir who stood no chance in a fight one on one..

Spoiler

Half way through. Dyara again returned to the seal; there she attacked the Huntress but decided to retreat once more and again she was followed by only one enemy (if we ignore the aerial servant). Xei Win Toh unlike most of the six guardians couldn't detect her so Dyara started with a backstab...

Spoiler

With only two of the six guardians left Dyara went back and fought (and killed) the Huntress...

Spoiler

Finally Dyara searched for Y'tossi who she found admiring a stony wall. Despite being a marilith Y'tossi couldn't detect her invisible attacker. That didn't help with the backstab unfortunately...

Spoiler

... because of stoneskins but a protection from magical weapons was easily breached and then the marilith was gwwed to death...

Spoiler

With the nice gauntlets found on Y'tossi's corpse Dyara thought it's about time to sail to spellhold now...

 

Name   Level                          HP       Game Kills XP  Game Kills  Strongest Kill        Deaths Pips
Dyara  Fighter(18)/Mage(17)/Thief(22) 144       6,041,882      1,475      Firkraag              -      Longsword(***),Flail(***),THS(**),TWF(**)

 
To be continued...

 

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 102 - (update 2)

Pern, gnome fighter / illusionist (Grond0) & Axmin, dwarf kensai (Gate70)

 

This pair continue to make generally good progress.

 

They started off by hunting down a few liches (using scrolls of PfU) in order to get Kangaxx's ring - also picking up a new cloak for Axmin on the way.

Spoiler

That required consoling in Oisig to rectify the bug preventing the start of the Unseeing Eye quest (we wouldn't have bothered just for that quest, but the Ring of Gaxx was too great a temptation ).

Spoiler

 

Next Gaelan Bayle was paid (good thing too ...).  With the aim of upgrading the MoD they were on the way to sort out Sir Sarles when a bunch of muggers posed the question "your money or our lives".  Pern felt sorry for them (or fell victim to 1itis - the uncontrollable twitch that responds to any dialogue with a 1 before reading it) and handed over a handsome 14k gold - while muttering under her breath "Oh Mugger".

Spoiler

 

After completing Sir Sarles, Pern quickly checked that Dawnbringer Sain looked angry and in no mood to offer further work to the pair that had already robbed his temple.  Instead they ran through Aran Linvail's tasks, making a first use of Daystar sunray to dispose of Tanova in vampire HQ.  

Spoiler

Bodhi didn't last long, though the single attack she managed on Axmin did require a temple visit to get his levels back.  Digging into her bag for things to sell, Pern then managed to pay Cromwell for the iMoD.

 

Moving on to Trademeet progress was smooth up to the Troll Mound.  Pern unwisely though checked out her hunch there was still a spirit troll lurking before attacking the last of the giant trolls - resulting in the need for Axmin to get on his bike and run round for a bit while Pern used invisibility to split the opponents up again for disposal.  There were no more hiccups on the way to watch Cernd's show (feeding time at the zooGrove).  

Spoiler

Tiris and a local tomb then offered a bit more reputation.

 

There were plenty more trolls at de'Arnise for Pern to grab (helping her to keep up with Axmin on kills - at least before Axmin got the FoA into operation).  Glaicas was treated to a fireball from out of sight to ensure he wouldn't be giving up - Axmin tried out attacking in rat shape there (doing a spot of testing for sterner tasks ahead).  

Spoiler

Remaining encounters were easy enough before Pern turned down the offer of a stronghold (holding out for the mage one later).

 

In theory there should just have been time to complete their work in Umar Hills as well, but a crash forced them to redo the initial quests in the village.  As a result the assault on the temple was probably a bit rushed.  The first large group, led by a greater mummy, was beaten down with the help of buffs.  However, the second group was taken on without resting and Axmin found himself being attacked by several enemies.  His HPs quickly declined to 37 and he turned to run - as a bone golem clawed him for 27 and a skeleton warrior chipped in with another 11 to give the coup de grace.  

Spoiler

Pern spent a couple of minutes killing the skeleton warrior and luring the golem away in order to pick up Axmin's equipment and bag it - successfully making multiple trips across the puzzle grid without electrocuting her last few HPs.  She'll be looking for a friendly priest to restore her companion at the start of the next session.

 

Pern, fighter 10 / illusionist 10, 103 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm, 6 from familiar), 232 kills

Axmin, kensai 13, 137 HPs (incl. 11 from ioun stone), 254 kills, 1 death (2 in BG1)

[Jianson]

Martha, level 14 half-elven Totemic Great Druid, adventuring in chapters 2-3 with Minsc, Aerie, Yoshimo, Anomen, Nalia, Jan, Keldorn, Cernd and Mazzy

 

Lots of character swapping these sessions in order to do the NPC specific quest. I like most of them - they're pretty interesting.

 

After I had left Edwin, we paid another visit to Rayic Gethras. He was taken down with extreme cheese. Yoshimo entered there and sneaked into the back part of the room where he was out of sight. Summoned the Efreeti, who proceeded to Fireball Rayic twice. Rayic was still not hostile. When Yoshimo got within talking range, Rayic asked about Edwin. Yoshimo told him we intended to go get Edwin. Then the Efreeti Flame Arrowed Rayic to death.

 

Rayic dropped a Magic Blocking potion, the only type I needed for Jadarath's quest. I thought I was going to have to wait until chapter 6 to finish the quest (according to spoilers, this type of potion should be shoppable in the Ust Natha potion shop and from Ribald's special wares). 

 

Here is how it played out:

Spoiler

 

 

We gained 50000 exp and Yoshimo lost a Constitution point permanently (good thing I didn't talk to him with anyone else in the party!) and he received those fat stat boosts (that sadly were very temporary).

 

Sidenote: I've spoken to Jadarath's wife and child. They didn't want to talk much about him. What's interesting is that this encounter is mentioned in the quests journal, and there is some indication that the quest isn't fully over yet. Maybe there is more to this...

 

 

The major progress was done with a party that included the five companions first mentioned in the header - the Unseeing Eye quest minus the leap-into-the-pit part. Looks like I have no screenie from the beholder fight on the way to the temple. I guess it was too tense for me to think of taking screenies. I was a little careless, and both Aerie, Nalia and Yoshimo had to run from beholders, rays chasing them. Nothing serious happened, although Yoshimo burned a Magic Shielding potion when a Death ray was locked onto him.

 

Anomen donned the Shield of Balduran and went to mop up the last two beholders (one very hurt, one less so). My mods' readme says the beholders have the ability to sometimes steal that shield, so I was wary. It never happened. Maybe they can only do it at melee range? Anomen used sling bullets to kill them.

 

We left the rift device part in a chest near Sassar.

 

 

When doing Cernd's quest, we didn't actively seek a fight with mage & lich, just threatened them. Deril handed over the chiild, but he also said they would come back. I have a bad feeling about that...

 

 

I finally paid Gaelan and have done the shadow thief quests. I screwed up in the Mook encounter. This was due to me not realizing that our Skins spell had expired. Lassal managed to Dominate Minsc, who immediately attacked Aerie. She tried to cast Stoneskin, but annoyingly got hit and interrupted (even with a casting speed 1 spell!). Minsc and Lassal together were scary enough that I resorted to the usual:

 

 

The invisible ones blocked off access to Aerie so she could also hide herself. Lassal left our sight. When Minsc returned to our side, he went looking for him. Lassal soon fled, though.

 

During the second quest, we met this fellow who had a peculiar exchange with Yoshi:

 

 

The vampire lair expedition was different from what I've seen before in several ways. Firstly, Haz the mage survived. After summoning the golem, he pulled back and kept close to Martha the whole time until he suddenly said he had done what he could here.

 

Secondly, Tanova spotted us very early, just efter Lassal's first taunt. (Usually, I find her in the hallway leading to the 'room with a thousand spikes'.). Tanova cast Simulacrum, but we fled, hid and waited it out. One Tanova is plenty enough opposition, thankyouverymuch! To avoid her, we had to pull back alongside the wide circle, past the spider lair entrance. Partway back, a Spirit Bear kept her busy for a couple of rounds and it killed her Mislead clone (although its claws did nothing to Tanova herself).

 

Yoshimo stopped Tanova's advancement with an Otiluke's trap. I decided to give Mazzy undead protection, Mace of Disruption and some extra PfUndead scrolls. The scrolls were because someone wrote that SCS vamp mages will dispel the scroll effect. The reason I chose Mazzy over Minsc was because she is smart enough to re-apply the undead protection herself. 

 

Wow, the fear- and domination effects pass through even what should be impenetrable!

 

 

Tanova Dominated the elemental but never dispelled the undead protection. Well, she didn't over the few rounds she had the chance:

 

 

Mazzy met Lassal in the main vampire room. Got him to Near Death but not more. I protected Minsc as well and he joined Mazzy. Ah, maybe Lassal is controlled by another script? I sent in Aerie, which did the trick.

 

Minsc took over the MoD and proceeded to kill some vampires and ghoul lords. Then the third unusual thing in this place happened. When Minsc staked the first vampire (I think it was Durst), Bodhi appeared. What??

We hadn't even been to the back room (the original spot for the MoD), the spikes room or the lower level yet. And still, here she was, delivering her rant and turned red circle. But Minsc was still undead protected so she didn't actually do anything. Bodhi seemed to be immune to the insta-destroy effect of the mace, so Minsc swapped to Lilarcor. He added Oil of Speed to be sure to overcome the dark lady's very fast regeneration. Victory!

 

Some easy mopping up afterwards. The most dangerous part was the spikes room (a hit can do 40 damage!) where Minsc had to take long pauses and let the regeneration ring do its thing. 

 

Some okay loot in here but nothing major (Skin of the Ghoul, some Symbol spell scroll, Cloak of Reflection). Minsc had levelled up and gained our first HLA. I chose Whirlwind Attack. (I said earlier that he was 800k above anyone else. That's not true - Aerie has 2.93M in total.).

 

 

A question: can I "cash in" the last quest reward from Aran Linvail without leaving for Spellhold just yet?

[Grond0]

A question: can I "cash in" the last quest reward from Aran Linvail without leaving for Spellhold just yet?

Yes - you get the option to do some last-minute preparation (which can last indefinitely ).