15228 replies to this topic

[Grimwald the Wise]

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

 

As per the trip to Ice Island in BG1

[Dyara]

Dyara (Fighter/Mage/Thief) (Update 13)

On her way back to Athkatla Dyara stopped by her keep but no-one wanted to see her. So she left for the city but upon arriving there a messenger from the keep approached her telling her that she had to return quickly as some Lord Roenall demanded to see her. So back to De'Arnise Keep it was...

There Dyara heard the Lord out but politely she refused to give up the keep. Once the old cockalorum was thrown out Dyara returned to Athkatla where her acolytes had finished their second task, scribing a scroll of mislead. As Dyara wanted to go to spellhold the final task was skipped and thus all three survived Dyara's teaching.

The journey to spellhold was surprisingly quiet and uneventful, once in while a ship became visible on the horizon but none of them ever came close. Dyara used to spend the days on the sun deck reading some books from the ship's library, only interrupted every now and then by the steward serving a cocktail, fruits or other tasteful goodies. These relaxing moments of conscious dreaminess, peaceful tranquility and spiritual equilibrium ended abruptly when the vessel arrived at the small village of Brynlaw and its captain turned out to be in league with Bodhi. But the Mace of Disruption made short work of the vampires...

Spoiler

... allowing Dyara to search for her contact Sanik. Unfortunately said Sanik was murdered so Dyara had to look elsewhere. After solving some local problems Dyara had two opportunities. The first one was the local representative of the Cowled Wizards, a mage called Perth the Adept. Dyara tried to be as polite as possible but the mage turned out to be completely mad...

Spoiler

The mage dropped some wardstone but the last time a wardstone was involved Dyara had to fight a dragon so she decided to take her chances with Desharik first. Dyara easily convinced the Pirate Lord to help her and once she got dressed again she was taken to spellhold.

There unfortunately things didn't went as planned: first all of Dyara's items were taken (I don't have the mod installed that takes your items; instead I've put manually all the items into the container in the room where you met Imoen if you enter spellhold using the wardstone) but fortunately as BG is rated PG-13 Dyara was allowed to keep her robe; while Imoen was found easily among the inmates she was somewhat out of her mind; searching for a way to escape proved futile as all the doors were magically sealed and in the morning Irenicus turned out to be the new coordinator of spellhold which made Dyara pass out; Imoen was a bhaalspawn too, albeit without a soul as Irenicus had given it to Bodhi who turned out to be the mage's sister; which made Dyara pass out again, this time she had a strange dream where she was in Candlekeep again, a demon, Imoen, even Bhaal were there too, for some reason Dyara had to enter the library but had to sacrifice a part of herself first, then she and Imoen fought Bhaal and when she woke up again, she was in some kind of maze, unfortunately also without her soul which Irenicus had taken from her and for himself. Apparently the maze had been Bodhi's idea as instead of killing Dyara as her brother had ordered she wanted to have some fun first.

Strangely Dyara was still holding the long sword she remembered summoning in her dream but there was no time to think about it. Imoen was there too. While for the most part herself again she was still in a bad condition and so Dyara considered it best for Imoen to hide out while she herself would search for a way to escape.

Solving some riddles got Dyara an Ioun Stone and also a Ring of Regeneration. In one of the rooms there had been a rakshasa and some mephits but not anymore...

Spoiler

In that room also was a portal; when Dyara touched it a pit fiend appeared...

Spoiler

... and when Dyara touched it again she was given a plate mail armor by a Genie. Dyara touched the portal once more but nothing happened. In another room Dyara saw a clay golem; as she had no crushing weapon she used her second 'Enchant Weapon' spell to summon a mace. Unfortunately at first her attacks were somewhat clumsy...

Spoiler

... but eventually she destroyed the golem before her protection from the golem's fists wore off. Also there were two groups of Yuan-Ti and while there was no reason to fight them yet (or at all) Dyara couldn't resist to tease them...

Spoiler

... but instead of fighting each other the Yuan-Ti started to run around and when Dyara fought a Greater Yuan-Ti who had himself separated from the rest, the other group came to his aid...

Spoiler

While the normal Yuan-Ti were no threat the Yuan-Ti mages were different...

Spoiler

After a while all the Yuan-Ti but the mages were dead, either killed by Dyara or by their own stupidity...

Spoiler

... but with so many Yuan-Ti mages (and summoned skeleton warriors) running around Dyara thought it best to leave the area for now...

Spoiler

... only to run into Bodhi and some her friends...

Spoiler

... but Dyara was able to leave the room and to close the door behind her unnoticed. Next Dyara felt somewhat uncomfortable when overrun by kobolds but then Dyara thought to herself, you've lots of HLAs already and they're only kobolds, so don't be such a wuss...

Spoiler

For wiping out the kobolds Dyara was rewarded with a Chrystal Shard she had no use for yet. In one of the rooms there was a strange book; whenever Dyara read a page a monster appeared, starting with a kobold, then a spider, an umber hulk, a mindflayer...

Spoiler

... and finally a beholder...

Spoiler

... and when Dyara read the last page of the book she got a Ring of Free Action. Fighting more monsters like a Vampiric Mist, Ghasts (Dyara tried to backstab one with a crossbow, but without much success of course), Skeleton Warriors, Mummies and Umber Hulks...

Spoiler

... got her back to the first area. There she fought the Yuan-Ti mages using Darts of Wounding to interrupt their spellcasting...

Spoiler

Once all the Yuan-Ti mages were dealt with Dyara returned to the other area. Behind a closed door there were more undead like skeleton warriors and greater mummies. Dyara walked them around a bit but unfortunately the greater mummies had the habit to open closed doors...

Spoiler

... but Bodhi and her vampires had no intention the leave their room. Then Dyara somehow sensed the presence of a lich behind a corner, she prepared herself, set all her remaining traps but then she saw that there also was a Greater Mummy lurking behind the door. As she didn't wanted to waste the traps on the mummy she attacked without further preparations which proved nearly fatal (when a casting of PfMW became interrupted)...

Spoiler

After Dyara had regenerated some hitpoints she searched for the lich and really there he was...

Spoiler

Dyara ran away luring the lich into the traps...

 

Spoiler

... and (once the lich's PfMW had worn off) killed him with a (gwwed) crossbow attack. The vampire Dace Sontan then was a much easier fight...

Spoiler

With Dace's rotting Hand and the Crystal Shard Dyara returned to the previous area where the statue opened its mouth (perhaps in disgust of the rotting flesh it was presented with) allowing Dyara to advance to the next area.

 

Name   Level                          HP       Game Kills XP  Game Kills  Strongest Kill        Deaths Pips
Dyara  Fighter(18)/Mage(17)/Thief(22) 144       6,290,030      1,560      Firkraag              -      Longsword(***),Flail(***),THS(**),TWF(**)

 
To be continued...

[Jianson]

Martha, level 14 half-elven Totemic Great Druid, Watcher's Keep level 1, with Minsc, Aerie, Yoshimo, Anomen and Mazzy

(I apologize for the pretty lame screenshots. A lot of interesting stuff happened but I must have had bad timing...)

 

Things went smoothly early on. Lots of containers and quite easy monsters to fight. Although level drain on a spellcaster is always annoying. Martha was hit by some sort of mist, not the standard Vampric Mist but something a little stronger (forgot name) that drained two levels.

 

It's been years since I last played this part. The fact that four statues come to life when you loot the altar took me by surprise, but Yoshimo could run back (speed boots) and hide before they could do anything to him. Two warrior type statues (with HLAs) and two Clerics. Yoshimo tried to nail one of the clerics with traps but it had Physical Mirror up. Ouch! He wasn't dead yet but the statue also managed to see him just long enough to lock on with a spell. Yoshimo did hide before the casting was finished but it didn't matter:

 

 

BTW, we had defeated the warrior statues in those doorways. Minsc and Anomen took a beating but it wasn't too serious. No statue used Whirlwind Attack on my party (only against a summon) but Minsc tried it for the first time.

 

Yoshimo could eventually get his revenge:

 

 

Aerie levelled up and got her first HLA. Even though it was a mage level she advanced in (to 14), she could only pick among the priest HLAs (or an extra level 6 spell slot). I suppose that's because of the standard way spellcasters use their HLAs - competing with the top spell tier spells, and Aerie has a long way to go for level 9 arcane spells. I've picked the SCS option that the spellcaster HLAs work like innate abilities (technically, they get added very last in the spellcasting meny) but you are limited to just one of each type. Summon Deva was her pick.

 

 

Yoshimo used a narrow doorway to foil the priest's guardian golems. They weren't quite as stupid as the ones in the Planar Sphere so he had to be cured of poison a couple of times. BTW, what happens if you don't hand over the slippers? Lich + golems fight?

 

Before the ritual, I hid three of my characters in the entrance room, with the big door still shut. Yoshimo trapped the area next to a mage and a thief/kensai, Aerie summoned the Deva and lastly, Anomen performed the ritual, in Sanctuary.

The traps went off but had no effect.

Deva started off nicely and had one of the warrior statues down to Badly Injured but was suddenly owned by a Symbol:Stun (followed by a very quick slaughter). Oh my, there are eight nasty statues - this won't be easy!

 

Yoshimo took a scouting tour. Four of the statues were close to my party, but on the other side of the wall, hugging the corner. The other four were closer to the only open door to the big room (in the upper-left). Yoshimo took arrow shots from shadows at the gnoll and the golem. Golem followed over to the righthand side of the area. He tried the doorway tactics again and got the golem to Badly Injured before the three fighter statues had heard the fighting. Yoshimo retreated.

 

More stealthy shots. Archer statue took up camp in a pretty bad spot (for the statue) just outside the doorway, allowing Yoshimo to score three backstabs. A few summons from items combined with more Yoshimo arrows weakened the three warrior statues enough so that the rest of my party could (once again) take them down using the inner doorways to gain a local number advantage.

 

Efreeti trying to fight one of the mages:

 

 

It didn't live long...

 

Killing the two mages exhausted almost every summon I had. Yoshimo Silenced one of the mage statues but it appeared to be cheating. It kept casting spells without having Vocalized. Weird. And dangerous!

 

The second mage had used many spells against different kinds of summons and eventually fell to a pack of woodland beings. Ha!

(btw, to have the Hamadryads actually attack and deal damage, you need to manually order them to attack).

 

 

Once again, I made a missing Stoneskin mistake with Aerie. It had been dispelled by a mage and I had forgotten to recast it. Or maybe she had run out of them? Anyway, at one time she found herself next to a statue that had just activated Whirlwind Attack! She wasn't sped up either, so the statue was faster than her. But she ran, sword swings whiffing around her, as far as she could and managed to drink invisibility potion before getting hit. Very nice, I would hate to have her die on me again because with my rules, resurrecting her would leave her at CON 6 and with a penalty to her already low maximum life.

 

The penultimate statue goes down:

 

 

The last one standing was the already hurt golem. One hit from the Aerial Servant was enough.

 

Best find on the level was Helm of the Rock. Also found some +3 arrows. Can you give me some examples of critters they can hit that +2 arrows can't (other than the obvious - mages protected by Mantle).

 

 

 

We entered the second level and had a chat with a demon. I may be wrong (and I may regret these words), but from what I remember, this floor is not quite as dangerous as the first.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 102 - (update 3)

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

 

Unlike my recent single player attempts this run continues to make progress, though with the odd hiccup on the way.

 

The action started back in the Umar Temple after returning from raising Axmin.  The duo tried to take on Thaxy with the support of some invisible stalkers, but were frustrated by finding that sunfire no longer goes through MR in the EE.  As a result Axmin was left fighting the dragon for too long and he died first.  

Spoiler

This time Pern took the cautious approach back in Athkatla and invested in a RoR.  However, that was not needed in a rematch with Thaxy when the dragon had failed to re-memorize spells and quickly died to a combined melee assault without the need for any breaching.

Spoiler

 

After a sunray helped to take care of the Shade Lord

Spoiler

the duo picked up Valygar's body on the way to Windspear Hills. There was another fatality for Axmin there when lagged attacks caught up with him before he was able to retreat from the paladins.  

Spoiler

The RoR took care of that though and there were no further problems moving through the dungeon.  A chaos did a good job in turning the tables on Samia's ambush before moving on to Firkraag.  

Spoiler

The dragon dispelled fire resistance buffs, but his stoneskin disappeared in turn and he didn't manage a breath before Axmin's Gaxx haste cut him down.

Spoiler

 

Back in Athkatla Mencar's party were assaulted - that was an easy enough victory, though the thief did manage to run away with his invisibility ring.  Looking for greater challenges the duo went to the Twisted Rune, where Shangalar had no answer to PfU before Axmin cut down Vaxall while Pern stayed safely out of sight.  

Spoiler

The other enemies then didn't last long.  The guarded compound was equally successful with Axmin shutting down the mage in an initial assault while the others were mainly neutralised by chaos and sunfires.

Spoiler

 

The Fallen Paladins stood no real chance,

Spoiler

but Tarnor was given some sort of hope when an intended rest prior to attacking him was interrupted by an ambush that activated Tarnor as well.  However, his party were unable to take advantage of the opportunity.

 

The final action was against the nearby illithid.  The second room looked briefly dangerous when Axmin was attacked by multiple enemies at once, but he was only intelligence drained once.  To avoid the possibility of luck running out, Pern acted as an invisible blocker to set up a shooting gallery for the occupants of the final room.

Spoiler

 

Pern, fighter 12 / illusionist 12, 106 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm, 6 from familiar), 325 kills

Axmin, kensai 13, 148 HPs (incl. 13 from ioun stone), 425 kills, 3 deaths (+2 in BG1)

[Dyara]

Dyara (Fighter/Mage/Thief) (Update 14)

Upon stepping through the mouth Dyara arrived on what she hoped would be the last level of the maze. In a secret room Dyara was surprised by some trolls and with only eight arrows of fire dropped by the kobolds earlier on fighting them caused Dyara some headache but finally she prevailed (with 1 arrow left)...

Spoiler

Next Dyara saw herself having lots of problems fighting and actually killing some minotaurs... until she realized that she was slapping them with bar fists as her summoned long sword had disappeared. Once another long sword was summoned the problem was gone but a new problem arose as there was only one arrow of fire for two trolls blocking her path. Fortunately there also was a scroll of 'Delayed Blast Fireball' finishing both of them at once...

Spoiler

When Dyara met Bodhi again she felt deep anger and rage, something boiled within her, the void where her soul once was overflowed with murderous fury and then she became a creature of pure death and darkest shadow making the vampiress run away in terror leaving her escort behind (unfortunately as the slayer refused to fight anything but Bodhi). But after a while Dyara's blood cooled and she regained control of her mind and body...

Spoiler

The remaining fights in that area were without any problems...

Spoiler

... even allowing Dyara to practice backstabbing with a crossbow once more...

Spoiler

Dyara had escaped the dungeon, in the final tests she graduated with an A+ and then (after some rest where Dyara turned into the slayer once more) she was in the Asylum again. Lonk the Sane was sane enough to look the other way and Dyara convinced the other inmates to join forces. In the following fight Dyara killed a cheap copy of herself quickly...

Spoiler

... but tried to stay out of Irenicus' reach otherwise...

Spoiler

When Irenicus summoned two Mordekainen's Swords Dyara was able to kill them both using two magic missiles and a finger of death scroll...

Spoiler

In the meantime Irenicus had killed all the inmates but Dradeel; Dyara used Khelben's Warding Whip to dispel more of Irenicus' protections allowing her to breach the mage finally...

Spoiler

Unprotected Irenicus stood no chance...

Spoiler

... and he was forced to teleport away but not without sending some mindless assassins into certain death (also caused by some pre-laid traps)...

Spoiler

Dyara felt some urge to kill Saemon Havarian but finally she agreed to his offer. After regaining her items that were taken from her when she arrived at spellhold she met Saemon in the Vulgar Monkey but as always with the smuggler things didn't went as planned for he had no ship to leave the island. However he had a plan that as expected involved Dyara doing all the work. Nevertheless besides Desharik didn't liked his ship to be stolen everything went well - at least until the ship was boarded by Githyankis...

Spoiler

... and then by some shark-like creatures resulting in the ship capsizing and Dyara waking up in the City-of-Caverns far under the sea. Dyara agreed to settle the Sahuagins' civil war by forcing the king to become a former one by means of assassination...

Spoiler

Before using the Magical Rope to leave the City-of-Caverns Dyara pickpocketed Prince Villynaty for the Wave Blade.

Dyara had just adjusted her eyes to the darkness of the Underdark when she spotted a mindflayer to the north. Overall the Underdark wasn't really a peaceful place as Elementals were fighting each other...

Spoiler

... and some drow were ambushed by a ruthless elf...

Spoiler

Dyara agreed to help the Svirfneblin with their 'we've been digging a little too deep and released a balor' problem...

Spoiler

... gaining her the favor of the Svirfneblin. Also Dyara helped the mage Vithal first to become unimprisoned again, then to regain his Book of Rituals and finally by protecting him when he opened portals to elemental planes...

Spoiler

... and last but not least she freed young Bedlen Daglefodd from eternal imprisonment.

 

Name   Level                          HP       Game Kills XP  Game Kills  Strongest Kill        Deaths Pips

Dyara  Fighter(18)/Mage(17)/Thief(22) 144       6,978,945      1,769      Firkraag              -      Longsword(***),Flail(***),THS(**),TWF(**)

 
To be continued...

[Grond0]

Beastmaster{5} - (update 1)

 

Typically in BG2EE I don't bother resummoning a familiar as extra HPs from BG1 familiar's get brought forward anyway.  However, to increase my chance of success this time I did bring back the fairy dragon - gaining 12 extra HPs from that before using EEKeeper to remove the 6 given in BG1.

 

There were no problems in the dungeon.  The radiant mephit in the portal room managed a successful color spray, but with all the other mephits already dead that was no danger.  I was thinking of using the firebreath potion to kill Ulvaryl, but a critical meant that wasn't necessary.

Spoiler

 

I got to level 9 while sorting out the circus and received a nice maximum 15 HPs for the final die roll.  After buying the RoAC I moved on to the Slums and handed over the Copper Coronet to Hendak (though keeping back the Tuigan bow).

 

At the Bridge District the Rune Assassins were lured upstairs individually.  The first got a decent backstab in and fought better than expected.  In theory I should have been able to take a potion of speed and run away, but with my pause key not working well that could have been a problem - so it was fortunate that a final attack before turning to run proved decisive.  

Spoiler

The second one also got a backstab in, but still only took me down to half HPs before stealth attacks sorted out the ghasts (no bone golem appeared).

 

At the Docks the pirates were drawn out of their lair one at a time to their doom before starting Mae'Var's tasks.  On the way to get the necklace a Bhaal horror made the Suna Seni fight trivial (shame I can't use Arbane though).  With only a +1 staff Rayic's golems were safe for a bit, so I went to get a potion case from Watcher's Keep before heading for Trademeet to get better weapons.  On the way though Renfeld was rescued (getting to level 10 there), so there was a slight delay while Prebek's house was invaded and the harpers looted.  

Spoiler

I was surprised to find on Xzar's body that I could use the staff spear (I assume that's an oversight rather than intentionally permitted to a beastmaster) - and that allowed Rayic's golems to be killed individually.  The mage was then unable to cope with attacks up and down the stairs.

Spoiler

 

After horror sorted out an orog ambush I finally arrived at Trademeet.  I took the precaution of using a PfP scroll there against the genies, although the main defense was some animal summons produced for the first time.  They provided a distraction long enough for the genies to be horrified and shot down.  

Spoiler

Shopping looked a bit expensive still so I worked through the Grove using the efreeti for killing trolls.  The 3 giant trolls in the Mound were very reluctant to be separated and after a couple of abortive attempts at that I used up a potion of firebreath to kill the first of those before the efreeti finished the others.  Kyland Lind managed to run away, but otherwise there were no problems moving through the rest of the Grove to give Cernd an early lunch.  

 

Back in Trademeet Tiris was reunited with his girlfriend.  I also cleared the tomb, although the upgraded skeletons in EE made that a bit of a struggle for a poor AC character - and there was a fair amount of running round before finishing the last of them off.  

Spoiler

I then looked at the shops again, but decided I was still too stingy to actually pay for anything!

 

Beastmaster L10, 129 HPs (incl. 12 from familiar, 5 from Helm), 208 kills

[Grond0]

Beastmaster{5} - (2nd and final update)

 

Back at Watcher's Keep I hopped in and out a few times while dealing with a group of undead in the side rooms (getting to level 11 there).  There were no vampiric wraiths in the main area so it was possible to deal with everything there as well (except the FoD trap) - stealth and ranged attacks making the statues easy enough.  I didn't venture any deeper for now though.

 

Back in Athkatla Neb was tracked down to help out Sir Sarles - as I can't use maces he got to keep the real illithium this time.  That was followed up by helping the Temple of Lathander (level 12) and the Radiant Heart.

 

Next I got around to clearing the Graveyard.  I didn't bother using a scroll for that, but did nip in and out of tombs a bit - especially in order to dodge the horror from the Crypt King.  Pai'Na's spiders were mainly neutralised by summons and horror before a bit more area hopping finished off the druid.

 

With over 90k in my pockets and with all the vampire ambushes having triggered, I decided it was time to go and pay Gaelan Bayle.  I couldn't remember if a beastmaster could use the AoP and was glad to see that I could!   Aran Linvail's tasks were quickly done, getting to level 13 while entering vampire HQ.  I got caught out there almost immediately though after putting the Crimson Dart into my ammo case to make room for the staff mace just obtained.  The improved weapon switching in the EE now allows you to keep a shield equipped while using a 2-handed weapon, thus making it easier to forget that being equipped is no longer the same as being active.  Even at level 13 my spell saving throw was still only down to 5 and without the protection of the SoH the first domination attempt by a vampire proved fatal.

Spoiler

[Jianson]

Too bad there, Grond0.

I think it's bad design of the game that getting charmed means the end for a solo character. I mean, they haven't killed you yet, and if they start hitting you, the charm should be reverted pretty quickly (the same way it works for us players). To me, it doesn't make much sense that having another party member (who could be standing completely passive, at the other end of the map) should make a difference in this situation.

[Dyara]

That's what it was in the original BG1. I don't know why it had been changed in BG2 but I think the change made sense as the (original) enemy AI didn't fought charmed chars making charm spells somewhat pointless - especially vs. solo chars.

 

@Grond0: bad luck ... too bad a beast master can't wear helm of charm protection .

[corey_russell]

Trio Update 1 (Attempt #2) - (Corey_Russell, Grond0, Gate70)

Axer entering BG 2 portion of Trilogy no-reload challenge

 

 

Krem (Grond0)

Spoiler

 

Vommar (Gate70)

Spoiler

 

Screenshots from dungeon:

Spoiler

 

 

Axer and team have arrived in Amn and made their way out of Irenicus' dungeon. There were a lot of dropped connections at first. Eventually, Corey_Russell realized that Windows had assigned its default rights to the new Gameranger.exe - which aren't enough for it to work quite right. Once Corey_Russell opened it up the firewall for Gameranger, the Trio made much more rapid progress.

 

Everything in the dungeon - the Trio even managed to kill the vampire. With a dual-wielding Kensai and half-orc, plus a hard hitting cavalier once Vommar got the Sword of Chaos, the dungeon went pretty smooth for the most part. There were a few traps set off accidentally, but with Axer's 100 HP, they weren't loo likely to pose a severe problem.

 

Axer and team also solved the circus problem - Axer used two non-proficient magic weapons against the undead, although Vommar's Sword of Chaos probably would have been adequate.

 

The Copper Coronet was solved of its slaver problem. The only real fight of consequence was the Beastmaster and his pets - Axer was using a shortbow here, since that was safe and allowed attacking a few enemies who couldn't strike back. The plate mail and Tuigan's Shortbow were welcome upgrades for Axer.

 

Axer really wanted a magic axe, so Stonefire was obtained (which the Trio will need for D'Arnise Keep) and also the team went to the Graveyard so Axer could bash a crypt and get a +2 axe. Skeletal warriors and mummies were killed while here, as well as man buried alive was freed and a paladin was united with an orphan girl. We left the shadow fiends alone for the moment, as the team has no hold immunity. However the Crypt King was killed for the Namuraa - no one uses long swords, but the silence ability could help our fighter group.

 

Vommar suggested the Arbane might be useful to get now - so Axer headed to Watcher's Keep - Axer killed the mage very fast, which meant the Suna Seni ambushers had no chance. While no one has short sword skill, Arbane would still be quite useful to the dual-wielders (Axer and Krem). Axer will use for now. 

 

At Watcher's Keep, team sold, got the potion bag, healed up and we were out of time - session ended here.

 

Party Stats:

Vommar (Gate70) - level 9 cavalier, 109 HP, 221 kills, Greater Basilisk

Krem (Grond0) - level 9 kensai, 96 HP, 222 kills, Crypt King

Axer (Corey_Russell) - level 9 fighter, 113 HP, 215 kills, Ulvaryl

 

This is an amazingly close kill count by the party. Clearly, everyone is pulling their weight! Krem has the lead by ONE kill. Axer made tremendous progress since last session though - at this rate he will be leader end of next session.

[Grond0]

Too bad there, Grond0.

I think it's bad design of the game that getting charmed means the end for a solo character. I mean, they haven't killed you yet, and if they start hitting you, the charm should be reverted pretty quickly (the same way it works for us players). To me, it doesn't make much sense that having another party member (who could be standing completely passive, at the other end of the map) should make a difference in this situation.

I agree it's a bit harsh, but I can hardly claim I don't know what the rules are given the number of times I've died to charms .  Personally I think the game ending with maze is worse.  At least with charm the enemies have an opportunity to kill you while charmed (for instance by giving you a nice refreshing drink / deadly poison).  With maze the structure of the spell means it's impossible to hurt you while you're away ...

[corey_russell]

I agree it's a bit harsh, but I can hardly claim I don't know what the rules are given the number of times I've died to charms .  Personally I think the game ending with maze is worse.  At least with charm the enemies have an opportunity to kill you while charmed (for instance by giving you a nice refreshing drink / deadly poison).  With maze the structure of the spell means it's impossible to hurt you while you're away ...

Well in theory not quite impossible -  you could do a' la Alesia_BH and lay down traps or skull traps where you got mazed  - then when you returned...

[Grond0]

Well in theory not quite impossible -  you could do a' la Alesia_BH and lay down traps or skull traps where you got mazed  - then when you returned...

Like I said, impossible to hurt you while you're away.  When you return of course it becomes possible and dying to traps in that fashion would make a lot more sense than just being mazed in the first place.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 102 - (4th and final update)

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

 

A spot of carelessness proved fatal for this pairing in the Underdark.

 

They had previously breezed through the Planar Sphere - once more Axmin making good use of rat form there to tank some golems.  

Spoiler

Tolgerias attempted to cast True Sight, but only managed to conjure up a sunfire and Axmin cut him down before he could buff.

Spoiler

 

Moving on to the Planar Prison things went incredibly smoothly up to the death of the Master of Thralls.  Rather than rest the duo pressed straight on for the Warden and managed to kill him pretty quickly

Spoiler

- but Axmin was then affected by yuan-ti chaos and, standing still, was cut down.  He took revenge after being brought back by the RoR though.

 

Arriving at Brynnlaw Axmin disdained the use of invisibility and just used Gaxx haste to rush into Perth house and cut him down before he realised he was under attack.  His book went directly from fireball to burning hands and then directly in the bin.

 

In Spellhold the lich's spells were worn down by a few summons before Axmin decided enough was enough and went to one-shot it with the iMoD.  The most difficult thing after that was probably the trolls - which had a tendency to stagger an incredibly long way before finally realising they were supposed to be falling over.  In the final battle Jon was badly hurt before Wanev's timestop and ran away soon after that.

Spoiler

 

Leaving by ship everything went pretty smoothly at the City of Caverns. As usual the King was struck down well before the Prince arrived and the latter paid for his tardiness with his life.

Spoiler

 

In the Underdark Vithal was freed from imprisonment and then a balor was struck down while searching out his spellbook.  

Spoiler

Pern then led the way back to find the mage, only to miss the turning and blunder into a group of kuo-toa.  Although unexpected, they would have been manageable except that Pern got herself dominated (a result of having used the ring of regeneration to top up her HPs and then not replaced the +2 ring of protection).  

Spoiler

Axmin was then left struggling to avoid Pern's attacks while finishing off the last of the initial group of kuo-toa and that resulted in the second group over the bridge being activated.  Without buffs Axmin was extremely vulnerable to them and with her stoneskin already gone, so was Pern.  She became the focus of attacks and went from 79 HPs to 26 in a couple of seconds.  

Spoiler

Axmin tried a last-ditch WW to reduce the odds, but a moment later the run was over.

[corey_russell]

Tough break guys! Hope next one is better. I know the phrase 3rd time lucky isn't much help - so perhaps you can shoot for 103rd time lucky? : )

[Jianson]

Martha, level 14 half-elven Totemic Great Druid, Watcher's Keep level 2, with Minsc, Aerie, Yoshimo, Anomen and Mazzy

 

At first, I didn't remember much of this place, other than a vague feeling that going down-left first would lead to some progress. Yoshimo did, and lured out some various mists that we killed.

 

After looting that library, more exploring led to a bunch of locked doors and quite a bit of confusion. Reading torn journal pages suggested that fire giants and ice golems are unkillable until weakened and that the slime lab has continously spawning enemies, the latter was something Yoshimo also saw for himself. With two fire giants in one library and several large golems in another and no more keys, I didn't know what to do. I sent in Aerie under Sanctuary to loot both places. Found some more clues and loot but no real help.

 

Yoshimo had been in the electrifying top-right room. Manipulating a device there had spawned a bunch of air elementals, of which we had killed two smaller and one large (somehow, they found their way to the central room and my party). The last large elemental bounced around in the corridor next to the library with the two fire giants. I knew I could probably adjust the fan speed in the electro room, but what good would that do with the locked doors between there and the slime lab?

 

I gave Yoshimo lightning protection (that room is dangerous to be inside, or even close to!) and sent him there again to investigate. I thought I could at least have him fire some stealthy arrows at that greater elemental. Something interesting happened - the text mentioned he was attacked by a 'Guardian of Air'. Ah, that creature must be invisible, and it being there must also be the reason why the greater elemental was stuck in the corridor. 

 

Oh yes, that's the concept. Now I remembered. There is a guardian in each end room, and they have the scepter keys - and the scepter keys also open doors in here.

 

From here, the progress was pretty straightforward. I remembered that the Giant Snake in the slime area is very strong, so I sent the Deva to fight it. 

 

Preparing for the demon fight:

 

 

First demon form was the moss giant. Mazzy fired bolts of lightning using Light Crossbow of Speed (unproficient, but whatever). Next up was the ice form. Minsc and Yoshimo used fire arrows, and Aerie used her wand (scorcher ability) and MMMs. Anomen tanked. He needed a couple of super healers, but other than that, this fight was much easier than expected. I saw no demonic special powers, just a hard hitter with good damage protections.

 

 

Next floor of Watcher's Keep is a long way away...

 

 

 

With Aerie now up to level 15 Cleric (HLA pick: Globe of Blades), I tried to assault the mind flayer lair in the sewers. That wasn't the success I had hoped for. OK, a Deva made mincemeat out of all the humans in the first room (they had been softened up by a Death Fog, which had also killed the Umber Hulk) but the lone mind flayer had sneaked up to within my party (it was standing among my three invisible characters by the entrance) and suddenly tried to psionic blast Aerie. I used some inviso potions to keep my characters safe, and Yoshimo kept dispelling the mind flayers' auto-invisibilty script: 

 

 

But it went back to being invisible within the same round, every time. It must have sensed that it would be outmatched by my aTweaks-boosted skeletons, and simply chose not to fight. Highly annoying. Aerie (protected by invisble blockers) tried some Holy Smites but the illithids have super high MR. Eventually, an Aerial Servant scored a hit in one of the brief part-of-round windows. OK, so I need to send several summons, some of which the mind flayer thinks it can defeat? I did just that, and eventually, it worked:

 

 

(I think I missed out on the experience in this case)

 

Oh crap, the rest of the lair have many more illithids, including more advanced versions of them. No thanks, at least until I can come up with a better plan. Do you have any suggestions? I suppose Dragon's Breath could clean up pretty well, but that's in the future.

 

 

 

Maybe I'll take my chances with the Unseeing Eye lair instead, although what I've read about a more powerful boss and two Death Tyrants scares me.

[Dyara]

But it went back to being invisble within the same round, every time.

Is this SCS? I think the SCS mind flayers go invisible whenever they don't see a player char. And that's really annoying and doesn't make much sense too as there should be a short delay at least. I my installation I changed it to that they can do it only every other round so you have a chance to attack.

[Dyara]

Dyara (Fighter/Mage/Thief) (Update 15)

While searching for Adalon's Lair Dyara apparently took the wrong turn and ended up in a strange room where some statue demanded a sacrifice. Out of curiosity she used a scroll of monster summoning...

Spoiler

... and five demon knights appeared but were dispatched rather easily (with the help of a time trap)...

Spoiler

In another part of the same area Dyara was attacked by some fish-like creatures...

Spoiler

... but again they caused no real threat (even without time traps). As Dyara was sure that there was no Adalon in that area she returned to the main area and finally she found Adalon's lair. The silver dragon disguised her as a drow and so she could enter the nearby city of the drow, Ust Natha. Her first task there was to free the matron mother's eldest daughter Phaere from the clutches of some mind flayers and again that was done without any problems.

Dyara met with Phaere and Solaufein at the inn and used the opportunity to fight in the pit until there was no-one left to fight her...

Spoiler

To please the spider queen another beholder was slain and Dyara had the day off but was blackmailed to fetch a drow priestess' brain which she did despite becoming confused a little bit...

Spoiler

Then Dyara used the rest of the day to further explore the Underdark. In the southern tunnels she ran into a beholder colony but with the help of a lonesome drow a first group including a Hive Mother was killed...

Spoiler

An attempt to settle a dispute between gauths and mind flayers proved vain (and ended in the death of both the gauths and the mind flayers). Next Dyara came upon a second larger group of beholders including some Elder Orbs but with pretty good saving throws and high magic resistance Dyara felt somewhat save...

Spoiler

... but when her magic resistance was lowered too much she opted for a temporary retreat...

Spoiler

... but then the last Elder Orb overshot the mark...

Spoiler

After doing some more work for the house of Despana Dyara was send to gather more blood of the ancient races but was forced to fight the lich Deirex first...

Spoiler

The lich was pretty good in summoning all kind of fiends but in the end he was destroyed nevertheless...

Spoiler

... but the fight hadn't been over yet as Dyara became stricken with fear and was unable to move (because her strength was drained)...

Spoiler

... but finally everything turned out well...

Spoiler

Getting the blood of the Elder Brain was thanks to some time traps not too difficult...

Spoiler

On her way back Dyara came by the now former house of Jae'llat...

Spoiler

All kind of blood then got the matron mother pleased, the door of the city locked and Dyara another appointment with Phaere, some fake dragon eggs and then some more fake dragon eggs. Dyara sneaked into the Temple of Lolth, past all the guards and into the Treasure Chamber. There she replaced the eggs and by casting Invisibility on herself she was able to leave unnoticed. Quickly she returned to Phaere to give her the eggs... the real eggs unfortunately but when Dyara realized her mistake it was too late as Phaere had already left for the temple. Dyara tried to catch up with her but when Dyara reached to temple Phaere pushed her into the Summoning Chamber giving her no chance to exchange the eggs. The Matron Mother then summoned the albeit lesser Demon Lord but as expected doing that with fake eggs proved to be fatal...

Spoiler

Next Phaere stepped forward but before she could offer the eggs Dyara stepped in desperately trying to protect the eggs. Then Phaere wanted the Demon Lord to destroy Dyara, the Demon Lord wanted to destroy the whole place and Dyara just wanted the eggs but had to destroy both Phaere and the Demon Lord (which she did once she had realized that not a breach spell but a weapon+5 was required)...

Spoiler

Once Phaere was dead and the Demon Lord banished from this world Dyara quickly took the eggs and without getting into trouble she left the city. Adalon then took the eggs, dispelled the disguise, brought Dyara near the exit to surface and then she helped fighting the Drow guards (so she said at least once the fight was over but Dyara had the expression doing all the work on her own and alone)...

Spoiler

After some more fights Dyara finally reached the exit to the surface.

 

Name   Level                          HP       Game Kills XP  Game Kills  Strongest Kill        Deaths Pips
Dyara  Fighter(18)/Mage(17)/Thief(22) 144       8,426,415      1,987      Firkraag              -      Longsword(***),Flail(***),THS(**),TWF(**)

 
To be continued...

 

[Grond0]

Oh crap, the rest of the lair have many more illithids, including more advanced versions of them. No thanks, at least until I can come up with a better plan. Do you have any suggestions? I suppose Dragon's Breath could clean up pretty well, but that's in the future.

Have you tried traps?  Also, if you have invisible blockers in place, is it not possible for someone with items equipped to protect against psionic attacks to just missile them to death?

[Jianson]

Have you tried traps?  Also, if you have invisible blockers in place, is it not possible for someone with items equipped to protect against psionic attacks to just missile them to death?

 

Yes, I've been thinking about both of those methods. Dyara's point of having an NPC the illithid can see may be correct. I just thought there was more to it. Illithids can use a Dimension Door-like 'planar travel' (or whatever it's called) but from what I've seen, they are not so aggressive with it. What do I need for protection? Will Chaotic Commands + Free Action be enough?

 

Plus, Arrows of Detonation aren't magical in nature, are they? 

 

 

... but then the last Elder Orb overshot the mark...

Spoiler

 

Is that a wrap-around (too far into the negatives) effect?

[Dyara]

Yes, I've been thinking about both of those methods. Dyara's point of having an NPC the illithid can see may be correct. I just thought there was more to it. Illithids can use a Dimension Door-like 'planar travel' (or whatever it's called) but from what I've seen, they are not so aggressive with it. What do I need for protection? Will Chaotic Commands + Free Action be enough?

Immunity to stun&charm should do (Arbane+Helm of Charm Protection). Or good (< 0) saving throws vs. spells (?).

 

Is that a wrap-around (too far into the negatives) effect?

It's the only explanation I have.

[Grond0]

Immunity to stun&charm should do (Arbane+Helm of Charm Protection). Or good (< 0) saving throws vs. spells (?).

I have a feeling that stronger flayers (like Ulitharids) have increased modifiers to required saving throws, so -1 may not be enough.  

[Dyara]

I have a feeling that stronger flayers (like Ulitharids) have increased modifiers to required saving throws, so -1 may not be enough.  

Domination has a -2 modifier, stun has no modifier (normal flayers) and a -4 modifier (Ulitharids) and maze has a -4 modifier so very good saving throws are required . And/or high magic resistance.

[Jianson]

Martha, level 14 half-elven Totemic Great Druid, Return to the Illithid Lair, with Minsc, Aerie, Yoshimo, Anomen and Mazzy

 

OK, so I had a plan. It turned out to be basically alright, but it wasn't without flaws and things got somewhat complicated.

 

Upon arrival, Aerie cast Chaotic Commands on Minsc and he drank a Freedom potion (better duration than a Free Action spell). Minsc removed his armour, hid in shadows and opened the door to the next chamber. Martha made the rest of the party invisible. Yoshimo scouted out the next room. An Umber Hulk, two Mind Flayers and three Ulitharids.

 

Invisible blockers (to take cover behind) in place. Here we go:

 

 

The enemies answered with a double Ballistic Attack, taking down Minsc's life to about 20. Ouch. Two of them also planar travelled past my blockers. Minsc found it best to drink an invisibility potion and heal up. Now followed a long sequence of cat-and-mouse, where the roles seemed to shift often.

 

(I seem to have mostly screenies of where things went well, not sure why...)

 

Over the course of the visit here, Minsc and Yoshimo used all five of my item summons (efreeti, berserk warrior, spirit lion and Kitthix x2 (Yoshimo had pickpocked Pai'Na for a second figurine as she left)), mostly to break up situations where the enemies cluttered up hallways and hindered our movements. Mazzy had point furthest inside, and managed to block the corridor by herself. Whenever she wasn't stunned, my characters and summons could slip through.

 

Nice shot:

 

 

Nice sequence here:

(and that Imp Inviso didn't do much because Yoshimo was soon there to dispel it)

 

 

Things starting to go our way:

 

 

Aerial Sevants are peculiar summons. They have a good amount of life but are vulnerable to most disabling effects and easy for enemies to hit. However, if it's left alone, it can often hit like a freight train:

 

 

Eventually, only the enemies in the HQ room remained. Aerie summoned Deva and Chaotic Commanded it. This turned out great. Here, it's tanking while Minsc enjoys a Whirlwind Attack with his 'Strong Arm' longbow:

 

 

Ah, so the mind flayers do fail their MR check sometimes:

 

 

Minsc was careless at one time and had his brain devoured (to INT 3!) and had to flee and hide. The two illithids I knew were around planar travelled to my invisible party. I sent the Deva there. It damaged one of them but then got Mazed. And since it had been brain eaten twice, it took a long time to come back from the maze, and got unsummoned when it did.

 

Yoshimo tried to be smart and lay traps and lure them out (with item summons) into the room with traps, but that only resulted in the duo getting jammed in the first hallway, cutting off Yoshimo from the rest of the party. What to do? Martha searched her potion case. Ah, Potion of Clarity, that will prevent charms and confusions. It (and a Freedom potion) was passed over to Yoshimo. Time for him to show himself. They followed. Good. Or rather, great:

 

 

With only one mind flayer here that was chasing Yoshimo around in the next room, Anomen dared to break invisibility and summon an Aerial Servant. It and Yoshimo killed the mind flayer. We went down to the sewers to rest.

 

Yoshimo went to scout the last room again. There seemed to be only the mage-esque illithid left. Yoshimo waited out a Mordy Sword and a couple of PfMW/Absolute Immunity spells, then took another look. Looked for a little too long, the Alhoon can see invisible!

Yoshimo ate a Horrid Wilting:

 

 

Aerie conjued up three Skeleton Warriors, an Aerial Sevant and a Deva. Chaotic Commands on the Deva and Haste on them all. Sent them in. I expected a interesting battle. But I was in for a surprise:

 

 

I didn't know that a.) the Deva has this ability and b.) that this particular enemy is undead.

 

Loot in the container was Hammer of Thunderbolts and Wand of Wonder. I took the illithid correspondence to the Council of Six building but nobody there seemed to be interested in it...

[Dyara]

... that this particular enemy is undead.

An Alhoon is a lich (the illithid version of a lich).