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[saros_shadow_follower]

Astarta & party, next entry:

Exploited up until the party mages hit level 15. Accordingly, other party members' levels:

Saros the Riskbreaker - 15.  **Short Sword *****Flail **Two-Weapon. Reaching 15th level is important to the riskbreaker, as now each of his hits has 15% chance for an additiona effect from the pool: 'Hard Hit' 10d6 + 5 crushing damage, 'Avert Risk'  - heals 20 HP, 'Risk Increment' - target gets 4 penalty to AC for the next 2 rounds.

Torham the Ranger - 14: **Mace **Scimitar **Axe *Longbow ***Two-Weapon

Captain Jack Sparrow - 18 Assassin level, has 100% in Disarm trap, Detect Illusion, Lockpick, and is currently amassing points in set traps.

Temp the R-C needed a bit more xp for clerical lvl 16, but for now, the party had some other business to attend to. They purchased 2 important items for incoming fights - a Girdle of Bluntness from the Talos temple, and Vhailor's helm (in IA casts Death spell, purchased because of the AC bonus).

The party descended to the temple sewers, took the longest route on lvl 1, avoiding both Tarnor's group and the Horrid Rakshasa in the center. On lvl 2, Temp summoned some Skeleton Warriors, which had no trouble whatsoever dealing with the improved Vampiric mists and other minor undead creatures on this level.

Descended to lvl 3, almost effortlessly (after buffing) defeated a random Yuanti group encounter, and also vaporized a vanilla Mummy + Ghast group.

Went out, rested, exploited a bit more up to Temp gaining priest lvl 16. Then the party descended along the now-cleared path back to sewer level 3, in order to attempt the Improved Screaming statue challenge.

This challenge is available to parties with PC xp no more than 2 350 000. PC's xp is currently 2 270 000, so the challenge can be taken. Temp summoned 4 Skeleton warriors, buffed himself and Torham sufficiently, but kept many important buffs for later. Torham consumed a Fire giant str potion. They were equipped with the best weapons and protective items the party had, plus Temp was wearing the Amulet of Power, because he couldn't allow to be lvl drained in order not to lose important spells. Both characters were wearing Girdles of bluntness, for best protection vs the Vampires.

The party took strategic positions. Meaning R-C and R near the statue, 4 Skeleton Warriors watch their backs, and the rest of the party far-far away.

First wave summoned: 2 Mist Horrors to the left and right (cast Chaos, thus R-C and R were under Chaotic Commands), 4 Vampiric mists below (in IA - envelop their targets, causing Slow + perpetual lvl drain), and a Vampire, which was slain while Dimension Door-ing. Astarta cast Limited Wish for NPP, while enemy vampire was killed in a blink. Second wave was summoned after Vampire's death by clicking again on the statue - the minor undead doubled in number, while 2 more Vampires and an Eminent Vampire gated in (Eminent ones are immune to weapons +1 or less). In addition, IA vampires have the chance to dispel specific protections on hit, and they also can instill fear, that's why R-C and R were under Resist Fear spell too. Eminent Vampire was slain while gating. The two other vampires followed quickly the fate of the Eminent one. And the two fighters cleared one by one the Mist Horrors and the Vampiric mists. They even killed their own slightly damaged Skeleton Warriors afterwards. New 4 Skeleton Warriors were summoned by Temp (Astarta didn't have to use her own Animate Dead spells). The party waited for the buffs on the two fighters to expire (all except Fire giant str on Torham), and rebuffed thoroughly. That included a Giant Strength spell (21 str) and an Invulnerability potion for the Riskbreaker (in IA - sets AC to -1, no saving throw bonuses). Edit: The 3 Wondrous Recall spells helped immensely in regaining crucial spells (Chaotic Commands, Holy Power, Righteous Magic, even 1 NPP just in case).

Protective items + weapons were redistributed. Saros now wielded FoA main and Short sword of Backstabbing off, Torham  - Frostreaver main, Club +3 off, Temp - Staff of Striking (has ** quarterstaves, *two-handed weapon style, *single-weapon style), and had a mace +3 too (but assumed the staff will deal far more damage). Last buff was cast while enemies gated in, and the Master Vampire (immune to +2 or less weapons) was already under heavy hits. The Master vampire actually hit Saros, while the RB was with an astounding AC of -20, and under Mass Invisibility. Fortunately, this didn't dispel neither Saros' NPP (and his was the only dispellable one, because Temp was under *Shield of the Archons effect, and Torham was wearing the Amulet of Power). Temp was also hit by an Eminent vampire, but again, no specific protections dispelled. 1 hit later and the Master Vampire was no more. Enemies didn't score any more hits, and one by one, the vampires died. If the fight is prolonged, the Master Vampire gates in 2 additional Vampire Brides in 6-round period. Cleared the rest of the undead, and by fourth clicking on the statue, party got their prize.

*In Improved Anvil v6, Shield of the Archons grants undispellable NPP for 1 turn as well as -4 AC modifier vs all weapon types, whereas regular NPP (or one granted by the Limited Wish spell) has a good chance to be dispelled with each enemy lvl-draining hit.

Loot: *Permanency Scroll, **Barbarian Essence potion, 4 Invulnerability potions, 4 Superior Healing Potions.

*An IA important item ingredient in many recipes.
** Grants 20% physical resistance and immunity to backstab for 10 rounds, undispellable.

OK, now back to exploiting

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 23 avril 2012 - 01:16 .

[corey_russell]

Interesting write-up, Blackmalkin. Demi-lich Unseeing Eye? That certainly sounds tough, nice work to pull through.

[Blackmalkin]

corey_russell wrote...
Interesting write-up, Blackmalkin. Demi-lich Unseeing Eye? That certainly sounds tough, nice work to pull through.

Elder orb with demi-lich resistance to weapons and spells, to be more precise. According to SCS readme, said resistances can be removed by using the assembled rod, so it is reasonable, I guess.

[Grimwald the Wise]

Diary of Azure continued
Upon entering a house in the Dock District, I was set upon by a powerful mage. Fortunately I and Nalia had enough healing potions to survive, but the victory was expensive. However, he did have a ring of regeneration, which could save us a lot of gold in the future.

Upon trying to help the Clerics of Helm, we eventually managed to destroy a beholder cult. The defences were stronger than previously encountered, as we were ambushed from both in front and behind simultaneously by Yuan Ti. There was nothing we could do to prevent Nalia being disabled by a Chaos spell. I survived, but then had to pay for her resurrection. The rest of the battles were relatively easy.

My berserker rage proved invaluable against mummies and the like.

Modifié par Grimwald the Wise, 24 avril 2012 - 06:09 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

A bit of update on Astarta & party:

Exploited for quite a bit, also visited WK lvl 1 in between. Didn't complete the whole lvl because of the tough monster spawn in the Fireplace room (3 Gem Golems, 3 Skeleton lords, 1 Skeleton Warlord, 1 Skeleton Grandlord, 2 Coin Golems, 1 Greater Bone Golem). These enemies are tough, and despite the fact that the party can actually eliminate a couple and run away, without HLAs (Hardiness) this also would be a suicide. The skeleton Grandlord can be hurt only by +4 or higher weapons, and party has none. Yet.

Current levels and skills:

PC Astarta Necromancer: 18. XP: 3 452 000. All proficiencies available picked. First HLA - Planetar.

Alia the Sorceress: 18. XP: 3 400 000. All proficiencies available picked. Current spell selection:

Lvl 1: Chromatic Orb, Magic Missile, Larloch's Minor Drain, *Shield, *Armor
   In IA v6 Shield and Armor both last only 3 turns, set AC to 6, and grant AC modifiers: Shield adds -3 AC vs blunt and missile weapons, Armor adds -3 vs slashing and piercing weapons

Lvl 2: Melf's Acid Arrow, Blur, Mirror Image, Invisibility, Resist Fear
Lvl 3: Remove Magic, Haste, Vampiric Touch, Flame Arrow, Lightning Bolt
Lvl 4: Stoneskin, Emotion, Minor Spell Sequencer, *Ray of Fragmentation
  *This IA spell ignores enemy golem's magic resistance and deals some damage according to the golem type. It's a ranged spell with casting time 4, and deals 2d8 dmg to Coin, Gem and Amber golems, and 1d8 dmg to Ice and Elemental golems. However, more powerful IA golems are unaffected.
Lvl 5: Spell Immunity, Lower Resistance, Breach, Sunfire
Lvl 6: Improved Haste, Giant Strength, Protection from Magical Weapons
Lvl 7: Mass Invisibility, Spell Sequencer, Ruby Ray of Reversal
Lvl 8: *Foreknowledge, **Monster Summoning VI
   *This IA Divination spell has a casting time of 8, duration 1 turn, caster only, grants 1 bonus to THAC0 and saving throws, -4 AC bonus and -1 casting speed for the duration. Not cumulative with itself. Undispellable for the duration.
   **Summons Elite Trolls, which have many of the Improved Anvil's usual monster resistances/immunities implemented. Still can be killed with just one Death spell.
Lvl 9: Wish, Improved Alacrity (first HLA)

Saros the Riskbreaker: 19. XP: 3 390 000 (needs 110 000 more for lvl 20 and first HLA). Proficiencies: *****Flail, ***Short Sword, **Two-Weapon style. Has 2 Improved haste innate abilities (gained at lvl 11 and 16), one Chain Breaker Stance at lvl 17 (25 str, 25 phys resistances for 5 rounds, regeneration 12 hp/round, dispellable), one Risk Decrement at lvl 18 (instant ability, heals RB completely, applies 10d8 crushing damage to all surrounding enemies with no save, with some knockback effect too). Armed with Flail of Ages +3 and a Morningstar +3 - latter item forged by Cromwell using the +2 one from the Shadow Jailor, the only Permanency scroll the party had, and an enchant weapon spell scroll + 15 000 gold. Also has the +3 Short Sword of Backstabbing.

Torham the Ranger: 18. Xp: 3 452 000. Proficiencies: **Short Sword, **Scimitar **Club **Axe *LongBow ***Two-Weapon style. First HLA: Contact with Nature (lasts 12 rounds, grants regeneration 18 hp/round, and also immunity to petrification and imprisonment for the duration). Armed with Frostreaver axe +3 and a Club +3.

Captain Jack Sparrow the Assassin: 22. XP: 3 452 000 (needs just 68 000 for lvl 23 and first HLA). Proficient in: *Longsword *Shortsword *Dagger *Quarterstaff *Short Bow *Two-handed weapon style *Single weapon style. Has 100% in Disarm trap, Lock pick, Detect illusion, Set Traps.

And finally, Temp the Ranger (7)-Cleric(20), XP of the clerical class: 3 291 000. No HLAs yet. Has many weapon proficiencies, also in all important weapon styles, including ** in Single-weapon style (who knows why, may prove useful yet).

Will now take a quick trip to Windspear Hills to clear the path up to Tazok (needed up for later, stay tuned you'll see why). Unfortunately, 2 improved golem groups will try to intercept the party, so that's why the preparations were needed, and HLAs too - because without Hardiness it would be a massacre.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 24 avril 2012 - 04:25 .

[ussnorway]

Ud20;

   

Saving Trademeet from various fates worse than death earned a new shield and increased our reputation by three points. Then we say g’day to Thaxll'ssillyia & Shade Lord before returning to Watcher's Keep.

Level 2:

   

   

Most of this level is fight by numbers but the various doors still need a bit extra help eg. The air room = Traps & at -22 * the Fire Giants can’t hit Haer’dalis. Ambers ability to switch damage type arrows against the Chromatic Demon makes a huge advantage, while Alyssia, Do’Dad & Haer’dalis tag team the tanking duties.

Level 3:

Haer’dalis picked a pair of gloves off the floor and Do’Dad slapped down a ‘Heal’ on Yakman to bring the Elf to his senses... I called it quits here because messing with magic (wild & nul ) zones without a ‘Chain Contingency’ would be paramount to suicide.

New gear;

Important items include “Shield of Harmony +2” and an extra head for Do’Dads FoA, “Helm of the Rock (Enhanced)” for Alyssia & “Wondrous Gloves” for Haer’dalis.

* Haer’dalis can’t maintain this much armour for long (yet) so ‘Mirror Image’ makes a good backup system against heavy hitters like Fire Giants.

p.s. Nice to see so many new players... Good Luck Guys!

[saros_shadow_follower]

Astarta& party, last entry (for quite some time at least):

The party, using Increase Stat to 25 from Wish, managed to buy cheaply the following items:

Martial Staff +3
Cleric's Staff +3
Staff Mace +2
All green protection scrolls and some potions from Temples of Helm and Talos
Fortress Shield +3
Bracers of AC 4
Bracers of AC 3
Energy Ring
Necklace of Missiles
Several spell scrolls
Robe of the Good Archmagi
Staff of Striking - recharged back to 25
Harmonium Halberd +3
Plate of Balduran +2

The party has more than enough gold from exploiting, so these are no problem. In addition, there are many items stored and yet unsold - maybe worth more than 100 000 gp.

Still, the party's equipment was somewhat inadequate. They decided to go first to the Druid Grove and acquire the Belm +2 scimitar. They sneaked under Invisibilitty past Nithiril the shaman (not willing to waste the quest xp yet) and buffed well in front of the Ogre tower. Inside, Temp tried to activate Defensive Harmony, but was interrupted by the Ghost Spider, whose attack deals magical damage in addition to normal damage. And his specific protections were dispelled too! Still the party quickly killed the most dangerous spider, the Whisper spider. Whisper spiders have some nasty abilities, like being able to go invisible at will, draining Int and Wis with successful hit, dispelling specific protections on hit, and also, have an innate Confusion ability. Plus, they can drag faraway targets using 'Web Lariat', which draws the target near as well as rendering it unconscious for 1 round. Anyway, next the Ghost Spider was under heavy barrage and fell in a second. Temp's save vs spells was good enough that even without Improved Invisibility and Free Action he managed to save vs the improved web a couple of times. The lesser spiders were no trouble.

Loot: Belm, some scrolls, some potions (including one of Magic Shielding - that potion appears in the chest after the Ghost spider is dead).

With Belm in Torham's off-hand, the party traveled to Windspear hills. Did the outskirts, including returning acorns & killing all dryads + their deer. I hate dryads. They did provide some extra xp, and some sellable items, including a +2 dagger.

1st level of Windspear Hills dungeon: 2 random groups of Vampiric Mists + Mist Horrors were eliminated in relative comfort. First wave was charged head-on by the fighters, after proper buffing of course. Result - Saros was enveloped, and while not being slowed or lvl drained, he still sustained 10 HP of damage for several rounds. Second wave (near the pool) was eliminated under Farsight by 4 Improved hasted Skeleton warriors and one Planetar.

Ruhk Transmuter is a formidable opponent, and has more than 1 group of exploding kobolds. Still, party fighters were protected from fire, took the first blast, and while Ruhk tried an unsuccessful Remove Magic, they surrounded and killed him in a blink. Loot: +2 Long sword.

Level 2: The party immediately descended and killed the 8 vanilla orcish archers. Then they advanced a bit, Captain sparrow unlocked some doors, and this is what they found via Farsight. 2 Gem Golems, 2 Coin Golems, a Greater Bone Golem. All of these are immune to +2 or lower weaponry. Coin golems are somewhat vulnerable to Piercing damage (they still take some damage from crushing attacks though), Gem Golems are somewhat vulnerable to Crushing attacks, and the Greater Bone Golem has 'Hideous Laughter' ability, which requires save vs Death and Spells (I think) or causes Stun and Fear on the entire party, regardless of their positions on the map. Besides, the Greater bone golem dispels specific protections on hit, those include Remove Fear and Free Action. The party was well prepared though. They summoned some fodder, buffed well, Alia's last buff was Wish for Hardiness (if unsuccessful, the party would've rested and retried wishing). Enemies were lured in via a summon (an Elite Troll). The first Coin Golem was greeted warmly by 2 Spell Sequencers loaded with 3*Ray of Fragmentation each and was on Badly Injured. He was quickly killed by Torham and Saros with their +3 shortswords (one created with Enchant weapon spell beforehand). Next the party focused on the Greater Bone Golem, who actually managed to dispel Temp and Saros' protective buffs, and tried Hideous Laughter while Temp was trying to cast Remove Fear. But the party saved vs the effects (well, some were protected vs them), and the Greater Bone Golem died. Saros was under heavy hits, despite the fact that he was regenerating at 12 HP/round and with 65% physical resistances. Seems like he forgot to quaff a Defense potion...hm, drank it now, but that didn't save him from taking one more hit. The next one would be his last, so he ran around a bit while he was able to activate his innate ability, Risk Decrement, and heal himself fully. Now Torham started taking damage (50% physical res with armor of faith), so he activated his regenerative ability as well. Fortunately, Temp got the attention of 2 golems now, and he can sustain quite a lot of hits under his Ironskins. The last golem soon fell.

At the end of that battle, Captain Jack Sparrow hit Assassin level 23, and chose Use Any Item as HLA. He then immediately dualled to Fighter, and chose **** Halberds as starting proficiencies. He was donned in full plate, and with Staff of Curing in hand for now (for the 2 AC bonus it provides). Also, Saros hit fighter level 20 and chose Power Attack as first HLA.

Ugh, half job done. Hard, too, even if one fighter failed his save vs the stun effect of the Hideous Laughter, it would be extremely bad and probably not without casualties.

Continuing further, the party wiped: a lone Vampiric Mist, a party of Eminent + regular Vampires (Remove fear, Limited Wish for NPP), some vanilla undead, and some slightly Improved werewolves + greater werewolves (less xp, more dangerous). They also eliminated a small group of lightly improved spiders: 2 Mutated spiders (immune to all elemental damage, have many hp - probably 200), a Killer, a Spirit, 2 Vortex spiders and some lesser ones, and thus cleared their way to the second golem spawn, which is identical to the first. Again, Wishing was the last buff, but this time Saros remembered to quaff an Invulnerability potion afterwards, setting his AC very low (-19 with Blur). Again, first of the golems was greeted accordingly, and quickly killed. The party wanted to eliminate the Greater Bone golem fast, unfortunately there was no way of surrounding him because of party's own summons and an enemy Gem Golem. So the party quickly killed the badly injured Coin Golem, and then focused on the Gem one, who also fell quick. And the dispellation on hit is quickly becoming annoying. However, the Greater Bone Golem couldn't use that, because he fell a hit later. Alia had refreshed and already used her Spell Sequencer with 3*RoF with good effect, and the rest of the enemies were no trouble.

20 charges of the Staff of Striking were used by Temp in both battles (the party does have enough +3 weapons, but unfortunately not enough +3 1-handed crushing weapons, and the Frostreaver Axe is kinda obsolete vs golems anyway).

The party also eliminated a mix of Eminent Vampires + Vampiric mists just above the second random golem group. Now the way to Tazok's chambers was clear.

Left Windspear hills. Traveled to Druid Grove. Again invisible, snuck to Cernd, joined him. Bye Temp. Thought of killing Temp, but hey, he was useful, so he was peacefully left to go. With Cernd in party, they traveled back to Windspear Hills lvl 2, and confronted Tazok. Nothing unusual or hard. Tazok dropped his regular stuff, plus this item. Looted a Laeral's tear necklace here, and some scrolls, and gems. From Tazok - some Superior  healing potions + the Sewer key.

The Cloak of Balduran for now works as a regular +1 cloak of Protection, no MR bonus. However, it can be combined with Cernd's cloak of the Forest, two more +1 protective cloaks, and a scroll of Memory Boosting to forge a +4 protective cloak with 25 MR bonus, useable with UAI, but only if the character with UAI also fulfills Cernd's stat requirements. More specifically Wisdom and Intelligence, since all the other can be brought to 25 via Wish. The party has all ingredients needed for the upgrade, except for a Scroll of Memory boosting, and while they can easily obtain one at present, there are only 3 in chapters 2+3, and all are needed to forge another, much more powerful item. So the cloak's forging is postponed until chapter 6, where will be enough Scrolls of Memory Boosting to forge it.

Torham was dualled after the battle, to Cleric, and was equipped with the Fortress shield for best protection. He's no fighter now.

The party then ditched Cernd (took his staff too, dunno why). Joined/disbanded Keldorn, Anomen, Jan. Took their special equipment. Forgot to join Valygar and open Planar sphere door. Will have to kill him... Joined Jaheira, completed both of her quests. There are some enemies here that can be killed without penalty (although proper timing is required for Meronia, or Jaheira's main quest may be bugged):

Lucette
Meronia
Terecce (outside of the Government building) - he can be killed for the second time at Ployer's cabin in Slums
Reviane & co will hesitate to attack if party's rep is Heroic. Disrupting this is possible by choosing the conversation option 'we should attack and gain the upper hand'
Harper pin in IA v6 is nerfed: grants 25% electrical and magical damage res, and 2 bonus to save vs spells. Plus it disables the thieving button permanently if used with UAI.

Loot from Jaheira's quests:
Amulet +1
Several Rings +1 - enough for the entire party of six to have two +1 rings, and the RB has a +2 ring and +1 ring.
Several cloaks +1
potions and sellable items

Forged a second +2 cloak, using the Laeral's tear necklace found inside WK lvl 2.

Ditched Jaheira.

Thought about Jan's sidequest, where can be acquired some xp and a +1 cloak, but xp and money can be attained easily anyway, and +1 cloaks we have plenty. So instead the last party member was joined:

Bane, a LG Riskbreaker, stats 18(00)/18/18/16/14/14/3, ****Long Sword, **Two-weapon, lvl 7, xp 89 000. 

Now begins the long and tedious part of exploiting up to cleric lvl 20 (at least), and all other levels accordingly. Although Sparrow's thief class is inactive, the Use Any Item HLA is not disabled, thus he can fight effectively even at lower fighter levels.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 25 avril 2012 - 08:44 .

[Gate70]

Verun, NE male human wild mage. With Stenky the imp familiar, Imoen, Viconia and Edwin.

Fresh from BG1 via BGT. Verun, wild mage 8. 121 kills, Ramazith. +1 Strength, Constitution, Intelligence, Charisma.
Str 10
Dex 18
Con 17
Int 19
Wis 16
Cha 13

* Dagger, * sling.

Imoen, thief 9 (not dual classed). 133 kills, Andris. +1 Dexterity.
Viconia, cleric 8. 159 kills, greater basilisk. +3 wisdom.
Edwin, conjurer 8. 74 kills, Jalantha Mistmyr. & Sarevok.

Imoen releases me. Of Viconia and Edwin there is no sign. We retrieve Stenky and my golden pantaloons.

Minsc and Jaheira can make their own way out so long as they don't snaffle any of my treasure.

Without Viconia to shield us we are forced to summon monsters, hasting and buffing them. Progress is slow but we recover the helm of Balduran, Koveras' ring of protection and the Sword of Chaos. Imoen suggests we recruit Yoshimo and we are soon emerging into sunlight.

Imoen and Irenicus are arrested, and Yoshimo suggests we store a ton of inventory instead of selling it. Maybe he has had previous dealings with wild mages and their vanishing wealth, or worse.

Verun, wild mage 9.
Yoshimo, bounty hunter 10.

Time to ask around and see if Viconia or Edwin are around.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Average party experience 6 million each. Need about 2 more, to get the Assassin-Fighter to proper levels in order to regain his thieving abilities. The R-C is almost at the brink of regaining his inactive 18-lvl Ranger class. Probably will manage to raise levels today or tomorrow, and will continue adventuring soon.

Edit: 660 000 more xp per party member to go. Almost there...

Side note: The worn slippers (obtained in WK lvl 1) will not be returned to the priest. Those grant 25% cold resistance while equipped, and a pair of good boots is soooo hard to find in IA v6, especially before Spellhold. In fact, there are none that provide any significant bonuses except for these.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 27 avril 2012 - 07:20 .

[Grimwald the Wise]

saros_shadow_follower wrote...

Average party experience 6 million each. Need about 2 more, to get the Assassin-Fighter to proper levels in order to regain his thieving abilities. The R-C is almost at the brink of regaining his inactive 18-lvl Ranger class. Probably will manage to raise levels today or tomorrow, and will continue adventuring soon.

Edit: 660 000 more xp per party member to go. Almost there...

Side note: The worn slippers (obtained in WK lvl 1) will not be returned to the priest. Those grant 25% cold resistance while equipped, and a pair of good boots is soooo hard to find in IA v6, especially before Spellhold. In fact, there are none that provide any significant bonuses except for these.

Did you know about Aurora's Shoe Shop? Available at Spellhold Studios. Never again will you complain about lack of shoes! Indeed you may feel a bit like Imelda Marcos.  You may even feel the need to buy a shoe box to carry them all.

[Blackmalkin]

Update on Dhanushka:

Thanks to Vaitali’s new spell, party embarked on an another epic quest. Allow me to cite Jan Jansen: “Ahhhh, I can see the bards singing it, now: The Quest for the Gong! The life of a drunkard lies in the balance as Dhanushka and her band of merry adventurers strive to retrieve fenced stolen musical goods from the depths of the sewers! The passion! The exitement!” Korgan wasn’t as enthusiastic. When party learned that Roger sold the gong to some troll he yelled: “Aye! Great! BLASTED BLOODY WONDERFUL! Aye, let’s take on bloody TROLLS to get this gong.. for NO REWARD, mind ye!!” In the end, party acquired the gong from an ogre, trading it for one-charge wand of frost (the one from Irenicus’ dungeon – I haven’t been using wands much). While in the druids’ grove I also decided to kill Ifhateer. After buying up her potions of power, that is (had to leave Jan outside for that). Then I did another two temple quests. Samadarshin equipped Helm of Glory.

Next, I focused on the extra-planar quests, starting with the Sphere (using living Valygar to open the door). The halfling spellcasters have caused me many troubles in the past (non-SCS past, mind you), so I decided to make a surprise attack after heavy buffing (Improved Haste on all warriors, among others). I begun the fight by taking Togan out, before he could retreat to his companions. Then I positioned the invisible party (strangely, enemies didn’t try any divination spells) and made Samadarshin cast Blade Barrier before attacking. Then I entered Korgan’s character record to check his THAC0. When I was reading the record, Samadarshin suddenly lost half of his health and the game crashed. I had no idea what happened, but I suspect that Blade Barrier is to blame. I loaded autosave and proceeded as before, only without Blade Barrier. Ambush worked perfectly – halflings were all dead within one round. I also wanted to ambush the second halfling party. Only three of them were visible, so I used Jan’s Spectroscopes to detect the missing spellcaster. Then I proceeded with the ambush. As soon as my warriors attacked enemy spellcasters disappeared, because they had invisibility spells precast. This precast invisibility often lead to absurd situation, but this time particularly, as enemy actually had precast invisibility and I did dispel it. But cheating didn't save the halflings as Vaitali scored a very successful Remove Magic, getting rid of their illusions as well as protections. It was then I realised my sorceress have high enough level for her dispel to work rather reliably. Samadarshin equipped Gauntlets of Ogre Strenght.

Some time later Korgan “soloed” another elder orb. As with Unseeing Eye, he let someone else do most of the damage (this time a golem) before attacking.



Fight with Lavok taught me an interesting thing about Chain Contingency. The necromancer used it to cast Improved Mantle, Mordenkainen’s Sword and Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting. All the spells were, technically speaking, cast on him. But the Horrid Wilting still affected my party, not the necromancer. Nice to know that something like that is posiible. My dwarves didn’t share my admiration for Lavok’s spellcasting, as they both were caught in Wilting’s area of effect. They were both unlucky with saving throws – Korgan saved at 1, Samadarshin failed, but also received only half damage, thanks to the Belt of Inertial Barrier. Potions healed most of the damage. Lavok’s protections included abjuration immunity, so I checked my anti-magic spells list, trying to find some way of dealing with this. Pierce Magic was supposed to take Spell Immunity down but didn’t work – I guess it can only work against every other immunity. With no way of hurting the necromancer I decided to retreat. Before that, Jan dominated Mordenkainen’s Sword and Lavok cast Time Stop. He cast Breach on Dhanushka, which made me wonder how will I deal with the Horrid Wiltings that were about to come (Breach would dispel Protection form Magic Energy). But Lavok didn’t cast any, only Greater Malison and some other more or less harmless things. When time resumed party started running, leaving Lavok to deal with his sword. Lavok moved and was hit by Jan’s trap. Then, just when I was going to make area transition, he cast Limited Wish and asked for control over time (I think I should feel honored that he saved this option for my party). He used most of that Time Stop on drinking potions (I don’t know why he had to drink 3 potions – it was just one little trap). While party escaped, he stayed to finish the sword. I decided to play as unfair as Lavok – Vaitali cast Spell Immunity thrice, protecting herself from abjuration, divination and necromancy, then hasted herself (improved) and finally cast Mislead from scroll. Lavok was completely helpless against that. He just kept running around, recasting his Stoneskins, while Vaitali pelted him with Melf’s Meteors.

Killing demons turned out to be easier then usual. Instead of trying to paralyze or silence my party they just teleported to Dhanushka. Which was very nice as it allowed the dwarves to throw their hammers and axes and then switch to dual hacking/hammering without wasteng time on running. Demons didn’t even live long enough to show what they could have done in second round. That applies to the first two. The third surpised me and acted differently – started the fight with Remove Magic and Death Gaze (in one round). But neither seemed to have worked. Tolgerias stopped hye time twice, just like Lavok – Time Stop and Limited Wish. Now I wasn’t sure if I should feel honored or cheated. But the Cowled Wizard didn’t know what to do with his stolen time and dealt almost no damage at all. Not directly at least – one of his demon summons nearly killed Samadarshin with multiple lacerations. After looting rest of the Sphere Korgan equipped Helm of Defense.

Next, I rescued Hear’Dalis. I agreed to do Mekrath’s quest, which saved me from a potentially difficult fight. Bounty hunters in planar prison were killed with help of double Web sequencer and mass Globes of Invulnerability from Limited Wish spell. Boots of Speed where equpped by Korgan. I thought I’ve also won a new armor for Melodia, but wearing it would have prevented her from using ring/cloak of protection, so she still uses elven chainmail. Thralls were dying like flies. Wyvern and the demon also died easily. I didn’t clear the cells, apart from the one with githyanki. Warden wasn’t terribly difficult (especially that no horde of yuan-ti spawned next to him this time), though he did kill Jan with a Power Word. I didn’t forget to raise him (Jan, that is).

After returning to the Prime Material Plane, party to Warden’s Keep. Finishing the first level appeared to be as easy as usual. Second level also didn’t cause problems. This time I was wary of the ice library and it’s mists. First I scried that area with Farsight. It was empty so I sent Jan to lay a few traps. Later, when Korgan was charged with dealing with the greater fire elementals (meaning running up and down the way between ice and fire laboratories), invisible Jan was sent to guard the library, so that nothing could spawn in the meantime. But I was a little impatiant and Korgan left the library just before Jan arrived. It was enough for the mists to spawn. Despite my party being split I managed to eliminate them without a single level being drained. As for the Chromatic Demon, I didn’t bother with elemental attacks. I opened with two Dooms (Samadarshin and Dhanushka) and a Malison. In the second round Samadarshin cast another Doom, Dhanushka fired 9 Called Shots and Vaitali cast Ray of Efeeblement (only one, because I forgot to prepare a sequencer, not mention memorizing the spell for Melodia and Jan as well). It didn’t work – demon saved. But the third round brought another Doom and another Ray, successful this time. Weak side of the plan was not getting any experience for the kill (that’s also a reason why Vaitali’s best kill is still TorGal).



Korgan equipped Helm of the Rock, pasing Helm of Defense to Samadarshin. Vaitali learned new spells: Cone of Cold, Power Word: Silence and Mordenkainen’s Sword. Inventory management was starting to be a significant problem, with warriors' inventory nearly full at all times and spellcasters’ lack of strenght to carry much. It was one of the reasons (though not the most important one) not to venture into the labyrinth. After returning to Athkatla I did Linvail’s quests. Vampires were killed by Korgan and Dhanushka protected by undead protection scrolls. Only Tanova caused trouble, as she ignores the scroll effect. She killed Vaitali with Horrid Wilting and stunned Jan with a Power Word, which robbed of most of my anti-magic spells. Warriors had to wait for the protections to expire before finishing her. Lassal was killed by 2 Mordenkainen’s Swords, hasted and protected by Chaotic Commands. I suspected that Bodhi learned some new abillities in SCS, so I didn’t try to kill her with Ray of Enfeeblement and Called Shot – I simply cast Improved Haste on warriors and summoned Mordenkainen Swords to bring her to near death state as fast as possible. Which was really fast, but she still managed to put Melodia and Jan to sleep with her new abillity – Sepulchral Sleep (which was normal sleep, nothing as gloomy as the name suggests).

Then party set sail for Spellhold, leaving some things undone on the mainland. I didn’t kill Firkraag, but I intend to do it later. I certainly won’t be going after Kangaax, or any other lich, for that matter. I’ll think about the Twisted Rune, but probably won’t risk it either (there is a lich involved after all).

Party status:
Dhanushka – archer 15, 108 HP, 437 kills (Adamantite Golem – thanks to that thieving Samadarshin)
Samadarshin – fighter 12/cleric 12, 101 HP, 260 kills (Thaxll’ssillyia)
Melodia – skald 20, 78 HP, fav. spell: Stoneskin, 123 kills (Spirit Troll)
Vaitali – sorcerer 15, 49 HP, fav. spell: Melf’s Minute Meteors, 144 kills (TorGal)
Jan Jansen – illusionist 12/thief 14. 52 HP, fav. spell: Stoneskin, 74 kills (Shade Lord)
Korgan – bereseker 16, 135 HP, 501 kills (Unseeing Eye)

Modifié par Blackmalkin, 27 avril 2012 - 12:52 .

[ussnorway]

ud21;

Since Amber was about to level * I figured it was time to go do some dragon hunting.

Windspear Hills:

   

We survived an ambush by being faster on the draw then said G’day to the Fairy Queen & went spelunking. We overpowered this area so easily that it was nice to let Do’Dad have some fun... it seems that waiting/watching vampires tear each other to pieces never gets old for him.

Big Red:

   

   


Prep;
Ormaline used a scroll ‘Chain Contingency’ loaded ** with ‘Pierce Shield’, ‘Greater Malison’ & ‘Feeblemind’ then copied herself with scroll ‘Simulacrum’, Amber laid five traps & Haer’dalis started painting himself into a corner with ‘Skull Trap’s i.e. close enough to have the dragon set them off but far enough that they don’t also kill him... don’t try this at home boys & girls.

Preliminary Battle;
Ormalines place themselves in front of BigRed while Do’Dad activates his ‘Storm Shield’ (Fire actually heals him now) & opens the battle with ‘Lightning Bolt’ but it has no effect... the bolt passes through him and the Dragon doesn’t notice us. Ok, Do’Dad decides to summon a SW with ‘Animate Dead’ figuring to have that attack but apparently this counts as a hostile action and the fight begins.

WTF (Ascension or FixPack)? I shake my head at this weirdo behaviour and adapted my plan accordingly.

Now that my contingencies have fired, Ormaline original & Do’Dad used path finding (Shift click) to return to the top of the stairs out of harm’s way while I took control of the copy Ormaline & moved her back to where Haer’dalis was waiting... obviously the luckless SW didn’t last long but amour-propre comes first.

Somehow the dragon survived the initial damage (I suspect he cheated ) but Amber still got the honours & I now have the loot. A sword & cape I won’t keep & red scales for Do’Dads’ new armour in exchange for two high level scrolls... hardly a bargain but the experience was somewhat useful.


* I actually suffered a bit of a brain fart & assumed she would get ‘Spike Trap’ but she was only turning 21 (maxing her standard traps ) not 24 so I had to change my plans mid-way through... Ormaline also hit level 17, gaining ‘Power Word: Stun’ & ‘Pierce Shield’.
** ‘Greater Malison’ is the important spell because Ambers' traps should have forced five (save vs death) saves but ‘Feeblemind’ was too tempting to pass up... pure optimism on my part, as it turned out.

Modifié par ussnorway, 28 avril 2012 - 04:18 .

[Gate70]

Living to fight another day is the important part when preparation fails, so well done.

Nawgrim/Gate70 and Peer/Grond0. Session 7 - continued from BG1 (run time 30m. Total10h)

Stats from BG1
Peer, fighter 7 / cleric 7. Tank.
War hammer **, 2 weapon style ***, flail *.
284 kills, Angelo.
Favourite spell: Command.
Favourite weapon: War hammer (Ashideena, +1 offhand).
57% of kills.

Nawgrim, fighter 7 / illusionist 7. Protaganist.
Long sword **, Long bow **, single weapon style *, 2HS *
212 kills, Slythe.
Favourite spell: Blindness Magic Missile.
Favourite weapon: Bow & arrows (Long bow of Markmanship).
42% of kills.

Escape, part 1
We thought the five minutes Sarevok took to crumble away before us was impressive, but Belt has transported us into a nightmare. Mae'var and his thieves have incapacitated us with powerword:cutscene.

Imoen releases Nawgrim so he can inturn release Peer. Her final act for us is to deal with a trap in the store room, then we send her on her way.

Nawgrim grabs his familiar and golden pantaloons. Peer has a war hammer while Nawgrim grabs a longsword.

Peer knuckles down, clearing the way with Nawgrim helping when appropriate. Before long the dwarf has two war hammers and the gnome a longbow. Just like old times.

Peer is somewhat ambitious in the trapped room beyond a trio of woodland beings, taking poison damage and then triggering an additional trap. He manages to glug a healing potion, giving Nawgrim time to cure the poison.

Most of this level is complete, only the figurine room remains if we choose to get the Sword of Chaos.

Reloads: 0

Modifié par Gate70, 28 avril 2012 - 08:00 .

[ussnorway]

Thanks Gate70 & welcome back to Bg2... I assume you will pick up Jaheira again, at least long enough to do her curse quest so Nawgrim can get his ‘Spell Trigger’?

[Gate70]

We weren't intending to. What is the spell trigger part, a scroll (which I guess we can grab elsewhere) or something else?

[ussnorway]

One of the mage bodyguards drops a scroll of 'Spell Trigger'... besides that one you have to wait for Tob or else cheat one into your game. Note that you have to kill/ pickpocket him to get it so if you just pay the bribe then that's not going to get it.

[Gate70]

Ah, OK. I never realised you could bribe him either,

Nawgrim/Gate70 and Peer/Grond0. Session 8 (run time 1h30m. Total11h30)

Escape, part 2
We double back for the Sword of Chaos, hasted skeletons making short work of the mephits. We're running out of storage until Nawgrim casts powerword:consoleinbags spent a lot of time last run messing about with inventory and it's just a pain in multiplayer.

More skeletons help with goblins, duergar, Frennedan, a vampire and shadow thieves. We emerge into daylight and are briefly re-united with Imoen. Then she is arrested, along with Irenicus.

Circus
We know what to expect so kill a few shadows and Kalah.

Copper Coronet
Peer wants to fight Amalas(?), but can't. As Nawgrim moves he has the choice to fight but is unbuffed. After a saved blindness and two disrupted spells Nawgrim concentrates on haste but moves too soon. Amalas is hitting Nawgrim so he glugs healing potions, then equips 5 unidentified arrows (biting) to finish the fight out of melee. That would have been a strange end-game cause.

Haste blessed summons help defeat the beastmaster, and Hendak kills Lehtinan.

Copper Coronet Sewers
Peer deals with traps in a heavy-footed manner as Nawgrim retrieves Lilacor.

Slaver compound
We burst in on Haegan. Peer distracts most of the enemies as Nawgrim casts greater malison, blind (Haegan fails save) and slow. Peer stomps on an acid trap to save forgetfulness later, then a pair of trolls are killed.

Gate70
Nawgrim, gnome fighter 8 / illusionist 9.
273 kills, cambion.

Grond0
Peer, dwarf fighter 8 / cleric 8.
357 kills, Angelo.

Reloads: 0

[Blackmalkin]

Update of Dhanushka:

Since last time my attempt at playing a madman didn’t work on Desharik, I tried sincerity this time. Same effect, so Korgan was sent after the Cowled Wizard. He managed to chunk him before his protections activated. In the dream sequence I baited Bhaal with Cerebus and was surprised to discover that moon dog was immune to Bhaal’s attacks. It proved useful, as I didn’t borrow Boots of Speed from Korgan before being captured.



Due to a misclick I lost point of intelligence instead of wisdom. It lowered it to 10 and now Dhanushka can die from 2 illlithid attacks. Which is troubling considering their new abilities to teleport.

While exploring the asylum dungeon I scored my first victory against a lich. Fortunately, for all his power, lich couldn’t prevail against the might of the closed doors. When Jan rigged the corridor with traps, Korgan set the lich loose and run to rejoin with the party behind another closed doors. As with the Unseeing Eye, Jan’s traps only reduced the enemy to near death state, so Korgan had finish the job with his axes. Of course, lich had some another Protection from Magical Weapons saved for this occasion, but perfectly timed Breach resulted in Korgan’s first hit chunking the lich. By the way, he also stopped time with Limited Wish. I seems to be quite a popular thing among my enemies as of late.



Acquiring a Bag of Holding (carried by Korgan) solved most of my inventory management problems, though I soon decided I could use another one. This time I consulted a walkthrough before using the boot dispenser machine and acquired the second pair of Boots of Speed (equipped by Samadarshin). Despite my previous threats I didn’t uninstall the SCS component which removes ammo found in containers. Said component robbed me of some +3 arrows in Warden’s Keep, but left some dispelling arrows. I mention it here, because I was surprised to find ammo in Asylum dungeon untouched.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the fight with Irenicus, but I suspected it won’t be just a formality with SCS. So I made some special preparations. Jan rigged the corridor surrounding the main chamber with traps. Vaitali cast Limited Wish and asked for Chain Contingency, preparing 3 Horrid Wiltings (her first 8th level spell) to be unleashed at the first enemy seen. Then I bribed Lonk (2000 gp) to release the mages. As I feared, Irenicus’ long list of protections included Protecion form Magic Energy, as well as immunity to abjuration. So I ordered whole party to retreat as far as possible. Fortunately, Vaitali’s contingency didn’t react as fast as Irenicus’ and activated only when party member’s clones appeared. Which was a good thing as they seemed to be true clones, with the same equipment at least.



Dwarves’ clones where outside Wiltings’ area of effect, but I killed them before they did much harm. Meanwhile, Irenicus summoned a dark planetar. While I was killing the summon Irenucis manged to kill or incapacitate all of the released mages, which seriously hurt my morale. I had assumed Xan’s attitude fo a moment, but continued fighting. I rejoiced when I found out that Irenicus’ abjuration immunity have already expired, which was sooner then I expected. Maybe the fight lasted longer then I thought, especially for Irenicus who cast Time Stop (traditionally, via 9th level spell). Whatever the case, I could start taking his protections down and he was spending most of his time on recasting them. From dangerous spells he only cast Sphere of Chaos on Samadarshin. The dwarf had to move towards Irenicus to prevent the Sphere from affecting Dhanushka or my arcane spellcasters (both dwarves had good enough saving throws to be immune to it’s effects). Of course It took Irenicus some time to notice that he already have taken enough damage to die, but finally he have fled. Korgan immediately moved to block the door. Most of the murderers where killed by traps and those few who got to Korgan had their invisibility dispelled by Samadarshin's True Seeing.

Later I agreed to Saemon Havarian’s offer and aided him in commandeering a ship. Fight with githyanki was as bugged as usual, only with SCS they had more dangerous spellcasters, one of which was the immortal Githyanki Captain. I quickly brought him to near death state, but since sahuagins weren’t appearing (and he continued his spellcasting), I decided to kill him by draining his strenght with Ray of Enfeeblement and Called Shot.



Then I finished rest of the enemies and waited for a moment. Nothing was happening, so I took the opportunity and killed Havarian as well. I even got experience for that – it appears he wasn’t immortal and died from physical damage.



Sahuagins were still nowhere to be seen, ship was refusing to sink and it’s crew seemed to have forgotten how to sail. I didn’t know a first thing about seafaring either, so I used console command to move my party to sahuagin city. There I made a fortune selling items at the local shop (Baldurdash Fixpack lowered the prices, but they were still good), conversed with a beholder, killed the rebel prince, received my just reward and then killed every other sahuagin. Vaitali learned new spells: Spell Sequencer and Spell Trigger. The latter wasn’t really my choice – I wasn’t sure if this is a good idea, so I exited the selection screen to think this through. However, level up wasn’t cancelled and the spell was chosen without my consent. I used it to prepare triple Cone of Cold combo. Spell Sequencer was used to store 2 Remove Magic spells and an Emotion (later replaced by 3xRemove Magic). Samadarshin equipped Cloak of Protection +2, passing the Cloak of Displacement to Dhanushka. I didn’t get the Cloak of Mirroring. SCS readme explained that it is moved to Throne of Bhaal.

In the Underdark I sent Korgan to kill 3 illithids, traded with dueargars, killed vast hordes of elementals and slaughtered party of drows with help of Improved Haste, 5 Mordenkainen's Swords and aforementioned Spell Sequencer. Victory was so staggering that I didn’t even notice that there where more drows then in umodded game. I didn’t want my buffs and summons to be wasted, so I went to meet with the drow ambush near the bridge. Due to the fact that the ambushers (armed with ranged weapons) were about twice as numerous in SCS and they were at the other side of a narrow bridge, the fight proved to be hard. It got even harder when Korgan’s rage expired and he was stunned. I don’t how was it possible. He was beyond Melodia’s song reach, so he wasn’t immune, but both his death and spell saving throw were below 0. Perhaps a Malison was involved. Anyway, Samadarshin became the main target and soon both he and Korgan were on the brink of death. I summoned an efreet and a flesh golem to replace unsummoned swords and aid the dwarves. When situation was almost under control, the game crashed. I had to replay the whole area and this time I just used hasted Moredenkainen’s Swords to deal with the ambush. After gaining svirfnebli help by killing a demon I went to Kuo-Toa tunnels. Game crashed again, but this time after an autosave. An error stated that Kuo-Toa prince coudn’t spawn (or something to that effect). Reload didn’t help, but from The Gibberlings 3 forum I learned that a corrupted override file was to blame. After deleting it, I could enter the location and kill the prince. But that wasn’t the main reason why I came here – I wanted to acquire Girdle of Frost Giant Strenght. Demon Knights were easily hacked to pieces, but managed to kill Vaitali with Symbol: Death and Jan with Power Word: Kill. From now on not only Dhanushka, but also those two will be protected by Death Ward at all times. Girdle was equipped by Korgan.

While questing in Ust Natha party gained their first High Level Abilities, starting with Dhanushka. She chose Deathblow. Considering that SCS increases enemies’ levels (at least in did in BG 1), it might be a complete waste, but we’ll see. Korgan chose Power Attack. I didn’t kill a priestess for Aboleth, but blackmailed him into silence. While exterminating the Ghaundaur cult Dhanushka first used Deathblow. It allowed her to kill otyughs without dealing any damage to them, but priests and even all the jellies had too high level. I didn’t kill Deirex, the lich. I wanted to take advantage of poor game design and kill him while he slowly approaches the party to cast Imprisonment. But I forgot that he is hostile from the start and hit space, unpausing the autopause and foiling the plan. After talking to Jarlaxle I didn’t return to the tower, but made haste (by casting Haste) to finish the dragon eggs business.

When the summoning ritual was over, I had the eggs and an oppurtunity to leave the city unmolested. After a moment of consideration I decided to uphold my sacred gaming tradition and slaughter the entire city. I did take some time to consider because I feared that SCS might have laid a trap here. I was right (but still did the wrong thing) – after killing the temple guards suddenly a few drows were spawned. Then another group. When they spawned for the third time I knew what was going on and started running. But it was already too late. With Ust’Natha narrow streets my party was separated by spawning enemies near Deirex’s tower. Everyone gulped potions of invisibility. Melodia and Jan moved forward, while Vaitali provided a distraction to free Dhanushka and Korgan from the crowd. Then, together with Samadarshin, they escaped to the platform where the Ghaundaur cult was defeated. It is the most spacious place in the city and I hoped to outmanouver the enemies there (they were following my party despite invisibility). Someone tried casting divination, but then he took an arrow to the knee. Dhanushka gulped an invisibility potion right after shooting an arrow, so no one managed to target her. When all of the current nearby drow population were at the platform, I ordered the party to run back on the street. Dhanushka had problems with getting out, but with help ot Korgan’s Boots of Speed she made it. Vaitali was still manouvering, when someone finished casting a divination spell. I couldn’t interrupt this – with all these Chants, Blessings and such, I couldn’t even see who was casting it. And the game was seriously lagging. Dhanushka had only one invisiblity potion remaining and Samadarshin (carrying the potion container) got too far away to pass anything to Korgan. Dhanushka passed her potion to Vaitali, while the dwarves moved to allow Samadarshin to pass a potion for her too. Now I see that it was another instance of suicidal heroism. Vaitali could have moved her inventory through Dhanushka into the Korgan’s Bag of Holding and then she could just be left behuind to die. Decision to try saving her almost killed Dhanushka. Dwarves needed only a fraction of second to get her a potion, but with all the lag Dhanushka was targeted by everyone in the area and was reduced to 47 HP by the volley of bullets she took before disappearing again. But her sacrifice was not in vain – soon whole party was running towards the city gates. Vaitali paused for a moment after leaving the platform to take a screenshot (a shame I was too panicked to think about this earlier):



The divination have dispelled everyone's illusions, so party pasued for a moment to drink remaining potions (I have left majority of them in the graveyard stash and now run out of them) or use rings of invisibility. When they neared the inn another spawn have blocked their way. Korgan was surrounded, while rest of the party circled the building. He was not looking forward to being left behind, so he hacked his way through the enemies and rushed to rejoin the party.



Some enemies were already spawned at the gates when he finally caught up. Drows continued pursuit outside the city, so I kept running until party reached safety of the dragon lair. I wondered how would I get to the surface. The city’s military force was supposed to be weakened due to war effort. Now I was going to breach the line of the front. So I rested and rebuffed before talking to Adalon. I forgot about clearing the party that guarded the way to the surface and now Adalon was going to teleport my party there. Defenders are significantly strenghtened in SCS and were completely ignoring Adalon. I managed to run away, dealt with the demons (who teleported as usual) and returned to finish the drows. Other characters leveled up. Vaitali reached 9th spell level, chose Wish as spell and Improved Alacrity as high level ability. Samadarshin learned Summon Deva and Melodia improved her song. I rested before venturing forth and experimented a bit with Wish spell. I was going to sneak past the drow lines, but when Vaitali managed to buff whole party with Greater Deathblow I decided to try it out. None of the drows had low enough level to be affected, but their numbers didn’t seem to be increased. When the first party was dead, Vaitali resumed her wishing. She restored party spells, allowing Melodia to use Project Image to protect whole party from magic energy. Then she continued casting until she got the “Abi-Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting on everyone in the area, including the party” option. It cleared the area from surface elves, but most of the drows seemed to have resisted. So Vaitali tried again. At first she didn't get the correct option and ordered drinks for everyone in the area instead ("Everyone in the area, both party members and enemies, become intoxicated"), but then she got the Horrid Wilting option again. Only 3 drows were left alive after that and party got to the surface without problems.

Party status:
Dhanushka – archer 18, 118 HP, 550 kills (Baalor – much better. And it’s fitting. that she have a racial enemy listed here)
Samadarshin – fighter 14/cleric 14, 105 HP, 364 kills (Thaxll’ssillyia)
Melodia – skald 24, 86 HP, fav. spell: Stoneskin, 127 kills (Spirit Troll)
Vaitali – sorcerer 18, 52 HP, fav. spell: Melf’s Minute Meteors, 181 kills (TorGal)
Jan Jansen – illusionist 13/thief 16. 55 HP, fav. spell: Stoneskin, 90 kills (Shade Lord)
Korgan – bereseker 20, 147 HP, 678 kills (Unseeing Eye)

I found an important bug during this session – SCS arrows of fire are considered non-enchanted but fail to penetrate Protection from Magical Weapons. Dhanushka now carries a healthy supply of normal arrows.

Modifié par Blackmalkin, 28 avril 2012 - 11:18 .

[Gate70]

Verun, NE male human wild mage. With Stenky the imp familiar, and Yoshimo. Searching for Viconia, Edwin and Imoen.

Viconia
Yoshimo fluffs his snares, so we head into a temple and buff. Three fanatics prove difficult though, forcing us to glug potions of healing like crazy. I use a wand of monster summoning and the battle is ours, as is Viconia. I hand her the helm of Balduran as part-payment, since we have less than 300gp to our names.

The Circus
Spirit armour and strength are cast on Yoshimo and Viconia. She summons a flame blade only to find it cannot hit shadows, so I help Yoshimo with magic missiles (after first un-entangling myself from a surge).

We rest, replacing flame blade with spiritual hammer, and adding bless/DUHM too. A few shadows later we have met and bested Kalah despite me surging up gems instead of a flame arrow.

Suna Seni
Viconia summons a few skeletons as I cast slow no interfering mages in ambush situations. I summon some worgs as Viconia dooms Eldarin. Our summons are in melee, allowing us to drop the ambushers one by one.

Mae'var
Renal Bloodscalp wants us to deal with Mae'var and I'm up for that.
Yoshimo quickly retrieves a gaudy amulet from a Weathermistress.

Edwin
It seems we must kill Rayic Gethras before Edwin will talk further. We buff and head to his house where we meet a room full of mephits. Slow, horror and summons sort them out. We rest at an inn before continuing.

We buff, although I feminise Yoshimo instead of casting strength. Oops. I fail to strengthen Viconia too (what was that over there?). Oops. I mange to give them both ghost armour, and haste them so we can head upstairs. Viconia has cast DUHM, bless, aid and spiritual hammer while Yoshimo is grappling with Arbane non-proficient.

A pair of stone golems blunder into a trio of snares Yoshimo has set earlier. Fortunate really as my next spell polymorphs me into a wild squirrel. Oops.

Yoshimo-ette scouts out the next level, dragging Rayic Gethras down to us. We run, hoping to fight after resting.

Rayic Gethras
Yoshimo is stunned despite the Arbane sword, so we summon skeletons and monsters. Rayic de-buffs me so Viconia and I run downstairs. Yoshimo saves against a disintigrate spell, and we return again. We run up and down the stairs rather than risk his spells, and Yoshimo recovers. Rayic follows once, and steps on a snare. He is badly wounded despite using a stoneskin so we continue and manage to kill him. We all breathe a sigh of relief I find him quite difficult if tackled during the early stage of the game

Marcus refuses to hand his documents over to me. Yoshimo has the option of snapping his neck, but Marcus suddenly realises the error of his ways.

Edwin relents and decides to re-join us.

Assassinate Mae'var.
Gorch has arranged a welcoming committee. Yoshimo grins as three snares fire, and Viconia laughs as the five skeletons summoned earlier set to work.

Mae'var collapses from more snares, and the remaining thieves succumb to horror and emotion as hasted summons set about them.

Renal Bloodscalp rewards us sufficiently well for us to pay Gaelan Bayle, then we are given a 5000gp discount anyway. Deal.

Cohrvale and Bregg breathe their last, Edwin wincing as I cast Larloch drains and vampiric touch. I gleefully tell him they are innate abilities he will never learn, and that the Cowled Wizards cannot detect.

Aran Linvail hands me an amulet of power and a ring of protection +2. This is a small price for the danger we face, finding Lassal a tough enemy. Yoshimo managed two normal snares, and Viconia cast spiritual hammer to frighten him away.

Gracen and two thieves are dealt with, but we decide not to return to Aran Linvail just yet.

Copper Coronet sewers
Similar to multiplayer run, 5 hasted blessed skeletons.

Slaver compound
Haegan and his guards are no match for buffs and slow, fireballs, Melf acid arrows and many magic missiles. Only one oops moment when a vampiric touch becomes explosion-self.

Four strength hasted skeletons help with a pair of trolls, two yuan-ti and a final group of slavers. Hendak rewards us handsomely, and we end up with spare armour and some cash. Viconia wants to purchase the Sling of Seeking, so this leaves us with no obvious frontliner.

Anomen recruited at fighter 7 > cleric 12 so ahead of the party by 450k-600k! Has two pips in spear so feel justified in changing his selections to suit my plans.
Who could be better to stand between us and peril? I insist on selecting his spells for him, review our party order and off we go.

Musical chairs
1 Anomen. Soak it up.
2 Verun. Keeping a close eye on things.
3 Edwin. Cowering in the middle.
4 Viconia. Ready to help Yoshimo if necessary.
5 Yoshimo. Looking out for attacks from behind.

Renfeld
I signal to Edwin that no Cowled Wizards are watching. Magic Missiles are on their way before Anomen has even turned around these wild mage spell level increases/decreases are fun.


We return Renfeld and accept a task from Xzar. He'll have to wait though, instead we head out of the city gates into an orog slaver ambush. Greater malison, slow and emotion soon put a halt to that.

de'Arnise hold
We clear the main corridor and the courtyard before lowering the drawbridge. Yoshimo grins again as two snares spring in the courtyard, so we go to investigate. My companions finish off the invaders while I oops entangle myself.

Anomen charges into the main reception area and we back him up with spells, oops lightning bolt. He is forced to glug a healing potion and retreat while Edwin casts fireball. We add magic missiles and fire arrows to clear the area. With the ground floor cleared we head upstairs.


We're buffed & ready, but a summon shows how it is done.


& again.


We're hitting Torgal too fast for him to realise he is dead, meaning Anomen takes a lot of damage. We step back and the troll collapses, so we resume our attacks.

Modifié par Gate70, 28 avril 2012 - 08:15 .

[Blackmalkin]

Gate70 wrote...
Yoshimo is stunned despite the Arbane sword

There seems to be an error in item description. Arbane's Sword doesn't provide immunity to "Hold Person and Stun", but a free movement, meaning immunity to hold spells and Web. I think the error is caused by Baldurdash Game Text Update. The original description says "Wearer is immune to hold person", which isn't accurate, but less misleading.

[PPewt]

Depending on the state of your tweaks/bugfixes free action might or might not protect against stun. I can't say I've tested Arbane's Sword for this but I know in the unmodded game the Ring of Free Action (but not the Free Action spell) protects against stun effects like Psionic Blast.

@Blackmalkin

I haven't played SCSII, but if Irenicus only casts those two defences (as in no Spell Immunity: Alteration) then Ruby Ray will make short work of him. Also Spell Trigger is a pretty strong L8 pick for a party sorcerer and probably my pick after ADHW unless you want to cheese with Simulacrum.

Modifié par PPewt, 29 avril 2012 - 05:24 .

[ussnorway]

I typically take ‘Spell Trigger’, ‘Pierce Shield’, then ‘Bigby's Clenched Fist’... I find SCS casters will protect themselves against ‘Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting’ but the only level 8 spells I don’t like are the ‘Symbol (Death, Fear & Stun)’ BTW Gate70 what proficiencies did you end up giving annoying-man Anomen?

[corey_russell]

Picenon the solo level 24 fighter/level 28 thief (level cap) continues his adventure...

I thought for sure Picenon would fall, but yet he is still alive and has not reloaded...this is the farthest any of my characters have gotten solo, that includes WITH reloads (a fighter/druid got to the entrance of Abizigal's lair before abandoning that run).

First up was the 2nd challenge. From what I could remember, most of the enemies weren't too much trouble, EXCEPT for my counterpart. So see my prep for both buffs/summons and equipment choices if interested. Basically I had to GWW and run and heal 3 times before the opposing Picenon finally fell. Strangely, the enemy mage switched to melee about this time, I'm not sure what that was about, unless he had uploaded all his spells on my summons. I had to run and heal (not from the mage, but from the surviving melees) and GWW or WW until finally all were dead.

Next, I went into the first pool in Abazigal's lair. I had prepped with hardiness and Ilbratha, I rememberd how difficult those frost salamanders are. They were indeed difficult, GWW and heals were necessary to sort out 3 of them. A 4th didn't see me, so I backstabbed him and used ring of gaxx haste to finish him. Oh, I had a haste potion active about this time as well. Next were the bone golems, GWW sorted them out nicely.

Time for the Kua-Toa Pool. This went very smooth, i was suprised. I had fired a few cloudkills via wand toward the casters, and positioned myself in a doorway to limit how many could attack me at once. I also was using my fighter armor which put my AC at -14, the Kua-toas had a tough time hitting me. I used dual-wielding weapons and sorted them out pretty well. As for the first group of Greater Water Elementals, I sorted them out via spamming fireball wand from out of sight - this took quite a few charges but eventually it succeeded. I lured a kuo-toa captain away from his water elemental guards. After taking him down with gaxx haste, I hid in shadows and just ignored the remaining water elementals. I talked to Balthsazar's servant to get the rope I needed.

I wasnt sure what pool to take next so I took the bottom one. I finagled my equipment around to 100% magic resistance, but even so I was still taking damage from the sentinels and LOTs of it! I peeked around a corner and saw way too many enemies and my health was dropping fast. I ended up having to run away via the pool.

That didn't work well. So I tried the other pool, but first going invisible before going into it. The sentinels can NOT see through invis! Yay! So I ignored them and talked to crazy mage so I could then tell the adventurers to get my eyestalk for me. I talked to the mage once more, and obtained the geas of reversal. I went invisible again, and talked to the dragon guarding Abazigal's lair and she dropped the wards for me. I then pocket planed and rested.

Time for Abazigal himself. I changed my equipment around a bit, I was using the Answerer and Gesen's bow. I did have the shadow dragon armor so I could hide if needed. I killed the nearest frost salamander and laid 7 spike traps right at the entrance. The plan was to lure Abazigal here when he become dragon form.

Then I backstabbed the next Salamander, hugging the wall so Abazigal wouldnt see me and finished it with gaxx haste. I hugged the wall and basically repeated this whenever I could get one frost salamander at a time. A couple of times I saw two of them, and I didn't want to fight two at once, they put quite a beating on me. So instead, I went to max range and fired fire arrows at them -- they couldn't see me (too far) but I can hit them! Awesome! So killed a couple taking no damage in return. For the last frost salamander, Abazigal in human form saw me -- so I did GWW to finish it so I would only be dealing with Abazigal.

I quickly found out the human form is quite strong, and forced me to run and heal. He was hitting me bad enough I had to use RoR heals, then GWW, and run and repeat. This took maybe 4 tries and finally he died. He turned into a dragon and did massive damage to me - it should be noted that for Abazigal I changed equpment a bit - I took off my bow and equipped Answerer and Blackrazor. I ran away and did RoR heal. Abazigal was casting quite a few spells at me, and some hitting, so was time to run to my "present" of traps for him. As it turned out, it was quite important that I equipped the blackrazor, as Abazigal malisoned me and successfully feared me! However, with the blackrazor equipped I was immune to fear! So I ran to the entrance, Abazigal tripped my traps and success!


Sendai's enclave is next. Massive # of enemies there, I will have to consider carefully what tactics to take. Any advice for that portion of my quest is welcome.

[ussnorway]

Lashar'ra has a nasty habit of ambushing/ raping my parties with her poison effect... had to use the Slayer on her for Numa’s run. 'Death Fog' & traps work well against her but that's true for most things... I would have also placed a fire trap in case one of the frost salamanders got too near the spike traps but it's hard to argue with victory, great work corey_russell!

[Gate70]

ussnorway wrote...
BTW Gate70 what proficiencies did you end up giving annoying-man Anomen?

OK, think I took 2 from spear and 1 from sword/shield. Have just levelled a fighter 7 > cleric 12 in 3 steps to make sure my choice was valid as your question made me realise the dual-class proficiencies could be tricky to explain.
Fighter 1-7 : ** in hammer, flail, 2 weapon style.
Cleric 1-7 : * in mace, sling, sword/shield.
Fighter 7 > Cleric 12 : 2nd * in mace, 2nd * in sling.
Results ** in hammer, flail, mace, sling, 2 weapon style. * in sword/shield.

If we get to the bracers of dexterity his tanking ability will jump nicely. Maybe I should start that quest and then park it.