Baldur's Gate 2 No-Reload Challenge
#4426
Posté 20 mai 2012 - 11:27
#4427
Posté 20 mai 2012 - 12:43
The party decides now is the time to deal with the problems at the D'Arnise Keep. This adventure is strictly paladins (or fallen paladins) only, so we did not let Nalia join the group while we dealt with the problem there.
The party tanked the trolls quite well. Most trolls were killed by Stonefire, later some were killed by the FoA.
The Yuan-ti mage, Josh dealt with him, since with Lilacor he's the only one protected from confusion and charm at the moment.
Glaicas had a little problem - namely Josh stunned him with darts of stunning. Full plate went to Josh for now.
Golems were deal with rather simply (and quickly). Used Azuredge for the Iron Golem.
For the Umber Hulks, Josh managed to pull 2, one a time. Unfortunately, despite his care, we got 3 umber hulks last pull. This caused Keel the Strongman to get confused and killed, since no one could heal him and he couldn't use his heal potions. After winning the fight, the party did the long trudge back to Athkatla to raise Keel and sell the junk we have so far. Forgot to mention the various weapon changes while here -- Paja will use the Frostreaver in melee, though such an event should be rare. The giantkin hammer went to Russell, though he too should rarely be in melee. Hannah is using the simple light crossbow +1 for now, since we picked up so much magical bolt ammo here, and she doesn't have any great melee weapons yet.
On our return we dealt with Torgal. Josh managed to pull just him. The battle went a little slower than it should have, because didn't notice Russell was using normal bullets which can't hurt Torgal -- once I equipped some magical bullets, Torgal fell right away. Should also mention Russell is using the sling of seeking (good fit for his 18/00 strength) and Dogdancing Azuredge almost exclusively.
Nalia was pleased with our success - Josh, Hannah and Russell all leveled to 9.
Modifié par corey_russell, 20 mai 2012 - 12:45 .
#4428
Posté 20 mai 2012 - 04:25
Another lengthy session, but no resurrections needed this time for a change. Things covered included:
- retrieving Horn of Valhalla.
- solving skinner murders. The rune assassins caused Kaxir a bit of trouble, but he managed to keep just ahead of the second until a flying axe caught up with it. Then returned to Trademeet to help restore Tiris' girlfriend.
- took a reputation hit when recovering a curious ransom for a noble.
- decided to get the +2 ring from Aran (we can't use the Amulet of Power). Funds were a bit short to pay Gaelan, but raiding some pirates in an inn and stealing loose valuables from the 2 thieves guilds made up the deficit. Went on to do the various tasks for Aran, though only recovered the MoD from the vampire holdout for now.
- got some illithium as part of the Sir Sarles quest. While waiting for the ore merchant to appear took on the party in the inn. Both fighters concentrated on Brennan initially to make sure he didn't run away with his ring of invisibility.
- selling spare equipment provided just enough for pay Cromwell to improve the mace and then went back to the vampires. Tanova survived a while using simulacrum and mislead, but the duo kept away from her to be able to see her spells coming and safely finished her off. None of the rest lasted very long at all.
- did the main encounters in the sewers; Nadir going in the middle using ring of air control before his attack, while Kaxir followed in with berserker and Kitthix.
- the City Gates lich was destroyed by Kaxir's first blow with the IMoD.
- Umar Hills encounters were all pretty straightforward. Thaxy survived the initial assault and made the duo retreat to the back of her cave out of her range. Azuredge did no damage to him at all, but Kaxir's dwarven throwing hammer more than made up for that with around 20 damage per hit. The Shade Lord was quickly destroyed by Kaxir.
- back in the city started on the Mae'var tasks. Rayic Gethras managed to scare Kaxir and survived the first rage. Nadir occupied Rayic with summons until his next rage was available and he could come in for the kill.
Kaxir kills 502 (99 in this session).
Nadir kills 603 (99 in this session).
A very fair session there with spoils divided equally. With increased levels the kensai bonuses are starting to give Kaxir the advantage, but that was offset by Nadir still leading in most encounters so far.
Kaxir resurrections: 6 (gnolls at High Hedge, Mulahey's summons, doomsayer, Shoal, Prebek, troll mound).
#4429
Posté 20 mai 2012 - 07:56
I forgot to mention something -- when we freed Hendak we discovered a new technique, which made the encounter much safer and less resource intensive. First Keel killed the monsters in the first two cages without being seen, this is hardly new. But, when he went to the bottom cage, he discovered he could throw his axes through the grill! The bear was unable to retaliate since its door is closed as the beastmaster hasn't seen us yet. We couldnt see the bear in the other case, but still meant we only had to fight the beastmaster with 3 of his helpers.

The party tried to find Montaron, but just found an assassin for Xzar. We weren't able to bash the hidden alcove with the charm helmet, unfortunately, not even with 25 STR.
The party decided to travel to Windspear Hills. Windspears daughter was kidnapped. Somewhat suprisingly, the party managed to rescue her. It was not without its difficulties, however. See how bad we are beat up, just trying to enter the main cavern of Firkraag's lair.

For the mass of undead, we used 2 protection from undead scrolls, didn't know how else to deal with them at this point. We said we would help Samia -- but with no fire resistance to speak of, put that off for later. Most golems were defeated with the Azuredge. The party got pretty full of loot.
We had to deal with Conster next. We used a mix of weapons (e.g., both magical and non-magical). This allowed us to keep damaging him and he eventually fell with no casualties to the party. We freed Windspear's daughter and returned to his cabin to report our success. And got some good news at least - Russell regained his Inquisitor abilities!

The other party members REMAINED FALLEN. Anyone know if finishing the stronghold restores them, or are they fallen forever? I noticed something else - several times this run both Keel and Josh would have that icon over their heads that usually means held or stunned, though in the cases I saw it I know it would have been hold person - yet they were always free to move! It's almost like they still have their immunity to hold, despite no LoH. If that's so, that may mean they have immunity to level drain too - and if that's true, this group will still be able to make some progress. That may mean Dogdacing is immune to poison as well. The most important abilitiy that we are still missing is Dogdancing's resist fear ability. A lot of encounters going to be pretty dicey without it.
Modifié par corey_russell, 20 mai 2012 - 08:01 .
#4430
Posté 20 mai 2012 - 10:26
By giving Keel the dragon helm and fire resistance ring plus protection from fire (scroll), he was able to defeat all the genies He took a lot of damage from their melee, however, despite his -7 AC, which meant a lot of potion gulping.
Also, it appears NO paladin abiiities at all do my fallen paladins have, as both undead hunters got held here - Josh by a hobgoblin shaman and Keel by a ghast - which duly killed him. Time for another temple run...
When we return, we finish up the Dragonslayer quest - once obtained, Keel immediately equips the dragonslayer, for the immunity to fear, as well as the dragon shield. The party's melees were in position to battle Samia's group which duly appeared. Our ony buffs were true seeing by Russell. The battle was going really bad, Samai was putting a huge beat down on Russell and Russell could not escape he was pinned. Three of the five party members also failed their save vs. chaos.

Russell was down to his last potion and Samia's morale broke and she ran! Russell quickly switched to his more effective sling of seeking and started whittling down the enemies. Keel put up a good fight, but he eventually succumbed to the concentrated attacks. After the rogue went down, Josh and Hannah shook off their chaos. In a sort of desperation move, Josh used the horn of blasting - which stunned Hannah, but also the mage! Now the last two enemies fell quickly.
Samia is still left, so the party's survivors chased her down (she was 4 rooms away) and took her down.

While the extra gold and upgrades from all this is welcome, our potion stock is getting extremely low...Keel will probably keep the dragonslayer permanently equipped unless fighting trolls or an enemy requiring +3 to hit for its remove fear. With its regen, that could help as well when we rest.
After resurrecting Keel once more, we purchased a full plate, boots of grounding (thinking ahead to Trademeet issue) and a charm helmet for Keel. Trademeet is probably our next stop.
Modifié par corey_russell, 20 mai 2012 - 10:28 .
#4431
Posté 20 mai 2012 - 11:08
Are the three (?) melee types looking to dw in the late game or will one of them use a two handed?
p.s.
Using the “horn of blasting” was inspired.
#4432
Posté 21 mai 2012 - 12:17
ussnorway wrote...
I can see you becoming a fallen pally again soon… picking on a caged bear isn’t very sporting of you.
Are the three (?) melee types looking to dw in the late game or will one of them use a two handed?
p.s.
Using the “horn of blasting” was inspired.
Thanks for the kudos about the horn of blasting -- I thought it was going to end anyways, so I figured might as well give it a shot. As for melee, let me break that down:
Keel - sword and shield style at the moment, alternates between dragonslayer and frostweaver, depending on enemies. At level 12 he will have ** in dual wield and will dual wield then. The intent is for him to dual-wield the foe-bane.
Joshua - He has ** in two-hand sword, so if and when we get Carsomyr, he will use that - that is, if a fallen paladin CAN use it (otherwise Keldorn probably will). He is using sword and shield style with FoA, sometimes Lilacor if confusion immunity needed.
Hanna - heavy crossbow user, we just recently got the fire-tooth crossbow. If we ever get a good halberd will switch to that to take advantage of her STR (19), but only has the non-magical one at the moment.
Russell - since his DEX is bad, sword and shield style pretty much always unless he needs to use the Carsomyr (he does have ** in two-hand sword). Otherwise, he's doing sling of seeking and with his 18/00 STR it's been a great weapon for him.
Dogdancing - she can't use range weapons, but with her 9 CON we certainly don't want her in the front. Her role as the group lore master is very helpful (we've saved tens of thousands of gold in ID costs already), so she just throws the Azuredge everywhere.
#4433
Posté 21 mai 2012 - 03:37
quests/battle log: Trademeet, Mencar Pebblecrusher, slavers in moored ship, 3 liches + Kangaxx
Details:
Russell purchased a protection from petrification scroll and some stone to flesh scrolls as well as a scroll case to carry them all.
The party then headed to Trademeet and after protecting Russell with aforementioned scroll attacked the genie with the genie lamp. As expected, the genie turned Keel to stone. We brought him up to speed, did a couple potions but still left him badly wounded, as we don't want the protection from petrification buff to expire, as Russell needs that for the genies in the tent as well - the party mowed down the genies quite well, in part due to Russell's true seeing. The party reported their success and identified the Shield of Harmony.
Keel will use the SoH and his charm helment went to Josh -- Josh will ulse the dragon shield. The party talks to Cernd, but waves him on head (e.g., he's not in the group) -- absolutely no non-paladins are joing the group at any time is why.
The party battled in the druid grove quite well, in part due to the front-liners -7 AC. Both group of shadow druids were mowed down fast, mainly due to Joshua's darts of wounding. Belm was obtained, though won't be used for quite a while still.
We talked to Cernd and let him challenge Faldorn -- Cernd won. We reported our success to the mayor of Trademeet. We also did a brief chore to get a circlet from a tomb, but gave the circlet to the Mayor, as he requested. At this point, with our flush of cash and high reputation, we obtained the potion bag and firetooth crossbow from the Watcher's Keep merchant -- what's interesting is the leader of the Watcher's of Helm first said I wasn't strong enough, I did a new dialog option, that basically said he was wrong -- the then let us buy from their merchant.
With all the recent upgrades, the party is starting to feel a bit tougher. Russell decided it was time to deal with that belligerent dwarf in the Seven Vales, Mencar Pebblecrusher. Since the group has almost no abilities, I wondered if I shouldn't see if the horn of blasting has some use, I never use this item.
So with that in mind, Josh moved into the center of room, near Rennan Risling and Mencar, and activated the horn of blasting -- when he did, the party then charged. It seems everyone saved, but this action allowed our ranged attackers to never get attacked by Orcslicer or Mencar. The party did take quite a bit of damage (as you can see from the screenshot) and we also potioned a few times, however, no deaths and also success, so Russell was right, the party is a bit stronger now.

From the loot got a cloak of non-detection and a ring of invisibility. How to use, how to use...we belated realized about now that Hendak is still waiting for us to deal with the 2n group of slavers. So we get to the moored ship via the Copper Coronet sewers, being sure not to walk on that laid down door (petrification trap) but instead on the narrow plank, very painstaking to do so.
Our prep for the battle was protection from evil on the tanks and Josh activated invisibility. The reason? When the party moved in, Keel got in Captain Haegan's face, and Josh moved up and into the center of enemies and activated the horn of blasting - it hit 3 enemies! The enemy cleric also got mowed down by our ranged attackes very fast, so the opening of the battle is going great.

A little note to USSNorway -- See? We also shoot other enemies through grates, in this case a troll.

The rest of the slavers were beat rather easily, though a lot of care was used to make sure the repeating prismatic spray trap (or whatever it is) doesn't hit anyone. Russell managed to bust the chests open wtih DUHM. After reporting our success to Hendak most of the party got to level 10.
Our cash is pretty good, and now that we have a +4 weapon (Hannah's firetooth crossbow), Russell decided it was time to take down Kangaxx. Lots of preparation was involved to do so, however:
1) Party obtained 3 protection from undead scrolls, 1 protection from magic
2) Party had 5 haste potions, given to Hannah. Also potions of genius, as Hannah can't cast scrolls and I couldn't remember for sure whether other people can cast PfM on others (it's self in BG 1).
3) Obtained 2 STR 24 potions from Roger.
Now that we have our resources, it took a lot of steps to carry them out. In order:
1) I know from experience that it's possible to kill the liches with the Kangaxx body parts with a single protection from undead scroll. But to guarantee success, I wanted Keel to use the daystar (melee) on them to speed up the kills considerably. I also know I must get 25 STR to open the daystar lich's door. So Russell used a STR 24 potion, DUHM and opened the lichs door. But we did NOT go in -- instead, with the potion still active, Russell's party rushed to the docks and busted the door to Kangaxx's abode, again not going in - Russell got level drained, had to fix him up.
2) We needed to clear the enemies between the two body part liches. So to that end, ventured into the Temple Sewers, carefully avoiding Tarnor's gang for now, (though obtaining the cloak of the sewers), and obtained our final party member, Keldorn. We battled to Gaal, got the quest and the all important key, and opened the door to the sarcophagus and talked to the former unseeing eye guy to get that out of the way.
3) Next, we traveled the bridge district and bashed the door open - Josh got petrified when he did that though.
.Keldorn's ring of earth control got Josh back to speed, though we did need to rest to heal him up first. We used a protection from undead scroll on Keel to get the Daystar. We had to rest a full day to identify everything.
4) Finally, it was time for battle. Russell cast a protection from undead on Keel, and Keel meleed both body part liches dead with the Daystar.
5) Hannah was given the honor of eliminating Kangaxx. She had 5 haste potions available and before contact used a protection from magic scroll, then haste potioned. She had to renew the potion once, as Kangaxx dispelled it during the battle. Hannah lured Kangaxx away from the party, just in case something went wrong - party AI was off as well to make sure they kept hugging the door. Took quite a while, but Hannah succeeded!

The AC boost would be nice for Keldorn, but thanks to his armor, Keldon can't take advantage of the haste - so instead went to Keel.
We will probably go to Umar Hills next.
Modifié par corey_russell, 21 mai 2012 - 04:35 .
#4434
Posté 21 mai 2012 - 06:55
ussnorway wrote...
I can see you becoming a fallen pally again soon… picking on a caged bear isn’t very sporting of you.
It might not be sporting, but remeber, bears are not cuddly little creatures like teddy bears and the like.
They are vicious carnivores and need to be treated as such.
Hope I haven't disillusioned you.
Modifié par Grimwald the Wise, 21 mai 2012 - 06:57 .
#4435
Posté 21 mai 2012 - 02:57
#4436
Posté 21 mai 2012 - 03:37
Triaxx2 wrote...
Paladin's only, so I presume that means you'll allow Keldorn? Which would explain why there are only 5 of you.
Yes, it was 5 of us for a while to allow Ajantis to join in BG 1 and also Keldorn to be able to join in BG 2. Keldorn finally joined our group yesterday, so are a full 6 now. He's using the Lilacor.
Modifié par corey_russell, 21 mai 2012 - 03:41 .
#4437
Posté 21 mai 2012 - 10:14
A short and sweet session this time. The first action was finishing off the Mae'var quests and then closing down the rebellious guild. Summons were used in the attack on Mae'var himself, though I don't think they were really needed.
Next stop was a return to the sewers to find an imp for Mekrath and briefly recruit Haer'Dalis in preparation for a journey to the planar prison - the main objective there is the boots of speed. The duo are currently in the playhouse staring entranced at a portal gate.
Kaxir kills 528 (26 in this session).
Nadir kills 630 (27 in this session).
Kaxir resurrections: 6 (gnolls at High Hedge, Mulahey's summons, doomsayer, Shoal, Prebek, troll mound).
Modifié par Grond0, 21 mai 2012 - 10:15 .
#4438
Posté 22 mai 2012 - 05:59
Russell decided he needs some more summons for the party. So they make stop by Roger's first, to get a potion of explosion. Then they battled all the graveyard enemies, including something new for me -- I never knew that you needed +3 weapons/ammo just to touch the Crypt King! There's not a heck of a lot of +3 ammo in SoA -- will definitely keep this in mind for next time. He couldnt' stop paladins though. The Namaara went to Keel -- the silence could come in handy against enemy parties.
Finally, they made their objective and battled to Panai -- the potion of explosion sorted out the mess nicely. We now have two summons, Kithix and the genie lamp.
One more stop, try to get the panataloons...while I did the correct option, Keldorn over-ruled me an let the hostage go! Spoilsport. Guess I still will not see the Big Metal Unit yet this run...one good thing did come out of all this, is the boots of avoidance went to Keldorn since he's not using a shield. Should make him a bit less suceptible to ranged fire.
Coffers at 10,000 gold. Still haven't paid off Gaelan Bayle - we haven't seen all the vampire ambushes yet. Going to be dicey I assume with no level drain protection on anyone.
#4439
Posté 22 mai 2012 - 03:29
#4440
Posté 22 mai 2012 - 03:44
PPewt wrote...
There are only two or three vampires between you and the mace of disruption, so it shouldn't be all that hard.
As far as Bodhi's lair goes, that might be the case. But don't forget, for me to actually get the ilithium to craft the IMoD, I need to get past Neb's locked door - not a trivial task for a party without a thief or arcane support. I remember in my other paladin run, I had to use a strength potion, I will have to do so again most likely. No front-liner has any skill with maces, so they will only get 1 APR too...thought it might be a nice weapon to put in the off-hand for the level drain protection and use, say the daystar (which we do have) for the main hand, which Keel does have ** in long swords.
#4441
Posté 22 mai 2012 - 05:02
#4442
Posté 22 mai 2012 - 09:43
Nebs door can be forced, e.g. DUHM. Not sure what the requirement is but you could try it first.
#4443
Posté 22 mai 2012 - 09:49
Minsc or Korgan, Edwin, Viconia, Yoshimo...
What class should I concider to be the protagonist? Fighter, Mage, Cleric, or Thief?
#4444
Posté 22 mai 2012 - 11:23
Edit: Actually, an Assassin might be doable as well (use Staves probably), had a temporary brainfart and forgot you'd lose Yoshimo.
Modifié par PPewt, 22 mai 2012 - 11:24 .
#4445
Posté 23 mai 2012 - 01:35
#4446
Posté 23 mai 2012 - 01:56
#4447
Posté 23 mai 2012 - 03:27
Gate70 wrote...
Your non-fallen paladin(s) can use the AoPower. Not sure about your fallen ones.
Nebs door can be forced, e.g. DUHM. Not sure what the requirement is but you could try it first.
You must have mod that changes this, Gate70. As all my paladins, fallen or non-fallen cannot use the AoP. I had to sell it.
I know Neb's door can be forced, I had to do that with my last all-paladin run. I also know that DUHM (with starting 19 STR no less) was insufficient - I had to use a STR 23 or 24 potion to break it down. Which, I have done this game, I had a potion saving it for something import - IMoD qualifies.
#4448
Posté 23 mai 2012 - 03:43
Since I have gotten the advice I was seeking, I will be attempting an Assassin with Korgan, Viconia, and Edwin. Fortunate for myself I had this toon I been meaning to play but put off for awhile.
I will be entering as Feralden the male Elven Assassin, Lawful Evil, Strenth: 18, Dex 19, Con 16, Int 11, Wis 10, Cha 10 (got this roll on first go strange enough). *Long Swords, *Short Swords, *Short Bows, *Single Weapon Style... Feralden training is one of classic assassin weaponry. This doesn't mean he wont pick up Quarterstaff later, just not necessary so early in the game.
My companion choices will be chance, meaning he will most likely end up having Edwin and Korgan before i get viconia, but should have the core group well before I leave town more than likely.
A bit of personal touch, Feralden alignment is Lawful Evil because he kills out of requirement rather than compulsion. He also does not steal from civilians unless their part of his mission. So unlikely you will see Feralden stealing from merchants.
Modifié par Krazy Solo, 23 mai 2012 - 03:45 .
#4449
Posté 23 mai 2012 - 06:16
Yes, for those of you keeping count, our band is one less, permanently. More on that in a bit. But as discussed earlier, we need some kind of level draining protection, if possible. Gate70 said that the AoP can do it, so we need 15,000 gold but a bit short (about 4000 to be exact). So we battled the warehouse enemies in the bridge district, but that wasn't enough. So then we battled Captain Dennis - with very little preparation, mostly a dispel magic on the enemies and AI beating things up. While this won the battle, Joshua got killed (but not chunked). There was a temple nearby willing to resurrect him for 800 gold - but this gold going in the wrong direction!

Fortonately after selling the Captain Dennis loot we had 16,000 gold or so, just enough. So we head to the docks and pay off Linval...only to find no one can use the AoP! Yikes! But this also means I can't get the IMoD for a while, and now that Linvail is paid off, the vampire ambushes will now be hostile...great.
Might as well try to get the IMoD as soon as we can. So we talk to the temple, and they say go to the government district. We get there and of course Keldorn would like to see his family. Well, he does see them, but then he says he must turn his wife over to the magistrate, but he will be gone for 3 hours.
This is perfect, in a way. Now he can't get chunked for one. Also he's been complaining about doing the Renal Bloodscalp task - now we can work on that without his complaining. (oops, forgot mention we already started that somewhat. We had taken out Rayic Gethras, but didn't tell Edwin yet about our result. VERY short battle - told party to attack him, had Russell fire a dispel magic just behind and to the left of Rayic - he died first round I think.).
So we talk to Sarles, then the ore merchant, then rest a day, get the fake illithium, talk to the Duegar in the Copper Coronet, take down Neb, rest some more (we are all tired afte that battle), put the illithium in a base in a chest in Waukeen's promenade, talk to Sarles again, do NOT talk to the church (want Keldorn in the group when we do), and finally we are ready to report to Edwin so we head to the docks.
Something interesting happened on the way to Edwin - Habib attacked Russell, and Russell's AI retaliated and killed Habib (a critical hit) but 0 experience - boo. Not sure I have ever killed Habib before...

But a few seconds before we get into Maevar's guild to report to Edwin, disaster strikes! The worse ambush possible, the 4 vampire ambush - remember we paid Linvail, so they are hostile. We have no level protection on anyone. And worse, we are all in an extremely bad tactical position, not the least of which our best tank (Keel) is up the stairs and not in a postion to help right away! Well, this spelled doom for Hannah, who was level drained to nothing! All her equipment is lost too, but for once, not a major disaster, as she had mostly so-so stuff, and the only expensive unique thing she has was the fire-tooth crossbow. We did win the battle eventually, but it took longer than it should have, as I didnt notice Russell and Keel were wasting their time trying to hit Tanova, who required +3 to hit her. Dogdancing (who was ALSO wasting her time on Tanova) killed Tanova with the stonefire axe.

We then finish up Renal's task, but NOT report to him our success, get Keldorn, talk to the temple which got us the Helm of Glory (which went to Keldorn), and reported our success to Renal, which finally got Keldorn to level 10 like the rest of the group - you guys catch all that? By the way lots of mugger ambushes during this time (and one vampire ambush, though it was just 1 and 1 thief, not to bad there).
We can't let Hannah die in vain. We complete a few more tasks for the shadow thieves, and battle in Bodhi's Lair (which got several people level 11). We obtained the MoD, retreated, had Cromwell make the IMoD (it cost 7,500 gold, more than I anticipated), and ended the session there.
(corey_russell note: I am thinking of allowing Mazzy to join the paladins this time. She is, basically, a halfling paladin of Avoreen. Also, this time, we have fallen paladins, who don't even have any paladin abilities! If only true paladins could continue, it would basically only be Russell and Keldorn! However, she would be it, if anyone else gets chunked, no more replacements.)
Modifié par corey_russell, 23 mai 2012 - 06:21 .
#4450
Posté 23 mai 2012 - 06:46





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