15218 réponses à ce sujet

[BelgarathMTH]

@UssNorway, thanks for the Jaheira info. I think you may be right about original intentions for her story - her backstory and her characteristics would fit. I really like your Reisenstar bard and am enjoying following the story. Good luck with the early rescue attempt.

UPDATE: Toddeia the Sorceress

Ano decided what we should do next. Impressed by my justice and mercy, and maybe by my feminine wiles, he decided he was ready for his knighthood test, so we went back to the city. He passed, and we got the mission to go deal with the fallen pallys.

While in the Bridge district anyway, decided to solve the murders. The shots of the big battle are below. We were under haste, prot from evil, remove fear, strength on the metalheads including Viconia.

This almost didn't go well. Thinking I had to deal with a wizard (he fled, oops) I cast a web into the area that gave us a very narrow wiggle room. Ano managed to get caught in the web anyway with an unstuck thief on him. I thought Jan's 100 percent detect illusions would uncover the stealthed thieves, but it didn't, which means I am going to have Vicki and Ano carrying purge invisibility spells from now on. (EDIT: I see now from my second screenie below that Jan did in fact reveal a thief. I guess it just seemed like it was taking too long in all the excitement)

 I cast slow on the thief who drank oil of speed. Lots of magic missiles flew around. Vicki turned the ghouls into the web so we could deal with them last. She used most of the charges on a WotH we had found to blast the thief in the web before he could kill Ano.



Fallen pallys were next. I tried to use Valygar and Jan to backstab the head guy, who went straight for me. I positioned them carefully behind, Valygar was stealthed and Jan was magically invisible, and... nothing but regular hits. I can't get the technique right for backstabbing - I 've always had a problem in this area. Anyway, the battle was no problem with two fireballs, haste, strength, hold persons, summonses, magic missiles.



I still have time to play today, so I'll probably post some more later. Ciao.

EDIT # 1:

Went to do the Harper Hold mission. Got told to kill Prebek to gain entry. I've never done this module before in any other runs - new material to enjoy, yay! Realized I was about to miss all kinds of Jaheira drama, missed her terribly, plus she's one of the most powerful characters in the game. Valygar showed promise as a front-liner metalhead, but he hates magic, in a party full of magicals. Took him to open the Giant Marble, promised him I'd deal with his undead ancestor as soon as we had strong enough MAGIC, and sent him back to his cabin.

Went and got Jaheira back. Sk'd her xp back to what it should be, and also adjusted Ano's proficiencies to include flail while I was at it. (We NEED him using FoA eventually.) I feel much less anxious now. We used our now six chaotic commands spells to protect the whole party against Prebek. Good thing, too, because Jaheira would have gotten confused. We were very overprepared for this. Turned out, the "creatures" that were so dangerous were goblins. Umm, we could have worked this out if Prebek and his girlfriend hadn't attacked us on sight.

Oh yeah, the first screenie is a funny exchange between Vicki and Ed.


EDIT #2: 
Ha! Hookay, ran the whole xzar/monty/jaheira/harpers module. I could narratize, but I think everybody here but me already knows the story. A bird indeed! And just when I thought it was over, and my old friends could continue on, (well, maybe they didn't deserve to if they were really doing as accused), along come the Harpers and take Jaheira! Etc., etc. Hey, I thought these guys were DRUIDS. LOL. Imagine my surprise when I found myself in a pitched battle with a whole bunch of mages, thieves, and fighters. Or some mixture thereof. The mages were the most dangerous. Thank Oghma for chaotic commands! That spell is the only reason we survived this.



We tried to follow Jaheira and her escort into the old house where it looked like they went, fought three minotaurs and went downstairs. Hookay, this looks like a lich tomb if I've ever seen one. Nooooooooooo thank you! Let sleeping liches lie, I say!


They wanted to use magical Imprisonment on me! The bastards! My worst fear! I *knew* something horrible was going to come of this! Good thing I was prepared!

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 04 août 2012 - 10:44 .

[Krazy Solo]

Update 1: Escape from Irenicus Lair

Irenicus Lair
--------------------
Typical clear of the dungeon taking what was valuable and maxing experience gained without putting the party in danger. Cleared the Air Domain, got the seeds, the Djinn reward, cleared the mephit portal room, grabbed all the wands, killed the vampire, freed the doppleganger, killed all the thieves and druegars.

Waukeen Market
--------------------------
After watching the cutscene we sell all the loot that not needed. Buy much needed scroll cases and identify magical items. Rested at the inn and loaded up on the spells that i felt we will need in the forseeable future.

At this point the group is waiting at the adventure mart before we tackle the circus.

Current Statistics
--------------------------
Garruk BM 7 dualed Cleric 7
Jaheira F 7/ D8
Minsc R 8
Yoshimo BH 9 or 10 i forget lol...

[ussnorway]

UD4A;

Warm welcome:



No sooner had we stepped off the boat than three vampires attacked us and our contact at the inn was murdered before my eyes... no doubt this is Bodhi’s doing but how did she know about the inn?

Where there is a will:

 

   

I wanted to get into the local brothel but its not what you are thinking Nalia (trust me)... any way as it turns out a young harlot named Ginia needed help against her pimp and as he had a key to the brothel she was only too happy to point him out to me.

Nalias’ journal:

 

Valando couldn’t resist the chance to ham regale his way into the asylum, I had to bite my tongue when he started raving about being divine blooded... giggling would not have helped matters.
 
Viconia: “Stop prating and do something useful.”
Jaheira: “Yes I’m loath to admit it but the Drow is correct this time... Someone is coming child.”
Nalia: “If some reader should find the next page blank then know that we battled to right a great injustice” ... “O’ just whom am I trying to kid... I fight for the man I LOVE!”

p.s. to Jan detect illusions 100% = good but 115% would be better... takes at least one round.

Modifié par ussnorway, 05 août 2012 - 04:52 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

Update of BlackStrider & Co (Trademeet):

Upon arrival  to the Trademeet we fought some animal assault and then talked to Logan Coprith who revealed us the situation and asked us to talk with Cernd. We did so but decided to go on by ourselfs. In the Druid Grove we faced numerous trolls (no treat at all although three of them who fough vs Druids were almost unkillable by Nalia's *finishing* Fire or Acid Arrows and woke up again and again so Jaheira summoned some Fire Elementals to help) and experienced new SCS improved Spider's behaviour:

  

  

SCS Druids, being casters, were no trivial as in vanila and took much longer to defeat. Kyland Lind was charmed by our Nymph and Lightning Striked some of his comrades but in the end, stayed alone and one last standing, left away to restore balance in his mind:

  

In the house a bit further we found nice scimitar and then a fine potion shop. Then we fought some more druids and finally entered a temple. Jaheira challenged Faldorn and with support of Fire Elemental and a Nymph defeated her:

  

  

With Animal Troubles being solved one more remains - The Genie Embargo. And first time ever I decided to eliminate them (being impressed by Ilfateer's potions stock). Taquee generously spared Efreeti Bottle to Nalia (one more summon for support) and then Genies were dispatched:

  

 

At the little party citizens of Trademeet threw us for being the Heroes of Trademeet, two nobles approached us and asked for our assistance in becoming the only noble house in Trademeet. This is not our war so we obtained the Mantle and gave it to the Mayor.



With heroes discount (and handful of gold obtained in our travels) we made some key purchases so now planning to join Viconia (as undead's puppeteer) and check Umar Hills.

Current state:

BlackStrider - Priest of Helm (11) inactive / Mage (9), 29 kills (Cohrvale);
Jaheira - Fighter (9) / Druid (12), 86 kills (Clay Golem);
Nalia - Thief (4) / Mage (11), 108 kills (TorGal)


to be continued...

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 05 août 2012 - 08:08 .

[Blackmalkin]

BelgarathMTH wrote...
Valygar was stealthed and Jan was magically invisible, and... nothing but regular hits.

It looks like Valygar is using his katana which is bugged and displays the '"weapon unsuitable for backstab" line.

[BelgarathMTH]

@Blackmalkin, thanks for tipping me that Valygar's backstab is bugged if he uses his special weapon. Not sure what happened with Jan, unless maybe he was out of position - the screen was crowded.

Toddeia the Sorceress, FINAL update (here):

Aw, I'm so sad. I went back to the Umar Hills, but it had scaled up. So now we had to worry about hold-casting shadow fiends.

Entry to the dungeon was easy, as Viconia owned it by bringing shadows to our side.

Skellie warriors fall prey to three casters casting MMM:



STUPID noob mistake: I thought it would be safer to let us squishies stay behind while the metal heads did the loop around the prison, and the first sunstone. ALL the shadows ignored the sunstone room and ran out to the main chamber to attack the squishies. 
 


I got held, and I figured it was over. Isn't it awful when you see it coming, and you have to play it out? The metalheads made a desperate rush to get back to protect me.



A ray of hope! I had had the foresight to prepare Jan with several hold monster spells! His first cast got all but one shade! I thought I was actually going to get out of this and survive! And then, <Raspberry, muted trombone, wraah, wraah, wraah, wraaaaaaahhh> The ONE shade left got a critical hit on me. LOL.



I think I will continue this in minimal reload so I can keep learning. I really like to keep metagaming to a minimum, and I always roleplay good ethics, so I'm not at all sure I will ever win a no-reload, but I'm in it for the fun. At least I got a good ways into the game first.

Thanks for reading.

[Krazy Solo]

Update 2: Final

Circus
--------------
Cleaned circus no problem. Got all rewards involved moved on to slums.

Slums
--------------
Advance to chapter 2, head to temple district. Accepted the quest head down to sewers. Decided to rest before moving forward. Ambushed by Kobolds. Tried to rest again ambush. Rather than attempt again moved forward got ambushed by stun all but Garruk avoided the stun go figure. The whole time all the little bastards attacked me no one else. Death followed 20 secs later.

At least this time I didn't die doing the Slaver quest.

[Grond0]

Hard luck BelgarathMTH - those shadow fiends can be nasty!

[Blackmalkin]

BALANCE AND BLOODSHED II: SHADOWS OF AMN

Foreword

I exported my druid party from BG 1, but not without trouble. First of all, Raudra was chunked during the last battle, so there wasn’t much to export here. He was going to become an avenger and now that duty fell on Atavrksha (who was going to remain pure druid). She wasn’t prepared for that – had only 16 constitution. However, it turned out that it’s really “-2 penalty to strength and constitution on character creation” so that disadvantage is inexistent while importing a character from BG 1. It’s not fair, so I used Shadow Keeper to lower Atavrksha’s strength and constitution (-18 HP). Her stats in Amn are as follow:
str 10; dex 18; con 14; int 8; wis 20; cha 15
avenger 9, 54 HP
scimitar +; club +; sling +; one handed weapon style +

The problem with Ashoka was that his shapeshifting skills were doubled, I just had take away one instance of every shapeshifting skill from him.
str 19; dex 18; con 19; int 4; wis 16; cha 15
fighter 6/druid 7, 72 HP
scimitar ++; dagger ++; sling ++
[Atavrksha and Ashoka had scimitar proficiency points only because I thought that Flame Blade is considered a scimitar in BG 2.]

Druma had the same problem with shapeshifting as Ashoka. Also I had a dilemma, what to do with her proficiency points. BG 2 allowed to start with a grandmastery, even though it wasn’t possible to attain in BG 1. I was not going to use that, but changed my mind and gave her grandmastery in scimitars. Fighter kit was pretty obvious.
str 18/74; dex 18; con 16; int 3; wis 17; cha 17
berserker 3/druid 9, 70 HP
scimitar +++++; sling +; two weapon style +++

Cuta regained her shapeshifting skills despite becoming a totemic druid, so same change as with Druma and Ashoka had to be done here.
str 18; dex 17; con 16; int 3; wis 18; cha 15
totemic druid 9, 71 HP
qwerty staff +; sling +; two handed weapon style +; single weapon style +
[Now that I write her stats I realized I made a mistake by earlier statement (Chapter VI of Balance and Bloodshed, corrected) that Cuta read the third tome of wisdom. It was Raudra actually.]

Vrk became shapeshifter and regained standard shapeshifting skills (removed them, of course).
str 9; dex 18; con 18; int 3; wis 18; cha 19
shapeshifter 9, 53 HP
spear +; sling +; two handed weapon style +; one handed weapon style +

I will be playing mostly unmodded game – only True Grandmastery, Baldurdash fixes and some cosmetic changes (which means that I also have core component of SCS II installed, but it doesn’t seem to change much).


Chapter I
in which nothing of real interest happens, except for the torture and all

“Ahhh, the child of Bhaal has awoken. It is time for more experiments.” Said the mage and the pain begun again. Striving to stay conscious Atavrksha tried to recall how had she ended up in this situation. Things were rather peaceful in the days following the battle in the Undercity. The party was mostly resting and practicing their skills. Druma worked on controlling the battle rage, which she first experienced when fighting with Sarevok. She also practiced a lot with dual scimitar fighting, achieving a true grandmastery in that field. Atavrksha managed to channel her lust for blood into deadly spells as well as new shapeshifting forms. Vrk focused on shapeshifting and soon Baldur’s Gate was full of gossip concerning a werewolf prowling the city. The werewolf was reputedly a frequent visitor in the Undercellar. Cuta worked on summoning and can now summon spirit animals. Ashoka, as usual, only honed his spirits consumption skill. And then there was the ambush. Atavrksha couldn’t really remember much of it. And then she woke in the cage, surrounded by torture devices.

The pain became too intense and she passed out. When she woke up, her cage was opened and Imoen, an old friend from childhood, was standing in front of her. She was clearly delirious – she was convinced that she traveled with Atavrksha for the last few months. Atavrksha got on her feet and freed her friends, all being caged in the vicinity. They told Imoen to wait for them to clear a path for her, but the girl didn’t listen and run off. The druids started searching for a way out, balancing mephits, goblins and duergars on their way. Atavrksha found the spider form very efficient, while Druma and Ashoka were very disappointed with their Flame Blades. It seemed that they didn’t work well in this place.



While exploring the dungeon druids learned a few things about their captor. His name was Irenicus and he was clearly a very unbalanced man. They also encountered a thief named Yoshimo, who told them that they were in the capital of Amn, Athkatla. That explained why the Flame Blades didn't work as they once did – it must have been the climate. Druids didn't trust the thief and didn't allow him to join. Ashoka wasn't very happy with this decision, as he was the one charged with disarming the traps (often in a very painful manner).

Finally reaching the surface, druids run into a battle between their captor and the hooded men, who were soon identified as Shadow Thieves. Irenicus eradicated them with ease but was then captured by a group mages. They’ve also taken Imoen, who suddenly appeared among them and attacked Irenicus (her sneaking skills have obviously improved since Candlekeep times). From one of the battle witnesses druids learned that the mages that took Irenicus belong to the Cowled Wizards, an organization devoted to control of magic usage in Athkatla. Atavrksha decided that such enforcers are good thing for balance. She was somehow upset about being denied the pleasure of balancing the mage herself, but she decided that she can live with that. As for Imoen, considering her state of mind, it was probably for the best that she was imprisoned as well. Druids left the battlefield (located in the Athkatlan Promenade) and went to a nearest tavern to rest.

It seemed obvious the city in which they found themselves could use a bit of balance restoration, so they decided to stay there for some time. They found their first quest soon after leaving the tavern. People were disappearing in the local circus, so druids went to investigate the matter. As it turned out, the circus tent’s interior was transformed with a powerful illusion spell. Balancing the illusionist solved the matter. The party spent some time on shopping, and then moved on and entered the city slums. There they were approached by a man who was eager to offer them help in tracking Irenicus. Atavrksha tried to explain that they do not intend to find him, nor Imoen, but it was for nothing. Finally she had to agree to listen to the proposition, just to get rid of the man. He told that he has some powerful friends, who are willing to help the druids for 20 000 gold. It now became obvious that he was just trying to extort money from them, so they just laughed at the offer and left.

All that talking made Atavrksha quite thirsty and, to Ashoka’s delight, she led her party to a nearby tavern called Copper Coronet. The owner of this establishment interested Vrk by mentioning some “companionship”. But once Vrk learned that the local courtesans are slaves, he became furious and urged his friends to free them. In the resulting battle Atavrksha was proud to have successfully petrified one of the slavers with Chromatic Orb, one of her new spells. Cuta wasn’t impressed – she was angry that during the process a valuable weapon was destroyed.



The leader of freed slaves informed the druids that slavers have their base of operations nearby. They decided to put an end to this enterprise.

Party status:
Atavrksha – avenger 10, 56 HP, fav. spell: Cure Light Wounds, 24 kills (mephit portal)
Ashoka – fighter 7/druid 9, 89 HP (with Helm of Balduran), fav. spell: Cure Light Wounds, 29 kills (Frennedan)
Druma – berserker 3/druid 10, 72 HP, fav. spell: Flame Blade, 39 kills (Cohrvale)
Cuta – totemic druid 10, 73 HP, fav. spell: Cure Serious Wounds, 4 kills (Bregg)
Vrk – shapeshifter 10, 55 HP, fav. spell: Werewolf Shapeshift, 13 kills (lesser clay golem)

[Krazy Solo]

Entrance once again...

Jeriah Male Chaotic Neutral Wizard Slayer, Str 18-90/ Dex 18/ Con 18/ Int 11/ Wis 10/ Cha 10, **Longswords, **Scimitars, **Two Weapon Style

As you can probably tell this another attempt at making a WS -> Thief. This time around with smaller party size better understanding what I enjoy, I'll beable to get farther this time around. Concidering the last time I tried this the WS died because of allies being out of place.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Sorry for you loss, BelgarathMTH! I know that feeling - hopelessly watching as your character slowly dies...

I'm eagerly looking forward of you run, Blackmalkin. Athkatla and neighbours definitely needs you balancing skills.

Good luck and safe travels, Krazy Solo!

[BelgarathMTH]

@Krazy, good luck on your new run. Sorry the last one didn't end well.

@Serg, thanks, and good luck to you on your own runs.

@Black, I'm glad you're continuing your druid story. Your intro is very thoroughly written, with lots of thought put into weaving your story around the game events. I look forward to future chapters.

[Gate70]

Burr the CE human male berserker + Imoen, Jaheira, Khalid, Garrick, Yeslick. From the BG1 no reload.

I thrust an arm through the cage bars but cannot quite reach my captor before he steps back. For a moment my action seems to panic him but then he waves his hands to cast transfer delayed savegame and snarls that I had better watch out for dragons. I don't know what he has done but it doesn't sound good.

A golem messenger arrives and our attacker must defend himself against intruders. Imoen arrives to release me, then we grab a few items and release Jaheira. I check, we are all tomed-up (Imoen intelligence, Jaheira 3 wisdom, the rest are mine) and I have my vital equipment (golden girdle and pffft Xan's flaming moonblade which is stuck in Imoen's inventory).

We rest immediately and the delayed savegame transfer spell triggers.

From: BGT with core fixpack and generalized biffing.
To: Non BGT BG2 with Ascension, core fixpack, BG2 Tweaks (any race romance, bonus merchants), a dribble of SCS II (Removed Cloak of Mirroring animation, Improved Shade Lord, Fire Giant Temple, Abazigal's Lair, Minor Encounters) and generalized biffing. Intention is to try Ascension without BGT for once.

We wake up and set about making our escape. Reasonable progress is made until a lesser clay golem almost kills me. I run in circles and glug a healing potion before Imoen kills it. Jaheira helps me heal so we can have a brief rest then I notice my rage expiry causes major injuries -30, obviously my last game on this install was on insane. Back to core difficulty and review the fight; two golem hits were 44 and 36 = 80. Burr's HP's were 65 normal plus 7 DUHM plus 15 enraged = 87. If I hadn't cast both buffs that would have been game over, same again if we hadn't used all the healing spells so two close shaves.

I continue a little further before feeling dizzy 2 steps forward then repeatedly turn to face the table with the energy cell on it. Eventually I manage to pick up the cell but the issue persists. After dropping the cell again everything returns to normal. I hope this is a 1-off.

We rest frequently as I'm determined not to be caught out and am making generous use of DUHM while available and enrage. Finally we escape only to find a second area also has to be traversed. "The Yoshimo" awaits us and as our backpacks are bulging we agree to his company. I turn to move on but something draws me back. My companions groan as we head back throught the portal towards another locked portal. I soon have the Sword of Chaos, having been on the wrong side of it more than once I decide to keep it safe in my backpack even if I have little use for it.

We find the remains of Khalid and console Jaheira; being torn limb from limb and experimented upon is a true adventurer death. She nods, comforted that he didn't die of old age in his sleep or of nagging.

Finally we can see daylight ahead. Imoen confirms she wishes to remain a thief level 9, 113k xp for the time being and we step outside where there is an unexpected problem a cloned Imoen is arrested, leaving us with the original. This is a pain, will try stopping here, create another install with BGT/Ascension/SCS and replay the exit cutscene again & perhaps switch back to non-BGT after an early Spellhold re-union but before Ascension kicks in.

Modifié par Gate70, 06 août 2012 - 09:58 .

[BelgarathMTH]

Great post, Gate, very creative use of italics for in and out of character. I hope your tech issues get resolved, as I would love to read the rest of the story.

[Blackmalkin]

Serg BlackStrider wrote...
 Athkatla and neighbours definitely needs you balancing skills.

They're all balanced, they just don't know it yet... or some such.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Blackmalkin wrote...

Serg BlackStrider wrote...
 Athkatla and neighbours definitely needs you balancing skills.

They're all balanced, they just don't know it yet... or some such.

They will discover it quite soon, of that I'm sure...))

Update of BlackStrider & Co:

Back in Athkatla the Government District was our destination to make a "monetary sacrifice" for to be able to fire magic on the streets freely. There we found some fanatics going to burn Viconia at the stake like a witch. We can't allow that and fried them with Lightning Strike instead. One of them managed to dominate Nalia but she doesn't made much fuss this time:

  

 

We wanted some relatively easy reputation burst so headed to the Bridge District. Were ambushed between areas but managed to eradicate the theat (Chaos at the start of fight and it was very handy to track down invisible thiefs):

  




Investigation of the local murders brought the first death in our ranks - Rune Assassings were too much for Viconia (the only one of us who can't protect herself with Iron/Stoneskins). With big efforts but we managed to win that fight (Efreeti was paralyzed and Nymph backstabbed to death right away they were summoned):

  

  

We raised Viconia in nearby Temple of Helm and confronted Tirdir's  kidnappers who grants the Boots of Avoidance to me.




Then we accompanied Nalia on her father's funeral and now finally arrived to the Umar Hills.

Current state:

BlackStrider - Priest of Helm (11) inactive / Mage (9), 29 kills (Cohrvale);
Jaheira - Fighter (9) / Druid (12), 94 kills (Clay Golem);
Nalia - Thief (4) / Mage (11), 109 kills (TorGal);
Viconia - Cleric (9), 0 kills, 1 death (by Rune Assassing)


to be continued...

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 07 août 2012 - 09:38 .

[corey_russell]

Consolations to Krazy Solo's and Belgarath's recent demise. The shadow fiends have gotten me a few times too, they ended Goodguy's no-reload run.

[Gate70]

Burr the CE human male berserker + Jaheira and Yoshimo feared by all.

The two Imoens and Irenicus cast powerword yet-another-new-install um, that's 2 BG1 installs, 7 BG2/BGT installs, IWD, IWD2 and Planescape Torment on 1 laptop, so remove 2 of the BG2 multiplayer installs, throwing us back inside again.

This install: Ascension, Fixpack (core fixes), BGT, BG2 Tweaks (Any race romance, Bonus Merchants), a dribble of SCS II (Remove animation from the Cloak of Mirroring, Improved Shade Lord, Improved Fire Giant temple, Improved Abazigal's Lair, Improved Minor Encounters), Generalized Biffing (BGT v14 biffs but each load/transition takes 2-3 minutes so added option 1 of this mod and the problem goes away).

We pick ourselves up again, but the kerfuffle sees our reputation adjusted dropped from 20 to 8. When we step outside there is only one Imoen and she is quickly arrested along with Irenicus. We all saw her casting spells despite being a single class thief so something else to worry about later. Jaheira and Yoshimo suggest it is unwise to chase after her in case it is part of a wider plan. As if!

Ribald Barterman wants to rip us off poor reputation and reduced charisma so we sell the cheap trinkets and stash anything else for a later occasion. The circus is our first destination, and where we meet Aerie. We hand her a magical quarterstaff to go with my bastard sword +1, Jaheira's dagger +1 and Yoshimo's katana +1. We enlighten a few shadows, but harmless werewolf attacks have removed the stoneskins cast by Aerie before we can move on. Another pair of shadows dissipate as we beat both the smurgle and some scrolls out of Kalah.

Jaheira and I stand slack-jawed as Aerie memorises all but one of the scrolls. We're used to the efforts, or lack of, usually demonstrated, or not, by Garrick; it is a novelty to see someone take good care of their scrolls.

This install looks to be working OK so far. Now got to think about when to dual class from berserker (8 now) to mage. The aim is to no-reload or minimal-reload to Abazigal (Ascension, SCS II) then Melissan (Ascension)...with hopefully a capable party & strategy.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Best of Luck in your run, Gate!

[Blackmalkin]

BALANCE AND BLOODSHED II: SHADOWS OF AMN

Chapter II
in which there are even more druids then usually and Ashoka gets completely stoned

Druids were told that they can reach slavers' hideout by sewers and that was what they were planning to do. But before venturing forth they bought a Sling of Seeking for Cuta. They also took time to look on other weapons available for sale at the Copper Coronet and Druma was disappointed to find Kachiko’s Wakizashi unusable. In sewers Ashoka stepped on a trap and was petrified. Vrk was sent to a nearest temple to fetch a Stone to Flesh scroll. The event was not without an impact on Ashoka’s state of mind:



Luckily, it wasn’t something that a few drinks couldn’t cure. When party reached their destination they unleashed insect swarms on the slavers. Seeing them running around and screaming in terror almost made the druids feel pity. As usual, almost made a huge difference and slavers were balanced few moments later. Troubles started later, when druids moved on to deal with the rest of them. An undisarmable trap (for them at least) blocked their way and they had to use summoned creatures to lure the slavers to them. The summons brought the enemies together with enemy spells. Before Atavrksha incapacitated the enemies with Webs, party was treated with Confusion, rather successful Remove Magic, Lighting Bolt and Horror. Vrk was confused and retreated, Atavrksha seriously hurt by Lighting and Druma was frightened, but luckily Cuta managed to lock her up before she could run into the trap. After the battle druids freed the slaves and left the slums.

Walking the city streets they saved some man from bandits. He was wounded and asked to be brought to his friends in the city docks. Druids were a little hurt by his lack of faith in their healing skills, but did as he wanted. Then they met a mage named Xzar, who wanted them to find his friend for him. The quest ended up with druids performing a balance restoration service for the Harpers (with another successful petrification by Atavrksha) and then Xzar’s death. Druids were tricked, but were glad that their actions served the balance (Harper’s goals are basically the same as theirs). They were even more happy with equipment they looted from the mage’s body – Atavrksha joined Vrk in the recent no-armor fashion thanks to the Bracers of Defense (AC 6) and Cuta acquired new weapon – staff spear +2.

Atavrksha was starting to become tired with the city and decided to make a trip to the local forests. However, Ashoka and Druma were complaining about not having their full plate mails, so she agreed to visit an armorer first. Unfotunately, the price of armors was extremely high, so they tried to find some other seller. They saw a group of mercenaries wearing desired armors, so they followed them into an inn and tried to make a deal. The mercenaries (from Riatavin, judging by the accent) were very unreceptive. Conversation ended up in violence. Druids retreated outside to show the mercenaries the error of their ways and their antagonist were soon struck by lightnings. All except the group’s mage, who protected himself with Minor Globe of Invulnerability. He was also clever enough to use the back door which positioned him outside of Druma’s scimitars’ reach. He fired a Lightning Bolt which killed a bystander, then another which hit Ashoka twice and killed him [he failed both saving throws and suffered 99 damage].



Atavrksha finished the mage with Chromatic Orb (his Globe was down by then) a second later, saving him from the humiliation of dying from his own spell. Ashoka was raised at the nearby temple of Helm and party turned to the city gates with both Druma and Ashoka clad in full plate mails. The latter also took a weapon from the fallen mercenaries – Boomerang Dagger +2 [I was very much surprised when I noticed that the dagger has 2 attacks both as a melee and thrown weapon. It’s like Belm, only has better damage (2d4) and cannot be dual wielded]. At the gates party met a man seeking help for the town of Trademeet. He stated that they were attacked by wild animals – everyone agreed that that’s a perfect quest for the druids.

After reaching Trademeet party went straight to the mayor. The mayor, Lord Logan, told them that the animal attacks are caused by the druids from a nearby grove. It seemed that those druids made the same mistake as Atavrksha’s party at the beginning of their journey. She couldn’t help feeling sympathy for her colleagues, but she could clearly see that their actions were rather hurting the balance then serving it. Logan also informed the party that he have imprisoned a druid that arrived during the attack and was nearly lynched by Trademeet citizens. They agreed to help and visited the prison to talk to the unfortunate druid. His name was Cernd and just as they, he came here to investigate the matter. Party decided to work together. They escorted Cernd outside the city and sent to him to scout the grove while they stayed to investigate another problem plaguing Trademeet. Apparently, local market was totally monopolized by a coterie of genies. Such a disturbance of local economic stability could not go unpunished, so druids went to balance the genies. Druma was petrified during the fight, but Atavrksha quickly restored her using a scroll. From the genie leader’s body Druma have taken scimitar called Rashad’s Talon.

After reaching the grove, party had to fight their way through trolls, spiders and hostile druids.



Finally they reached Cenrd, who informed them that the current situation was a result in a change in grove's leadership. The new leader was Faldorn, a shadow druid they met in Cloakwood. Party approached her and tried to reason:
“You can’t just attack a town and kill people.” Stated Atavrksha. “You have to also donate some money afterwards. If you don’t, balance is disturbed and people start to hate druids.”
But Faldorn didn’t listen, so they decided to challange her for the leadership of the grove. There was some discussion as to who should be the challenger. Both Druma and Vrk were eager to fight, but when Druma learned that she would have to fight without her scimitars, she stepped down for Vrk. Vrk started the fight by summoning two insect swarms. Then he summoned some backup – a nymph and fire elemental – and attacked Faldorn in werewolf form. She didn’t stand a chance.

When druids rested, a Spirit of the Grove appeared and offered Atavrksha grove’s leadership. She accepted and was immediately charged with a quest, which she found to her liking – to restore balance by killing a certain troll, Nilthiri. The Spirit rewarded her with Root of the Problem club, which Druma now uses in situations where her scimitars aren’t enough. While exploring the grove party also found some other weapons – Belm (which Druma dual wields with Rashad’s Talon), Spear of the Unicorn (used by Vrk when not in werewolf form) and a club called Gnasher (equipped by Atavrksha).

Then druids returned to Trademeet to inform the mayor that town’s problems have been solved. They were generously rewarded (with Shield of Harmony among others – equipped by Ashoka) and even honored with an official greeting ceremony and statues erected in the center of town.





While admiring the statues, party was approached by an extremely talkative and irritating man. Although Vrk is a usually a very social person, he really couldn’t stand the chatter.



Two noble families of Trademeet tried to use the druids in their schemes but they upheld the balance by bringing the item desired by both families to Lord Logan. Then they went again to the grove to meet with Cernd – they were thinking about letting him join their party.

Party status:
Atavrksha – avenger 12, 60 HP, fav. spell: Cure Light Wounds, 48 kills (mercenary of Riatavin)
Ashoka – fighter 8/druid 10, 99 HP (with Helm of Balduran), fav. spell: Cure Light Wounds, 61 kills (Frennedan)
Druma – berserker 3/druid 12, 76 HP, fav. spell: Flame Blade, 72 kills (mercenary of Riatavin)
Cuta – totemic druid 12, 77 HP, fav. spell: Summon Spirit Animal, 11 kills (Bregg)
Vrk – shapeshifter 12, 59 HP, fav. spell: Werewolf Shapeshift, 31 kills (Nilthiri)

[Blackmalkin]

Gate70 wrote...
We're used to the efforts, or lack of, usually demonstrated, or not, by Garrick; it is a novelty to see someone take good care of their scrolls.

You jugded him unfairly. It's not that he doesn't try – he's just too stupid.

[Gate70]

I do like your heroes of Trademeet shapeshifted screenshot.

Burr the CE human male berserker + Jaheira, Yoshimo feared by all and Aerie.

With the circus open again we find our path leads to the slums and into Gaelan "Coo" Bayle. From there we head to the Copper Coronet and obtain the services of Anomen. A brief rest sees us investigating the seedier side of the inn, and under attack. Yoshimo is held by a mage but Anomen casts remove paralysis before he is badly wounded. I glare at Yoshi, and ask if he's going to be a liability. No, he should be feared by all.

Once Hendak is released he has another task for us beyond the sewers where Aerie includes me in her silence. A dessicated hand, ring, staff and blood are used to retrieve a sword identified as Lilacor before we stand outside the slaver HQ. Captain Haegan is blinded while his priest is held, allowing us to tidy up despite reinforcements arriving down the stairs. A pair of trolls are next, then we rest back in the sewers before continuing. Special snares soften up a pair of yuan-ti, then silence, skeletons and hold person help against the final group of slavers. Hendak rewards us on our return and I decide to become a mage switching at level 9.

After a rest I cast find familiar and memorise a few scrolls. My first spell was so exhausting I have to rest again and BGT means the party only gets 140xp between them for learning 8 spells so better find something else to regain levels quickly.

Cue Suna Seni, minus their mage. Anomen and Yoshimo switch to melee while Aerie switches to her staff and casts smite evil. Jaheira has also switched to her dagger before summoning an insect plague. The holy smite casts quicker than my armour spell evil, disrupted so I step back to cast DUHM. As my casting completes all that is left to do is loot the corpses and learn four more scrolls. Still not enough xp to reach level 2 mage.

A mad cleric is waiting for us at the docks. Aerie and Anomen cast chaotic commands on Jaheira and myself, meaning he is no danger to us. Once he is dead we visit Renal Bloodscalp as suggested by Yoshimo. Another rest is called for before visiting Mae'var, but instead Jaheira is attacked by Baron Ployer. We decide to rest at the Copper Coronet instead, then investigate a derelict house nearby.

As Ployer attacks we split, but some of us are silenced while others are incapacitated and Aerie takes a lightning bolt. As one enemy is killed Jaheira casts dispel magic from behind her ironskins. Aerie immediately starts casting again and the enemy buffs are weakened but Anomen is still confused Sling of Seeking plus strength buffs could be nasty. Insect Plague pretty much ends the conflict but as soon as the battle is over Anomen attacks a skeleton. He recovers shortly afterwards so we are in no further danger and call it a night. I've gained two levels in this fight so can cast two level 1 spells, and need to purchase a level 2 spell as the page is empty.

[Serg BlackStrider]

A bit of news about BlackStrider & Co:

Lady Fate continues to make her own adjustments to our plans. We returned to the Umar Hills only to be forced back in Athkatla - Nalia was abducted by Isaea. The rescue mission brought Baron Ployer's curse on Jaheira (we hired Terrece to kill his own em-Ployer). As it seems that curse (even lifted) continued to attract troubles for her - as we finished Umar Hills tasks (talked to locals and Madulf, helped local Mage who needs Mimic's Blood, obtained The Chicken's Gem, investigated Merella's cabin) and just rested on the fresh air some bandits ambushed us and took her hostage! Being mostly fighters and thiefs they were not much threat. But right after we dealt with them, Meronia showed up and took Jaheira away with her so we were summoned before the Harpers soon. We talked a bit but it was a conversation with a deaf mute so then we were forced into a deadly conflict with Galvarey and his Harper Goons (much more interesting fight then vs bandits). We opened with Web, Chaos, Insect Plague and Silence followed by Emotion, Horror, Animate Dead, Fire Elemental and Efreeti. This incapacitate most of the enemies. Bessen saved and run away then tried Chaos on Nalia (she answered with Potion of Clarity, I was under Chaotic Commands, Jaheira wore Shield of Harmony) as I smashed him with gentle Vampiric Touch. Efreeti softened helpless enemies with Fireball and withing few round all was over:

  

  

Now we thinks that most *sidetrips* are over and we can finally come to grips with Temple Ruins.

Current state:
BlackStrider - Priest of Helm (11) inactive / Mage (10), 32 kills (Cohrvale);
Jaheira - Fighter (9) / Druid (12), 102 kills (Clay Golem);
Nalia - Thief (4) / Mage (12), 111 kills (TorGal);
Viconia - Cleric (10), 0 kills, 1 death (by Rune Assassing)

to be continued...

Modifié par Serg BlackStrider, 08 août 2012 - 01:47 .

[Gate70]

Grond0/Gate70 multiplayer attempt 8

With what we wanted from Watchers Keep (Quiver of Plenty +1, golem book, potion case, ammo belt) it was time to pay Gaelan Bayle. Our pockets needed deepening by about 1000gp so we headed into the sewers first to deal with a sea troll and a rashaka. Then on to Gaelan and hence Aran Linvail who told us to help Mook. No problem, we both have stoneskins active, Pendal has the Amulet of Power and Thimble can throw Azuredge. What could possibly go wrong?

As we descend the steps Pendal notices we are being followed. It turns out to be Sansuki, and slight disorganisation (excuse mode: lack of voice connection doesn't help) sees Thimble stuck on the steps with Del below her and a vampire above. Pendal notices she is drained and concerned a) she will cast a spell and draw the cowled wizards in too or die quickly and leave him fighting three vampires with a non-proficient sword.

He throws the Amulet of Power to her and checks she has Azuredge in melee. Then it is Pendal's turn to run as a third vampire chases him around Mook. There is little room to manouvre which soon means he is drained too. Pendal is getting desperate so throws an oil of speed to Thimble and glugs one himself. This enables him to avoid the vampire, and Thimble soon has one vampire dead so runs up the steps with Del in pursuit. Pendal quickly realises he can follow, but another lack of communication sees him herd the vampires to Thimble while she has switched Azuredge to throwing.

Pendal grabs the golem book as Thimble runs, then as Del and her vampire attack the golem the tables are finally turned. After they are "undeaded" some other items are sold to pay for a suitable temple reward.

Dealing with Lassal is somewhat more organised, but it is already time to have a break. Several pages of the Ten Towns book are read overnight.

Tropp (gnome fighter / thief, Gate70) and Grouch (dwarf fighter, Grond0).
Another underground cave containing the first badge we need, another death for Tropp. Grouch looks for containers but there is nothing anywhere (and we decide to reload rather than lose a ton of equipment). After killing a lich the backpacks are positively overflowing and many valuable items are junked before an eventual return to Kuldahar. Joril the frost giant will have lots more loot on the next page.

Later...Tropp & Grouch have returned to the ice palace to pay Joril a visit but RL intervenes and the near-blank page shows minimal progress.

Later still...they return to Kuldahar so Grouch can have a cursed dagger removed, then return agin so Grouch can have the gauntlets of Infernal Damnation removed (these are nasty, repeated shroud of flames: required a reload as he died in transit and his equipment was lost. Two potions of fire resistance, a mantle with 30% fire protection and a potion of regeneration were used to get him to a temple after the reload.

Finally...Joril and his bodyguard are defeated, and excessive backpacking continues. Various frost giants and winter wolves remain, and while clearing them Grouch notices that Tropp has started EVADING dangerous effects (link describes this in more detail).

Tropp Fighter 11 / Thief 13. 634 kills (+64), Joril.
Grouch Fighter 14. 967 kills (+106), Yxunomei.

Pendal F9/I10. 212 BG1 kills. 87 BG2 kills. Ulvaryl.
Thimble F9/I10. 196 BG1 kills. 135 BG2 kills. Angelo (BG1).

Modifié par Gate70, 08 août 2012 - 10:06 .

[corey_russell]

Gate, that inset looks strange, is that NWN or something? I don't recognize your game screen, or your enemies.