15239 réponses à ce sujet

[Serg BlackStrider]

Update of BlackStrider &Co



We liberated Nalia's Keep. Trolls were no threat as well as Yuan-ti Warriors. Yuan-ti Mage was shut by Jaheira's Insect Plague and defeated. Glaicas Doomed and Held. Golems Room - Jaheira smashed small ones one by one, Nalia finished Big One in Flind form. Dungeon was more tricky. Short of Chaotic Commands at the moment Jaheira was often confused by Hulks. But we succeed in the end. TorGal with his Giant Trolls hit hard and Jaheira used loads of healing potions so finally BlackStrider joined the fray in Flind form and saved the day.

Now Umar Hills to pick Valygar and Planar Sphere next.



to be continued...

[wise grimwald]

Diary of Dragonslayer

Dealt with the thieves' guild, killing Aran etc. Fortunately Amber dealt with the traps before leaving the party.

The battle with Aran was a bit hairy. All but two of the party were panicked. By pure chance I was able to shut the door on the enemy after the panicked characters had run away. Waited for them to calm down and went for a rest. On returning, the battle was easy. Amber then returned.

Mazzy is wanted at Trademeet. Did a few little jobs in the city first:

Solved the skinner murders, killed the fallen Paladins. Fought the harpers AGAIN. Went to Trademeet. Couldn't find any of Mazzy's relatives. Hope that they will be there after helping Cernd.

Tyris has not only spent passionate nights with me, but she has also declared her undying love.

[Shadow_Leech07]

Kelly Silvergrove the Cavalier

In Candlekeep, Kelly grew up to learn about demons and dragons and how these two vicious beings terrorized the Sword Coast for countless centuries. After escaping from Irenicus' dungeon, Kelly set out to hunt down these monsters and bring justice to the world. Currently in Kelly's party after the escape are Aerie, Jaheira, and Minsc.

Suna Seni's Attack

With Aerie in Sanctuary along with pro-lightning(Kelly was as well) before being ambushed by Suna Seni, the party was able to balance it out with Suna Seni's own party. Once Aerie's skeletons came into play, Jaheira called down lightning(call lightning) and was able to take out a few of the enemy(probably only one) before the skeletons got their way with them. Minsc got hit by a lightning bolt and was badly injured, but with Aerie and Kelly in pro-lightning mode, even if there was a bounceback effect it would not do much of anything besides killing Minsc outright. Jaheira was the only one besides Minsc at risk, and truth be known, Kelly believed her(and Minsc) to be expendable at this point, but don't let Jaheira know!

Slaver Compound

Both parts of the Slaver Compound are completed in due time. Web and free action, web and minor globe of invulnerability, and minor globe of invulnerability with fireball are some of the strategies used in completing this quest.

Mencar Pebblecrusher

Game plan is the same. The rude dwarf in the Seven Vales allows Jaheira, Minsc. Jan, and Aerie to buff up appropriately(Kelly stays downstairs). Free action and minor globe protect against web, protection from fire(cleric/druid) protects against the party's own sunfires and fireball. Once the two mages are locked up and can't cast anything (like confusion or chaos) the fireballs and sunfires are set loose. Jaheira uses insect plague to furthur contain the enemy mages. Pooky dies pretty quickly. Minsc is actually damaged by Jan's sunfire because no one bothered to protect him from fire. He moves out of the action afterwards. Once the web continues to lock and stop the enemy forces, the coast is clear. The poor thief Risling doesn't even have time to escape because all the fireballs and sunfires aimed in his direction. Aerie had vampiric touched him before.

The Dao Djinns and Druid Grove

The party suffered its first loss, not sure if it will be permanent, in any case, Minsc was turned to stone by the Dao Djinn just outside the tent where the two other Dao Djinns hang out. It will be awhile before the party is able to get a stone to flesh spell ready, namely because they cannot find one, and the one that was found in Copper Coronet was already scribed. Cernd was recruited in Minsc's place. The Dao Djinns in the tent were disposed off using the same strategy against Mencar, plus the addition of protection from petrification.

The druids in the middle of the Druid Grove lead by Kyland were taken out with ease. Call lightning proved to be quite the spell in this battle. While Cernd was fighting Faldorn, the game crashed because one of Cernd's dryads charmed Faldorn and had Faldorn summon a dread wolf, that is likely the cause.
The second go around, the dryads hold Faldorn and beat her to death.

Modifié par Shadow_Leech07, 15 octobre 2010 - 01:54 .

[Grond0]

Final update for Forlorn
- completed the remainder of spellhold without trouble, making sure that the party was accompanied by at least 1 summons at all times.
- tried to get away by sea, but that didn't seem to work.  Possibly because I had killed the pirate lord before entering Spellhold (although he had come to life again to sneer at me and say the ship was going nowhere).  Thus headed back to portal within spellhold.
- killed a party of drow before doing a task for some deep gnomes.  Then released a wizard from imprisonment and helped him explore some planar gates.  At the 3rd of these the nymph with me dominated the elemental while it was attacking the wizard - he promptly turned hostile and I had to kill him.  I hope he wasn't crucial to the storyline.
- exploring further I ran over some kua-toa, who were apparently guarding the entrances to 2 more sets of tunnels.  How big is this place going to be!
- going into the eastern tunnels was immediately captured by mindflayers who put the party into the arena for their amusement.  Working with some githyanki they escaped and started exploring the city.  While confronting a mindflayer Forlorn protected herself from magic and then decided to backstab him (while pausing and unpausing in small fractions of a second to protect herself from physical attack).  Unfortunately the mindflayer turned round and sucked her brain out virtually simultaneously.  It was small comfort that the flayer was also killed at the same time.

Afterthoughts
I think I'm going to have to bite the bullet and admit that I need to either complete the game on a non-reload basis or consult a walkthrough.  My concern that killing the wizard earlier might have broken a required thread probably meant I was being less careful than otherwise.  Also I'm not sure I have the patience to progress everywhere so slowly (searching for traps) if I don't know where I should be going anyway.  Finally of course I'll really have to make sure that I get hold of that boomerang dagger next time (the BG tweaks would actually have allowed Forlorn to use a throwing axe, but I disallowed that for gameplay reasons).

[Shadow_Leech07]

sorry for your loss Grond0. You protected your main with protection from magic, or protection from magical weapons? Protection from magical weapons and chaotic commands are usually the buffs I use against mindflayers. And even then I would never use my main to go head to head with them if I could avoid it.

Modifié par Shadow_Leech07, 15 octobre 2010 - 02:33 .

[wise grimwald]

Hard Luck Grond0

It was mindflayers that ended my last game too.

[Shadow_Leech07]

Hmmm... I don't know why but I tried to kill my Cavalier, but I couldn't even do that because Deril(part of Cernd's quest) had run out of spells after being charmed. She's still alive but I will start a new game. I don't know I guess it was boring me very much. I will play a new twist on an old favorite(Tessa Tanglefield) instead of being a priestess of Helm, she will be a priestess of Lathander. Well that's that I suppose.

[Alesia_BH]

Sorry for your loss Grond0. For what it's worth, Mindflayers are dangerous enemies- they've ended a lot of No Reload runs. And you made excellent progress for a first attempt. Good work!

Best,

A.

Btw. If you give it another try, consider following Shadow's advice.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 15 octobre 2010 - 04:15 .

[Alesia_BH]

Alastria's Journal: Entry 22

Well I'm on Saemon's boat again. It's given me a chance to pause and think. I'm not sure that's a good thing.

It's strange. Ever since Irenicus took my soul, I've felt empty inside. But I can also see into myself far better than I could before. And I understand myself better too.

It's kind of hard to explain and all. But like...Ok: there was always this battle going on inside of me- between the Taint and the rest. And it was so intense, that I just couldn't look there. It was like staring at the sun. That's why I always focused on the outside -the surface. That's also why I always judged others that way. So like, with Bodhi and Valen- I totally judged them on their style. Because if you can't know yourself on the inside, how can you know others? I just couldn't see like that. Same thing with the Good and Bad Druids and all. That surprised me simply because they all looked the same and I couldn't see in.

I also understand why I was always running around solving other people's problem- it was because I had problems inside that I knew I couldn't fix. And my love of becoming different things? Well you don't have to think too hard to figure that one out do you? It all fits. And I guess the Taint made me what I was- even though I tried so hard to run away from it.

So yeah. I know I can't stay like this. But I understand myself way better now. And I'm not sure I want to go back to the way I was. Emptiness has made me fuller in a way. It's weird.

I've also learned a new form. It's not like the others though- I can't really control this one.

The first time it happened, I didn't think much of it. I was in the Asylum, and I changed into this purple monster thingie. That might have thrown someone else's loops. But since I'm always changing into stuff, and I'm a sorceress who just learned new forms, I thought it was just new magic welling up inside of me.

But like I said, it's different. When I shift into my usual forms, it's just me in another body. But with this one, it's more like something else is taking over. Irenicus called it the Slayer. I don't like it. It's a little like dying I think.

Anyhoo. Saemon says there is a ship coming towards us so I guess I need to set this stuff aside for now. I hope they're friendly and all.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 15 octobre 2010 - 08:05 .

[Alesia_BH]

Shadow_Leech07 wrote...
 I will play a new twist on an old favorite(Tessa Tanglefield) instead of being a priestess of Helm, she will be a priestess of Lathander. Well that's that I suppose.

Good luck. I'd be interested in seeing what Lathander Tessa can do with the various forms.


Cheers,

A.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Joining the challenge. Will post more details in the next post. It will be a 2-sorceress run, both Neutral Evil, one has completed BG1+TOTSC SCS modded (lvl 12 at the beginning), and the second one is custom (lvl 7). It may seem that a 12 lvl sorceress is overpowered, but since it would be an Improved Anvil 5.0 game, I don't think so.

Edit: I highly doubt that this run would be even possible, but still will give it a try.

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 15 octobre 2010 - 09:12 .

[wise grimwald]

Diary of Dragonslayer
Sorted out the problems at the Druid's Grove, helped Mazzy's Sister and helped the Traders start trading again.
Couldn't do anything else as Anomen was wanted at the Radiant Heart.
Solved Cernd's family problems and went to Anomen's knighthood ceremony. Went to pick up Mazzy from her home.
No problems with any of the fights.
Sir Anomen has become a Fighter/Watcher of Helm.

[Grond0]

Shadow_Leech07 wrote...

sorry for your loss Grond0. You protected your main with protection from magic, or protection from magical weapons? Protection from magical weapons and chaotic commands are usually the buffs I use against mindflayers. And even then I would never use my main to go head to head with them if I could avoid it.

Thanks for the sympathy Shadow (and also wise and Alesia).  Forlorn had chaotic commands and death ward still up from a previous encounter, but also cast Shield of the Archons to protect against any other targeted spells before going into close combat.  From your comment I presume that the brain devouring attack is counted as a magic weapon rather than a spell.  I agree that I wouldn't go into combat anyway if really playing the game for minimum risk, but that gets a bit boring after a while.  Also the character was originally conceived as essentially a fighter who would use spells to support her fighting abilities rather than a pure spellcaster.

To try something a bit different I think I will randomly generate a multi-player party and attempt to take them through the BGT.  If successful at BG1 I'll rejoin this forum in due course!  All the best to those remaining.

Modifié par Grond0, 15 octobre 2010 - 10:25 .

[Alesia_BH]

saros_shadow_follower wrote...

Joining the challenge. Will post more details in the next post. It will be a 2-sorceress run, both Neutral Evil, one has completed BG1+TOTSC SCS modded (lvl 12 at the beginning), and the second one is custom (lvl 7). It may seem that a 12 lvl sorceress is overpowered, but since it would be an Improved Anvil 5.0 game, I don't think so.

Edit: I highly doubt that this run would be even possible, but still will give it a try.

Sounds very interesting Saros. I'm looking forward to it.


Best,

A.

[Shadow_Leech07]

Tessa Tanglefield the Priestess of Lathander
Her statistics
str 17 dex 16 con 17 int 18 wis 16 char 3

Tessa has just survived the traps before the key and the helm of balduran by using holy power, happily she moves onwards. (I noticed that holy power stacks the hit points, is this intentional? I did not use the stacking method but I am curious).

The vampire at the end of Irenicus' dungeon is slain by Tessa who puts to use her Lathander ability 'hold undead' and then has her skeletons slay the vampire. A useful ability to say the least.

Druid Grove

Game crashed when fighting the three trolls(that killed the nature party). Recreated the event best I could. Tessa completes the Druid Grove in due time, and finishes up the first part of the slaver quest, harper hold, and she prepares to level to eleven. Not sure how to get her to the finish line but am thinking.

Modifié par Shadow_Leech07, 15 octobre 2010 - 10:59 .

[Shadow_Leech07]

Tessa is now a level 11 mage, she is attempting to get her helm level backs. Her experimentations will skull trap has shown that the spell goes through minor globe of invulnerability. She defeats Mencar's group nevertheless. Tessa completes the fallen paladin Reynald's quest. She heads down to the temple sewers to fight off Tarner's group.



Miss Tanglefield disposed of Tarner's group, but it was a messy affair. When Gaius true sight got over the cloak of nondetection(I guess because improved invisibility) the entire group went ape against her. She had to retreat and rest in the temple district. But Draug Fea managed to catch her, and the lady paladin went hostile on Tessa. Tessa eventually charmed her and sent her along her merry way .



Tessa dies to Captain Dennis. Not sure why but the game didn't really go as smoothly as before at least when I was going up against the enemy parties. Well that's o.k.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Astarta (lvl 13 sorceress) and Alorra (lvl 9 sorceress) had just left Chateau Irenicus.

Installation (Weidulog):

// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods
// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod
// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // Component Name
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #0 // Infinite Weapon, Potion and Ring/Amulet Stacking
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #3 // True Grand Mastery (extra half-attack, etc.) (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #4 // Shut Up "You Must Gather Your Party Before Venturing Forth"
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #5 // Faster Chapter 1&2 Cut-Scenes and Dreams (Karzak, Blucher) (SEE WARNINGS)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #6 // Wear Magical Armor AND Magic Rings (etc.)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #9 // Un-Nerfed THAC0 Table, Saving Throws, Grand-Mastery, and Arcane, Divine Spell Progression (Blucher)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #10 // XP Cap Remover
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #14 // Multiple Strongholds (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #15 // Bonus Merchants (Baldurdash)
~SETUP-EASE.TP2~ #0 #21 // Romance: Bug Fixes (required for later components).
~SETUP-IMPROVEDANVIL.TP2~ #0 #0 // Improved Anvil for SOA & TOB
~SETUP-THEFOUR.TP2~ #0 #0 // The Four

Characters:

Astarta

Spell picks:
Lvl 1: Larloch's Minor Drain, MM, Shield, ProEvil, Sleep
Lvl 2: Blur, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Web, Knock
Lvl 3: ProFire, Remove Magic, Skull Trap, Vampiric Touch
Lvl 4: Stoneskin, Improved Invisibility, Spirit Armor, Ray of Fragmentation*
*Ray of fragmentation is a ranged spell and deals damage to golems only, ignoring magic resistance. Damage goes as follows: 4d8 to clay, flesh, stone, sand and iron golems, 2d8 to gem, coin, amber and adamantite golems, 1d8 damage to ice and (regular) elemental golems. Other golems are unaffected
Lvl 5: Sunfire, Spell Immunity, Breach
Lvl 6: Globe of Invulnerability, ProMW

Alorra

Spell picks:
Lvl 1: L's Minor Drain, MM, Shield, ProEvil, Chromatic Orb
Lvl 2: Invisibility, Blur, Mirror Image, Vocalize
Lvl 3: Skull Trap, Haste, ProCold
Lvl 4: Stoneskin, Improved Invisibility

Difficulty level: Insane

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 16 octobre 2010 - 12:47 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Next adventures:



The two sorceresses cleared the Circus tent, freed Aerie, taught her some spells and used her to identify some items and charm some shopkeepers for lower prices. From Promenade, Astarta equipped herself with Knave's robe, two Rings of Protection +1 (one from Chateau irenicus), and a similar amulet. A scroll of Greater Malison was bought as well, a Staff Mace +2 for Astarta, and some containers.



The duo went to the Slums, talked to Gaelan, bought a pair of Glasses from Aledrian, and headed for Bridge district, where with the help of some locals, managed to reveal a local murderer. With the experience reward, Alorra hit lvl 10, and chose Sunfire as a 5-th lvl spell. Then they headed for Five Flaggons Inn, where they found some spell scrolls and talked to Raelis Shai (started Haer'dalis quest). Next they rested, buffed themselves well, and travelled first to Slums, and upon arriving - immediately to City Gates.



Second destination was unreached thanx to Suna Seni and her gang popping up. Enemies buffed. Alorra starded with Minor Drain on the Cleric to interrupt the True Sight casting. Astarta released Remove magic, which took down the wizard buffs in the area, but not the clerical ones. Next round, Alorra cast Greater Malison from a scroll, while Astarta released Web. All were held except cleric and mage. While Astarta was standing in the web area of effect, Alorra was positioned right outside of the webbed zone. Cleric and Suna went to Alorra, but were inside the webbed zone. Astarta shot a second web, and together with Alorra started shooting Sunfires, and hitting the enemy mage (Alorra with darts), then Astarta shot Breach at the cleric, removing his Free action, thus he was stuck in the Webs as well. The fight ended in Sunfires, normal dart attacks, and magic missiles now and then. Found a Ring of Protection +1 on Suna Seni. Useless loot sold in the Copper Coronet.



Inside Copper Coronet: Talked to Nalia (started De'arnise quest), talked to lord Firkraag (started Firkraag's quest), talked to Lethian, and after resting, the duo eliminated Corvale outside, Amalas inside, and the first waves of improved guards (2 mages and a couple of fighters) near the gladiator cells. Since the mages are separated, the party took them one by one under illusion cover with the help of Breach and Remove Magic. Afterwards, a winter wolf and Llynis were eliminated.



The party travelled to Graveyard district next, eliminating all monsters inside the catacombs, all vanilla spiders on the lower level, and completed the vanilla quests in the area.



After resting and buffing, the party travelled to Docks district. Found some thugs (accompanied by a cleric and mage identical to Suna Seni's), but since the enemy fighters were weak, there was no need for disabling tactics. Sunfire and illusion cover solved this fight.



Completed travel to Docks. Killed a mad cleric, talked to Renal and Mae'Var (started Mae'var quest), talked to the Harpers and Xzar (started Xzar & Monty quest), and...that's it for now. Levels: 13 - 10.



Edit: Will post pictures on the really hard fights. Since the Suna Seni fight can be won by a lvl 10-11 sorceress with ease, I don't think that it deserves pictures in the recent walkthrough.

[Shadow_Leech07]

Started a new character, these are her stats during the irenicus dungeon
Angela Tanglefield Chaotic good human female
Beserker
str 17 dex 16 con 18 int 18 wis 10 char 3

She has now escaped the beginning dungeon, mods same difficulty same. Plan to dual to a mage.

*Edit

Game ended already, she got charmed by a bandit mage(Renfeld)

Modifié par Shadow_Leech07, 16 octobre 2010 - 08:42 .

[Alesia_BH]

saros_shadow_follower wrote...

Alorra started with Minor Drain on the Cleric to interrupt the True Sight casting.

That's a nice move. I'll remember that one.


Cheers,

A.


Btw. Astarta looks vaguely familiar...

http://i1195.photobu...a_bh/484593.jpg
http://i1195.photobu...19at92752AM.png

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 17 octobre 2010 - 12:06 .

[saros_shadow_follower]

Yeah, got the same portrait pack. Since almost all of the other females look horrible IMO, I chose these two as best-lookers.

*Edit: Larloch's Minor Drain and Vampiric Touch ignore magic resistance in IA, that's why I tend to use LMD instead of Magic Missile for spell disruption, although this particular cleric isn't magic resistant. Reflex.

Anyway, back to the story:

Astarta and Alorra traveled around the city freely. Now, after defeating two tough groups of bandits, no one dared approach them (save for some silly Orogs and some even sillier and low-level party). They travelled to the Temple district, accepted the task to help the Temple of Talos with both their problems, also visited the MNORH, where due to previous temple donations (and reputation of 11), they were given the task to defeat the Fallen Paladins. They also stole the necklace from the Weathermistress in the Temple of Talos. Afterwards, the party visited the Government district, talked to Tolgeras and agreed to do his bidding, did the same with Sir Sarles. At the City Gates, the party decided to help a local town named Trademeet, and visited the Ore Merchant and her duergar supplier in the Slums next. The party then set off for the Docks, defeated Hzar's apprentices and looted lvl 1 and 2 of the Harper Hold. They also completed Edwin's tasks and Mae'var's tasks (Rayic fell to illusions, after TS was interrupted, and Sunfires). Some items were purchased from Gorch (RoP +1 for Alorra, a Gem bag and 2 Potions of Freedom), before the party gave the evidence of Mae'var's betrayal to Renal. Mae'var was then elliminated, but Astarta denied Renal's proposal, and thus received only some money and a sword. Alorra hit lvl 11. Spell picks: Vampiric Touch, Ray of Fragmentation, Spell Immunity.

Party headed to the Bridge district. Here, both sorceresses did some minor jobs: cleared the estate of the Farrhad merchant, defeated Valeria and her random goons (the mage was eliminated with the help of Sunfire spells mainly), found and killed Tirdir's kidnappers (and freed the woman imprisoned there), and killed Neb. The real illithium ore was delivered to Sir Sarles, and the temple of Talos rewarded Astarta well. Astarta hit lvl 14, choosing Spell Sequencer.

Edit: Edwin was dismissed after he gave his Adventurer's robe to Alorra (this will be important in future golem encounters).

Modifié par saros_shadow_follower, 17 octobre 2010 - 04:43 .

[Alesia_BH]

Quick Note on Alastria's Game:

Alastria has defeated Bodhi. The video can be found below along with the rest of the set- now all with audio.
15 minutes of melee sorceress fun. 

Spellhold
Spellhold Irenicus
Underdark
Bodhi

Her journals will catch up to her progress soon.


Best,

A.

[Shadow_Leech07]

Alesia_BH wrote...

Quick Note on Alastria's Game:

Alastria has defeated Bodhi. The video can be found below along with the rest of the set- now all with audio.
15 minutes of melee sorceress fun. 

Spellhold
Spellhold Irenicus
Underdark
Bodhi

Her journals will catch up to her progress soon.


Best,

A.

Very nice! Liked the music too!

[Thrar]

Congratulations Alesia on almost making it through SoA once again!
Sorry to see so many recent deaths, but good luck to everyone who's still running!
Which includes me...

Athos - Barbarian 17
Valygar - Stalker 16
Imoen - Thief 7, Mage 16

Before battling Irenicus, Imoen scribed a few more spells, which resulted in another level for her and Athos. I decide to try Limited Wish for the bunnies in the Irenicus fight as her only level 7 spell, and an assortment of buffs, debuffs and damage spells for the rest. They rest, then free the inmates and face Irenicus.
Before entering battle, they buff with PfE, II (Athos & Valygar), Haste, and Remove Fear. I wanted to apply Improved Haste, but forgot that I can't do that after casting II. Oh well, something to remember next time.

In the battle, Imoen opened with her 2x Acid Arrow sequencer, then Valygar closed in for attack. There was not enough space for Athos to join him, so he took care of the clones instead. Then Imoen cast Limited Wish and summoned the bunnies. Irenicus didn't do anything useful (to him), he didn't even have a stoneskin, and Valygar (5 APR thanks to Haste, could have been 9 without the Imp Haste screwup) was immune to the fire damage from his Fireshield. Irenicus' spells were constantly interrupted.
After the mage fled, a bunch of assassins attacked. Here I hoped they'd go after the bunnies, but no such luck. Most of the bunnies were in the upper part of the room anyway, and those nearby seemed to be of no interest to our enemies. Anyway, most of their backstabs missed, and those that hit either went into Imoen's stoneskin or hit Athos - who, as a barbarian, is immune to the added backstab damage. In the entire fight, Athos lost about 15HP, the others got through unscathed. Almost too easy.

They were teleported outside by Saemon, then retrieved the horn for him and off they went. After being attacked, they found themselves in an ocean floor village of Sahuagin. Here, the randomizer gave them the rose blade (cloak of mirroring location) and Ras the dancing sword (drow chest), among other, less useful stuff. Athos can now get a CHA of 23, nice for saving money I guess. Killing the king gave them another bunch of items from the prince and the treasury, among them the pale green ioun stone and the helm of brilliance. Athos might use the latter for fire immunity at times, which would allow Imoen to blast away from the back. Sunfire is good for making some crispy drows I have heard...

So Athos and his group enter the underdark. They encounter a single mind flayer, which is backstabbed, then runs in fear and is easily picked off. Athos and Valygar take out a stream of air elementals coming out of a portal; they take some damage (about 100 total), but it's worth it for the XP.
The portals of earth and fire elementals are dealt with in a similar way. Athos remembers to use the shield of glory for another -5 AC and the elementals are killed suffering minimal damage. A drow war party is disposed of by Valygar using backstabs, while Athos and Imoen waited some distance away. Good XP for little risk, although Athos had to help out against the final drow who got a stoneskin and a fire shield up.

The Svirfnebli village has some demon issues, which Athos promises to take care of. They buff with, most importantly, remove fear and improved haste, along with various other protection spells (PfE, II,...). Both Athos and Valygar are immune to stun, fear, and charm/domination now. A berserker warrior is summoned as a meat shield.
The battle commences and the demon opens with a Symbol:Stun. He gets the warrior, but neither Athos nor Valygar need to worry about it. They unleash a flurry of blows, and after attempting to stun Athos a second time, the demon goes down. This is enough for Imoen to reach level 16 (her first level 8 spell!). Athos receives a ring of protection +2 as a reward, which lowers his saves even more (now: -4/-4/2/0/-3 or -4/-4/-3/0/-1 depending on amulet choice). I still feel a bit unsafe without rage (he's got 5 of those, too), but technically, he should be well immune to any fatal spells unless unter influence of malison.
After resting, Imoen sets up her spell trigger and sequencer for the first time. A 3x skull trap is nice for when they meet surfacers, and that triple sunfire will surely come in handy against large drow parties!

Speaking of drow, while Valygar was scouting the Ust'Natha gate, another war party teleported in. Since they couldn't see him initially, they fell victim to his backstab one by one. A few Kuo-Toa were killed on a bridge in the southeast, it's good to know that Athos - thanks to his saves - is immune to their stun bolts.
A hidden Valygar opened the facets one by one to release their prisoners, unfortunately, only two of them were friendly. The only one that might have caused trouble was the lich, so Athos decided to send in Ras, the berserker warrior and the Efreet first, to draw out his strongest spells. After his Finger of Death and all higher spells were used, Athos and Valygar charged. The lich attempted to petrify Athos twice, then disintegrate him, and although I still feel uncomfortable when I see these in the combat log, Athos should, in fact, be immune to both due to his saves. This meant the lich wasted 3 rounds of spells, during which Athos and Valygar managed to pound through his stoneskin and eventually take him down.
They released a mage named Vithal from imprisonment, helped him against a few elementals and got a rod of absorption and a few scrolls as a reward.

[saros_shadow_follower]

Astarta and Alorra's new entry:



The infamous duo travelled next to Umar Hills and completed the minor quests here, joined Valygar, travelled back to Athkatla, opened the Planar Sphere door in the slums, turned the ranger to Tolgeras, Valygar cried for help like a little girl and the party got a nice Ring of the Ram and some reputation loss, which was easily covered with 2300 (500-800-1000) gold pieces donation to a local temple. Next the sorceresses visited the Windspear hills, killed some paladins, some bandits, returned some acorns, and even visited the 1st lvl of the local dungeon, where they found a nice amulet of protection +1 for Alorra. In the meantime, both sorceresses hit a lvl up, Alorra(12) chose Protection from Magic Energy as new spell, while Astarta(15) picked Protection from Electricity, Improved Haste and Ruby Ray of Reversal. The party next visited Trademeet, killed some local genies after buying some stuff from them first (like second Adventurer's robe and an Absorbtion potion), got some reward, joined and ditched Cernd, visited and cleared the entire Druid grove (well, except for Troll Mound and the Rakshasas - for now), killed Faldorn, Astarta fought for (and won) the title of Grand Druid, got a RoP+2 and a Clerical Staff +3, rested inside the Grove, got the first quest of the Spirit of the Grove, completed it, visited Trademeet next and helped Tiris and Raissa.



The party made a quick trip to Watcher's keep, and cleared the 1st level of the keep of monsters.



Next, the party travelled to the Government district, joined Jan the Purple, used him to open all available locks and disarm all traps within reach, and also to loot 2 permanency scrolls from the Temple of Oghma and from Harper Hold (and also to pickpocket all Amnish guards in the city, and Guardian Telwyn too for the Helm of Glory). Jan found a lot of treasure scattered throughout the city and the surrounding areas. With his help, the 1st lvl of WK was cleared clean of traps, locks and treasure as well.



Jan was ditched, the twp sorceresses went to Gaelan's home, bought an Absorbtion potion from Aledrian, then visited and killed Renal for 2 Cloaks of Protection +1, Boots of Speed, third Permanency scroll and other loot, visited the graveyard, accepted Bodhi's offer, and completed her 1st and second quests, clearing the 1st and 2nd level of the Thieves' hold from three pesky enemy mages and their almost-vanilla fighter support. Since each of these mages can be fought on his own (well, with 5-6 fthieves as support), and Astarta's Remove Magic was potent enough to dispel their illusion buffs, the mages fell mainly to normal dart attacks. All three of those mages dropped Cloak of Protection +1.



The duo visited Cromwell, who made 2 Cloaks of Protection +2 out of 4 +1, also he made a RoP +2 out of 3 +1. Next they gave a bird to Hzar , joined Jaheira(she was immediately summoned by Moronia or Meronia or whatever), the party rested in the Sea Bounty tavern, Jaheira reappeared, was cursed by Ployer, the party ditched her and went after Ployer, defeated him and his mages, killed Gaelan and Aledrian, rejoined Jaheira, gave her lock of her hair(ending the curse), then faced Galvarey and his support of 4 harpers, killed them all with relative ease (improved mage was similar to the Shadow thief mages already eliminated), got a Ring of Wizardry and other loot, Astarta hit lvl 16 (chose Spell Trigger as new spell), and the party went to the Sea Bounty tavern to rest. All for now.