15218 réponses à ce sujet

[Serg BlackStrider]

We visited the slums to talk to Gaelan, and I crossed my fingers that I wouldn't get ambushed as I went to the Government district... Success! 

The way Waukeen's Promenade > Slums > Government > City Gates > Umar Hills is completely safe of ambushes. And there are some pretty easy quests to gain initial exp/loot/gold along that way.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 70{2} - (update 3)

St John, human berserker (Grond0) & Vargus, human kensai (Gate70)

 

Another decent session today saw these characters dual and make good progress towards regaining their fighting abilities.

 

They started work in the Temple Sewers by dealing with Roger's troll and then the rakshasa.  They opened up access to the lich there, but left it for now until St John is able to bust open Kangaxx's house (he was too mean to buy a strength potion from Roger to do this).  Instead they started Mae'Var's tasks and then sorted out the Fallen Paladins.  The paladins provided a fire giant potion, which was sufficient for St John to get strength up to 25 using DUHM.  While the potion was active they also went to the City Gates, but it took a long time to find the secret door there and St John was worried about his DUHM expiring - as a result Vargus had to remind him that it might be a good idea to use a PFU scroll before disturbing the lich.  The other liches were then quickly killed before they returned for Kangaxx.  St John attacked the lich form there using Daystar with 1 APR - trying to ensure there was no possibility of accidentally attacking again when the lich form was in the process of changing.  Vargus then showed how it should be done by using Daystar in combination with Belm in a brutal assault.

 

Back on Mae'Var's tasks the duo turned their attention to Rayic Gethras.  St John was very disciplined there (for once) - staying downstairs while Vargus used summons to soak up Rayic's lethal spells before helping Kitthix finish off the mage.  The assault on the guild was a bit more difficult than expected when Vargus suffered a couple of backstabs and was chased outside briefly until the attackers reoriented on to St John.  Downstairs though Mae'Var himself proved a doddle.

 

The next main task was an invasion of Umar.  With less than 1m XP each the boss enemies in the big undead groups in the ruined temple were skeleton warriors and there was no need to waste a PFU scroll on those with Azuredge around.  The Shade Lord died in a sunray, though Thaxy was left alone while the duo learnt some better tricks for him.

 

Back in Athkatla Sansuki was saved when St John had just enough time to rage before combat was joined.  The skinner murders were solved, though reporting their success was left for later.  Captain Dennis was also forced to hand over the Boomerang Dagger, which will provide a missile option for both Vargus and St John after dualling.

 

A night in an inn proved to be less than restful when the duo were forced into a fight with Mencar's gang.  However, they were able to loot an invisibility ring when Brennan failed to find a way past the summons surrounding him.  Vargus was eventually confused and then dominated by Pooky, but with all the others dead St John just slipped out of sight and waited until he recovered his senses.

 

At he de'Arnise Hold the duo fought their way through almost all the opposition, but left most of the quest XP for later.  There was a bit of amusement against Glaicas when his morale broke while hasted and Azuredge tracked him out of the room, through another room and round a corner before eventually catching up. That still left the duo marginally short of the required XP for level 13, so they returned to the Graveyard to beat up a few occupants of the tombs.  I'm pretty sure that St John did level up, but he then immediately dualled and it looks like that prevented the level being actioned as his record later on shows him as just berserker 12.  Oh well, that will make regaining his fighting abilities much quicker and level 14 for a druid requires a huge amount of XP.

 

Vargus had stored loads of scroll in order to learn spells, but got little experience as a result (the XP in BGT is only 1% of that in vanilla BG2).  However, he still quickly levelled up with quest XP for returning a bear to Wellyn, finding a new family for a paladin, reporting the culprit in the skinner murders and paying Gaelan Bayle.  During that Tanova attempted an ambush, but was not quick enough to prevent the duo from running away.

 

Lassal thought it might be his day when he dominated Vargus, but saw that St John was protected by chaotic commands and ran away in disappointment, despite only being hit once by call lightning - a second strike tickling the dominated Vargus.  The Guild Contact was then overcome with the help of some summons.

 

Back at the de'Arnise hold the FoA was forged, a drawbridge lowered and a dog stew prepared and thrown away.  St John was now able to summon a fire elemental and Vargus tried to complement that with a minor earth elemental.  Rather amusingly that went hostile, prompting a general attack on it.  Vargus managed to charm it, but that just meant that the earth elemental attacking the fire elemental turned the latter hostile instead!  After resting they tried again - successfully this time - and the combination was enough to deal with Torgal.  Other summons helped with the giant trolls before reporting to Nalia.

 

With a decent amount of money in the bank a look at the shops produced the Robe of Vecna among other prizes.

 

Some tidying up work included finishing looting the top floor of Watcher's Keep - killing the first 2 statues in the process.  Also helped Tiris in Trademeet and sorted out the rakshasas in the Druid Grove - though the latter fight was more difficult than expected when St John found he still needed 20 to hit them despite being up to level 12.

 

Finally they went to fetch Valygar's body and opened up the Planar Sphere.  They've fought past the halflings and golems and made Lavok ask for mercy, but will need to deal with Tolgerias next time.

 

Stats:

St John, berserker 12 / druid 12, 106 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 372 kills

Vargus, kensai 13 / mage 11, 117 HPs (incl. 10 from ioun stone), 500 kills, 1 death

[Aasim]

Kira, 4th BG2 update

 

He's still kicking strong. As a sidenote, Korgan now ammounts for about 50% of total kill EXP, despite not going through BG1.

Anyhow, the party became heroes of Trademeet and had their statues  forged. Bought Displacer Cloak and Belt of Inertial Barrier, both for Kira.

Belt is quite a bit changed;

 

It lost it's prominent resistance to Magical damage, but it's still a very useful item.

 

With our new equipment, we clear out De'Arnise for Nalia, exploiting the fact Torgal sees invisible creatures. He was lured out and beaten down.

 

We left the guards and Nalia tackle what's left of the keep trolls, Yuan-tis, Umber Hulk Elders and Golems.

 

Then we payed a short trip to Firkraag's lair. Rukh hit Korgan with a 3xFlame Arrow sequencer, to which Korgan responded with several Call Lightning strikes (Cloak of Vengeance has 20% chance to trigger a Call Lightning attack on whoever harms the wearer).

Both died, but only Korgan would be ressurected.

 

That was all we did in that dungeon - I have SCS vampires installed and I don't want to tackle them yet, since I have no +3 weapon for Korgan.

Returned to the city, and did some minor stuff there:

Skinner

 

The gang in Bridge District (what's the story with them anyway?)

 

Fallen Paladins

 

Tarnor's gang - 4x Chaos did most of the work.

 

What little was left standing after Chaos expired, Ice Storm finished.

 

We ramped up things for today by returning the mirror to Mekrath, and are likely to be clearing out Pooky/Amon and cpt.Dennis next. 

Surviving that (we shoud....) I'm thinking about doing the Unseeing Eye, since a very lovely belt can be obtained there and Kira would love to get it.

Most of the money has been spent on scrolls, icluding one green Pro Magic.

Kira is at level 11 still, but is very close to 12th.

Korgan just reached 12th, putting his 3rd pip into warhammer.

Xan has also reached level 12, while Viconia and Edwin are at 11th.

[Grond0]

Both died, but only Korgan would be ressurected.

Sounds like fun.  I like the idea of the arm of vengeance reaching out from his grave - followed by the rest of him reappearing .

[Blackraven]

Norgath, Dwarven Bounty Hunter

 

Entering the BG2 no-reload challenge from BG1. I forgot to take a screenshot, as I often tend to, but I recall he had close to 400k XP, which meant one immediate level up (level 11) at the beginning of SoA, and later a second one (level 12) still in Chateau Irenicus as well. In sum: Stats are 19-18-20 -16 -20-7. The level 12 proficiency pip was invested in Two Weapon Fighting (3rd pip as allowed by Rogue Rebalancing, the other two profs are Short Swords and Shortbows). The 40 skill points all went to Detect Illusions, bringing that skill into the 65-80 range, just like Stealth, Find Traps and Set Traps.

Mods:

Spoiler

The most important mods I'm playing with are Ascension, QuestPack with its revised Hell Trials,  Song & Silence, Rogue Rebalancing, SCS I and II (v21), Wheels of Prophecy, and aTweaks. Besides those, Thalantyr's Item Upgrade in BG1 and Weimer's Item Upgrade in BG2 allow Norgath to get some items upgraded by Thalantyr and Cromwell respectively. Assassinations, Back to Brynnlaw, and Sellswords offer a couple of new adventures in SoA. Finally, I'm using a number of tweaks from BG2Tweaks and BGTTweaks that facilitate different aspects of gameplay. Most consequential are the Un-Nerfed Thac0 table, maximum HP at level up (but also max HP for all enemies), and importation of gear from BG1 into Irenicus' Dungeon.

His trip to Amn for Duke Belt didn't quite go as planned, what with his being poisoned and kidnapped by a man he had heard called Mae'Var. And finding himself a prisoner in a dark, futuristic dungeon where he was made the subject of physical and mental torture didn't do much for the Dwarf's mood either.

 

During a quiet moment, Imoen of all people released Norgath from his cell. He was positive that he had set out to Amn on his own, and yet Imoen had been a prisoner in this dungeon just like himself, as well as two others whom he had briefly met during his journeys on the Sword Coast: Minsc and Jaheira. The lass was thanked for waking him at an opportune moment but then told that they'd stand a better chance trying to sneak out by themselves. Minsc and Jaheira he bluntly informed that he prefered to work alone. Bereft of all his gold and gear, the sullen Dwarf kept to the shadows while exploring the dungeon to get an idea of its layout, and to seek escape of course. He snuck past numerous Mephits and Duergar,until in one room, he spotted some of his gear on a table.

Spoiler

The items that BGTTweaks imports into SoA depend on what's in Charname's inventory at the end of BG1. Norgath found the following items: Shadow Armor, Boots of Stealth, Ring of Protection +2, Helm and Cloak of Balduran, Semaj's Cloak, Cloak of Protection +2, Ring of Protection +2, Bracers of Archery, Gauntlets of Weapon Expertise, Ring of Fire Resistance, Ring of Free Action, Greenstone Amulet, Tamoko's Full Plate +1, Fallorain's Plate +1, and Eagle Bow. I only allowed him to use his "clothes" though, i.e. the boots and the armor. The other items went into a Bag of Holding I keepered into his inventory, with the idea to sell them to Ribald and then edit the gold away. The items might then later be bought from Ribald. His Cloak of Non-Detection as upgraded by Thalantyr was edited into Norgath's inventory as well, he would "find" (and be allowed to use) that item later.

While Norgath was sorting out his possessions and storing some items in his pack, he was spotted by some of the Duergar and was forunate to find a quiet corridor where he could cloak himself in shadows again. [His base stealth was 70, which as such is sufficient to reliably hide in Irenicus' dungeon, but with the armor and the boots, he was even better off of course.] From that moment the prey became the hunter. He started to haunt the place, invisible like a phantom unless and until he chose to attack. Many Duergar wouldn't even lay eyes on him before he put them to rest with a short sword he'd found (a mundane weapon, nothing like the splendid Short Sword of Backstabbing that had become his staple weapon). Other creatures too, including two golems and an Otyugh, met the sharp end of his blade. He plundered two beautiful but heavily trapped rooms that didn't seem part of the dungeon, and with a Genie he traded a flask for the sword that had belonged to his nemesis Sarevok (Mephits were bypassed with stealth). To thwart his torturer, a wizard named Irenicus he was told, he promised three enslaved Dryads to free them by delivering a number of acorns to one of their sisters in the Windspear Hills (wherever that may be).
With an unusual stone he successfully ported to another level of the dungeon where he met a Kara-Turan colleague that somehow reminded him of the woman he had met in Baldur's Gate and slain shortly before his battle with Sarevok. The man offered to team up with the Dwarf, but the latter wouldn' have it. The first room he entered contained four Mephit portals that kept spawning different types of Mephits. No (extra) healing potions had been needed thus far, but these pests (that would blind, doom and scald the Dwarf at every turn) made him quaff two or three. He did prevail though, by destroying the portals. He proceeded through a corridor where he had to fight more Mephits as well as inexplicably hostile thieves, until he reached a spacious, open room, that contained a number of wands he couldn't use but perhaps later sell. In a smaller room to the left he witnessed a fight between a vampire and more thieves. He threw a couple of traps inside, killing the vampire. However, the surviving thieves weren't exactly grateful. Humans... 

As the coast seemed clear, Norgath took some time to rest before he continued his search for a way out. That search brought him past a forge room (where Duergar were shunned and a Girdle of Bluntness secured) and a room with a Shapeshifter he slew. Adjacent to that room was a corridor he snuck through past thieves (he now expected to be hostile); it led to the surface, a market place in an unfamiliar city with a southern feel...

He saw Imoen there, and Irenicus too, as well as a number of thieves. The Bounty Hunter nodded approvingly as Imoen boldly cast a spell at Irenicus (that girl surely hadn't idled her time away). But in a blink numerous wizards came teleporting in and arrested both Irenicus and Imoen. Apparently these wizards regulated spellcasting within the city. The Dwarf wasn't pleased to see his quarry disappear right in front of him, but there was little he could except explore the city for hints where the wizards might have gone, for commercial opportunities, and for clues regarding that other figure he had a score to settle with: Mae'Var.

 

On his way exploring the promenade, a guard informed him that he was in Athkatla, and warned him of disappearances of in a circus tent. Norgath took a gauging look at the tent and thought it impossible for people to disappear in there, so he decided to check it out. Once inside he seemed to have stepped into another world though, much bigger, inhabited by werewolf-like creatures, Shadows, and an Elf that looked like an Ogre due to some sort of illusion magic. Norgath dispelled the illusion on the Elf, spoke with a woman that was made to look like a Spider and confronted the perpetrator, an Ogre Mage that when slain turned out to be a Gnome (more illusory magics). Dealing with the ogrish Gnome hadn't been easy by the way, because Shadows drained him twice of his strength.

As he left the tent, a young girl approached to thank the Dwarf and to give him a magic lamp, belonging to one Jafir at the Crooked Crane Inn. He decided to visit this Jafir later. After a good night's rest he woke with his strengths fully recovered, and decided to continue his exploration of the city. It led him to a poor area, simply called 'The Slums', and understandably so. In the Slums he met Gaelan Bayle, a friendly thief who told him he had ways to get to Imoen. The Dwarf made it clear that his main concern was Irenicus, but according to Bayle, that too could be arranged. However the man asked 20k GP for his help. It made him suddenly a lot less friendly in the Norgath's eyes, but the Dwarf didn't immediately refuse to deal with Bayle, and was glad me'd made that decision when Bayle told him he was a member of the Shadow Thieves Guild. Norgath had had good experiences with the only Thieves Guild he had previously had dealings with, in Baldur's Gate. For a moment his thoughts wandered off to his friends Narlen Darkwalk, Rededge, and Black Lily. He thanked Bayle for a job he'd likely be offered should he visit the Shadow Thieves, and decided to present himself at the guild right away.

[Aasim]

GL Blackraven. Don't get mazed

 

 

 (but also max HP for all enemies

I think SCS already does that, even more (example - Tolgerias the  mage has 96(!) HP with SCS). His level is 21. 

 

 

Sounds like fun.  I like the idea of the arm of vengeance reaching out from his grave - followed by the rest of him reappearing .

Thinking about this, I didn't change his portrait.

Hmm...

[Epsil0]

I always knew there was a safe path, but I could never remember it. Thanks, Serg!

Nice work, Aasim, and best of luck to Norgath!

 

Qin-Tai, Human Barbarian/Thief, update two.

The party has success on numerous levels. We gain enough gold to raise both Minsc and Nalia from Hendak, and consider our paths. Qin is at 9/8 at this junction, and I'd really rather regain his Barbarian levels before we do anything serious. The easiest thing to do right now is clear the sewers and invade the slaver's ship: the first is just mindless slogging through a short dungeon, and the second was considerably easier than expected when Nalia cloudkilled the stairway that reinforcements come from, and Aerie blinded Captain Haegan on her first try. I misstepped slightly with the two mages, since I couldn't quite remember if Web was a hold effect and thus blocked by Arbane's sword (it's not.) A couple additional spells from Nalia and Aerie soon fix the situation, though. Reporting back to Hendak grants 9/9 to Qin, 8/9 to Aerie, and 10/4 for Nalia.

 

I'm sick of the second ambush hanging over my head, so I order Jaheira to memorize and cast Pixie Dust on us, and then we zoned 4 - 5 times before finally encountering Renfield. They apparently don't have any Divination spells, so I have time to run north out of their sight, fully buff, and then let Qin backstab the mage before the fight begins, chunking him with a pretty 42 damage. The others are mopped up without landing a single hit - or if there was a hit, it bounced off a Stoneskin or Ironskin somewhere.

 

Prebek and Sanasha, on the other hand, are still issues. I haven't found the right spells yet, or purchased anyways, to go into a head-to-head Mage duel with Aerie and Nalia. Most notably missing is Spell Thrust, since that means I can't break through the dual MGoIs that the two of them cast. In any case, the Ghasts have to be the first to go before we fail an important save, and they're quickly almost-destroyed by a single Holy Smite. Unfortunately, Prebek also lands a Slow on us, and I have no desire to fight Slowed against a Flesh Golem. Outside we go to wait out the duration. We repeat this several times to get rid of what appeared to be Hold Person spells from the two mages, or maybe Horror. Without enough area to spread, I chose to cheese it out and waste their spells on thin air, even if we only stepped out the door.

 

Third or fourth time, however, I messed up and was forced to stay inside: Qin was hit by a Dire Charm and failed his save. Not good. The Ghasts had been killed, but the Flesh golem and the mages were untouched. My three spell casters focus on breaking Sanasha's Stoneskin while Minsc keeps Qin's 19 strength and the Flesh golem busy. We win, eventually, but Minsc had to go through 3-4 Potions of Extra Healing. It was a bit of a relief to finish the combat-less end to Xzar's quest, and even more of a relief when that quest gave Qin his 10th level, giving him back his extra speed, his backstab immunity, and probably most importantly of all his rage.

 

Since we're in the area, we get Jaheira cursed. A quick trip to the Government district leaves us 1k gold shorter, but 20k experience higher and more importantly we don't have to try to break the defenses of 3 mages inside a small room. An easy success, and now I'm contemplating my next step and final team. Myself and Imoen are obviously on it, and probably Aerie as well just for the comfort factor. A second divine caster would be nice, so Jaheira, Cernd, or Anomen is probably on it. Of those, Anomen is too reliant on the gloves of DEX which in a randomization run is not a good idea. And this is SCS, so I'm pretty sure I want a third mage: options are keep Nalia, or pick up Jan, Edwin, or Neera. Of these, I want to try Neera the most, so... Wild magic it is, I guess. This leaves my 6th to be a warrior-type, and I'm open to suggestions here. I'm leaning towards Valygar if only because the double backstab from him and Qin could potentially end multiple mage battles before they even begin. 

[Blackraven]

@Aasim hehe, hopefully Norgath will soon be doing the mazing...
@Epsil0, thank you! Best of luck to your Barbarian as well!

Norgath, Dwarven Bounty Hunter (update 2)
 

He learnt that the city was very unsafe for the unprepared. Hidden in shadows he came upon a group of ruffians who were clearly out to ambush citizens that happened to take a wrong turn. They didn't notice the Dwarf though, and he took advantage of that, throwing a couple of his special traps in their direction. The snares held his foes, allowing him to take three of them down with his bow (one or two others were or went invisible). On one of his victims he found an enchanted short sword, Arbane's Sword.

He eventually made it to the Guild, in the Docks District, and introduced himself to some of its members, including Renal Bloodscalp, who indeed had a job for him just as Gaelan Bayle had suggested. The Dwarf couldn't suspend his disbelief when he was told his task: to find evidence incriminating a leader of one the local guildhouses, a man named Mae'Var! Abbathor must have smiled upon Norgath that day. The Bounty Hunter kept his emotions to himself and agreed to the task. He bought a couple of invisibility potions from Merina the fence to facilitate backstabbing, and went on his way to murder Mae'Var. But when he got there, he was in for another surprise: his kidnapper didn't recognize him (Irenicus' torturing must have aged the young Dwarf beyond his years). Rather than killing Mae'Var there and then he accepted to "work" for the rogue first - in hopes of finding the evidence that would increase his standing within the Guild. He completed a first task, little more than a test, before he was told in a rude way to receive instructions from one of Mae'Var's underlings, a Red Wizard with a vaguely familiar face named Edwin. The task this Red Wizard set him, was not an easy one: to dispatch Rayic Gethras, a Cowled Wizard.

Norgath decided to relax for a bit at an inn and prepare a number of traps before he'd pay the Cowled one a visit. He opted for lodgings at the Copper Coronet, an inn he remembered having seen in the slums, but before he got there, a second ambush had him return to the Docks District to save a wounded and poisoned man from bandits, and bring him to a friend in front of a huge but as yet unidentified building. At the Copper Coronet Norgath was given access to some of the back areas that offered entertainment in the form of prostitution and black lotus sessions. When he entered a zone he apparently wasn't allowed to visit, he was immediately attacked by a guard he had to slay. The reason: hidden slaves. Norgath dealt with a Beastmaster and his pets, and looted a nifty shortbow and a nice wolfskin bag from his body, as well as a key with which he released the slaves from their cells. Together with the slaves Norgath dispatched the guards and the innkeeper, Lethinan. The Dwarf then instated the slave leader Hendak as the establishment's new manager (and was quite pleased to have a loyal ally running the business, an important meeting center for adventurers and a place where recent news and gossip could be learned).

Upstairs a retired thief handed Norgath a pair of Gloves of Pickpocketing he no longer needed. It gave the Dwarf an idea. With an excellent reputation as the savior of the slaves and the reformer of the Inn, and with a couple of potions of master thievery he could steal some valuable items for sale at the inn, at virtually no risk. Thus he appropriated various enchanted weapons and other valuable items. Some of those he'd keep for himself, other goods he would barter with Merina over at the Thieves Guild either for more useful wares (such as the Black Cat's Claw +2, which confers Luck and +1 DEX upon the user), or simply for hard coin for him to spend. The Copper Coronet wasn't the only business to experience unexplained losses in its stock, and Norgath soon found himself as prosperous a mercenary as he had been in his glory days in the city of Baldur's Gate. Amongst his new possessions are a wealth of magical potions, scrolls, and enchanted arrows as well as various situationally useful items (such as Ring of Air Control, Rod of Resurrection, Mercykiller Ring, Ring of Regen, Reflection Shield, Vhailor's Helm, Alathis' Guard cowl, and his old blade Sound Defense +2 that must have been fenced by Mae'Var after the kidnapping).

In the Docks District Norgath was approached by a pale woman that told him his mistress wanted to have a word with him in the Graveyard District, after sunset. Norgath went there somewhat early and saw no trace of the mistress. He decided to reconnoitre the area a bit, and even entered a pavilion that led to an open, underground area inhabited by Spiders that poisoned him and had him flee back outside to recover. When cured and healed, he reentered, hidden in shadows and boosted by an oil of speed, to make short work of the arachnids. Norgath has nothing against Spiders, he quite admires them. What he doesn't like however, is being crossed by them, hence the retribution. Further inside he found the spiders' nest and a Half-Drow Hivemaster Druid. She asked him to retrieve the Spiders' Bane sword for her from the Sewers. Norgath agreed and saw the job through although it meant having to sneak past deadly Beholders. He was amply rewarded for his effort with a Black Spider Figurine with which he could summon an arachnid, Kitthix, to his aid once every day. Other loot included an ioun stone that increases the wearer's health and their precision in combat, and a scroll of Spider Spawn which together with 5 poisoned throwing daggers and 5k GP allowed a fellow Dwarf named Cromwell, a master smith, to upgrade Kitthix for him. In the Bridge District he investigated a series of murders for Lieutenant Aegisfield. He found the culprit, a tanner, but the man escaped and two of his lackeys, backstabbing Rune Assassins both of them, injured the Dwarf severely, even though he had been immune to backstabs thanks to the Alathis' Guard cowl. The Dwarf chose to cease his investigation and report back to Aegisfield, who was grateful anyway.

He then decided to return to his Guild business. He still had the Cowled Wizard to deal with after all. The mage had Mephits - some of which capable of stunning their targets, against which the Dwarf hoped to be protected with Arbane's Sword - guarding his home, and two Stone Golems. The Mephits hurt him, but with a potion of extra healing and Kitthix's webs and poisons, the Dwarf prevailed. Pseudo-backstabs and Kitthix's help allowed Norgath to overcome the Golems as well. This left Rayic Gethras, a respectable (level 14) Conjurer Mage. Norgath placed two traps near the stairs but Rayic didn't like that. He went hostile, buffed himself with Stoneskin, PfMW, and Globe of Invulnerability, and started the incantation of an offensive spell. Norgath hastily retreated, hid in shadows, and returned. Protected by non-detection, he didn't worry too much as he snuck past the wizard and placed two new snares on the other side of the room. The Bounty Hunter waited for a bit, took a few steps toward his foe, and with his Tuigan Bow released an arrow of dispelling. The arrow struck true, removing the wizard's protections. Norgath then retreated again to the back of the room, which prompted Rayic Gethras to approach and activate the Dwarf's traps, with deadly results. Further missions for Edwin and Mae'Var were little more than simple fetch quests that Norgath carried out with ease. He was found worthy by both Edwin and Mae'Var, and Edwin, disloyal to his master, handed Norgath a key to a strongbox containing correspondence that implicated Mae'Var.

With the letters Norgath returned to Renal Bloodscalp, who was pleased with the Dwarf's efforts so far but asked him to get rid of Mae'Var and his adherents. Normally Norgath wouldn't be happy with such an instruction because his job had been to simply find the evidence. However, things were different of course in the special case of Mae'Var. With an ample supply of invisibility potions, the Dwarf had little difficulty backstabbing the living daylights out of Mae'Var's men (and women). Mae'Var had hidden himself downstairs, surrounded by his most trusted associates. But Norgath, who switched to his bow after the first adherents fell, had an ally as well: Kitthix. The Dwarf would use arrows of dispelling and arrows of biting on buffed Mae'Var (and on a Priest of Cyric), enabling Kitthix to give his kidnapper the horrible death he had long coming. Norgath was rewarded a Short Sword +3 and promoted to manager of Mae'Var's guildhouse, with almost unlimited freedom as to how to run the place.

[Aasim]

Kira, 5th BG2 update

 

We did most of the intended stuff in the city. First, Pooky, Amon & Co. (double Chaos)

 

Next, cpt.Dennis (double Chaos again)

 

Feeling lucky and in need for XP, we decided to tackle Unseeing Eye. Had one nasty moment when Kira had to save vs beholder's Petrification attack

 

Korgan got held, we took some damage, but the nasty beholder group guarding the bridge was slain. My original tactic was to have Kira scout them out, then Edwin to toss an Ice Storm followed by Cloudkill. Brought them to a Near Death state, so I decided to risk it. Worked this time...

 

Vs Unseeing Eye, Kira used Magic Shielding potion, I decided no to risk it too much.

Flesh Golem took some blows as well.

 

At the end, it killed itself striking Korgan.

 

We killed the group near the exit with Ice Storm/Cloudkill/Fireball and returned the rod. Kira gained level 12, now he has 1xshortbow, 2xshort sword, 2x2 weapon style profs. Next should go to Long swords.

 

We also finished Aran's first and second task. I'm still reluctant to visit Graveyard without Edwin having level 6 spells. Either Planar Sphere or Planar prison will be our next destination.

[Aasim]

Kira, 6th BG2 update

 

Planar Sphere troubles

 

We assaulted the halfling group very carfully. Korgan + summoned spiders in front, Kira in back with Tugian, spellcasters even more behind. 2x Chaos, Ice Storm hleped a bit, while AoE clouds were thwarted by their cleric instantly.

One particulary nasty moment was when Kira got blasted by a fireball and failed his save, despite havning outstanding breath saves. Nothing a potion couldn't fix however.

 

 

We cleared them without further problems.

 

Upper areas were cleaned promptly, Xan's Remove magic taking care of mages' buffs.

 

More troubles when Korgan got hit by golems a lot. With the cursed wound on him, no healing would work. He ran  back, and Edwin took his place with Staff of Striking.

 

I decided to fight Tolgerias first. He's a Conjurer on a SCS install. Being that, he lacks any Divination spells, and can only use Glitterdust to uncover our invisibility. Knowing that, we prebuff and use 10'radius invisibility before entering. 

Lack of Divination doesn't matter for high-powered summons however....

 

Freakin' Planetar! I have no fear of such abominations, but Korgan lacks +3 weapon! 

He attacks the beast anyway - somebody needs to keep him at bay (but not Kira - he needs to kill it with +3 arrows). As if planetar isn't enough, Gelugon is gated as well.

 

Casters summon our on crap. Spiders get blown by Prismatic Spray instantly.

 

Casters focus on Tolgerias' protections, summon more, and Xan's Chaos gets the mage; who managed to get two more djinni on battlefield.

 

Some time later (felt like ages....), Kira downs the planetar. Both him and Korgan are diseased via Symbol (a very nasty SR spell), Viconia has no time to deal with that yet.

 

With Planetar down, we focus Tolgerias to make sure he never recovers from confusion, and clear the summons. Lot of potions used, but we're alive and happy.

 

Now, Lavok. He buffed with Spell Trap - we have no spells to pierce through it - thus this was a waiting/survival battle.

Xan died to an ADHW.

 

With his PFMWs expired, Lavok didn't last long however. His gated demon was sent to hell as well, and we're about to follow in search for demon hearts.

[Aasim]

Kira, 7th BG2 update

 

The Demon plane

 

This was actually fairly intensive. I expected to be able to fight demons one at a time - but no. Le'layil approached us instead the other way around. The only viable dialogue option; given the circumstances; was "Shut up and fight.". And fought we did!

Le'layil (with aTweaks) is a Marilith. No problem. Kira downs her quickly with Piercing arrows.

Now, Nabassus enter. Seems like 2, but are actually four.

 

Korgan goes to work choppin them.

 

Unfortunately, one of them Death Gazes him. This is a cursed state which ends with transformation to Ghast (Korgan turned into ghast!?), curable in two ways - Remove Curse or killing the Nabassu who caused it.

 

We choose the latter.

 

Doing that, we throw the heart into the engine, and return to Alkathla. Kira gained level 14!

Now back to WK, to gain more EXP before we confront Edwin's Graveyard Lich.

1st floor was cleared with a lot of summons to absorb WW the statues use.

 

This is Kira's main weapon now. It's +3, but it's splendid non the less.

 

Kira still prefers ranged combat in some situations...

 

After placing the scepter keys, we run out, and leave the Chromatic Demon for ToB; if Kira lives that long.

Next session is Firkraag's Lair - we feel powerful enough to kill some vampires there.

[wing]

Epsil0: I realize this response is a tad late, but my install of Randomizer also removed the Equalizer gem and Metaspell amulet, as well as the Helm of Balduran. I suspect part of it's randomization process includes putting empty spaces in the place of some items and putting items where there normally aren't any, so I might recommend checking even the containers which usually have nothing. Haven't played through a huge amount of the game yet, but my Randomizer is definitely working in spite of those missing early-game items.

 

EDIT: And Aasim, gorgeous screenshots! Is it 1PP that changes those spell graphics to handsome red shields and poisonous green clouds?

[Aasim]

EDIT: And Aasim, gorgeous screenshots! Is it 1PP that changes those spell graphics to handsome red shields and poisonous green clouds?

Well, the Red Globe I "stole" from The Darkest Day. I like that animation. It may be included in next Spell Revisions (I know a "green shield" will).

Green cloud is from Spell Revisions.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 70{2} - (update 4)

St John, human berserker (Grond0) & Vargus, human kensai (Gate70)

 

A bit more work yesterday saw St John regain his fighting abilities, though it will take Vargus rather longer to get his back.

 

In the Planar Sphere chaotic commands and death ward were used to protect against the Tanar'ri - which broke it's heart.  A sequence of summons then drained Tolgerias' spells, though St John then used an insect plague on him as a further precaution against anything nasty.  There were more golems than usual in the engine room and they were not all blocked by the adamantite ones - however, Vargus acting as an invisible blocker in the narrow corridors soon sorted them out and the duo emerged back in Athkatla.

 

Intending to invade the slaver ship St John found he wasn't strong enough to break the front door down, so he found an alternative route through the sewers.  Fire elementals helped clear that and then did the same for the slavers.  St John did need a bit of help from Vargus though when he couldn't remember the sequence to get Lilarcor.

 

After deciding to do Sir Sarles, Vargus finally paid for a magic license so that he could knock open Neb's door.

 

On to the Temple Sewers where summons, supported with various spells, soon finished off Tarnor and his gang.  A bit of miscommunication meant that St John let Mekrath leave with his mirror rather than attacking him, but a cloudkill wand Mekrath left behind soon sorted out his umber hulk guards and opened the way to the Planar Prison.  First though, they took a trip to the vampire HQ, where St John quickly regained his berserker abilities (though summons were quite capable anyway of clearing the area).  After resting to get fresh lots of those Bodhi took a brief look at the army confronting her and fled.  The iMoD was forged, though it will be a while before Vargus is able to use that again (and St John's can't use it due to druid restrictions).

 

In MP we've had problems entering the Planar Prison and getting out of sight before the Bounty Hunter mage's true sight triggers.  This time Vargus used haste before entering and that did the trick.  Elementals and a few other summons then made short work of the mage and then the rest of the Bounty Hunters and the other opponents prior to the Master of Thralls.  After resting to get a fresh lot of summons, the Master fell too quickly to even manage to summon his elemental supporters.  It was a similar story for the Warden - going down before completing his buffing or calling for his guards.

 

Stats:

St John, berserker 12 / druid 13, 108 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 410 kills

Vargus, kensai 13 / mage 11, 117 HPs (incl. 10 from ioun stone), 535 kills, 1 death

Vargus has the XP for level 12, but is currently saving it up with the idea that will enable him to make better use of the weapon proficiency for level 12 mage once he's dualled - I'm not sure the game will allow that though.

[Aasim]

 

 

Vargus has the XP for level 12, but is currently saving it up with the idea that will enable him to make better use of the weapon proficiency for level 12 mage once he's dualled - I'm not sure the game will allow that though.

 

It will.

[Epsil0]

Qin-Tai, 3rd and final update

 

An unnecessary risk/test spells the end of Qin-Tai's adventures in Amn. We'd accomplished a lot since the last time, like the Skinner quest, Mae'Var's quests in which Qin is barely kept alive by the last invisibility potion, and the Harper hold quests. We tried assaulting Nalia's keep three times, and every single time we've been running into problems with the Spirit trolls. Unholy blight + Flame strike + Greater command has been absolutely wrecking my team, and Aerie died twice in those assaults. We finally just used Pixie dust to sneak past the Spirit trolls, and went into the keep... We killed Torgal, actually, (Twice! I couldn't focus the fire damage in time for him to regenerate... He basically took off our faces the second time around.) But then I had Qin-Tai attempt to loot the container with all the foes still in the room. A VERY unnecessary risk, and then I compounded it by drinking a potion of Speed rather than trying to Barbarian Rage. He was Confused and Greater Command'd in short order, and very much not invisible. Without help being able to come in time, Qin falls.

 

I redid the battle to see if I had the damage to win: I did, with Qin and Valygar running interference invisibly at the entrance and Nalia laying down two Cloudkills in the center of the room; Aerie and Neera mopped up with Fireballs afterwards.

[Grond0]

Hard luck Epsil0.  I agree those spirit trolls are hard work.  Area damage (like cloudkills, fireballs, skull traps) around a tank immune to greater command and your damage can be quite effective.

[wing]

A quick session last night saw me learn some important lessons, namely:

 

DO NOT PLAY WHEN TIRED

 

DO NOT PLAY WHEN RUSHED

 

A quick foray into the Umar Hills saw us finish Madulfs quest (Guantlets of Dex, useless) acquire a Beljuril, and venture into the Temple Ruins. Dopey's effectiveness drops dramatically here, as i haven't yet gotten the Quiver of Plenty and his targets are limited. We're low level though, so the first group of scary undead was 3 Skeleton Warriors, a Bone Golem, and a Greater Mummy. Summons were produced and Haste applied, but the Mummy is seemingly immune to arrows of any sort, as normal, +1, and +2 were all ineffective. Sneezy did the best she could tanking and the first group was killed, but the second was her downfall. Soon after Sleepy fell to a Bone Golem, and Dopey is currently running for a temple after watching the Mummy burn to death in a lava pit.

[Aasim]

Qin-Tai, 3rd and final update

 

An unnecessary risk/test spells the end of Qin-Tai's adventures in Amn. We'd accomplished a lot since the last time, like the Skinner quest, Mae'Var's quests in which Qin is barely kept alive by the last invisibility potion, and the Harper hold quests. We tried assaulting Nalia's keep three times, and every single time we've been running into problems with the Spirit trolls. Unholy blight + Flame strike + Greater command has been absolutely wrecking my team, and Aerie died twice in those assaults. We finally just used Pixie dust to sneak past the Spirit trolls, and went into the keep... We killed Torgal, actually, (Twice! I couldn't focus the fire damage in time for him to regenerate... He basically took off our faces the second time around.) But then I had Qin-Tai attempt to loot the container with all the foes still in the room. A VERY unnecessary risk, and then I compounded it by drinking a potion of Speed rather than trying to Barbarian Rage. He was Confused and Greater Command'd in short order, and very much not invisible. Without help being able to come in time, Qin falls.

 

I redid the battle to see if I had the damage to win: I did, with Qin and Valygar running interference invisibly at the entrance and Nalia laying down two Cloudkills in the center of the room; Aerie and Neera mopped up with Fireballs afterwards.

I assume you have "harder" Keep from SCS....I never, ever install that component (I use "slightly improved"). The "a la Tactics" is nutz.

[Epsil0]

Yeah, harder keep is installed: I decided to add basically every component that I usually don't. The Spirit Trolls, even with spell casting, would be OK if there was a way to dispel their freaking Improved Invisibility.

[Grimwald the Wise]

Diary of Swiftblade

 

Everything was going well. I enlisted Saerileth into the party along with Aerie, Minsc and Nalia.

 

We freed the slaves, kicked the trolls out of Nalia's home, killed the Shade Lord and Dragon, killed Khallabaxin (another dragon) and solved the problems at Trademeet. Nalia was kidnapped, so we set her free. Saerileth was kidnapped by a demon so we set her free. We then asked her to leave. She did not react well but went off in a huff. We then helped the thieves. Just as well Saerileth was not around. She would probably have taken offence. (Probably the gate as well. )

We had an unfortunate accident killing a prisoner in the basement of the guild. I think Cloudkill was the reason for his demise. Reputation down to 9!!

Then helped Korgan retrieve a precious book. Went to the Windspear Hills. Conster caught Aerie with gate! Just as well that it wasn't me! She recovered. Sadly when we fought Firkraag, things did not go according to plan. First Aerie was killed and then Keldhorn. They went from full health to death in seconds.

We have now returned to Amn to find some allies. Anomen should make a reasonable replacement for Aerie. Also need another magic user. Don't know who to choose though. I'll report on that later.

[Aasim]

Kira, 8th BG2 update

 

We fought the vampires. Shapshift rat, shapeshift bat, die.

They couldn' really punch through our AC protection. I kept casters far away, since rat disease is annoying and can kill quickly.

 

It didn't take long.

 

I continued exploring the dungeon as usual. Strange thing happened - only Samia spawned, her group never helped her (???).

Quite  a bit of loot to sell lost. Meh.

 

Well, we finish everything apart Firk. He's to be left 'till post-Underdark.

 

Surprisingly, Conster managed to survive long enough to gate some Gelugon, but we're ahead of those by a large margin now.

 

Now, sell, and Planar Prison it is. I want to max out EXP before Spellhold as much as I can.

Start is exellent - nasty Yuan-ti is slain instantly.

 

Second group - Cloudkill + Ice Storm gets rid of them.

 

The demon there managed to curse Korgan again and gated 3 Cambions, which, even if annoying, are relatively easy to kill. The cursed state is on a 5 round timer, and if Nabassu is killed there will be no ghast transformations.

 

 

No problem however.

 

Prior to Warden, we rest, buff up, and summon Djinnis which can't be Death - spelled.

Kira rushes in, removes his illusions, and then retreats as the demon conjures Black blade of No-Reload ends.

 

Xan and Edwin juke him and remove his protections. He mazed Kira, which is great, since he can't do anything against him anymore - and Xan and Edwin had enough time to remove everything from him

 

Soon, he died to Korgan's attacks and magic missiles.

 

Reward was fairly useful IR Adjatha:

[Aasim]

Kira, 9th BG2 update

 

With major quests being done, it was time to finish things with Aran and kill the vamps. And get Nether Scroll ofc.

I decided to tackle the vamps first. No problem, AC rules here and my swashbuckler has plenty (around -13 with Spirit Armor).

Tanove wasted most of her powerful spells on summons (yea, I'm much more careful this time.) and Korgan did her.

 

Rest of the vamps were easy, apart Bodhi - Kira ran around in circles not to get hit since she's a no-miss kind of oponnent.

With that done, time to visit the lich.

 

I buffed a lot. Edwin wants the scroll, so he can talk to him. Lich doesn't like it, and summons a Planetar. Sigh..

We summon crap to hold the Lich busy, and kill the Planetar.

 

This kind of worked - Lich wasted most of his spells, managed to confuse Korgan once, then he recovered and hit him with his +1 Throwing Axe. Few hits, one disrupted spell, done. Edwin is happy and so am I.

 

We set sail immidiately after selling loot.

No good charisma or Yoshimo means we have to fight Adept. Kind of. I buffed with Invisibility 10'radius. Korgan strikes him, and PW:Stun comes his way.

He never got the chance to do anything.

 

Spellhold held the most dangerous battle so far. Apperantly, the check for monster spawns is connected with XP, not levels. Kira was only level 14 when he entered the place, but had more than 2 million XP. Hence, he got the Lich. And Greater Mummies. Crap.

 

Korgan rushes back to the party, but he's already tagged by Lich to have a Planetar summoned near him. Casters summon to keep Lich/Mummies busy for a while, and we manage to kill the Planetar before they arrived.

So far, so good.

 

Korgan decides to see what's going on. FFS! Ruuunn!

 

Unfortunately, he wasn't hasted. Dragon Breath on him brings him to a slew of HP remaining...

 

And Lich finishes the job with 3xChain Lightning trigger. Mmmm...

My summons are running in fear from mummies.

 

Defensive line is breached. Panick. Gelugons teleport in. Kill them, then panick.

 

Viccy saves the day. Using her Turn Undead she turns the skeletons (Greater Mummies can summon those) against their former masters. The things are immune to much of ill effects, and are tanky as hell.

Expending much of his spellbook on Kira (mostly Chaos and magic missiles), Lich closes in, and Kira welcomes to chance to pierce him with arrows.

 

We mop up the mummies at range, rasie Korgan and proceed as planned. 

One other notable fight was vs Irenicus. I don't have SCS compnent which beefs this fight up, but it's very dangerous. I'm very lucky Tiax got tagged for Comet, not Kira....

 

Another annoying thing are the loonies. One of those summoned a demon. Naturally, the beast will attack anyone not under Pro Evil. I hadn't used Vic's only casting as prebuff (it would be dispelled if I did), so I gather my group and Vic's magic arrives just in time..

 

Having demons (we're talking 9th level ones here!) on our side means Irenicus isn't long for life - and they paint the hall with murderers blood as well, not caring about their invisibility none.

 

I was very happy after I exited the place. Took Saemon's boat, and finished the Sahaugin. Xan now can cast level 8 spells. Both of which are ADHW, and he pawned.

 

Underdark is next. 

[Aasim]

Kira, 10th BG2 update

 

Entered the Underdark. Finsihed Elemental portals first. Next, Drow ambush. No problem there with our summoned hordes doing the tanking. The only danger was when Korgan got hit by a 3xSkull Trap sequencer, but he survived.

 

Next, Kuo-Toa. AdHWs did most of the work here, and PW:Stun was exellent to prevent the Prince from regenrating too much (his morale broke). Kira polluted the pool as well to soften them up.

 

Demon Knights. Imo, aTweaks version is quite a bit easier than SCS modifications to these. They still hurt Korgan a lot, but nothing he can't deal with.

 

Before visiting the Deep Gnomes, we also fought the Drow guarding the exit; since this battle is much harder if Adalon were to teleport us there.

A pair of Glabrezu with their PW:Stun killed Xan, but they don't last long.

 

Just when I tought the battle was over, a summoned Efreeti (apperantly invisible) ventures in between us and bang! Good thing he only cought Kira who won't fail his breath save and Korgan, who will fail his save but is tanky enough to take it.

 

Second Drow ambush near the bridge was actually worse than the encounters we had before. They stunned and killed Xan, Korgan used up a lot of potions - Kira stepped up to do the tanking for him. Chaos from Edwin helped a lot here. Drow are nearly "immune" to summons since their AC is spendid, and even Kira & Korgan have hard time hitting them.

 

We won with no more casualties; parlor with Adalon, and do the Ust Natha quests quickly - ADHWs helping a lot.

 

 

 

We didn't bother with small quests there (Aboleth, lich, Ghaundaur etc.) - rescue Phaere,fight the duel for bastard sword +3, kill Beholder, ask politely for patrol leader helmet, agree to kill Sola (but don't do it), give fake eggs to Phaere, give Kuo-Toa blood, send the demon home, run.

Prior to that, spend money on that wonderful equipment there

 

Having Mirror shield, Korgan deals with the beholders safely.

 

Here we were just a slew XP behind 3 million XP - and first HLAs. I returned the eggs but it wasn't enough to get us over 3million - exit area held few more drow however - and they somehow killed a 90% health-full Korgan.  I don't know how that happened, maybe Finger or something similar.

Be that as it may, we killed them (Korgan and Kira 1st HLAs - Hardiness and Acrobatic - Refinements Swashbuckler specific HLA - +1 DEX, +1 AC, + 3 breath saves, can only pick once).

Korgan fought the three beholders near the entrance, and this gave Xan level 18 and 1st HLA pick - Planetar. We're strong now; and are to fight Mind Flayers next.

[Grimwald the Wise]

Swiftblade has been joined by her lover Ajantis and another paladin Avaunis.

 

With four paladins, a fighter/cleric and a thief/mage, all with good alignments in the party, we must surely have the support of all the righteous gods.