15218 réponses à ce sujet

[Aasim]

Thanks Corey! That's a good tip. Namarra deals 1d8 +4 damage (just as much as Usuno's Blade which I considered trying to acquire (much more difficult though...). Norgath never picked up Namarra and will now probably focus on Staves, including the not yet purchased Staff of Rhynn, for backstabbing purposes, but it's something to remember. 

What should probably give you best damage  at this point is dual wielding a +3/+4 sword + Cat's scimitar (that RR item with +1 to luck). Luck will affect minimum damage rolls, so you will always roll at least 2 base damage which gets multiplied by backstab modifier, unlike strenght modifier which is added. 

[Aasim]

Kira, final update

 

Killing Gromnir, we did Fire Giants - no problem apart Imix which killed Korgan. He seemed to be immune to Wave.

 

Yaga-Shura was longish. There was one nasty instance when Kira got cornered and couldn't move, but Yaga can only hit him with a critical. It lasted a while before he gave his wounded speech.

 

When he returned, all hell broke loose, Xan started unleashing his mass spells to kill the troops.

 

After a while, Yaga was alone. We blasted whatever spells were left...

 

...and then the screen went black. Victory!

 

Now, Amkethran for shopping, and back to Watchers Keep, where Sarevok vorpalized Chromatic.

 

At lower levels, we parlor with acursed Karashur, then betray him (buffed and with Planetar+Deva+Shambling Mound), making the battle a chore.

However, our discussion with the demon meant that the second demon will attack us instantly. It' quite hard to describe this battle.

 

 

 

Kira died a level 23 swashbuckler.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Ouch, that's just crazy! Sorry news, Aasim...

[Aasim]

Ouch, that's just crazy! Sorry news, Aasim...

You know what's even more crazy? I actually finished this battle (Cernd had been lost forever due to vorpal chunking, but who cares). However, game crashed after wild magic area, and the last save was autosave right after Yakman. Hence, I reload, repeat, and loose Xan right at the start (he was crucial when I won, since ADHWs made short work of gated demons).

Ah well.

[Blackraven]

Ai Aasim, condolences... I think it's extra sad knowing Kira actually survived that battle before that bug made you replay it.
 

Thanks btw for your recommendation. It's a pity Renal only gave me a normal +3 Short Swordinstead of the (in my game upgradeable) Short Sword of Backstabbing, for use along side the Balck Cat's Claw.

[Aasim]

It's a pity Renal only gave me a normal +3 Short Swordinstead of the (in my game upgradeable) Short Sword of Backstabbing, for use along side the Balck Cat's Claw.

He'll hand it over if you kill him.

[Blackraven]

He'll hand it over if you kill him.

According to Shadowkeeper he it's not in his inventory. Not that it matters now, Norgath has already sided with Linvail and the Shadow Thieves. I'm kind of hoping that the Expanded Thief Stronghold mod adds it somewhere.
Edit: Rogue Rebalancing makes it available in Chapter 6 if you side with the Shadow Thieves (or Chapter 3 if you side with Bodhi and kill Aran Linvail.)

[corey_russell]

Thanks Corey! That's a good tip. Namarra deals 1d8 +4 damage (just as much as Usuno's Blade which I considered trying to acquire (much more difficult though...). Norgath never picked up Namarra and will now probably focus on Staves, including the not yet purchased Staff of Rhynn, for backstabbing purposes, but it's something to remember. 

Btw will we be witnessing some action from you anytime soon?

Good question. Corarcher is still alive, I should get to him, lots of distractions lately. I'll load him up tonight and see if I can't make some progress.

[Epsil0]

Ugh, sorry to see Kira fall as well: is that the Improved Watcher's Keep component from SCS? The amount of demons there seem absolutely ludicrous!

[Aasim]

It's aTweaks with gating. They multiply like gremlins!

[Grond0]

It' quite hard to describe this battle.

I hadn't read your final update note at the top and looking at the above statement thought it seemed strange - everything up to here had been well described.  Reading on I understood  - still an excellent run though.  

 

Are you wedded to fiendish gating - that's one difficulty enhancement I haven't felt compelled to add in my current set-up?

[Aasim]

I hadn't read your final update note at the top and looking at the above statement thought it seemed strange - everything up to here had been well described.  Reading on I understood  - still an excellent run though.  

 

Are you wedded to fiendish gating - that's one difficulty enhancement I haven't felt compelled to add in my current set-up?

I happy where Kira got, tbh. I usually don't play anything but warriors, so it was a nice change of pace - not one I'm likely gonna repeat soon however. The demons there are (imo) easier than Karashur's group since they have no PW:Stun ability. However, when Xan died I pretty much knew it was over - I couldn't kill them fast enough before they cornered Kira. They could hit only with a critical, but with 8-10 around him he was done for. 

Big mistake was when I allowed Korgan to get charmed as well, he could help with Klogarath to make some room. 

I like this "fiednish gating" since (imo) fiends are supposed to be dangerous. aTweaks demons are probably easier than SCS modified-ones, but SCS ones don't gate, thus I pick aTweaks. 

[Blackraven]

Norgath, Dwarven Bounty Hunter (update 5)

Having rescued Unger Hilldark's brother Hilje in the Umar Temple Ruins, Norgath decided to have a word with the two Duergar upon his return to Athkatla, to see if he could finally get his hands on some true illithium. (Cromwell the smith had told him he might be able to use it to enchant an axe or a mace for him.) 

In the Copper Coronet the siblings told him there was no illithium, and they blamed each other for it. Gorje had failed to dig up any new illithium in the Umar Hills, and Unger had to make the embarrassing confession that their latest shipment had been stolen from right under his nose. The thief: a fellow named Neb. Being unwelcome Duergar, the brothers knew the City Guard would always be against them if they tried to recoup their lost shipment. In a bout of kindness that Norgath didn't expect from a Duergar cousin, Unger informed the Bounty Hunter of Neb's whereabouts, a derelict home in the Bridge District. 

Norgath found a couple of buildings that fit that description. The first one he entered had an untidy ground floor but a well-kept sarcophagus downstairs. He was quite curious to take a peek, but decided to go after Neb first. He found the strange-looking lad, too rugged to be a Gnome and too diminutive to be a Dwarf, in a nearby house - surrounded by hostile child spirits. Norgath told Neb to hand him the illithium, but Neb wasn't willing to cooperate. The Bounty Hunter then went invisible and took out Neb with a backstab using his Staff of Striking. The child spirits thanked him, and then disappeared. He stored the illithium in his wolfskin bag of holding, and asked himself whether it would be worth it to invest thousands of gold in the crafting of an anti-undead weapon he wouldn't use much and probably never as effectively as his blades.

When he went back to the first building he had visited, he found an answer to his question: yes, he would probably get an upgraded Mace of Disruption or Azuredge Axe crafted at some point. The sarcophagus contained an Elemental Lich, a powerful undead creature. Norgath's deep-rooted loathing of undead creatures was immediately rekindled. The Dwarf's first reaction upon seeing the creature rise, was to give it a good smack with his staff. It wasn't enough to slay the abomination, and the Lich mumbled something about following the whims of one Kangaxx. With no buffs save an oil of speed Norgath wasn't inclined to stay for a chat though, so he retreated and sent in his summons one after the other. First there was his Efreeti, which emerged just when the Lich cast a Time Stop. The Lich had little difficulty dealing with the Efreeti, but Norgath knew that the Efreeti would simply leave the prime material plane and be available again the next day. Meanwhile Ras had joined the fray to soak up some more spells, including a Death Spell. When Ras was gone, the Lich started focusing his attention on Norgath, who was close to the exit in order to avoid any nasty spells that might come his way. Norgath went back upstairs and tried to place a number of traps to deal with the Lich. However the Dwarf didn't manage to place more than a single trap before the creature appeared. Norgath saw no other option than to retreat further, back outside, toward the building where he had previously found Tirdir's kidnappers. There he summoned Kitthix to his side, and sent her to the entrance of the Lich's home. The Lich was there, and helped by a summoned Mordenkainen's Sword, it occupied itself with Kitthix. This allowed Norgath to Maze-trap his foes from a distance. The Dwarf then placed his remaining (regular) traps at the maze point, and saw both the Mordenkainen's Sword (which returned first), and the Lich fall to those traps. Afterwards, Norgath remained quite puzzled by the Lich's words, he had been 'foolish to follow the whims of Kangaxx'. 

Anyway the Dwarf made for the sewers beneath the Temple District to see if he could learn more about a cult of the 'Unseeing Eye', a lucrative commission from the Temple of Helm. In the sewers he dispatched a Sea Troll and, with Kitthix, a Rakshasa. The Beholder and two Gauths that Norgath had spotted before were still hanging around (quite literally), but Norgath had no interest in showing himself to those creatures so he snuck past them. Curiously, an aging Paladin of Torm wanted to join Norgath in his search for answers regarding the Unseeing Eye, but the Dwarf gave the oldtimer his usual line, i.e. that he preferred to work alone. 

He then entered an older tunnel that led him past more undead creatures: Shades, Hell Hounds, and Vampiric Mists. He dealt with them using backstabs and traps, but couldn't prevent one of the mists from level-draining him. A bit further on Norgath met one of the Unseeing Eye priests, an eyeless man named Gaal. Apparently all members of the cult had to remove their eyes. The Dwarf found this quite ridiculous but instead of saying so, he merely asked whether he could be of help to them (hoping to learn more about the cult), without having his eyes removed. Gaal asked him to retrieve a part of a rod from even more obscure catacombs than the tunnels they found themselves in. Norgath agreed to the task and was given the time to rest in order to recover from the arduous job of restoring his level-drained self with a scroll.

He took a key to enter the catacombs, and to his surprise he stumbled upon a second sarcophagus, identical to the one that had contained the Elemental Lich. A bystander, a former Unseeing Eye cultist, begged the Dwarf not to open the sarcophagus because it contained a great evil. Norgath ignored the man's wish but not his warning nor his prior experience with the Elemental Lich. He placed his (regular thief) traps before removing the lid from the sarcophagus. That proved to be a wise decision: a backstab and the traps finished the Lich, a Shade variant, quite nicely.
The former Gaal cultist, Sassar he called himself, was impressed with Norgath's effective disposal of the Shade Lich, and asked the Bounty Hunter for help. The Dwarf was to assemble two parts of the rod, not just the part that Gaal wanted, and with it slay the Unseeing Eye, an Elder Orb. Norgath decided to take some time to think about it all. He had no experience dealing with Beholders and their ilk; all he knew was that these were dangerous creatures. 

He returned to his guildhall to receive updates on the performances of his thieves. Lathan had some very good news: new recruits were on their way from Baldur's Gate no less. Among them were his former partner Narlen Darkwalk with whom he had "visited many a neighbor" back in the Gate, and his friend Black Lily the racy fence with whom he'd had a good relationship as well. (This is from the Expanded Thieves' Stronghold mod. Reading these lines drew a big smile on my face, and I even felt moved when I considered the labor of love that so many modders have put into this game through the years.)

Pleased with these reinforcements Norgath went to see if it were possible to buy or otherwise appropriate an abandoned property right next to his guildhouse in order to expand his hall and to be able to accommodate more thieves. The building turned out to be inhabited by Battle Horrors, creatures that Norgath has successfully fought before. It was no different this time. Downstairs, Norgath found yet another sarcopagus like the two that had contained the Liches. It was as if the Gods had wanted him to find these coffins. He removed the lid and met Kangaxx the Lich who requested him to give him the bones he would find in the other coffins that had contained the other Liches. Norgath humored the Lich in hopes of receiving a powerful item for his effort, but was rewarded with the Lich's wrath. (Importantly, SCS Kangaxx doesn't throw Imprisonments at its foes, but rather uses a large number of high level spells to try and prevail over his attackers, such as Fiends, ADHWs, Time Stops, PW Kill, Symbol Death etc. It does have its Trap the Soul (imprisonment) ability but uses it only on summons or even innocents. Norgath has really good saves, for example a -6 vs Spells, so the biggest threats to him would be damaging spells and summoned damage dealers.)

Like he had done with the Elemental Lich, Norgath played hide and seek with Kangaxx the Lich in order to provoke his opponent into wasting his spells. He failed to avoid Kangaxx' first spell, a Time Stop. When it expired the Dwarf saw different spells coming his way at the same time, but he was close to the door, so he could easily avoid their effects. He then returned and made the Lich waste more spells until it summoned a Mordenkainen's Sword and gated in a Cornugon. Norgath retreated outside, hoping to get rid of the demon, and decided to wait until it would be unsummoned. When the Lich was on its own again and deprived of its best spells, Norgath enaged it in melee combat. Kangaxx would still hurt him with Flame Arrows and Melf's Acid Arrows, but this was easily countered with potions of extra healing. Kangaxx the Lich fell, only to be transformed into a Demi-Lich.

Norgath didn't see that coming, so instead of trying to act the hero, he fled to the safety of his guildhouse, where he rested and resupplied himself. When he returned the Demi-Lich was still on the loose. Norgath survived another Time Stop, mazed the Demi-Lich and placed a few of his regular traps at the maze location and some more near the exit. When Kangaxx returned the first trap that hit him triggered a Contingency that prevented further harm. Norgath's summons Ras and the Efreeti were soul-trapped, leaving the Bounty Hunter without traps and with only Kitthix as a summon. On the other hand Kangaxx lost its best spells to another game of hide and seek at which Norgath was simply better, even though he got hit by a Greater Malison he decided to wait out. When Kangaxx had to resort to Flame Arrows and Melf's Minute Meteors Norgath knew the time had come to test his blade (Short Sword of Mask, his only +4 weapon) against the creature. That was no fun. First of all the Demi-Lich had loads of Stoneskins, secondly it had a very high damage resistance (90%) and thirdly, it regenerated fast. In fact the creature went form Badly Injured to Barely Injured (regenerating while panicked). Norgath saw no other solution than to leave the building, and rush back to his guildhouse. He rested again, got outside, where Kangaxx was merrily trapping innocent souls, until Norgath's Maze trap and regular traps finished the vile creature off. He reached level 22, had his Claw of Kazgaroth removed by the Priest of Oghma (and kept it in his pack), and equipped the Ring of Gaxx.

[corey_russell]

Nice fight with SCS Kangaxx Blackraven. Your description is why I don't play SCS, incidentally (not that there is anything wrong with the mod, per se, it's just not my style). If you are solo, you really have no choice to but to often wait out enemy buffs and summons. I'd rather just get to the action, or die heroically I suppose. And yes, when I tried out SCS, me and my poor party members did lots and lots of dying.

[Blackraven]

Nice fight with SCS Kangaxx Blackraven. Your description is why I don't play SCS, incidentally (not that there is anything wrong with the mod, per se, it's just not my style). If you are solo, you really have no choice to but to often wait out enemy buffs and summons. I'd rather just get to the action, or die heroically I suppose. And yes, when I tried out SCS, me and my poor party members did lots and lots of dying.

Thanks Corey.

It's true that SCS often requires patience on the part of the player. It's not for everyone. I personally don't mind it much because I'm a relatively slow player anyway (compared to various the no-reloaders on these forums), and was one even in my pre-SCS days. 
I do believe that certain classes are less reliant on waiting and 'hide and seek' type strategies, just not Thieves. A solo Fighter/Mage for example would probably have had sufficient buffs to not have to run from Kangaxx' spells, and they would have more melee power to beat him down much faster than my Bounty Hunter.

[corey_russell]

Thanks Corey.

It's true that SCS often requires patience on the part of the player. It's not for everyone. I personally don't mind it much because I'm a relatively slow player anyway (compared to various the no-reloaders on these forums), and was one even in my pre-SCS days. 
I do believe that certain classes are less reliant on waiting and 'hide and seek' type strategies, just not Thieves. A solo Fighter/Mage for example would probably have had sufficient buffs to not have to run from Kangaxx' spells, and they would have more melee power to beat him down much faster than my Bounty Hunter.

Actually ANY arcane character could probably go toe-to-toe to SCS enemies, primarily because of one spell: Spell Immunity. Alesiah_BH used it constantly to defeat SCS mages, protecting her buffs. As long as there aren't any slashers or blunters around, mustard jelly form with 100% magic resistance is pretty powerful too, which again Alesia_BH used against SCS enemies.

 

A melee character in SCS is much more vulnerable, since you normally can't protect your buffs from being dispelled.

[Blackraven]

Actually ANY arcane character could probably go toe-to-toe to SCS enemies, primarily because of one spell: Spell Immunity. Alesiah_BH used it constantly to defeat SCS mages, protecting her buffs. As long as there aren't any slashers or blunters around, mustard jelly form with 100% magic resistance is pretty powerful too, which again Alesia_BH used against SCS enemies.

 

A melee character in SCS is much more vulnerable, since you normally can't protect your buffs from being dispelled.

Very true. SI is a fantastic spell, and so is Mustard Jelly polymorph. (I wish the Cloak of the Sewers did what is says it does....)

[Grond0]

Very true. SI is a fantastic spell, and so is Mustard Jelly polymorph. (I wish the Cloak of the Sewers did what is says it does....)

It's arguably an over-powered item anyway.  The jelly's immunity to piercing damage can be used in quite a few encounters, while using rat form while regenerating allows a surprising number of even tough enemies to be nibbled away bit by bit ...

[Grond0]

Esher{4} - human amazon (first and final update)

 

In the dungeon Esher was reminded to beware the SCS opponents when taking 36 damage from the lightning mephit at the start.  The first group of duergar did even more - they were also quite happy to chase her through closed doors, so that's another trick she can't take advantage of.  After that she made regular use of DUHM and her First Strike ability to make progress on the initial level.  She tried to minimise risks though by avoiding mages with their instant death effects (in this installation I get both an upgraded Ring of Koveras and the Cloak of Balduran in the dungeon, but even with those she's still very vulnerable to spells and I didn't want to recruit NPCs other than her previous party). 

 

On transitioning to the next level Esher found the mephits not waiting for her to show herself, but coming straight to attack her!  She immediately ran back to the previous level and rested before coming through again with DUHM active.  On arrival she used the Horn of Kazgaroth to boost her saving throw as much as possible, but that still wasn't enough against a steam mephit's water jet (I was hoping there wouldn't be any of those in the portal room, but it must have been gated in).  The mephits do quite a bit of damage as seen by the lightning mephit originally and the Horn (which gives immunity to level 1 and 2 spells) wasn't even providing any protection against the elemental effects.  Once stunned therefore Esher had zero chance of survival and died extremely quickly - here she is less than 2 rounds after first being stunned (and she had been stunned again even during that time).

 

I suppose I should just have bitten the bullet and accepted the need to recruit others - the dungeon in this modded form is extremely dangerous for most solo characters.  I had intended Esher to avoid all combat after that point and just run past the assassins to the exit using a potion of speed, but wasn't convinced there still wouldn't be time for the caster there to try a charm or hold on her ...

[corey_russell]

Sorry to hear that Grond0. SCS dungeons can be tough even with parties, only being allowed a single rest...

[corey_russell]

Corarcher Update (elven archer)

Traveling with: Misty (halfling fighter), Forrest (Human ranger), Hanna (human swashbuckler/mage), Joshua (Human Jester), Cernd, (Paja)

 

Well got some stuff done this session. For one, we took down the liches in the sewers and bridge district using a pro undead scroll. We also took down Maevar and his pals, rather easily with Paja's fire elementals.

 

Fighting Kangaxx was both a huge success and a huge disaster. It was sort of a comedy of errors. First, I thought I had bought pro magic scrolls, but when checking inventory there weren't there...hmmm...this meant I had to use a pro undead scroll.

 

In itself, that might be okay, but I am vanilla. So our jester, Joshua, tried to pick-pocket the Gaxx ring - it worked! Problem? Kangaxx is attacking Joshua instead of Corarcher! Uh, oh. So the party trashes Kangaxx the lich, although he does quite a bit of damage himself, including killing Forrest. Fairly quickly he got changed to demi-lich form. The party then runs to the other side of the room, while Corarcher engages with the Staff of Rhynn (throughout the battle, Corarcher also used Firetooth Crossbow). Problem though? Paja gets imprisoned. There goes our uber druid. We can get her back in chapter 6, but that's a long, long way away...

 

Corarcher keeps at it though,and Kangaxx is content to sit in place and take a beating. His genie did huge damage to Coracher, Corarcher used his heal potions, and had to run to the party for a second to finish the genie - then Coracher got the 2nd Gaxx ring. I gave both to Corarcher, to help with saves and AC. Immunity to poison is quite helpful too...

 

First we resurrect Forrest - it cost 1000 gold, we had 1300...we need RoR - probably should visit Mekrath soon. But first, we need to get a replacement - Cernd is the closest match, so we travel to the Druid Grove to pick him up. We then rest in the Graveyard then we start Cernd's quest. Everything went fine until the very end - I had our AI off due to hostiles in the government district (we had tried to pick-pocket Tolgerias but failed), but I think I broke the quest - I entered Deril's estate and Cernd didn't perk up like he usually does - we had to kill the servant, but then the door to Derill is locked and normal lock-picking has no effect - oops, can't get child now. Hope Cernd doesn't complain about this the entire run...

 

Cernd is quite a bit under-leveled compared to Paja, Paja had at least 2 6th level spells, Cernd has none. Will keep at it though.

[Blackraven]

It's arguably an over-powered item anyway.  The jelly's immunity to piercing damage can be used in quite a few encounters, while using rat form while regenerating allows a surprising number of even tough enemies to be nibbled away bit by bit ...

For the physical resistance its still a very powerful item, agreed.

And sorry about Esher, Grond0 As you know the Mephit Portal room has ended quite a few SCS solo runs of mine.

@Corey, good to see your Archer back in action. Hopefully Cernd will prove a good stand-in for Paja.
 

[Blackraven]

Norgath, Dwarven Bounty Hunter (update 6)

With the Lich business out of the way Norgath returned to the task he had begun before: to investigate and deal with the cult of the Unseeing Eye, some type of Beholder. From the chamber that had contained the Shade Lich he descended a stairway to a lower tunnel. In it he dispatched Spiders, mutated Gibberlings, Mummies and Ghasts, until he came upon a broken bridge over a fissure in the ground. He stepped upon the bridge to see if his Dwarven legs could reach the other side, but was warned of danger when he inadvertently triggered a Prismatic Spray trap. A deep voice suddenly spoke at him, seemingly coming from the bridge itself. Norgath solved a couple of riddles the voice posed him, and saw the bridge magically restored. On the other side of it he scouted three Beholders, and two Gauths. A maze trap followed by three regular traps sufficed for slaying one Beholder; a second maze trap, two regular traps and an Efreeti Flamestrike finished a Gauth. The remaining eye tyrants were ignored for the time being, with Norgath relying on his outstanding stealth to continue his way. He encountered a number of ancient guardians in front of even older temple. They did nothing to stop the Dwarf from entering. Inside, he Bhaal-healed a spiteful demon and spoke with a ghost-like creature who gave him the part of the rod that Gaal was after. The air was thick and old. It tired the Dwarf, so he rested. He then returned with the rod not to Gaal but to Sassar the former cultist. The remaining eye tyrants by the bridge were bypassed once more. Sassar directed Norgath to a friend of his named Tad, who was still a member of the cult. This Tad then showed the Dwarf a route to the lair of the Unseeing Eye.

 

It was not a pretty trip. First Norgath had to somehow find his way past a community of undead. With a Necklace of Missiles Fireball he antagonized some of the creatures that were bocking his path, and then he went invsible. Entering their den through one door and leaving it through another allowed him to continue his excursion to the lair of the Unseeing Eye. (He didn't bother with slaying the undead or with trying to get hold of their treasure.) The lair seemed to be a living, breathing organ with different narrow corridors in different directions. Norgath entered the lair in a small chamber. Hidden in shadows he walked through a corridor toward the center of the lair but stopped when he encountered a group of six or seven Beholders and Gauths. Not knowing whether one of these creatures was the Unseeing Eye, Norgath decided to continue his search. He followed a corridor away from the center in a southeasterly direction until he saw before him a chamber not unlike the chamber where he had first entered the lair. In it he encountered a single Gauth. The Dwarf fancied his chances in a one on one fight against this representative of the lesser of the eye tyrant types he had so far encountered. He took some damage but prevailed, thanks in part to an oil of speed.

In a trove Norgath found the second part of the rod. When he picked it up the two parts melded into one single rift device. Soon after he heard a voice inside his head, the Unseeing Eye threatening him telepathically. The Dwarf left the chamber through the same corridor, and ran into the Unseeing Eye at the end of it. Unlike others of its ilk, the creature saw through Norgath's invisibility and attacked the Dwarf with all manner of magical energies. At that moment Norgath considered himself fortunate to be a resilient Dwarf instead of one of the more fragile races. And the vicinity of a hidden exit (useful in case the Unseeing Eye would call its minions for help) instilled further hope in the Dwarf. He shrugged off the Beholder's attacks, outran the creature and placed several Maze traps, only to find the Unseeing Eye immune to the first maze that hit it. Thankfully Norgath had more success with the rift device; it severely injured and weakened the Beholder, and somehow it was also no longer immune to Maze. Thus Norgath could place a few of his regular traps at the maze point, and saw them put the Unseeing Eye to death when it returned.

 

Norgath had done what he had been asked to, and saw no reason to risk his neck against the remaining eye tyrants. He entertained the thought of presenting the rift device to Gaal to see if the blind fool would give him a reward (without knowing that his master had just been slain), but decided to return to the spectre in the ancient temple and leave the device there. Again the air made the Dwarf sleepy, and his little excursion had talen its toll on the Dwarf's energy as well, so he rested before he would return to the surface. On his way he finished off the two Beholders and the Gauth by the restored bridge. At the Temple of Helm he was amply rewarded for his work, and at his guildhouse he ran into his old pal Narlen Darkwalk who told the Dwarf of an Orc ambush that had resulted in the captivity of Black Lily and other thieves that had been on their way to Athkatla.

The two rogues set out immediately. They found the bandits' hideout before they could enter it they had to battle Orogs and Orcs, including a Mage and a Priest, and a Wyvern called Old Yeller (which upon closer inspection via NearInfinity turned out to be immune to non-silver weapons - pretty ridiculous imo but I guess there's no accounting for taste). With the help of Kitthix and the Efreeti, and with maze traps followed by a rest, the two thieves managed to overcome the opposition. They then had to enter a cave where more Orcs and Orogs awaited the two. They were overwhelmed. Norgath tried to get rid of the Orc Mage using arrows of dispelling, but the wizard would rebuff with a contingency or a quickly cast Stoneskin. He heard Narlen cry for help, so Norgath tried to summon Kitthix to help out, but it was too late. The rogue fell. Norgath (and Blackraven) got really pissed off at that moment. (I really didn't want him to die, and I also consider the battle too hard considering you have to protect someone else whom you don't have any control over. It's a bit like the Ducal Palace, although in this battle failure isn't penalized as severely of course.)

The other new members of his guild, one of them Black Lily, had apparently found release and they joined the fray. Norgath only wished they would have appeared earlier. Together the rogues dealt with the bandits with relative ease. This was in part due to the fact that the enemy seemed most eager to kill hasted Norgath rather than the other rogues, allowing the Dwarf to kill off the mage and the priest with ranged attacks while evading the Orc and Orog warriors' attacks. Norgath and his new recruits arrived safely at the guildhouse in Athkatla. But Norgath didn't linger long. He had a few pints at the Sea's Bounty to wash away the bitter taste of Narlen's death, got into a fight with Officer Dirth and ended up killing him. That did the Dwarf good, so much that he wanted more. He remembered the eye tyrants in the sewers, and decided to seek them out. A Beholder was killed off with traps, and a Gauth fell to the Dwarf's fury in a melee fight.

 

These killings helped Norgath reach level 24, earning him his first HLA: Use Any Item, a landmark. Norgath's options now seem almost limitless. Vhailor's Helm for more traps (no spells though, in my install Simulacra cannot use expendables), the Amulet of Power for vampire hunting, Scarlet Ninja-To plus Belm for 4 APR, spellcasting from scrolls, Mazzy's (upgraded) sword for free action with haste, lots of good stuff... I can't see my style of play change completely, but the vastly increased flexibility is clearly a real boon.

[wing]

Two and a Half-Orc - Update 7 - Final

 

Yesterday we checked to see if we could return and loot the rest of the De'Arnise Keep, but apparently it is closed after you talk to Nalia, so we'll miss out on the Golem treasure. We then swung by the City Gates and an IH'd, II'd and raging barbarian smacked down a Lich. His coffin and chest held no treasure, and the Lich himself merely had wands, the +1/+3 vs Shapeshifters bastard Sword, and scrolls. After that we visited the vampires in their lair. Haz and his big buddy broke down the door before a Grimwarder snuck by us and killed him. The vampires were uneventful, the pool of blood holding not the MoD but the Blade of Roses. Tanova was defeated with Cerberus' help, downstairs we used him, Kitthix and a skeleton all buffed with haste to clean house. Not wanting to waste the IH on Sneezy we ran back upstairs and she walloped Lassal and then Bodhi before it wore off. In the downstairs we found a +2 katana and the Ring of Regeneration, but the pickings have been fairly slim thus far.

 

Reported our success to Aran Linvail, stopped by to say hi to Kangaxx, then headed to the Temple District again to at least check out the Unseeing Eye and maybe kill another Lich. Had a lucky moment when Sleepy stepped over a trap without setting it off, then took on the Shade Lich. I thought he'd be easy with standard buffs on Sneezy, but he got of Misleads, then a Time Stop where he tossed some Symbols, both of which we were protected against, and then another Mislead. Sneezy's rage wore off, meaning she got Mazed. We decided to break contact until she returned so Sleepy ducked around the corner and hid in the shadows. When Sneezy came back she immediately raged, but it still wasn't fast enough to avoid another Maze. When she returned from that one she found herself on the business end of a couple of ADHWs and finally perished, fortunately not chunking. At that point we tried every tactic we had, Dopey used some arrows, then summoned Kitthix who was immediately Death Spelled, the Lich targeted him with a FoD and then a Flesh to Stone, but he made both saves. Sleepy was also targeted wtih a FoD, but made his save as well (today must be lucky) He then summoned an Efreeti, which worried me, but it succumbed to a Spook from Sleepy and then arrows from Dopey. at the point the Lich's 3rd PfMW expired and a final +1 arrow finished him.

 

Vampiric Wraiths in the gas room had previously drained a level from both Sneezy and Dopey, so on the bright side we discovered that death does cure level drains...

 

We fixed a bridge and found out that Beholders see a lot further than you'd think, here they are targeting Dopey from about a screen away, in spite of him not having seen them yet. Sneezy finished one on the brink of death, then ran for it. We then realized Dopey had been paralyzed so we laid down a Web hoping to slow them. Eventually we just rested, somehow sleeping for 40 days and 16 hours, then rebuffed Sneezy and had her use the Cloak of Reflection and Spell Turning from the Book of Infinite Spells to go in and destroy the Beholders, that worked much better. I thought i remembered the alcove under the bridge structure having good stuff in it, but there was nothing but a few gold pieces. Healed an Empathic Manifestation, then talked to a dead god and returned to 

 

-A thought, can't the Unseeing Eye be completed by anyone, even if you can't use Divine scrolls? Would the Rod of Resurrection work for the purposes of healing the E. M.?-

 

In Ghoul Town, though we pre-scouted invisibly, a Lich showed his ugly face inside the house. We dragged out a few spells with summons, then hit him with some acid arrows while Sneezy took care of the rest of the undead. When he got within touch range we decided to step outside and regroup. Sneezy engaged the single remaining Greater Mummy in single combat while the other two lured the Lich away and tried to dodge his spells. The mummy was vanquished, Sneezy moved in to fight the Lich, it summoned an Efreeti but things seemed okay until I missed a casting of Flesh to Stone.

 

Rats. It's much more irritating knowing how easily he could have ducked through the door, just need to pay more attention. Learned a lot though! Going to re-randomize the items and then start again.

 

My thoughts on possible parties for the next run include:

 

monk, inquisitor, avenger (CHARNAME)

wild mage, bounty hunter (CHARNAME), cleric

ranger/cleric, wizard slayer, skald (CHARNAME)

assassin, sorcerer (CHARNAME), fighter

any opinions?

[Grond0]

Two and a Half-Orc - Update 7 - Final

 

-A thought, can't the Unseeing Eye be completed by anyone, even if you can't use Divine scrolls? Would the Rod of Resurrection work for the purposes of healing the E. M.?-

Sorry to see the liches racking up another victim.  All of your combinations look like fun, so go with whatever you fancy.  In relation to the Unseeing Eye any healing (including RoR) is fine and there are quite a few items that can be used.  The only character type that can't use any of these is a wizard slayer - a solo one of those needs to make sure they have Bhaal CLW as an ability or they won't be able to complete the Unseeing Eye (not that there's any particular need to do so anyway).