15218 réponses à ce sujet

[wing]

Thanks Grond0! Going to go with the WM/BH/C combo since running without a thief just seems far beyond my skills at this point. Sorry about Esher, but I'm looking forward to your next candidate.

[Grimwald the Wise]

There is another kit that cannot use those potions and that is the mage hunter. Very similar to the wizard slayer. BY only beef is that the  information given doesn't say that for instance the potion of clarity cannot be used. If it had said so, I would not have complained, but I had to find that out after I had started a game.

[Aasim]

@Wing 

 

Sorry about the demise of your PCs. Your screenshot links apear broken?

I'd vote ranger/cleric, ws, skald as fairly intesresting and powerful (skald+sleketons is nice)

[wing]

@Aasim, think I fixed it. I changed the name of the album, but after changing back it should work again.

 

Sweeteners - Update 1

 

Foreword - My character creation and play now follows these guidelines:

• HP rolls prior to game start are assumed maximum, core rules from then on
• Characters take best of 10 rolls for stats at creation
• In the event of a death we continue on until I give up or TPW, no adding replacement characters
• We don't take on regular NPCs
• Randomiser (fml...)

The Sweeteners are:

 

Molasses

Maple Syrup

and Honey

 

In the Chateau mephits of various flavors succumbed to backstabs, a golem was trapped and another brute forced, the otyugh was beaten to death with staves from the steps, and a lot of traps were set off. Everyone was pretty wounded by traps so we took a rest before trying the bedroom.The trap melange ended with Maple Syrup stepping on 3 in a row (Molasses couldn't disarm them due to a low skill) and being permanently killed by an acid blob. At that point I decided to start over and use a little more caution, so we started from the beginning again.

 

The second time we leave everything alone bar getting the portal key. one golem is trapped to death, the other meleed. Illyich and co are pulled out one at a time and backstabbed, the Cambion is only killed by finally dropping a Skull Trap on top of the party. A summoned skeleton did its best, but couldn't finish him. Everyone levels when we return the Genie's flask after stealthing past the mephits, then we head upstairs.

 

Up there we hit the mephit portals with Holy Smite and Skull Trap, then Maple Syrup Sanctuaries past the mephits and takes out most of the portals with her sling and mace. The clone is backstabbed, the deurgar and goblins in the forge and wand rooms are backstabbed and lured into the lightning wand trap since I somehow missed the key, and Frennedan steps on some traps and gets backstabbed as well. Ulvaryl gets backstab + Firebreath and dies, then we sneak past the shadow thieves invisible and exit the Chateau.

 

We do the Circus quickly, Kalah getting Skull Trap + Smite + Magic Missile and dying before he can finish Quayle or the shadows can finish us. He drops the Metaspell Amulet and we conclude the session there.

[corey_russell]

Corarcher the elvish archer Micro-update

 

Corarcher has defeated the gate district lich (pro undead scroll), Unseeing Eye, Mekrath (using a buffed up solo fighter), and the Planar Prison. The planar prison was a bit dicey at one point, Misty and Forrest attempted to duo the Githyanki, but got put unconscious - but then Coracher got put unconscious! But his team saved him with a RoR heal. Rest of the place went smoothly.

 

We've been in a few vampire ambushes, but have survived all of them so far without chunkings. Cernd has been carrying his weight and can now do fire elementals, which is a big help. He normally uses the boomerang dagger to stay out of trouble.

 

We will probably save planar prison sphere for later. So thus will try the shadow dragon, Sir Sarles quest, and then the main story line. We have no level drain immunity, since the AoP disappeared with Paja. So IMoD will be critical, Misty even has skill with maces so she will be ready to use it once we get it.

[Grond0]

Stanley - elf sorceror (1st and final update)

 

Stanley successfully escaped from the dungeon, though not entirely without alarms.  The cambion proved to have been considerably upgraded and hit Stanley with quite a few spells - such as slow, blindness and magic missile - but didn't seem to have any instantly lethal ones and her stoneskins and magic missiles eventually proved decisive.

 

In the portal room where Esher died Stanley used a scroll to summon some monsters and while all the mephits were occupied with those was demolishing their portals.  He could still have been killed here when a gated steam mephit fired a water jet at him, but in this installation the item pack carries some additional equipment through into the dungeon and the Greenstone Amulet saved him from being stunned.  He got to level 10 there and gained the ability to summon skeletons.

 

His skeletons made the remainder of the combats pretty easy, although he did have one worrying moment when a skeleton set off a wand trap that somehow decided to target him.  The battlemage also annoyingly stole Stanley's XP for Ulvaryl.

 

Emerging into the Promenade Stanley quickly set the circus to rights, getting to level 11 in the process.  He didn't find the ring of human influence and decided to postpone any shopping for the moment.  After reporting to Gaelen Bayle he killed Cohrvale and Bregg - though he got a warning from the Cowled Wizards in the process.

 

Travelling to the Docks he invested in the nymph cloak.  On the way back to the Promenade to use that and friends (by scroll) to buy a few items he ran into the Suna Seni ambush.  That shouldn't have been a problem as he should have been invisible.  However, just before travelling he'd rearranged the contents of his backpack - including shifting the position of his familiar - and that had caused him to become visible.  I was slow to realise that and he had not pre-cast stoneskin.  His attempt to cast invisibility was then interrupted meaning he had to make a run for it (very rare I let Suna Seni get away like that).  After resting to heal, his purchases included some boots of speed (added to Ribald's inventory in this installation).

 

Looking to raise some money Stanley went to the Graveyard and cleared the tombs there.  I thought the potentially tricky bit there would be the tomb with the shadow fiends as he can't get his death saving throw into safe territory by buffing.  That should have been possible anyway using MMM to attack and invisibility to hide.  However, there were no shadow fiends there - I vaguely remember a long time ago reading that aTweaks removes these as they are not properly undead creatures.

 

Coming back to the Promenade Stanley ran into the Renfeld ambush.  This time he was invisible though and after producing skeletons and buffing himself he was able to deal with that with no trouble.  After returning Renfeld he used the next door house for buffing in order to deal with Prebek & Sanasha and their helpers.

 

The cash generated so far allowed Stanley to recharge the wands of cloudkill and monster summoning from the dungeon and he decided it was time to sort the Cowled Wizards out.  The first lot of those walked into a bunch of webs and cloudkills and only one of them emerged.  That one was confronted by a stream of summons and about to die when another lot of Cowled Wizards decided to turn up to complicate things (there's a pause between groups when you can cast spells freely, but Stanley had obviously spent too much time herding summons around - complicated by the latest SCS as summons follow you even when instructed not to).  Stanley left the area as soon as he saw the leader and came back by another route to finish off the last one of the previous group.

 

After resting there was no sign of the other leader so Stanley set up a new encounter.  Once more one of the mages escaped, but this time there was no problem in finishing them off with summons (albeit rather a lot of summons).

 

The third lot was complicated by an innocent for some reason running into the action rather than away and getting stuck in a web.  In trying to keep the cloudkill away from him Stanley only managed to kill 2 of the mages in the web and then with the webs exhausted and the cloudkill almost so the silly sod went and walked into it anyway.  With 2 active wizards the game of hide and seek with summons was trickier and Stanley only just managed to run away in time when one of them teleported next to him and used a chain contingency including ADHW.  Returning to the other side of the area the 2 remaining wizards quickly tracked him down.  Rather than run again he chose to use an invisibility spell - resulting in a fourth group appearing!  With half a dozen of them active and the fresh ones using time stops, power words, dominations etc etc things were now extremely dangerous, but Stanley still hung in there, keeping constantly on the move and trying to always keep summons between him and any enemies (not always possible with them teleporting around).  

 

I didn't want to just rest and try and get them to go away and Stanley was actually doing pretty well - after 15 groups or so of summons the action report showed the mages to be using melee rather than spells.  I was aware that that was not reliable - particularly with so many mages around - but I was getting a bit bored by this time and Stanley went to see what was happening.  He got a quick view of a group of them fighting and then his views were permanently closed.

 I'm not sure what killed him, but think it might have been a flame arrow sequencer - it tends to be special abilities that the mages save up for characters in situations like that.

[Aasim]

And just when I wanted to write congrats...

[Grond0]

Story of my life

[corey_russell]

Sorry to hear that Grond0. You would think now that in your install, the Cowlies are now SCS mages, that would give one even more incentive to get a magic license - but I guess everyone is different - some of us just need the excitement I take it?

[Blackraven]

Story of my life

Excuse me, but have you taken a look at the Hall of Heroes recently?   

Norgath, Dwarven Bounty Hunter (update 7)
 

With permanent Negative Plane Protection thanks to the Amulet of Power Norgath felt the time was ripe to settle some unfinished business in the Umar Hills. However as so often, more urgent affairs at home interfered. At the Adventurer Mart wands of Cloudkill and Monster Summoning were purchased, and at the guildhouse Lathan informed the Dwarf of a new Guard Captain who unlike his predecessor wouldn't be swayed by the rattle of coin to look the other way time and again. This Captain had planned a war on Norgath's guildhouse. He was offered the help of a number of Renal Bloodscalp's Assassins, but preferring to work alone, he declined. Norgath sufficed with slaying Lieutenant Betta and Captain Sterling himself (with Staff of Striking backstabs), trusting that this would convince the lower ranked guards to change their views.

His heroic reputation took a bit of a hit, but theft should cover for any increased shop prices. The main prize for his effort, apart from gold, was the Sword of Olidammara +4 (nice item description).

When Norgath summoned his Familiar, an Imp whose Mustard Jelly form might come in handy time and again, he received no less than 28 HPs. I checked the Imp's stats, and found that it was clearly a SoA variant, with 18 HPs. Afaik a character's HP increase upon casting FF is supposed to be half the Familiar's HP, so I reduced Norgath's HP increase to 9 using Shadowkeeper.

 

Inside the Temple Ruins, Norgath dealt with the undead in the room next to the fire pool. The Lich was the only one to perceive the Dwarf's presence without having actually seen him, and so he also attacked alone.  It succumbed to the Bounty Hunter's traps that nicely interrupted some of the creature's insta-casts. Two Greater Mummies and two Skeleton Warriors complacently allowed Norgath to destroy them after he had protected himself from undead with a green scroll. That same protection also enabled the Dwarf to deal with the Shade Lord and its undead minions without meeting any resistance. (I didn't do this before because I wasn't sure whether the Shade lord's level draining aura would be active regardless of the scroll.)

 

The mayor of Imnesvale rewarded Norgath for his heroics and caused the Bounty Hunter to reach level 25 (where Assassination was picked as a second HLA). With a Ranger called Valygar he returned to Athkatla to explore a Planar Sphere that had caused the attention of many a slums dweller. Norgath had previously accepted a job to bring the woodsman before the wizard Tolgerias at the Council of Six Building, but after having heard Valygar he had a rare change of heart. With his alleged arcane blood Valygar was the only living being capable of entering the Planar Sphere, inhabited by a forefather of his, Lavok. The Dwarf negiotiated and the two agreed that any spoils would be free for him to take, and that the Ranger relinquish his armor to him. Norgath's friend Cromwell merged the Shadow Dragon Scale armor and Valygar's armor into an upgraded Corthala Family Armor. The price was high though: one of his two green scrolls of PfMagic (plus 10k GP).

Maybe I shouldn't have done this, as the green scrolls are powerful, life saving items, whereas the armor is very good but less likely to save Norgath's life (there are many good armors). The protection from magic damage is nice, but with Norgath's saves and the Belt of the Inertial Barrier, magic damage (including ADHW) hadn't been a huge deal so far. The elemental protections are situationally useful; the charm protection not really (Charm has long ceased to be a concern for Norgath). The non-detection I do consider convenient because it makes other cloaks than the Cloak of Non-Detection interesting. In fact, in my install the Cloak of Balduran is imported into SoA (via BGTTweaks). Norgath isn't wearing it but do you guys think that doing so would 'break' my game? I guess it would make a difference because it would help Norgath reach 100 MR (together with Carsomyr, Gaxx, Seldarine, Hell Trial). Without the Cloak 100 innate/equipped MR would not be attainable if I'm not mistaken. EDIT: yes it would: Human Flesh Armor... this makes me think I might use the Cloak of Balduran with the Corthala Armor after all.

 

Norgath had Valygar open the Sphere for him, felt the Sphere make some violent movement, and told the Ranger to wait at the entrance. He then used an oil of speed to give a party of wild Hallfings a backstabbing masterclass. Some of the runts however were wizards, a very rare trait amongst Halflings. Unimpressed by the spells they aimed at him, Norgath used his speed weapons and Gaxx-Hastes to slice through the casters' Stoneskins, and of course he used his traps as well.

An experiment with a daily summon Greater Shambler ability that came with a Druid Shield 'The Guardian' he'd bought from Merina at the greater guildhouse taught Norgath not to use that ability again: the summon turned up hostile and wouldn't have fallen easily if it weren't for Kitthix' webbing. Fire Elementals, Golems and even an Elder Orb did not survive Norgath's intrusion into their domain. (With its killing blow a friendly Golem stole Norgath's XP from the Elder Orb.)

 

More interesting was the Dwarf's encounter with Valygar's ancestor, Lavok. That wizard was something else. First of all he proved immune to Norgath's Maze Traps, probably due to an Improved Mantle (although I think he resisted another Maze trap when his Improved Mantle had expired). The Dwarf's regular traps he shrugged off with the same nonchalance. And he had no difficulty dispatching the Dwarf's summons - simulacrum, Efreeti - either. Ras fared a bit better, but it soon had enough of playing with the Necromancer and his three summoned Skeleton Warriors.

Hidden in shadows, Norgath then sought a quiet space where neither Lavok nor the Skellies would see him, and instructed his Imp to come out of his pack and polymorph itself into a Mustard Jelly, to soak up some more spells. Hidden in shadows again, Norgath found that that too, was a plan that Lavok eagerly thwarted. With a well-placed Melf's Minute Meteor the wizard disrupted the Imp's casting of Polymorph Self. Norgath hastily told his pet to get back in his pack, which caused the Dwarf to become visible to Lavok. The latter took full advantage of that, dropping a devastating Comet on the Bounty Hunter. Groggy Norgath swigged a potion of extra healing and stumbled back to the door, barely avoiding the (now potentially deadly) swings of the Skeleton Warriors' greatswords. Near the exit, rather than fleeing or quaffing another potion, he summoned Kitthix to distract the Skeleton Warriors that were on his heels. Kitthix did a good job. She saved against a Finger of Death and took a lot of magic damage, forcing her to kite (and regenerate) rather than fight the wizard and his skellies. This dance allowed Norgath to fully heal and to plan something new, i.e. to launch arrows of dispelling at the Necromancer, so that Kitthix would be able to poison or web it. The arrow didn't prove necessary as Kitthix managed to web her opponent anyway. Thus the wizard's fate was sealed, and he knew it, for he surrendered and asked the Dwarf to help him see the open sky of the prime material plane before he died. Norgath respected both the wizard (the most powerful foe he had battled thus far), and his last wish. 

 

In order to grant Lavok that wish, a demon's heart had to be retrieved and used in a power core to direct the Sphere back to Athkatla (apparently the violent shaking when he had entered the Sphere, had been the Sphere traveling to another plane. Norgath first decided to check out the power core, because he had understood little of the mechanics of what Lavok had told him. All he had understood was that he was required to slay a demon. On his way to the power core he scouted Tolgerias of the Cowled Wizards. Norgath overheard the mage, telling another mage, a woman, that he was going to give Norgath a painful death.

The Dwarf decided to sneak up on Tolgerias and try and take him out with a single backstab. He hit hard, but not hard enough. Tolgerias triggered a string of magical protections, making a quick follow-up attack impossible. He also summoned a Mordenkainen's Sword and gated in two Fiends, prompting Norgath to take a break in one of the other rooms. When he returned, hidden in shadows, Tolgerias seemed to be protected only by Stoneskins. The Dwarf quaffed an oil of speed, drew his short bow, and pelted the wizard with acid arrows, disrupting his foe's attempts at spell casting until the latter lay dead upon the ground. Tolgerias' assistant received the same treatment, and creatures of fire and cold were spike-trapped (Noble Efreeti) and meleed/backstabbed, except for Snow Trolls that required acid arrows.

 

Norgath caught a quick glimpse of the power core, and then strolled back the Sphere's entrance, where he had Valygar watch over him while he rested. He then stepped outside and saw that Lavok had been right: they were on another plane, in what looked to be Hell. Demon hunting meant having to look out for Stuns, so Norgath equipped the Sword of Arvoreen that Mazzy had so generously donated to his cause. With Gaxx-Hastes a Lea'liyl and a Nabassu that had curiously come to the former's aid (as per SCS Better calls for help?) were slain, as were their minions. The wisom to fight with the Sword of Arvoreen showed when a Glabrezu saw a PW:Stun have no effect against a wounded Norgath (below 90 HPs). Norgath continued to strike and slash and bested the third of the three demons. He reentered the Sphere, deposited one of the demons' hearts in a gaping mouth in the power core, slew three Golems with traps and Gaxx-Hastes (and using two Clubs on a slashing/piercing resistant Clay Golem), and took Lavok outside to see the wizard draw his last breath under the sky of Amn.

[Aasim]

 

(Charm has long ceased to be a concern for Norgath). 

Be careful with this. There are charms other than wizard/priest spells - namely, succubus, demons and the like - these obey different (much harsher, especially vs males) save penalties - and rest assured, you will get both malisoned and hit by spells that nullify magic resistance. 

[Blackraven]

Thanks @Aasim, for the warning. I was aware of inevitable Malisons and Lowered MR, but may have underestimated the Corthala Armor's Charm protection

Norgath, Dwarven Bounty Hunter (update 8)

With the Planar Sphere cleared and looted Norgath still had one mission for Aran Linvail (destroying the rival guild), and two side missions (Windspear Hills, Planar Prison) he wanted to carry out before the hunt after irenicus could begin. The Dwarf decided to go after the vampires first. 

He had an ale at the Crooked Crane Inn and was told of a Lich in a hidden chamber. A green scroll of PfUndead protected the Bounty Hunter while he entered the room, and set his traps. As soon as he attacked the Lich, the traps triggered and killed the abomination. He secured the Daystar, a long sword with anti-undead powers.

The Dwarf then went to the Graveyard District where he met Haz, a mage who was a member of the greater guild, in one of the tunnels. The wizard had a golem smash a heavy door, but then got killed by Grimwarders. Norgath slew the Grimwarders and ran into a completely impassive Vampire. (This was Lassal.) Due to PfUndead the dialogue didn't trigger. I understand that PfUndead can cause bugs in Bodhi's Lair with required dialogues not triggering. Besides there's not much fun in slaying Vampires with PfUndead... :sweat_smile: So Norgath slew two unresisting Vampires (Durst and a Fledgling), and then decided to rest outside their lair, causing his PfUndead to wear off.

 

He was a bit worried about the (SCS) Vampires' special abilities, especially their Giant Rat Swarms that could corner him in one the narrow corridors. The Vampires did use their special powers, i.e. they CON-drained the Dwarf, they would shift into Wolf form and Bat form, and they would go invisible until Norgath's Detect Illusions dispelled their invisibility, but thankfully no Rat Swarms were called. Thus, immune to Charm and Level Drain the Bounty Hunter had relatively little difficulty defeating a number of Fledglings. (The Mace of Disruption was secured and upgraded by Cromwell, but never used unlike Daystar.) He Maze trapped a spellcasting Vampire, Tanova, and her Fledgling sister. It was unfortunate that the Fledgling was the first to reappear, because she fell to two Spike Traps that Norgath had hoped would hit Tanova. A Time Trap froze Tanova when she returned from the Maze, and Norgath set some of his regular snares, but she seemed to resist much of their damage (I think due to insta-cast protections). Therefore the Dwarf decided to retreat and rest. The next day, his two daily Spike Traps finished her off. On a lower level he then dealt with more Vampires (using backstabs, Maze traps and regular traps) and Grimwarders. And he accpted Lassal's challenge to fight him in a pit of blood and spikes. Lassal tried all manner of tricks (though again no rats, except he did turn into one himself, presumably to reduce the damage that hasted Norgath inflicted with his two speed weapons), but there was no stopping Norgath.

 

The Dwarf set a Time trap and some of his remaining regular traps in a chamber with three coffins, staked three vampires that were resting in them, and saw the guild mistress, a vampire named Bodhi appear in front of him. She spoke a lot and suggested that she was aligned with Irenicus, which only fed the Dwarf's determination to kill her. When she went hostile, the Time trap and the other traps trigged, injuring the Vampire. And Gaxx-Hastes enabled Norgath to hurt his frozen enemy even more. Shortly after the time stop effect had expired, she gave up the fight and fled.

 

Norgath will soon have a word with Linvail, because it's about time for the guildmaster to deliver on his promises, but as mentioned above, the Dwarf still has his Windspear Hills business to attend to, as well as a commision for a troupe of Bards in the Bridge District's Five Flagons Inn.  

edit Forgot about Nalia's Keep... Not sure whether Norgath wants to go there: annoying Spirit Trolls and gold and XP aren't a real issue. Does anyone know if I'm forgetting a useful item that can be acquired at the Keep?

[Grond0]

edit Forgot about Nalia's Keep... Not sure whether Norgath wants to go there: annoying Spirit Trolls and gold and XP aren't a real issue. Does anyone know if I'm forgetting a useful item that can be acquired at the Keep?

The FoA and the shield amulet are there.  The former could potentially be useful even non-proficient against Melissan, but that will depend on how you are intending to play that encounter.  I doubt you would find the latter useful for a Bounty Hunter.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 multiplayer attempt 70{2} - (5th and final update)

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

 

This pairing were cruising for most of today's session, but there was a bit of sloppy play and one instance of that brought their run to a crashing halt.

 

They started off by immediately setting sail for Brynnlaw.  After massacring Perth and getting a wyvern call book from him they had their first fright in Spellhold when St John failed to rage when engaging a pit fiend and ran around scared as a result.  At one point it looked like he was heading for the yuan-ti and lethal trap, but turned round and stayed safe.  After that incident the rest of Spellhold was straight-forward, as was the City of Caverns thereafter.

 

In the Underdark the kuo-toa tunnels were cleared easily enough, though Vargus was level drained by the demon knights there and had to use his last restoration scroll to recover.  Vithal was helped and then punished for not giving us enough of the loot and some more kuo-toa pointed the way to the beholder area.  The elder orb there is dangerous because it can cast imprisonment, but a high APR can kill it before it gets the chance to do that.  Unfortunately this pair were not yet high enough level to have WW and had left Belm behind in Athkatla so Vargus was using only a single weapon.  Once the beholder anti-magic ray hit that meant Vargus was down to 2.5 APR and St John 2.  That proved not quite enough as Vargus was targeted with imprisonment while the elder orb was near death.  Effectively that was the end of the run, but St John decided to bow out in style by being charmed by the other beholder as it died ...

[Blackraven]

The FoA and the shield amulet are there.  The former could potentially be useful even non-proficient against Melissan, but that will depend on how you are intending to play that encounter.  I doubt you would find the latter useful for a Bounty Hunter.

 

Thanks, will probably go after the FoA in chapter 6 (or at least after Windspear and Astral Prison).

[Blackraven]

Norgath, Dwarven Bounty Hunter (update 9)

 

Norgath left Athkatla to visit Firkraag in the Windspear Hills. It didn't take him long to understand that not bandits but Firkraag himself (and his lackeys) would be his quarry. He even kidnapped an innocent girl to make the Bounty Hunter come after him. The man/dragon apparently had an old score to settle with Gorion, and in the absence of the latter he had picked Norgath as his enemy.

The Dwarf went looking for Firkraag in a dungeon in the hills. He entered a cave full of Orcs, Hobgoblins and Mists, and slew all those creatures. (These kinds of encounters are tedious for a Bounty Hunter.) His most notable performance was a critical backstab with which a Ruhk Transmuter was killed. The area behind it was inhabited by irrelevant and easily disposable enemies such as Hobgoblins, an Otyuygh, and a Troll, but also by six Ancient and Elder Vampires.

 

The undead gave Norgath a really hard time. The things I feared in Bodhi's lair, came to pass in this dungeon. These Elder/Ancient Vampires are much more powerful than the Fledglings. They drained his CON, they summoned Dread Wolves and swarms of Giant Rats that took Norgath's trap damage for them, they summoned bats that drove him near crazy, and they backstabbed him whenever he became visible. Norgath noticed he could best these creatures in single combat. But the Vampires had no reason to fight on those terms. When two of them took turns hiding and backstabbing him to near death, Norgath quaffed a potion of invisibility and realized he would have to do things differently. (The image shows him at 15 HPs.) He decided to use another one of his green scrolls of PfUndead. The tide of battle turned immediately. All the Vampires would do was to hide in order to escape Norgath's blades, but with his DI skill the Dwarf had no trouble finding, and eventually killing the Vampires. Wraiths and Shadows suffered the same fate, just before the PfUndead wore off.

 

Greater Wolfweres seemed to be unkillable: neither the Scarlet Ninja-To, nor the Staff of Striking +3, nor Norgath's +5 Short Sword had any effect. The Dwarf saw no other solution than to rest a few times in a row and finish the beasts off with his traps. He accepted to aid Samia in her alleged quest for artifacts of historical value, but would soon learn that she was nothing more than the cutesy, well-bosomed relic hunter she herself denied to be. He succeeded, killing a Beholder (traps), six Djinn guardians (backstabs or fisticuffs with 100 Fire Resistance), and a Fire Elemental for the woman. He rested in a small room where he found a sword and a shield that Samia had been after.

 

When he left, hidden in shadows, he saw her adventuring party waiting for him. The Dwarf first set threw a Maze trap into the party's midst, then placed some traps near Samia (immediately hiding in shadows after setting each trap, so that his foes remained blue circled), and then he took out their mage with a backstab. Samia fell soon after the wizard. The previously placed Maze trap, Kitthix' meleeing, more traps, and some nice backstabbing made dealing with the remaining opposition a walk in the park.

A less interesting encounter with Orogs and Golems (and later Werewolves followed). As a Bounty Hunter Norgath tends to perform well against strong individual opponents while having difficulty with multiple opponents, especially in cramped spaces, because hiding, backstabbing and trap-setting is much harder. In this particular fight Norgath did well. He found himself in a difficult position when all possible hiding places proved occupied by foes, but he managed to bottleneck his foes on a bridge, so that he could melee them one at a time (when dealing with the hard-hitting Golems he would heal with potions).

 

His old acquaintance Tazok was (finally?) put to rest with a critical Daystar-stab, and a wizard who had the key to the kidnapped girl's cell was mazed and subsequently treated with Efreeti-fire and acid arrows until he fell.

 

Norgath released the girl and then decided to test his mettle against Firkraag. I decided to have Norgath fight Firkraag on equal terms. This meant no pre-buffing except for an oil of speed and no trapping before the dragon was spoken to. It also meant trouble. Firkraag immediately hasted, making him seemingly faster than the Dwarf. He retreated from the dragon's lair, and reentered invisibly (I expected Firkraag to see through Norgath's invisibility, just like Thaxxy had done, but I wasn't 100% sure). Firkraag immediately noticed the Dwarf and pursued him at full speed toward the other end of the den. With great difficulty the Dwarf then managed to find a way back to the exit, even if it made him suffer one hit and a wing buffet (but resist Melf's Acid Arrows).

When he had left the lair behind him one again, he cast Mirror Image on himself, from a scroll (forgot about Ilbratha), waited for his aura to be clear, and rushed once more past Firkraag, who was still hasted it turned out, toward the back of its lair. Crucially, Norgath managed to summon Ras, right between him and the dragon. The blade did an outstanding job at distracting and occupying Firkraag without suffering so much as a scratch, allowing Norgath to launch a Maze trap at the dragon.

Once Firkraag was mazed the battle was won, albeit barely. (Note how Ras resisted Firkraag's wing buffet.)Thrice Norgath would place three to four damage traps, and one new maze trap. Thus the dragon would suffer some damage and get mazed again without being able to retalliate except for one Red Dragon Breath. Things started to look difficult when Norgath ran out of damage traps, but with a Time trap and melee attacks with his speed weapons and Gaxx-Haste he managed to defeat his foe just in time.

[Grond0]

 I decided to have Norgath fight Firkraag on equal terms.

A brave decision - glad it worked out for Norgath .

[Blackraven]

A brave decision - glad it worked out for Norgath .

Unwise though. I want Norgath to live a long good life, as Minsc would say.   
 

[Alaestr]

I installed BG on the new computer and here is a fresh weidu log:

Spoiler

// Log of Currently Installed WeiDU Mods

// The top of the file is the 'oldest' mod

// ~TP2_File~ #language_number #component_number // [Subcomponent Name -> ] Component Name [ : Version]

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1000 // Initialise mod (all other components require this): v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #1910 // Protection from Normal Missiles also blocks Arrows of Fire/Cold/Acid and similar projectiles without pluses: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2000 // Allow Spellstrike to take down a Protection from Magic scroll: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2010 // More consistent Breach spell (always affects liches and rakshasas; doesn't penetrate Spell Turning): v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2020 // Antimagic attacks penetrate improved invisibility: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2030 // Iron Skins behaves like Stoneskin (can be brought down by Breach): v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2041 // Modify the Harm spell so it does damage rather than reducing target to 1 hp -> Enemy and player Harm spells both do 150 hp of damage: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2050 // Allow individual versions of Spell Immunity to be placed into Contingencies and Spell Triggers: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2070 // Blade Barrier and Globe of Blades only affect hostile creatures: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2080 // Cap damage done by Skull Trap at 12d6: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2090 // Make Power-Word: Blind single-target: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2100 // Make Minute Meteors into +2 weapons: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2110 // Reduce the power of Inquisitors' Dispel Magic -> Inquisitors dispel at 1.5 x their level (not twice their level): v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2120 // Slightly weaken insect plague spells, and let fire shields block them: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2140 // Slightly increase the power of Mantle, Improved Mantle, and Absolute Immunity: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2150 // Make spell sequencers, spell triggers, and contingencies learnable by all mages: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2160 // Add an extra copy of some hard-to-find spell scrolls: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2170 // True Sight/True Seeing spells protect from magical blindness: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #2180 // Prevent Simulacra and Projected Images from using magical items: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3010 // Replace +1 arrows with nonmagical "fine" ones: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3020 // Replace +1 magical weapons with Fine ones: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Reduce the number of Arrows of Dispelling in stores -> Remove Arrows of Dispelling from stores: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3050 // Remove the Shield of Balduran from the game: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3060 // Remove the invisibility power of the Staff of the Magi: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3070 // Move Vhailor's Helm into Throne of Bhaal: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Move the Cloak of Mirroring: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3090 // Move the Robe of Vecna into Throne of Bhaal: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Make the healing and resurrection powers of the Rod of Resurrection into separate abilities: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Change Carsomyr so that its Dispel on contact power grants a saving throw: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4010 // Grant large, flying, non-solid or similar creatures protection from Web and Entangle: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4030 // Improved shapeshifting: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4040 // Make party members less likely to die irreversibly: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4150 // Allow the Cowled Wizards to detect spellcasting in most indoor, above-ground areas in Athkatla: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4180 // Make Freedom scrolls available earlier: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4210 // Randomise the maze in Watcher's Keep: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4215 // Remove unrealistically helpful items from certain areas: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4216 // Remove unrealistically convenient ammunition from certain areas -> Only remove nonmagical ammo from random containers: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4230 // Delay the arrival of the "bonus merchants" in the Adventurers' Mart and the Copper Coronet: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #4240 // Treat mages' and priests' High-Level Abilities as innate abilities rather than memorisable spells (each may be taken only once): v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5000 // Ease-of-use party AI: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5010 // Move Boo into Minsc's pack: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5020 // Remove the blur graphic effect from the Cloak of Displacement: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5030 // Remove animation from the Cloak of Mirroring (leave it for other spells and effects that use the same graphic): v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #5900 // Initialise AI components (required for all tactical and AI components): v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6000 // Smarter general AI: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6010 // Better calls for help: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6023 // Add high-level abilities (HLAs) to spellcasters -> All eligible spellcasters in Throne of Bhaal get HLAs; only selected casters in Shadows of Amn do: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6031 // Smarter Mages -> Mages only cast short-duration spells instantly at start of combat if they are created in sight of the PC: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6041 // Smarter Priests -> Priests only cast short-duration spells instantly at start of combat if they are created in sight of the PC: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6100 // Potions for NPCs -> All of the potions dropped by slain enemies are recoverable: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6200 // Improved Spiders: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6500 // Improved golems: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6510 // Improved fiends -> Fiends have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6520 // Smarter genies -> Genies have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6530 // Smarter celestials -> Celestials have about 50 percent more hit points than normal: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6540 // Smarter dragons -> Dragons have a substantial hit point increase: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6551 // Smarter beholders -> Don't give beholder rays any chance of burning through spell protections; beholder antimagic blocks all spells, including harmful ones, for a round (simulates D&D rules): v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6561 // Smarter mind flayers -> Illithids have enhanced damage resistance; Illithids can see through invisibility (matches Tactics mod): v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6570 // Smarter githyanki: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6580 // Improved Vampires: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #6590 // Smarter Throne of Bhaal final villain: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8000 // Make the starting dungeon slightly harder: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8010 // Improved Shade Lord: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8020 // Spellcasting Demiliches: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8030 // More resilient trolls: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8042 // Increase difficulty of level-dependent monster groupings -> Almost-maximum difficulty (maximum for everything except liches): v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8050 // Improved Random Encounters: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8060 // Improved de'Arnise Keep ("Tactics Remix") -> Spirit trolls have the same powers as in the original game: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8070 // Improved Unseeing Eye: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8081 // Improved Bodhi (Tactics Remix) -> Original Tactics Improved Bodhi with SCSII scripting: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8090 // Party's items are taken from them in Spellhold: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8100 // Improved battle with Irenicus in Spellhold: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8110 // Improved Sahuagin: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8120 // Improved Beholder hive (adapted from Quest Pack): v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8130 // Prevent resting in the Illithid city: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8140 // Slightly Improved Drow -> Upgrade Ust Natha's defences: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8150 // Slightly Improved Watcher's Keep: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8160 // Improved Fire Giant temple: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8170 // Enhanced Sendai's Enclave: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8180 // Improved Abazigal's Lair: v30

~STRATAGEMS/SETUP-STRATAGEMS.TP2~ #0 #8190 // Improved Minor Encounters: v30

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #10 // Remove Helmet Animations: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #20 // Change Imoen's Avatar to Mage: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #30 // Change Nalia's Avatar to Thief: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #40 // Change Viconia's Skin Color to Dark Blue: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #60 // Weapon Animation Tweaks: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #110 // Icon Improvements: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #130 // Force All Dialogue to Pause Game: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #140 // Fix Boo's Squeak: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1010 // More Interjections: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1020 // Alter HP Triggers for NPC Wounded Dialogues: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1040 // Improved Athkatlan City Guard: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1070 // Improved Multi-Player Kick-out Dialogues: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1080 // Add Bags of Holding: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1120 // Stores Sell Higher Stacks of Items: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1170 // Bonus Merchants (Baldurdash): v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1220 // Allow Cromwell to Upgrade Watcher's Keep Items: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #1230 // Allow Cespenar to Use Cromwell Recipes: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2140 // Expanded Dual-Class Options: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2170 // Cast Spells from Scrolls (and Other Items)  at Character Level: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2210 // True Grandmastery (Baldurdash): v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2220 // Change Magically Created Weapons to Zero Weight: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2320 // Trap Cap Removal (Ardanis/GeN1e): v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2330 // Remove Delay for Magical Traps (Ardanis/GeN1e): v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2339 // Remove Summoning Cap for Regular Summons: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2340 // Remove Summoning Cap for Celestials (Ardanis/GeN1e): v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2352 // Alter Multiclass Restrictions -> Install both of the above options: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2360 // Remove Racial Restrictions for Single Classes: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2371 // Alter Dual-class Restrictions -> Allow non-humans to dual-class: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #2380 // Remove Racial Restrictions for Kits: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3001 // Higher HP on Level Up -> NWN Style: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3040 // Make Bags of Holding Bottomless: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3060 // Remove "You Must Gather Your Party..." Sound (Weimer): v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3080 // Unlimited Ammo Stacking: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3090 // Unlimited Gem and Jewelry Stacking: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3100 // Unlimited Potion Stacking: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3110 // Unlimited Scroll Stacking: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3120 // Happy Patch (Party NPCs do not complain about reputation) -> NPCs Are Never Angry About Reputation: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3123 // NPCs Don't Fight: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3125 // Neutral Characters Make Happy Comments at  Mid-Range Reputation: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3141 // Faster Chapter 1&2 Cut-Scenes and Dreams -> Non-Silly Version: v16

~BG2_TWEAKS/SETUP-BG2_TWEAKS.TP2~ #0 #3170 // No Drow Avatars On Party In Underdark: v16

(I have finally realized weidu logs are automatically created and stored in my bg installation folder, woohoo!)

 

In short: my mods of choice are: bg2 tweaks and scs II. I made myself acquianted with the new version of scs II (not much has changed in terms of game rules, so gameplay will probably stay the same). Not all the tweaks were installed - mainly those that make playing less tedious - some inventory tweaks, bottomless bag of holding, few others, but mainly NWN-style HP on level-up (hp on level-up is always from the higher half of the range), true grandmastery (it now does what it says in the in-game description), also I lifted multi-classing, single-class and dual-classing restrictions. The last component I refrain from using for no-reload, but I use it extensively in the runs I actually would like to enjoy From the SCS II side - I avoided incorporating Spirit Trolls' abilities from Tactics mod, because I hate it when they disappear every turn. It makes fighting them not harder but just longer and click intensive. I recognize it does not elevate difficulty, rather my blood pressure levels, so I said goodbye to it with not a single tear shed. Also focusing on the important for solo runners stuff: both of the hardest components for solo are installed (harder starting dungeon and remove items from party in spellhold), other than that: spellstrike now removes Scroll of Protection From Magic, more hps for genies, fiends, dragons (Thaxy, Firkraag now have whooping 480 hp and 552 hp respectively), beholders: anti magic attacks penetrate Improved Invisibility, also their rays don't penetrate spell barriers, but they do prevent spell-casting and harm spells to take effect for 1 turn, also Vhailor's Helm moved to ToB and of course Simulacra and other clones can't use items from hotbar. All of the improved challenges are incorporated and improved ai behaviours are present as well. 

 

With the technicalities behind us, embrace yourselves! Meet the flashiest, most handsome rogue of them all. Bad-mannered, often lewd, but always classy! Lo' and behold!

 

Al, the illusive half-elven Blade. Update No.1

 

Al is imported from BG1, but it was not a no-reload bg1. I don't import any items, nor do I spawn in anything additional this time (my last blade had nerfed version of Cloak of Balduran at his disposal). Imoen, Minsc and Jaheira were booted from the party as soon as they joined. I quickly equipped double long swords and ventured forth. Al, being a coward that he is, fought with vicious kobolds and emerged victorious. He spent one spin every fight with a pack of duergars. There was some clutch situation when Al with 10hp, depleted of spins and spells as well as health potions, run around with a bow shooting duergars aggroed from the Illyich room (better call for help from scs) after fighting with a tentacle monster, but it all ended well with a help of oil of speed. He rested before tackling Cambion. He timed his triggering of poison traps, so he could neutralize the posion from two of them with only one spell (there is a problem when the spell is being interrupted by posion damage). Crucial in fights with duergars was Al's familiar - psuedo dragon. Psuedo dragon has 24 hp, AC -2, hits with decent thaco, knocks unconscious on hit with a save throw, and more importantly it regenerates health! Great! So Al was using his dragon as blade and bolt fodder for his not exactly courageous actions.  Yey, tactics. I despise Jon's dungeon in SCS.

 

The portal room - simple and smooth as it goes. Some minor buffs on himself, pseudo dragon in front with a duo of summoned creatures (from a found scroll). Al opened the door, ran away, waited out rainbow vomit from one of the mephits thrown graciously upon summons. sneaked past busied enemies and started whacking at portals while under offensive spin, prioritizing radiant mephit portal. Went as smooth as the portal fight can go. While under the effects of buffs he engaged the clone, who managed to cast two spells including stoneskin, so Al ended the poor thing with a Chromatic Orb (scroll). The Doppelganger succumbed to the perma stun of pseudo dragon cuteness and has fallen victim of Al's cunning. Ulvaryl managed to escape despite potion of fire breathing (she was near death though, I used the potion too early I think). Al offed duergars in the north part of the compound with a help of a couple of spins and his trustworthy dragon, and some buffs (most dangerous is the mage there, who has a nasty tendency of casting charm person - what is 50% immune to magic cute ball of claws and wings for, huh?). Assassin were dealt with using a charge of wand of monster summoning. While fighting assassing dragon was put to backpack, since I am not sure the assassins can't backstab one shot the 24hp entity. They were happy enough to unleash their backstabbin on summons, when Al swooped in and mopped the floor with them with a help of Oil of Speed. While under the influence of the potion, Al headed to clear the djinni plane. Unfortunately I forgot to pause the game and potion wore off while I was typing the last few sentences, but Al had a backup plan in place. Pseudo dragon tanked the first two mephits like a champ and they soon met their end. For the big bunch upstairs Al used Fireball opener and let PD tank what left of them. At least that was the plan, but Al missed the first fireball completely (I forgot where exactly where mephits placed) and the second was definetely underwhelming leaving all the mephits alive. Thankfully I sent PD first and it soaked up most of the crowd control spells and a first wave of damage, although one of the mephits managed to stun Al and some lost mephit was attacking him, but I smartly healed Al beforehand so he withstood damage without batting an eye and soon he gulped two potions of healing to mitigate the damage and was clearing the mephits just fine. He grabbed Varscona and headed out from Jon's complex. My friends, deserved victory. 

 

This is character record of Al upon surfacing. He dinged to level 11 while crawling through Jon's dungeon. Isn't his face beatiful? Al delved immediately to circus tent, freed Aerie, buffed himself (ghost armor, protection from evil, mirror images, blur), skipped werevolwes, focused his spinning on Kalah with a great succes. Quick visit to Adventure's Mart to sell and rebuy wand of killing cloud. Now. I know you missed me. Me and my dirty, dirty tricks that I execute with no shame at all. Well here it goes. 

 

I positioned Al in the corner of Waukeen Promenade to the old-timers known as Cowled Wizards' Demise and started the cheese. Cast II, run while they Shadow Dooring in, wand them 3 times from outside line of sight. Wait and watch the log. Rest in inn to reremember II. Rinse and repeat till the game throws big guys upon. Then wand them 5 times. Despite the 5 cloud kills Zallanora made her escape, panicked though. So Al had the pleasure of tracking her down with spins. Funny enough one of the Amnian guard joined Al's effort. Profit. Yey, cheese. He found only one useful scroll on the bodies of mages - improved mantle. Half-elf sold loots and bought RoAC and some useful scrolls to scribe them into his spellbook. He also levelled up to 12th (weapon proficiency scimitars +) Onwards!

 

I finished here to eat dinner. 

 

I am a wee bit rusty, but feeling good to come back to bg2. Funny enough what prompted the comeback was another RPG - the newest dragon age. I played it quite some time and thought about BG2. Prepare for all kinds of exploiting!

[Alaestr]

Al, the illusive half-elven Blade. Update No.2

 

On his way to Copper Coronet Al gave Bregg and Cohrvale a friendly advice. On arrival he showed his prowess in the ring, checked out Nalia, chatted with Lord I-am-not-Firkraag-certainly, impressed the innkeeper to show him some under the counter goods, double-checked his spellbook and rested. He began to free Copper Coronet with an usual assortment of buffs (PfE, Blur, Mirror Images, Stoneskins, and spins). For the Beastmaster combo web + minor globe of invulnerability was abused. Beastmaster hadn't even time to talk. Checking out what Bernard has in store I concluded I need more backpack space. I need to find Al Bag of Holding and Potion Bag. 

 

Having in mind surpirse attacks while travelling through Atkhatla Al rested and ventured forth with a spellbook full of deadly magic and under II from RoAC. He was surely attacked and quickly retreated to the corner of the map. There he fully buffed (usual setup) and started the fight with Potion of Fire Breath on the alerted mage. Elf managed to spread the love on the two other mambers of the Suna Seni gang and soon the rest fell to his mighty melee. After looting the corpses and moving on, Al found Potion Case in the small store owned by one of the priests at Watcher's Keep. That relieved the backpack load a bit, but I was still dissatisfied. I could not remember where BGTweaks added Bags of Holding, so I confered briefly with the Internetz and upon finding out there is none up to the maze in Spellhold (I was convinced BoH appears earlier with Tweaks installed), I inserted it into Al's inventory through eeKeeper. No more strenous inventory management. Onwards. 

 

Thugs from the Renfeld encounter soon realized they were terribly outmatched by this nimble half-elf. After the bloodbath he graciously agreed to help Renfeld. He put the wounded man into his bag of holding next to ther looted armors and weapons. Seemed fair enough. Al headed towards Graveyard to rob it of its experience and riches. After meleeing first two Skeleton Warriors with long swords I realized I won't stand it much longer and opted to buy Al Azuredge despite blade's unproficiency with. Hopefully he won't cut himself with it. Upper level of graveyard cleared with a help of azuredge, lower level with Varscara, Namarra and buffs. PaiNa's spiders dealt with a single fireball while being under MGoI. Al cowardly escaped the zone every time the drow started to cast a spell which reminded him of charm incantations (he had no charm protection at the time). Al finally blasted through her stoneskins and soon she fell to Varscara. Easy. Now Al has a helm! Sort of. Well apparently there is an ioun stone which hovers around his head deflecting incoming blows. Fair enough. Thaco bonus is also nice, since blades' Achilles heel is high Thaco, at least until they acquire HLAs. Also Spell Immunity scroll, which Al succesfully transcribed into his spellbook. I tried tackling the rest of the southern chambers fairly, but finally succumbed to the Pro from Undead scrolls x 2 and Oil of Speed with added Azuredge on top.

 

While coming back to Waukeen Promenade to sell the goods, Al was attacked by a group of bandits (random encounter from scs). I was sane enough to cast II from RoAC before leaving graveyard so the element of surprise was on my side. Although I wasn't sane enough to rest before leaving graveyard, I sent Al to try and capitalize on the ambush. I worked my angle with limited resources. No buffs essentially except potion of defense, oil of speed and potions of invisibility. Al sent the spider helper forth to lure out all the nasty stuff mages and clerics have prepared for him and it worked like a charm. The group quickly killed Kithix (I butchered that name, I know), the mage started to summon some spiders was the moment I decided Al will use the wand of imbalance. One cloudkill from out of line of sight killed one of the baddies and instantly all the summons. Al had two rogues on his back though. Fortunately he had 4 defensive spins in reserve and used those to kill them. One last cloudkill to kill the remaining mage. In the hindsight I should have just retreated Al. The resources spent to kill those thugs were not worth the loot. I hoped for more kickass scrolls, but got virtually worthless stuff. Loots sold and drained levels restored, rested Al's happily trotted towards Docks.

 

In the docks, Al killed mad priest (namarra in the right hand). Tackled Sanasha and Prebek (buffed solidly outside - MGoI, SI:E, II), unfortunately Al forgot to put remove magic in his spellbook, it probably was the bartender who was busying his mind. Those bards, eh? So I just let the blade punch through Prebek's stoneskins while still under si:e after dealing with summons in melee. When the protection wore off, I was alert to Sanasha trying anything even closely related to enchantments and tactically ran Al outside the building at the first sign of a shady spellcasting. This is the aftermath. I avoided opening any containers inside the building, because I vaguely remembered one of the drawers were trapped and I didn't remember which one. Led by sixth sense Al entered the tavern, rested and attacked shifty looking fellow named Dirth. It was a tougher fight than I expected. And again the cursed thaco was my issue, but amongst II, stoneskins, 4 defensive spins, 2 mirror images, blur I had enough protection to outlast the slaver. Hooray for the mischievious bard and voices of the unknown gods for the corpse of a certain Mr. Dirth yielded fruitful loots. Mainly full plate mail. Mate, this stuff is so overpriced, Al is going to swim in the big ones. 

 

Moving on to the harpers headquarters Al slipped in. I was preparing the bard for opening the holder trapped with domination by casting SI:E, but Al was not strong enough to crack the lid open, not even buffed. Puny half-elves blades. I told him: Al, do you even lift, mate? Not only can't you hit a freaking barn, you are weak as a puppy. Despite his shortcomings he managed to grab Montaron from his branch and escape Harper's unnoticed. On his way to Xzar he was ambushed by a couple of Shadow Thieves who just minute ago mingled with a vampire. I quickly forced potion of invisibility down Al's throat and fled their liine of sight, where Al buffed. Soon enough he was able to challenge his foes. Mainly AC buffs, nothing fancy except Haste. Their namecalling and boasting was not enough to defeat Al and they soon tasted earth. Returning the false bird to Xzar gave Al some new insight (level 14 - new 4th level spell slot, nom nom tasty II, stoneskins).

 

Still travelling between locations under II from RoAC, Al arrived at Government District, where he saved Viconia and grabbed the Valygar quest as well as killing Jan for his sweet equipment. Hopefully Al will be able to use those later with UAI. Can't say no to those glassses. They protect from blindness - a real godsend when fighting with SCS Thaxxy (his breath blinds) AND are fashionable. What respecting bard says no to such a thing?

 

Al quickly travelled to Bridge (got attacked by bandits again, phew, killed the buggers), solved skinner murder mystery, but left killiing rune assassins for later. Then he travelled to Waukeen's Promenade, sold loots and rested in the inn. 

 

This is his current inventory sheet and these are his memorised spells.

 

Looking forward to Mae'Varr questline.

 

I just realized I was uploading .bmp images. Does anyone know if photobucket care if it is jpg or bmp?

 

[Blackraven]

I just realized I was uploading .bmp images. Does anyone know if photobucket care if it is jpg or bmp?

@Alaestr, a good start for Al in Athkatla. I'm wishing him good luck on his further travels.
I don't use Photobucket, but your images look to have the .png extension, maybe they converted into png images?

 

Norgath, Dwarven Bounty Hunter (update 10)

With Blackraven's thirst for adrenaline sated after the Firkraag fight, Norgath took a more cautious approach in his last big mission before he'd go after Irenicus: freeing the boots of speed the Tiefling Bard Haer'Dalis from a Planar Prison.

 

After the Mage Mekrath was slain with traps for a portal stone that made interplanar travel possible, Norgath went through a mysterious portal after Haer'Dalis & co., who he saw kidnapped right in front of him. Upon arrival hidden Norgath would stab (or rather: smack) numerous ambushers with his Staff of Striking and immediately hide, stab again, and hide again. Most foes fell after being struck once, Aawil required two stabs. Timing was essential because there were hostile Thralls walking around. Norgath could not become visible in their sight. The last of Norgath's ambushers, a Yuan-Ti mage was felled with acid arrows.

He snuck through the planar prison until he found the Master of Thralls, a Nabassu. Norgath failed to quickly kill it, so it summoned two Air Elementals, and it was also aided by a Wyvern. The Dwarf killed these three critters first. The Master of Thralls would teleport without error toward Norgath and attack him. The Dwarf made use of that by speeding with his new boots back to the entrance. There he applied a Gaxx-Haste to dispatch the fiend (with a nice critical). By that time, Yuan-Ti Mages had caught up with Norgath, but he went invisible and rushed to a pit where he would destroy an orb he had found on the Master of Thralls, setting the thralls free.

Then he went looking for the Warden, a Cambion, it seemed. Norgath Maze-trapped it, and set some of his Spike traps for a quick kill. But strangely, the Warden (who is supposed to see through invisibility) didn't go after the Dwarf, as if the creature sensed the presence of the latter's traps. All it did was buff, trigger a Chain Contingency with ADHW and Mordenkainen's Sword, and cast a PW: Blind at Norgath. At least the traps helped Norgath deal with the Warden's Yuan-Ti lackeys. With a new Maze trap, followed by a Time trap, and a Gaxx-Hasted assault with his speed weapons, Norgath dispatched the Warden (again with a critical).

 

He traveled back with Haer'Dalis to the Prime Material Plane, to Athkatla, where the Bard gave Norgath his short swords as a reward for his work, and where the Gnome Jan Jansen gave Norgath a suit of armor for helping him against the Athkata revenue service. The Dwarf then did some bartering at a few shops, spoke with Aran Linvail, and navigated to the far-off island that harbored Spellhold and Irenicus. (Arnise, Twisted Rune, Alhoon, and Guarded Compound shall have to wait till Chapter 6, should we decide to go after the FoA, SotM, Crom Faeyr, or - less likely - Celestial Fury). 

 

Captain Saemon Havarian however turned out to be hired by Bodhi: Norgath was ambushed upon reaching his destination - the village of Brynnlaw on the same island as Spellhold. His ambushers appeared to Vampires of the tougher ilk, like those he had met in the Windspear Hills. Two of them fled into Lady Galvena's Festhall when he charged at them, so he could take one down, and do the remaining two later (with backstabs). Knowing that Irenicus was almost within reach, Norgath had little patience with some of the islanders that stood between him and his nemesis, as Galvena, Vadek and Perth the Adept (the object of Norgath's personal record breaking backstab) would discover. The latter dropped the Book of Infinite Spells, of which many pages were turned in hopes of finding Spell Turning but, not wanting to see the book destroyed, Norgath eventually settled for Farsight, quite a nice spell for a Bounty Hunter.

He used backstabs to deal with a group of Sirines, and then entered Spellhold only to see his strengths fail (due to poisoning) and his freedom - and apparently his soul - taken by Irenicus. (In the dream one point of WIS was relinquished; Bhaal had to be CLUA'd inside the library because he wouldn't follow Norgath.)

 

Bodhi, Irenicus' sister he discovered, seemed to like Norgath's style: rather than trying to kill him, as she had been ordered by her brother, she set him free in a maze below the asylum for a game of cat and mouse.  In the maze Norgath solved a variety of riddles, and he also faced all kinds of hostile creatures, such as Yuan-Tis, Trolls, Golems, a Beholder, a Noble Djinn, (Greater) Mummies, a Lich, and Vampires (including Bodhi). These were all enemies he had encountered before, so he knew how to deal with them. Backstabs, traps and a green scroll of PfUndead when dealing with the undead made his time in the maze a relatively carefree one. Nonetheless a confrontation with Mephits gave him a scare as he got stunned, thankfully only for a brief while. He immediately equipped Mazzy's sword when the Stun effect had expired.

Creatures Norgath hadn't had dealings with before, and that warrant special attention here, were the Illithids. Norgath unknowingly summoned a Mind Flayer by turning a page in an old tome. The Dwarf was hidden in shadows and saw the creature go invisible immediately after it had been summoned. He decided to use his ring of invisibility so that he could detect the invisible creature without having to worry about his own stealth. However the Mind Flayer somehow sensed it when his invisibility was detected, and would go invisible again.

Norgath therefore summoned Ras to distract the creature, so that he could hopefully deal with the Mind Flayer in one or two backstabs. Ever reliable, Ras did a great job at keeping their foe busy, but Norgath's two backstabs weren't enough to finish the Mind Flayer. But in a way that was a positive thing, for it allowed the Illithid to teach Norgath two important lessons:

(1) it was capable of casting Maze, and

(2) Ras, the object of that spell, didn't care. 

Supposing that this Mind Flayer was not a unique type, the above lessons mean that Norgath can only safely fight (melee) Illithids if he has 100 MR, and that Ras may come in handy to absorb wizards' Maze spells.

Ras dealt the Mind Flayer a killing blow.

 

The Dwarf safely made his way out of the maze in spite of having lost control of himself twice, changing into a Slayer. (Conveniently this happened once after his only rest, in a room with three Clay Golems. When he regained control of himself, one of the Golems lay demolished on the ground and a second one was on the verge of destruction as well.) Back inside the asylum, Norgath paid a fellow Dwarf 2000 GP for the key that would unlock the inmates' cell doors. He then rallied them all and together they attacked Irenicus. The battle that ensued was an easy one. Norgath summoned Kitthix and before he could engage Irenicus, he saw himself occupied fighting a clone of himself. He missed most of what happened around him until he saw himself frozen in time by Irenicus' Time Stop. Fortunately the wizard's immediate concerns were some of the inmates near him so that Norgath didn't have to to fear for his own wellbeing. When time continued, Norgath barely managed to slay his clone and to move toward the other side of the room to see if he could Maze-trap his nemesis, before the former Spellhold coordinator Wanev cast a Time Stop as well. He used it to summon a Glabrezu, and the demon basically took care of Irenicus. Irenicus fled, the Glabrezu finished off a number of assassins (Norgath dealt with the others), and the Dwarf returned to Brynnlaw with Captain Saemon Havarian.

 

Norgath stole a horn, and Havarian a ship, and with a couple pirates they set sail to the mainland but were ambushed by Githyanki, and later Sahuagin. The ship sank and Norgath saw himself end up in a Sahuagin city, where he was hailed as the hero one of their prophecies spoke of. The Dwarf was in no good mood due to this delay. He bartered with one priestess (mainly for scrolls), slew another one (earning him the Cloak of Mirroring he's unlikely to use much), solved a few riddles (he was becoming quite good at that), and did the Sahuagin King a favor by slaying a Rebel Prince. In return he was assured safe conduct back to the main land, which in reality meant ending up in the perilous Underdark. The good thing is that the descriptions a Duergar merchant gave Norgath of two surface dwellers they had just met, matched precisely with Irenicus and Bodhi's looks. So the Dwarf still had good hope of locating his quarry.

[Blackraven]

Norgath, Dwarven Bounty Hunter (update 11)

Norgath's stay in the Underdark didn't go at all as planned.

First of all there were three Elemental portals. Blackraven thought them a good source of XP for Norgath to reach his penultimate level. (Rogues have a huge gap between lvl 39 at 6.38 million XP and lvl 40 at 8 million XP.) So Norgath started to battle (aTweaks' pnp) Air Elementals, spawned by one of the portals. He soon concluded that that was not a good idea. The portal made sure there were always three to four Elementals around, including 'Greater' variants that would haste and go invisible at will (making them hard to kill), summon Aerial Servants that dealt tremendous damage, and entangle their prey. Thankfully the Elementals could not see through invisibility, or the Dwarf's adventure in the Underdark might have ended there and then. Norgath decided to leave the other Elemental Portals alone.

 

The only friends he made were the Svirfneblin, for whom he slew a Balrog with his traps. As a reward they gave him an enchanted Mace or Morningstar he had little use for, and a gem that gave him access to the lair of Adalon, a Silver Dragon. To reach that lair he had to sneak past a Drow war party. The dragon made Norgath look and talk like a Drow so that he could infiltrate their community in the city of Ust Natha and retrieve her eggs that had been stolen from her by the dark Elves. In exchange for that service, Norgath would receive a magical item and safe passage to the surface.

Thus Norgath entered the city as Veldrin the Drow. He did some free shopping on the market square (mainly for potions and scrolls) before he started to offer his services as a male fighter. He had little choice but to accept a commission for one of the Houses: slaying a party of Illithids with another male, Solaufein. As he left the city, the Drow war party was still there, and they blocked Norgath's way toward the point. The Dwarf solved this by using his wand of Monster Summoning to call forth three Ogres that would distract the Drow. At the meeting point where the Illithids were expected to arrive, Norgath ran into a party of Kuo-Toa. They attacked both the Dwarf and Solaufein - who didn't fight back and had to be kept alive with Rod of Resurrection charges. Norgath too, had to rely on said rod; the Kuo Toa hit him hard.

When the Dwarf eventually prevailed and the area was clear, he proceeded to set various snares: six Spike traps and a Maze trap (which would allow the setting of more snares). The traps killed one Mind Flayer and mazed some other enemies. However, the Mind Flayers traveled with a band of non-mazed Umber Hulk pets, that started attacking Phaere of the House that Solaufein and Norgath were working for. The Dwarf tried to Maze-trap them, but did so when the creatures had not yet disappeared in the fog of war, meaning the set snare attempt failed. As a consequence Phaere was killed by the Umber Hulks, Solaufein went hostile (Norgath avoided a fight with him by going invisible), and the Ust Natha city gate was unpickably locked.

 

When he went to tell Adalon of his problem, the Silver Dragon was not amused. The Dwarf said he he had done what he could, and insisted that the dragon help him leave the Underdark, but Adalon refused. Norgath had foreseen this outcome though. He had already set a Maze trap before telling Adalon what had happened. The dragon triggered it, enabling Norgath to set more snares (including one Maze trap in case his damage traps proved insufficient). Two sessions were enough though to put the creature to death, and it pained Norgath to witness it for he'd had nothing against Adalon. (I see I forgot to take a screenshot of Adalon's fall.) On Adalon's corpse he found a scroll with which a drow gate seal could be removed.

 

In search of an exit out of the Underdark the Dwarf battled his way through tunnels inhabited by Kuo Toa archers, priests, warriors and wizards, relying on his Rod of Resurrection to stay healthy and on his saving throws to resist their spells and stun bolts. With corrupted tadpoles found in one chamber he contaminated a birthing pool in another chamber. It seemed to weaken a Kuo Toa prince. He killed it for a pair of Bracers of Blinding Strike.

Eventually he came upon a large gate, guarded by Drow. Norgath Maze-trapped the entire party, used Adalon's scroll on the gate, and rushed past fighting Drow and surface Elves toward the surface.

 

Much to his chagrin more surface Elves found him, and interrogated the Dwarf about his business in the Underdark. He answered them curtly but honestly, and they discovered that Irenicus and Bodhi were a mutual enemies of the Elves and the Dwarf.

The Elves gave Norgath stakes and holy water, and asked them to destroy Bodhi and retrieve a lanthorn for them. No small task, but on his way to Athkatla he met Bruenor Battlehammer and Drizzt, famed warriors that were willing to help him against Bodhi, which gave him hope and an idea: there were others he might ask for help against Bodhi: some of Linvail's assassins perhaps, and the Paladins of the Radiant Heart that were indebted to him for his having dispatched the fallen Paladins. He would seek them out, and he would also sell loot and resupply to prepare for what was likely going to be the showdown against the Vampires. 

His friend Cromwell forged a number of items for Norgath: Daystar +4, the Improved Cloak of Protection +2 (in my setup Cromwell can forge items that Cespenar can make and vice versa), the Stormlord's Heels (i.e. Boots of Grounding and Speed merged together, mostly a cosmetic thing because electricity damage isn't a huge deal in BG2), and the Wave Halberd.

[Serg BlackStrider]

 

Norgath's stay in the Underdark didn't go at all as planned.

First of all there were three Elemental portals. Blackraven thought them a good source of XP for Norgath to reach his penultimate level. (Rogues have a huge gap between lvl 39 at 6.38 million XP and lvl 40 at 8 million XP.) So Norgath started to battle (aTweaks' pnp) Air Elementals, spawned by one of the portals. He soon concluded that that was not a good idea. The portal made sure there were always three to four Elementals around, including 'Greater' variants that would haste and go invisible at will (making them hard to kill), summon Aerial Servants that dealt tremendous damage, and entangle their prey. Thankfully the Elementals could not see through invisibility, or the Dwarf's adventure in the Underdark might have ended there and then. Norgath decided to leave the other Elemental Portals alone.

 

A wise move there as aTweaked Greater Earth Elementals are even more vicious. A non-stop Earthquakes which in turn could call force more Greater Elementals... Impish Face & Co had quite a hard time with them even at full six members party. Fire Elementals are pretty easy exp source though even being aTweaked.

 

Sad about your misfortune with Phaere so you was forced to kill Adalon but otherwise excellent progress! Keep rocking! 

[Alaestr]

Blackraven, controlled, steady progress. Is there an item you were shooting for in the Underdark you were denied because of the Solaufein's hostility? If it is only experience you missed out on I think there is nothing to worry about. 

 

A new day and a fresh adventures await!

 

Al, the illusive half-elven Blade. Update No.3

 

As I have noticed earlier today, I can now safely acquire the Horn of Valhalla. Coated with the single layer of SI:Conjuration protecting him against the maze trap, Al unlocked the chest holding the horn. With it elf has now 2 summons at his disposal. Then he walked straight to Docks to follow Mae'Varr questline. He recieved the first mission from Mae's guild and while travelling to temple district he was attacked once again by the bandits (did the newest scs version increase the odds of being waylaid? I have never experienced so many attacks before). This time I decided Al would just leave the scene unnoticed, since I had prepared my spellbook to fight against Rayic - concentrating on magic protections - and Al's resources suited to fight bandits were in shortage. Passing through Temple District Al grabbed the Unseeing Eye quest, Sir Sarles quest and bought all the scrolls of Protection from the Undead he could find. Blade stole the priestes's amulet under the guise of darkness and quickly rushed to Mae'Varr with his prize. 

 

Tasked with killing Rayic Al left the guildhouse and was approached by running thief, who begged the elf to help. I buffed (SI:E and some physical buffs) Al and tried engaging the vampire, but after being drained 4 levels I retreated my character to the tavern and rested to get rid of the pesky vamp. I then restored Al's drained levels in the neighbouring temple of Oghma, rested him to replenish the spellbook and steered him toward the mage's home. Mephits on the ground level were dealth with the help of some physical buffs (Haste, Stoneskin, Mirror Images, Blur, DHUM) and a little bit of spell protection (MGoI). Al was wielding Varscona and Stonefire then. Stone golems had fallen to the same buffs, which left only the Cowled Wizard. Al cast II, SI:Enchantment, spell which grants fear protection and under such a set of buff he engaged Rayic. In the beginnning of the fight elf also summoned a berserker from the horn. Rayic had no clue what to do - he tried casting some alteration spells and once an abjuration spell but all of them were foiled by the elemental damage Al was dishing out. Two stoneskins contingencies later Rayic acknowledged Al's superior magical prowess. The blade also advanced to level 15, which I welcomed warmly, since it comes with another level 5th spell splot and -1 to Thaco. 

 

Al cleared the cove near the tavern of pirates who were nestling there with no problem (the biggest threat a mage there, but he has no really dangerous spells). Continuing the questline the rogue finally was asked to dispose of Mae'Var pal. Before I rushed Al there I made him visit Bridge district and tour the merchants. Al shamelessly stole from them after gulping 4 potions of master thievery beforehand. Yep. Mrs. Witch gave away her supply of potions succumbing to half-elven devilishness and cutpurse was robbed of some very valuable scrolls (amongst them Improved Haste and Protection from Magic Weapons). 

 

Firstly, the blade purged upper levels of Mae'Varr's hideout. Then he rested in the inn, sneaked to the cellar where the foolish guild leader dwelled. I prepared a deadly effective 2xWeb minor sequencer and having Al buffed (important buff here is MGoI) I charged the elf to kill webbed foes. I left the leader for the end, since he managed to cast PfMW before he got webbed. The only difference in Al's spellbook was one Remove Magic which was used to dispell Mae'Varr once (he stoneskinned two times and fired of his sequencer: Invisibility and Mirror Images). The desperate thief tried Removing Al's magic three times, but not even one succeded. It is a luxury of playing a solo bard/thief character - one outlevels the enemies significantly and their spell level is much higher than the enemies' so Remove Magic rarely if never is an issue to worry about. I had dragons trying to dispell bards and failing on the constant basis, which shouldn't surprise since Firkraag is level 23 in my installation and I usually tackle him when I hit a few HLA's - around level 27-28. Here is Al bathing in the victor's glory. He also dinged to level 16th, which brought another proficiency point (Axes) and 6th level spell slot! Wohoo! Now Al has acces to three more spells than his spellbook slots would suggest - two from minor sequencer and one from the contingency.

 

Al travelled to Umar Hillls. He was waylaid, but simply escaped the zone. Upon reaching his destination he quickly killed him some chickens finding a shiny stone inside one of them. He worked out a peace treaty between humans and ogres, prepared for mimic fight, but after casting knock on the chest the mimic fight didn't trigger (wut?), swinged by Valygar's lake house, killed him and his ranger friends, reunited the young couple, although Al would rather bed the girl himself she had something against half-elves. Racist and ungrateful. Eh, the youth. He read about Ruined Temple from the bloodied journal in ranger's hut.

 

Final move of the session was a trip to Copper Coronet to sell loots. I am looking forward to showing slavers the sharp end of Al's blades. Break time!

[Blackraven]

Hi Alaestr, thank you, and you're right: there's not much for Norgath to worry about... although it's the second time in a row for Blackraven that to mess up the Solaufein/Phaere questline.

Nice writing btw Your progress is solid as well, seeing as you already dealt with the likes of messieurs Gethras Mae'Var. Keep it up!

 

 

A wise move there as aTweaked Greater Earth Elementals are even more vicious. A non-stop Earthquakes which in turn could call force more Greater Elementals... Impish Face & Co had quite a hard time with them even at full six members party. 

True, I remember yself complimenting you for surviving there...
Thanks for the encouragement