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[Jianson]

Glasya, level 11 half-elven Sorceress with random spell picks, adventuring in Chapter 2 with Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo and Aerie

 

As expected, freeing Hendak and killing the Beastmaster and several guards was easy. With good spell roll effects like these, how could it not:

 

 

As I wrote last time, I took on the slavers from the street entrance. Much better than from the sewers, I think (even though the game tries to have you belive it should be the other way around). Yoshimo found a sweet spot where a character isn't seen, so Glasya could open up the last room fight like this:

 

 

That priest, along with the brute strength of Haegan, were the main problems I had with my Beast Master's party here. Haegan was a pain this time as well, but it was of course much easier when we didn't have to worry about any enemy spells. Funny thing here: even though the priest was unconscious, his Remove Fear buff still went off several times.

 

We went to the Government building and bought a magic license. 

 

 

Uh, Yoshimo, it would be a better time to talk when we are not in the middle of a fight!

 

 

We've done the first major quest - Umar Hills and the Temple Ruins. That's probably the easiest of the 8 stronghold quests, at least if you do it early so that there are no liches. 

 

In the far W of the Temple Ruins map, we met a guy named Lellyn but he didn't want to talk to us. What's up with that?

(I later (after the Shade Lord was defeated) found what I presume was his corpse, close to the former shadow altar - his journal was there. Ah, so he was a part of Mazzy's adventurer party.)

 

Maybe the difficulty of the spawns was raised a little, because we didn't encounter any Shadow Fiends at all through the whole quest. Instead, we fought 3-4 Wraiths. Maybe they had replaced the Shadow Fiends? 

Here is one chasing after Glasya. My plan was that she should damage it enough so that a few +1 missiles would kill it. But that plan was of course not expecting this sort of screw-up:

 

 

I was running with a 'vanilla' Shade Lord here. I think the SCS version is a bit too much. I have defeated it earlier (with a solo ranger, even) but I think it makes for a too peculiar/contrived fight with too little room for mistakes.

 

We returned to Athkatla to sell and buy stuff. I bought three types of containers, and the Mercykiller Ring for Yoshi. BTW, do you know where can I buy a Potion Case? Would really like to have one now.

 

Took on Mencar's gang rather overkill-y, with several traps and a fire elemental (Jaheira is now level 11 Druid). Mencar usually saves against everything I throw at him but not this time. Ha!

 

 

Yoshimo was too bad a lockpick to open the three chests here so he drank a master thievery potion. The loot barely covered the cost of that potion...(but the XP for lockpicking isn't wasted, of course). 

 

 

I am somewhat at a loss what to do next. I've grown quite attached to all my five current companions, but several of the major quests get more interesting with a "guest" NPC in the party. Not sure who to leave behind in those cases. I also hesitate what to do in the long term. The two 'power' options of single class Cleric (non-Evil, so they can turn undead to bits) and single class Mage* are very tempting but then I have to kick out other party member(s) which would be hard choices.

 

(* Glasya doesn't count here, being the way she is) 

[Grond0]

 

Glasya, level 11 half-elven Sorceress with random spell picks, adventuring in Chapter 2 with Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo and Aerie

 

BTW, do you know where can I buy a Potion Case? Would really like to have one now.

Try Sister Garlena at Watchers' Keep.

[Jianson]

Try Sister Garlena at Watchers' Keep.

 

Thanks for the tip. But I found another source: Mrs. Cragmoon in the Bridge district.

[Grond0]

OK - hers is added by mod, so others searching there may not be so lucky .

[Jianson]

Glasya, level 11 half-elven Sorceress with random spell picks, adventuring in Chapter 2 with Jaheira, Minsc, Yoshimo, Aerie and Mazzy

 

I did several minor quests in Athkatla, and some substantial robbing as well. Boosted Yoshimo with two Master Thievery potions and tried to steal back the Wand of Cloudkill I sold to the lady mechant in the Slums. Didn't work, so she became hostile. Since I had planned to travel to another map right after this, the rest of the party was invisble and I wanted it to stay that way (Glasya can make herself invisble again - her level 2 spells are rarely used up). The merchant didn't seem to be a backstabbing thief, so Glasya fought her on her own. Hm, what can I use to make it easier?

 

Ah, that worked nicely:

 

 

One good reason for her 18 STR. 

(Note her quick slot items, those are significant later in this report)

 

We robbed the tombs in the Graveyard and did most of the minor quests, both the daytime and the nighttime ones. Noted another ability from aTweaks 'PnP Undead' component: if a mummy hits you with disease. Minsc got diseased, and if I tried to cast CLW on him, I got a message that said something like 'Curative magic has no effect on a character that suffers from mummy rot'. Resting didn't help for curing the mummy rot, so Jaheira picked a Cure Disease before the next rest after that.

 

Next up was the Bridge district. No Horn of Valhalla in the usual place (Randomizer...). We avoided the Valeria fight for now. I am wary of that one since in my first run with SCS, one in that gang instakilled 100 HP Anomen with a 3x Flame Arrow sequencer.

 

Handled the Dockhand Ogre incident perfectly. A Skull Trap from off-screen, far enough away from the merchant, killed one ogre and scared the other into panic.

 

 

Oh crap, HE'S BACK!

 

 

It took me quite a while to gather clues for the skinner murder mystery - had totally forgotten about Rampah's existence, and I couldn't find Rose Bouquet for quite a while. She had almost entered the door to Five Flagons, so I had to move all the way around the door to see her. Found the body of Lt. Aegisfield in the Tanner's place. Looks like it's better (for him at least!) not to tell him early on what you have discovered.

 

I knew there would be Rune Assassins on the lower floor. Yoshimo went down for a quick look. Ah, Ghasts too. Jaheira received Free Action and went down to fight them. Did pretty well, killed a ghast and heavily damaged both assassins. So much that they started to get low on healing potions. Then they broke through her Iron Skins and I was too slow to retreat her upstairs. Two consucutive backstabs sent her running in panic. Then, just a little while later:

 

 

They were a bit away from the stairs, so I figured there would be time to pull of a Malison - Emotion combo.

Problem was, Glasya waited a fraction of a round too long:

 

 

Can you see my main mistake here? (as I wrote, see the quickslots in the first screenie in this post)

 

 

Yes, the friggin' STONESKIN SCROLL! I mean, now that money had started to pour in, they were in no short supply - Aerie can make however many I can pay for!

That was the main mistake. 

 

Glasya was in a real 'OH CRAP!' sitaution, with six seconds where she can't do anything but run or fight. Maybe she could have made it if I had moved Aerie forward-left and pulled Glasya upstairs but another (small) mistake was not doing that. Instead she ran towards the corner and tried to gain distance so she could drink an invisibility potion.

 

Then:

 

 

Not sure if she managed to drink it or not, but I found out on a reload that it wouldn't have mattered because the Rune Assassins can see invisible!

 

 

So there ends Glasya's run. I must say it was a lot of fun while it lasted. I didn't think she would make it through early BG1 even, but my good knowledge of BG1 combined with plenty of luck and some decent-to-good spell rolls (after the first few crappy ones) saw her through this far. And my stupidity killed her. It also dawned on me later that True Seeing would have been the way to properly handle this fight. That, and only sending down freshly-Stone-/Ironskinned Jaheira and Aerie. Jaheira tanking ghasts and Aerie pumping out Holy Smites, for example. Or I could simply have trapped the hell out of the stairs down and lured the assassins up. 

 

 

 

I highly recommend playing a random spells Sorcerer, no-reloads or not. As someone wrote in the BG1 thread, it makes a lot of sense because the magic comes to them, rather than being carefully studied. The 'character build' has excellent replayability as well.

I may even give it another go in the near future. That character will most likely become very different compared to Glasya.

 

 

Back to my other two characters, then. Martha the Totemic Druid just starting out BG2, and Eileth the Beast Master who have gotten a little further than Glasya did. I hope that installing and re-installing a ton of mods haven't messed up her game too much.

[Grond0]

Sorry to see that the Rune Assassins have claimed another scalp Jianson, but sounds like you had fun anyway .

[Serg BlackStrider]

Yeah, sad news indeed, Jianson. It was a pleasure to follow another SCS/aTweaks/Randomiser run (main setup for me nowadays). Glad you enjoyed it as well.

[Jianson]

Martha, half-elven Totemic Druid, graduating from the BG1 challenge

 

After gathering companions and initial gear, her stats looked like this:

 

Spoiler

 

Base stats come from a 'best of 5 rolls' pick. WIS and CHA were both raised 2 units during BG1 via tomes (Randomizer makes the Tome of Understanding in ToTSC into a random type of tome).

Some of you may frown at the high amount of experience, but removing the cap is very important for my enjoyment of BG1. It keeps me motivated to fully explore and experience what that game has to offer. I wasn't deliberately keeping a small party or anything either, it was a party of five for more than 90% of the journey. BG1 really is that generous. A conservative estimation is that it offers a little over 1.8 million experience in total.

 

(I noticed that UB uses this very portrait for Suna Seni. I didn't know this when I picked it.)

 

And here is my version of Imoen for this playthrough:

Spoiler

 

Note that four of her base stats are different than the default. Three have been raised by tomes. Unfortunately, she died five times in BG1, so her CON is lowered and thus her HP isn't high (HP rolls are spot on average (well, 0.5 above it...)). If we manage to find her in Spellhold, her XP number will be raised by exactly the amount above the default she entered with here. Her spellbook is the sum of the default BG2 spells and everything she scribed in Martha's BG1 run.

 

(Oh how I wish the Cowlies would sometimes kidnap someone else, so I could have Imoen in my party the whole game!)

 

 

I love the aTweaks mephit component, and the more varied monster colour palette:

 

 

Look at that fire mephit. It's pure golden! Awesome.

They are still annoying (even more so!) but certainly no joke when you fight them in numbers. And I think it's cool that nearly all of them try to open an interplanar gate to gate in another mephit. They usually fail at this...

 

That last assassin trio in the dungeon fell instantly to some traps Yoshimo had thown into the room. A Cloudkill from Imoen turned them hostile and activated the traps, killing two of them. The third insta-died on round 2 of the Cloudkill effect.

[corey_russell]

Best of luck with your BG 2 portion of the no-reload challenge, Jianson! You say the mephits usually fail at gating another - I remember a solo run (Grond0's) where a lightning mephit managed to gate in 3 more..yes Grond0's character was killed...he may not thought it was cool then. Granted I think Grond0 was just unlucky (the creator of the mod commented on this and said there was only a 15% chance of a mephit gating another one in).

[Grond0]

Agreed! I've always wanted to see your (Grond0's) wizard slayer/thief duals go far, but they always seem run across a cropper early in BG 2. No more repeats of history! Time for you to make new history and bash Melissan with this character!

Almost prophetic words Corey, though I was only reading them after coming within a whisker of dying ...
 
Wizard slayer to thief dual (update 1)
 
Aiming to complete the Enhanced Edition trilogy for the first time this attempt with a wizard slayer expecting to dual to thief at level 13 has made a start on BG2.
 
The dungeon was no trouble, with horror being used to neutralise any potential problem areas like the elemental plane.  

Spoiler

 
The circus was left for post-dualling, but the beastmaster was sorted out at the Copper Coronet to provide a bow upgrade.
 
At the Docks Officer Dirth offered up his armour in exchange for his life - but both were taken.  
 
A quick trip to Watchers' Keep got the potion case along with the golem manual just in case that is useful later.  
 
An intended trip to the de'Arnise Hold turned up Suna Seni instead - horror once more proving its worth there.  

Spoiler

Setting off again I found Renfeld calling for help and quickly took him back to the Docks (getting to level 10 as a result).  Trying a third time, once more I was detained - this time by some orogs.  Their weapon speed is too slow to be a threat though and I finally got to de'Arnise Hold after finishing them off.  There was plenty of ammunition there to kill the trolls.  Careful movement meant the yuan-ti mage never got a clear look at me, allowing it to be dealt with using horror.  However, in a bad decision I took on the clay golem despite having no proficient weapon.  It was not only fast, but in EE can't be shaken off by an area transition.  I tried that at least a half- dozen times and got at least one perfectly timed - disappearing back upstairs at exactly the instant the golem arrived downstairs.  In that situation in BGT there is no way that I would have been followed as the golem had no chance to focus back on me, but in EE that doesn't stop it (which is odd considering how poor the EE AI is at chasing a targeted creature generally, e.g. you will lose target lock on something as soon as it goes behind a pillar or round a corner). In imminent danger of death

Spoiler

and with no apparent way to shake the golem off (the many twisting corridors meant it was almost certain I wouldn't survive to get to the external map edge against something moving so much faster) I sacrificed my principles and took a healing potion.  

Spoiler

In fact I started these EE runs specifically allowing myself to use them - but doing so really goes against the grain .  Several more potions were quaffed before the golem was eventually killed.

Spoiler

To avoid Glaicas giving up I used horror on him from out of sight.  I had no way to protect against umber hulks though, so Torgal (and the iron golem) live to die another day.
 
Looking for an easier location I moved on to Umar Hills.  The tasks around town were done, with the exception of leaving more umber hulks alone, getting me up to level 11.  At the temple shadow fiends (using Arbane), skeleton warriors and bone golems were all perfectly manageable, but the Shade Lord and Thaxy were left for now.

[Grond0]

Wizard slayer to thief dual (update 2)
 
Another early morning session started with a trip to Trademeet.  An earlier attempt with the same character ended in a stony silence here, so this time I actually used the protection from petrification scroll being carried.  The Khan's genie friends were affected by darts of stunning and he was not quite strong enough to cause real problems on his own.

Spoiler

 

Ras (the only summons available for a long time to this character) was purchased even at the exorbitant price of 15,500 gold before I moved on to the Druid Grove.  The Shield of Harmony is another major upgrade, while I also got the shopkeeper to identify Ilbratha in order to make mirror images available. With that equipment I was easily able to plow through some trolls and a first lot of druids - getting to level 12 there.  A combination of stunning darts and horror then proved effective against Kyland Lind.  

Spoiler

I had my usual giggle at the sight of spore colonies waddling away scared on their rootlets

Spoiler

before finishing the last druids off (the rakshasas were left alone) and watching Cernd tuck into Faldorn.

 

Back at Umar Hills the umber hulks in the cave had been chased away by some young hooligans that had somehow managed to obtain alcohol .  However, I picked up Valygar's body and took that back to town to grease the locks on the Planar Sphere (I also gave Ras a first outing there while dealing with the clay golem in the entrance area).

 

At the Bridge District I solved the skinner murders - the ghasts and Rune Assassins were drawn upstairs one at a time for easy disposal.  I didn't report immediately to Lt Aegisfield, but went to the Temple sewers to open up access to the lich there - also hacked down Mekrath unceremoniously on the way and picked up a cloak for potential future use.

Spoiler

 

Still needing a few XP for level 13 I returned to the de'Arnise Hold and killed a few umber hulks along with the iron golem.

Spoiler

After levelling up I've dualled to thief and bagged surplus items and will now be looking to pick up some easy XP to get a few quick levels.

[Grond0]

Wizard slayer to thief dual (update 3)
 

My brand new level 1 thief quickly purchased the Staff of Rhynn before going to talk to Lt Aegisfield - getting immediately up to level 7 as a result!  More easy XP followed by setting snares in Neb's house before going to talk to Unger Hilldark and coming back to trigger them.

Spoiler

 

Sir Sarles was offered some fake illithium before I was ambushed on the way to the temple.  One of the illithiums had to be dropped during the fight and then a stage movement to the exit managed as both couldn't be carried without DUHM.  After dropping the fake off I helped out the Lathander temple (also killing a few guards in the slaver ship while waiting for Travin to appear).  That quest reward took me to level 9.

 

Moving on to the Graveyard Arbane haste helped save Nevin before a scroll of PfU was used to clear the upper tombs.  With the help of an ambush on the way back to sell loot that pushed me up to level 11.  The circus offered some quick and easy XP

Spoiler

before I returned to the Graveyard to explore the lower areas.  I was poisoned by spiders a number of times, but kept close to exits in order to be able to rest in the Graveyard.  Two more scrolls were used to finish off the undead in the Southern Tombs before taking on Pai'Na.  Some pre-laid traps killed all her spiders and she was stunned by a dart before she could cast anything.

Spoiler

 

Collecting a ransom was a setback to my rising reputation, but that was soon remedied by returning to Trademeet to clear a tomb and help Tiris - getting to level 12 there.  The tomb was much more difficult than I expected - I think the result of the skeletons there receiving an upgrade from the EE and getting much faster weapon speed than I'm used to.  As a result I took quite a bit of damage finishing them off before calling on Ras to hold the last skeleton warrior still for the finish.

Spoiler

 

Returning to the de'Arnise Hold traps were used to finish off the umber hulks and Tor'Gal (I didn't have any elemental damage capacity, but the continuing poison damage from the traps was fatal to the trolls).

 

The last action of the early morning session was to sort out Prebek and Sanasha, but that once again almost proved fatal.  I used darts of wounding to first poison Sanasha and then Prebek.  I saw on the text screen that slow had been cast and decided not to dodge that.  However, I had thought that Sanasha's spell had been disrupted, but in fact it had cast - so that in fact I was about to be held as well as slowed!  

Spoiler

Fortunately both Prebek and Sanasha are wimps and failed to survive their single dart each ...

Spoiler

[corey_russell]

I have a chess lesson tonight - but afterwards, maybe I should get my band of berserkers and get them to action (this is my SCS run). They are still pretty early in Chapter Two. But they defeated Captain Dennis (barely) so they have good equipment now.

[Grond0]

Wizard slayer to thief dual (update 4)
 

After looting the Harpers and watching Xzar get his come-uppance I got some XP for looting the thieves guilds - getting to level 13 in the process.  Some work for Mae'Var was then done - Rayic getting poisoned 3 times by darts of wounding and failing to complete a single spell (the fact that poison goes through stoneskins in EE makes it hugely more useful against casters than in vanilla).  

Spoiler

Reporting back to Renal got me to level 14, meaning that fighting abilities were restored when going to sort out Mae'Var.  He got one reprieve thanks to a crash, but there was no escape the second time he was chunked.

Spoiler

 

Returning to Watchers Keep the top floor was looted with the exception of the quiver of plenty that is protected by a FoD trap.  The statues were mainly killed by backstabs - getting to level 15 while doing that.  

Spoiler

Back in Athkatla there were more backstabs to sort the Fallen Paladins out.  

Spoiler

Then stealthing through the sewers to the slaver ship produced a further level.

Spoiler

 

At the Bridge District a number of stealthy poison darts eventually affected Dracandros - allowing a stream of arrows to properly shut down his casting.  

Spoiler

Several lots of pre-laid traps then made short work of most of the mercenaries before I put on plate armour to finish off Captain Dennis.

Spoiler

 

Finishing off another loose end, a full complement of traps were enough to kill Thaxy (from the continuing poison damage), while he was occupied with Ras.  

Spoiler

Back in Athkatla similar tactics were used for Mencar as for Captain Dennis.  Brennan managed a backstab of his own, but then followed downstairs into a nest of traps.

Spoiler

Looting the room after the battle was good enough for level 17.

 

With just enough accumulated to pay Gaelan Bayle - and keep a 6 figure nest egg  - I checked in with Aran Linvail and then set some traps to avenge Mook's death.  Traps were also used for the Guild Contact (to ensure he didn't drink any of his potions) before heading for vampire HQ.  Most of the vampires there were backstabbed, but Ras was used to distract Tanova while I filled her full of acid arrows.  

Spoiler

Fighting down to the lower level I achieved level 18.  

Spoiler

Two lots of traps behind the door killed most of the opposition there.  

Spoiler

Upstairs, I didn't get around to laying traps for Bodhi and Ras didn't last quite long enough for me to hack her down - hence I was drained a couple of times and was just turning to run when she decided enough was enough.  

Spoiler

That prompted me to go and upgrade the MoD.

 

Next up there was some lich fun, with another scroll of PfU used with the intention of killing the 4 liches - Daystar being the chosen weapon for damage (preferred to iMoD due to my grand mastery in long swords).  Unfortunately Kangaxx's lich form was bugged as unkillable, so I went away for a bit to let the scroll expire.  Coming back he noticed me and buffed, but another scroll was put on before any spells were targeted.  However, he was still unkillable by damage and didn't have to even make any saving throws against the iMoD.  With no save more recent than Mook I tried just using ctrl-Y on him, but the damage from that didn't kill him either.  

 

I therefore had to go back and repeat all the vampire encounters and the liches, which was a bit of a pain but was done safely.  I did save it this time prior to Kangaxx, but his transformation worked properly anyway.  

Spoiler

The minotaurs above Kangaxx got me to level 19, which I thought would probably trigger an HLA (as total XP is now over 3m), but it appears there is longer to wait.

 

I've encountered quite a few bugs and crashes in this run so far by the way and noticed during this session that the next patch has been released.  I will install that, but will finish this run first.

[Grond0]

Wizard slayer to thief dual (update 5)

 

Running short of things I could do, I decided to buy Vhailor's Helm in order to provide a further summons option.  With that in hand I embarked on the Windspear Hills.  Running and backstabbing dealt with the initial paladins and stealth allowed entry to the caverns - though I did bring out Ras to hold Rukh still for some +3 arrows.

 

Traps and the Crimson Dart were effective against golems, while Daystar and pre-laid traps cut the vampires down to size.  

Spoiler

I think a first 3 figure backstab triggered level 20, but there was still no HLA.  

Spoiler

It looks as though the first class XP is ignored in that calculation then, which is a major drawback to building up the first class to a high level.

 

More traps and making use of corners to hide meant some greater werewolves didn't last long

Spoiler

and Tazok soon found himself without support and helpless.

Spoiler

 Vhailor's Helm was used for the first time to distract Conster, with an arrow of biting effectively finishing that job.  

Spoiler

I didn't fancy Firkraag though for the moment (traps now do fire damage rather than poison, which would comfortably have killed him).

 

Finishing off that side of the dungeon with the air elemental was enough for level 21 before a bunch of genies were back-stabbed - some survived that, but none had time to cast a spell in response.

Spoiler

 

For Samia I thought it was a good time to use a random arrow of explosion found on a body a while ago.  

Spoiler

That triggered pre-laid traps which killed the mage and a follow-up horror, more traps and backstabs quickly dealt with the remainder - Ras also again doing its job against Legdoril.

Spoiler

 

Back in Athkatla I wanted to make use of Tazok's key - that required an obstacle to be removed first though.  After wasting Gaius' true sights the simmy had a go at Gaius, but failed to kill him.  However, a few traps spread around helped the backstabs along to kill the others - Gaius being left to last and treated to the final one of the 10 arrows of biting taken from goblins before being finished off with acid arrows.  That encounter got me to level 22.

Spoiler

 

With saving throws still being so poor, the illithid were potentially very dangerous.  Therefore traps were laid and Ras used to pull the first sucker into them.  

Spoiler

The old traps behind the door trick killed all but one flayer in the second room and more traps did for that.  

Spoiler

I thought Alhoon might be a potential problem with the ability to see invisible and brought out the simmy for the third room.  However, Alhoon died in the initial traps blast.  

Spoiler

That led to a bit of over-confidence when with only 2 flayers left I sent Ras in to attack one of them without having set up back-up traps.  The one attacked was almost dead and running scared, when the other one surprisingly emerged from the room and released a psionic blast at me - fortunately I saved against that.  A rest then allowed more traps to finish things off.

 

At this point, being a slow learner, I realised I'd been thinking like a fighter (relying on saving throws) and not a thief.  I hadn't taken the useful quiver of arrows from Watcher's Keep because of the trap there and also not progressed with the Unseeing Eye because of the trapped bridge.  Removing those traps was therefore the next thing on the agenda .  Some yuan-ti on the way to the bridge got me to level 23 and Balduran's shield made short work of the beholders there.

 

The lich in the underground area was a potential problem, but the simmy took the strain there.  

Spoiler

Finishing off its undead companions got me to level 24 and finally get the ability to overcome the restrictions of my wizard slayer heritage.  Balduran's shield then made light of the beholder hordes,

Spoiler

while none of the blind priests managed to do more than dispel my non-existent buffs.  The Unseeing Eye itself was another simmy victim.  

Spoiler

Returning the Rift Device to the temple got me to level 25 while the only preservation Gaal can look forward to is immersion in embalming fluid.

Spoiler

 

I spent a bit of time sorting equipment out (surprisingly finding that use any item does not allow the use of the golem manual with low intelligence ) and purchasing useful items.  With death saving throws now into negative territory I'll challenge some of the more difficult Chapter 3 encounters next.

[Grond0]

Wizard slayer to thief dual (update 6)
 
The first challenge of the session was the Planar Prison.  A first use of Gaxx haste there allowed the Bounty Hunter mage to be struck down while trying to cast true sight and the others were no threat.  

Spoiler

Horror whittled down the waiting group of yuan-ti to the east and summons occupied the others' attention while they were being shot.  That encounter provided level 26 and the evasion HLA.  That and Gaxx haste (allowing 10 APR using Belm) made short work of the Master of Thralls.  

Spoiler

A similar attack on the Warden took slightly longer to get through his buffs, but a second Gaxx haste proved sufficient

Spoiler

before a chasing pack of yuan-ti mages got impaled on traps.  
 
With my appetite whetted for planar travel the next destination was the Planar Sphere.  I stayed behind summons when facing magic-using halflings and had no problems progressing past them - getting to level 27 in the process.  I thought rather than use summons though I should rely on wizard slaying abilities against Lavok and he failed to cast a spell beyond his initial buffs when targeted by acid arrows.  A demon heart was obtained after a rest

Spoiler

before Tolgerias faced double trouble.  

Spoiler

The simmy lasted long enough to clear both the fire room (level 28) and ice room.  

Spoiler

After repowering the engine I gave Lavok one last breath of air (level 29).
 
Next up was the Guarded Compound.  Downstairs I let the spawning enemies fight among themselves for a while before going to slaughter the victorious glabrezu.  A set of traps were then set at the bottom of the stairs before nipping up briefly - Koshi becoming the first victim to follow.  Maferan had also ventured downstairs and was quickly overpowered.  After another trip upstairs Sion followed, but his mirrors were not enough against the trap onslaught.

Spoiler

Taking the offensive a Gaxx haste cut down Stalman and Olaf to leave just Ketta.  She was tracked down loitering invisibly on the ground floor.  Dispel illusion eventually wore down her multitude of invisibility potions and she tried a desperation tactic of running outside - but to no avail.

Spoiler

Moving on to the Twisted Rune I pulled Shangalar out before reading a scroll of PfU and shooting him up.  A Gaxx haste with Celestial Fury gave Vaxall a shocking end

Spoiler

before I moved back out of range of Layene's time stop.  Revanek and Shyressa were no problem before Layene tried and failed to get a spell away under a hail of missiles.

Spoiler

The final bit of very quick action was an assault on Firkraag.  The 10 APR with Dragonslayer using Grand Mastery would have been bad enough for him, but he didn't have much basis for realising that given that the traps under his claws killed him immediately he went hostile.

Spoiler

I've just boarded ship and arrived in Brynnlaw.

[Grond0]

Wizard slayer to thief dual (update 7)

 

I quickly moved through Brynnlaw to find Perth.  Initially he was killed by a Gaxx-hasted assault, but the game then crashed.  Trying again, he was more appropriately back-stabbed.  

Spoiler

His book immediately offered spell turning and I left it there, although that's still very unlikely to ever be used.

 

In the dream I successfully fake-talked the demon to prevent it stripping away a bit of wisdom before moving through Spellhold.  I couldn't be bothered mucking about with the lich and just used a frontal assault there with evasion buffing saving throws.  

Spoiler

Assassination was used for the first time on a ulitharid.  

Spoiler

By the time I got to Lonk I was already level 34 and let him go free - Irenicus was not so lucky.

Spoiler

 

After an abortive ship journey I arrived in Fish City.  The king thought I had arrived to fulfil a prophecy and indeed I killed the prince for him - though I doubt if he will have a long and happy reign anyway.  I also acquired a cloak there for potential use, though haven't yet tried it for size.

Spoiler

 

In the Underdark I tried assassinating an elder orb, but it wasn't affected by backstabs and had to be beaten up the old-fashioned way.  

Spoiler

After fighting through some drow and fungi I intended to kill a balor just with traps, but didn't use enough and found it hanging on at near death.  That was a serious mistake as I was unbuffed and had to save against a symbol stun, but that was done successfully and the demon reburied.  

Spoiler

I only stayed long enough in Ust Natha for a bit of shopping before setting traps for Adalon and leaving with her blood.

Spoiler

After killing the drow guards on the exit I sneaked out of the Underdark and persuaded Elhan to let me return to Athkatla.

 

After consolidating equipment I went to Umar armour to get some new Umar armour 

Spoiler

and then forged Gesen.  On to the Graveyard to find more vampires and a feast of backstabbing later

Spoiler

I ran Bodhi through a few spike traps before adding the coup de grace. 

Spoiler

 

In Suldanesselar I stealthed past many encounters, but did choose to take on Nizi rather than give up all my wordly possessions - a few spike traps proved once more it's unwise to chase a fleeing thief.  

Spoiler

I summoned Rillifane at the temple to kill the opposition, only for him to overlook an iron golem behind a pillar - omniscient, my arse .  I got my 39th (and final) thief level on the Tree of Life where I briefly considered fighting fair with Jon - but then thought better of it and gave him a good selection of traps !

Spoiler

 

In hell I picked up some elemental resistance, immunity to normal and +1 weapons, a bit more MR, +15 HPs (and Blackrazor) and +2 strength.  I forgot to trade in the rest of the tears prior to fighting Sarevok though and had to run him round with a bow rather than just whacking him as usual.  With that done I placed some traps and rested prior to the final fight with Jon.  One balor died to spike traps while the other and both glabrezus fell during a first use of time trap.  

Spoiler

The slayer was taken to near death by one collection of spike traps, but managed to heal.  However, a stream of Gesen bolts topped up by 3 more spike traps proved too much and Jon left for warmer climes ...

Spoiler

 

The final action of the session saw Illasera fail to survive a group of standard traps, opening up the way to my pocket plane.

Spoiler

[ussnorway]

PEE-scs30-03, 

 

Fetching funds for a rescue;

 

hear text as mp3,

 

Hexxat found a nice bucker whist we did some quick jobs for Edwin… defeated the red wizards to free some friends of Neera and scrubbed the harper stains from the docks.

Spoiler

 

After giving the offers from both due consideration I’ve decided to side with the vampires… “better the devil you know”!

[Grond0]

Wizard slayer to thief dual (update 8)

 

Looking to make fast progress through ToB, the first pocket plane challenge offered no real threat.  I had to run the knights of the order round rather than melee them as while wearing the flesh armour my AC is pretty poor, but that was easy.  A single Gaxx haste then killed Aran Linvail and Ellisime

Spoiler

before switching to Gesen for Duke Eltan - only after he was dead did I let the creeping doom finally catch up (and MR blocked it anyway).

 

In Saradush I opened up access to the spell store before making an assignation with some vampires in the prison.  With no need for XP though they were left alone, as were the fighters and thieves nearby.  Working up through the palace a battle mage was backstabbed and the others in the first floor room meleed.  Gromnir's room was entered invisibly and another battle mage chunked, although an attempted backstab on Karun failed and I had to finish him off in melee - briefly switching to SotM to dispel initial buffs.  

Spoiler

A second Gaxx haste then killed everyone else except Gromnir, leaving him as the victim for the third haste after a bit of damage suffered had regenerated.

Spoiler

 

Moving on to the Temple of Mir a scroll of PfU made getting to Nyalee easy.  At the Fire Temple stealth and backstabs were the order of the day for most things meaning there was no need to rest (though run & melee applied to various enemies seeing invisible and run & shoot for Imix).

Spoiler

Nyalee then attempted to change her mind about killing Yaga-Shura, but she was trapped by her decision.

Spoiler

 

At the Siege Camp I tried to pull Yaga away on his own using staff invisibility, but others started to follow.  I still thought I might have time to finish him off though, but equipped the wrong sword by mistake (Scarlet Ninja-to, instead of Blackrazor) and had to make a run for it as enemies closed in.  

Spoiler

Coming back again I killed the Lieutenent Mage to stop his true sight and did then successfully pull Yaga away on his own.  However, my relatively poor THAC0 meant it was still dubious if I was going to win a melee contest, so I took the thief route instead and pulled him into some spike traps.

Spoiler

[Grond0]

Wizard slayer to thief dual (update 9)

 

The session started with the second pocket plane challenge. I tend to find your clone there scary for a solo PC if it's given a chance to buff - so in this case improved haste and assassination were used to ensure it didn't have a chance!  

Spoiler

The others lasted only a couple of rounds - Semaj finding he couldn't hide from a thief (even one wearing metal armour).

 

At the Oasis I slaughtered Jamis to get his sword before running across the map and on to Amkethran.  

Spoiler

Some monks were disposed of there to allow the purchase of the Gargoyle Boots.

 

Draconis managed to hit with one acid breath, but in the excitement forgot the words of his daddy - "never chase a running thief, son."  

Spoiler

Moving through the tunnels swiftly I sub-contracted Bondari to get the bronze pantalettes before going to find Abazigal.  After shooting the salamanders I did the same to the man, although I was struggling to hit him.  I was finally thinking about using a potion of speed for the first time in the run - only for the very next shot to bring out the big boy.  Like his son he couldn't resist a chase and as the dragons rejoined in the next life I imagine Abazigal's first words were those of parents everywhere "do what I say boy, not what I do".

Spoiler

 

For the third challenge I wore enough AC improvement to make it difficult for the Slayer to hit - while a few blows from the Answerer meant that was not the case for me.

Spoiler

 

At Sendai's enclave I took out my irrational hatred of animals on a deer before slaughtering a woodcutter.  

Spoiler

In the enclave I avoided initial combats other than going to get a key from Thelynn'ss.  

Spoiler

Odamaron decided he needed to get up close and personal and I was happy to meet his desire.

Spoiler

I have occasionally had trouble with Ogremoch, but stoneskins were no protection against spikes .  

Spoiler

Mithykyl managed to hit me once, so I switched to bow to finish it off.  For Sendai I used a protection from magic scroll and, with a decent AC, pretty much just whacked everything - with the odd weapon change and use of dispel illusion to hurry things along.  The real Sendai found her Harm (a main reason for using the scroll of PfM) did her no good this time and shortly afterwards her Bhaal essence was ripped away.

Spoiler

 

The 4th pocket plane challenge was more difficult than I expected.  Dispel illusion was of limited help against invisibility at will and the attackers hit more easily than I expected.  Eventually though I managed to fittingly take out two of them with my assassination and the final one was helpless on its own.

Spoiler

 

Back in Amkethran I gained entry to the compound with Saemon and then slipped invisibly past the ambushers.  After doing some buffs I activated Balthazar and immediately used the Greenstone Amulet to protect against being held.  A time trap allowed me to do 279 damage to  him - but even that failed to kill him (he has 280 ) and he immediately healed himself!

Spoiler

I renewed the attack - using improved haste at 10 APR - and indulged in a race to the death against Balthazar and 2 other attacking monks (he lost).

Spoiler

 

After making up the Big Metal Unit and upgrading to a juggernaut golem I attacked the Ravager.  Initially I tried using Gesen and ignoring the bone blades, but was taking damage too quickly.  Hence I equipped the reflection shield while switching to K'logarath and running round - letting regeneration heal me while the Ravager gently killed itself.

Spoiler

[Grond0]

Wizard slayer to thief dual (10th and final update)

 

For the Throne of Bhaal I did initial buffs before entering and then attacked.  The Answerer was used to begin with to make Mel vulnerable before switching to FoA to slow her down.  Back with the Answerer to send her on her way.

 

After beating up the first pool guardians I set some traps before cutting off the flow.  The traps badly injured her, but I didn't manage to take down stoneskins sufficiently quickly to prevent her healing.  However, I kept plugging away (using Blackrazor to heal myself) and it wasn't long before Mel made another run for it.

 

With the second pool guardians dead I set more snares, but this time added some fire elementals to the mix with a first use of the Staff of Fire.  The traps this time took Mel to near death, but once again she managed to heal herself and went on to erect a blade barrier.  Moving north I put up a mordy sword to distract the slayer shadows before returning south to use Gesen / pulse ammo on Mel.  The scroll of PfM ran out at this point, making me vulnerable to Storms of Vengeance, but they were countered with the BoIB and a potion of magic shielding.  With Mel again looking in trouble though the slayer shadows finally turned up again to complicate the situation.  Mel tried healing herself again, but this time I was able to interrupt the spell and stayed in melee for the short time needed to see her disappear again.

 

For the third pool a time trap caught the fallen solar moving into the attack, but for some reason I was unable to initially hit it during the time stop (I think the large size of the BMU icon sometimes causes problems with weapon reach).  I did finally manage to manouevre into a spot where I could hit it, but only managed to get it to badly wounded before the time stop ended.  Immediately withdrawing I took another potion of magic shielding and reapplied improved haste before using the avoid death HLA and pressing the attack once more - this time successfully.  

 

The remaining enemies were no threat and soon finished off.  I laid a final time trap and put out more summons before facing Mel's final incarnation.  I must have put the trap in the wrong place as it failed to fire, but I bored in anyway.  The Death Tyrants were doing magic damage and their anti-magic prevented a full defence, but Blackrazor was helping HPs stay up and I wasn't much injured when Mel's last ditch effort to heal herself was interrupted.  With her life now measured in bare instants I was already anticipating triumph when I heard the horrible sound of an assertion in the game failing (in fact I suspect it was probably the game trying to bring up her death speech that crashed it) - and I had not made any saves since entering the Throne .

 

Reluctantly I reloaded from the start of the battles and went through them again.  That's always dangerous as I'm never likely to be as careful second time around, but I did get back to that final battle.  Once more I almost won it, but this time couldn't prevent her from healing from near death.  She then summoned lots of assistance making it difficult to attack her.  I was using a teleport field to give me a bit of a respite from running round when I suddenly noticed I'd been stunned.  Looking back in the text there was definitely nothing to account for that, but possibly a glabrezu made an undisclosed PW:stun as HPs had dropped below 90.  

Spoiler

A moment after unpausing and it was all over.

 

To say that was a harsh ending would be something of an understatement.  However, it's back to Candlekeep again for this character.  Next time round though Mel won't be given a chance - I partly wanted to see proper battles there this time as I've not completed BG2EE so wondered what other characters would face, but given that I've defeated her fair and square once, next time she'll just be trapped to death .  I also never felt happy about having used healing potions against a clay golem near the start of BG2, so another run will provide an opportunity to do the thing properly ...

[Enuhal]

Wow, Grond0, that is an indredibly tough and unfair way to have your run ended I was ready to congratulate you; Seems like the game took this one from you at the last second, by any means necessary.

 

I have no issues with trapping Mel to death - even ingame, her return is obvious (especially after fighting her the second time - anyone would notice the pattern), so preparing yourself seems perfectly legit to me.

 

Enuhal

[Aasim]

Great run Grond0, regret nothing. Congrats on coming this far.

[Serg BlackStrider]

I concur - outstanding run, Grond0!

[Blackraven]

I'm with Enuhal, Aasim, and Serg. Excellent run Grond0! You basically succeeded already. Hopefully Grond0 the 2nd will as well!