16405 réponses à ce sujet

[Alesia_BH]

@Gate70. I was speed reading your post on Berric and for a moment, interpreted the line "Gorion dies in a nighttime ambush" as "Gorion dies in a nightclub ambush." That led to an amusing image...

[SpiffyKeen]

Thanks for all the posts about that trap in Durlag's tower!  In Tutu, I'm pretty sure that 100 in detect traps will allow for it to be disabled, but I don't have experience with it in vanilla, so that's good to know.  I know that there is a trap in BG2 in the bridge district (that house Neb is hiding out in) which cannot be disarmed even with full detect trap skill.  Are there other traps like that in either game that cannot be disarmed even with 100 skill or "unique" in some other way?  I know in the first dungeon level in Durlag's tower there is a trap that keeps coming back even though it can be disabled for a moment. 

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Next stop: Beregost and Tranzig.  Along the way, ghasts were eliminated with ranged attacks.  The plan for Tranzig was to use everything possible, especially Command and Hold spells.  The actual fight against Tranzig went better and faster than Gyan had anticipated.  The party landed 3 quick hits (interrupting his spell casting), and then he went into a panic. 



Imoen blocked the door, and Gyan and Branwen both tried Command, but he saved vs. spell.  He fell soon after despite the saves.  Then they all had a good drink! 



Branwen and the rest decided to part ways (we'll just say it was due to too high a reputation).  Khalid purchased a +1 bastard sword, they cleared out a spider infestation and decided to use the house as home base, they visited Officer Vai, and then went to High Hedge where they fought skeletons, spiders, and flinds.  Thaly IDed their loot (another +1 ring, and wand of missiles), and they bought the scroll case which Imoen and Gyan could not afford last time. 

Back at Nashkel, they were still at 4,000 gold, so they upgraded Jaheira to plate armor.  Gyan checked in with Oublek about outstanding bounties, but he was more impressed with a request from a strange looking ranger and hamster pair:  Minsc and Boo!  The whole group of six headed west to find Dynaheir.  Many ogrillions, xvarts, and gnolls later, they found Dynaheir alive somehow!  Minsc and Boo and Dy thanked them and went on their own way.  Gyan got the feeling he would be seeing them again in the future.  The five companions rested, and decided to explore the area.  Imoen was starting to get really excited about her supposed arcane skills! 

The way back east to Nashkel was much more exciting than the trip west.  They fought many winter wolves, a few bears, some rather wealthy gnolls, 7 mean looking Cloudpeak-Amnish types, and helped many more "damsels" in distress including a little girl, a dryad, and a young boy.  Loot included valuable pelts and magical equipment like a girdle, halberd, sword, bracers, and armor.  Imoen hit level 6.  They healed at the Temple of Helm in Nashkel, IDed the magical items they had found, and sold their loot for a pretty penny.  After purchasing a +1 shield for Jaheira, they still had almost 10,000 gold. 

Gyan was desperate for rest, and again could not sleep because of bad dreams.  However, any rest is better than no rest.  Gyan and Jaheira healed the party, and they headed back to the carnival on route to other adventures.  There they met a very curious gnome named Quayle.  Gyan liked him immediately, and liked what he had to offer as a Cleric/Illusionist. 

From there they visited the artist Prism.  A bounty hunter showed up, but he did not make any friends.  He immediately fell to a Command from Quayle and Gyan, but the party could not do enough damage in one round.  So Ajantis tanked this Greywolf fellow, and took a bit of damage before switching the tank duties to Khalid for the last part of the fight.  Khalid reached level 5. 



From there they headed farther east and then north (bottom right corner areas, Firewine, Gullykin, and Ulcaster), met some strange folk (both friendly and not), fought some more monsters, and found some more magical treasure.  The experience results were Ajantis hitting level 5, Jaheira to level 5 druid, Quayle to level 4 illusionist, and Gyan reaching level 6.  Hold Person proved to be valuable in a couple of the fights.  (Gyan did risk the Ulcaster dungeon, but not the Firewine dungeon.  He also had to reject a request to join from a nice female halfling.)  All the loot was IDed at the Gullykin Temple and the Song of the Morning Temple in Beregost, with the best being the gauntlets of weapon expertise and the wands of fire and summoning.  Gyan also discovered that he was not the only one in the party who was less than a fantastic physical specimen, as Quayle complained about exhaustion (and just about anything else) almost as much as Gyan felt tired and sore while traveling. 

Finally, they returned to Feldepost's for much needed R&R.  Jaheira bought a +1 protection amulet. 

------------------------------------------------------

Gyan is level 6 now.  At this point it is worth doing some metagaming, since I plan to dual Imoen to a mage at level 7.  I think I will go to Durlag's tower now, have the party explore all the above-ground levels (Imoen can handle the traps), and then go full speed on experience to get her to thief level 7 and then to get her as far as possible back to regaining her thief skills.  If it is possible, hopefully this will happen before the cloakwood mines, but I cannot see how that would be possible.  High experience monsters like basilisks, sirines, golems, etc. are still around, so that should help, but probably won't be enough.  Mage level 8 is at 90,000 experience.  Perhaps Imoen and Gyan need to go duo for a while...

Modifié par SpiffyKeen, 05 décembre 2011 - 06:12 .

[corey_russell]

Cody and his band of cleric/mages continues their adventure...

Cody and band are still going. We finally reached level 5 cleric (animate dead) and went ahead and cleared the sirene and basilisk areas.  We did NOT fight the flesh golems in the pirate's cave - we used sanctuary to get the stuff and out - we didn't have magical ammo (was saving up for the robe of the good arch magi at the time), and we certainly didn't want to melee them, and magic wasn't much help either. The party is level 5 cleric and 5 in their magic/illusionist classes. Now that we have animate dead, I set the party to some scripts, it was necessary to micromanage before, even on trash mobs. While I still have to be careful, will take less effort on things like gibberlings.

We encountered an adventuring party led by Kirian the bard in the basilisk country. She and her pals were well equipped, but definitely not the smartest one on the block (see picture)

For one there's a MASSIVE skeleton army arrayed against them, and she should have been able to tell at least 4/5 of our party were casters. But she foolishly decided to engage us. Along with our skeletons, we cast stinking cloud (skeletons immune), 3x silence (oops Kirian's party can't cast anything) and a hold person to boot. After the first round our attack was decisive, we used our slings until they fell.

We've cleard everything that is level with Beregost on the map and below (except Durlag's) and also Pelvale and Larswood. Everyone in the party now is no longer wearing cleric armor except for Paja, Cody finally got rid of his full plate, now that he can use the bracers from some-one in Kirian's party.

The battles have been pretty smooth -- naturally with so many hold persons, humanoid enemies have been pretty clean battles. Entangle has been vital, and used quite a bit, especially for powerful melees or ambushes. We finally got a magic weapon for our last party member using a basic mace, thanks to the bandit leader in Pelvale, Joshua is now using his +1 hammer. That frees up a few level 2 slots he wasing using for flame blade (anti-jelly weapon since his couldn't hurt it before).

And yes, in the early going there was quite a bit micromanagement. Paja died a lot as well, but she's been dieing notice-ably less now that we have access to animate dead.

[SpiffyKeen]

The more you post about it, the more I am seeing how your cleric/mage party does sound very versitle and powerful, even in BG1 before the really powerful spells are available!  Each party member can take on a number of of possible roles during an encounter, and, as you said, you can have all or some summon skeletons, cast Hold/Entangle, range attack, etc. with any combination!  Your approaches are an interesting twist on what I thought cleric/mages could do, and I will be watching your progress. 

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As for Gyan, I have not played anymore.  However, I did do some quick calculations, and it seems that Imoen, while in the party of 6, should be able to get through the bandit and Cloakwood quests before hitting level 7 without too much risk of leveling up too soon.  She is at 28k exp right now, so that means she will not get to thief level 7 until another 70k experience is gained for the entire party.  Even with spiders, wvyrens, and the Cloakwood mines, the entire party shouldn't gain quite that much...

Then after that, with access to Baldur's Gate, Durlag's Tower, basilisks, sirines, and a few other easy quests, she and Gyan should be able to duo enough to get another 180k experience to hit 90k exp/level 8 in her mage class.  That will get her thief skills back. 

[corey_russell]

Er spiffy, the TotSC experience cap is 161,000 experience, are you playing with the cap removed?

[Grond0]

The 180k is a reference to the experience needed by the party (duo). The total XP needed for a thief 7 / mage 8 is 130k, so is achievable in TotSC.

[corey_russell]

Ah, I see. Carry on then!  By the way, Spiffy the biggest disadvantage of my cleric/mage party is the 1 APR. Which is why it's so important we either root/disable enemies so we can kill them slowly, or now that we have more levels, just blow them to smithereens with things like fireball or skull trap if tactically sound.

Fortunately summons will also helps us to distract enemies (giving us more time), as well as killing hostiles a tad quicker.

Modifié par corey_russell, 05 décembre 2011 - 01:36 .

[SpiffyKeen]

I do have the experience cap raised above 161k with my Tutu install (900k or something like that, so, it is effectively removed), but that's mostly for solo runs. In my solo game with Zigana, she did get to around 540k experience by the end (minimal reload challenge). If I do end up going duo for a while to get Imoen's thief skills back, I am curious to see if finishing the game will get her over the cap (and Gyan too). In general, there just isn't enough experience to be had for a party of 6 due to the way I go about these no-reload challenges.  I always skip the lower levels of Durlag's Tower, the ice island adventure, and the Balduran storyline with the lycanthropes, etc. It will be interesting to see what happens if Gyan makes it to the end.

As for your party of multi-class heroes, you make a good point about your APR per character. At this point at higher levels, low-level encounters would be annoying, because one wouldn't want to "waste" spells on them. However, it would be higher risk to just use attacks vs. gibberlings, hobgoblins, etc.

I instinctually favor fighters because they don't "run out" of attacks. The only limits to their going out on a quest are hit points and fatigue. As for the spell casters, they run out of spells quickly in my mind. In a party situation, I often under-use my mages, because the fighters can go longer than the mages can, especially with lots of clerical healing to keep the fighters going.  This has led me to force myself to better use clerics and especially mages.  I'm still not very good at using mages! 

Modifié par SpiffyKeen, 05 décembre 2011 - 06:42 .

[After5CST]

RIP Toil, L6 H M Berserker

They worked their way up the eastern most maps, ending their trip on the Basilisk map.  Worked around the perimiter of the map with Animate Dead, cleaning off (and avoiding) any non-Basilisk areas.  With that cleanly handled, rested (for five Protection from Petrification spells for the five party members, and then intended to clean the rest of the map quickly.

Quickly wasn't quite quickly enough.  On the last group of basilisks (if memory serves me correctly), the last one of the three decided to bypass the much nearer skeletons and target Toil ... just as his Protection from Petrification spell expired, and I had not noticed it. 

one attack
one failed save
one game over
not-so-priceless

Lesson learned: Never do things in a hurry if you don't have to do so.  The party was strong, having little trouble with anyone at this point in the game, and not stopping to rest after clearing part of the basilisks was just laziness.

Next attempt begun!

Tril, M E F/M
QuarterStaff ** Long Bow * Two-Handed Style *
Party members: Imoen, Khalid, Jaheria

Unusual stat: INT 13 for a mage.  Currently just working with my slate of first-level spells and plan on finding/buying Potion of Genius or Potion of Mind Focusing before spell memorization (in batches).

Not a lot to report at this point.  Picked up Imoen and migrated to FA.  Tarnesh managed to off Imoen with a Magic Missile before falling to Tril's bow.  She was Raised, added the not-so-dynamic duo to the party, and worked our way S to Nashkel on the main road, also Raising Jaheria after an unfortunate encounter with a bandit archer group.

I wish I had remembered to screenshot the map N of Nashkel.  They ended up running through the map N to S after they stumbled into a Vampiric Wolf with no magic weapons and no magic ammo.  The two bandits and assorted kobolds are probably still wondering why nobody even bothered to swing at them as the group sprinted by...

Despite not having any group defensive spells to speak of, Neira was easily handled.  Khalid rushed her to keep her away from the party, and promptly succumbed to Rigid Thinking.  The rest of the group spent their time disrupting Neira's remaining spell attempts with arrows and bullets, and Neira fell with little fanfare.  After that, it was just a waiting game of keeping Khalid away from innocents and yet out of striking range of party members.

Next stop is to work towards the Gnoll Fortress and the ever-so-helpful Gauntlets of Dexterity for Khalid.

Modifié par After5CST, 05 décembre 2011 - 07:17 .

[Serg BlackStrider]

After5CST wrote...

RIP Toil, L6 H M Berserker

Lesson learned: Never do things in a hurry if you don't have to do so.  The party was strong, having little trouble with anyone at this point in the game, and not stopping to rest after clearing part of the basilisks was just laziness.

Aye... Hurry, Laziness and Boredom are the biggest threats for the No-Reloader...
Good luck with thy next char! Stay tuned!

[Easymask]

Hello everyone.

Was hoping to use my latest bag of screenshots for my next post, but sadly Asmodai the Human Male Conjurer was charmed by Semaj. I forgot to drink the potion to prevent such things after his initial remove magic, but forgot it and then suddenly sat there confused at what had happened.

Oh well!

My next attempt will be with yet another Mage. I'm getting braver(or dumber) with each character, doing things I regularly wouldn't do to speed up the process of getting to Amn(could be why Asmodai died).

Enter Aurellion the Half-Elf Conjurer.

Aurellion gained his second level in Beregost from killing spiders, third from Bassilus after his familiar was hit with Rigid Thinking(First Blind hit and spelled doom for the evil cleric). Fourth level gained was from returning quests while the fifth and sixth was gained from the basilisk area.

Aurellion will probably attempt to reach level 7(Shoal the Nereid, Ogres in the same area then Priestess quest in Ankheg farm) before heading into the Nashkel Mines. Things should go very quick from there on, if I don't mess up again.

This is going to be my last Mage attempt for a while, so wish me luck!

[corey_russell]

SpiffyKeen wrote...

I do have the experience cap raised above 161k with my Tutu install (900k or something like that, so, it is effectively removed), but that's mostly for solo runs. In my solo game with Zigana, she did get to around 540k experience by the end (minimal reload challenge). If I do end up going duo for a while to get Imoen's thief skills back, I am curious to see if finishing the game will get her over the cap (and Gyan too). In general, there just isn't enough experience to be had for a party of 6 due to the way I go about these no-reload challenges.  I always skip the lower levels of Durlag's Tower, the ice island adventure, and the Balduran storyline with the lycanthropes, etc. It will be interesting to see what happens if Gyan makes it to the end.

As for your party of multi-class heroes, you make a good point about your APR per character. At this point at higher levels, low-level encounters would be annoying, because one wouldn't want to "waste" spells on them. However, it would be higher risk to just use attacks vs. gibberlings, hobgoblins, etc.

I instinctually favor fighters because they don't "run out" of attacks. The only limits to their going out on a quest are hit points and fatigue. As for the spell casters, they run out of spells quickly in my mind. In a party situation, I often under-use my mages, because the fighters can go longer than the mages can, especially with lots of clerical healing to keep the fighters going.  This has led me to force myself to better use clerics and especially mages.  I'm still not very good at using mages! 

The key, especially for BG 2, will be a good of summons if disabling impossible (such as golems). In BG 2 we will also have access to haste and improved haste, and with that even a mage/cleric can get a good number of hits in. And yes, I prefer fighters as well, which is why my 6 paladin run was so fun - those guys just crushed the BG 1 opposition. The fact that our party can only use cleric weapons will make things interesting in B 2 we won't all be able to use the Flail of Ages...

But thinking about it again, there are some things we can use, such as MMM. If I can make it to BG 2 should be fun!

@Easymask: sorry about that debacle with Semaj - here's hoping your lastest mage can make it, I think you know what to do, so the only thing I should remind you is don't be careless! (e.g., if any doubt should pause and consider your options)..

Modifié par corey_russell, 05 décembre 2011 - 08:29 .

[Alesia_BH]

But thinking about it again, there are some things we can use, such as MMM. If I can make it to BG 2 should be fun!

Indeed. By the midgame, some of your C/Ms will be able to reach 8APR with a Fighters THAC0, 25 Strength, and max damage on evey hit if they like. C/M are very, very flexible. You should have a lot of fun with them.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 05 décembre 2011 - 09:38 .

[The Fred]

I have to admit, I've recently fallen in love with MMM. Seeing Imoen gun down ghouls in two hits in less time than it took the others to fire a shot was pretty cool, given she's the worst at ranged combat. You can also cast it before resting to get a few free shots the next day. A party of C/Ms with MMMs would be pretty sweet.

[Grond0]

It's a great spell, but does have a significant downside because you can't equip another weapon while you still have MMMs not used. I find this annoying at the best of times and it could be serious if you are relying on weapons to provide immunity to spells.

[Alesia_BH]

The Fred wrote...
I have to admit, I've recently fallen in love with MMM. A party of C/Ms with MMMs would be pretty sweet.

My first Trilogy No Reload was basically a Melfing party. It featured a Sorceress, along with Imoen, Aerie, and Nalia- all Melfing.

Dense Teleport Fields were used to negate melee threats. Blindness spells were used to negate ranged attacks. SI:A+SI:D+II prevented foes from targetting spells (summons were deliberately skipped to avoid introducing a valid casting target onto the battle field). AoE spells were used to clear the Telefield if it got crowded (often triple Sunfire Triggers) and each character ran heavy Arcane defensive buffs. There were enough scrolls to provide full coverage for all since the PC was a Sorcerer and Aerie already has Spell Immunity.

You can steam-roll BGII with that approach.

Best,

A.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 05 décembre 2011 - 11:25 .

[Easymask]

I have a quick question, sorry if it's off-topic: but what is MMM ?

Edit: @Corey - Thank you for the kind words Corey, I just really wish I had heeded them when I should have. Aurellion unfortunatley fell at the hands of a Carrion Crawler in the Baldurs Gate Sewers. I let it come to close as it was Near Death and I was about to get the Magic Missiles off. 



I'll leave pure Mages and Conjurers alone for a bit while I gather myself, and rather create something else I can spend some time exploring. I tend to go through the game too fast with Mages, as I know most of the encounters by know - as well as when to go invisible. 

Modifié par Easymask, 05 décembre 2011 - 11:46 .

[corey_russell]

Condelences, easy mask -- with their hold ability, carrion crawlers can be tricky - just curious why were you fighting it? Surely you were already at your cap if you were solo? I never fight them solo is why I ask, many times I'm at the cap before I even get into the city of Baldur's Gate (which happened to my fighter/thief not too long ago).

[Easymask]

Indeed, six of my Wand of Monster Summoning Ogres where held a bit further to the west - so I was forced to retreat while one of the Carrion Crawlers followed me. I usually hit Baldurs Gate at around my 8th level or so(not sure if 8 or 9 is max for a mage, but it's the one bellow max) - so I do the quests for Scar, pick up the tomes and Ramazith's items just to get a bit closer to max. It's mostly rutine with my Mages now, and I've never died down there before - as I screen off the monsters with the Wand - but got unlucky with them all getting held.

I'll be more careful next time around, but I think it's about time I tinkered with another class.

[Alesia_BH]

Easymask wrote...
I'll be more careful next time around, but I think it's about time I tinkered with another class.

Sorry to hear that Easymark. 

Most of the hold capable foes in BG1 (Carrion Crawlers, Ghouls, etc) are slow footed and lack range weapons so they can be safely taken down with range weapons.

Best of luck with your next run!

A.


Btw. MMM means Melf's Minute Meteors. It's a Level 3 Spell that creates +5 to hit, +6 enchanted meteors that can be tossed at 5APR sans Haste effects. They can be pretty outrageous because they have a crazy range (270) and do both piercing and fire damage. Additionally, there were some quicks in their implementations which mean that offhand weapon attacks can register at range (if you've ever wanted to chuck the Flail of Ages at someone, now you know how...). They are occasionally targetted for nerfing in mods. SCS may make them +2 depending on your install options.

Modifié par Alesia_BH, 06 décembre 2011 - 01:13 .

[corey_russell]

Sounds like you left a lot of wilderness areas unexplored then. And yes you can get to 9 mage with the cap. A fighter/thief is a pretty flexible class, it worked well for me solo, maybe it will for you as well. Cleric/thief pretty solid too, but then you have to deal with the 1 APR.

[Easymask]

@Alesia
Aha! I remember hearing the reference before now that you mention it, thank you for clearing that up for me. After I got some pointers from you guys, I've been using them a lot in Amn!(not with off-hand weapons though!)

@Corey
Aye, I only did the areas I deem worthy for quick and solid experience, as well as gear I am after(tomes included). It usually goes very well, and it allows me to get to Amn in just a few hours - but I'm guessing I was just too much in a hurry to really think straight.

For that reason I've decided to slow down a bit, and instead of just blazing through the game with a character I can easily manouver around with(like Mages and their Invisibility) - I came up with a fresh Mercenary band.
I've pretty much been using Aerie and Keldorn + a PC Mage & Fighter/Thief every time I get to Amn latley - so I decided to create my own crew in a variaton of this.

Allow me to introduce the party(in tanking order):

Aria - Human Female Inquisitor(perhaps I will have more luck with a female tank?)!

Roenal - Human Male Assassin

Entillis - Half-Elf Cleric/Mage

Avelion - Human Kensai(the PC and whom will be dual-classed to Mage in Amn)

This party should be able to pack quite the punch, as well as offer me some more training with four man parties prior to Amn. This way I wont be as overwhelmed when I get there, as I usually am.

I'm not anywhere near beating the challenge yet, so going solo most of the way is rather ambitious - but a good challenge no less. I just want some more practice really, and so I batched up all the characters I was considering soloing with into one group.

If the party should end up on the wrong side of a spell or sword - I'll be wanting to try Entillis by himself next - I love the character concept, and I've been wanting to play him for quite some time, I just didn't want to jump on the Cleric/Mage train while many others where still on it.

Modifié par Easymask, 06 décembre 2011 - 01:21 .

[Alesia_BH]

Easymask wrote...
 I've been using them a lot in Amn!(not with off-hand weapons though!)

Understood. For the record, I wouldn't recommend using MMM with off-hand weapons equipped. It strikes me as an engine quirk to be avoided rather than a tactic to be employed. To each their own though. 

[Grond0]

I have made a couple of mistakes with Raven, but got away with it and she has now arrived in Baldur's Gate.  Summary of her progress as follows: 
- In the Nashkel mines the familiar triggered the traps on the bridge.  I didn't want to risk becoming visible so Coyote made use of the script to cast healing spells on rest to cure it.
- The next problem was the kobold roadblock.  This was solved by the familiar casting invisibility 10'.  While this was happening Coyote used Algernon's cloak to charm a kobold.  It was quickly killed and the kobolds started swarming, while Coyote and the familiar kept moving to avoid being surrounded.  Once things settled down again and the way was clear the duo carefully inched their way round the second set of traps and through the exit.
- Up to this point a perfectly played run would have virtually no chance of failure, but there is a certain amount of danger if Mulahey saves against the charm and summons his supporters.  However, this time charming worked and Mulahey followed Raven out (who immediately came back in to be turned invisible).  Outside Mulahey was attacked by the kobolds.  As is quite common for him he panicked, which has the potential to end a no-XP run if he goes berserk.  This time he just ran back into the cave.  That meant the familiar had to become visible to get Mulahey out again, but it was never targeted.  After Mulahey died Raven successfully rested to get invisibility back and exited the mines.
- With the stairs available for a quick exit Tranzig has no chance, but he was charmed first time anyway and taken to meet Marl.  Tranzig panicked in the first encounter and ran upstairs and I worried a bit when he failed to follow Raven down at the first attempt.  However, the second time he duly came down to find his doom, while Raven went invisible again before picking up his loot.
- Travelled invisibly to the bandit camp and went straight to the main tent.  I think the safest method here is to charm Raemon so that the bad guys never get triggered by his conversation.  The risk that he will react is very small even if the first charm doesn't work - just have to step back a pace to get out of his visual range before he starts talking.  In the event he was charmed immediately and Raven took a potion of insulation, put the familiar in his pack for a minute and looted the tent.  Once the lightning trap was out of the way the familiar came back out, used invisibility, and the duo strolled (or flapped) on their way.
- There were a number of ambushes going through the Cloakwood, but Raven was always invisible, so there was nothing to worry about.  She did take note of the hamadryad on the way - haven't actually fought her since her aTweaks upgrade, but based on the improvements to sirenes a level 1 character is probably not the right one to start a fight with!
- At the mines the tactic with Drasus was the same as with Raemon - attempting to charm him at extreme range.  Once again this was successful (saving against breath weapon before any potions have been taken is not easy) and that should have left the relatively simple task of getting Drasus killed by the guards (just need to keep him constantly moving as he hits hard, so can quickly kill them).  However, there was a potentially fatal mistake here.  I noticed just in time that Genthore had gone hostile and was moving in towards Raven (I think he must have been in shouting range of the guards as I hadn't taken Drasus as far away as I have in the past) and Raven had to use a potion of invisibility.  The mages in turn had gone hostile and together they attacked Drasus.  Fortunately they did not use remove/dispel magic and, though Drasus was confused, he was killed quickly enough not to kill anything else.  Raven went far away and rested (under the revised SCS script enemies will chase invisible characters, but only for a while, rather than permanently) before sneaking back to get Drasus' boots (wanted the mages buffs to expire to possibly give a small extra bit of time if they used detect invisibility, but they didn't anyway).
- Went invisible through the mines, before charming the guard next to Daveorn, but then making another little mistake.  Obviously Raven got too close to him and triggered his conversation and had to run round the table a few times before charming him again.  After Daveorn killed the guard and came searching for her Raven ran upstairs and waited long enough for Daveorn's spell protection to expire before coming down and trying to charm him. That took 6 or 7 attempts (Daveorn obviously having considerable bonuses as I noted him saving with an 8), but each time Raven was away in time to avoid the incoming MMMs.  Eventually he succeeded and I thought that would be it (based on previous runs I expected Daveorn to be immediately attacked by his horrible guardians).  However, Daveorn proved incredibly difficult to kill.  The battle horrors just stood there, even when Daveorn used his fists (didn't want to use spells in case that turned Daveorn hostile again).  Tried to kill Daveorn with the traps (or possibly stir the horrors into action), which required the use of a second scroll of magic protection, but that failed as well, so eventually resorted to sending him on a one-way trip to see the mustard jelly.  Rather ridiculously the jelly was attacking him with fists - took a while to take him down with only 1 or 2 HPs per attack and even then he was only unconscious, so Daveorn had to cast a fireball on himself to finally die.
- Stephan was charmed to lure the jelly away so Raven could loot the treasure chests, then the mine was flooded.  There was another nasty moment when invisibility 10' radius failed to work (as noted earlier in the run that can occur when it's cast too close to an obstacle).  That meant that Raven risked resting outside the mine (had to be invisible to go past the slave to avoid getting XP) - she could actually have used a potion if resting failed, but it didn't.
No spells cast in that session, so no chance of a surge.

[Grond0]

Another session with Raven and another mistake survived.  She is now at the palace, which is the only encounter where I think there is a significant risk of failure without any mistakes being made.  Progress to here as follows:
- In the city did some shopping (particularly for invisibility potions) and then searched for some useful tomes.  Dexterity was just picked up.  Wisdom was not much harder - Chantalas attacking Agnasia and paying for it. For intelligence used scroll of strength to batter down Ramazith's door and boots / potion of insulation to survive his initial attack.  Then went invisibly up the tower.  First attempt to charm him failed when he spotted the invisible duo immediately and got his buffs up before the cloak could be used - time for a quick exit (running too fast for anything to acquire a target)!  After going invisible and resting came back again; once more Ramazith detected invisible, but this time no buffs triggered and he was charmed.  After using a knock scroll to loot his cupboard, Ramazith was lured down to the kobold commandos.  Unfortunately, as normally happens with Ramazith, a second copy spawned upstairs - this meant Raven had to use up a potion of invisibility rather than using the familiar when they ran upstairs - before going back down and taking the items off Ramazith #1's corpse.
- While in the mood for tomes Raven went to get the one at Durlag's Tower (scroll minor spell deflection for protection) and the pirate cave (fire resistance, lightning resistance, mirror image and minor spell deflection to protect against traps).  I wasn't sure if familiar invisibility would work through spell deflection, so the familiar did a good job blocking off a flesh golem while waiting for the spell deflection to wear off.  Also bought a few more scrolls at High Hedge, but need more money to afford the Claw of Kazgoroth.
- After investigating the Iron Throne invisibly it was off to Candlekeep.  The ogre magi there detected invisible immediately and got a bit closer to Raven than I liked, but she got safely inside.  She picked up a few scrolls in the library before being sent to the catacombs.  There was a potentially fatal mistake here after charming the phase spider that greeted Raven.  I was relying on autopause to stop the action and forgot that was disabled by the presence of the charmed spider.  Fortunately the doppleganger missed.  Things then got a bit hectic when 3 more phase spiders teleported in.  Some summoned ogres helped keep them occupied, though there was one close shave when I didn't notice the doppleganger was dying of poison from a charmed spider until almost too late (just charmed him in time so when he died no XP was awarded). Used 3 LMD scrolls on the last summoned ogre to try and get enough HPs to survive the spike trap (in fact one of them would have been enough).  With all the spiders having already gone from the other tomb it was easy to get the strength tome from there.  The last couple of charmed spiders were killed in the lightning trap allowing Raven to rest and go invisible again.  She paused on entry to the caverns and then moved immediately, allowing her + familiar to get away just before the phase spiders teleported in to seal the entrance.
- Forgot to go and steal from a couple of houses in Beregost on the way back to Baldur's Gate - in order to get reputation down - so Raven only has the good Bhaal powers (very unusually for me).
- Back in the city neither Cythandria, nor Slythe & Kristin posed a challenge.  Cythandria was charmed at extreme range and then killed by Diyab.  Slythe was also charmed (at the second attempt) and boldly attacked Larze with his fists.  He started with a critical and I let him fight unrestricted and was surprised how well he did - but not well enough.  After picking up Slythe's items Raven went back into the undercellar and charmed Quenash and then used a detect invisibility scroll with the idea of finding Krystin.  That didn't work (perhaps her invisibility is non-dispellable until she is activated by Slythe's dialogue) so Quenash attacked a guard instead (to allow Raven to get her cloak).  She ran before she died, but was herded away from the exit by Raven and her familiar and chopped down.

Just a couple of friends spells used in that session and no more surges.