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[Grond0]

Gate70 wrote...
Tranzig dies scared, I purchase a quarterstaff at Ulgoths Beard and steal letters from the bandit camp. I make a run for it but they chase me outside. I have to run around them and face a volley of bandit arrows. I glug a blue potion but Venkt casts horror.

Dead again. Oil of speed here I think but will switch to SOA for a while. Wondering if a monk might be a good choice as I'm spending a lot of time traversing maps but suspect a different strategy would be required.

The monk has poor stealth, which will slow you down.  Also is a far poorer fighter at lower levels. 

If you want to you could use Algernon's Cloak at the camp.  You could charm Raemon (attempting from stealth ready to nip out the door again if it fails).  If successful that will stop all the others from reacting to your visibility.  Alternatively you could go to the back of the tent out of Raemon's sight then charm Hakt and bring him back to you to quickly deal with.

In a timed run I would be inclined to just go straight for the chest while stealthed.  You will have a chance to re-stealth immediately after opening it.  If that fails you can use a potion of invisibility to hide, or as you mention a potion of speed should also let you get away.

[BelgarathMTH]

@After5, I'm very much enjoying reading about James. His naive interpretations of the motivations of other characters are absolutely hilarious! I'm left smiling and chuckling every time I read one of your posts.

@Gate70, condolences on the three failed runs. Would someone mind explaining to me what a timed run is? I don't understand the concept. Are you supposed to hurry and you expect to die pretty quickly, but you're trying to maximize the time you're alive or something?

[Gate70]

@Corey. Yes, Cleric/thief could work. Still a slow walker and no arrows, maybe a mage/thief would be better.

@Grond0. Tried a monk briefly, both stealth and combat were weak. May work by doing some no/low-combat quests first (I'm thinking Candlekeep, Marl, Firebead, Brage, Melicamp, Tenya, Noober, Oublek, drowned cat, Samuel but that may take more time than it is worth). Depends how much he can make up later in the game I guess.

@BelgarathMTH, I was trying to see how little play-time I could get away with, trying not to die honest but speed and no-reload are a challenging combination. Grond0 did a speed run recently, I decided to use the save game times because I didn't fancy doing the entire game in one session (brain fade, other things to do and also too much to document in one go).

[Blackmalkin]

Asati is not dead yet:

Journey to the Cloakwood could not be postponed for much longer, so Asati sent Kagain to check those giant spiders near Thalantyr’s abode. She heard they stirred some controversy among the adventurers and wanted to know what’s it all about ‘before venturing forth’. Turned out that ‘controversial’ is an understatement. Kagain nearly died, being webbed for the whole fight despite his good saving throws (this web must be somehow better then the normal one). What was worse, spiders focused on the webbed victim, ignoring rest of the party. So they had to acquire the Ring of Free Movement, which meant going to Ulgoth’s Beard. There were no potions of master thievery available, so the ring had to be won by backstab. Asati also bought some potions of freedom from Thalantyr, and then travelled to Cloakwood.

Party was attacked by phase spiders, as soon as they enetered the spider area, which was rather surprising. But killing spiders or ettercaps was an easy job for Kagain and Shar-Teel, with his poison saving throw at 2 and her backstabs (and the ring, of course). Still, items from the spiders lair were acquired by sanctuaried Viconia (after she got the strenght boost). Wyverns were also killed by the Kagain/Shar-Teel duet.

As for the fight with Drassus and his friends, a cunning plan was devised: some skull traps were cast, then 3 webs.



Plan turned out not to be so cunning, as the webbed enemies couldn’t move into the traps, and Shar-Teel couldn’t hack them with her swords due to the traps. Still, she managed to shot Drassus. Then Genthore freed himself for a moment a quaffed a potion of magic shielding, allowing him to pass through the webs and traps without dying. One of the mages followed him soon and cast Chaos. Shar-Teel quaffed potion of spell immunity and stayed at the bridge while others escaped. Kagain was affected by the next chaos and wandered off ‘hacking away at squirrels and other such beasties’ (quoting Korgan):



I failed to notice when the potion had worn off, and Shar-Teel was suddenly enfeebled, which prevented her from moving. Meanwhile, the other mage joined the fight and Edwin had to finish immobilized Shar-Teel with Magic Missles (preventing her from being killed irreversibly). Kagain regained his senses by then and could start tanking. He drunk potion of invulnerabillity, bringing his spell saving throw to 2. He was going to drink potion of stone form in the next round, but before that, he was affected by chaos once again. But this time he stayed around a bridge, and was still useful as a shield.

I won’t describe the rest of the fight in much detail, as it was simply too embarrassing. I was completely hopeless and my party survived only because Kagain and Viconia were resilient enough to survive everything that the enemy had to offer. As Viconia could easily tank spells, Genthore was the main problem. But being protected by potion of magic shielding, he was taking only a quarter or half of damage from Asati’s and Edwin’s spells (and Viconia wasted her only Dispel Magic on confused Kagain). At some point Kagain decided to kill Monatron. The halfling run away and hid under a tree, so the dwarf had to content himself with killing squirrels again. Genthore was finally killed by a critical hit dealt by one of the gnolls summened with a wand. It looked like the end, as mages hadn’t been casting anything for some time (but still had their protections). But when one of them panicked, the other turned out to have some spells still – Horror and some monter summoning among others. Resulting chaos was truly ridiculous. But finally, Asati’s party emerged victorious with no further deaths on thier side.

While on their way to some temple, they were attacked by giant spiders twice. First, Kagain was webbed as he had to pass his ring to Asati for a moment. He barely survived. In the second encounter Edwin was webbed and killed by Asati’s Magic Missles before spiders had a chance to chunk him. There were some troubles with inventory management, but nothing important had to be left behind.

Modifié par Blackmalkin, 25 mars 2012 - 08:06 .

[Blackmalkin]

When Shar-Teel was up and running (and quite fast, equipped with Boots of Speed), party returned to the mines, without loosing anyone to spiders. On the second level Shar-Teel enemies to the cells and locked the doors behind them:



Only one guard (a swordman remained beside Hareishan. But she was protected by stoneskins, so backstab was not an option. Viconia tried dispelling and silencing (from a safe dustance, that is), but none of it worked. By the way, I never managed to dispel anything in this playthrough yet. When Viconia was out of ideas, Edwin came in. First, he tried dispelling (in vain of course), then he cast a web. And it did work. Shar-Teel with the Ring of Free Movement and Kagain with Spiderbane charged into the room and started hacking. But at some point Hareishan’s protections kicked in, freeing her from the web (as they included Globe of Invulnerabillity). She cast Chaos, confusing both warriors, then she charmed and blinded Shar-Teel (as Kagain wandered off). Together with the guard, she tried attacking, but they both missed all hits. When Shar-Teel regained her senses she took andventage of her blindness and hid (if I can’t see them, then can’t see me, ridiculous), but Hareishan still cast chaos on her (which was a cheat). Meanwhile, Kagain sounded the Horn of Kazgaroth and attacked, while Asati and Edwin joined the fight, as Hareshan’s Globe had expired. Flame Arrows worked nicely, and in the end the only damage taken by the party, was that caused by the Horn.



Entering the third level was a difficult matter as there is this irritating ‘you must gather...’ thing and a nasty welcome committee. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem, but the enhanced AI tends to target the weakest party member (Edwin in this case), ignoring everyone else. Also, enemies don’t follow the party upstairs. So, party returned to the first level (which I found to be the safest place for rest in all the Cloakwood – only one guard attacks) to prepare enough invisibillity spells. Party ignrored most of the third level and reached Davaeorn’s lair. Afters scouting the area, they decided to return upstair again and prepare some detections and dispells. But Davaeorn’s stoneskins could not be dispelled. After Edwin cast a fireball, there were some hide and seek games (with Davaeorn casting fireballs at random) which ended in party retreating and returning with everyone being invisible. Shar-Teel tried luring Battle Horrors away from the mage, but as soon as anyone was hit, they marched to where rest of the party was hidden:



Confrontation was anavoidable, so Viconia gulped potion of magic resistance and attacked together with Kagain, while everyone else run to the elevator. Kagain had only 25% resistance to fire from his helm (as I rather expected lightning) and was taking a lot of damage from fireballs. Then, Davaeorn cast Sunfire, killing Viconia despite 100% magic resistance, and causing Kagain to panic (which soon resulted in his death).



Luckily, the battle horrors were also outraged by Viconia’s unfair death and turned on their master, killing him with ease.



Survivors of the battle stashed items and took the elevator to the surface. This time journey through the forest was uneventful, as the whole party was invisible – in this version of the game invisibillity does last for 24 hours, and resting in Cloakwood is less dangerous then traveling. At the Friendly Arm Inn Kagain and Viconia were brought back to life and the whole party drunk a few rounds in honour of the brave battle horrors that saved them.

[Gate70]

Sounds like you did well to keep four of the party alive there Blackmalkin. I suspect SCS changes dispel to be level based so you'll usually be at a disadvantage. Maybe one of the SCS regulars can clarify.

Monk 1 died fighting hobgoblins at level 2.
Monk 2 killed Mulahey but the kobolds outside his cave managed 2 hits.

Monk 3, Zum, has taken 32m 29s to reach level 3, get a rings of fire resistance and protection +1, the ogres belt, boots of stealth, greenstone amulet and cloak of displacement.

A further 19m 17s (total 51m 46s) sees Zum use a potion of stone giant stength to kill Mulahey, one-kick kills Nimbul and Tranzig takes four or five hits. Also in this time Zum nipped straight in and out of the bandit camp despite getting hit twice by the lightning bolt. He opened the chest, grabbed the papers and was back in the shadows before anybody reacted.

I think the monk will be quicker from this point, except for Drasus who could be a challenge, the duchal palace and the final battle. A potion of absorbtion would be the plan for Drasus.

Currently level 4, 11020xp next level 13000. THACO 16, 1.5APR, AC 2 (8 missile 3 piercing), 36hp and 14805gp mainly due to ring of wizardry & rewards.

[After5CST]

BelgarathMTH wrote...

@After5, I'm very much enjoying reading about James. His naive interpretations of the motivations of other characters are absolutely hilarious! I'm left smiling and chuckling every time I read one of your posts. 

Thanks, the character just kind of created itself.  The low cash at character creation just made me sit back and think about the character.

BG1 strongly suggests CHARNAME is young, and I would expect young Paladins ( a la Ajantis ) to be rather fervent.  My own impression of young Paladins is fairly binary: either they seem the world as strictly black and white, or they see people as flawed, but who can (and should) be encouraged to the light, with those they see as pure evil usually people they don't know.

While training up James, it made little sense to me that Gorion would discourage the former: if/when James discovered his heritage it would me he would define himself as evil: likely causing him to follow the path of Bhaal (or at the least falling from him Paladinhood).

As a result, it seemed to me Gorion would encourage James as seeing people as redeemable: and so James became an eternal optimist.  He believes that most people he meets are just like him, just with small failings that he should encourage and mentor to do the right thing.

When he discovers his own identity, either it will support his basis of belief ( "I am overcoming my evil hertiage, so there is hope for the blackest soul." ) or cause such a crisis as to force him to denounce Gorion, Lathandar (his chosen god), and even himself... and marking a new identity.  I'm not sure which.

But he's fun to write up, although having to give up the Girdle of Piercing, it's a shame not to have.

[Gate70]

Zum, monk.

2m 6s wasted (2m reaching Meilum, 6s getting hit twice and almost dying). Another 14m 25s purchasing potions (3 freedom, 3 fire resistance, 3 regeneration), reaching Cloakwood mine and killing Drasus. Used potions of absorbtion, regeneration and 3 healing before he died.

Another 10m 17s (1h 18m 34s?) is required before Davaeorn is dead. (Didn't seem that long in hindsight).

7m 48s (1h 26m 22s) to reach Baldur's Gate, obtain a tome of dexterity and purchase more potions.

A quick test. 3m 39s (1h 30m 1s) to go from Sorcerous Sundries to Black Alarics cave and back, get the tome of bodily health identified and read. Level 5 monk in boots of speed is QUICK.

It takes 15m 40s to meet Duke Eltan, obtain two letters, threaten Thaldorn, return to Candlekeep, meet Koveras, get arrested and freed, obtain two tomes and a scroll of protection from magic, return to Baldur's Gate, speak to Tamoko and read the tomes. Total time 1h 45m 40s, thought that last section went a lot quicker so disappointed there. What is left?

Slythe. Should be OK (potions of mind focusing, strength, heroism).
Cythandria. Same buffs plus potion of clarity.
Duchal palace. Same buffs, could be very difficult.
Maze. Potion of absorbtion, invisibility.
Sarevok. Scroll of magic protection then re-buff.

Not much, but time consuming. Wasting a lot of time because of failed hide attempts.

Modifié par Gate70, 18 mars 2012 - 01:23 .

[BelgarathMTH]

@Blackmalkin, you've got some really exciting stuff going on in your posts. That was a great read about mostly losing control of yourself and your whole party. The gods were truly with you for you to have survived a mess like that.

@Gate70, dang, man, are those real times you're posting? There should be a Guiness Book of World Records entry for what you're attempting. I'm impressed.

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 18 mars 2012 - 01:44 .

[After5CST]

@Blackmalkin, amazing reads. I've never played SCS, but if I ever do, it won't be in a no-reload game. It sounds like a new world.
----------------------------------

James, H M Inquisitor
Party members: Imoen, Kagain (add Jaheria and Khalid)
Previous Post: http://social.biowar...65/213#10087340

"Before I went to be that night, Kagain and I had a drink together. We would have invited Imoen, but as is her habit she had disappeared into the dark. My drink was an Arabellan Wine, not the most expensive of drinks, but it was enough for me. Kagain had more glasses of ale than I could count, but even his constitution was finally challenged and he was quite drunk.

"In a rare moment, Kagain shared with me that he wasn't who I thought he was. I looked at him, puzzled, and then he burst out in a drunken laugh and ordered more drinks. After that, he rambled on for quite some time, most of which I could not understand -- some because of slurred speech, some because it was in the dwarf tongue, and some because it made no sense to me whatsoever. However, by the end of our drinks I finally understood that I was probably not the only one in our party with a bounty: there were apparently men who would want him dead because of Silvershield's son.

"I told him that we would go to Baldur's Gate and straighten the whole thing out, but then he grew even more despondant. He shook that paw of his in my face, and said 'Short stuff (his name for Bentley) told me that the Gate is closed, no one goes in or out.' He then went off into a tirade, cursing at the bandits, Silvershield, the gods, Bentley's ale, and even myself, calling me 'holier-than-thou' (and many other names I would blush even to write).

"Over the night I thought about his predicament, and finally Lathandar gave me a solution to his dilemma. The Friendly Arm Inn is as safe a haven as there is on the sword coast, and not a long journey from Baldur's Gate if it were to ever open. So, I spoke with Bentley and his wife Galena. They agreed to keep a room open for Kagain and keep him safe at the inn while I travelled, while I in turn gave the temple 500gp (leaving me a scan 120gp) as a thank you to both the Mirrorshades and the gods for their assistance.

"I met Jaheria and Khalid the following morning, and we broke our fast with Imoen, telling stories of Gorion. The couple were a surprise to me: I expected great and mighty warriors, mentors and masters much as Gorion was to me. Instead, the two were fairly young and obviously considerably less experienced that Gorion: indeed, they were hardly more experienced than myself.

"I wanted to speak again with Kagain, but he was still sleeping off the previous night's ale, and many attempts to wake him were unsuccessful. Jaheria was insistent that we leave quickly for Nashkel, as they were wanting to investigate some evil matters down there. Bentley promised to speak with him once he finally woke, and I left a note for him to read as well. It only dawned on me much later that I was uncertain if Kagain could actually read.

"Our manner of parting was regretful, but Imoen was positively dancing after hearing that Kagain wouldn't be travelling with us. For some reason, his gruff gravely ways positively irked her bubbly personality, and vice versa. As a result, I thought that our new travelling companions would make for a less agitated trip.

"But I was wrong. Despite the trip going fairly smoothly, with hobgoblins, xvarts, and even some undead falling to the power of Righteousness, the entire trip was covered with a constant nagging... Jaheria treating her husband more like a child than a trusted companion. And for some reason, he is willing to put up with it. If this continues, Gorion's friends or no, I'll have to put my foot down --- before I lose my temper and place my boot up Jaheria's...

"(Ah, the weaknesses of flesh. I must spend more time in the mornings in prayer, as my temper is constantly getting the best of me).

"At least the arrival in Nashkel was a triumph for Righteousness. There was a fell follower of the evil gods awaiting us at the inn. However, through faith, swordsmanship, and many arrows she fell despite her pleas to her god... most of the spells were disrupted, and Lathandar protected me from her attempt to Hold me. She should have known that justice would prevail, and cannot be stopped!"

Next Post: http://social.biowar...65/214#10221464

Modifié par After5CST, 19 mars 2012 - 03:20 .

[Grond0]

Gate70 wrote...
Sounds like you did well to keep four of the party alive there Blackmalkin. I suspect SCS changes dispel to be level based so you'll usually be at a disadvantage. Maybe one of the SCS regulars can clarify.

It's not SCS itself, but the BG2 Fixpack does correct the vanilla behaviour of dispel magic.  From memory I think you have a 50% chance of dispelling, but that's reduced by 10% for each level you are below the enemy (down to a minimum of 1%).  As they will tend to be several levels higher than your character you won't normally have much chance (the higher levels for bards give them the best opportunity to succeed).

Hope you can finish Zum off OK Gate70.

[corey_russell]

Entering Trilogy no-reload challenge with Picenon

I have restarted Picenon once more (from right after character creation). He will be solo for BG 1, BG 2 and ToB. My intention is to keep running him even if he fails in a campfire thread. I want to get as far as I can so that when I do try a F/T no-reload again, I will know what to do for other encounters.



Since PIcenon's starting save is in vanilla BG 1, I am not EasyTutu this time. It's tough to go back to vanila BG 1 after being EasyTutu (run speed). But with only one party member to wait fore, that does make a bit more palatable.

Picenon has done some of the quests around Beregoest, as well as obtaining the belt of piercing -- he now has a buffer for HP. He is now working his way to Nashkel to pick up the Ankheg armor as well as get his first Bhaal power.

Vanilla BG 1
no mods/patches
Tales of the Sword Coast
core rules at all times, including level ups

[Melchom]

Sargiel - Final Update (RIP)

Following the clearing of the mines the group made further progress hunting down Tranzig, slaying Nimbul, and clearing south and west to the Gnoll stronghold. By this time I was getting the odd crash (possibly from Beregost .. ) which meant I was getting impatient and tired .. and Sargiel paid the price when I didn't notice he'd run out of darts and gone in to melee with his quarterstaff. The Gnoll Chief hit him for 26 points of damage and it was game over.

He did make level 5 and Kagain with the Dex bracers/gauntlets was a much better tank with AC -4 so things were looking OK by that point.

Oh well... Just need to decide what class to go for next!

[Gate70]

Condolences Melchom.

@BelgarathMTH. Yes real times, the monk covered the lighthouse map at a crazy speed. My slowdowns are failed hides and that I pause a lot (auto and space bar) when targeting every enemy so battles against Mulahey and Davaeorn where I hit and retreat can take a lot longer than you'd expect. I expect Grond0 is quicker still though, he plays at 60fps instead of the normal 30. Link to his thread which indicates 111 minutes could be improved on....

social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/181/index/8358354

EDIT:
& I'm done again. Had to glug a regeneration against Slythe and hit/run. Even then he almost had me. Then I hit Cythandria but failed a hide and one of her ogres splatted me because the regeneration is slower without an oil of speed active.

Have just checked and don't even need to face her. Don't fancy having another go just yet so will continue with my SOA run.

Modifié par Gate70, 18 mars 2012 - 09:22 .

[BelgarathMTH]

@After 5: Loved the journal entry. James really agonized over his decision to leave Kagain behind. He seems to have a bad first impression of Jaheira and Khalid - I'll be interested to see if he warms up to them later. I like how you skillfully worked in your battle with the cleric in the inn in Nashkel at the end. Will he be picking up Minsc? It seems like Minsc's innocent loyalty to Dynaheir and sense of goodness would be something attractive to James.

@Corey: Good luck with your new run. If he dies, you're welcome to join the minimal reload thread.

@Melcholm: Condolences. Good luck with the new run.

@Gate: I don't even know what to say. You have boggled my mind. You did the Nashkel Mines all the way through Daveaorn, into Baldur's Gate City, in about.... 30 minutes? I just don't see how it's possible. Amazing.

Modifié par BelgarathMTH, 18 mars 2012 - 06:13 .

[corey_russell]

BelgarathMTH wrote...
@Corey: Good luck with your new run. If he dies, you're welcome to join the minimal reload thread.

I'm not sure that would be appropriate. In that thread, one of the challenge rules is that your party "resurrects" you at a temple. Well I am solo, so no one can resurrect me but in this case I will still press on. But if I don't have to follow that guideline then sure I will post in the minimal no-reloads thread, should the time come.

[corey_russell]

Picenon the solo gnomish level 4 fighter/level 4 thief continues his adventure - epic battle with Bassilus

Picenon needed some money, mainly for necklace of missiles and greenstone amulet so he can get the main story line going (re: both Mulahey hold persons and Nimbuls charms/horrors). Amulet also makes Bassilus really easy. But then Picenon thought, is that really necessary? What if I used the fighter ability to use composite long bows, plus the thief ability to hide? Picenon should be abe to "snipe" Bassilus, e.g. shoot 1 shot run and stealth. With equipment, PIcenon's stealth is now 150%.

Picenon decided to do this. His only prep? 20 +2 arrows from Thunderhammer Smithy. Picenon heads to Bassilus area and rests and it was night! Perfect. Picenon goes all the way around Bassilus position and approaches from the south.

At maximum visual range, Picenon -- despite doing the correct dialog options, none of the undead disappeared. Ok, going to be a bit trickier, but Picenon still thought he could do it. He fires a +2 arrow at Bassilus and it connects. Picenon then ran south and east. That was a mistake as that's a dead end. The hiding failed, and a spell hit Picenon - he saved though. Picenon ran the correct way, west, and around a rock formation and hid in a corner. 3 mummies followed him to his last visible location - perfect! All the melees are now parked out of the way.

PIcenon again returned to Bassilus and sniped and ran and stealth. He did this two more times, some skeletons came each time (1) but Picenon managed to outrun them, hide and backstab them dead.

Once more, Picenon snipes Bassilus with a +2 arrow from the shadows (Picenon is using the +1 composite bow) -- Bassilus apparently had enough of this and chased Picenon with his hammer. Picenon ran away and hid again. Bassilus was now south of his main group of undead. Picenon snipes and gets a critical miss -- hmm. But Bassilus again follows -- this time Picenon runs west in to the main area. Bassilus follows to Picenon to his last visible location. He is now alone! Two shots of shoot, hide and repeat finished Bassilus!



Lots of undead still alive, and Picenon picked a few off but to just fill his inventory (easy to do since bag of holding not an option) and reported his success to the Mayor of Beregost. Ironically, LEAVING Bassilus area was much more dangerous then Bassilus -- Picenon got hit by a ghast/ogre ambush - but the ghast started in melee range AND its the ambush where's there only one exit! Picenon knew when to cut his losses and ran for the exit, successfully.

With his new cash, he managed to safely traverse Ankheg country in the shadows and get his greenstone amulet and his necklace of missiles. He will now deal with the Naskel mines problem.

Modifié par corey_russell, 19 mars 2012 - 12:56 .

[ussnorway]

@corey_russell, When the time comes I'd do Trademeet sooner for the "Shield of Harmony +2"... dealing with the gennies gives you Immune to charm, confusion, domination, and hold person then buy the "Short Sword of the Mask" +4 (Upgrade to +5) & you are all good.

Are you going to do all BG1 or just what you need to move onto BG2?

Modifié par ussnorway, 19 mars 2012 - 01:29 .

[corey_russell]

@USSNorway -- yes definitely be getting the SoH early -- once I have that then I can free Hendak as hold person is the slavers most dangerous threat.

While I'm certain my 2h proficiency will be in staffs, I'm not sure yet what 1 hand weapon to use. I think the FoA in straight melee is superior to the sword of mask in a lot of ways, and backstabbing with the sword of mask is almost silly since the staff of striking will do far more damage and will allow lot more one-shotting of enemies. Axe is a possibility as well, the Stonefire is a very reliable weapon, +3 so hits almost anything in SoA, and would also allow me to wield the Shield of Harmony while throwing Azeruredge around.

As for BG 1 it is definitely NOT a completionist run -- working on getting the gold I need, and once at the experience cap will be straight upgrades/main story line.

[After5CST]

James, H M Inquisitor
Party members: Imoen, Kagain (add Jaheria and Khalid)
Previous Post: http://social.biowar...65/214#10162139

"My first night in Nashkel's inn (such as it is) was a rough one. Wishing for a respite from Gorion's friends, we paid for three separate rooms: one for myself, one for the half-elven couple, and one for Imoen. Imoen offered to share a room ('It would be just like when we were kids!' she giggled) but that seemed well outside the bounds of propriety, as we are friends, allies, and sometimes confidants: but definitely not lovers.

"Being the good sport that she was, she offered to take the middle room, so that I would not be adjacent to the Khalid and Jaheria. I gratefully accepted, but the nightmare I had that night robbed me of sleep. I have written of the dream elsewhere, so I will not repeat it here.

"The unusual thing was the dream gave me some minor healing powers. I was unsure of what to think of this: I was certain that it is not a gift from Lathander. Since the temple here served Helm, there was no local spiritual guidance I could seek. The only options seemed to be to deny myself use of the power (in fear of its source), to use the power and trust that it was a gift to use in faithful service, or to travel back to Beregost to seek guidance from Kelddath, the priest at Lathander's temple there.

"I asked for a day of my companions at the inn, so that I could pray for Lathander's guidance: seeking if we should immediately continue the investigation of trouble surrounding Nashkel's mine, or if we should travel back to Beregost to deliver good tidings to Mirianne, and visit Kelddath to see if he had further insight from Lathander.

"The group rightfully agreed to the delay before I chose the next course of action. Imoen was thrilled to take a day exploring Nashkel: I suspect she was the life of the party at the Belching Dragon and wanted to return there to meet new people, make new friends, and hear new stories. Jaheria reluctantly agreed: while she was anxious to discover what was corrupting the ore from the earth, she also saw my haggard eyes and understood the heaviness of my heart. Khalid, I suspect, was a little uncomfortable in the town: but anything that Jaheria agreed to he was not going to oppose.

"The day went well, as I explored the local countryside. Lanthander guided me to discover a hidden cache including a powerful set of magic armor, and purified me through a trial of patience with one of the more annoying locals. Having passed that test, Lathander tested me again through a case of mistaken identity, but I refused to claim a reward that was not rightfully earned.

"Jaheria had taken it upon herself to meet with the mayor -- a man named Berrun Ghastkill -- and learn what she could about the mine. She took it on her behalf to volunteer the services of our band as soon as we were available. When I discovered this out at dinner that evening, I had some strong words with her, as I did not appreciate her giving my word and my bond without my permission. She backed down not at all, staring me in the face and saying 'James, you know the people here suffer. You know they need a champion. Would you really refuse them?'

"Backed into a corner, I had to confess the truth of her statement. Even so, I let her know that we would not proceed to aid the locals until I received guidance from Lathander: if she needed to go clarify the situation with Berrun, it would be on her own conscience to do so. All things said, I then retired to my quarters to sleep for the night, hoping for more rest than I had the previous one.

"That night I had a vision, but of a different sort than the night before. I saw our band, battered and bleeding, facing off against an ogre wielding dark magic. The scene shifted, and I saw myself in prayer in a temple: I assumed that it was Kelddath that I spoke to. Once again, the scene shifted, and I was speaking to a fellow broken Paladin in some kind of inn. A final shift of the vision, and I saw a fell dark elf fighting gnolls under the moonlight.

"The following morning, I made inquiries with the innkeeper before the others awoke. There had been reports of bandits and ogres in the area just north of Nashkel, on the east side of the road. Since that path seemed to be fairly en route to Beregost, my path seemed to be set, to the glory of Lathandar.

"Jaheria was none too happy to hear we were setting our course back to the North, but was unwilling to abandon me on my quest. Khalid actually seemed somewhat happy about the new direction whenever Jaheria wasn't watching him: I suspect the local stories of the mines being filled with demons had made him even more nervous than he had been before. Imoen, of course, wasn't thrilled that she would be leaving the conforts of town, but was happy to follow my lead.

"The vision was quickly validated: we had travelled a short distance east of the road when we stumbled into foes: an Ogre, a kobold, a half-ogre, and another ogre that immediately used dark magic to disappear. I quickly called upon Lathandar to give me insight, and the evil illusion was destroyed, revealing the hidden ogre mage. A battle ensued, with me using Good Intentions to hold off the attackers while the rest of the party used arrows and bullets to pierce the enemy.

James-Ogre mage on Flickr

"A side note is probably necessary here: the two-handed sword I purchased from Feldepost I had named 'Good Intentions'. Not only because I had good intentions, but I could see the ore is flawed with the same taint as much of the iron in this area. Much like good intentions frequently fail, I suspected at some point the weapon would shatter, making the weapon useless.

"But this was not that day. Good Intentions came through admirably, not only sending the Ogre Mage to meet his dark god, but also through a multitude of other ogres and hobgoblin archers with poisoned arrows. Lathandar provided just enough protection for our group to triumph, although the effort exhausted almost all of our stock of healing potions.

"Still, there was a reward to be had for our perseverance of the truth. After we had rested, we were attacked by a clan of Half-Ogres, led by an ugly brute named Arghain. Defending ourselves took all but one of our remaining healing potions, but once we triumphed Lathandar rewarded us with an unexpected bounty: Arghain himself was carrying a magical two-handed sword. I took the sword for myself, and hoped that one day this sword too would be given a name, hopefully one more suitable for a seeker of the Light.

"One last battle remained before we left the Lonely Peaks: a group of armored bandits with magic arrows assulted us. To my dismay, they were nearly our undoing. The foul arrows were quite deadly, so with my new sword I charged the two archers, forcing them to use their sword against me. By the time I reached them I was badly wounded, but in desperation I used my new magical healing ability to give me life enough to battle them. The head bandit had ignored me and attacked Jaheria, and she and the others were busy fending him off with their own weapons, so I had no help with the two archers.

"To make things worse, Khalid's long sword shattered in the battle, and he had no backup weapon.  In desperation, he grabbed Good Intentions and used it for the remainder of the battle, despite having no skill with two handed weapons at all.  I continued with Arghain's weapon, desperately keeping the archers from wielding their bows and using their deadly arrows to end our quest.

"In the end, good prevailed, as it should, but at a heavy price. All of us were wounded and bleeding badly, and our stock of healing potions were exhausted. At one point I would have thought this a failure: good barely triumphing over evil, but it seemed to be confirmation of my vision. One silver lining around this dark cloud became clear, though: Jaheria's magical healing proved to be a great asset to our group.

"Not only did her healing allow our battle to reach a winning conclusion, but she demonstrated a new ability. She took some local berries and enchanted them, creating a new form of healing for our group. The berries weren't as potent as healing potions, but berries are far less expensive, and can be saved for use as necessary. Lathander be praised!

"I started to re-think my opinion of Jaheria, but then she turned and spent our entire resting time belittling Khalid for failing to properly take care of his long sword. Apparently she's a much more complicated person than I had previously encountered.  Truly, if she were a diamond, she would be in the rough.  Very, very, rough.

"Once we are healed, I hope to travel to Beregost, buy Khalid a new long sword or two,  give Mirianne her note, speak with Kelddath, and hopefully seek out this injured Paladin. Perhaps Lathander will give us further direction, or at least confirm that aiding the people of Nashkel is the best course of action to continue."

Next Post:  http://social.biowar...65/215#10315762

Modifié par After5CST, 20 mars 2012 - 02:58 .

[corey_russell]

Picenon the level 4 fighter/level 5 thief adventure continues...

Picenon felt he was now ready for whatever he would find in the Nashkel Mines. He ventured into the mine, always under stealth unless he though traps might be nearby. A great number of kobolds never saw their killer..while hiding in shadows, Picenon would launch an arrow and when the kobold fell, immediately hide again. The surviving kobolds must have thought they were being killed by a ghost. Even Miner Bendarin survived (because he never got a chance to talk to Picenon and spawn his would-be kobold killers).

(side note: I used Grond0's suggestion in positioning oneself for de-trapping that first trap just before the last level entrance -- with only 35% trap skill that was enough to disarm it without taking damage. I almost always took damage here, no matter what trap skill my thief would have -- thanks Grond0 for pointing out this "bug" -- I assume it's a bug, but nice to have a work-around).

When encountering kobold commandos, Picenon used shots from the necklace of missiles. Must have been quite a sight for the kobols, fireball coming from seemingly nowhere.

Time for Mulahey himself. PIcenon buffed with the greenstone amulet switched to necklace of missiles. He hid in the shadows and ventured further to what was obviously the commander of the kobolds cave. He was unable to backstab Mulahey, no way to stand behind him. So instead Picenon just swung his +1 quarterstaff and connected.

Mulahey ran and called for reinforcements. Picenon fired another fireball and tried to hit Mulahey with arrows but kept missing. Mulahey charged with his hammer, Picenon switched to his staff. Picenon got a scare, he got hit with a spell just as his greenstone amulet buff wore off! He saved, but he wasted no time taking off his necklace of missiles and putting on the amulet and using its power. Then Picenon got another hit -- this caused Mulahey to run in fear. But Picenon was determined to not let him escape justice and got a critical hit.

Picenon foolishly brought his warhammer and shield with him down here -- he knew he didn't need it at all but he had them when he went to get the amulet in case he had to fight any ankhegs. So looting was unnecessarily dificult and some valuable things did have to be left behind -- he certainly wasn't going into this accursed mine again. He left the same way he came in.

After putting his equipment in his barrel he's claimed in Beregost, he came to the Carnival and rested. Time to report his success to the mayor of Nashkel. The mayor was pleased with his success. But at the Nashkel store, a suspicious figure, a caster of some sort, presumably a bard, quickly approached Picenon. Picenon smelled trouble and activated his greenstone amulet. Sure enough the bard admitted he was an assassin and started spell casting. Picenon ran into the store and hid in the shadows -- but the bard did not follow! His mistake! Picenon went outside, swung his staff and retreated into the store. The bard was quick to react, however and pumped Picenon with magic missiles. Picenon potioned to heal himself. This process repeated itself several times, the bard apparently suspecting a trap so never followed Picenon into the store. Finally Picenon had worn down all the mirror images -- this time his backstab finished the assassin for good (his biggest backstab of the game to date).

Picenon had the bards boots identified -- they help avoid missiles! Really now? Most of the time Picenon doesn't need that, but before he puts them in his barrel in Beregost, he had a good use for them. He remembered that mean looking group just south of Nashkel. He opened with an arrow on their leader named Sendai and missed. She followed and he retreated. Picenon tried to hide but failed. So he put on his Ankheg armor and meleed her with his new martial staff. Incredibly, neither Sendia nor PIcenon could hit each other -- but after a feal heal potions, Picenon did win the melee battle. He then crept to the east and south and opened fire on one of her archer buddies. But the archer's friend come and assisted? Hmm two archers vs one? Let's see who was the better archer -- yes it was Picenon.

After selling the loot, Picenon returned to this area and noticed what were clearly bandits waiting fur unsuspecting prey. He saw one of them with a ton of darts (Zal) -- he was one-shotted by Picenon's martial staff. His buddy was inferior to Picenon in melee. The bracers helped archery! Picenon was sure this was to come in handy in the near future.

But first, time to follow up on those letters found in Mulahey's chest. Picenon saw that the contact at Feldeposte's inn defintely appeared to be mage, another greenstone amulet charge, just in case. Picenon felt he should talk to the guy, he might have something important to say first before a fight -- and sure enough a fight it was. The mage put up a buff (armor) that made it hard for Picenon to hit him -- very quickly PIcenon was getting hit hard, not even heal potions were sufficient. PIcenon ran to Algernon's room and hid. The contact had no idea where Picenon was, so PIcenon took the opportunity to get himself to full health via bhaal power and potion. Picenon then hid in the shadows and got a hit in finally, but he still had to run to Algernon's room and hide and heal. He tried to backstab the mage one more but missed, but of course the mage's spells didn't miss Picenon. Algernon himself was blocking Picenon, so Picenon had to run to the contact's room and hid, but mage followed but couldn't detect Picenon. Picenon got out sight, healed, and got a backstab in. The mage begged for mercy, but Picenon was certain this guy had murdered many to get such as lucrative job with bandits, and refused. The mage tried to escape and was killed by Picenon's hardest hit ever.


PIcenon went to Thalantyr to ID and sell the contact's loot. Picenon then bought some mirror eye potions. Not because he was going to fight in Basisk country, but Picenon knew that basilisks sometimes surprise travelers headed east, and Picenon had to be ready for that -- he didn't have any buddies who could him back to flesh if he neglected to be prepared.

Picenon heard rumors of treasure at firewine bridge ruins, so he headed there. Here me met the "greatest swordsman" on the Sword Coast. But there's something someone should have told him - a sword is NOT superior to arrows if the archer is abe to keep his distance and shoot, which Picenon was able to do thanks to a rock formation. Probably thansk to his bracers of archery, Picenon only missed Meilum once.


Picenon found some bracers on this "greatest swordsman". When he got it IDed, it helps melee damage considerably! Picenon will definitely keep, some ambushes force melee combat so this will be quite useful. Picenon is mulling his options...his short term goals are to recharge both amulets he has, but that will take some time yet.

EDIT:
Picenon ventured to the valley of the tombs area. He saw some assassins, but they were helpless against him. He was hidden, so he backed off, fired a shot from his necklace of missiles, hid, repeat -- this left only a single survivor. While still hidden, he fired a single arrow at the assassin -- they didn't even get a single spell or shot off, they didn't even see what hit them! Fun to be a thief sometimes...

Revenant was defeated by attacking/running out the door/hiding/going inside and repeating until he was dead. I'm vanilla BG 1, so he can't follow.

The crazy mage died to 2 arrows. His jellies were another matter. Picenon was taking crazy damage to them. He did kill one, but was slowed, so he ran to a rock formation and hid and healed himself. He then got a 30 pt backstab on the jelly. But this jelly was mad his owner died I guess and nearly killed Picenon (he got down to about 1/7 life)-- Picenon had no choice but to use an invisibility potion. He had no hope of escaping by foot being slowed. He then moved to the other side of a rock formation, used ALL his remaining heal potions (which even so still didn't get him to full health), and hid and waited until the slow wore off. The safe thing to do I guess is leave it alone, but it's the principle of the thing -- if I have to spend all these resources, then I want what reward I can get (experience) -- fortunately, the next backstab killed it. A little too close there.

At least he got a thief level off all this non-sense, making his level 5 fighter/6 thief.

Modifié par corey_russell, 19 mars 2012 - 06:28 .

[ussnorway]

I personally like scimitars in bg1;
+5 = kill Drizzt with 5 traps,
+ 3 = pickpocket Drizzt… for those people that have a morale objection to killing the elf,
+2 = roof of Durlag's Tower… you have to sneak past some undead/ basilisks and disarm two traps (fire & stone).

The “shortsword of the Mask” is fast (excellent for dual-wielding in the late game) & the stun effect allows no save but I agree that staffs have a larger first-hit damage incumbent… each to their own.

[corey_russell]

In my game sword of mask is entangle not stun.

[AnonymousHero]

Grond0 wrote...
It's not SCS itself, but the BG2 Fixpack does correct the vanilla behaviour of dispel magic. 

AFAIUI it's actually TobEx (which comes along with SCS these days). The dispel behavior is a code bug, but TobEx is able to fix it.

[ussnorway]

corey_russell wrote...

In my game sword of mask is entangle not stun.

Yes, sorry (figure of speech)... for clarification; the ‘Entangle’ effect stops all movement and increases (worse) armour by 2 points.

p.s. FYI the effect can stack with itself.

Modifié par ussnorway, 19 mars 2012 - 06:40 .