16404 réponses à ce sujet

[Gorthaur X]

Also: in my game at least, the Fairy Dragon turned out to have some undocumented (in TuTu, at least) resistances. I just played around a bit with one of Oberon's old saves, and found that it's completely immune to fire and electricity. I had suspected something like this based on some of my in-game experiences, but obviously I didn't want to start blasting the little guy with various wands while I was still playing no-reload.

Now, on the other hand: ice and magic damage kill him just fine, but fireballs and lightning bolts just tickle.

[Wierdo]

I'm beginning to see that all the familiars can be useful extra party members, although the strategies would be different for each familiar and each party. Ideally, your mage would also learn the 2nd level Invisibility spell, which lasts 24 hours, and make the little fella a bit less targetable.

Admittedly, the rabbit is possibly a bit less useful than some, but keeping it invisible and checking for traps constantly can help in some situations. It has some stealth ability as well.

Pseudo Dragons are good to have in a fight, because they have a poison attack and a relatively low AC. They would be especially useful for a solo mage character at low levels, giving a bit of melee backup as well as extra HP.

Fairy Dragons are good for invisibility, but pretty useless in melee as they have no special attack and a poor armour class.

Ferrets have a handy pickpocket ability, which can save the need for that skill in a thief. They also have some stealth ability.

Cats have amazing stealth ability, which could save the need for that in a thief.

Imps can polymorph self, as per the spell, which would be useful in helping low-level solo mages in combat as well (e.g. mustard jelly can only be hit by magic weapons).

Dust Mephits can reveal invisible opponents, leaving your mage free to cast an offensive spell at them. Do Dust Mephits also have a special attack (e.g. like Blindness)?

And Quasits can cast a good offensive spell (Horror). This sounds minor, but could be very useful as frees your mage to do something else or something complementary to the horror (e.g. Greater Malison or another area-effect spell).

Modifié par Wierdo, 04 mars 2011 - 08:50 .

[Wierdo]

Grond0 wrote...
All the familiars are terribly vulnerable in battle - area of effect magic will kill them in no time, although this is somewhat less common in BG1 than BG2.

Yes, and for this reason it is good to keep your familiar hidden and a little bit away from the party! Or even better, in one's pack when it is not doing anything useful.

Modifié par Wierdo, 04 mars 2011 - 09:18 .

[Wierdo]

Gorthaur X wrote...

Also: in my game at least, the Fairy Dragon turned out to have some undocumented (in TuTu, at least) resistances. I just played around a bit with one of Oberon's old saves, and found that it's completely immune to fire and electricity. I had suspected something like this based on some of my in-game experiences, but obviously I didn't want to start blasting the little guy with various wands while I was still playing no-reload.

Now, on the other hand: ice and magic damage kill him just fine, but fireballs and lightning bolts just tickle.

That's useful to know! I wonder if other familiars have similar hidden traits.

[Grond0]

I was just about to finish a post when it rather annoyingly disappeared on me.  Here's a slightly briefer summary of Bene's adventures to date.

After Candlekeep avoided the ambushes lying in wait on the way to the Friendly Arm by going to High Hedge and then Beregost.  Some easy XP there gave her level 2.  In pursuit of the slime quest attempted to take on Karlat, but he was moving a bit too rapidly.  After a detour came back and took him on again.  Using the deceptively sized pillars for cover it was fairly easy to shoot at him without reply.  With Karlat out of the way Bene obtained a potion - the results were very pleasing for a chaotic neutral character.  That also gave her level 3.

On the road south eliminated some mercenaries cluttering up the landscape and staggered back to Beregost to sell their armour.  Having cleared the road (and obtained a ring from Lord Foreshadow) Bene proceeded by way of Nashkel to the mines area.  Greywolf did not have a speed potion and was thus easy meat (didn't need to kill Montaron for his potion after all - oh well, I'm sure he'll bounce back).  Prism's last words also gave Bene level 4 and the ability to travel around in safety.

After a detour to High Hedge to acquire a ****-cat (whose detect traps can't even see the opening trap in the mines and hence has stayed safe in the pack) she finally got to the Friendly Arm.  Surprisingly Tarnesh was vulnerable to sleep.  Then did a quick tour of some hot XP spots - the vampiric wolves at the temple fell to magic missiles, but the revenant survived the barrage; Bene went invisible to make use of her newly acquired magic dagger and a second back-stab finally finished it off.

The only bad moment of the session came in the mines.  Bene tried to finish off the kobold shaman with a cone of cold, but he saved and rapidly slowed Bene.  She only just got her invisibility back up before the kobold hordes arrived.  By contrast the battle with Mulahey went exactly to plan.  Some dire wolves kept the elite kobolds busy, while a barrier of sleeping kobolds prevented the skeletons getting into the action.  Bene stayed near the exit ready to leave if Mulahey looked like getting a spell off, but all his attempts were ruined by magic missiles.  Tranzig also caused no problems and Bene is currently resting in Beregost wondering where to go next.

Modifié par Grond0, 04 mars 2011 - 05:02 .

[Cowboy_christo]

Ruelov Starsky continue is adventure.

After taking care of the assasin in beregost we found an antidote to cure the poor sap that got turned into an ooze but the real thing was too costly and we bought the cheaper version.  Luckily, the cheaper version, though at risk to fail, worked like charm.

We cleared the spider house but forgot to take picture. Garrick almost died(a blade with barely  no hp is so risky lol) but we prevailed. On our way back to get our reward we found more frigging gibberling and an ogresse.

After this little step back, we continue onward to nashkel.

On our way we were attacked by flaming fists who mistook us for brigand.

We arrived at nashkel, death followed us once again. Some dude died at the river saying he was so "thirsty". Followed by another assasin at the inn. What a  frigging surprise. Sleeping outside seem safer. We made quick work of her with a command spell by finch who made this trivial.

We went to see the mayor who said to get to the mine ASAP but Garrick insisted we go to the carnival. We fought the exploding ogre who died way too fast to Kivan(racial enemy ogre rofl)  followed by being pickpocked, laughed at and bumped at by elderly(atleast he dropped a book in his hurry).

First real encounter. Zordral the mage opened with a mirror image followed by a sleep spell taking out finch garrick and imoen.  He then used up glitterdust and blinded Ruelov and Starsky. Followed by a slow spell. Even blinded the two of them were aiming their attack amsterfully and managed to take him down.

MOAR FRIGGING KOBOLD!!!!

[Bhryaen]

Andrizztyl, DAY 19ish: INTERMISSION...
Around a campfire somewhere in the hills to the west of High Hedge...

Andrizztyl: "So let me get this straight... You can't really hide worth a dang."
Dragon: "Check."
Andrizztyl: "Well, unless you hide in my backpack."
Dragon: "Which isn't so safe either if you get turned into stone."
Gavin: "Good point."
Andrizztyl: "If I get turned into stone, he's done for anyway, even if he's out of the pack scrambling around after pretty much anything with eyes sees him."
Gavin: "Hmm, not a bad point either."
Imoen: "You're not getting turned into stone, Bufflehead."
Kivan: "You're not planning on it, are you?"
Andrizztyl: "Hey, Rabbit suggested it."
Dragon: "Dragon."
Andrizztyl: *tosses a stick in the fire* "You can call yourself a dragon, but you're not a dragon. Face it."
Dragon: "Rawr."
Andrizztyl: *sighs exasperatedly*
Kivan: "Good try, Dragon."
Andrizztyl: "You too? I thought you could tell a 'woodland familiar' from a... well, a useful one."
Dragon: "What did you want me to say? Crunch-crunch? Rabbits don't say anything."
Andrizztyl: "If only that were so."
Imoen: "You could say, Hoppity Hop!"
Andrizztyl: "He's not saying 'hoppity hop.'"
Dragon: *simultaneously* "I'm not saying 'hoppity hop.'"
Kivan: "A rabbit has other skills gleaned from its perspective in the wild."
Dragon: "Yeah!"
Andrizztyl: "Like checking for traps? Maybe he should be a gnome's familiar instead."
Dragon: "I can do that."
Andrizztyl: "No, *I* can do that."
Dragon: "So can I."
Andrizztyl: "And when you trip it because your oh-so-keen rabbit eyes-"
Dragon: "Dragon eyes."
Andrizztyl: *ahem* "Rabbit eyes miss it... and a series of arrows shoot you..."
Dragon: "I'm pretty dodgy. They'll miss me."
Andrizztyl: "They'll hit."
Dragon: "But if it's a blast of fire, or something, woh, I can just zip right out of it."
Andrizztyl: "They'll hit."
Melicamp: "Yeah, I wouldn't *cluck* do the trap thing if I *cluck* were you."
Imoen: "Dragons can breathe fire. He'll be fine."
Andrizztyl: "Right, well, that's logical."
Kivan: "Only some dragons breathe fire... common myth..."
Imoen: "Oh, yeah."
Gavin: "You should let Dragon do something though. He just wants to help."
Andrizztyl: "Should I? Do you know what happens to me when Mr. Helpful gets carved into lucky rabbit feet?"
Kivan: "Another common myth... rabbit feet and luck, I mean..."
Dragon: "No, it isn't."
Kivan & Andrizztyl: "Oh?"
Dragon: "Uh... no, in fact..."
Imoen: "See, I told you!"
Andrizztyl: "Care to elaborate?"
Dragon: "Uh, right... well, I have other powers, see..."
Andrizztyl: "Waiting..."
Dragon: "Oh, come on. They're *secret* powers. I can't tell you... yet..."
Andrizztyl: "Ah... that kind of powers..."
Dragon: "You just have to let me out of the backpack so I can show you..."
Andrizztyl: "Nice try... Just keep my inventory company, polish my buckler or something. You can consider yourself a cat rather than a dragon because not only do you only hide as well as a cat when you're in there, you're also simply *not* going to be let out of the bag..."

Later when Andrizztyl is attempting to meditate and rest...

Dragon: "Wait! I just heard something with my extrasensory hearing powers! An ogre is coming this way!"
Andrizztyl: "Not buying it... Rabbit."
Dragon: "Fine... Bufflehead..."
Imoen: *chuckes*
Andrizztyl: *exasperated sigh* "I'm going to have another one of those dreams telling me 'You will learn' again, aren't I?"

Modifié par Bhryaen, 06 mars 2011 - 01:48 .

[SpiffyKeen]

Hey everyone.  I am new to these forums, but I am a long-time fan of Baldur's Gate.  I found the No Reload Challenge on the old BioWare forums when I was looking for BG2 tips, and I thought it would be fun to try the challenge. 

So I set up BGtutu with the BG1 NPC mod and I installed the containers option for the BGtutu Tweak Pack.  After
finding BGtutu, it is so hard to go back to the low resolution version of BG with all that slow walking and no containers. 

-----

I started a Half-Elf Cleric/Mage and was pleasantly surprised to get nice abilities without too much time spent rolling. 



The plan is to make Vardamir a versatile magic user, and keep him off the front lines (also, lots of running away at low levels).  In addition, I edited the game to make him look like a Human Cleric.  He just looks more durable that way!  



Starting off in Candlekeep, Vardamir rested right away to memorize Find Familiar and Command.  He said goodbye to everyone, but not before being attacked twice.  Both would-be assassins were rather susceptible to Command and were dealt with easily.   He also talked to Firebead a bit. 

After Gorion was killed, Vardamir ran to stay away from that annoying Imoen.  He went back to the scene using Sanctuary and collected what he could, including a mysterious note.  Then he headed south on his way to Beregost.  He did have to run from bandits once, luckily taking no damage. 

In Beregost, Vardamir visited Firebead.  He was again interesting for conversation, but would not provide any really answers to questions.  Vardamir was already tired when he entered Fieldpost's Inn and received a less-than-warm welcome.  He decided to memorize friends, rested, and then approached the locals again to smooth things out.  He found the book Firebead wanted and then bought a +1 sling at the smithy. 

At the temple, Vardamir learned a bit about the Ulcaster ruins, Thalantyr, and Bassilus.  (The temple really is lovely to look at both inside and out.)  He also learned that novice mages should not try to engage wild dogs or wolves by themselves.  End result: Vardamir ran back to Beregost like a sissy girl! 

Talking to people in town, he learned about Mirianne's husband, the iron crisis, the possibility of a magical gate in the Ulcaster ruins, and even that Thalantyr should be willing to buy from and sell to adventurers.  Upon entering the Red Sheaf, he found himself attacked by a certain warrior named Karlat.  After trying to get away up the stairs, almost getting killed, and having to use his two healing potions, Vardamir found himself pursued through town by 2 warriors...



After running into dangers south of town, Vardamir decided to head north to the Friendly Arm for safety reasons.  Upon entering the grounds, the guards assured Vardamir that the Inn is "neutral ground," what ever that means.  Of course, there was more danger waiting.  Vardamir avoided the mage at the door with a quick casting of Sanctuary and then ran off to the Temple of Wisdom.  He sent his cat familiar to spy on the situation.  Eventually the mage was killed by the guards, and he grabbed the loot and left.  Next up, Baldur's Gate! 

On the way, he ran into a desperate farmer.  End result: Vardamir found the farmer's son and quite the treasure stash.  Gold, potions, scrolls, jewelry, magic armor, and even a wand!  Feeling for the proud farmer, he gave the farmer a small part of the spoils.  Level Up! 

Turns out Baldur's Gate was closed.  Ugh!  Back to Beregost.  He'll just have to stay away from the Red Sheaf.  Vardamir rested at Fieldpost's again (since it had proven to be safe), and sold much of the treasure. He also IDed the fire wand.  Passing the Red Sheaf with Sanctuary, he found that the Karlats had killed the woman just outside the tavern.  The loot was nice:  400 gold, +1 staff, and an expensive potion. 

Heading back to the Temple, Vardamir takes full advantage of the wand.  First, the wild dogs fell.  What a difference a wand makes!  (Before: run!  After: boom!)



Then, hobgoblins and wolves felt the burn.  Gaining confidence with a wand allowed the now more experienced magic man to hit Level 4 Cleric/Level 3 Mage!  He also cleared the forest area south of town with fire.  IDing and selling the rest of the loot at the smithy, Vardamir decided to take his nearly 5,000 gold to see if Thalantyr had something worth buying.  After sneaking past a bunch of skeletons as only a Cleric can, he discovered that Thalantyr was indeed the man to see for purchases of a magical nature.  He loaded up on level 2 mage scolls since he can memorize those now. 

So, at Level 4/3 and with half a fire wand, what's next?  Beregost and the surrounding areas have proven to be profitable enough.  Vardamir will probably continue to explore the surrounding area until getting board.  Beregost, or maybe just Fieldpost's, can be home base for a while.  At some point, though, Vardamir is going to have to join up with some warrior types. 

Modifié par SpiffyKeen, 05 mars 2011 - 05:57 .

[The Fred]

Cool. Good luck with the rest of the challenge.

The Adventures of Pallyn the Sorrowful
We headed west, towards the coast. We rescued a boy from some wargs and continued northwards, where we were beset by Sirenes. Normally I would pick them off with ranged weapons, interrupting their Improved Invisibility spells, but Jaheira's magical (read: overpowered) shield grants her immunity to their charms, so she went ahead and absorbed all their spells. Things got a little iffy when we met Sil, the leader of their clan. With two invisible allies, one of whom managed to hit Jaheira with an arrow of biting, it looked a bit risky. Luckily we won, and Jaheira gained a level for her trouble. She is now L5/6.

[Wierdo]

@SpiffyKeen: Welcome to the challenge.

@Andrizztyl: I think that Dragon will make an excellent bedroll-warmer!

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Durlag's Tower

Here is the party, standing for a happy snap just at the entrance/start of Durlag's Tower.



- Wierdo, CG female gnome illusionist/thief level 7/7, S 18 D 18 C 16 I 21 W 11 Ch 11, longsword, Shortbow, Single Weapon Style (* each), killed Shoal the Nereid, 56% kills/chapter, 32% kills by game.

- Annakin, CG male human Bereserker Level 8, S 18/69, D 18, C 19 I 18 W 13 Ch 10, longsword (***), Two-Weapon Style (***), killed Andris, 21% kills/chapter, 36% kills/game.

- Buddha, LN male human Monk Level 8, S 18 D 18 C 16 I 11 W 18 Ch 11, Darts, clubs, daggers, single weapon style (* each), Killed Davaeorn, 8% kills/chapter, 12% kills/game.

- Imoen, NG female human thief Level 9, short sword, katana, shortbow, single weapon style, killed Greater Basilisk, 4% kills/chapter, 9% kills/game.

- Kagain, LG male dwarf Fighter/cleric level 6/7, axe (****), Sword and shield style (**), killed winter wolf, 2% kills/chapter, 0% kills/game.

- Xan, LN elf sorcerer level 8, dagger, single-weapon style, killed otyugh, 6% kills/chapter, 6% kills/game.

The group is at around 130k experience.

Modifié par Wierdo, 10 avril 2011 - 07:00 .

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Durlag's Tower

Explored Durlag's Tower. Witnessed the Demon Knight's performance and Ike's death by fireball.

Found a Tome of Understanding! Wierdo understands a little more (+1 wisdom).

Pickpocketed Riggilo for a few gems and potions (inc Cloud Giant Strength), but didn't kill him.

Killed a ghost - Xan levelled up (Sorcerer LV 9)

We decided not to help Kirinhale to escape Durlag's Tower the way she'd like - instead we offered to free the evil succubus demon by destroying her mortal form. A good fight ensued with some magic and her going ethereal, but magic missiles and +3 weapons seemed to work well on her. 11000xp!

Outside, Wierdo's party found that dopplegangers die well when immolated (double-fireballed by Xan/Wierdo).


"Oh no! Suddenly I am all dead and crispy!"

A Scroll of Protection from Petrification gave Annakin 5 turns immunity to their gaze, so Wierdo just read the scroll and let him go first and do what he does best.


"Basilisk are useless without petrification."

Killed all the skeletons, battle horror & doom guard on the walls outside Durlag.


"Hai-ya!"

Yeslick went up a level as a fighter (fighter/cleric level 7/7).

Modifié par Wierdo, 10 avril 2011 - 06:59 .

[Wierdo]

This is quite interesting.

Resting on the top level of Durlag's Tower (the one where Kirinhale was), I noticed that there are some audible words in the background burble - something disturbing. So I turned up the volume, and then maxed the "ambient volume" in the sounds options.

What I heard was a man saying "children were killing shooting each other", in an educated North American accent.

What the heck????

Modifié par Wierdo, 06 mars 2011 - 12:02 .

[The Fred]

Huh, funny (and slightly creepy). Maybe someone was speaking when they recorded the ambient and it got in by mistake? ;-)

[Wierdo]

Yeah ... especially as there is no other living thing on that level at all!

I slightly revised my last post. What I actually heard was "... children were shooting each other ...". It then fades/trails off as though it is just part of the full sentence.

The is part of an audio loop that lasts in total around 15-20 seconds, before starting again.

For background 'amience' noise in some locations the game uses snippets of many conversations woven together and varying the volume/modulation or whatever. This makes a "rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb", or "hubbub" like many conversations in a crowd.

Modifié par Wierdo, 06 mars 2011 - 12:10 .

[Bhryaen]

Wierdo wrote...
What I heard was a man saying "children were shooting each other", in an educated North American accent.

It wasn't me, I swear! Actually it does correspond with the Durlag story fairly well- i.e., dopplegangers impersonating children. I think I read that part somewhere along the way to the bottom of the tower. Still, why it's being said in the background disjointedly that way at the top of the tower...

Andrizztyl, DAY 19: Making Melicamp's Dilemma Theirs
Having just added a temporary extra to their numbers, the Quattro++ decided that Melicamp's issue could wait and instead proceeded to flush out the local nasties before departing back to Thalantyr to help him. Melicamp could wait, after all. His condition wasn't exactly worsening... And, well, he had no choice really... and it was safer than traveling by chicken wing...

Melicamp: "We could always *cluck* come back here later, you know. *cluck* I mean, after my master reverses *cluck* this condition."
Andrizztyl: "True, true... but we're here already, you know? May as well not waste a trip."
Melicamp: "Yes, I suppose *cluck* so... But still... I mean *cluck* I'm sort of a chicken. *cluck* So it wouldn't be a total waste to *cluck* fix me."
Gavin: "You're right, of course. Maybe we shouldn't delay this chicken's-"
Melicamp: "Mage's! *cluck*"
Gavin: "Indeed, erm, mage's distress."
Andrizztyl: "Yeah... but you know how dangerous it is to travel... without invisibility..." *winces* "Don't want to come all the way out here just for that and then have to risk it all again."
Kivan: "I'm certainly willing to lend my bow to either cause."
Gavin: "Imoen? What do you think?"
Imoen: "I don't know. I just kinda want ta help the chicken-"
Melicamp: "*cluck* *cluck* Mage!"
Imoen: "Right, right. I mean, it's neat having a familiar in my backpack too, but I guess we should help him."
Gavin: "Yes, I think that's right."
Melicamp: "Very *cluck* sensitive of you... especially since I'm nobody's *cluck* familiar."
Andrizztyl: "Well, it's a draw then, so we stay."
Kivan: "Actually I didn't exactly say that I-"
Andrizztyl: "So let's just press on, shall we?" *hefts his bow and starts off*
Dragon: "Wait, I didn't vote."
Andrizztyl: *stops* "You don't get a vote. You're just a familiar, so you just count as my vote."
Imoen: "No, Dragon should get a vote. He's a person too."
Kivan: "I still don't know how you all know that it's a male..."
Dragon: "Dagnabbit, that's right! I demand a vote. Don't make me put you to sleep with my vicious bite!"
Kivan: "... Did someone check?"
Andrizztyl: "You're a rabbit. Your bite only scares gardeners."
Gavin: "Since we're undecided, we could just let Dragon have the deciding vote. That seems fair."
Melicamp: "And I don't *cluck* get a vote?"
Gavin: "Well, we are the ones trying to help you, so bear with us as we decide how..."
Andrizztyl: "It's 'Rabbit...' and no, it's not fair... but fine. Have it your way..."
Dragon: "Good... and Dragon votes... Which way did Andrizztyl vote? I vote to go back to help the chicken!"
Andrizztyl: "Figures..."
Melicamp: "*cluck!* Mage! I thought *you* of all... erm... talking animals... would understand..."
Dragon: "I'm a familiar, not an accident. I don't play by your rules..."
Melicamp: "Touche... *cluck*"
Andrizztyl: "And what if I were to let you out of the backpack for a while, little voting rabbit?"
Dragon: "Hmmm..."
Andrizztyl: "But you have to make this your final vote- no changing after this."
Dragon: "Well..."
Andrizztyl: "And I'll let you keep the name Dragon..."
Dragon: "*Sold* to the the dragon in the backpack! My vote changes to staying here for a while!"
Melicamp: "It would seem my plight is just a *cluck* bartering chip..."
Andrizztyl: "So it's decided. Let's go..." *starts off again*
Kivan: "As I was saying, my 'vote' wasn't really-"
Andrizztyl: "Bring that bow, Kivan! I think I spy some bandits ahead..."
Gavin: "You know that was manipulative, but I'm happy to see you've found a way to resolve your issues with Dragon."
Andrizztyl: "Yes, of course..."
Dragon: *ahem, ahem*
Gavin: "You wanted to say something, Dragon?"
Dragon: "Well?? Aren't you forgetting something?... Letting me out of here??"
Andrizztyl: "I didn't say *now*, did I?"
Dragon: "I want to change my vote again!"
Andrizztyl: "Too late..." *enters stealth*

And they got to business upon more wolves- dread and no- ghouls, and, as it would happen, more of the undead nuisance wildlife that populates the region like a plague. Surely an army must have died in some tortured, cursed way while crossing the reddened terrain to keep popping up as they did. A rather large group of them armed with heavy crossbows, however, appeared more of a nuisance than the Quattro++ was prepared to contend with, so they stayed away.

They also came upon a group of 4 bandits and then 3 colour-coded hobgoblins. When the bandits were slain, and the two poison-arrow archer hobgobs got tired of bringing Gavin back to half his health and subsequently fled with arrows also perforating their own bodies, the Quattro finished off one of the runners as well as the hasted yellow third hobgob, and then the rest of the group waited while Andrizztyl was allowed to risk a backstab on the final hobgob runner... whose colour then became default red...

At last a successful backstab outside Candlekeep, humble though it was...

Kivan: "Is he done yet?"
Gavin: "I don't know, let me check... gguh, yes, done... and a bit bloodier than slings and arrows..."
Imoen: "Yeah, or bolts. Outrageous."
Kivan: "But done, fortunately..."

Enthralled with his minor former victory over an already near-dead and still-fleeing hobgob, Andrizztyl happened upon a lone hobgoblin while scouting and deciding to try again... and succeeded again... but not with a lethal blow. The hobgob was an elite and took the blow in stride, responding by cutting Andrizztyl to the same health he had pre-familiar but forcing him to stay in melee to avoid getting hit with a poison arrow as well. Responding to the trapped drow's call, the rest of the party arrived only just in time to keep the elite of hobgoblinness from doing further damage.


Imoen: "What kind of buffleheaded idea was that?"
Gavin: "Did you not notice that was one of the ones that use poisoned arrows?"
Kivan: "What were you thinking?! This was neither the time nor place for heroics."
Andrizztyl: "Uh... Dragon put me up to it?"
Dragon: "No, I didn't!"

It began to rain for a short spell, and it was around then that Imoen decided to take out Tarnesh's spellbook to look over the (apparently waterproof) pages....

Andrizztyl: "Kinda, eh?..." *ahem* "Yes, well, those 1st level spells can be quite challenging..."
Imoen: "I can already cast 2nd level spells, Bufflehead, unlike you."
Andrizztyl: "Yeah, well-"
Imoen: "I'm just working out the intonation particulars of Mirror Image's reflected countenance reverberations..."
Andrizztyl: *blinks* "Oh... I see..."
Dragon: "I think that's getting *kinda* complicated for him..."

After dealing with some more nuisances, Gavin suddenly wished to determine Andrizztyl's bearings on the matter of their overall predicament... It was an inconclusive inquiry... They soon happened upon yet another group of nuisances, but these ones appeared to be holding a man hostage. In order to rescue the poor man they set up a strategy to distract the nuisances with Gavin's body while Kivan and Andrizztyl pelted with arrows and Imoen sang up with her encouraging words...

Imoen: "With a man in danger with fright to the bone, Gavin strode forward with good deed to be done,
But the bones were a nuisance to fight and to thwart, not quite the enemy faced in a xvart,
So Gavin did swing while the nuisances scattered, but his every attack could hardly have mattered,
For the bones don't stay still when presented with hammer, and instead back away in a chaotic clamour,
Yet the need for a savior impelled him straight on to the blades that were dulled with Gavin's plate on
And the man was then freed by Gavin's brave stand... but the man didn't bother to shake lended hand...?"

... It seemed the man was in no danger from the nuisances at all, and instead had all along been just standing there waiting to tell someone like Gavin that he couldn't stand around telling people things due to an urgent matter of message delivery. It was no small feat to dodge around the many skeletal arms waving short swords and tossing knives simply to convey to his would-be rescuer such a message of there being no time to convey a message while delivering such a message to convey that there was no time but to convey... erm... a message... something like that...

Having exhausted all his spiritual hammers, Gavin entreated the rest to a rest... to which all obliged since none were without fatigue (except the talking animals). Nuisances are best contended with when wielding a Spiritual Hammer, Gavin contended, and with him suffering most of the tanking duties with minor forays by Kivan's bastard sword, none disagreed... and, as seen the next morning as well, it puts on quite the spectacular fireworks display too when cracking empty skulls...

After that business was done, the Quattro++ at last readied to return to the pissant town wizard to see what he might do for Melicamp... but alas as they neared the edge of what would seem to have become the only accessible world left to them, they came to recognize that the world had become kinda complicated in the meantime. They were suddenly unable to see the path before them due to the predominance of large lines of unrelated text strewn across the world map...

At their last moment...

Andrizztyl:                 Imoen:                         Gavin:                         Kivan:
MAGE 2/ THF 3          BARD 4                           PRIESToLATH 4        ARCHER 3
STR 18, DEX 19        STR 12, DEX 18            STR 16, DEX 12         STR 18/12, DEX 19        
CON 16, INT 18         CON 16, INT 14            CON 16, INT 12          CON 11, INT 12        
WIS 10, CHA 8           WIS 11, CHA 17(19)      WIS 17, CHA 12         WIS 15, CHA 8
HP 30;  TK 76             HP 32; TK 66                 HP 42; TK 25              HP 30; TK 82              
Huge Spider               Neira                               Zargos Flintblade      Greywolf
Bow & arrows            Crossbow & bolts         Warhammer               Bow & arrows

[And thus ended that venture by another bug... I already knew not to try to reinstall only a portion of my modded game, but I hadn't recognized that a reinstalled game might also ERROR out save games... and thus I learn another bitter lesson... But after restarting a new game I'm resolving to reach the same area with the same cast of characters so that I may proceed with the story along similar grounds... That said, I've already made choices that have changed the path originally taken, so it's not really the same... Still, the parallel universe path being paved will make the same mistake of having a rabbit familiar and not involve any areas not explored by the original team... and will remain a no-reload attempt... Other errors that were made were really not duplicable. There is no way to recreate the energy and dynamic of a genuine oops.]

Andrizztyl, Day 1... again...: Wash, Rinse, Repeat
The course was similar, but this time Andrizztyl had already bought a crossbow from the elf-arse merchant for Imoen the Quick Bard, so they proceeded immediately to clear both the initial wilderness and crossroads before raiding Beregost as a team and completing the sidequests. Like other parallel Bhaalspawn they remain now in Beregost deciding how to proceed further. Andrizztyl has already gained level 1-2 while Imoen gained level 3...

One thing was really worth noting this time... Much more flagrantly than in the previous timestream, the citizens of Beregost clearly have some special relationship with the huge spiders in Landrin's house. I'm suspecting a conspiracy... This citizen walked right up to the spider, and it seemed they were exchanging some word of conspiratorial information... Not even this mysterious, well-armed dwarf by the fountain would budge to assist.


[Mostly this is just a pretty picture... ]

The Morninglords were again impassive...


Imoen: "What are you waiting for, Bufflehead! Help!"
Andrizztyl: "I am helping!"
Imoen: "Not you! Him!"
Morninglord: "What was that joke Marl was telling about adventurers?... Can't remember... ah, well..."

But in this instance they actually made their indifference painfully obvious to all...

Morninglord: "Excuse me, pardon me..."
Huge Spider: "No problem, guv'na. After you."
Morninglord: "And don't beat 'em up too bad, now."
Huge Spider: "Naw, just one poison bite will do."
*both laugh, Morninglord carries on with happy whistle*

Modifié par Bhryaen, 06 mars 2011 - 03:31 .

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Doppleganger Surprise - under Durlag's Tower

Wierdo levelled up as a thief (illusionist/thief level 7/8). She is now 100% in pickpocket, 95% move silently and 100% hide shadows. The other skills are pretty much at starting levels. The next skill she is working to improve is detect illusions.

Wierdo's band entered the second underground level of Durlag Tower (the one under the basement). Having been warned by previous adventurers that the place was full of hidden dangers, Wierdo and Imoen went double-team on scouting and finding traps. That is, Imoen checks for traps for a few seconds, then Wierdo 'stealths' forwards a little bit looking for enemies, then Imoen moves up and so on. Slow and methodical, but necessary to avoid instakills.


"Looks like more of those dopplegangers!"

More dopplegangers! Seems like a good time for another 'immolation'. Unfortunately, Wierdo did not look closely enough in the dark and underestimated these enemies, as they were in fact "greater dopplegangers" - more than your typical dopplegangers.

Annakin charged in invisibly followed by two fireballs from Wierdo & Xan. The fire worked but the strategy was only partially efffective, only taking the greater dopplegangers down to about 50% of hit points.

The dopplegangers then cast Horror and Mirror Image spells. The fear took Annakin and Xan, who started running around and frothing like a madmen. It was looking bad. To make it worse, they Dire Charmed Annakin (twice) as well.


"Uh-oh, why is Anni running away ... ?"

So Buddha drank a Potion of Magic Blocking and started trying to hit the dopplers. Yeslick cast Remove Fear (which got Xan back to reality). Wierdo and Imoen tried to shoot something. Annakin was still dire charmed.

Next round, two Dispel Magics (from Xan's spell and Wierdo using a scroll) into the room took away the dopplegangers' mirror images and Annakin's dire charm. The party made short work of
the remaining two monsters after that.


"Phew!" 

A lesson learned in not taking things for granted. And don't be afraid to use consumable magic items like scrolls & potions!

Modifié par Wierdo, 10 avril 2011 - 06:56 .

[Wierdo]

@Bhryaen: Maybe the locals like huge spiders because they keep down the local population of (huge) mosquitoes as well?

BTW, sorry to hear about your bug/restart issue. Gotten a new familiar yet?

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's party progressively cleared out Level 2 of Durlag's tower. Aside from dealing with some battle horrors and ghasts, mostly this involved Wierdo and Imoen double-teaming on traps & scouting. Look carefully at the image below-right: Wierdo was actually standing on top of the trap when Immie found it! Don't move that foot Wierdo!


"Wierdo, you bufflehead! Don't move a muscle!"

They sought Xan's help to fireball a band of zombies, and Wierdo took out a skeleton warrior all-by-herself by a combo of 3-4 backstabs and several arrows. Borrowed Annakin's Flame Tongue longsword for this one (+4 vs undead), but still couldn't get more than 20hp on a backstab.


"Won't this guy just die already!?"

Modifié par Wierdo, 06 mars 2011 - 04:45 .

[Bhryaen]

Wierdo wrote...
@Bhryaen: Maybe the locals like huge spiders because they keep down the local population of (huge) mosquitoes as well?

:happy:
Yes! That would explain why there haven't been any Huge Mosquitos in town! I was wondering about that...

BTW, sorry to hear about your bug/restart issue. Gotten a new familiar yet?

Thanks... Yeah... Not sure what I'm going to do about the familiar yet and won't until I get to that room at the FAI again to cast it. I was wedded to the rabbit for that char, but now that everything is changing... dunno yet... It'll have to be something that works integrally somehow with the alternate universe, and if that means I just let it be a rabbit again, so be it. I hadn't intended on starting over...

True about just going ahead and using the scroll too. I often hoard things like that and won't use it even though I could to save my life... Epitaph: "Died horribly... but had some nice stuff on him when he died..."

Modifié par Bhryaen, 06 mars 2011 - 05:04 .

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Journal Entry - Durlag's Tower

Wierdo: Imoen, I've got a bad feeling about this ...
Imoen: Yeah, those bodies are fresh ... and burnt!


"Well, I'm not going first either!"

Modifié par Wierdo, 10 avril 2011 - 06:51 .

[Wierdo]

Wierdo's Bhaalspawn Bretheren

Imoen takes a Fire-Bath

Well, it turns out that Imoen went first after all. But we gave her 127% fire resistance first, and she had Boots of Grounding as well. We boosted her Find Traps to 155% using two (differently stacking, therefore presumably different) Potions of Perception. Normally stacking of potion effects will not work on my install, but with two 'different' potions it did

There were four findable-and-removeable traps, and one unfindable fireball trap. Imoen had great fun setting it off endlessly. But after a while that got boring.


"Giggle! that tickles!"

Modifié par Wierdo, 10 avril 2011 - 06:50 .

[Grond0]

Bene continued her adventures by settling on the bandit camp and was soon recruited as a likely looking miscreant.  Rather than try to take the whole camp on at once (my normal tactic) Bene went straight into the tent for a refreshing cone, before a brisk retreat.  The guards which followed her out were soon dispatched by waiting ogres, which gave her a level.  Back inside the tent things were still looking quite crowded, so the intention was to drag a few more outside.  Unfortunately this time the camp seemed to have decided that there was something a teeny bit suspicious about their new recruit.

A rapid invisibility was followed by a retreat in order to reassess matters.  On returning to the area Bene was greeted by some new friends just to make things even more complicated.  Disdaining any need for treasure a couple of the attackers were dispatched using cone, run, invisibility, cone.  Then seeing a spell coming Bene dashed away - straight into the welcoming webs of some spiders.  Now where was that potion.  Deciding that she needed a more permanent ability for free action Bene travelled to Ulgoth's Beard.  A charmed gnome lit up the area with a selection of spells before taking on one ogre too many.

Not enough funds for the green amulet yet, so returned to the bandit camp and cleaned things up there without further ado.  Then went back to some old haunts at Nashkel - hang on a minute have I not dealt with him yet!  Lucky the soldiers were in position to do my dirty work.  Feeling a bit more flush Bene travelled back up towards Ulgoth's Beard, but stopped off on the way to find some more treasure.  Sleep being still effective on ankhegs it was easy to convert one to the righteous cause.  Bene used her new pet to help kill a few more ankhegs and gained a level in the process.

With the green amulet on board sirens were no longer a danger and it was time to raid the next treasure hoard.  With stoneskin available the golems should have been easy enough anyway, but their script seemed to be flawed and they just ignored Bene as she flailed away at them with her dagger.

Bene is currently clearing up areas to the south of Beregost - with protection against mind spells and webs on board things seem pretty straightforward at the moment (no - don't say that).

[Grond0]

Wierdo wrote...
There were four findable-and-removeable traps, and one unfindable fireball trap. Imoen had great fun setting it off endlessly. But after a while that got boring.

That trap is findable by spell and then easily removeble by a thief.  I tend to get rid of it, just to avoid the situation where I see a big fireball blooming and curse as I realise one of the party has somehow decided that corridor was the perfect short-cut.

[Wierdo]

Grond0 wrote...

Bene is currently clearing up areas to the south of Beregost - with protection against mind spells and webs on board things seem pretty straightforward at the moment (no - don't say that).

What from Ulgoth's Beard is giving you protection from web spells?