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[corey_russell]

Micro-update: Honlann the level 7 illusionist (inactive) > level 7 fighter continues his adventure...update 4
Traveling with: Joshua (Undead Hunter), Hanna (Berserker), Paja (cleric/thief)

The party has done most of the Baldur's Gate quests/battles that we are going to do, as we got the key level, level 7 for Honlann. Now it's main story line/upgrades/supplies frome here on out. The key battle was the Mountain Maulers, as Hanna badly needed another magical axe, as she kept breaking her non-magical ones, she must have been broken like 12 axes this game, maybe more. We didn't do a lot of prep, PfE on Joshua, resist fear, berserk, potion of magic protection on Honlann. Honlann concentrated fire on the casters with arrows of biting, the melees fought whoever they wanted, and Paja did hold persons and wand of heavens, plus she had a few skeletons helping us...success!

Feel pretty good about this run, though might die to PW:Kill in BG 2 guess we'll see.

[Grond0]

Best of luck Corey - sounds like an interesting character concept fpr Honlann.

[corey_russell]

Honlann Update:

Just a quick note. The party has defeated the 5th floor Iron Throne bad guys - well ok actually Hanna did. Tutu is so much easier than vanilla in some respects, as the pro magic scroll allows potions buffs AND healing potions to be used, but in vanilla no potions of any kind can be used when its active. See Hanna's buffs.


Party is working their way through Candlekeep library at the moment.

[corey_russell]

FINAL Honlann Update:

In the Candlekeep crypts I made a big mistake, and I think it cost me the game. I noticed Hanna's petrification saves was 0 so I had her attack a basilisk, but she got petrified and chunked! I then noticed it said "save vs. death" - Doh!

The reason I said it cost me the game was at the Duchal Palace, I only had one tank instead of two like I would have had, and with Hanna's help they would have been mowed down quickly - however, without her, we were a tad too slow, and the final doppleganger left slew the last duke, and the automatic death of my character then ensued.

Back to the drawing board.

[Serg BlackStrider]

Sorry to hear that, Corey...

[Grond0]

Hard luck Corey - sounds like you were one of the many victims of the idiosyncratic way the game allocates saving throws.

[Grond0]

Tael - wild mage

To encourage me to take Alesia's advice and swear off the Rod of Terror I thought I would randomly generate a character.  I was looking for one that had reasonable charisma and this wild mage popped up - let's see how far he can get.

So far he's just finished Candlekeep and headed for the coast.  To reduce the time killing Shoal would take he blinded her before slinging her to death.  Initially I felt disappointed with the additional 6 HPs for the 2 levels there, before realising I'm used to having constitution bonuses and that was actually a good roll!

[corey_russell]

@Grond0 - thanks for the consolation. Its been a while since I had a BG 1 run, and I forgot a key step I normally do, but forgot to do this time - namely, I turn off the AI and have the entire party focus on the same doppleganger to kill them quickly - I was doing that for Honlann and Paja but not Joshua, I was letting him attack whomever. Just this one tactical change should have been enough for success, considering even as it was, only a single enemy was alive at the end, not counting Sarevok.

My next run is going to be a solo bard in vanilla BG 1. I get solo fighter types through BG 1 down to a science almost, and mage types not at all, so I thought I would comprise and try a Bard, who can do a little of both. He can also pick-pocket the free action ring of Dushai, and that could be helpful.

In any case, goodk luck with your wild mage.

Modifié par corey_russell, 20 mars 2013 - 07:06 .

[Grond0]

Tael didn't make it I'm afraid, though he was rather harshly treated by Tarnesh.


Initially the familiar attacked Tarnesh and made him run away into the inn.  Tael followed and, when Tarnesh started casting horror ran outside again - which caused Tarnesh to duplicate himself.  As if that wasn't enough of a problem another horror spell cast outside followed Tael inside the inn and scared the familiar.  That meant Tael couldn't run away any more and, while magic missiles from 1 Tarnesh would have been no problem, those from 2 were.

[Grond0]

Tiamat - wild mage

Another wild mage, though this one is not exactly random!  To give myself a bit of extra incentive to look after him I took the trouble to crop out a new portrait.

He's off to a good start.  At Candlekeep he adopted Chrome - a surprisingly cuddly little quasit - as well as blinding and killing Firebead - level 2.

After Sarevok's ambush blinded / slept Montaron while Chrome dealt with Xzar.  Then down to High Hedge where Tiamat successfully learnt invisibility, before getting in touch with his feminine side. 

Over to the coast where Shoal was blinded and slung - level 3.  Now travelling invisibly Tiamat went south to kill some worgs for Ardrouine and steal some treasure from under a golem's nose.

He rescued Melicamp then obtained a skull for him - that got him level 4 (and a free chicken dinner).  He came close to death trying to go invisible to travel to Beregost.  Once there he talked to Marl, gave Firebead a book (before he realised he was dead), slept some spiders, killed Karlat, returned Perdue's sword & blinded Silke.

Going south a bit he saved Hulrik's cow and then routed a band of half-ogres.  Reporting to Bjornin got Tiamat's reputation to 10, so he can now feel free to travel to Nashkel (I wanted her to get healing as a Bhaal power).  While in Beregost also returned a letter to Mirianne and, after buying a Friends scroll at High Hedge, some boots to Zhurlong.

South again and Sendai and her crew were blinded and killed.  Vax was intended to go the same way, but pulled a disappearing act.  I thought he would reappear after talking to Tiamat, but he didn't - so Tiamat rapidly left the area and came back to finish him off the next day (when he had become visible again) - level 5.

[corey_russell]

@Grond0 - good luck with your new entrant - but I don' t understand something, if Tarnesh duplicated himself, isn't that a bug? And can't you reload until you get a fight with him that doesn't result in a bug? Surely duplicates of enemies is a bug and not by design...

[corey_russell]

 Coresong the Half-Elf Bard entering Trilogy no reload challenge (Solo)...

Coresong, Level 3 Half-Elf Bard NG
Stats: STR 18 DEX 18 CON 16 INT 18 WIS 3 CHA 17
Portrait: Usual picture of myself with my sword

Setup:
Vanilla BG 1
Tales of the Sword Coast Expansion
Official TotSC patch
no mods
Core Rules at all times

Adventure to Date:
Gorion says I need to get ready for a trip, without being very specific. So I got 2 battle axes, in case one broke, about 20 throwing axes, a buckler, chain mail, arrows and a short bow. I wanted a long bow but just didn't have the money.

I did a few chores around Candlekeep but then got attacked by Shank. Despite my AC 0, I got hit twice by the guy it was scary, but I did finally finish him. Another assassin named Carbos tried to finish me off too, but he managed to get a hit on me too. Either I need to improve my fighting skills or need better equipment...in any case, I told Gorion I was ready and our adventure began!

Well we didn't get very far, some mean looking bad guys ambushed us just outside of Candlekeep. Gorion ordered me to run, and I knew my throwing axes weren't going to be of much use for this fight so I did as he asked. From a distance I saw my father cut down, poor Dad! So I hid until morning to be sure the assassins couldn't find me, can't let Gorion's sacrifice be in vain.

When I got to road, I met someone I knew - Imoen! I need supplies, so I let her get close for a few moments, while I borrowed her magic missile wand, haste potion and heal potions...but really I don't need her baggage, or her pick-pocket competition, so I let her go - she was surprised at that. Met some shady characters on the road, I let them give me a heal potion then sent them off too, don't need unreliable allies.

I collected the loot from Gorion's battle, and proceeded East. I thought I saw a glint on a rock and moved toward it, but attacked by a gibberling. I killed it with my battle axe, but it hurt me bad I had to use a heal potion. In the rock crevice I found...oh a protection ring! I put this on it might help some..I moved east some more, a gibberling and xvart, but this time I threw my throwing axes first before using my battle axe, and those fights worked out better.

I then encountered a mean-looking ogre, and noticed what looked like two magical belts on them, they might be worth money or might offer protection, either way I think I need to relieve him of them somehow. He started hostile, so couldn't pick-pocket them. I tried running in circles, with the idea of throwing an axe now and then, but I was too slow! I had to use Imoen's haste potion, I hope I don't regret this...well as it turned out, I suck, most of my axes missed the ogre, now I had to use magic missile wand too, then an xvart joined the party, just what I needed (not...), after a lot of work, both enemies fell. One belt looks suspicious somehow, the other seems to help against missile weapons, think I will put that one, hmm that's a bit better. 

Since the haste potion was still active, I took out a few more enemies in the area but at a bad time my haste potion ran out and a gibberling got a huge hit on me (25% health left), that was scary, when I killed it I ran for Beregost as fast as my legs would carry me...a kobold with a bow spotted me, but it was too slow and I managed to run to safety.

In Beregost, I calmed a man named Marl, and now I can cast a spell, too bad I only know armor, not much help at the moment. The travails to get this point clearly indicate I need something "more" to turn the battles in my favor, but what? I'm broke and can't afford that nice battle axe that Feldepost has. For lack of better to do I went upstairs and noticed a fat guy with a magical cloak, sure he doesn't need? Yes pick pocket a success! Hmm, this cloak can target enemies? Will try it out next battle.

After a rest and headed south - great, ogrillions! Well let's try this cloak, I haven't identified it but it's letting me use its ability whatever it is...oh, it charmed the ogrillion! Great, let's move this meatshield and see if it can help me kill something...ah another ogrillion, sic him! With my bow, we got him! Hmmm, this charm will eventually wear off, okay better kill my pet...sheesh, I missed alot but did get him...on the bodies was a letter for Merianne...Merianne of Beregost? Let's head back.

Yes, it was the same Merianne and she gave me a magical ring. I sold it, since can't equip it and bought some antidotes and heal potions and got rid of my throwing axes and short bow and bought a long bow and some +1 arrows and continued my way south...

Met a rather large group of hobgoblins but with my long bow and cloak, they weren't any trouble. I finally made it to Nashkel and found an Ankheg armor piece - I can't use it though, so sold it. I then tried to rest in the inn, but met an assassin. Out of desparation, I charmed a local and had them attack the assassin, but the assassin ignored the local and tried casting spells..I ran outside..then ran in and shot a +1 arrow (and missed), repeated a few times, sometimes she hit me and I had to potion. Eventually she held the citizen, and then she used a magical hammer, I still had a heck of time hitting her with anything, I used up my magic missile wand on her, but she was still kicking. I did try my cloak on her, but she appears to be immune, it didn't work.  Eventually I ran deeper into the inn, she followed, ran past her again, and finally she started attacking the citizen with her fist (her magial hammer had dissipated by this point). I then proceeded to unload arrow, after arrow, after arrow..I'm not sure how many I fired but it was more than 40, including all the magical arrows I had...finally she falls. I looted her stuff and got out the inn, eventually the charm will wear off the citizen and when it does he won't like me I think.

I looked up at the great expanse of sky, and considered my next move - who wants me dead? Should I go after them? I need better equipment to survive, where can I get? Why did Gorion have to die? I thought about all these things...

< Adventure to be continued...>

Modifié par corey_russell, 20 mars 2013 - 04:31 .

[Grond0]

corey_russell wrote...

@Grond0 - good luck with your new entrant - but I don't understand something, if Tarnesh duplicated himself, isn't that a bug? And can't you reload until you get a fight with him that doesn't result in a bug? Surely duplicates of enemies is a bug and not by design...

You could certainly argue that, but I tend to treat bugs as part of the game except where they actually make it unplayable.  The duplication bug is not that uncommon and normally it would cause no problem.  It was the combination with the horror spell crossing an area transition (which is more uncommon though hardly unknown) that proved fatal.

[corey_russell]

Coresong the Solo level 6 Half-Elf Bard continues his adventure - Update 2

When we last heard of Coresong, he had just defended himself from Neira through a grueling fight. He realizes before he can possibly take the fight to the enemy, he must improve both his damage dealing and especially defense. Some locals gave some news that Ulgoth's Beard may have items that can do just that, but for considerable price. Therefore, he decides he should so something to increase his hitting rate, and then do whatever he can to raise his reputation, which would then make his gold last when he go to Ulgoth's Beard.

Coresong has about 3400 gold this moment - he decides to pay a visit to the mage in High Hedge, perhaps he has something that can help Coresong's defense or attack. When Coresong gets there, he buys wand of sleep, invisibility, blindness, and resist fear. He has only 2 level 1 spells at the moment, so memorized blindness x2 for now. He killed some gnolls with the help of his cloak, and found a sword with a name - Perdue - Perdue of Beregost? Hmm...he heads to Beregost, gives the sword to Perdue and now Coresong has a level 2 spell - he promptly memorizes invisibility.

With the wand of sleep, he was then able to deal with the spider infestation in a local house. He wasn't sure he wanted to go to the owner yet, so put the spider's body in a chest in that house, and left wine and boots in there as well.

Coresong takes a skull he was keeping (who knows? May be useful...) from his barrel in Beregost and goes to the Bassilus area - encounters a wolf, which Coresong charms, then sends it up ahead. Coresong encounters another wolf, so the wolves fight each other - this worked well, as the enemy wolf killed Coresong's pet, but then Coresong's next arrow found its mark and killed the hostile wolf. A talking chicken was nearby, claiming to be a mage and more than that, Thalantyr's apprentice. Perhaps this will raise Coresong's reputation, Coresong goes to Thalantyr's Mansion, has a little talk, Thalantyr uses the skull Coresong was hoarding, and yes Melicamp was restored! Reputation goes up, okay, good, good. Reputation only 13 at the moment, need to make it a bit better still.

Coresong paid a visit to a gibberling area, east of Nashkel Mines. His visit was very brief, picked up some gems and a fire resistance ring in a rock face, a free protection from magic from a gnome, and found a sick man who needed to be taken to the Friendly Arm Inn - surely this will raise Coresong's reputation!

Coresong gets to the edge of the area, and notices he hasn't been to FAI yet - hmm best he can do is area just north of Beregost, but he stops in Beregost first to pick up the stuff in Landarin's house  - gets ambushed by a large number of war dogs and wolves - Coresong says no way, and manages to outrun them. Only a few weak enemies stood in his way and finally he was at the FAI, though tired. He finds a ring, though he can't use it, whatever it does, so he decides to sell it, for a cool 9000 gold. But first, he encountered an assassin. Coresong intended to try a blind, and if that didn't work, invisibility, run away to let the guards assist, then attack from a distance. It was unnecessary though, as the assassin was successfully blinded -- Coresong moved away, peppered Tarnesh with arrows, and that was that.

Inside the Inn, Landarin was very pleased to get her things, which gave Coresong another level. At the Inn, there was a lady named Joia who said some nearby hobgoblins took her ring. Coresong agreed to retrieve to do so, which wa a rather simple matter with his cloak and bow. This raised his reputation once more.

Coresong wasn't sure where to go next, so on a hunch he headed to the area just south of Nashkel, after resting at the carnival, since he can't rest at the Nashkel Inn. He helped a "kid" find his dog, then charmed an xvart and headed south a little bit...ah two bandits spotted! Coresong's cloak came in handy once more, and charmed the melee bandit and he had the bandits fight each other, with the xvart helping. The melee bandit was pretty tough though, as he killed Vax and the xvart and still had plenty of fight left. Coresong had to finish the job, some arrows, charm, then moved the bandit at maximum arrow range, then peppered him with arrows some more - succcess! Coresong found an extremely useful bracer on the bandit, making Coresong a better archer - he duly equipped it.

He had a bad feeling about the area, then headed west. He charmed a gnoll and met Krumm and his brother. These guys were tough, when it was down to one enemy, Coresong would charm (which failed a few times), run, charm once more, and if successful, send the brother to maximum arrow range, pepper with arrows which made him hostile and repeat - success! The nymph who Coresong did this for said she would say good things about Coresong...good, good. Coresong found a dead cat, and returned it to its an owner a little girl. The girl gave Coresong an protection from undead scroll.

Coresong then had a great idea, he thought. He's heard from some commoners about some crypts east of the Carnival - with this scroll he could loot all the tombs before the scroll expired, and wouldn't have to worry about being held, which he still has no defence to.

So he puts his plan to action - yes, he looted al three tombs with the protection from undead scroll, which lasted until Coresong was just about to leave the area! Perfect. Two important things were found, a magical chain mail and a wand of monster summoning! This could prove vital Coresong reasoned...

After going to his base, selling, it was time to put the wand to use - he decided to stop by the gnoll fortress first. As it turned out, Coresong didn't need to use the wand, as the cloak and blindness were more than enough to deal with some ogres, who had a rare gauntlet that Coresong didn't need, but would probably fetch a great price (which it did 3500 gold). Via his cloak and bow, Coresong investigated the area further, finding some heal potions and a magical tome, which makes Coresong very persuavie (CHA 18).

Coresong's reputation is almost good enough to do his shoppig spree, need one more good deed. Coresong did this by returning the mad Commander Brage to the Temple of Nashkel. It was time to get his items from Ulgoth's Beard, but first he stopped by the merchant at Durlag's Tower, to get a thieving potion (might be something to pick-pocket in Ulgoth's Beard) and also a wand of fire - which incidentally didn't last long, didn't have many charges it seems and it poofed after only a few uses.


In order to actually get to Ulgoth's Beard, Coresong had to travel to an Ankheg infested area - on the way there though, got the WORST ambush possible - 12 bandit archers and 4 gibberlings. Coresong reacted quickly, monster summoning on one side to force some archers to melee, and then ran out of the area. He almost got hemmed in by gibberlings and was 1/3 life, but he used a heal potion and managed to escape.. Once Coresong got to the Ankheg area, he knew that due to their powerful bite and acid spit, he was outmatched, if even one got a critical hit on Coresong, it could one-shot Coresong, and then Coresong couldn't avenge Gorion. So Coresong went invisible via spell and made it to Wyrm's Crossing. For some reason Coresong lost his invisibility, but he was almost there, but uh, oh an ankheg! Monster summoning time! Coresong got a bunch of almost useless hobgoblin archers, who were duly killed extremely fast by the ankheg - Coresong did 2x magic missile and a few magical arrows and managed to kill the ankheg before it killed the last hobgoblin.

In Ulgoth's Beard, Coresong got a cloak of displacement (+4 to missile avoidance, plus bonus to some saves), and the all important greenstone amulet - with this Coresong believes he is almost ready to investigate the Nashkel Mines. Coresong used his thieving potion and managed to filch a ring of free action from Dushai here as well - excellent! He no longer has to fear being held by enemy spell casters or undead. He equiiped it immediately. Coresong feared he might be getting low charges on his important wand of summoning so headed to High Hedge - yes only two charges! He sold it, rather than risk it going poof, but now Coresong needs 23000 gold to buy it fully charged...hmm some earning to do. Coresong then headed back to the Carnival once more, this time to purchase a necklace of missiles (can throw fireballs).

Coresong will brave Nashkel Mines next, when next we hear from him.

Modifié par corey_russell, 21 mars 2013 - 04:35 .

[corey_russell]

Coresong the Solo Level 6 Half-Elf Bard continues his adventure - update 3

Account in Coresong's own words:

"I made it to the mine pit. I talked to Emerson and he welcomed my help. So I venture into the depths of the Nashkel Mine. I encountered resistance on the 2nd level, mostly kobold archers. However, I was a much better archer than them, they always missed unless critical, and I often one-shotted them with my arrows.

I made it to the 3rd level. I saw disturbances in the ground, so thought they might be traps. I put on protection from lightning, just in case. Sure enough as I advanced, I ran into two traps, had to heal potion, finish off a few kobolds,, and continued my advance. Encountered a ghoul who I wasn't able to kill with my bow before it came into melee contact - however, with my free action, I was pretty safe, and sure enough a bit later my battle-axe finishes it for good.

I advance a bit further, still on the 3rd level, and encounter 2 large spiders - my arrows of ice were devastating to them, and they didn't even get a chance to try to poison me. Advance a bit further, and noticed some kobolds with fire, perhaps fire arrows. Well, two can play at this game, and I gave them some fire of my own - fireball from my neckklace of missiles. Only one kobold commando survived, but his morale broke and an arrow finished him. I noticed yet more disturbances in the ground. I suspected traps again so hugged the wall and managed to get to the 4th level without setting any off.

On the fourth level dispatched a single kobold and then noticed a very narrow bridge with great placement for archers on the other side of the water. I didn't actually see them yet, but I was certain their were enemy elite archers over there, because that's what I would do if I were them. So to pre-empt matters, i fired a necklace of missiles shot at the far land mass - a great fireball erupted and I heard kobold shouts of pain. I advanced to an entrance to a cave, and sure enough kobold corpses were on the land mass.

I had a strong feeling that whatever or who-ever was behind the trouble in the mine, was in this last cave I was about to enter. So to be able to cast spells, I took off my chain mail +1 I had been wearing to this point, and activated my shield amulet, which has the same AC as the chain mail, though of course can cast spells this way. With my bow at ready, I advance into the cave.

Four kobolds were to my right, but they were nothing my bow and battle axe couldn't handle. I saw a highly decorated room, this must be the boss' room. Time to prepare: I gulp a fire resistance potion - combined with my fire resistance ring, this makes fire-balling myself, if surrounded by enemies, very safe. I activate my greenstone amulet and advance into the ornate cave room.

The boss, a half-orc cleric it seems, challenged me, thinking I was from Tazok - when I denied it he moved out of the room, I moved in, and a huge number of kobolds appeared and were about to assist their master. I reacted quickly and fired a fireball at the mass of enemies, slaying all the kobolds and interrupted the master's spell, who I Iater learned was named Mulahey. I pressed the attack and fired my arrows of biting at Mulahey - the 2nd arrow managed to poison him, interrupting his spells, and shortly later he fell to the ground, dead.

A mass of bodies lay all around, plus much more loot than I could possibly carry. I memorized some spells that were in a chest, looted valuables, and left the many short swords behind. I noticed an elven mage nearby, but he said nothing to me, and I to him, so I just left him alone. I found a short-cut out of the mine, but had to dispatch two ochre jellies to do so, but they were no problem with my high missile defence.

I rested and sold my loot at the Carnival. Mulahey had a ring of holy power, which I can't use, but sold for a hefty 5000 gold. This is a big help in my goal of re-buying the monster wand back from Thalantyr.

I get to Nashkel and report my success to the Mayor, who gave me 900 gold and he called it a small fortune. Considering I just sold a tiny ring for 5000 gold, i did not agree with his assessment, but didn't press the point.

I approached the inn, and could vaguely see a black figure - I paused for a bit to let the Nashkel guards do their patrol and only advance to the black figure once they are nearby. As the guards came back, I did greenstone amulet, as the figure looks like a caster of some kind. I advance, and so does the figure, he has a mean look - that is my cue, an arrow of biting to his gut - by his wince I see he's been successfully poisoned. He asks me to not resist and surrender and I refuse, and the battle commences. It wasn't much of a battle, as the assassin was being hit by my arrows of biting, my magic missiles and the guards arrows. The assassin, who I learned was named NImbul, forced me to heal once, but that was all he could before he fell into the dirt for good.

Whoever is trying to kill me, is really trying hard. However, I am much better equipped and more experienced than I was just out of Candlekeep. All the same, good thing they didn't send this assassin into Candlekeep -- he could have easily killed me with the meager equipment and experience I had then. A letter on the assassin hints of a contact at Feldeposte's Inn in Beregost, so I headed there next. I had some things didn't need to carry with me anyways, so put things in my barrel there.

My gold is really good, I can purchase any spell I want -- so before confronting this Tranzig fellow, I went to High Hedge first. I purchased mirror image and skull trap. I can't actually cast skull trap yet, but it will be a strong offensive spell for me once I can. I head back to Feldeposte's, rest so I can use the mirror image and head upstairs.

By looking in the doorway it was clear this Tranzig fellow was a caster of sort, so I took off my chain mail, activated shield amulet, greenstone amulet, mirror image, and advanced. He made a threat, I did not heed him, and a fight commenced. My initial attack was arrow of biting, but at point blank range I missed. Tranzig responded by casting ghost armor. Hmm good defense. I back off to make it easier to use my bow, and fire magic missiles into him. He does the same, twice in succession, I had to gulp  heal potion. Then I did a few attacks with my bow, and the 3rd arrow found its mark and got him poisoned (arrows of biting). He could no longer cast anything, with the poison interrupting his spells, so he could not stop me from pumping a couple more arrows into him and he fell to the floor, blood splattering everywhere.

Tranzig's body had some letters, indicating the main bandit camp was north and east. I will need to head there once I am ready. He also had a magical ring and magic missile wand, neither of which do I need to use. So headed to Thalantyr's Store once more, and after selling these items, I could finally afford to buy back my monster wand! Thanks to my 20 CHA and 20 reputation, it did not cost me 23,000, like Thalantyr was asking before. Thalantry said he would only charge 16,800 gold and I accepted his price.

Ankheg hunting should now be possible,as the monster summoning  wand has at least 100 charges. Will go there next."

And after telling his story to the listeners at Feldeposte's Inn, he withdrew to his room to a well deserved rest, treating himself to royal accommodations, now that he can afford it.

<to be continued>

Modifié par corey_russell, 21 mars 2013 - 07:22 .

[Grond0]

Keep it going Corey

Tiamat - wild mage

Tiamat rode his/her luck to successfully make it through BG1.

Although never physically apparently close to death the use of wild magic is always a bit risky.  The danger of direct death is pretty low, but using spells in combat situations has a rather higher risk, e.g. from being held.  There's also indirect danger as a result of killing innocents.  I debated at the palace whether to use spells, but went ahead on the basis that that was the wild mage philosophy (and had decent results).  A single fireball type of effect there (and there are several of those that can occur) would end the game.

A couple of encounters worth noting.  First, although Tiamat made it safely through, his familiar did not.

I originally intended here for Chrome to just soak up the first bit of spell damage from Zordral.  However, the mage was pretty mean by continuing to target him with 2 further spells, despite being under melee attack and with an area transition in between.  The loss of constitution from that meant that Tiamat did not wear the Claw of Kazgoroth during BG1 - though he did buy it just in case he had the desire to do so in BG2.

The encounter with Jalantha had a couple of surges.  After getting the scroll from her I wanted to recover the tome and thought a skull trap would make a nice opener.  Instead Tiamat got acquainted with her lupine side.  Fortunately no-one was hostile yet so the polymorph wasn't a problem.  After recovering she tried again and soon had Jalantha running out of the temple.  Tried another skull trap to finish her off, but got blind instead - oh well, that was good enough to allow an easy finish with sling.

For the final battle with Sarevok all the enemies were activated.  Some dire wolves brought Tazok out of invisibility, while Semaj and Angelo had already made their presence known with spells.  Semaj was easy to deal with - a potion of invisibility used straight after a fireball accounting for him.  Usually Angelo can be dealt with the same way, but he was being very cagey with his arrows of explosion here and eventually Tiamat tagged him with wand of paralyzation.  Sarevok and Tazok both have saving throws too good for paralyzation, but Tazok is vulnerable to lightning and a few charges from that wand finished him off.  Sarevok is very resistant to lightning and the remainder of the wand made little impact.  Tiamat kept running round using his sling and I was starting to think his magic protection scroll was going to wear off (in which case he would have risked using magic missiles).  However, Sarevok decided he'd had enough before then.

Here's his final character record on reporting back to Duke Belt to be sent to Athkatla.  The relatively low number of kills reflects his heavy use of invisibility during his journeys.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 Multiplayer attempt 16

This attempt was set up with Grond0 as a shapeshifter protagonist and Gate70 as a sorceror.

We had in mind trying to get through BG1 without any deaths this time, but failed.  First time through things went well up to the point of reaching Nashkel, by which time both characters were nearing level 2.  However, picking Samuel up and trying to return him to the Friendly Arm proved to be a bad move.  Of the 8 ambushing bandits I think 6 hit with their initial arrows.  The sorceror died immediately, while the shapeshifter only survived thanks to a well-timed potion.  However, as noted, I was hoping for a no-death run and was also reluctant to abandon equipment.  The hesitation at the edge of the map proved fatal as a follow-up arrow came in before another potion could be used.

The second attempt was even shorter.  Both characters got a level from Shoal and moved down south of Beregost to take on the ogrillons.  An attempted rest saw a couple of gibberlings spawn and one of them stretched out a clawed hand to the sorceror's throat ...

We'll have another go next time with essentially the same characters to see if we can make a proper start.

Modifié par Grond0, 22 mars 2013 - 09:42 .

[Grimwald the Wise]

Titch went westward where he fetched a ring for mad Arcand

And then killed him.



He then killed some sirene.



He then visited Durlag's Tower and gained 1 point od strength and 1 point of wisdom.

He went for some good armour, but was attcked by some powerful battle horrors that almost killed him. (Down to 12 HP). He therefore ran for his life managing to avoid some doppelgangers on the way.



After getting healed and rested he returned and gained his revenge. He gained some good armour for his efforts and has reached the 161000 level cap.

He was horrified when he took off his amulet to use the necklace of missiles. He realised that he had done all sorts of things that he otherwise would not have done and was extremely lucky to still have a reputation of 20.

He then gained some allies and went to the mines at Nashkel.
Arart from Alora panicking near the bottom of the mines as a result of a kobold shaman spell things went reasonably well. I was concerned that Alora would set off a trap and kill herself. Ajantis used a spell to try and stop her fear, but it didn't work as she ran out of the area of effect.

Fortunately she didn't set off any traps and the party continued on to face Mulahey.

Alora was held by Mu;ahey who then summoned undead. The rest of the party could not reach her because of a crowd of skeletons and kobolds.

However, they quickly disposed of their enemies and rescued her in time.



After dealing with some minor conflict they had more of a problem with Narcillius Harwillinger.



Fortunately those who were not affected by his spell killed the slime before any harm was done.

He then gained another ally in Kagain, giving him the amulet to stop him getting hurt by holy smite and to give him protection from mind spells.

Proceeded to Gullykin where he picked up Indira and cleared the passages before heading for Mutamin at the request of the Morningmaster.

Modifié par Grimwald the Wise, 21 mars 2013 - 11:09 .

[corey_russell]

Coresong the Solo Level 7 Half-Elf Bard continues his adventure - Update 4

As Coresong mentioned in the last post, he finally braved the Ankhegs. He found Farmer's Brun son for for Brun, and killed a few ankhegs. Coresong's monsters kept the Ankhegs busy while Coresong peppered the Ankhegs with magical arrows. This proved effective. Once, when Coresong went into the Anhkeg lair, he got hit before he could get his monsters up and lost 2/3 of his life, so it was a good thing Coresong didn't attempt the ankhegs until he had some "blockers". He didn't clear the entire nest, as he was just after Farmer Brun's son's body and loot. Once he achieved that, he killed one one more ankheg to get Coresong level 7. He's done with Ankheg hunting as this takes a lot of monster summoning charges. Talked to some fisherman, who have some witch of umberlee problem, which Coresong will investigate when he gets time.

Coresong also explored the area directly south of Candlekeep. Some Sirenes were there, but Coresong's greenstone amulet kept him safe, plus he had monster distractions. There also a large number of ogres here, Coresong tried web and fireballs, but there still a lot left, so it was necessary to summon some monster friends and pepper the ogres with arrows.

Next session, Coresong intends to explore the area north of Brage's area, probably some more sirines and maybe flesh golems.

Modifié par corey_russell, 21 mars 2013 - 04:45 .

[corey_russell]

Coresong the level 9 Bard - Update 5
Info: 53 HP, 283 kills, most powerful vanquished: Shoal the Neriad

Coresong is feeling more and more capable. He felt ready to take on the more dangerous areas to the east:

* Gullykin - Coresong had some friends, but was buffless and stumbled onto Molkar's gang! Oops! Coresong fires off a skull trap and retreats to his summoned friends. Coresong then buffs with mirror image, and used magic missiles on targets of opportunity, then his bow. He summoned a few batches of monsters from his wand. The enemy was so busy with Coresong's friends, that they never did anything to stop Coresong's bow attacks, and Molkar was defeated! A +2 chaim mail was found in the loot, Coresong finally replaces his old +1 chain mail. Coresong did NOT try to clean out the Firewine Ruins - he has no defense to confusion without negating his own magic buffs, and certainly didn't want to try to clear it with his melee. His greenstone amulet poofed when dealing with the sirenes earlier. Here's a screenshot of the trouble Molkar was having:


* Ulcaster School - On the surface, Coresong took down Icharyd with acid arrows and magic missiles, though he did have some friends as distraction. Because Icharyd gets in melee range to start the fight since he talks to you first, Coresong did mirror image to be safe.

For the interior, Coresong used his summoning wand and his bow for almost all the enemies. Coresong felt that fighting the jellies would be unwise, so ignored that part of the dungeon. There were some traps that Coresong couldn't avoid, however that's why he used his protection from fire scroll first, putting his fire resist to 90%. He even used one trap against a dread wolf, so saved a wand charge. The battle against the vampiric wolf was insane, Coresong pumped arrow after arrow, had like 9 wolves helping, the vampiric wolf killed all of Coresong's friends and then a huge mele hit on Coresong - yikes! Coresong had to use the wand of fire twice (fireball mode) he just picked up off the floor, being a bard he could ID it without needing a spell.

* Basilisk Map (Kirian's party) - Due to Coresong's very limited looting space (since this is vanilla BG 1, no bag of holding possible), Coresong decided he would protect himself via spell from petrification, deal with Kirian's party, then return to the city to sell then return to the same area once more, and then use the protection from petrification scroll to clear the basilisks. Coresong crept up invisible, with a few gnoll friends nearby, and opened with a fireball shot out of sight, but they approached Coresong and saw him. Coresong spammed about 3-4 shots of his monster wand, and Kirian responded by casting horror, catching Coresong (who was buffless) - this was OK though, as no one was attacking Coresong, and even if he wandered in sight of a basilisk he was still protected. Once he shook off the fear, he donned his bow and used a few arrows of biting. Kirian's party managed to kill many of Coresong's monster friends, but they were just overwhelmed.

While Coresong had so many friends and while his protection from petrifcation was still active, he rushed north and dealt with Mutamutin and his basilisk friends. Coresong had 1 set of magic missiles, that and his friends were just too much for the mage. With the massive loot, Coresong returned to Beregost to store items he will keep, sell, and return to finish off the remaining basiliks. It was almost uneventful, except a greater basilisk approached within melee range and and did a strong poison attack! Glad I always keep my antidotes with me...

* Bandit Camp - now that Coresong is a level 9 Bard, he was certain he was powerful enough to try to deal with the Bandit Camp himself. The only special supplies he brought with him for the task was a potion of magic protection and a potion of absorption. He also changed his spell set slightly, two mirror images, one for Tazok and the other for Tazok's Tent, thought it didn't really matter as Coresong rested first before entering - but we are getting ahead of ourselves.

Coresong felt needless slaughter was unnecessary, he really just needs to find out who the head honcho is and take them out. With that end, he went to Larswood and joined the Bandits. Tazok challenged Coresong - Coresong did mirror image, ran short distance, magic missile (5 orbs), ran again, another set of missiles - hmm Tazok still coming. Just to be safe, Coresong summoned a batch of monsters, did his last set of missiles, and finally Tazok had enough - good riddance.

Time for Tazok's Tent. Only prep was potion of absorption, mirror image, shield amulet, and potion of magic protection, and he enters. Coresong opens with monsters close to Venkt to keep the mage busy. One of the melees approach with their halberd - Coresong then casts hold person on the melee and it sticks (hold person was loot from Kirian's party, came in handy). He fires a set of magic missiles at Venkt, but his monster friends are dying fast, he summons two more batches one around Venkt and the other at the hobgoblin archer. Coresong then assists his friends with his longbow (just a basic one). Took a while but success! And Coresong took no damage at all from the fight. Coresong looted the chest, and now knows he needs to head to the Cloakwood. He didn't bother looting much of the camp, since he isn't strong enough to open any of the chests. He's happy with the new lead and his new bow of markmanship.

Cloakwood will be Coresong's next target. He is likely going to be using many invisibilities here, as he only has one more level left, and surely he will get that just doing the main quest.

[Grimwald the Wise]

corey_russell wrote...

Coresong the level 9 Bard - Update 5

Cloakwood will be Coresong's next target. He is likely going to be using many invisibilities here, as he only has one more level left, and surely he will get that just doing the main quest.

Titch hit the experience cap even before going down the Nashkel Mines!

He did all of Gavin's quests prior to going to Restenford as he didn't want Gavin walking out on him when he was there!

The quests at Restenford have been straightforward and Indira has now got a lot of spells. Realised too late that I wasted some of them when she memorised them, as she will never get to use them. She has already hit the level cap!

That's the problem with multi-classing!

The party is about to enter Bonehill.

[corey_russell]

Coresong the level 10 Bard - Update 6

As expected, Coresong ran from almost all ambushes, and ignored the entire of the Cloak, except the 5th area of course. One Wyvern/spider ambush was dicey, Coresong got hit with Wyvern poison while running away - fortunately an elixir of health put him back in action and then successfully fled.

As for Drassus and buddies - a few monsters were summoned then a few fireballs from a fire wand - 2 enemies fell - then Coresong and friend advanced - ah, the mages are dead, time to unload on the melees - yes Drassus is defeated.


Ok, time to work my way inside this joint - the first two guards were hurting Coresong, so Coresong ended up having to summon friends...not a good sign, these enemies aren't elite or anything. Coresong works his way to the slave who will free the other slaves for 100 gold, then opens the door into the main area. Two guards approach, Coresong brings his wolves up, and the battle commences. Heirashan shows herself and tries to cast something - but Coresong hits her with two fireballs from his wand - Heirashan is now dead. Coresong and friends then mop up the survivors - on Heirashan is an important haste scroll - not going to try to memorize this until INT 25 - important spell for Duchal Palace.

Coresong then goes invisible and travels to Davaeorn's abode. Time to deal with a battle horror, uh, oh got two at a time - yikes! Coresong backs off and summons monsters. Coresong unloads 15 magic missile orbs into one Battle Horror but it doesn't die. Coresong's monsters are being killed very fast, Coresong works real hard to keep up the wood in between him and the battle horrors. As long as Coresong is safe, Coresong shoots acid arrows at the Battle Horrors. The piercing is useless, but the acid splash damage does hurt them. After a lot of arrows and hundreds of summons dead, the battle horrors finally fall! Scary encounter...



Coresong then dons a protection from magic scroll, and orders himself and his summons to attack Davaeorn. This didn't go well, traps killed many summons, my own protection prevents my wand of monster summoning from working, and finally Davaoern summons a bunch of ghouls which eat up my summons - luckily fireballs from my fire wand still worked (it also poofed here but it did its job, only one ghoul left killed with arrows). Apparently no-kit bards REALLY suck at melee - Davaeorn was actually beating up Coresong with his staff! Coresong couldn't hit Davaoern at all with his two hand sword - ironically, the only way that Coresong could win it was to use Drassus boots to run and shoot until Davaoern is dead. Keep in mind since vanilla, I can't heal while the scroll is active. Coresong runs into a small room with a jelly and loots two chests and returns - YES! the knock scroll is found, just what Coresong needed! (Coresong needs knock to get the tomes in Candlekeep).

Coresong leaves the joint - he doesn't flood, in case he needs to return to properly loot the place. He makes it to Baldur's Gate, fights some mages 2nd floor of Sorcerous Sundries. The way he won was pretty cool. He summoned two batches of summons, then did resist fear and haste  - the enemies fell very fast and could do nothing. This battle made Coresong level 10, his last level of the game.

Using knock, invisibility x2 (one to go up, one to go down) and pick-pocketing, he also got the +2 protection ring from Razamith, and looted Razamith's study on the top floor of Razamith's Tower. Interestingly enough, for a Bard there is very few things to do here in the City, he's thinking Iron Throne is next target, even though he just got here.

[Grimwald the Wise]

Soloing a bard negates much of the advantage of having one as his song benefits the whole party.

I must admit that I do the BG quests because that is what a good character would do, not because it is beneficial.

Once you've hit the experience cap and got all the tomes, what point is there in doing the side quests other than for the satisfaction of doing them?

That's one reason why I don't like the way that you lose all your possessions in Amn.

[Grond0]

Gate70/Grond0 Multiplayer attempt 16(4)

Right, so last time I wrote

We'll have another go next time with essentially the same characters to see if we can make a proper start.

And the result was - on the first area transition ...


So we're now on to our 4th attempt with this combination - at least this start seems rather more promising, though the game was reluctant to let us get going.  The same dog ambush occurred on the first transition; this time Gate70 paused the game immediately to allow evasive manoeuvres.  However, Charel got stuck in the ambush area calling for a Clua command to intervene to reunite the duo.

Travelling straight to the coast they got a level each from Shoal.  A few tasks were undertaken in Beregost before travelling down to Nashkel to buy a scroll at the carnival and then on to the basilisk area.  Nasha meleed the basilisks there - Charel leading Mutamin away to allow the last 2 to be finished off.  Charel then confronted Mutamin and nearly got surprised when the mage stuck on him - his potion glugging just managing to keep up with the 3 acid arrows.

Several more levels there allowed the duo to survive a bandit ambush comfortably on the way down to Caldo & Krumm.  Then on to the Gnoll Stronghold where Nasha benefited from the tome of charisma.  She is also currently wearing the bracers of dexterity as that prevents her werewolf form from having dexterity nerfed to 16.  On the way back to Nashkel Zal & Vax were dealt with in between Charel's persistent attempts to attract the attention of winter wolves.

After selling equipment Samuel was picked up.  On the way to the Friendly Arm an ogre donated a belt; on arrival Charel was pleased to find a magic ring, as well as returning a non-magic one to Joia.

South of High Hedge things didn't start off well as Melicamp failed his revival attempt.  However, from that point on Charel showed some high class abilities.  Firstly, he reacted quickly when Bassilus shrugged off several damaging attacks to hold Nasha.  I thought he should be able to finish the mad cleric off with magic missiles before he could beat Nasha down, but Charel was able to go one better than that.

Then he demonstrated (yet again) how effective his sleep spell can be on the hobgoblins.


The last action of the session was at Firewine Bridge.  There Charel led Meilum on a merry chase until the second call lightning from Nasha put an end to it.

Most of Charel's early work was with sleep, but magic missile has now been added for a direct damage option, while invisibility gives the opportunity for safe travel and resting.  Nasha tended to stay in human form and use a sling early on, but now spends most of her time in wolf form.

Modifié par Grond0, 22 mars 2013 - 10:14 .

[corey_russell]

Good luck with your new character Grond0. Most people don't restart the same character 3-4 times in a row, I admire your persistence. Perhaps you'll have less trouble with the "doggies".