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[Grond0]

Quad multiplayer attempt 2 - (update 3)
Grond0, Dogdancing, corey_russell, Gate70

 

A good session today saw some decent progress with (shock horror) no more deaths.

 

Talking to Bjornin put reputation up to 20 and Corthief took advantage of the bargain prices on offer by buying some full plate.  After some further shopping at Ulgoth's Beard he put his armour to good use by leading an assault on the ankheg nest - the monsters mainly died quickly and none were able to pierce his defences.

 

The Greenstone Amulet allowed Corthief to then lead the way against some sirines.  The golems put up stiffer resistance, but the final one couldn't find a way past an invisible blocker to target the pesky archer filling him full of arrows.

 

The Nashkel mine was soon cleared - Mulahey was badly damaged by an opening backstab from Static and failed to complete a spell.  Outside, Corthief used his amulet again to attack the amazons, but they proved better combatants - moving around to enable them to target other attackers.  Both Carthus and Wewa were held and the others both stuck in an entangle when Lamalha moved up to try and finish Carthus off.  However, he managed to squeeze a few words past his motionless lips "Use your sling Corthief" and seconds later Lamalha breathed her last.

 

Carthus made a rare use of stunning blow to prevent Nimbul from causing any problem before Static one-shotted Tranzig with a backstab to open up the route to the Bandit Camp.  On arrival there Carthus started making use of his new toy - a poison dagger - while Static backstabbed and Corthief offered himself as target.  That proved a potent combination and the external area was soon secured.  Inside the main tent there was a momentary concern when Carthus found the shadows were not quite as deep as he expected and activated the enemies.  However, they were quickly taken down, with the only significant damage to the party occurring when Wewa was a bit too eager to bash Venkt before he died and took a big mouthful of Corthief's fiery breath.

 

Stats:

Grond0 - Static, fighter 5 / thief 5, 47 HPs, 154 kills

Dogdancing - Wewa, monk 6, 39 HPs, 41 kills, 0 deaths

corey_russell - Corthief, fighter 5 / thief 5, 47 HPs, 76 kills, 2 deaths
Gate70 - Carthus, monk 6, 36 HPs, 73 kills, 1 death

[Blackraven]

Day 12, 13 Mirtul 1368
I think I'm getting used to reporting that things didn't go as hoped or expected... Our first attempt at reaching the coastlands was quite the fiasco. It had to be aborted in the eastern Cloudpeaks due to our party, or most of our party, getting pretty much annihilated. The cause of our trouble: three Amnish fighters that tried to pick on Jaheira. She kept her calm, but at the same time refused to let herself get bullied by them - which didn't surprise me: she's probably the most strong-willed person I know.

Spoiler

Well what can I say? She had to pay for her intractability. Jaheira became their first target and was soon brought down, on the brink of death. We slew one of them, but then Neera, Khalid, and Ajantis followed Jaheira's sorry example, leaving only Imoen and me to stand against the remaining two of our foes.

Spoiler

The both of us are more comfortable with our ranged weapons and much less capable than our heavily-armored but humiliated companions to hold our ground in melee combat. We retreated and saw only of the two follow us, their longsword wielding leader. The other fighter scampered off in a different direction, injured perhaps. For reasons that were unclear to me (female envy perhaps?) she was only interested in Imoen, which allowed me to fire away at her. The majority of my bolts didn't seem to hurt her in any way [note Blackraven: only criticals would injure her I found], but after a long game of cat and mice, she fell (and I took her enchanted studded leather armor).

Spoiler

When I went to check on the rest [note Blackraven: pick up their gear], I nearly got myself killed as the other fighter reappeared and pelted me with arrows. With difficulty we made our way back to more civilized lands.

Spoiler

We've been back to Nashkel to recover from our wounds and are now in Beregost. Keldath Ormlyr of the Temple of Lathander has asked us to stop an evil Gnome and his pet Basilisks from making more victims than they apparently already have. Armed with a green scroll of protection from petrification, we're off to find this Mutamin. [note by Blackraven: I didn't really want to go there, but the thrashing the party received from Sendai & Co made me reconsider.]

 

Day 16, 17 Mirtul 1368
A successful campaign for once! The Basilisks and their wicked master have all been slain. It was me who used the green scroll as I'm the party's sharpshooter, and ranged attacks were unanimously considered preferable because basilisks have a poisonous bite. The basilisks were too slow to close in on me, and unexpected help from a Ghoul helped me take down the Gnome as well.

Spoiler

Keldath thanked us with a modest monetary reward and told us he would reward us more handsomely if we were to get rid of the evil priest Bassilus, who had been killing people to animate their corpses. The problem is that no one seems to know where this Bassilus is.

 

Day 19, 20 Mirtul 1368
A very sad day: we've lost Neera. Ever since we accepted her into our group, we've done all we could to keep her safe from Thayvians and from all other threats we faced on the road. All in vain. It was our second foray into the (eastern) Cloudpeaks. We had barely bested two bandits (and found a pair of enchanted bracers that improve my marksmanship on one of them), when a multitude of fire arrows released by a group of Kobold Commandos did her in.
[Note by Blackraven:]

Spoiler

Neera kept dying at an incredible pace: every ambush was fatal, and even in normal areas she managed to always be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her time with the party can be summarized as follows:This kind of broke the immersion for me, so I decided to leave it at that. A shame because I like her a lot and I had a romance in mind with her.

I feel like a failure, and from the sad faces and the silence of my companions I gather that I'm not the only one.

 

Day 22, 23 Mirtul 1368
Neera's death appears to have infused a gritty spirit in our group. I feel we are more united due to what we've been through, with everyone as resolved as can be to make the Sword Coast a safer place. Another successful campaign has only nurtured that spirit. In the Cloudpeaks we helped some common folk, and also a Dryad, and we battled various Gnolls. None of us knew this was an appetizer for what was to come. One of the Gnolls proposed a duel between their champion - the same Gnoll - and ours, but when he viciously decided to attack poor old Imoen as our champion, we slew the monsters.
Much further west on the Sword Coast's rocky cliffs we discerned a fortress from a distance. To get there, we had to cross a bridge and slay two Half-Ogre thugs guarding it. (Ajantis took a pair of magical gauntlets from one of them. They seem to improve his agility, making him a bit harder to hit in combat.) As we drew closer, the fortress turned out to be a Gnoll Stronghold. We were pleasantly surprised to see we were stronger fighters than the much larger, highly aggressive Gnolls.

Spoiler

We did a thorough search of the place, and spared not a single Gnoll. In a pit, we found and released a captive, a wizard by the name of Dynaheir. We explored the surroundings of the fortress (mainly inhabited by Xvarts we dispatched with the same fervor as the Gnolls), and then led Dynaheir safely back to the civilization of Nashkel where she met with a friend of hers, a Ranger, and took her leave of us.

[Grond0]

Twister - dwarf bounty hunter (2nd and final update)

 

Twister picked up the tomes in Baldur's Gate - a potion of firebreath on Ramazith taking him up to level 10 in the process - and sneaked into the Iron Throne.

 

At Candlekeep he collected the final tomes then used a potion of speed to allow him to run round backstabbing the phase spiders without any risk.  Just for the hell of it he used traps and stealth shots on Prat's party - finishing off Prat with a backstab while using DUHM for the first time.  I don't think he's had a 3 figure backstab yet - this is his best to date.  He used a green scroll for the basilisks, although he was actually quick enough to attack and run away that they never targeted him with their gaze anyway.

 

Back at Baldur's Gate Slythe walked into some traps - and didn't walk out again.  Moving on to the palace he set traps initially that killed one of the dopplegangers, but his first horror failed to scare any more.  His second was rather better - scaring one of them, while 3 of the remaining 4 tried to attack Twister.  Meanwhile he had been using arrows of dispelling on the dopplegangers and, although they had managed to kill Liia, that was as good as it got for them.  The remaining one attacking Belt was shot down almost immediately and the others didn't last long.  He got the XP for level 11 in that fight, but didn't take it.

 

After backstabbing his way through the maze he emptied his Necklace of Missiles on the Undercity party from stealth before stealth-shooting the wounded.  On to the temple where Sarevok was pulled out alone using a dispelling arrow before Twister switched to backstabs to quickly finish him off round the pillars (it would have been more appropriate to trap him to death, but I hadn't rested after the palace).

 

Twister reported back to Duke Belt and has arrived in Athkatla.

[corey_russell]

@Grond0: Looks good. See if you can keep it up in BG 2/ToB.

@Blackraven: Another interesting update. Even in vanilla, Sendai and her goons can easily decimate a party if the party is unprepared (she's ended at least one of my runs before). Oddly enough, Magicken's secret weapon on this group was lightning bolts on the archers.

[Blackraven]

Day 27, 28 Mirtul 1368
We continued our exploration of the coastlands, north of the Gnoll Stronghold. Initially, there weren't many interesting encounters with other (demi-)humans, mostly just lots of monsters. We dealt with Ogres, Hobgoblins (some led by a bandit), hordes of Gibberlings, an aggressive Mountain Bear that had a nobleman running for his life (the nobleman gave us a pair of boots that protect against cold), and we even exterminated a Xvart community. None of these battles caused us any real trouble, which seems to suggest that we're gradually becoming a more skilled fighting unit. With Neera passed on, and Dynaheir departed with her Ranger friend, our party has no arcane power. At the moment this doesn't appear to be a problem, but I can see us wanting arcane magic later on. It took us a long time for example to deal with the dozens of Gibberlings, while a Mage might have sufficed with single Fireball.
Yesterday we did some good work, as we protected an archaeologist against possible bandits, though in the end we protected him against his own partner, who wanted to kill him for profit, and against his workers that went berserk at the excavation site. We also ran into Brage, the murderous Nashkel guard captain. We led him back to Nashkel where Nalin the Helmite priest cast Remove Curse on Brage. Turned out his behavior was caused by a sword that makes the wielder go berserk.

Day 29, 30 Mirtul 1368
Back on the coast we were informed by a feisty rogue of the existence of a treasure cave, abandoned by the owner of the treasure, but guarded by monsters. I scouted the area and spotted six Sirines. Jaheira warned me of their charms and, being the party's apothecary, she handed me a potion of clarity to protect myself. Immune to their charms, I could take them down with my crossbow and bolts although their poisoned arrows hit me as well and had me quaff various antidotes and healing potions.

Spoiler

Inside the cave, Imoen disarmed a number of traps, and lured three Flesh Golem guards outside one by one, where my party members - those with enchanted weapons that is - finished them off. I had no role in this because my unenchanted bolts had no effect on the Golems. (It made me think of Neera's untouchable demon. I hope it's long gone. Maybe we should soon take a look in the Nashkel Mine again.)

Spoiler

The treasure included a magical tome that I read to enhance my constitution, a cloak that allows shapeshifting into a Wolf, and some potions and gems.

 

Day 33, 4 Kythorn 1368 
We're back in Nashkel after an eventful trip away from the coast. First we ran into Bassilus, the wicked priest with a generous bounty on his head. It was pure luck, we hadn't actually looked for him. He was surrounded by a family (or maybe I should say an army) of zombies and skeletons. Protected from Evil thanks to Ajantis and Blessed thanks to Jaheira, I approached. He was unwilling to come to Beregost with us to be brought before the local authorities, and turned hostile as did his undead. Two well-timed hits with my crossbow kept the cleric from casting his wicked spells on us.It prompted him to try and take us on in melee combat, but our collective strength was too much for him. Khalid struck him down.

Spoiler

After this, we cleared the area of its many undead creatures and bandits (one of them, a Hobgoblin, dropping an enchanted short sword) before we headed back to Beregost. On our way we saved a most curious creature from certain death at the jaws of a Wolf: a young man that had been transformed into a chicken! He claimed to be Thalantyr's apprentice at the High Hedge west of Beregost, and implored us to escort him there. This we did (we were going back to Beregost anyway). At the High Hedge, Thalantyr was particularly critical of his apprentice, but using a skull as a spell component, he managed to retransform his apprentice into his human form.

With the sale of loot and a princely 5000 GP reward for bringing Keldath Basillus' holy symbol, we were able to buy a suit of full plate mail for Khalid/Ajantis, the Masterbelt to improve Imoen's theiving skills, and a Battle Axe +1 as well as the Army Scythe +1 crossbow for me, all at the Beregost smithy. We still have some gold that we shall either invest in Large Shields +1 for Khalid and Jaheira (Ajantis is already using one) or perhaps healing potions, of which we have but a few

We're currently preparing for our expedition into the Mine. At the Carnival we've just met a Gnome by the name of Quayle who was extremely willing to join us. I'm not sure how pleasant his company is going to be because he's rather full of himself, but he's a Cleric and an Illusionist so in terms of skills he appears to be a very useful addition to the party. 

Current party:
William Tell
lvl 5 Archer, 55 HP; ***Army Scythe, *Battle Axe +1, *Daggers, **Two Weapon Fighting; 163 kills (most powerful Greater Basilisk); Telbar's Studded Leather +2; items of note: Boots of Stealth, Bracers of Archery.
Imoen
lvl 5 Thief, 40 HP; *Shortbows, *Whistling Sword +2, *Quarterstaff; 48 kills (most powerful Winter Wolf); Studded Leather; items of note: Masterbelt; 1 death.
Ajantis
lvl 5 Paladin, 56 HP; **Bastard Swords, **2H Swords, *Longbows; 50 kills (most powerful Cave Bear); Plate Mail; items of note: Helm of Infravision, Gauntlets of Dex, Boots of the North, Girdle of Bluntness, Large Shield +1; 2 deaths
Khalid
lvl 5 Fighter, 65 HP; ***Varscona +2, *Axes, *Longbows; 92 kills (most powerful Flesh Golem); Full Plate Mail; items of note: Ring of Protection +1; 1 death.
Jaheira
lvl 4/4 Fighter/Druid, 48 HP; **Club +1, *Quarterstaves, **Sling +1; 49 kills (Flesh Golem); Ankheg Plate Mail; items of note: none; 1 death.
Quayle
lvl 4/3 Cleric/Illusionist; 18 HP; *Ashideena +2, *Slings; 0 kills; Adventurer's Robe; items of note: Bracers of Defense AC8, Cloak of the Wolf, Wand of Paralyzation; 0 deaths.

----------

Thanks Corey! At the time of battling Sendai & Co I had no arcane magic (Neera was one-shot killed by one of the archers), so no lightning bolts. I hope Quayle will do a better job at staying alive and being useful with his spells.

[corey_russell]

Incidentally, Corarcher deal with Sendai with spirit animals, call lightning and confusion song by Joshua.

 

As for Sirines, I strongly recommend melee - if you are immune to confusion (which you were using clarity potion), they can't do much. You also gain their arrows of biting. Lastly, being hit with arrows of biting is quite a problem, especially if your aura wasn't clear. I've lost a run to those arrows before.

 

Blackraven said...

Thanks Corey! At the time of battling Sendai & Co I had no arcane magic (Neera was one-shot killed by one of the archers), so no lightning bolts. I hope Quayle will do a better job at staying alive and being useful with his spells.

[Blackraven]

Incidentally, Corarcher deal with Sendai with spirit animals, call lightning and confusion song by Joshua.

 

As for Sirines, I strongly recommend melee - if you are immune to confusion (which you were using clarity potion), they can't do much. You also gain their arrows of biting. Lastly, being hit with arrows of biting is quite a problem, especially if your aura wasn't clear. I've lost a run to those arrows before.

Ah ok, good solutions for Sendai. I kind of miss the kits. All of William's companions are unkitted as per vanilla. Would have been nice to have Ajantis as a Cavalier for the immunities, Jaheira illegally kitted as a Fighter/Totemic for the spirit animals you used there, and maybe Imoen as a Swashbuckler. But I didn't kit them when I recruited them and kitting them now wouldn't feel right.

The problem with meleeing the Sirines is that in SCS v28 their melee attacks confuse/feeblemind opponents. I think there's a save vs breath or spell, but that's not something to rely on.

[Grond0]

The problem with meleeing the Sirines is that in SCS v28 their melee attacks confuse/feeblemind opponents. I think there's a save vs breath or spell, but that's not something to rely on.

The potion of clarity protects against confusion and feeblemind as well as charm.  As Corey says going in to melee the sirines using that is a far better option than staying at range.

[corey_russell]

Ah ok, good solutions for Sendai. I kind of miss the kits. All of William's companions are unkitted as per vanilla. Would have been nice to have Ajantis as a Cavalier for the immunities, Jaheira illegally kitted as a Fighter/Totemic for the spirit animals you used there, and maybe Imoen as a Swashbuckler. But I didn't kit them when I recruited them and kitting them now wouldn't feel right.

The problem with meleeing the Sirines is that in SCS v28 their melee attacks confuse/feeblemind opponents. I think there's a save vs breath or spell, but that's not something to rely on.

Even with unkitted Jaheira and SCS, you should be able to do call lightning/necklace of missiles right? Though she would have to be high eough, and perhaps she wasn't, she is multi-classed after all. If you don't have any magic at all, then other options is to have the 1st person seen have very high missile defense - you could also send some-party members stealthed to attack one or both archers, so that they switch to their melee, which is much safer than their arrows.

[Blackraven]

The potion of clarity protects against confusion and feeblemind as well as charm.  As Corey says going in to melee the sirines using that is a far better option than staying at range.

Feeblemind as well, hm definitely ought to have read that potion description again... Nevertheless I think I still prefer ranged because in my SCS experience, the Sirines don't fight back in melee. If you attack one, it will not fight back but try to distance itself (at least as long as it has arrows), while the other sirines will be pelting you with their arrows of biting anyway.
 

Even with unkitted Jaheira and SCS, you should be able to do call lightning/necklace of missiles right? Though she would have to be high eough, and perhaps she wasn't, she is multi-classed after all. If you don't have any magic at all, then other options is to have the 1st person seen have very high missile defense - you could also send some-party members stealthed to attack one or both archers, so that they switch to their melee, which is much safer than their arrows.

Yeah, Jaheira had only lvl 1 spells at the time. Necklace of Missiles would have been option though.

[corey_russell]

Feeblemind as well, hm definitely ought to have read that potion description again... Nevertheless I think I still prefer ranged because in my SCS experience, the Sirines don't fight back in melee. If you attack one, it will not fight back but try to distance itself (at least as long as it has arrows), while the other sirines will be pelting you with their arrows of biting anyway.
 

 

Yeah, Jaheira had only lvl 1 spells at the time. Necklace of Missiles would have been option though.

Jaheira didn't know level 2 spells? Then she couldn't be higher than level 2. If the party was only level 2, then Sendai and friends might as well be a ToB boss at those levels. Unless strict RP, I always metagame and steer clear of her until much better prepared. Of course, you don't even have to fight her with the right dialogue.

[Blackraven]

Jaheira didn't know level 2 spells? Then she couldn't be higher than level 2. If the party was only level 2, then Sendai and friends might as well be a ToB boss at those levels. Unless strict RP, I always metagame and steer clear of her until much better prepared. Of course, you don't even have to fight her with the right dialogue.

Well actually Sendai is a TOB boss
Seriously though, Jaheira was a level 2/2 Fighter/Druid. Most of my party were at about level 3, but with reasonably good gear (plate mail x2, and ankheg plate for Ajantis, Khalid and Jaheira respectively). I'm not used to playing full parties, so I'm inclined to underestimate encounters that are more doable with higher level solo characters.  Besides I don't really know what what be the ideal quest order for a full party to safely gain XP (most of FAI/Beregost/Nashkel had already been done). I'm trying to metagame as little as I can this run, but as you may have read I did go Basilisk hunting after that experience. And I guess I'll compromise more on realism for the greater good of survivability.

[corey_russell]

Well actually Sendai is a TOB boss
Seriously though, Jaheira was a level 2/2 Fighter/Druid. Most of my party were at about level 3, but with reasonably good gear (plate mail x2, and ankheg plate for Ajantis, Khalid and Jaheira respectively). I'm not used to playing full parties, so I'm inclined to underestimate encounters that are more doable with higher level solo characters.  Besides I don't really know what what be the ideal quest order for a full party to safely gain XP (most of FAI/Beregost/Nashkel had already been done). I'm trying to metagame as little as I can this run, but as you may have read I did go Basilisk hunting after that experience. And I guess I'll compromise more on realism for the greater good of survivability.

In my experience, Sendai's archers can hit a tank with -4 AC. Your list of equipment there doesn't sound convincing. Thus, if I take them early, and without magic, I make sure the tank is using the special missile resistance items, such as belt of piercing, full plate, boots of avoidance and large shield +1 (I suppose cloak of displacement should be on this list, but I rarely get that item early). Even then, the tank still often has to heal once or twice.

 

I don't think you need to compromise on realism - (You made it after all). Just saying Sendai's archers are murder at low levels and with basic equipment.

[Grond0]

You can make Sendai and crew a lot easier (at least in vanilla) by letting Sendai chase after you while she is neutral.  Once away from the archers you can attack and kill her with missile weapons without letting her talk.  You can then approach the archers (who are still neutral) and attack them in melee - they are poor at that. Of course that style of attacking may lack just a teensy bit of RP realism ...

[Grond0]

Toxic {3} - dwarf kensai (1st and final update)

 

After my bounty hunter died I decided I had unfinished business with kensais and would be best motivated using one of those with the aim of seeing how they could perform against Melissan.

 

To that end Toxic was given a 3rd chance to inflict himself on the Sword Coast.  He had a generally untroubled run, with one exception in the flesh golem cave.  He killed the first 2 golems there without problems and looked on course with the 3rd as well when it was taken to near death having only hit Toxic once.  However, a high value critical almost caused an upset - taking him down to 2 HPs.  That was partly a function of Toxic again having poor HPs - 75 at level 8 compared to the expected average of 88.5 (as a result he didn't wear the Claw, though he did purchase it for possible use in BG2.

 

In the final battle with Sarevok he took him to near death with his throwing axe before closing to seal the deal.

[corey_russell]

Wow that was pretty quick Grond0 - grats and hope BG 2 goes just as well.

[corey_russell]

You can make Sendai and crew a lot easier (at least in vanilla) by letting Sendai chase after you while she is neutral.  Once away from the archers you can attack and kill her with missile weapons without letting her talk.  You can then approach the archers (who are still neutral) and attack them in melee - they are poor at that. Of course that style of attacking may lack just a teensy bit of RP realism ...

Just a reminder Grond0 - Sendai does NOT chase you while neutral in TRUE vanilla - she talks immediately when she sees a party member and if you say you aren't going anywhere she immediately goes hostile. I believe she acts the way you are referring to because of ToBex.

[Blackraven]

Congrats Grond0, I like those Kensai runs of yours! Hoping for the best for Toxic in BG2.

Grond0, Corey, Neutral Sendai does follow charname or party members in my non-vanilla set-up. I normally make use of those little advantages, and I also normally keep the Girdle of Piercing, but my honest LG hero returned that item to Unshey. I'm thinking of rolling a powergamey solo character again and bulldozer my way through the game and get some BG2 play again, because roleplayed William Tell and his full party requires a lot of patience....

[Grimwald the Wise]

So far I have been able to work around the bugs in my set-up. Will do a fresh installation before doing another run. I think I know what was causing the problem from a half-answer I got on the G3 forum. Expecting a fuller answer later.

 

Diary of Blade of Kaos

 

We defeated all opposition in Baldur's Gate. It was mostly evil people that opposed me. Occasionally I would help other evil people for the reward and then kill them for the experience.

 

I have arrived at Candlekeep and there we will show the opposition who is the stronger.

 

We only had one set-back. That was in "The Low Lantern" Killing the opposition was not a problem, however Vynd got confused my a mage and killed a customer.

I then wished that I had left some reputation increasing tasks until later. Still, we are popular, so things could be worse.

 

Vynd had the temerity to say that I could never be a drow! It is he that could never be a true drow. he doesn't even suffer from day-blindness during the day!

 

(If I play another game with him in the party I will use SK to rectify that. No doubt the sub-race mod people or the makers of the Vynd mod will eventually get round to doing that, but Vynd is a brand new mod so I am not complaining.)

 

EDIT

 

Slythe got separated from Krystin and was then easy to handle. Krystin was attacked by summoned skeletons controlled by Vynd who was hidden. Krystin almost killed himself with cloudkill, but at that point Vynd used poisoned arrows in order to get the experience.

 

At the Iron Throne Vynd got killed through carelessness when the battle was all but over. However, gold is no problem. Will now recharge wands prior to following Sarevok.

 

The Ducal palace was easy. Summoned monsters plus web being the only spells that were really needed.

 

Following Sarevok, Xzar got killed in an ambush just before the final battle. He used web, but the archer with the arrows of explosion saved and did a lot of damage.

 

Due to the bugs in the game I am not going to do anything other than the bare minimum as Blade of Kaos is nearly at the 161,000 experience cap.

[Grimwald the Wise]

I would copy the area file form the old game and put it in the 'Override folder' of the working game then open your game save file... If that makes it crash then you know that the area file is causing it.

 

 

That isn't the answer, but I am finding work-arounds to all the problems so far.

[Grimwald the Wise]

The final battle did not go according to plan.

 

It started off all right with Sarevok being lured to the left by Vynd who then took a potion of invisibility.

 

There then followed a pitched battle between us and the cohorts of Sarevok. Vynd had chaos cast upon him which wasn't a problem at first as he still fought for me, but when there were fewer enemies he attacked indiscriminately. However, we managed to whittle the enemy down somewhat, but both Vynd and Xzar were near death and I was badly injured.

 

Then disaster! Vynd ran towards Sarevok. Viconia couldn't move. I don't know why.

 

Sarevok moved in for the kill. I took a potion of invisibility and left my party to his mercy or lack thereof.

 

I moved away, took potions to heal myself whilst Sarevok went on a killing spree.

 

I then moved in on the last of Sarevok's cohorts, Semaj. I didn't dare attack in melee as it would have drawn the attention of Sarevok. It was therefore ranged weapons which proved to be sufficient. I then buffed with Potion of invulnerability, potion of Heroism, Potion of Cloud Giant Strength. It proved to be enough, though I was badly hurt when Sarevok eventually fell. Whew! Now for Amn. Haven't quite reached experience cap, but not far off.

[corey_russell]

@Wise: Sounds like a lot of my Sarevok battles - best of luck in BG 2.

[Blackraven]

Day 40, 11 Kythorn 1368
It's been seven days since I last updated my journal. Time for a new entry for much has happened. In the Nashkel Mine the miners warned us of demons having taken over. We all looked at each other fearing Neera's Nabassu had invited some of its friends from the lower planes, but we soon learnt that the 'demons' there were in fact Kobolds. We cleared most of the Mine without difficulty, but struggled a bit against their chieftain and a shaman whose excellently placed Horror affected three of our party, including myself.

Spoiler

Imoen disarming traps so that the panicked party members would not trigger them.

The leader of the operation was a Half-Orc priest, aided by lots of Kobolds and Skeletons. Quayle was very inconveniently positioned. He managed to cast Sleep on the Kobolds before he was attacked and nearly killed by the Skeletons. He had to flee the Half-Orc's den. We would find him outside, exhausted and close to death.

Spoiler

The rest of us focused all our efforts on the priest. We had to suffer an Unholy Blight that hurt Ajantis and Imoen particularly, but we prevailed.

Spoiler

We found some correspondence linking the sabotage of the Mine with the rampant bandit activity on the Sword Coast, though it didn't contain any useful details. We left the Mine through a secret exit, and found ourselves in an area none of us had been to before: a dry, dusty valley that was full of dangers, as some of us would painfully discover. There were different types of Undead (Skeletons, Ghouls and Ghasts, and even a Revenant) in burial chambers but also roaming the lands but at least they were manageable for our party.

Spoiler

The real problems occurred after we had an unfriendly encounter with a wizard who wasn't at all pleased with our interest in his new spell that allegedly allowed one to control and dominate slimes and jellies. With powerful spells as Emotion: Helplessness, Enfeeblement, and Blindness he successfully neutralized all of us, and he had two Mustard Jellies attack us.

Spoiler

Khalid was their first target, and thankfully the only one not to regain his consciousness after the Emotion spell had expired. I say thankfully, because the damage could have been much worse. I didn't enjoy my command over my own mind for long, as the wizard Dire Charmed me. It would have caused me to kill my dearest friend, blinded Imoen, if the wizard hadn't cast a PW: Sleep on her. It somehow made me lose interest in attacking Imoen and go after hardier Ajantis instead.

Spoiler

Those who were in control of themselves, i.e. Ajantis, Imoen and me, retreated into one of the burial chambers after we found that our attemps at dispatching our foes proved to be less effective than the Jellies' attempts at finishing us off. All three of us had been slowed by the Jellies, and we were severely injured. Ajantis was blinded too. In the chamber we used up all our healing potions and Ajantis' and my curative magics. The wizard followed us inside, but that proved to be a bit too audacious on his part. His magical protections were largely gone, while the three of us had just patched ourselves up.

Spoiler

We carefully got out of the chamber, picked up our injured and unconscious comrades and dragged them inside where we stripped them of most of their heavy armor and weaponry. (We saved such equipment in one of two tombs.) Ajantis (carrying Jaheira), Imoen (carrying Quayle) and I (carrying Khalid) then trekked back to Nashkel to have Nalin heal our dying companions before it would be too late. Before we made it there, we had to protect them from two Ankhegs though.

Spoiler

Nalin showed us once more what a capable healer he was, albeit at an increased price. We returned to the valley, and were lucky to find Quayle's, Jaheira's and Khalid's gear untouched. We weren't completely surprised as few people are likely to venture into that desolate land, and most of those who do may not survive that undertaking. We separated and slew the Mustard Jellies, making the area at least a bit safer for future visitors.

 

Day 43, 14 Kythorn 1368
I don't know how to start. The last two days have been terrible for me. I think I'm a bit more composed at the moment, so this might be as good a time as any to update this journal.
We returned to Nashkel to inform Berrun Ghastkill of what had been going on in the Nashkel Mine. The mayor thanked us warmly, and the rest of the town seemed to cheer up as well as the news spread. However, as we approached the inn to relax for a bit and get a good night's sleep, we were greeted by an assassin who in spite of the presence of a small crowd of spectators made no secret of the fact that he'd been hired to kill us. With his axes and clad in light armor, he looked a bit like me. Ajantis, Khalid and Jaheira engaged him in melee combat, while Quayle, Imoen and I spread and tried to hurt/disrupt him with ranged attacks. But then, to our surprise, he started casting spells. I got hit by a Confusion and Khalid got Dire Charmed. Jaheira and Quayle were put to sleep (and Imoen later on as well, with a PW: Sleep). What happened then, I learnt from my friends. Ajantis, Imoen and a Monk that came to our aid, slew our attacker, Khalid in spite of being charmed somehow remained impassive. I wish I could have said the same of myself, but I can't... I shot one of the bystanders.

Spoiler

[Note by Blackraven: Reputation fell from 20 to 10. I was lucky here that no more innocents were in sight, or the same scenario as with Serene my Beastmaster, could have played out: ending up with Fallen Ranger status and possibly losing party members.]

My companions have been very understanding and they've tried to help me process this tragedy. We've looked for relatives of the victim, or at least a name, but found none. We've arranged a proper burial, at the graveyard by the Temple of Helm. We've spoken with Nalin, who was lenient in his judgement, as he had been with Captain Brage. "If you had no control over your mind, then you had no control over your body and its actions either," he said. "There is no guilt in such case." But I keep thinking of Khalid who somehow had the strength of will to resist the urges that were not his.
I've prayed to Mielikki for guidance, some kind of sign, but all I've had is another strange dream and a second heal ability. The dream was rather sinister: I was merciful with the Half-Orc priest from the Nashkel Mine but was reprimanded by a male 'presence' I can't identify. The heal ability on the other hand suggests that I still have Mielikki's favor.

Day 53, 24 Kythorn 1368
Another tenday has passed, and we've mainly been busy traveling around, trying to make the Sword Coast a safer place. It's also a way for me to hopefully redeem myself. Either way there is little else I can do I think. On the northern Sword Coast we dispatched an Ogre Mage and a Nereid who had made a habit of robbing and killing innocent passers-by.

Spoiler

We've battled Gnolls alongside none other than Drizzt the famed Drow Ranger (who didn't turn out to be the most talkative fellow to walk the realms), and we've slain four Half-Ogres that had nearly killed a Paladin we met at the Jovial Juggler in Beregost. For a Flaming Fist officer we met in the same inn we've been hunting bandits. North of the Friendly Arm Inn we helped a Ranger reduce the number of Ankhegs to a healthy amount.
During our travels, in the middle of nowhere, we had to deal with a group of four bounty hunters. It looked threatening when we found ourselves ambushed by them, because they had a Cleric and a Mage, but Quayle paralyzed the Cleric with his wand, and we made sure the Mage didn't succeed at casting any spells.

Spoiler

The other two were warriors, and they were no match for us.

Back in Beregost we had Taerom the smith make another suit of Ankheg armor, and we bullied a mage that was mentioned in a letter we found on the assassin's corpse in Nashkel into giving us insights into the bandits, their numbers and whereabouts. The wizard hinted at a bandit base in the Wood of Sharp Teeth, so we'll soon be heading there.

[Blackraven]

Ah, congratulations Grimwald! Well done
After so much trouble with your install, often in the later stages of the game, you really deserved that victory. Best of luck in Amn!

[Serg BlackStrider]

Congrats, Wise! Swift travels in Amn!