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[Grond0]

Wrecking Crew XII (6th and final update)

 

I was keeping notes of the run as I went along and used those to draft a post.  Unfortunately that post got lost in the ether somewhere and meanwhile I deleted the notes.  Here's a slightly abbreviated version from memory (for which I'm sure you're all very grateful ).

 

Back in Baldur's Gate they tracked down Cythandria.  She had lots of damaging spells, but the Crew were able to share those around enough to avoid any losses.

 

After rescuing Duke Eltan they went after Slythe.  He got a couple of backstabs in before the weight of missile fire proved too much.  Krsytin had no answer to a dispelling arrow and soon joined him.

 

At the palace dispelling arrows persuaded the mage to concentrate on defense and movement.  Meanwhile the rest of the Crew worked their way through the other dopplegangers with little trouble.  Crusher had used the Blur Deck for the first time and with the Golden Girdle as well equipped managed to avoid 2 attempted backstabs by the doppleganger assassin.  The mage eventually reappeared after everyone else was dead, but his final lightning bolt didn't do much damage.

 

The occupants of the maze were soon history as were the Undercity party - 3 Necklace fireballs followed up by 2 bowmen firing exploding arrows gave no time for retaliation.  Tamoko was a similar story.

 

In the temple Hacker opened proceedings by firing a dispelling arrow at Sarevok.  He missed, but carried on moving into the corner where he used the invisibility ring to disappear.  That left Semaj on his own near the temple door and 4 of the 5 facing him were using PfM scrolls.  A few dispelling arrows later and he went down having done relatively little damage.  Angelo wanders round a bit, so was easy to pick up and bring back to the door for another easy disposal.  The others stick close to Sarevok, so bombarding the area from out of sight with Necklace fireballs soon accounted for Tazok.  Rather than wait for Diarmid's PfM scroll to wear off Crusher activated him and ran him and Sarevok round while exploding arrows did their work.  With the resultant skeleton warriors all shot down as well, Sarevok found himself alone and he'd soon had enough as well.

 

The Crew reported back to Duke Belt and were dispatched for further duty in Athkatla.

 

Stats:

Beater, fighter 8, 71 HPs, 329 kills

Slicer, fighter 8, 94 HPs, 251 kills, 2 deaths

Mincer, fighter 8, 85 HPs, 412 kills, 3 deaths

Crusher, fighter 8, 86 HPs (incl. 5 from Helm), 446 kills, 2 deaths

Hacker, fighter 8, 79 HPs, 507 kills, 4 deaths

Slasher, fighter 8, 87 HPs, 376 kills, 1 death

[Aasim]

Grats Grond0, GL further. Is there any reason you kill Cythandria? What I usually do after Candlekeep is travel to the Helm's temple area in BG - take right exit - enter Blushing Mermaid, rest there (or whatever the inn's name is) - enter Undercellars - kill Slythe (eventually Krystin as well) - cermony - teleport to thieves' guild.

[Grond0]

The main reason for killing her was to check whether the randomiser had given her any useful equipment - I don't bother with her in my basic BGT installation.  I can't remember whether she had anything, but there were still a number of potentially useful items outstanding at the time (I remember the Undercity party had a +2 ring and a light crossbow of speed for instance),

[corey_russell]

Congrats Grond0! Try to keep your crew in one piece in Amn!

[Aasim]

The main reason for killing her was to check whether the randomiser had given her any useful equipment - I don't bother with her in my basic BGT installation.  I can't remember whether she had anything, but there were still a number of potentially useful items outstanding at the time (I remember the Undercity party had a +2 ring and a light crossbow of speed for instance),

Got it.

[Grimwald the Wise]

I quite like the combination of drow and drow ranger.

 

You get excellent magic resistance which means that you don't need to worry about buying helm of charm protection and scroll of protection from petrification.

 

 LiNeerynda Despath had cleared just about everything prior to going down the Nashkel mines. He was well equipped and was beating nearly everything up. However he didn't have any trap removing ability and a lightning bolt from a trap in the basement of Durlag's Tower finished the game. Level 8 at the end.

 

I almost decided not to go down there. Now wish that I hadn't as I was beginning to get an empathy with the character despite evil alignment.

 

 

I am now trying a kit that I have never tried before, the giantslayer fighter kit for gnomes.

 

Str 19, Dex 19, Con 19, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 18 **** in axes. Got that roll in 28 rolls. Actually rolled higher than that, but anything above 10 for Int and Wis is reduced to that. I don't know if tomes will enable them to be bigger or not. He should certainly be a good fighter.

[Epsil0]

After another Skald falls to a Ghast this time, I'm in the mood to swap things up a little. One of the "power combos" that haven't been completed is the R/C with the full suite of Druid and Cleric spells and Turning; it's time to give this a go.

 

The choice I choose to go is Dual-class vs the Multiclass. Weaker in the long run without Ranger HLAs and the second 1/2 APR than the multi class, but the higher level spells coming much faster is... probably worth it. The plan is to get to 7 and Dual from there; I won't regain Ranger abilities in BG1 with this setup, but hopefully Sarevok won't mind being tickled to death with non-proficient Sling bullets.

 

Beginning is quite standard; Shoal into Melicamp (Successful de-chickened) into Beregost, killing all the Spiders before going to the FAI, picking up an Ogre's belt and two rings on the way. This was enough to get to level 4. Tarnesh is pleasantly killed in one shot with a single bullet before he can talk to Tyson; he apparently has 12 or less health. The proceeds from Evermemory is enough to purchase a +1 Large shield, the amulet of missiles, of shield, and of Pro. Petrification for when he duals.

 

Ankheg armor is obtained, and Neira's spells are dodged around the doorways. Greywolf is much easier to kill with Warrior type that can actually use ranged weapons, and a charge of the necklace is enough to take out Mulahey's army and a few stones later Mulahey himself for level 5. Nimbul is slaughtered under the Shield amulet, and Ankhegs are barely enough to bump Tyson to 6. Greenstone amulet is purchased, and the Sirines don't last too much longer. Even after the effects of the Potion of Absorption, the silly Flesh Golems land three critical hits; I'm pretty sure they couldn't hit on 19s. A few potions had to be consumed, but now Tyson was nearing 75k exp and level 7.

 

The Bandit camp's just been cleared out with the Necklace and Tyson's sling, adding a Potion of Magic Protection just for good measure. Not quite level 7, but once he hits, Tyson's going to be handing in a certain madman's Holy Symbol, a bowl to Tenya, and killing a lot of basilisks.

[Blackraven]

Glorydd, Dwarven Fighter/Thief, update 1

 

I thought I was close to wanting to take a break, but I still had Glorydd, a female Dwarven Fighter/Thief. When I loaded her game, I found the enthusiasm again to give it a shot with her. I like her portrait, quite baldurish and a bit enigmatic (hence her True Neutrality), and she has Annah's (PS:T) Scottish voiceset, very enjoyable. I think that Fighter/Thief is a class that I'm relatively comfortable with (maybe even good at, though the cautiousness that straight Thieves require me to exercise may even suit me better). It's also a combination of the two classes I've performed best with so far, so here's hoping for a first no-reload Trilogy success

Glorydd ('Silver Queen' in AD&D Dwarvish) is currently a level 3/3 Fighter/Thief thanks to having been a good lass with the common folk of the FAI, Beregost (including Melicamp, who had wandered quite far off), and Nashkel; and thanks also to having made the areas surrounding those places a bit safer.

 

Hopefully I can report some nice progress soon...

[Grimwald the Wise]

My gnomish giantslayer, name Rock hard has helped Tenya against the fishermen and by so doing went up two levels.

 

Now got grandmastery in axes.

 

So far has avoided conflict as much as possible.

[Grond0]

here's hoping for a first no-reload Trilogy success

Consider my fingers crossed .

[Grimwald the Wise]

Let's see if you can make it this time.

 

My first try with a giantslayer ended in disaster when I took on Bassilus. First rigid thinking and then hold were what ended the run.

 

Next time I plan on doing a duo or trio.

[Grond0]

Wrecking Crew XIII (update 1)

 

Having played enough to get a feel for some of the differences in installations I feel as though there is a chance for the Crew to get a long way at least into SoA.  I've therefore restarted them, hoping for a lucky 13th run.  I have made one alteration in the line-up - I've rerolled Slicer who previously specialised in slings to go for long bows instead.  Previously I specified sling mainly to keep a balance of weapons, but bows are considerably better both in damage and availability of tactical ammunition so the switch will make the group appreciably stronger.  The very first die roll turned up a strength of 18(00) for him, so I'll take that as a good omen (although that does now mean there's no-one with a high charisma in the group).

 

So far I've been much less comprehensive with progress than last time (and I don't intend to worry too much about checking randomiser locations in the rest of the run).  The Crew have done nearly all the immediately accessible reputation quests to raise that to 20 and have spent all the money gained so far on the Greenstone Amulet and ring of invisibility.  They reached level 4 in the ankheg area and half of them are above average HPs (and overall they're slightly above average) - much better so far than last time where only one of the Crew was above average and the PC had horrible HPs.

 

No one has been even seriously injured yet, but I've avoided any tough encounters so far.  They'll be off to the basilisk area next, where Mutamin is likely to be their first significant test.  Equipment found to date includes the boots of speed, shield amulet and bracers of archery (looking at the kills list it's easy to see who got the latter).

 

Stats:

Beater, fighter 4, 44 HPs, 30 kills

Slicer, fighter 4, 50 HPs, 32 kills, 0 deaths

Mincer, fighter 4, 41 HPs, 39 kills, 0 deaths

Crusher, fighter 4, 52 HPs, 30 kills, 0 deaths

Hacker, fighter 4, 46 HPs, 64 kills, 0 deaths

Slasher, fighter 4, 56 HPs, 38 kills, 0 deaths

[Epsil0]

Tyson, second and final update

The first Cloakwood encounter and Ettercamp ambush were enough to boost Tyson to level 7 Ranger, immediately gaining and losing the extra attacks as he gets more in touch with the divine. His first act as clergy is to return a bowl to Tenya and the symbol to the Beregost temple. Basilisks are quickly dealt with, pushing Tyson to level 6 Cleric.

 

Cloakwood spiders are slain mostly with the amulet of OPness, as Serg put it earlier (I think? Was it Aasim?) Drasus and co. provide Tyson with boots of speed, and finally Hareishan provides Tyson with his 7th Cleric level, and his final BG level. Here something's a tad weird: Tyson's recovered half an attack from somewhere. He's at 3/2 attacks when by all rights since none of the Ranger abilities including the 1/2 attack from level 7 should've been recovered. Not quite complaining though.

 

Daveaorn is mugged by two skeletons and a Worg under Farsight; Tyson didn't have to lift a finger or take any damage. Battle Horrors are Fireballed out of existence. Off to Baldur's gate, Tyson goes on a tome-hunting expedition, even taking the tome of INT (which does absolutely nothing for him,) and doing the assassins' quest to get the extra wisdom tome. There was a rough moment here when I didn't zone in time and the high priest of Talos lands a hold spell on Tyson right as he's going through the door: fortunately, she doesn't follow him and the Hold expires normally. Tyson's long past the EXP cap, but he kills the Iron throne top floor anyways for good measure and the Ring of Free Action.

 

In Candlekeep, he lets the next set of Iron Throne leaders live before Sarevok kills them, and is duly arrested. Violet potion + potions of Dexterity and Constitution plus the standard fire and electricity resists lets Tyson get the two remaining tomes besides the CHA tome and the one in Durlag's tower: I'm still too unfamiliar with that. 20 WIS seems high enough anyways. The catacombs are then invisibly escaped from.

 

There was a moment where I took an unnecessary risk/made a mistake and got in range of a Carrion crawler attack while heading to Slythe without the ring of free action; fortunately, it wasn't a critical. The other Crawlers and the mage are burnt with fire from both the necklace and wands of the heavens. Under the effects of an oil of speed, Slythe is pulled back up to Baldur's gate and kited and slowly killed with the non-proficient sling. Summons are then brought for the battle, with Tyson healing Belt with his Bhaal powers. It was dicy for a moment, I thought, when Belt survived but I was right next to him when the last Doppel fell... Meaning I couldn't get him away from Sarevok and they'd fight. Sarevok fortunately decided to target Tyson. For once, he actually needs extraction as the Stupifier stuns him in a room full of guards.

 

Undercity maze is stealth'd through with potions, and these are the final stats:

HP should be of a 7th level Ranger, so a roll of 28 on 6d10; a bit lower than the expected average of 33, but not too bad overall.

 

The final battle's funny. The plan is to kill Semaj with summons before moving onto the others... But what happens is we can't overcome his MIs fast enough and he DD's back to home base. I send a few war dogs after him, and Angelo joins the party with a Fireball... And catches Tazok in the midst! Tazok then attacks Angelo and kills him for me. A few seconds later, Semaj fires a lightning bolt at me, and it ricochets off his immunity... and Semaj kills himself! Tazok is killed normally. Sarevok took forever to kill with Tyson's lack of both dispelling arrows and non-proficiencies in slings. He went through 48 +2 bullets and had to reapply the oil of speed halfway through the fight, but eventually...

 

Tyson will head to Amn after magic items get shuffled yet again.

[Grond0]

Congrats Epsil0 - best of luck to Tyson in Amn.

 

Wrecking Crew XIII (update 2)

 

The Crew didn't have the funds to buy the PfP scroll, so went to loot the Valley of the Tombs - including shooting down Narcillicus after he thought the encounter was over.  That also gave them enough money to buy the Necklace of Missiles.

 

At the basilisk area Hacker soloed the separated basilisks before recruiting Korax.  In this installation he can't get close to Mutamin without making him hostile, which means he'll likely to get only a single attack in at best.  This time though one attack proved enough.  With Korax still untouched I fancied the Crew's chances against Kirian and indeed they prevailed without casualties despite Crusher being stunned by a chromatic orb and Slasher being held.  That got them all to level 5.

 

They quickly sliced through the kobolds in the Nashkel mine, with the only moment of anxiety being when Crusher was horrified by the kobold shaman.  However, all the nearby enemies were dead already and he didn't go far enough to cause a problem.  The Crew rested in the doorway of the cave before activating Mulahey.  When he arrived he faced a torrent of fire and didn't manage to cast a spell.

 

Nimbul's mirrors and invisibilities kept him going for a while, but he didn't manage to disable anyone and eventually ran out of luck.  Tranzig had 2 spells interrupted and went down soon after - he had the useful Golden Girdle.

 

After investigating some funds in magical ammunition and a +1 composite long bow the Crew found themselves ambushed by Molkar.  Last time that was a very difficult fight, but this time the first of Crusher's 5 darts of stunning disabled Molkar.  After Halacan was shot down a second stunning dart halted Morvin in his tracks - effectively ending the contest.

 

Having had so much success with those stunning darts Crusher brought some more at Ulgoth's Beard while travelling around waiting for Lamalha to make her move.  When they did appear Crusher's luck continued with his first dart stunning Zeela, while Lamalha was poisoned by a bolt of biting - the contest didn't last long from there (Slasher was poisoned by a dart of wounding, but had plenty of HPs to survive that).

 

Once more the Crew got a lift to the Bandit Camp to see if they could get Tazok's gauntlets of weapon expertise - and this time they were successful.  After killing a number of archers they had a go at Venkt, but didn't quite kill him.  On their return they were more successful and managed to then stick around long enough to kill all the rest of the enemies as well - Taugosz had broken Crusher's lucky streak by surviving 20 stunning darts, but all alone against the full weight of fire from the rest of the Crew he stood no chance.

 

In the first Cloakwood area the Crew killed Seniyad, as that encounter was missed out last time.  Before going on to the second area they returned to Ulgoth's Beard and beat up Dushai to get his ring - then went to the temple to donate in order to push reputation back up.

 

In the second Cloakwood area the web traps were triggered by an invisible character before the Crew went into Centeol's nest just long enough to fire off a volley that killed Centeol before leaving again.  Pathfinding issues meant they didn't move away as quickly as they should have done though and Mincer was held by a giant spider web near the door - SCS treats a webbed character as a favoured target so Mincer rapidly became the first victim of the run.  The remaining spiders and ettercaps were killed without fuss though and it wasn't long before the temple had Mincer back on his feet.

 

The Crew came through various ambushes without too many problems to arrive at the Cloakwood Mine.  Beater used invisibility there to guide in a couple of Necklace fireballs, but the mages survived those and Kysus then went exploring far enough to find Crusher.  He was confused and took 2 flame arrows (the others really should have intervened after the first one) and was finished off by some summoned monsters just before Kysus got his just desserts.  

 

Another fireball then brought Genthore out to play.  He should have been no trouble, but I forgot he would aim at Mincer (who was already badly injured) in preference to others - and Mincer died for the second time, just before Genthore went down.  Rezdan and Drasus though offered no further trouble.  After spending all but 3 of their gold on raising at the temple the restored Crew sold their junk - netting enough to buy some more full plate as well as topping up magical ammunition.  They've just arrived back at the Cloakwood mine.

 

Stats:

Beater, fighter 5, 58 HPs, 84 kills

Slicer, fighter 5, 57 HPs, 99 kills, 0 deaths

Mincer, fighter 5, 52 HPs, 103 kills, 2 deaths

Crusher, fighter 5, 61 HPs, 86 kills, 1 death

Hacker, fighter 5, 52 HPs, 168 kills, 0 deaths

Slasher, fighter 5, 65 HPs, 81 kills, 0 deaths

4 of the Crew have the XP for level 6, but I don't normally level up until everyone is eligible.

[Aasim]

Congrats Epsil0 & GL further.

@Grond0 - I do hope to see these guys in Amn - epic install you've got there.

[Alaestr]

Epsil0, I believe I am the author (possibly not original) of "Necklace of OPness". Used the term in this post: http://forum.bioware...5#entry18656384

Otherwise - congratulations on convincing victory in BG1. Really hope to see how your ranger/cleric will fare in Amn. Do you run SCS? 

 

Blackraven, I want to see Glorydd advance to Amn as well, since my attempts at fighter/thiefing solo usually end with some solicitous mage from BG2 helping my character see the other world. Also your install is somewhat similar to mine (yours might be a bit harder), so I reliably can use your tactics

 

Grimwald - bring those guns out!

[Blackraven]

- Congrats on Tyson, Epsil0. (Beautiful portrait again)

- Good luck with your Wrecking Crew XIII
- @Alaestr, I'll do my best

 

Glorydd, Dwarven Fighter/Thief, 2nd update

[Note: I've taken a more roleplayed approach after I started her run yesterday in my typical metagamey way. This will result in a few irregularities, nothing major though in my opinion. An example: she did Nib and Brage quite early on, for the good XP and reputation rewards, but I'll mention it later.]

 

As related above, Glorydd's first days after leaving Candlekeep (and after the shocking experience of seeing her foster father Gorion give his life for her), she spent traveling between the Friendly Arm Inn, Beregost, and Nashkel. The Dwarf showed herself from her best side. As a rule she would offer her services as a free lance. But she also helped folk who needed it but didn't have the means to remunerate her, and she accepted all manner of tasks: offering protection, retrieving stolen goods, running errands and messages, etc. Anything that would buy her an honest plate and a flagon of ale for dinner.

While traveling between the above-mentioned places the Dwarf would train her stealth skills. She wouldn't pick fights but neither would she shun combat altogether, especially when it came to evil monsters such as Hobgoblins, Ogrillons, and Ogres. Initially it took some courage to fight these large creatures rather than hide or flee, but her decisions paid off well. Her prizes included a Ring of Protection +1, a pair of Boots of Stealth, and a Girdle of Piercing. One of her first purchases was the Claw of Kazagaroth, an item that made her more difficult to hit with spells and missiles.

 

Her combat experience also made her better at defending herself, an ability that would prove invaluable. Wherever she went, Glorydd could never stay for long in one place. Sooner rather than later bounty hunters or assassins would track her down. This happened first at the Friendly Arm Inn where she was to deliver boots and wine to a Gnomish lady from her home in Beregost. A tall human Mage would have killed her at the entrance to the inn if she hadn't taken advantage of the shadows to kill him first. On his corpse she found a bounty notice mentioning her name. (She also met two of Gorion's friends at the inn who wanted to travel with her, but after a brief, unpleasant conversation Glorydd decided they weren't her friends. Two alpha females in a small party wasn't going to work, Glorydd realized with much self-knowledge.)

 

Life wasn't any easier in Beregost, where she ended up killing a bounty hunter of her own kin, or down south in Nashkel, where a priestess in the local inn nearly held the Dwarf (Glorydd had to save vs spell, because a peasant blocked the way out) before Glorydd buried her enchanted short sword (Sound Defense +2) deep into the female's back.

These experiences prompted Glorydd to travel all the way north to Baldur's Gate, hoping to find shelter in the anonymity of the big city, but she was denied access at the gate. The city gates would stay closed for as long as the Sword Coast's bandit problem remained unsolved, she was told by a city guard. Glorydd had indeed encountered (and fled from) groups of bandits, but she considered barring all access to the city to be a draconian measure. Either way the guard, notwithstanding his longing looks at her bust and her hips (what else was new?), would not let her in.

 

She explored the lands surrounding the city, and was pleased to find that any remaining bounty hunters seemed to have lost her trail. In the fishing village of Ulgoth's Beard she bought a Cloak of Displacement and a Greenstone Amulet that would provide her protection against missiles and magic. She also spoke with a kindly fellow Dwarf, Hurgan Stoneblade, who wanted her to find his dagger in the haunted tower of his forefather Durlag. Glorydd had heard of Durlag's Tower, and would like to visit there someday, if only to learn more about Dwarven culture. But she had heard of all kinds of dangers cursing the place - undead creatures, deadly traps, and what not - so she knew that if she ever went there, she'd have to go prepared.

A child priestess received the Dwarf's protection against three fishermen that had killed her mother and would have killed the girl as well if they could. Using a Wand of Sleep, Glorydd also helped a Ranger contain an Ankheg plague in the same area, and she brought a farmer, Brun, the body of his dead son (slain by Ankhegs). She stayed on as a hired hand for a few days, helping the old farmer work his land in return for for board and lodging, until she decided it was time to move on.

As much as she appreciated the peace she'd found, something inside her told her that her purpose in life wasn't to spend her days as a hire on a farm. What her purpose was, she didn't know yet. But she would travel to learn more about herself, she resolved, and she would keep mostly to the rural and wilderness areas where she expected to be relatively safe from bounty hunters and where she would hone her tracking, hunting and survival skills.

 

First however, she returned to the civilization of Beregost, albeit only for a short visit. She used a charisma-enhancing ring she had been gifted by a good nobleman, Lord Foreshadow, on one of her travels, to sell a variety of items she had little use for, and to buy a suit of Shadow Armor at the smithy, a Helm of Charm Protection at Feldepost's Inn, and a Deep Red Ioun Stone that would increase her dexterity whenever she sported it. She also accepted two commissions for Keldath Ormlyr of the Temple of Lathander: hunting down Bassilus, an evil priest of Cyric west of Beregost, and dealing with an equally wicked Gnome, Mutamin, that had charmed a pack of Basilisks and used them to petrify innocent folk and animals in the area. These assignments were perfect for Glorydd. They would result in profit and they would take her into the wilds, just as she had intended.

[Epsil0]

@Grond0: Thank you! We'll see how Tyson fares in Amn...

 

@Blackraven: Thank you! I can't take credit for the picture, though, as it comes from Bengoshi's pack on the Baldur's gates forums here. Almost all my recent runs have been taking pictures from that pack, which is somewhat fitting seeing as I'm of Asian descent. Nice work with Glorydd!

 

@Alaestr: Ah, sorry. I couldn't find the post while I was typing mine up, and I took a pretty random guess. Yes, I have SCS installed for BG2, but I heavily dislike using it for BG1 because it feels like playing chess while only having pawns for like, half the game at least. Mages become important in major fights, but they're susceptible to being killed by a single critical hit from bandits shooting arrows for far too long, and if they devote their spells to defensive countermeasures... They're useless offensively. As for how he's doing in Amn, I'll probably make a post in the other thread soon.

[Grimwald the Wise]

Diary of the Gnasty Gnomes

We, Bloodaxe the Mighty and Little Bully have been especially chosen by our Lord Cyric to spread bloodshed and chaos around Faerun. We are well aware of our inability to deal with traps, but have been assured by Cyric that he will himself provide another member of our band “the Gnasty Gnomes” before we need to face any traps. Apparently he too will be a gnomish follower of Cyric and will have thieving abilities.

 

I Bloodaxe need the arcane skills of Little Bully and he needs my fighting skills and charisma. We should get on fine so long as we need each other.

 

We dealt with the assassins in Candlekeep, but were told in no uncertain terms by Gorion to flee when attacked by even more powerful assassins when out in the wild.

We fled and continued to flee in the direction of Baldur’s Gate. We helped a widow and a priestess, and when sure that our enemies had lost our trail, we went to Beregost where Marl tried to pick a fight with us, but we would not be drawn.

 

We helped Firebead in an attempt to raise our reputation somewhat as we need to buy some equipment. Bloodaxe has reached level 2.

[Grond0]

@Wise.  I'll look forward to hearing about lots of niceGnasty work.

 

Wrecking Crew XIII (update 3)

 

In the Cloakwood Mine Hareishan was pulled back to the previous level and shot down without being able to cast.  Working downwards they killed the guards on the way to Davaeorn, getting to level 6 in the process, before going back to the mine entrance to rest and heal.  Back again, Crusher used a PfM scroll to go and tank Davaeorn (dodging the battle horrors in the process), while the others stayed at the entrance to ambush the arriving guards.  That worked well with Davaeorn wasting many spells.  Hacker had to show himself near the end to coax the mage out of invisibility, but his spell was interrupted and he didn't get the chance to try another.

 

Now in the mood for sterner challenges the group defeated Ogre Droth - and then buried Shoal beside him.  The sirines in the area were pretty easy, with 2 of them dying quickly.  The third did manage to charm Crusher, but although he has the boots of speed he's using a non-proficient weapon and didn't manage to attack the others while being run round.  Once recovered, he quickly took revenge.

 

At the lighthouse area the first group of sirines charmed Hacker and Slasher, but 2 of them died in the process and the other moved away far enough to allow the charmed characters to be left on their own to recover.  The first nereid fascinated Hacker, but died before it could summon a water weird.  The second fascinated Mincer and Slicer as well, which was potentially bad news.  It summoned a water weird and then moved in for a drowning kiss on one of the helpless characters, but died before it could get there.  I was hoping that the water weird could be persuaded to chase Crusher, but in the event it seemed to find it difficult to choose a target and never actually managed to attack anything - though very well protected against normal missiles bolts of lightning killed it quite quickly.  The nereid fascination just makes characters stand there gormlessly so there was not the same problem waiting for the spell to expire as with charmed creatures trying to attack you.

 

Sil and the sirines looked like being rather easier when one of them was killed in the initial assault, but things didn't look so rosy when a single charming song affected 4 of the Crew in one go.  Mincer was immediately targeted by his colleagues and the charming sirine and was close to dying while running away when Beater caught him up to cure the arrow of biting poison (Beater had been an invisible scout up to that point).  Once the others recovered the fight resumed.  Hacker also nearly died at the end, but survived with a comfortable 2 HPs in hand.  After those trials the golems were simplicity itself - shot down with +1 arrows.  Crusher took the constitution tome they were guarding.

 

Some encounters now easy were done, like Bassilus and Silke.  The Crew also got some decent XP from fighting through battle horrors among other things at Durlag's Tower to get the tome there.  They have just arrived at Baldur's Gate and topped up their magical ammunition again.

 

Stats:

Beater, fighter 6, 67 HPs, 107 kills

Slicer, fighter 6, 72 HPs, 137 kills, 0 deaths

Mincer, fighter 6, 58 HPs, 140 kills, 2 deaths

Crusher, fighter 6, 72 HPs, 110 kills, 1 death

Hacker, fighter 6, 63 HPs, 220 kills, 0 deaths

Slasher, fighter 6, 80 HPs, 116 kills, 0 deaths

[corey_russell]

@Grond0: Nice work there with the improved Sword Coast enemies you faced. Whenever Coarcher's run finishes, was thinking about doing a full group of halfling fighters, with a small compromise with one being a halfling fighter/thief. I have always like the same class runs.

[Grimwald the Wise]

Sorry Grond0. Not this time. Little Bully got bullied by some little xvarts. End of game before he even reached level 2.

 

Cause of death: Overconfidence! Had spells that could have been used including invisibility and blur.

[Blackraven]

Glorydd, Dwarven Fighter/Thief, 3rd update

Armed with a scroll of protection from petrification, she first went east. It took her less than a day to run into her first Basilisk. Thankfully the creature hadn't noticed her lurking in the shadows. She retreated to cast protection from petrification on herself, making her completely immune to the Basilisks' otherwise deadly gaze attacks. She had slain eight of the creatures when she met a talking and surprisingly friendly Ghoul named Korax. The Dwarf allowed the creature to accompany her. She was glad to have an ally amidst all these Basilisks and, somewhere, their tamer. When they found the Gnome, both Glorydd - hidden in shadows - and Korax approached. Glorydd positioned herself behind Mutamin, signaled with an arm gesture to Korax to attack, and planted her blade into their mark's back. Glorydd's stab injured the Gnome, whose immediate spell buffs identified him as a wizard, but Korax failed to touch him. When her second strike didn't affect Mutamin in any way, she knew that he had become the hunter and she the prey. As soon as the wizard started an incantation, she decided to swig a potion of invisibility. It was a decision she wouldn't regret because less than an instant later she felt herself ovewhelmed by an uncontrollable fear that would have left her defenseless against the hasted Gnome's physical and magical attacks had he been able to see her. Korax didn't fare as well; the Ghoul was slain by Mutamin.

As soon as the fear had subsided Glorydd, still invisible, found Mutamin far away from his two remaining Basilisks, probably looking for her. She took advantage of the opportunity to slay both creatures, so that even if her protection from petrification were to be dispelled by the Gnome, no Basilisk could petrify her. She then tried something new. As part of her self-instruction as a huntswoman Glorydd had recently begun to experiment with building snares, something she considered a vital part of her training. But she had never actually set any snares for real. In spite of her still modest ability with trap setting (50 Set Traps), she succesfully placed two snares out of Mutamin's sight. She then took her shortbow and an arrow - she was glad to have followed the advice of longbowman and fellow Dwarf Arkanis in Candlekeep to specialize in bows rather than crossbows, and to have taken lessons from him, if only because arrows were more commonly used and thus easier to come by than crossbow bolts, even in the wilds. Glorydd's first arrow struck true. It caused Mutamin to go after her and trigger her traps. They proved to be quite deadly. Glorydd was very content with the completion of her first of two missions for Keldath Ormlyr, but found herself in no rush to report back to the priest. Instead she decided to take a detour, for she enjoyed the wilds quite a lot. Circumstance was shaping the Dwarf into a Ranger of sorts, even if the big people wouldn't call her that. 

 

She traveled back westward without calling on Keldath or stopping in Beregost, in search of Bassilus the mad priest. A few days of uneventful travels went by, but Glorydd wasn't bothered by that. Her independence, her increasing affinity with the wilds, and the awareness that she had never learnt so much in such a short time made those days almost blissful, even if Gorion's death and the price on her head never disappeared from her thoughts for long.

The wilds west and southwest of Beregost housed large populations of undead: mainly skeletons and zombies, and also the occasional ghoul or ghast. It suggested that Bassilus might be near, for his crimes had been murdering people and animating their corpses. Her suspicions proved to be true. In the Red Canyons area she slew three Hobgoblins, earning herself a second enchanted short sword, before a young child, hardly aware of the gravity of the situation, unintentionally warned her about nearby Bassilus and his 'funny spooks'. Glorydd approached the priest, surrounded by skeletons and zombies, and tried to persuade him to accompany her back to Beregost. The undead fell but Bassilus was less than willing to cooperate. Glorydd made optimal use of the darkness and of the presence of large upright stones, hiding whenever her foe would try to cast a spell at her, and attacking with her bow or with her short blades whenver she could, until the Cleric fell. Back in Beregost she was handsomely rewarded for her efforts, leaving her with sufficient financial leeway to not have to worry about food or shelter for quite a long while to come.

[Grond0]

@Grond0: Nice work there with the improved Sword Coast enemies you faced. Whenever Coarcher's run finishes, was thinking about doing a full group of halfling fighters, with a small compromise with one being a halfling fighter/thief. I have always like the same class runs.

Hope that goes well for you Corey.  As for me things had been going well ...

 

Wrecking Crew XIII (4th and final update)

 

The Crew went through Baldur's Gate this time much quicker than their previous run.  Most fights were straight-forward, but they did have a hard time overcoming Degrodel's guards - even Beater getting involved for once as HPs ran short elsewhere.  The Crew did the hard work in the Merchants' consortium, but the script triggers didn't seem to work and they left there without reward.  However, reporting the restoration of the Seven Suns to Scar got the last of them to level 7 anyway.

 

I was getting a bit tired and that proved costly when trying to defeat the enemies at the Iron Throne.  I wasn't quite precise enough with attacks initially, which meant most of the opposition survived the fireball / arrows of explosion attacks.  With 2 groups operating on different floors a close eye was needed on what was happening, but I didn't manage that.  I thought that one group of 3 was all alone on the top floor and was concentrating on the others when this happened.

 

That Shennara may have been invisible all the time or he may have entered the set of stairs on the left downstairs and emerged from those on the right upstairs (a trick which the AI uses regularly, though not available to the PC).  In any case he got a backstab in on Slasher, who had already been backstabbed once earlier, and that proved fatally fatal.

 

I did just finish the fight to ensure that Beater was victorious, but it was a hollow victory and I'm going to retire from this run.  I think in future I'll need to remember to kill the two Shennaras before activating the rest of the Iron Throne enemies as their invisibilities and backstabs are difficult to counter in the confusion of a large general melee.

[corey_russell]

@Grond0 - Oh I see - a character was chunked! And you weren't even in Amn yet - I can see why you retired from this run (though you just invite Korgan to your group - he'd fit well - Kagain can also fill in for BG 1). Too bad.